Chapter 4

Sean Cassidy woke up late the next morning, feeling another hand clasping his own. His first thought was that it was awfully nice of Mrs. Bridges to sit beside him and wait for him to wake up, but the hand was too young and smooth to be hers. He opened his eyes, and there was Maeve, seated next to his bed.

"Morning, sleepy-head," she whispered. "Are you okay?"

"I will be," said Sean, squeezing her hand in return. "Did Tom bring you back here?"

"No, I came down on the train this morning. Tom doesn't know I'm here, he wasn't around when I came in."

"After he left...I was afraid he might not explain to you why I didn't go."

"It took him awhile, but eventually he broke down."

Sean started to laugh, but soon cringed, as it hurt his bruised ribs. "Honesty has never been my cousin's strong suit."

"I know, but I didn't come here to talk about Tom. I came here to see how you were doing, make sure you were okay," said Maeve.

"I'll live," said Sean. "Our doctor came and patched me up last night. The good news is I'll get the next week off work." Maeve laughed softly as he said this. "Of course, I won't be able to do much else in the meantime."

"Everything's a trade-off in life, isn't it? Listen, there's another reason I came down."

"And what's that?"

She moved in closer to him, so close that she had his hand just next to her head, and her gaze was inescapable. "I want to tell you that I've made my decision after all those months of stringing you and Tom along...and I choose you. You're the one I love."

Sean looked at the ceiling and held his eyes wide open, hoping that would keep Maeve from seeing the tears welling up. He'd been so afraid of asking her, and she'd just answered. He was lying there patched with bandages and splints, and it was the best morning of his life. Finally, he looked back at her, and said, "I love you too."

Maeve got up from the chair and, very carefully, began to climb onto the bed. She planted a knee on either side of his hips, just far enough apart that she wasn't resting any of her weight on him, and leaned down with her hands beside his shoulders. "Now make me a promise," she said, her face maybe a foot above his.

"Name it," he said.

"In the future, when you go to see me, don't go on your bike. Borrow Tom's car, take the train, anything, I don't care, just use something other than your bike, because I don't ever want to see you like this again."

"Perhaps I'll use the scream, and fly."

Maeve smiled. "Just try not to tire yourself out or scare too many old folks."

After that day, Tom stopped calling Maeve, and she didn't ask why. Sean continued to visit her whenever he had time, and she sometimes surprised them by showing up at the Keep, having taken the train or caught a ride with a friend going into Galway. She coordinated her trips well, always managing to show up when Sean was home. She was still always happy to see Tom when she visited, though most of her time was spent with Sean, alone. In late May, Maeve sent them two tickets to her university graduation ceremony, and they drove up to Omagh together.

Tom and Sean didn't see Maeve before the ceremony. They knew where to find her after it was over, because when she walked across the stage for her diploma, they heard a handful of people cheer for her. They looked in the direction of the cheering, and saw several people in another part of the audience, most of them at least old enough to be her parents, waving to her. After the ceremony was over, they made their way through the crowd to Maeve's family, and saw that she was doing the same. She reached her family before she noticed them, and happily jumped into her mother's outstretched arms. Sean and Tom continued to pull through the crowd as Maeve exchanged congratulations and thanks with the rest of her family, until she spotted them and broke away from her family to greet them.

"Darling, are these the two charming and handsome cousins you told us about from the Republic?" asked Mrs. Rourke when Maeve had towed them up.

"Yes, Mum," said Maeve. "Everyone, this is my love, Sean Cassidy, and my best friend, Tom Cassidy."

To Sean's relief, Maeve did not have a horde to fill up the town come to watch her graduate. It was just her mother; Anne, a homemaker, her father; Theodore, a pediatrician, her grandmother, Margaret, and her brother, Michael. Sean was tickled to hear that Maeve had told her mother about "two charming and handsome cousins" to describe him and Tom, when usually it was Tom who was described as charming and handsome while Sean was described as "a very nice young man." It was only a few minutes before they were invited to join the family for dinner to celebrate Maeve's graduation. It went very easily until Dr. Rourke (who insisted that Sean and Tom address him by his first name) asked them what they were doing with their lives.

