Part 21
The room
remained eerily silent and no one uttered a word. I knew my parents needed time to process all
of this, as it must have come as quite the shock to them. I’d had romantic relationships before of
course but never to the depths of this one.
I’m sure they both thought I’d taken complete leave of my senses. I wanted
to give them time to digest this, and I knew it wouldn’t be easy for them
especially for my Mum. I also knew that
whatever they did say, I wouldn’t tolerate them insulting Lorelei or having any
talk of her being some sort of Jezebel that had led me astray and was only
going to lead me down the road to ruin.
The
silence in the room was almost deafening.
I couldn’t even hear the beating of my heart which I could feel racing
like it wanted to leap out of my throat.
I couldn’t take it anymore. “Mum, Dad, would you say something,
anything.” I implored them. My Dad finally spoke “So you love her and want to
spend the rest of your life with her.”
It was more of a statement than a question. “Yes, Sir, I do. I love her
with all my heart. She’s the best thing
that has ever happened to me. If you
give her a chance you’ll see that as well.” “I have seen it in her already
lad. I know you think me a stodgy old
codger at times and that I don’t always pay attention to what’s going on around
me but I assure you I do. First
impressions speak volumes with me, and she made a good one when you brought her
over to meet us the other day.” He said.
I was totally floored.
“Don’t look so utterly daft boy, for at the moment
you resemble some sort of Welsh halfwit that looks like he should be twanging
on a harp whilst standing underneath a bridge.”
“Lorelei here had the courage and the decency to come and meet all of
us, and even though that’s a daunting experience she did it with grace. She was polite and respectful of your Mum and
me, engaged your brother and sister and their spouses in conversation and was
attentive to them. She clearly adores
the kids and wasn’t afraid to show it. I
also know how deep her love for you runs.
You can see it plain as day in her face the way it lights up each time
she lays eyes on you and it’s in the depth of her eyes, for her eyes mirror
what’s in that girls soul.” My Father seemed to be on a roll with his little
talk, so I just tightened my arm around Lorelei and drew her closer as he
continued.
“She’s a fine, spirited little filly, and
she’ll be sure to give you a couple of fine children that I’ll be able to
dandle upon my knee.” Lorelei flushed
crimson at that blunt pronouncement.
“You’ve done well for yourself choosing your bride to be lad. I can’t speak for your Mum but I for one will
welcome the girl to the clan with open arms.”
“What say you Roisin?” my Dad
inquired of my Mum. I fully expected my Mum to go ballistic on the two of us,
as she’d been sitting there with her lips firmly pursed together the entire time,
since this conversation had taken place.
I shifted my weight, as I waited for her to unleash her wrath, and fully
prepared myself to listen to the lecture of my life.
“Liam
Padriag Conlin you know I didn’t raise you to live with a woman without the
benefit of marriage.” She intoned sternly. This only served to reinforce my
thoughts that this was going to turn into one barn burner of a conversation. “We also taught you to be truthful, and you
are being that now, even though you know my thoughts on this matter all too
well. You were willing to sit here and
risk my anger, for the sake of the woman that sits at your side, and for that I
can’t fault you.” The features on her
face were softening as she spoke and it gave me hope that maybe things were
going to go far better than I could have anticipated.
“Mum” I
began but she quickly cut me off.
“You’ve said your piece, and your Father has spoken his now it’s my
turn, so you’ll kindly sit there and you’ll listen to me now, young man.” She
informed me pointedly. “Now this situation isn’t entirely ideal in my eyes, but
I know she’s a good woman with a good heart.
I also can see she’s very much in love with you, or she wouldn’t be here
with you now, with the knowledge that I’m very apt to totally fly off the
handle with you both. She’ll be the one
that will be by your side no matter what happens in your lives, even if it
means facing a fiery old dragon like your Mother.”
