There was an awkward silence in the pub after Peter had stomped out the door, made more awkward by the sound of Assumpta crying in the kitchen.
Niamh could feel two sets of eyes on her and narrowed her own; she knew exactly what was coming.
"Why are you looking at me?" she demanded.
"Shouldn't you go and see if she's okay?" Padraig nodded his head towards the door.
"I'm not that close to her anymore." She looked pointedly at Brendan.
"Ah Niamh I don't deal well with crying women. Besides I should go and find Peter."
"Has it ever occurred to either of you that perhaps we should let them sort out their own problems and keep our noses out?" Both men raised their eyebrows and she sighed. "Fine, Padraig mind the bar. I'll go and talk to Assumpta. Brendan you go and find Peter."
The three of them nodded decisively at each other and moved to complete their various assignments.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Niamh tentatively pushed the door open and walked into the kitchen. Assumpta was sat at the kitchen table and frantically tried to dry her eyes when she saw Niamh.
"Is everything okay? I mean I know it's not, we couldn't help but overhear some of the argument," she said hesitantly.
Assumpta looked pained. "Sorry I didn't realise we were having a full blown argument until it was over."
"You two can still give as good as you get, it seemed just like old times," Niamh said with a small smile.
Assumpta, however, didn't return the smile. "It takes a lot for Peter to lose his temper or it has to be something he feels really passionate about," she took a long shaky breath, "and apparently he feels passionate about leaving here."
"I don't understand why he wouldn't want to stay. You both have friends here, the business is doing well, the kids are settling in and I thought there was a chance his job would transfer him?"
"They will but Peter's too worried about the gossip." Assumpta gave a bitter laugh. "I don't know what's going on Niamh, we seem to have swapped roles and it's disconcerting to say the least. I should be the one who wants to get away from here and the gossip and he's the one with the ridiculous optimism and sunny disposition. He's supposed to reassure me that it'll all be okay." She paused and stared out the window. "I'm just not sure I know how to play that role."
Niamh sat down at the table and squeezed Assumpta's hand. "You don't have to convince him on your own, we'll all help. We'll badger him stupid until he agrees to never leave this town again." She succeeded in raising a small smile from her friend and continued softly, "Brendan told me that Peter doesn't go to church any more, is that true?"
Assumpta nodded. "I know people round here will blame me for that but I tried to persuade him to go, I never wanted to take that from him. It was too late though I think he was already struggling with a lot of things when he made the decision to leave the church and then after the fire the way he was treated..." She sighed, "It was the nail in the coffin really. So before people start blaming me they should take a look at themselves and Father Mac first. I mean, for god sake, he wakes up in hospital after nearly dying in a fire because he was trying to get someone else out and instead of being applauded as a local hero he gets thrown out his house, has vicious lies written about him in a newspaper and is excommunicated. It would turn anyone off the church."
"He was treated very badly but it was a shock for everyone," Niamh tried to remind her gently.
"Sorry Niamh I know it's all in the past and I shouldn't need to have a good rant now but I still get cross thinking about it. Especially when Father Mac tried to imply that we'll be a bad influence on the community, he knows we did nothing wrong. One very frank and honest conversation that was three years coming, one, albeit mind-blowing, kiss and then Peter was going to tell Father Mac everything and ask to be laicized. We would have done everything correctly; it was hardly his fault that the fire got in the way of that."
Niamh nodded sympathetically then grinned, "How mind-blowing?"
"What?"
"This kiss, just how mind-blowing was it? You've never told me all the details of you and Peter getting together."
"It was twelve years ago Niamh," Assumpta protested.
"And you obviously still remember the kiss like it was yesterday and given everything I've seen recently you still have some pretty good kisses. So it's about time you told me everything," she said with a sly smile.
"You haven't changed at all," said Assumpta shaking her head with a smile.
"And neither have you," Niamh declared triumphantly after rummaging in the fridge and producing a half full bottle of rose and some chocolate cake. "So tell me everything and then you can go and apologise to that husband of yours for barring him!"
Assumpta groaned, "I'm not even sure how that slipped out, force of habit at being back here."
"Well it sounded like he deserved it," Niamh said dismissively. She poured two large glasses of wine. "Start at the beginning."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Brendan crossed the bridge and saw Peter sat on a rock under the bridge on the banks of the Angel, working out his anger by hurling the ball for Brody who was careering after it. He smiled to himself, time may have marched on but Peter still, predictably, came to this place when he was upset or wanted to think. He made his way down the bank and sat down on a rock nearby, Peter didn't look round but simply grabbed the ball from Brody when the dog returned and flung it again.
"Brendan I appreciate the sentiment but I don't need to talk thanks," he finally said.
"Never said you did. I'm simply out enjoying our beautiful surroundings. Although some might remark that if the situations were reversed you'd insist I talked. You'd say something like 'a problem shared' and then you'd listen and, annoyingly, you'd be right and I'd feel better about the situation."
"But that's not my job anymore."
"Peter I've known you for fifteen years now and the majority of those were after you gave up the collar and it has never stopped you from caring or being a good friend. You don't need a vocation to do that."
"Most people round here won't see that. All they'll see is someone who betrayed them, who's in a sham marriage with illegitimate kids."
