The Hurricane (35 page)

“LADIES AND GENTLEMAN,” yelled Kieran. “May I present to you the bride and groom, Mr. and Mrs. O’Connell.”

The entire room at St Patrick’s Sports and Social Club stood up and applauded. I held onto my husband’s arm, who incidentally had been grinning from ear to ear since that ludicrously passionate kiss at the altar. He’d forewarned me on the way over that he and the boys had done the best they could with the wedding, but with little money and no notice, they’d come unstuck with the reception, especially with it being Christmas Eve. Father Patrick and Tommy’s mum had, once again, came to the rescue and had leaned on the committee to open up the social club for the evening. The local fish and chip shop served their fare in paper cones for the wedding feast. Personally, I thought it was a fantastic idea, and I still couldn’t believe they’d pulled it all off. With everyone promising to email us wedding photos from their cameras, there was a good chance that we might even have a proper wedding album one day as well. Curtains of fairy lights adorned the walls, and in the cold light of day, I was sure that the club was more than a little shabby looking, but to my romantic love-struck eyes, it was wonderful. We hadn’t arrived more than two minutes when a robust-looking woman with red hair came barrelling toward us. She crossed the entire room with arms wide open, then threw them around me as she reached us and squeezed.

“You are just as beautiful as Tommy said you were, darlin’. Not that I don’t love you like me own son, Con, but if my Tommy had a bit more sense about him, I’d be hugging my daughter-in-law now. You are pretty as a picture in that beautiful dress. I cried when you said your vows, didn’t I, John? I cried.”

She turned around to poor John as she asked him, hand on heart, but as he opened his mouth to reply, the lady started talking again ten to the dozen. Apparently, the question was rhetorical.

“And, Con, you are so handsome. So handsome,” she said, as she reached up on her tiptoes to squeeze his cheeks like you might with a chubby toddler.

“Mary, you’re looking gorgeous, as usual. If I wasn’t a happily married man, John would be in trouble now,” charmed O’Connell.

John didn’t look as though he’d mind anyone running away with Mary. He grinned up at O’Connell and shook his hand, but before he could congratulate us, Mary started again.

“Get away, you charmer. You’ll have to watch out for this one, lovely. He’ll charm the birds from the trees and virgins out of their knickers. Now my Tommy, he’s a good boy and loyal to a fault. You’d never catch Tommy drinking or flirtin’ with other girls.”

Tommy would flirt with a nun if she were half decent looking
. In fact, as I thought back on some of the train wrecks that he’d hooked up with since I’d known him, I didn’t think that good looks were even on Tommy’s list of prerequisites. Being a woman, having a pulse and being over eighteen were probably the only attributes on that list.

“Feckin’ hell, Mary. Are you seriously trying to poach my girl for Tommy on our wedding day?”

“Best place to meet a girl is at a wedding,” she beamed.

“Not when the girl is the one getting married,” reminded O’Connell, who started looking a little irate.

“Ah, stop your moaning,” crooned Mary, patting his cheek. “She’s only got eyes for you, boyo. Now if I could find a girl like that, who’d bake a cake for people she doesn’t even know, I’d be a happy woman. You don’t have any sisters do you?” she asked me.

“No. Sorry,” I apologised while I could get a word in.

“Nikki is single, and she’s lovely,” O’Connell told Mary, pointing Nikki out across the room.

“What does she do?”

“She’s a student at the university like Em. They do maths together.”

“Ohh, an educated woman! Now that would do for Tom, someone to give him a bit of sophistication. Does she bake?”

“I don’t think so,” I admitted, hesitantly.

“Well, never mind. I can teach her. Right, then. See you later, lovelies.”

With another pat to O’Connell’s cheek and a bear hug to me, she went storming off toward Nikki. Poor John, his leg still in a cast, went trailing behind her.

“Why did you say that?” I asked him. “Nikki and Tommy are a terrible match. Even if you could get them on a date, I’m pretty sure that one of them would come back missing a limb.”