“I’ve
known you better than anyone all these years Liam, you were once a part of me
and shared my body with me. A mother
doesn’t forget a thing like that. I
always knew when you were hurting inside or were scared about something, and
I’ve shared your joys and triumphs over the years as well. You were my first born and will always be my
pride and joy, no matter what you do. I
will accept the fact you’re a man that makes his own decisions in his life and
I’ll respect you for that. I will also
accept Lorelei as my daughter and a member of this family.” I could feel the relieve sweeping over me in
waves and I knew it must be the same for Lorelei. She’d been nervously twisting the ring on her
finger as my Mum had her say about things.
“Now how
about that drink?” my Dad asked again.
“Just a wee dram that will whet the whistle and it will also serve as a
toast the future bride and groom. What
say you?” “It’s a grand idea indeed Seamus. I’ll get the wine glasses and you open a nice
bottle.” My Mum added. “Would you like any help?” Lorelei and I chimed in
unison. “No, no, we’ll leave you two lovebirds alone for a few minutes.” Said
my Father and he gave us both a wink as he ushered my Mother out of the room
with his hand on the small of her back guiding her out of the living room. “Wow”
I breathed deeply. “That went better than I ever thought it would. How are you doing with all this?” I asked
Lorelei as I gazed into her eyes and gently kissed her temple.
“I’m
relieved and it gives me hope that my parents will be as understanding and as
accepting as yours were.” She snuggled in closer under my arm and gave turned
her face upwards towards mine. I knew my
parents were right about her she was indeed a fine spirited little filly as my
Father predicted, and she would also be the one person that would remain by my
side no matter what as my Mother had said.
In that instant I loved her even more and let her know it by the depth
of the emotions in the kiss I exchanged with her, one that I would cherish
fondly in my memory in the years to come.
“That’s
my boy!!” I heard my Dad’s voice ring out followed by a hearty warm laugh. Both
Lorelei and I began to blush at being caught kissing by my parents as though we
were a pair of teenagers, who’d been left unsupervised and had taken advantage
of the situation. “Oh hush Seamus you mustn’t tease them,
they’ve been through enough this evening.” My Mum chided him. “Hells bells
woman, he’s no son of mine if he’s embarrassed to show the woman he loves some
affection no matter who’s about.” And with that my Dad gave my Mum a kiss that
left her rather pink cheeked. She gave
him a reproving look but you could also see the woman in her still appreciated
the attentions of her husband. It made
me look at my parents in a whole new light.
Mum busied herself pouring the wine that Dad
had uncorked and passing around the glasses for the toast. We raised our
glasses as my Dad solemnly intoned a blessing I’d hear many times over the
years “May you both be blessed with the strength of heaven, The light of the
sun and the radiance of the moon, The splendor of fire, The speed of
lightening, The swiftness of wind, The depth of the sea, The stability of
earth, and the firmness of rock. Here’s
to my son Liam and his lovely future bride Lorelei, my new daughter.” “Our new daughter” my Mother corrected him as
we raised our glasses in a toast and each took a drink. “Thank you so much. This means the world to me.” I said to my
parents. “It means the world to both of
us.” Lorelei corrected me gently and before I knew it hugs were being exchanged
amongst all of us.
We sat
sipping wine and chatting more about our future plans with my parents. My Mum
of course offered to take a very active part in any wedding planning
activities. Which to her credit, Lorelei was very gracious about, even though
we all knew my Mum would try to get the upper hand and do things her way. The rest of our visit with my parents passed
pleasantly enough, but soon we were begging off, as there were things we still
needed to do this evening. “Oh but you
just got here, do stay for a while longer.”
Mum was obviously warming to the idea of me being settled down with a
wife more and more as the evening went on. “No Mum, we really do have to be
going we’ve got things out in the car that need to unpack and put away at the
house. We’ll be back soon, and we
promise to keep you in the loop about our plans.” I said rising to go and
Lorelei stood up as well.
My
parents walked us to the door and gave us each a hug. I could still see the
wheels spinning in my Mums head about wedding plans and how soon she could get
the two of us to the alter without people thinking we had to get married
because parenthood was an eminent danger to the two of us. Mother had always been one to be overly concerned
with social standing and what others might perceive as scandalous. Bless her heart though she was doing her very
best to accept the current situation and genuinely accept Lorelei into the
family, and I loved her for it.
