Come Monday (17 page)
“I did,” Tris answered.
“Nay, it was me,” Pat replied, “in our phone call Friday night.”
“I told you so in that email last week,” Teagan added.
They all laughed and Will felt his heart expand at the thought of being included in this amazing family.
“Actually,” Will said, placing his hand across Keira’s shoulders and pulling her close. “I wanted to…” He paused and looked down at her. She nodded. “We wanted to let you all know that Keira has agreed to move in with me.” He looked quickly at her father. “Now I know that’s probably not the way you would prefer it, Pat, but…” Part of their concerns in sharing their plans with the family had been Keira’s fear of Pat’s response to their decision to “shack up,” as she teasingly called it.
“Now son, you don’t have to worry about me,” Pat replied. “I’m hip to the new ways,” he said so stiffly everyone in the room burst into laughter.
“Oh Christ, Pop. What the hell was that?” Riley asked.
“All I’m trying to say is that I think I speak for all of us when I say, welcome to the family, son.”
“Hear, hear,” Tris said, raising his glass.
The toast was just the first of many as the family lifted their glasses to Sean and to Killian’s return, but it was Pat’s last toast that meant the most to all of them.
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Come Monday
“Raise your glasses one last time,” he said. “Here’s to the one who couldn’t be with us today. She’d be damn proud of every single one of you. You truly are Sunday’s children.”
Will tightened his grip on Keira as she attempted to covertly wipe away a tear.
“You okay?” he whispered as Riley started handing out plates, telling everyone to eat.
She nodded. “I’m fine.”
“I love you, Miss Collins,” he said, hoping to lighten the sadness in her face, calling her by the name he’d used in the classroom.
She laughed. “I love you too, Professor William Wallace.”
The End
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About the Author
Some people fall apart on their 30th birthday, others on their 40th. For Mari Carr, 34
was the year that took her down. After she spent the day crying and saying, “I haven’t done anything I thought I would,” her husband finally asked what was left undone.
Her answer was simple—she hadn’t written a book or decorated her house. “So do it,” he said.
Five years later, the house is sparkling with fresh paint and new furniture and her computer is jammed full of stories—novels, novellas, short stories and dead-ends. The lesson: It’s never too late to achieve a goal or two!
High school librarian and English teacher by day and mother of two busy teenagers, Mari Carr finds time for writing by squeezing it into the hours between 3
a.m. and daybreak when her family is asleep and the house is quiet.
With the publication of her first book, her latest goal—publishing before 40—has been achieved with a couple of years to spare. Phew!
The author welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email
address on her author bio page
at
www.ellorascave.com
.
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