“If it keeps Mary away from my wife, she can do her worst.”

“I’m getting the feeling that you like calling me that.” I smiled at him.

“I like that you’re mine, Mrs. O’Connell,” he said, cupping my cheek with his hand as he leaned in to kiss me.

“Back at you, Mr. O’Connell.” His lips touched mine, oh so briefly, before the entire room started catcalling and wolf whistling.

“Save it for the honeymoon,” someone yelled. I was bright red and absolutely mortified, but O’Connell grinned proudly.

“I never thought I’d see you married and even more unbelievable you’re dry on your wedding day. That alone is fuckin’ shockin’. Are you sure you’re Irish?”

“Em, this is my uncle, Killian,” O’Connell introduced.

“Pleased to be makin’ your acquaintance,” bowed Killian with a flourish, before kissing the back of my hand.

“Unlike my sister, Sylvia, who is a mean and evil drunk, I am a happy drunk,” he slurred, grinning.

“Nice to meet you,” I offered back, liking this man immediately.

He had none of Sylvia’s malice or artifice, and O’Connell didn’t seem to have any reservations about him.

“Right, then, boyo,” he addressed O’Connell. “I’m stealing your girl for a dance.”

I looked at my husband in horror. As likeable as Killian seemed, O’Connell knew that I didn’t often dance. So, to have to do it with a man I didn’t know, in front of a room full of people, made me panic. Even if O’Connell sensed my distress, he didn’t get the chance to intervene before I was pulled onto the dance floor. I needn’t have worried about being able to dance because my feet barely touched the ground. As soon as one song, and my dance with Killian, had finished, I was pulled away to dance with one man after another. By the time I made it back to my husband, I was exhausted and had probably danced with every man in the room.

“Could use a drink, could you, love?” Killian grinned, as he handed me a pint of beer.

It wasn’t the most feminine of drinks to be sipping in my wedding dress, but I was

gasping. O’Connell pulled me to his side and kissed the top of my head affectionately.

“No more dancing with other men,” he whispered into my ear and nibbled the lobe making me shiver.

“That possessive streak making you twitchy?” I teased.

“Baby, you didn’t see the look on their faces when they had you in their arms. I’m the only one allowed to get that look around you.” I reached up to my enormous husband and stroked his cheek as I gently kissed his lips.

“Only yours, O’Connell,” I reassured him.

“Then how about a dance with your husband?” he asked, and I nodded with a smile

As he walked me to the dance floor, it cleared, leaving us alone. Our song rang out through the speakers, and holding my hand gently in his, O’Connell pulled me in close. We danced as though we were completely alone. He spread his other large hand across the bare skin of my back, stroking me with his thumb and triggering my automatic arousal.

“Do you know how hard it is for me not to throw you over my shoulder and carry you home right now?” he asked me.

“I can feel how hard it is,” I teased him.

“I’m going to undo those tiny little buttons one by one and kiss my way down that beautiful back as I peel off your dress...” he whispered.

“O’Connell, stop it,” I squirmed in nervous anticipation of my wedding night. I hadn’t seen him since the day before yesterday, and it felt like forever since we’d made love. I’d gone years without the slightest attraction to any man, and now I was completely addicted to sex with O’Connell. I wasn’t sure there would ever come a time when the slightest whisper of his voice in my ear wouldn’t make me want to jump him.

“There’s only an hour or two left,” I whined. “Can’t we skip out now?”

O’Connell chuckled as he replied. “You’ve never been to an Irish wedding, have you, love?”

I shook my head no, confused as to where he was going with this.

“One night,” he replied, “then I get you for the rest of my life.”

I rested my head against his chest and breathed in the smell that was uniquely his; the smell that I would go to sleep with forever.