"I told you that most people won't see that, only a few idiots."
"Father Mac and the church say that and people round here listen to Father Mac and the church."
"Ah not as much as you might think. There's been lots of changes round here since you've been gone. You might have heard we joined the euro."
Peter allowed a chuckle to escape his lips despite his black mood. "How did that work out for you?"
"Oh grand for a while, bit of a rocky patch just now," Brendan deadpanned. "But we have got other things right. For example, we've finally realised how much hosting Eurovision was costing us and have given up trying to win it."
"I was a fan of that turkey a couple of years ago."
"His name was Dustin as I'm sure you remember since your old friend was named after him."
This time Peter laughed freely and shook his head, "Only in Ballykissangel could you win a Christmas turkey and have it walk through your front door because the farmer didn't have the heart to kill it."
"See you had a lot of good times in this village. You were well liked and you still are. We're not as backward round here as some people think you know. Sure you'll get the odd one or two who'll mutter behind your back but what's one or two idiots when you're surrounded by friends?"
"Maybe," Peter mused, tossing the ball from one hand to the other. Brody sat in front of him following every move. "I loved living here. I felt part of the community and Assumpta's desperate to come back and the kid's do seem to be settling in well..."
"But is such an ugly word," Brendan warned.
Peter took pity on the dog and threw the ball then turned to Brendan and said, "However,"
"That's just a fancy but," muttered Brendan.
"This is a catholic country; the school is a catholic school."
"So, you and Assumpta are both catholic. Lapsed catholic and ex-priest I grant you, but aren't we all lapsed Catholics to one extent or another. Do you know when the last time I went to confession was, and I'm the head of that catholic school."
"All I'm saying is we've been living in a fairly secular country, the kids haven't been brought up in the church and religion is an integral part of the community here."
"No one's going to force you all into church if that's what you're really worried about or is it more that you'll finally have to work out what your feelings are about the church?" Brendan asked shrewdly.
"I haven't set foot in a catholic church since I left here," Peter rejoined.
"But that doesn't mean you've lost your faith."
Brody had gotten bored of the ball game and was off sniffing behind some trees so Peter picked up a stone and skimmed it into the water. "I'm not sure," he said eventually. "Religion and faith all got a bit tangled up for me when I left."
"And you've never really sorted it out in your own head and you're worried that if you move back here, where the church is a big part of the community, you'll have to actually think about these things," Brendan said insightfully.
Peter flung another stone. "I'm worried about the impact it'll have on the kids too."
"I know. I think you need to sit down and talk to Assumpta about all this. And I mean talk not argue."
"I can't believe she barred me," he shook his head in disbelief at the memory.
Brendan stood up and clapped him on the back. "Old habits my friend, old habits. You'll go and talk to her?"
Peter stood up too. "I'm going to take the dog for a walk, clear my head and then I'll talk to her. Properly this time," he added at a look from Brendan.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Assumpta crossed the bridge, wishing she hadn't had the second slice of chocolate cake, but feeling happier since talking to Niamh. She hadn't realised how much she'd missed her old friend until they'd had a proper gossip. Of course she'd pretended she hadn't really wanted to talk and had made Niamh prise the information out of her, but in truth it had been lovely to finally have a girly gossip with someone about how she'd met her husband.
She scanned the path up the side of the river and saw him upstream heading towards her so she started down the bank to meet him.
They stopped in front of each other and both said at the same time, "I'm sorry I barred you." "I'm sorry I lost my temper."
He grinned at her and said, "Are you going to bar me every time we argue?"
She placed her hands on his chest and look up into his smiling face. "Maybe. You really should know better than to rile up a landlady with a temper."
He looped his arms round her waist and kissed her. "I'll try to remember that."
"So you don't really think our marriage was mistake?" She said nuzzling his neck.
"Best thing I ever did. Even better than the time I scored the winning goal in the under 16 league to win the cup."
She pretended to look shocked saying, "You really do love me then?"
He laughed, "Yes, especially when you taste like chocolate cake. Come on let's go back. We need to talk properly and then work out how we're going to tell the kids."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Author's note - I'm so sorry this update has taken so long. Life, holidays and Christmas shopping have gotten in the way! I have to put this story on hold for the moment but it will definitely continue in the New Year. Thank you all so much for continuing to read and review, it makes my day :-)
A quick note about Eurovision to all my US and Australian readers (and anyone else from parts of the world that are spared this event!). It takes place every year and every country enters a song (traditionally they're all pretty awful). Whichever country wins has to host the contest the following year. Hosting it is quite expensive and during the nineties Ireland won it quite a few times which cost them quite a bit. So when they started sending in truly terrible entries everyone joked that they were just trying to save themselves a lot of money. Dustin the Turkey was one such entry which was, I think, hilarious proof that Ireland really doesn't take it seriously anymore. You can watch it on You Tube if you want to see it. Which, incidentally, is also how I discovered that Dervla Kirwan dueted with Dustin the Turkey and released a cover of Fairytale of New York in 1997. It's very very bizarre! Happy as Turkey on Boxing Day was shown Christmas 1997 so I'm not sure if the turkey was just named after the Irish puppet or if it was also a reference to her duet with him.