With Oliver and Grace in newly-wedded bliss after their convalidation and Annie happily in the care of her cousins, Mrs. Pugh telephoned the couple's room the following morning to ask them if they would mind if she took the opportunity to visit her own family. Of course, The Warbucks' were quite happy for her to go and see her family, and very encouraging. The Maguires were very pleased to keep Annie for another night so that Mrs. Pugh could spend time with her loved ones and so that the besotted couple could have a couple of days alone together to enjoy a proper honeymoon.

So, Mrs. Pugh took the early afternoon train to Dublin to visit her eagerly awaiting family, who she had not seen in quite some years.

After speaking to Mrs. Pugh and confirming with Grace's cousins that they were OK to have Annie for another night, the happy couple enjoyed a leisurely hotel breakfast before exploring Cork city. Grace was thrilled to be able to explore her ancestral home and Oliver was enchanted by her excitement. He enjoyed the many wonders of the city, but he enjoyed his wife's reaction to them even more.

As they were walking back to the hotel in the early evening to dress for dinner, a torrential downpour was unleashed from the sky, taking the couple who'd been too distracted by love, by surprise. Grace gasped as she became soaked to the skin. Oliver swore and took her by the hand, dragging her under a nearby alcove. Grace was in fits of laughter, despite being drenched from head to toe.

"I don't know what's so funny!" Oliver shouted over the deafeningly loud rainfall.

"Oh come on darling, don't you know how terribly romantic it is to be caught in the rain with the one you love?" Grace beamed up at him, blinking rapidly as raindrops blurred her vision.

Oliver gazed down at her. Her hair was matted, and her clothes were soaked and she was still the most gorgeous thing he'd ever laid eyes on. He couldn't help but smile right back at her, laughter bubbling up in his chest as he internalized the fact that only she could make him believe in such a ridiculous notion as being rained on as somehow being romantic.

He took her by the arm and spun her back out onto the deserted street. At first she gasped in shock, but then a grin overtook her face as she reached her arms up around his neck and pulled him down to kiss him.

Oliver shook his head at himself as they separated again. Making him do things he never thought he'd do seemed to be Grace's special talent. "C'mon you", he chuckled, reaching for her hand again and pulling her inside the pub they happened to be standing outside of.

The manager greeted them with a smile as they sat down at the bar. "Welcome to the Oval, folks. My name's Eugene and I run this fine establishment. You two look as if you could do with a little somethin' to warm ye bones."

"Two whiskeys, neat", Oliver confirmed with a nod of his head.

"Americans are ye?" Eugene asked as he poured their drinks.

"Yes sir, but my wife's family are from these parts."

"Then welcome home", Eugene smiled at Grace who returned it appreciatively.

"Actually I could tell you were Irish from the moment you walked in the door, lassie", Eugene stated confidently.

"Oh?" Grace laughed. "How is that?"

"Only the most beautiful women are Irish", the barkeeper grinned, making Grace blush and giggle.

"Easy Eugene", Oliver only half seriously warned the man who was easily seventy years old.

"Which part of America do you live in?" Eugene continued the conversation, undeterred by Oliver's threatening tone.

"New York", Oliver answered.

"Ahh, the Big Apple."

"Yes", both Grace and Oliver nodded in surprise.

"And what do you do there, Sir?"

"Oh this and that", Oliver answered vaguely.

Grace glanced at her husband with a wry smile. Clearly Eugene had no idea who they were and she didn't blame Oliver for wanting to maintain his anonymity.

"Man o' mystery, eh?" Eugene smirked.

"I'm a businessman. Not unlike yourself", Oliver answered in a still evasive but more friendly way.

"Right." The barman chuckled. "Do ye have children the two of ye?" Eugene asked the pair, moving the conversation on.

"We have a daughter, Annie", Grace's face lit up with warmth while Oliver showed Eugene a photograph of their daughter which he kept in his wallet.

"Well, there's an Irish looking child if ever I saw one", Eugene commented and Grace and Oliver chuckled.

"Oh really?" Grace questioned him. Of course there wasn't any way that Eugene could have known that Annie wasn't biologically theirs.

"Aye. Who does she get the red hair from?" Eugene squinted at the couple as if trying to figure it out.

"We don't know", Oliver answered honestly and Grace added, "Annie is adopted."

"Is that so?" He looked back down at the picture and an intent look came over his face.

"This girl o' yours. You adopted her in America?"