I REALISED WHAT HE MEANT when the taxi arrived for us at six am on Christmas morning. The boys were gutted at not having been able to get a real band, but the disco went on until two am, which was when I figured the party would break up. You could imagine how shocked I was when a few of the older people whipped out their instruments and carried on playing. I’d never heard any of their songs, but the room sang out in chorus and the more drink that flowed, the louder our makeshift choir became. During a brief intermission in the early hours, Kieran decided to make his best man speech.

“Hello, hello,” he called out, tapping a knife dangerously against his pint glass. Whether it was the alcohol or being around their family, I didn’t know, but all of the boys’ accents seemed stronger tonight.

“Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Kieran Doherty, and I’m Cormac’s best friend. We’ve known each other pretty much our entire lives, so when the first two people said no, you could imagine how honoured I was to be his third choice for best man. I’d like to take a moment to mention how gorgeous Em, our lovely bride, looks. She truly deserves someone handsome, loving, and intelligent so we’re really pleased for Con that he managed to get her down the aisle before that guy came along. It’s not always been easy for Con being the smaller, less charming, and witty friend, so the fact that you’ve managed to get a real woman to pick you over me is a massive achievement, and we’re all very proud of you. If Em wises up in a few months, remind her that it’s too late. You’ve got the certificate, so she can’t back out. What that does mean for you, lucky ladies, is that I’m still on the market, and if you’d like to submit your phone number and a brief resume, I’ll be holding auditions for the next Mrs. Doherty all night.”

Kieran stopped talking as the room erupted with laughter. O’Connell was taking turns groaning at Kieran’s jokes and laughing with the crowd.

“Seriously, though,” Kieran chuckled. “I can say, hand on heart, that I never thought Con would ever settle down, but when he met Em, she absolutely knocked him for six. Even before Danny warned him, on pain of death, to stay away from her, it was too late. One look at Con and anyone could see that he was so far gone for our little sunshine; it was love for life. Em, you really have no idea how much sunshine you bring into the life of everyone you touch. You are good and gentle, caring and kind, and the fact that you don’t see any of these things in yourself makes you more beautiful. There’s a great many men here tonight who love you like a sister and a daughter and as long as you have all of us, you will never want for anything. I look at you both together and I see hope. Hope that one day, we all might be fortunate enough to fall in love with someone who doesn’t want or need to change you, but who makes you want to be a better person. I wish you both a long and happy life together, but if it doesn’t work out, Em, you know where to find me. Ladies and gentlemen, please raise your glasses. May green be the grass you walk on. May blue be the skies that love you. May pure be the joys that surround you. May true be the hearts that love you. To the bride and groom!”

“To the bride and groom!” the room toasted.

O’Connell stood up to embrace Kieran, and they said a few words to each other quietly. Kieran and O’Connell were closer than brothers, and tonight that bond couldn’t have been clearer. As Kieran sat down, Danny stood. Boots were stomped and tables were slammed as applause rang out across the room until, eventually, he waved everyone down.

“All right you feckers, back in your seats. I’d like to thank you all for coming, especially given that it’s Christmas morning now. I’ve been told I should tell the bridesmaids how beautiful they looked. Em only had the one, so gobshite where are you?”

Nikki gave Danny the finger from across the room, which made everyone laugh.

“Lovely. Very lady-like. Till you opened your gob, you looked lovely.” He grinned, drunkenly.

“Where’s sunshine?” I was sat on my husband’s lap a few tables away, but I waved so that he could see me. After he had called Nikki a gobshite, I was a little afraid for my turn.

“The very first time I saw you, the sun was shining on that beautiful blond hair of yours, and you looked like an angel. Course you also looked like a gust of wind would blow you over, and you were scared stiff of me, but the more I got to know you, the more I realised that you were exactly like the other little scrappers I can’t get rid of. You’re a fighter, girl. You’ve fought for a better life, and with Con, I hope that you find all the love and happiness you deserve. That having been said, if the stupid eejit upsets you or gets out of line, you come and tell me, darlin’. There’s always room in his training for a couple of hundred more planks and burpees.” He paused for the laughter to die down.