After Olivia left, Holly was even more stressed. She hadn't meant to tell anyone in Springfield before she told Blake, and she trusted Olivia but knew this was also too good a secret to expect to be kept.
She waited impatiently but two hours later finally gave in and texted a series of question marks to Blake.
Finally, there was a knock on the door.
"There you are!" she said, swinging the door open but it wasn't Blake.
"Ed?"
"Hi. Blake told me you were here and where I could find you."
Holly tried to keep her annoyance hidden, but knew that it was likely very, very obvious.
"So she lures me to town with the promise of plenty of time together and she immediately bolts and then sends you to babysit me?"
"No, I ran into her at the cemetery. She was at Ross's grave and I was at Maureen's. She said she'd be coming back soon but I asked if I could come see you first."
"What's on your mind?"
"I've been traveling a lot lately, too."
"I'd heard that. I know we haven't kept in touch, but I'm currently living in Ireland. You should come by if you end up in Dublin."
"Well, I was hoping that maybe you'd want to do a little more exploring."
"I'm not saying never, but we're pretty settled right now. We take some trips though and thanks to the internet, we can work from anywhere."
"Oh. Blake didn't say you were seeing someone." Ed looked embarrassed.
"I was planning to tell her this trip, but she hasn't really stayed in the same room with me long enough for that to happen."
"Good for you, Holly. You look happier than I've ever seen you. Whoever this guy is, he's clearly wonderful."
She smiled and said, "I guess I'm telling everyone else first. Victoria IS wonderful and I'm happier than I've ever been."
Ed was taken aback but rallied. "Well, good for you. I'm going to have to make sure I make it to Ireland because I want to meet anyone who can make you smile like that."
"You'd like her."
"I'm sure I would. What's she like?"
"Very smart. Very funny. Kind and thoughtful but with a dark sense of humor. She likes hiking but no one's perfect."
He laughed. "Well, maybe she'll wear you down. Get you roaming those Irish hills."
She arched an eyebrow. "Are you trying to be funny?"
He looked panicked but then realized she was joking and rolled his eyes. "Nice to see you're still you."
He gave her a hug and said, "I'm on my way back out of town." He wrote down his number and email address and said, "Let me know once you're back home and we'll figure out when we can get together. I want to meet Victoria."
He hugged her again and said, "I'm really happy for you, Holly."
"Me too."
Roughly two minutes after he left, there was another knock. Fortunately, it was Blake this time.
"Did you see Ed? What happened?"
"You just missed him."
"You're going to leave with him, right? I wish we could have spent more time together but the second I saw him, I knew this was your chance to get it right."
Holly closed her eyes and sighed. "Blake, I don't need you to play matchmaker for me. If you didn't want to spend time with me, I didn't have to come here."
"That's not it," Blake replied, clearly hurt. "I know that you loved Ed and I knew you'd want to see him. And the fact that you're both traveling…it sounded perfect."
"Honey, I loved Ed. Past tense. And I'm not currently traveling. I'm settled in Ireland. I've been in Dublin for over a year now. I love it there. And…I don't need to be fixed up with anyone."
"You're too young to just give up," Blake said stubbornly. "If you don't want Ed, that's fine but there has to be someone you could love."
"Blake…"
"I mean it, Mom. I don't like the thought of you by yourself." She absently fiddled with her necklace. "I still think you and Ed would be perfect together but I'm sure there's some adorable Irish guy there who you could date."
"Honey…"
Blake continued to ignore her and discuss her ideal Irish guy for Holly. "Maybe a potato farmer? Do they still do that? Or…what do they do in those romantic comedies? A magazine columnist? A bartender?"
"LISTEN," Holly finally interrupted. "I'm not on the market for an adorable Irish guy. I'm not looking for anyone. I met someone."
Blake's jaw dropped and she grabbed Holly's arm. "Tell. Me. EVERYTHING."
"I've been trying to," Holly said laughing. "We met in Italy, a few weeks after I arrived. I know this part is going to surprise you and I'm sorry about that. I wasn't sure how to tell you and I also wanted to tell you in person. It's probably going to shock you a little."
"You didn't elope, did you? I would be heartbroken if you got married without me."
"No, but…I think that's kind of on the table. Okay, so…"
"Wait. You've been with someone for THREE YEARS and I'm just learning about it now?"
"I was kind of hoping you wouldn't do that math. I'm sorry, honey. I didn't know how to tell you. But anyway, her name is Victoria. I didn't…I didn't expect to fall in love with anyone, much less a woman, but I did. And you would really like her."
She paused, realizing Blake was crying.
"What's wrong?"
"You've been dating someone for three years, Mom. And you didn't tell me until just now. Did you think I would be mad at you or…like, grossed out? Did you think I wouldn't be okay with it?"
"I just didn't know what to say. And I didn't want to tell you over the phone or over email."
"But I'm the first person you told, right?"
"After Olivia. And Ed."
Blake had just stopped crying but then started up again. "I'm THIRD? I'm surprised you didn't tell everyone at the Journal before me, too."
"Well, it felt relevant to Olivia's situation with Natalia. And Ed asked me to go explore the world with him; I felt like he deserved a reason why I wouldn't."
"Okay, so tell me everything about her."
Holly went into how they met and what they were doing in Ireland.
"When can I meet her?"
"Well, I'm hoping that you'd want to come back with me now. And maybe come over for the next holiday. But that's not until Thanksgiving; that's not really a thing in Ireland."
"Okay, well then you both should come here for Thanksgiving and then I can go to Dublin for Christmas. How does that sound?"
"Perfect."
"Can we call her right now? I want to talk to her."
"You're taking this very well," Holly said, suspiciously. "Are you…plotting?"
"Mother! I don't have an ulterior motive here. I just want to talk to the woman my mom's in love with. That's normal, I think."
"Right," Holly said, still not trusting her daughter.
"It's a phone call. What can I do, realistically?"
"I feel like you think that's reassuring to me and it's really not."
But Holly pulled out her phone and called.
"Hello?" Victoria answered and Holly barely had a chance to say hello before Blake grabbed the phone out of her hand and moved to the other side of the room, keeping the hotel bed between them.
"Hi. This is Blake, Holly's daughter. It's nice to meet you but I need to know. What are your intentions with my mother?"
Holly swore and lunged across the bed, trying to grab the phone. She could hear Victoria's laugh even from several feet away, over a not-great connection.
