Title: Of fathers, daughters and relationships.
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to the fabulous Ms. Tiernan.
Hunter Niall was sitting at the kitchen table in the small cottage he lived in along with his wife and daughter.
He had gotten back from a meeting with the New Charter and was quietly relaxing with a cup of tea.
It wasn't often that the cottage was so quiet, but Morgan was in Wexford on a healing job and Moira was at school. The only people in the house were himself and Finnegan the dog.
Then the peace was shattered. A door slammed and Moira, his 18-year-old daughter stormed in like a two-year-old having a temper tantrum.
"That's it!" she shouted. "I'm sick of it! I hate school! I'm going to fail my bloody Leaving Cert! What, in the Goddess' name, is the point?"
She flung her schoolbag across the room and threw herself down on the couch, narrowly missing Finn, who was startled by his mistress' sudden and violent entrance.
Hunter sighed and put down his cup. So much for quiet.
Morgan, being American and quite forthright, would have straight out asked Moira what was wrong but Hunter, being originally English, was quite a bit more reserved.
"Cuppa?" he asked. Moira nodded grumpily.
With long practiced motions, Hunter filled the tin kettle and set it on the stove to boil.
Ah, tea. The universal comforter of both Irish and English society. Morgan of course, preferred Diet Coke, even now, after living in Ireland for years.
Hunter suppressed a shudder at the thought of the sickly sweet fizzy drink.
He added a teabag to the pot and poured the hot water. Leaving it steep for a minute, he grabbed a mug off the draining board.
Taking the handle of the teapot, he found it too hot to hold and covered his hand with his sleeve. He added milk and sugar and took the mug over to Moira.
Watching the familiar process of the tea making seemed to have calmed her down a bit. She took a grateful sip. He sat on the couch next to her.
"Bad day?"
"One of the worst."
"How so?"
"History. Test. I've just discovered that it was bloody Martin Luther instead of bloody Martin Luther King we were supposed to be writing about. Won't Miss McGillicuddy have a grand time correcting that!"
Somehow, Hunter thought there was more to this particular outburst than a failed history test.
"Anything else?"
"Yes" Moira folded her arms and looked down, not volunteering any information.
"Are you going to tell me?"
"Probably not"
"Why?"
"Because you're my Da"
"Is it something you want to talk to your Mum about?"
"No"
"Your friends?"
"No"
"Ian?"
"Maybe"
"Something to do with him so?"
Silence. Sighing, Hunter rubbed the back of his neck. "Moira I don't have the power to tell what people are thinking without doing a táth meánma with them. If you want me to help, you have to tell me what's wrong."
Silence. "Fine" Hunter got up and started clearing away the tea things.
Suddenly Moira spoke up. "It's Ian."
Hunter stopped tidying and sat next to her again.
"Did you fight?"
"No"
"Did he hurt you in any way?"
"No"
"Did you hurt him in any way?"
"No"
"So, what?"
Moira said nothing for a minute or two but Hunter waited, patiently.
"He's my múirn beatha dán."
"And…"
Moira's cheeks flushed and she looked down at the cushion she was hugging.
"I love him. And he loves me."
Hunter waited for her to say more but he had a nagging feeling where this was going.
"We were thinking… we were thinking of…"
Hunter finished her sentence for her. "Sleeping together?"
Her cheeks burning, Moira nodded.
Hunter felt dizzy, though he kept up a calm exterior. His daughter was confiding in him that she and her boyfriend wanted to sleep together.
On the one hand, he was glad she trusted him enough to confide in him. Goddess knew he'd never talked to his father about sleeping with Morgan.
On the other hand, he was her father and as all fathers should, he thought she was far too young.
On the other other hand at her age, Morgan had already slept with him. Goddess, this was confusing. There were too many hands.
Finally he spoke, slowly and carefully. "You've read your Mum's Books of Shadows haven't you?"
Moira nodded. "Then you know, she was seventeen and I was nineteen when we first made love."
Moira nodded, her cheeks stained pink. "You know I can't exactly be objective about this, since I am your father."
Moira nodded again. She was beginning to feel like one of those toy dogs with the bobbing heads that her Mum had stuck on the dashboard of her car.
"He isn't pressuring you is he?"
"No"
"Well, you can thank the Goddess for that!"
Moira looked puzzled. "Why?"
Hunter let out a short laugh. "If your Mum ever got wind of it… well… did she ever tell you about Bakker Blackburn, your Aunt Mary K.'s old boyfriend?"
Moira shook her head. "He was pressuring her to sleep with him. Morgan found him pinning her down and she shot witch fire at him. I was surprised she didn't do more, actually"
"Really? Mum?" Hunter nodded.
"Well, back to the issue at hand… all I can say is wait until it feels right." Moira was glad and a little surprised that her Da was being so rational.