"Of course", Oliver answered, confused by the strange question.

There was a faraway look in Eugene's eyes when he said. "It's just that, she's the absolute spittin' image of a girl I once knew."

Oliver and Grace both turned to each other, their eyebrows raised. It was quite possible that Eugene was a bit old and confused, but then again, they had never even seen a picture of Annie's biological family.

How crazy of a coincidence would it be that Annie's own flesh and blood could have hailed from the exact same part of the globe as Grace's?

"Owen!" Eugene called across the bar to a younger man who was serving another customer. He turned back briefly to Oliver, asking "May I?" Pointing to the photograph of Annie.

With a small amount of hesitation, Oliver handed the photo of Annie over to Eugene.

"Yes Da?" The young man Owen addressed Eugene who Grace and Oliver worked out must have been his Father.

"Who does that look like to you?" The older man asked.

"Blimey…is it Maggie?" Owen's tone was one of astonishment.

Eugene shook his head. "It's their adopted daughter. Annie."

"Pardon me, did you say…Maggie?" Oliver questioned the two men.

Owen nodded his head. "Maggie McCorley. An old school friend of mine. Your daughter's a dead ringer for her."

"Maggie…short for Margaret?" Grace asked Owen who nodded again. "Aye." Grace swallowed thickly.

"Where is this Margeret McCorley now?" Oliver asked, feeling the same eerie sensation he knew his wife was feeling.

Owen bowed his head, appearing too uncomfortable to speak on the matter.

Eugene spoke on his son's behalf. "Well as a matter of fact, young Maggie moved to America…oh, must've been thirteen, fourteen years back. There were letters for a while but nobody's heard from her in over a decade. It's like she vanished, no one knows what became of her but everyone has their own suspicions."

Beneath the bar, Grace reached for Oliver's hand. Both of them were trembling.

"Did Maggie travel to America alone?" Oliver croaked.

"No", Owen raised his head again. "She was newly married, she and her husband traveled together."

Oliver squeezed Grace's hand. Both of them had a pit in their stomach. Oliver felt instinctively that he knew the answer already, but he still had to ask the question. "What was the name of her husband?"

"David…David Bennett."

The wail that came from Grace's mouth seemed to fill the entire bar. She covered her face with her hands and sobbed violently while Oliver closed his eyes in shock, holding onto the bar to stop himself from falling off his stool.

"Jakers! What's the matter, Missus?" Eugene asked Grace in concern.

Oliver shakily opened his mouth to speak. "Gentlemen…we know very little about Annie's birth parents, What we do know is that they both passed away in December of nineteen-twenty-two and that their names were David and Margaret Bennett."

Eugene and Owen both turned pale. "God have Mercy", Eugene muttered as he made the sign of the cross.

"B-but it could still be a coincidence. They are very common names, after all", Owen reasoned and Oliver conceded. "You're right, it could just be a coincidence and if it isn't, then what remarkable fate it is that has led us here today."

As Grace recovered from her shock and the myriad of other emotions she was feeling, she asked the Irish men, "Do you know of anyone who might be able to help us find out?"

"Maggie's Mother, Ailis, she lives just down the road from here."

Oliver and Grace's jaws simultaneously dropped. "Margaret Bennett's Mother is still living?"

"Excuse me, I need some air", Grace gasped and ran out of the pub back into the street where the rain was still pouring. She couldn't have cared less about the weather as she stood sobbing on the cobblestoned lane.

Oliver ran out behind her. "Grace", his voice was mournful, he didn't quite know what to say. "Grace, Owen and Eugene have the address of Mrs. McCorley."

"And you want to go and meet her?" Grace blinked. "Aren't you afraid? What if she wants to take Annie away from us?"

"We don't even know that they're the same people yet, Grace", Oliver pointed out in an attempt to calm her, but Grace shook her head dismissively. It wasn't just their names it was the fact that Annie's picture had looked so much like the local Cork girl who had mysteriously disappeared around the same time Annie's Mother had died. Hers and Annie's faces were so similar that upon seeing their daughter's face, Eugene and Owen had acted almost as if they'd seen a ghost.

"We owe it to Annie to find out", Oliver said with much more calm than he felt. He was just as nervous as Grace was about potentially finding Annie's biological Grandmother.

With tears in her eyes, Grace nodded in agreement. She knew he was right. If they had a chance to help Annie reconnect with her birth family, they had an obligation both to the child and her Grandmother to do so, and if they didn't take the chance, Grace knew in her heart she would never be able to forgive herself for denying her daughter that opportunity.