"Sean's job is intriguing," Tom piped up. "Tell them about what you do, why don't you?"

He could see Maeve do her best to suppress an uncomfortable look, and Sean briefly felt caught with his pants down, since he wasn't supposed to tell anyone he was working for INTERPOL. He wasn't sure his employers would even approve of him telling Maeve, but he certainly wasn't about to push it by blabbing to her family in front of a restaurant full of people. Fortunately, he remembered what he'd studied at Trinity, and what he'd thought he'd end up doing for much of the time he was there. "I'm a Guard," he said. "I work for the force in Castlebar, it's been almost two years now. But it's really not all that interesting, picking up rowdy drunks and directing traffic. Tom, why don't you tell them what you do?"

This time, it was Tom who quickly glared at Sean, who hoped he'd have to say "Nothing, really" to Maeve's father, but while Sean was an occasional student in the art of lying, Tom was a guru. "I'm a teacher of sorts," he said brightly. "There's a bit of a youth center in Westport, and I teach Arts & Crafts classes to the children. It doesn't pay much, but I wouldn't do anything else."

Michael narrowed his eyes skeptically at Tom, but Margaret was delighted. "That's wonderful, dear," she said. "What good young men they have in the Republic."

When they were halfway through their meals, Sean screwed up his courage and got up from the table. He had been planning this act, and waiting for the right moment, for weeks. In truth, he'd been looking forward to it secretly for closer to six months, but he'd only been able to seriously plan it for a matter of weeks. He checked his pocket and verified that the box was there; it would be so embarrassing if it turned out that he didn't have it. Knowing it was still there, he leaned down to whisper into Maeve's ear, "Can I talk to you outside for a moment?"

"I don't see why not," Maeve shrugged, clearly perplexed by this request, but getting up from her seat nonetheless.

"What's going on?" asked Mrs. Rourke.

"Don't worry, I'll be back with your daughter right away," said Sean, and led Maeve by the hand outside.

"Mum asks a good question, Sean, what's going on?" asked Maeve once they were outside.

Sean led her just out of the view of the restaurant's windows, and her question quickly gave way to shock and excitement as he dropped to one knee and took her hand in both of his. Several passing pedestrians stopped to watch what would happen.

"There's nothing to see here!" Maeve yelled at them. "You people go about your business!"

He waited for her to stop glaring at the passersby, and when she looked at him again, he drew in a breath to proceed.

"Maeve Rourke," he began, with his voice trembling noticeably. "I love you more than anyone else in the world, and I can think of no greater joy than to share my life with you." Sean withdrew one hand to take the box out of his pocket. He opened the box to reveal a finely faceted blue topaz on a silver band. "Will you marry me?"

There was a strangled squealing noise from Maeve's throat as she clapped her hands to her mouth. She danced on her tiptoes like a little girl, with her eyes quickly growing damp. Finally, she managed to stand still and take her hands off her mouth. "Yes!" she cried. "Yes, I'll marry you!"

"Yes!" Sean burst out. He sprang to his feet and took Maeve into his arms on his way up, and spun her around until they were both dizzy.

"What was that about, dear?" asked Anne when they returned to stand by the table.

Sean bit into the inside of his lower lip to keep quiet; Maeve waited until the whole table was looking at her. Then, she held up her hand to show off her new engagement ring. "Sean and I are getting married!"

The table broke out into a burst of happiness; Anne got up and kissed her daughter's cheeks, then did the same to Sean. There were several people from other tables applauding them, too, when Theodore got up to give Maeve a hug and shook hands with Sean until his arm was ready to pop off.

Once they were all seated again, and the table had calmed down into a steady rhythm of congratulations and planning, Tom excused himself from the table. He hid himself in a stall in the men's room, where he took the top edge of the wall in his hand and proceeded to bang his head into the wall repeatedly.

The drive back into County Mayo was unnaturally quiet.