It was a fairly quiet ride home for the two of us,
as I think we both needed to process all that had just happened. We’d talk it over of course, but right now we
needed a bit of time to just put everything into perspective and I’m sure it was
also weighing heavily on Lorelei’s mind how the same conversation would go when
we had it with her parents. My parents
had at least had the advantage of meeting her and spending a bit of time
getting to know her, whereas her parents didn’t know me from Adam. We’d get through it though, come hell or high
water. Lorelei reached out at this point in my thoughts and placed her hand on
my knee and gave it a little pat as if to say exactly the same thing, we’d see
it through together.
We arrived home and quickly unloaded the
car and carried the boxes and other items that we’d packed up at the
apartment. Liam was in the process of
returning the empty boxes to the trunk of the car so we could use them again on
another trip and I was watering plants and arranging my pots of herbs on the
window sill of the kitchen when I heard the repetitive chiming of the doorbell.
I called out to Liam that I’d answer it, and headed for the door. I was barely able to open it when Molly
bounced in with Meagan in tow. “I
couldn’t wait to congratulate you two!!” She bubbled and gave me a warm hug.
Molly was still chattering away animatedly as Liam came up behind me and
wrapped his arm around my waist.
“I
see news travels faster than the speed of light in this family.” He grinned at
his kid sister, who just gave him a fast and furious bear hug. “I so can’t believe it. My big brother is finally ready to take the
plunge. Have you too set a date yet? Did Mum pitch a complete fit when you told
her the news? I mean it’s really sudden
but when you know you’ve found the one you know it. Details I need details.” “Molly you are your
Mother’s child, you’re so like her.” Liam teased her. “I AM NOT!!” retorted
Molly defensively. “Okay maybe just a
little” and she giggled which set us all off in a gale of laughter. “Oh look
Mommie, Uncle Liam has a kitty!!” exclaimed Megan excitedly. At this point
Barclay has chosen to stroll in and check out what all the fuss was about. “Here, kitty, kitty.” She called to him. “What’s his name? Can I play with him?” she
asked excitedly.
“His names Barclay and of course you can
play with him. Why don’t you and Uncle
Liam go take him into the living room and get some of his toys, and I’ll go get
us some refreshments to enjoy while we have a visit, okay?” “Sure” Molly
grinned. “Come on Kitty, I mean Barclay,
lets’ go play. You too Uncle Liam come
on.” She said grabbing his hand and dragging him out towards the living room. Barclay little ham that he was pranced along,
tail held high after his new little playmate. “I’ll just give Lorelei a hand”
chirped Molly after them, as she followed me out to the kitchen. “I’m sorry
about the mess in here. We were just in
the middle of putting things away when you two arrived.” I apologized.
“Are you kidding me?” Molly fired back at
me. “This kitchen is still neater then
the state it’s normally in. Why don’t
you finish up what you were doing and tell me what I can do to help with the
snacks.” She added. “That would be great
thanks so much. I’d appreciate it.” I
said to her gratefully. “There’s cookies
in the cookie jar on the counter and then just take whatever you want for
drinks out of the fridge, there’s milk, juice, iced tea, your choice help
yourself to anything. I’m sure you know
where the glasses and a plate for the cookies are.” I said as I busied myself
putting things away in the fridge and cupboards. “There are actually cookies in the cookie
jar!” Molly said sounding astounded by
the fact, as she took some out and placed them on the plate she’d taken from
the nearby cupboard. “Actually I understand that statement.” I laughed. “When I went to fill it up after I baked the
other day before we went to your folks place,
I found among other things a partial roll of duct tape, a Swiss Army
knife, several fishing lures, 9 dollars in loonies, a bunch of crumpled
Canadian Tire money, twist ties, and a hockey puck.”