Together, they went back inside the pub. Grace apologized for her emotional outburst and the men were understanding, but still reeling from the news that a girl they once knew was truly gone. For over an hour, Owen shared stories of his old school friend and the kind of girl she was. It was equally enchanting and heart wrenching for Grace and Oliver to hear as they recognized so many of the characteristics of a young Maggie being so similar to their daughter's.

Owen was especially overwhelmed and so he elected to stay and man the pub so his Father could accompany Grace and Oliver to Ailis McCorley's home.

After only six minutes of walking, Eugene turned into the pathway of an old stone cottage. He knocked on the door and the three of them waited anxiously. After a few moments, it was answered by a woman who was only slightly shorter than Grace. Her hair was silvery-white but could have once been red, and her pale cheeks were decorated with freckles. Her eyes were green and very kind yet sad.

"Afternoon Mrs. McCorley", Eugene greeted the old woman.

"Good afternoon Mr. O'Conell. This is a surprise, and who are you?" Her eyes raked over Oliver and Grace.

"This is Oliver and Grace, they're from America - New York. Ailis…they think they might have some information about Maggie and David."

The woman, who was already quite pale in complexion, went even paler still. "You know my daughter and her husband?"

Oliver stepped forward. "Actually Ma'am, we're not sure if the people we have a connection to are even the same Margaret and David. It would be very helpful if we could ask you some questions. May we come inside?"

Ailis looked understandably skeptical but Eugene spoke up, "I think you should hear what they have to say, love."

After a moment of pondering, she opened the door to the unexpected guests and they all walked silently inside.

She ushered them all over to an old three-seater couch while she sat in an armchair across from them.

"Do you know where my daughter is? Or…what happened to her?" The woman asked with pain clear in her face.

"Before we can answer that, we want to make sure the people we have information on are in fact your daughter and son-in-law. The last thing we want to do is to provide you with false information or to misguide you."

"Can you tell us…when did you last hear from your daughter?" Grace asked Ailis.

"Yes, I can tell you exactly when", she stood up from her chair and crossed the room, walking over to a bureau. She opened a drawer and pulled out a stack of letters. They were all misorganized due to the fact that she had read them all over and over again in no particular order, memorizing each and every line her daughter had written to her. She shuffled through them to find the last letter she had received.

"Here, this is it. September twenty-fourth nineteen-twenty-two. That's the last I ever heard from my daughter."

"Do you mind?" Oliver reached out for the letter and with a trembling hand, Ailis gave it to him.

"My dear Mammy. The leaves on the trees are changing now as Summer turns to Autumn. As the old leaves die, new and more colorful ones take their place and it serves to remind me of the new life I am creating inside of my own self. My-" Oliver stopped, and sputtered, raising his head to look at Ailis. "Your daughter was with child when she wrote this?"

Ailis closed her eyes and nodded somberly.

Grace, who could barely see for the tears in her eyes, looked down at the letter in Oliver's hand and pointed to one of the carefully written lines. "Oliver, look at the 'R's."

When the FBI had managed to find the identity of Annie's parents through the handwriting in her note, one of the significant details was the unique way in which Annie's Mother had written the letter R. The R's on the page in Oliver's hand were identical to those.

Oliver slowly nodded as they both came to terms with the fact that they were most definitely sitting across the living room from Annie's biological Grandmother.

How were they going to begin to tell Annie? What would her reaction be? Would she want to stay with her Grandmother? Would she love her more than she loved them? Every imaginable fear and insecurity overcame them in that moment. Not to mention the fact that they now had to carry out the dreadful task of informing the poor woman in front of them that her daughter and son-in-law were dead.

Oliver cleared his throat. "Mrs. McCorley, I'm so sorry to tell you this, but your daughter and her husband passed away three months after this letter was written."

Grace reached out for the older woman's hand as she sat and softly cried for several minutes. She wasn't crying nearly as much as Grace was. Eugene also had tears streaming down his cheeks and even Oliver was struggling to maintain his composure.

Ailis had come to terms with the not knowing, and had accepted that she was unlikely to ever hear from her daughter again and would probably never find out what had happened to her. To have closure now, to know the truth was as relieving as it was upsetting.

"Do you know w-what happened to them?" Her voice quivered as she asked the question.

