Chapter 2 – Going Home

It was an unusually hot summer night and Annabelle MacManus never saw the need for air conditioners, so her children were forced to sleep with the windows open with no sheets on their beds. It did little to relieve the heat. Connor and Murphy shared a room, while Caelan's room was down the hall. The children usually slept pretty soundly, even in their humid bedrooms, but on this particular summer night, the youngest child was without rest.

She carefully crawled out of bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she gripped her teddy bear by his paw. She crept down the hall in her bare feet, carefully avoiding the floorboards that she knew would creak. If Ma knew she was out of bed she'd be in deep trouble.

As she passed her mother's room she held her breath, her pace slowing to a crawl. Fortunately for her, her brother's room was next. The door was open on account of the heat so she had no trouble sneaking inside.

Each boy had his own bed on opposite sides of the room. Directly in front of her was Connor, Murphy was across the room under the window. Caelan almost hated to wake her brother. He looked so peaceful.

"Connor?" She barely whispered.

"Huh?" He replied without opening his eyes.

"I had a bad dream." She bit her nail as she confessed. Connor opened his eyes for a moment before moving over to one side of the bed. Caelan smiled happily and crawled in beside him. Once she was settled, Connor threw his arm around her and fell back asleep. Caelan fell asleep shortly after.

She would always feel safe when she was near her brothers. No matter what the weather.

Caelan had been packing for awhile now. Normally she would be excited and happy to be going home, but this time was different. Ever since her Ma had told her that her father and brothers were going to be there, she had wanted to cancel the trip, but something in her had stopped her. She decided to go through with it and had called her best friend Mary O'Neill to see if she could stay with her. She figured her Ma could see her at Mary's house; it'd be easy since Mary lived right across the street.

Caelan threw some more clothes in her suitcase and shook her head. "Three years. Three years of being nothing but angry with them. Now suddenly I have to see them." She looked up at the ceiling and sighed in frustration. "Just my luck."

She exited her bedroom and went to the kitchen, looking for her purse. She pulled a new pack of cigarettes from the bag and opened it. "Only took one phone call to get me smoking again." She said to herself as she lit one and exhaled slowly. She moved to the fridge, opened it and pulled out a bottle of coke. Caelan also pulled a bottle of rum down from atop the fridge. "This should make packing a little more fun." She made her drink and headed back towards her room to finish.

"Maggie, are ye ready? We have to be at the airport in 10 minutes." Connor said as he looked down at his watch.

"I'm sorry. I'm just making sure I've got everything." She called from her room. She finally met him in her living room, dragging a rolling suitcase behind her. "Ok. I'm ready."

Connor smiled at her. "Are you sure you've got everything?"

Maggie looked down at her bags. "I think so."

"You're not missing any little black boxes?"

She gave him an odd look. "Um, little black boxes?"

Connor took her hand in his. He placed a small, black box in her palm. Maggie looked up at him and he smiled. "Open it."

She opened it carefully. Inside laid a round diamond set into a silver band. She looked up at him again in shock. "Is this…Are you….?

Connor dropped down to one knee and took her hand again. "Maggie will ya' marry me?"

She shook her head in disbelief. "Oh my God Connor, yes!" He jumped up and grabbed her, pulling her into a tight hug. He then kissed her soundly. Maggie's head was spinning as he slipped the ring onto her finger. "I can't believe this! I can't believe you're doing this now as we're about to leave."

"Why not?" Connor said with a smile.

"Well, how can I thank you properly?" She smirked at him.

"It'll just have to wait." He winked at her. "Come on, Da and Murph are waitin' for us." He grabbed her bigger suitcase and headed for the door, Maggie floating behind him.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Cae? It's not too late to change your mind." David asked her as their cab pulled up to the curb at JFK International airport.

Caelan bit her lip. "Yes. I'm going." She looked over at her friend. "I don't know, David, I feel like I have to do this."

"I know…You keep saying that…But why? I mean, I know they're your family but…" He took her hand in his. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

"I know. You're a good friend." Caelan allowed a small smile.

David opened the door and stepped out, and then he helped Caelan out. The cabbie had already gotten her luggage out of the trunk. Caelan looked down at her bags, double checking that she had everything. "Well, this is it. You'll have some peace and quiet for two whole weeks." She smiled at him, trying to lighten the mood.

David regarded her cautiously. "I still don't like that you're doing this. You call me if anything happens."

"I will." She kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you."

"Good luck." He said as he watched her walk away. Caelan turned to give him a final wave before heading into the airport. David just shook his head and got back into the cab.

Please fasten your seatbelts, and thank you for choosing Aer Lingus.

Caelan watched out the window of the airplane as New York got smaller and smaller. She pulled her ipod out of her bag and slipped the headphones on. She turned it on and shut her eyes, trying to will herself to sleep. When she awoke, she'd be Ireland, but she'd find no peace there. Not this time.

"Come on, Cae. Ma's not gonna care." Murphy said as he stood from the black-padded chair in the tattoo parlor. "We're leavin' tomorrow…Ya gotta get tattooed with us."

16-year-old Caelan shook her head. "No way. Ma'll chop off my hand, and then I would have gotten tattooed for nothing. No deal."

"No she won't. You think she cares? She's got a strawberry on her shoulder." Connor added as he admired his newly-tattooed hand. "She got it when she was 16, remember."

"No, I don't remember. I wasn't born yet." She smirked at him.

"You know what I meant."

"Yeah, I know. It's not so much the tattoo part…That doesn't bother me. But getting a tattoo on my hand…I don't know about that."

"Well, get it somewhere else then. Ya just gotta do it. We can't head to the States until you do." Murphy made his lip quiver and stared at her wide-eyed like he was about to cry.