A lot of fathers would have exploded then and there. He was actually taking everything she said into account and giving solid advice based on it.
"You know, you're Mum and I were planning to make love just before I left for Canada to find my Da."
Moira nodded. She'd read about that in Mum's Book of Shadows. She also knew that they actually hadn't.
"You know, we didn't because it didn't feel right. I was leaving in the morning. I didn't want to leave your Mum there by herself. I wanted to be there for her the morning after."
Moira nodded again. That made sense, really.
"We'd troubles after. There was a witch in Canada… Justine Courceau… and… but that doesn't really matter. We actually first made love on a Beltane Eve. I think it was a good time, Beltane being what it is. It felt like the Goddess was blessing our love."
Hunter paused for a minute, as if it was hard for him to talk, and Moira supposed that it must be, really. Mostly it was mothers who handled talks like these.
"All I'm saying is. If you're sure you want to do this, wait until it feels right. And if it happens to feel right, Beltane is a good time."
Moira smiled, her bad mood lifted and Hunter had a look of relief on his face.
"Thanks, Da"
"Your welcome. Now, if you want to actually be able to tell the difference between Martin Luther and Martin Luther King in your Leaving, I'd suggest you do your homework."
Moira swung her schoolbag over her shoulder and continued up the stairs to her room. There wasn't a sound out of her for an hour or more.
Shortly after an hour had passed, Hunter sensed Morgan coming up the front path. He went to greet her at the door.
"Hello, love"
She wrapped her arms about his neck and sighed. "Goddess, what a day."
"Busy?" he asked sympathetically.
"Yes"
"Well, you're home now. How about a cup of tea?"
Morgan laughed. "Is that your cure for everything? Tea?"
"Pretty much"
Hunter put his arms at Morgan's waist and drew her inside the cottage.
"Tea?" she nodded gratefully. He heated that which was left in the teapot and poured her a mug. He also poured one for himself.
They sat on the small couch together, Morgan snuggled up close to Hunter.
"Is Moira here?" she asked.
"Yes. She's upstairs doing her homework."
"Is she all right?"
"Yes… now."
"She wasn't before?"
"She was a bit upset coming back from school but I talked to her about it."
"About what?"
"Oh, no. I can't betray my daughter's confidence, now can I?"
Morgan turned to see the twinkle in Hunter's green eyes.
"You're doing that on purpose!"
"Maybe."
"Why you… setting her mug down, Morgan fell on Hunter and tickled him until he begged for mercy.
"Ha!" she said, triumphantly, drawing back. "That'll teach you to tease your wife."
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure…"
Hunter suddenly grabbed Morgan and rolled over so that she was lying under him on the couch. "I've always been a slow learner."
They kissed sweetly and suddenly Morgan giggled. "What?" Hunter asked, with an amused smile on his face.
"Do you remember when we went on that picnic with Bree and Robbie in Taunton and they went to the foreign film?"
Hunter recalled the event and laughed at the memory "Yes, Goddess. You and those chipmunks!"
He imitated the squeaky voice Morgan had put on. "Mommy, what are those great ugly animals doing?"
Morgan put on the 'mother chipmunk' voice. "Don't look sweetie, just go back in the tree."
The couple looked at each other and burst out laughing. Morgan pushed Hunter off her and he landed on the floor with a heavy thud. "Hey!"
Morgan rolled off too and Hunter let out an 'oof' as she landed on top of him.
She looked into his beautiful green eyes and breathlessly they leaned towards each other until their lips met in a perfect kiss.
A voice from the top of the stairs broke them apart. "Do you have to do that right in the middle of the living room? How would you like it if you found Ian and me rolling around the floor like that?"
Morgan sat up to look at her daughter. "Firstly we are your parents and it is our right to do this if we want to. Secondly…" She gave a wicked grin. "Katrina mentioned finding you and Ian in positions worse than this on more than one occasion."
Moira looked at her parents with all the lofty wisdom of an18-year-old. "It was a rhetorical question" she said and flounced back up the stairs.
Hunter grinned and pulled Morgan down to him again. She ran her fingers through his light blond hair, making it stick up haphazardly.
"Did anyone ever find us in worse positions than this?" he asked mischievously.
"Not my parents" Morgan answered at once. "They would have kicked you out the door faster than you could say 'athame'. Mary K. did a couple of times."
"Did Sky ever?"
"Don't think so"
"No." Hunter drew Morgan as close to him as possible. "We were good."
Morgan smiled "It did help that you could do a 'see me not' spell every time you had to get out of my bedroom"
"That could have been it." Hunter agreed. He looked at Morgan lovingly. "I have the most amazing women in my life" he said.
"That you do" Morgan agreed. "You're not a bit modest are you?"
"Nope. Don't have to be. I'm Morgan Niall of Belwicket."
"That you are" He leaned into kiss her softly. "I love you Morgan."
"I love you Hunter."