"We believe it was influenza or possibly typhoid. We're sorry we haven't investigated what happened to them further, we decided it was best to focus our efforts on Annie and to look into it in further depth only if she wanted to know, but…"

"Who's Annie?"

"Annie is your granddaughter", Grace smiled tentatively and emotionally at Ailis.

"M-my Granddaughter? You mean the baby survived?" Ailis asked in astonishment and began crying even more than she had done before. "I…I always thought that my daughter must have died while still carrying her. But…she's alive?"

"Very much so", Grace grinned in spite of her own tears. "She's the reason Oliver and I are even here. She's the reason for everything that's good in our lives", she said emotively.

"I-I don't understand…"

"We're Annie's adoptive parents", Oliver explained.

Ailis bit back a sob and reached for his hand, squeezing it tightly along with Grace's which she had already been holding.

"Oh, bless you both."

"We have been blessed, we've been blessed by having your Granddaughter in our lives", Grace assured her.

"I don't know how to thank you for taking that poor baby in", Ailis cried.

Oliver sighed. "Actually Mrs. McCorley, we only met Annie at the end of last year as an eleven year old girl."

"She'd been in a public orphanage since the age of two months. We think your daughter and son-in-law must have been struggling and they took her to the orphanage only intending to leave her there for a short time, but sadly they were never able to return for her", Grace said solemnly.

"Annie came to stay with us last year and we…we fell in love with her. She's…a wonderful girl, Mrs. McCorley."

It was the first time they had seen the woman genuinely happy as she gave them a great big smile.

"Would you like to see a picture of her?" Oliver asked.

"Yes!" Ailis answered without hesitation and Oliver quickly pulled out his wallet to show her the photograph he carried.

"Oh my word. Oh, it's like I'm looking at my Margaret", she stared in amazement at Annie's picture.

"Owen and I said the same thing", Eugene who'd been sitting so quietly suddenly piped up.

Tentatively, yet feeling it was the right thing to do, Grace asked Ailis, "Would you like to meet her?"

She looked genuinely stunned. "Could I?"

Grace nodded gently. "Of course."

Ailis dabbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. "You don't know what this means to me. I have no children of my own left, you see. My son Thomas was killed in the World War and when Margaret went missing too it broke my husband's heart. He passed away ten years ago. I've been on my own ever since."

Grace began to feel increasingly nervous. She felt compassion for the woman but it didn't mean she wanted to give up Annie to her if that's where Ailis was going with this.

"She's in Cobh right now, with Grace's family. We can fetch her in the morning and bring her to see you."

"I'd be so grateful", Ailis told them sincerely.

"Well, we'll leave you for now Mrs. McCorley. We're very sorry to have brought you such sad news", Oliver mournfully said.

Ailis shook her head. "You've brought me a resolution I never thought would come. For that I thank you. I know it can't have been easy for you either."

Grace gave her a tight smile. "It all happened very much by accident but we're glad to have been able to give you the closure you need."

They all stood and Eugene gave Ailis a consoling hug before the three of them left her home.

Neither Grace nor Oliver slept a wink that night. They were both too anxious about taking Annie to meet her Grandmother.

They were on the first train in the morning to Cobh to collect her. Mary and Malachy were surprised to see them so early. They sent the girls outside to play and Grace and Oliver quietly told them what had happened the day before. Grace's cousins listened in shock and amazement.

"Well, it's as if that little girl was absolutely destined to come into your lives. It's extraordinary, Gracie", Mary remarked.

"Divine intervention is what it is", Malachy added and Mary nodded in agreement.

Grace and Oliver remained quiet. They agreed that it was certainly incredible, but they were both so preoccupied with the thought that once Ailis met Annie she might not want to let her go again.

After all, it had been that way for them.

They called Annie and Eileen back into the house and Grace and Oliver spoke to her softly. "Annie, we have something rather surprising to share with you. We've um, we've found your Grandmother. Your Mother's Mom."

Annie looked at them both in confusion. "But I thought your Mom was gone?"

Grace felt yet another pang in her heart. "No darling, not my Mom. Your birth Mother, Margaret Bennett's Mom."

"She's alive? Where is she?"

"She's in Cork", Oliver explained gently.

"She's in Ireland?" Annie blinked in astonishment. "D-does she want to meet me?"

"She does", Grace smiled shakily.

Annie took a moment to process the information before looking at her parents. "Will it make you feel bad if I meet her?"