“That sounds more like what I’m used
to. He’s very MacGyver at times.” And we
both burst into laughter. “Everything okay out there? Do you ladies need some help?” We heard Liam calling to us from the living
room. “No, No, we’re fine thanks” I called back to him between bursts of
giggles. I got a tray out and Molly
loaded it with the plate of cookies along with the drinks she’d poured for
us. She carried that out to the living
room while I followed her with a couple of potted plants I planned on adding to
the living room. I placed the
philodendron on the top shelf of one of the bookcases for now and quickly
arranged the hanging vines on it, the other potted plant resided on an end
table until I discovered the best place for it.
Liam was on the floor with Megan and they
were tossing toys back and forth between them as Barclay went into hunter mode
and would chase them madly, tackle them and the proudly strut to one of them
and drop his prey before them seeking
adoration for his offerings. “What was so funny out in the kitchen?” he asked
with a quizzical look on his face. “Nothing at all big brother of mine. I was
just having a little girl talk with my new soon to be sister. Right Lor?” and
she gave a conspiratorial wink, which I returned. “Well Dad would say ‘Laughing
girls and cackling hens never come to any good ends.” Liam teased us. “That’s
whistling girls, silly” returned Molly.
I loved to see how close he was to his sister and the good natured
heckling and teasing that went on between them.
You could tell they had a genuine connection and affection for each
other.
Liam shrugged “Close enough for me. I can see I’m going to be left out of the
loop on this one so I’ll just accept it.
Come on munchkin” he said to Meagan” let’s have a cookie and some
juice.” He untangled himself from where
he’d been sitting on the floor and moved over to the couch and took a seat. Meagan
helped herself to a cookie and deposited herself on her Uncle’s lap. She nibbled happily on her cookie and sipped
her glass of juice while the rest of us talked a bit. Molly of course was full
of questions. Especially about how
things had gone when we dropped our little bomb shell on the family. “Better
you than me.” Was how she summed it up the situation, “I would have would have
been quaking in my boots about their reaction.
I mean you guys have only been dating a couple of weeks not even, I mean
I just about had a kitten on the spot when Colin and I went to tell Mum and Dad
we’d gotten engaged I thought they’d totally freak even though we’d dated for
nearly two years when we did.”
“Little pitchers have big ears.” I said as
a reminder that perhaps some things
might be better left to discuss at a later date. Liam gave Molly and me a
knowing look over Meagan’s head. “Uncle Liam?” said Meagan softly. “What is it princess?” Liam asked her. “Are you still going to love me when you get
married?” she asked solemnly. “Forever and always, and now you’ll have someone
else that loves you too. I promise.” He
said and gave her a cuddle. “Meagan, you’ll always be special to your Uncle
Liam and to me as well. In fact we
couldn’t think of having a wedding without you.” I told her. “Really?” she said
brightening. “Yes, really, we’ll need a
flower girl and you’d be perfect that’s if you want to.” “I dunno. What do they do?” She asked. “Well you get to wear a very pretty
outfit and carry a basket with flower petals and you sprinkle handfuls of the
petals as you walk. Then you’ll have to
stand up front with Uncle Liam and I and some other people and make sure
everything goes just right. Would you
like to do that?” I asked her. “I can do that easy peasy!” she said
excitedly. “Good then that’s
settled. That’s going to be such a big
help to us both. Thank you Meagan.” I
added and she positively beamed with delight.
I knew that it was important to make sure
Meagan understood that she wasn’t going to get lost in the shuffle of things, to reassure her that that there was still a
place for her in her Uncle Liam’s life.
I also knew how close Liam was to his niece and nephews and I wanted to
make sure that it stayed that way for all their sakes. Liam knew exactly what I
was up to and I could tell from the look on his face that he more than
approved. Molly also seemed pleased with
the way I’d handled things, being sensitive to her little ones feelings and needs.
“Oh gosh, I didn’t realize what time it was.