Caelan sighed, defeated. "Alright. I'll do it." She sat down in the chair and slowly leaned back. "But if Ma gets pissed, I'm leaving with you."

On Murphy's right hand, Aequitas. Latin for Justice. On Connor's, Veritas, meaning Truth. For Caelan, Ferocitas. Courage, forever written over her heart.

Caelan awoke with a start as the plane touched down. Once they were safely stopped, she quickly gathered her bags and hurried towards the front of the plane. As she walked towards the terminal, she started to feel anxious. She came upon a bar inside the terminal and ducked inside for a moment. It was almost strange to her to hear the people around her speaking with accents like hers. Everyone was also smoking, which was a welcome sight since New York hadn't allowed smoking in bars for some time.

She made her way to the bar and threw some money to the bartender. "Shot of whiskey, please." The bartender nodded and gave her the shot. Caelan threw it back in one gulp, placing the glass back down in front of her. The bartender regarded her.

"Another, lass?"

Caelan shook her head. "No. This'll do for now." She thanked him and headed out.

She made her way towards the baggage claim and finally caught sight of Mary. She smiled when she saw her and quickened her pace. Mary spotted her and smiled, pulling her into a tight hug when they finally met.

"Phew! Did you drink on the plane?" She asked.

"No, but I did a shot in the bar as soon as I got off the plane."

"I see…It's so good to see you, Cae." She hugged her friend again.

"You too, Mare. I really appreciate this."

"You know you're welcome any time." Mary threw her arm around her, and the two walked towards the baggage claim.

"Your brother Murphy…He's kind of cute…Does he have a girlfriend?" Mary asked nervously.

"No." Caelan replied nonchalantly. "He did have his eye on Emily Hannigan for awhile, though. Thank God he came to his senses."

"Oh, so that's the type he likes? The drop-dead gorgeous blonde ballerina type?"

Looking at Mary O'Neill, at first glance you probably wouldn't even notice her. It wasn't that she wasn't pretty, she was plain. She had long, light-brown hair that she usually wore back in a headband. She wore glasses, and she never really wore much makeup, but she had freckles on her nose and cheeks.

Caelan had tried to reassure her that she was beautiful, because she really was, but Mary always took the compliments as part of Caelan's duty as her best friend.

"Murphy doesn't like girls like Emily Hannigan. He just likes to look at girls like Emily Hannigan. Besides that, once you get past her looks, that's pretty much it with her. Her brains are in her chest." Mary laughed. "I could talk to him if you want."

"Oh Lord no! You can't do that." Mary sighed. "Besides, isn't he going to the US with Connor next year?"

"Yeah." Caelan replied. Her brother's departure to the states was not something that she was looking forward to.

"And a year after that, you're gonna leave me too."

"Yeah. My mother is insisting. She always wanted her children to visit the US. Something about us being 'worldly' or some shit."

Mary laughed. "Well, you already speak a hundred different languages. Why do you even have to go? The three of you are the worldliest people in our town and you've never even left it once!"

Caelan chuckled. "A hundred is a bit of a stretch."

"Still, you know more than anyone else in our town…Any one else in the county, even!"

"Why don't you come with me? We could share a flat."

"Nah. My mom is the polar opposite of yours. She'd never let me leave Ireland. My destiny is to work in my families shop for the rest of my life."

"You could visit?"

"As often as I can."

"Let's change the subject. I'm not leaving for two years…We've still got time."

"Right. Want to stop by my shop? Grab a drink or something?"

"Your shop?"

"Might as well get used to it. Maybe someday I could change it into a boutique or something. Something a little more glamorous?"

"You can do anything you want. It'll be your shop."

"Hey, isn't that Connor and Murphy there across the street?"

"Sure is. Hey Murph! Come say hello to Mary!" Caelan yelled across the street.

"Caelan!!"

"Wow. I still can't believe I'm here. I'm actually kind of nervous." Maggie said to Connor as the exited the plane. Connor took her hand and kissed it.

"Don't be nervous. Ma can be kinda' loud, but she's gonna' love ya'." Maggie nodded.

Will was feeling nervous himself. It'd been 25 years since he'd seen his wife, Annabelle. He had spoken to her on the phone, and she seemed excited at the prospect of seeing him, but he was unsure of how she'd react when she actually saw him.

The four turned the corner towards the baggage claim, and it was then that he saw her. Murphy had seen her too, so he sprinted ahead of the group. His mother greeted him with open arms. "Murphy! My Murphy is home." She pulled out of the hug and held her at arms length, studying him. "You're not eatin' enough. You're skin and fuckin' bones."

Murphy laughed. "I'm fine, Ma." He hugged her again. Connor and Maggie had caught up to him.

"Connor!" She released Murphy and moved to Connor, pulling him into a tight hug. She then held him at arms length like she had done for Murphy, her gaze switching between Maggie and her son. "You have something to tell me, don't'cha, boy?"

"Ma, this is Maggie. Maggie Ashford. My fianceé."

Annabelle grinned. "Oh Lord. I thought I'd never see the day that my sons would marry." She then pulled Maggie into a tight hug. "Let me look at ya'." She held her at arms length, studying her carefully, "Oh my dear. What's a lovely girl like you doing with one of my sons?"

Maggie laughed. "It's nice to meet you Mrs. MacManus."

"Call me Ma." It was then that Will joined the rest of the group. Annabelle turned to face him. "Will." She felt her face flush. "It's good to see you."

"Anna." It was all he could muster. He took her hand in his and gently kissed it, his eyes never leaving hers. They stayed that way for a time, but Annabelle eventually broke the gaze.

"Well. Ye all must be tired from the trip." She said quickly as she handed her keys to Murphy. "You remember the way home, right Murph?"