Grace and Oliver were stunned by the child's intuition. "No", Grace said quickly. "We think you should meet her, for both of your sakes. It would only worry us if you decided you wanted to stay with her long term."

"I don't want to leave you!" Annie answered emphatically. "Please don't leave me. I love you!" The girl became tearful.

"Annie, Annie, we're not going to leave you. We promise. We don't want to lose you and we're never going to give you up", Grace promised her.

"We just thought you might like to meet her and perhaps have the chance to talk about your birth Mother", Oliver said gently.

Annie sniffed. "It's just there are so many things I've been wondering about for so long."

"We know", Grace replied understandingly.

Annie, Grace and Oliver said farewell to Grace's family, promising to visit again later in the week.

The family returned to Cork by train and had a car pick them up and take them to Ailis's home.

When Ailis opened the door, no words were spoken, but a long tearful look was shared between her and Annie before the girl ran forward and hugged her Grandmother tightly. Both of them sobbed as they held each other for dear life, eleven and a half years of pain, longing and shared grief poured out of each of them, as they each found mutual understanding from one another.

Grace hung back with her hands clasped and her own face streaked with tears, giving the two of them space. Oliver stood behind her with a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Annie and Ailis went inside, hand in hand. Grace and Oliver followed quietly behind. Annie and her biological Grandmother connected instantly. Ailis told Annie many stories about her birth Mother and some about her birth Father too. Many tears were shed and many smiles were shared between the two.

Grace and Oliver stepped outside at one point to give the two of them some time together, once they saw that Annie was feeling comfortable and safe.

"Well, I think Malachy may have been right. This is all too surreal, there must've been a higher power at work here", Oliver waxed philosophical as they sat on the front step.

Grace turned to him with a small smile that became playful when she asked, "Aren't you glad now that I brought home a girl instead of a boy?"

Oliver laughed softly. "I always have been", he put his arm around his wife's shoulders and kissed the side of her head.

When Ailis and Annie came outside to find them, Grace and Oliver stood up again to greet them.

"Thank you both so much for giving me the chance to meet my Granddaughter. You were right…she is wonderful", Ailis said tenderly, stroking Annie's hair.

Grace and Oliver were astonished by Ailis's tone of finality. She was preparing to say goodbye to them.

"It's our pleasure. I…I have to admit, we were a little hesitant because we thought you might not want to let her go once you met her."

Ailis's chuckled at Grace's candor. "My dear, I am an old woman. I have many more days behind me than ahead. Of course I'd gladly keep Annie with me, but it would be unfair to her. You two have opened your hearts to her and have given her a wonderful home. You are carrying out the role my beautiful Margaret and her dear David have not been able to fulfill. I am so grateful to you for doing that and I can see how much you love her and how much she loves you and the life you have given her. You are her parents now. How could I ever separate her from her parents?"

Grace sobbed as she reached forward to wrap Ailis in a grateful hug. The two women held each other for several moments, both tearful and both so grateful to each other.

Oliver hugged Ailis as well. "You know, you could come and live with us in America if you'd like, so you can be with Annie. We have plenty of room."

Ailis gazed at him in surprise. "That is very kind of you but I couldn't leave Ireland. This is my home, it's where I belong. It's where I intend to be laid to rest when my days are done. Next to my darling Warwick."

Oliver nodded in understanding. "We'll be sure to keep in touch with you by telephone. Annie can call as often as you like."

"And we'll visit again before we leave", Grace promised.

"I'd like that", Ailis confirmed with both of them. "Goodbye darling", she reached for Annie and gave her a squeeze. "Goodbye Granny", Annie smiled up at her, using the title Ailis had told her she could.

The Warbucks' left the cottage and went back to their hotel. They all slept well that night, exhausted from all of the intense emotion of the past few days.

The following day, when Mrs. Pugh returned to Cork, they met her at the train station. When she asked what they'd all been up to during her absence, Annie answered excitedly. "I met my Grandmother!"

Mrs. Pugh turned to Grace and Oliver and looked at the two of them quizzically, knowing full well that both of their Mothers had died long ago.

Grace put an arm around her friend and smiled. "Come Mrs. Pugh, we have a lot to fill you in on."

...

A/N: I cried several times while writing this. Also, yes, I know that probably the FBI would have found out more about Annie's parents and would have informed Grace and Oliver if there were any living relatives, but the idea of this storyline was something that came to me after I decided to send them to Ireland and it was just too delicious of an idea to pass up. I hope you were as moved by it as I was.