I’ve got to scoot. I know I
shouldn’t have come over unannounced like this but I just couldn’t wait to
congratulate you both. Come on Meagan
time to say our good nights and be on our way.”
“Okay Mom.”
She gave her uncle a hug and at the same time whispered something confidentially
in his ear. I was the next recipient and
even Barclay got a hug good bye which caused him do his cuteness times two routine, which
meant purring like a motorboat and rubbing his head affectionately against
Meagan’s cheek as she cuddled him. We saw them to the door and waved good bye as
they drove away before returning to the living room and curling up together on
the sofa. “So think we’ll have any more visitors tonight?” I asked Liam as I
snuggled into him. “Nope, we should be good sweetie, but rest assured Sean has
been informed and is now currently thinking of ways to avoid having to wear a
monkey suit complete with a bow tie.”
Liam grinned as the thought of his brother and his obvious distress over
the dress code he’d just cited.
I raised a quizzical eyebrow at him.” Funny I
don’t recall us discussing the dress code, bridal party or anything else, other
than Meagan playing a part in it.” You’d be quite correct, but you have met my
Mum and trust me she’s already plotting, I mean planning.” He corrected
himself. “I think you got it right the first time with plotting.” And we both
started giggling. “Oh she is going to be
a force to be reckoned with, isn’t she?” I asked him. “I’m afraid she is, but we’ll get it al
sorted and we’ll have the wedding we want I promise.” He reassured me, and gave me kiss on the
cheek.
“We’ve had another big day together
haven’t we? I asked her as I wrapped my arms around her and held her close. `That
we did. I can admit it to you now but I
was pretty much terrified when we first told your folks. I honestly figured they were going to read us
the riot act, tell us we were crazy and being totally irresponsible and I don`t
know what all else. I also pretty much figured
they`d call me every name in the book and none of them very flattering, and I`m
so thankful they didn`t. Guess I just
went in there prepared for the worst case scenario. Thankfully it turned out far better than I
ever imagined it would.” Lorelei said the relief that it was now behind us
evident in her voice.
“I was pretty sure it was going turn out to
be a living nightmare myself. Overall I
think it went pretty smoothly. Mum still
isn’t keen on the concept of us living together and if anything comes up like a
family trip before we are married, we’ll be expected to take separate bedrooms
we’ll also probably have chaperones at the door to ensure no fraternizing.” I
chuckled at the thought “It’s going to be exactly the same way at my Mom and
Dad’s place next weekend. I totally understand.
I think it was pretty terrific of her to put her feelings aside though
and still welcome me into the fold the way she did. Fingers crossed things will go as well with
my folks and the drama will be kept to a minimum.” She sighed.
“Hang in there champ it’s going to be fine
and no matter what I’ll be right there beside you. Got it?” he said tilting my chin up and
looking me in the eyes. “Got it.” And I knew she really did get it that I would
be the one constant in her life that she’d be able to count on. “So in an
effort to get your mind of next weekend how about giving a fashion show for
your favourite guy in the world?” I
asked mischievously, my eyes twinkling brightly. “I’ve been enjoying your
little shows when you nick some of my clothes and wear them, now how about
trying it with some of your own.” “You’re thinking about some of the things in
my lingerie drawer that you packed up earlier tonight aren’t you? She asked and
her own eyes were sparkling with their own devilish little spark in them at the
thought.
“Well seeing as how you brought the
subject up………..”my voice trailed off in a husky tone, as I trailed my finger
down the contour of her throat and stroked it lightly over the crescent of her
breast. “I brought the subject up?” she said trying to sound peeved but
failing, so I got a little poke in the ribs with her elbow, so she could make
her point. “Was there anything in particular you had in mind?” her voice very
sultry and enticing. “It’s all good to me sweetheart.” And I leaned down and
kissed those delicate lips of hers that I knew oh so well. It was going to be another magical night in
paradise for the two of us, I could feel it already in my heart.
The Tale shall be continued, just click on the "chapters" button up on the top right for more!
while you are awaiting the next installment and you've enjoyed what you've read so far,
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