by Casey Morgan
“Aunt Bridget,” I objected, looking up from my own cutting board. “Give the girl a second to move, would ye?”
“I’ve got people to feed and things to cook,” said Aunt Bridget. “Sorry, Shanna. But ye have to be quick around here. Ye have to move fast if you want to get things done. Am I right, Ryan?”
“How many cups of coffee have you had this morning?” I asked.
The old elf looked thoughtful.
“Five? No, six. I’m on six, I think. Can’t think. Gotta do.”
“Jesus!” I exclaimed, putting a hand to my forehead. “It’s a wonder your heart don’t explode! How do you get to sleep at night?”
“Yeah, two cups and I’m jittery all day,” added Shanna.
Aunt Bridget shrugged.
“Ah, I’ve always done it. Always. It’s what you do to get things done!” she said. “Here, now watch and you try it.”
Aunty rocked her knife, never letting it fully leave the cutting board. Her technique was quicker than Shanna’s and she flew through the remaining turnips.
“You’ve pretty much cut all my turnips, but okay,” laughed Shanna.
“Oooh, I just remembered,” said Aunt Bridget, rushing out of the room without any further explanation of what it was she remembered or how it was important.
“My God, she’s wound up today,” said Shanna.
“All this time. The secret is all the coffee,” I said, as I finished chopping my turnips. “Hmm. Explains a lot.”
Shanna’s phone rang. She fished it out of her jeans pocket and she looked a bit apprehensive about answering it. She wiped her hands off on her apron. I glanced over her shoulder. It was her sister. I could see the name “Nora” on the phone.
“Hello?” she answered.
I was rather surprised she answered, but I guessed she had decided why the hell not.
At first, Shanna looked horrified. I could hear her sister talking, but I could only hear Shanna’s side of the conversation.
“I see. Uh-huh,” she said.
Her face was pale, horrified.
“Well, that’s a fabulous idea. See you then. Bye.”
“What’s a fabulous idea?” I asked, as she hung up.
“That was my sister and guess what?”
Shanna’s blue eyes looked nervous, but then she grinned.
“Derek’s dumped her, and she gained three hundred pounds? I mean, you’re smiling, so, that’s what I would assume,” I suggested.
Shanna giggled.
“Better. She and Derek are getting married and they want to come here to get married in the McDonnell homestead in some kind of classic Irish fashion!”
“Oh, dear,” I laughed. “But they’ve never—”
“They have no idea what the McDonnells are like in person!” she laughed. “Oh, my God! It’s going to be a disaster. I can’t wait.”
I thought about it and it really did sound like a disaster waiting to happen.
“Is it fair to inflict this impending disaster even upon her? I mean, she is your sister and all,” I said, urging her to think about it for a moment.
It wasn’t that I didn’t support her in supporting her sister’s hair-brained scheme. I just didn’t want her to regret anything after the fact, or during the disaster.
Shanna’s face turned pink.
“She stole my fiancé!” she reminded me. “And he cheated with her for God knows how long!”
She put her hands on her hips and glared at me.
“I think I’m deserving of a little payback here. She never looked out for me. Why should I look out for her? She only cares for herself.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “But family’s family. You only have one, is all I’m saying. For yer own sake.”
“Believe me,” Shanna assured me. “Nora is shameless. She expects everyone to do everything for her. I’m not having it. This isn’t some family tiff that can be patched up with an apology. This was a relationship-ending type of move. If she wants to invite me to witness her disaster, I’m completely game.”
“I get it,” I told her. And I did.
I just wanted to make sure she knew what she was getting herself into, but she was a grown woman who could make her own decisions, and I could understand why she would choose this one.
Her phone ringed again. It was Nora, calling back.
“Speak of the Devil,” she said, answering.
I moved closer to her, so I could listen in.
“Hello again, Nora, what’s up?”
I could hear Nora through the phone now that I was closer to Shanna.
“I know this is a lot to ask,” said Nora. “But could you help me set up the wedding? You’ve been in the village already. You kind of know the layout of the place. I would really appreciate it.”
Holy shit. Shanna was right. Nora was shameless!
“No, that’s okay. I don’t have time to help,” Shanna declined. “I’ll come though, if I can bring my dates.”
There was a pause over the phone.
“Dates? As in more than one? Did I hear that right?” asked Nora.
Shanna smiled and scrunched up her nose cutely.
“Yeah, I’m dating two local elves. They’re brothers. They fit all the stereotypes of big, strapping elves. All the stereotypes, if you know what I mean. Plus, they’re very sweet to me,” she said, turning my way and winking.
“Umm. Okay. Yeah, sure, bring your dates,” said Nora skeptically. “I guess I’ll have to figure the rest out on my own.”
“I guess you will,” agreed Shanna. “Bye-ee!”
“Wow, you weren’t exaggerating, she really is selfish. Nice goin’, girl,” I said. “You finally stood up to her.”
“Meh, it was easy to do nothing,” said Shanna. “If I was smarter, I would’ve said yes and sabotaged the whole thing. But who needs that when the McDonnells will do it for me?”
“People get what they deserve in this world,” I said.
I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close.
“I think your sister’s about to get a very unpleasant surprise for her wedding. She has no idea what’s in store for her here in Luck’s Hollow, courtesy of the McDonnell clan.”
“Yeah, it’s going to be doubly bad,” explained Shanna. “My sister has always been one of those Bridezilla girls.”
“Bridezilla? That doesn’t sound good.”
I smelled the sweet scent of her hair and kissed her on the top of her head.
“It’s an American reality TV show reference,” Shanna explained. “She always dreamed of her perfect wedding. Constantly talked about the dress and the caterers and the band and what it would be like—”
“Did she have another fiancé before Derek when she did this?” I asked.
“No,” she explained. “It’s just what some girls fantasize about in the States. Weddings are big business there. Some people spend six figures on them, so future brides get their hopes up about big fancy weddings, not knowing how much it actually costs until they get engaged and start planning and the price tag slaps them in the face. It’s not like that here, which is one of the reasons Derek and I picked it as a location. Nora must have found that out the hard way already, to be planning hers here, too. Or maybe it’s just to get at me. Then again, Derek did straight up ask me to give them my tickets for their own wedding, so maybe she just assumed I’d give her all my wedding plans, too.”
Shanna shrugged, as if she couldn’t care less. I liked her new attitude.
“Jesus,” I said, a little creeped out. “No boyfriend, but dreaming about her weddin’. What’s up with that? Makes the event sound more important than the actual marriage.”
“For her, it is,” she explained. “It’s this fairy tale wedding some girls just keep building and building and building on. It gets so unrealistic. Jesus, she must be going out of her mind trying to plan it!”
“Is that what you had in mind when you were with Derek?” I asked.
“Ya know, it’s weir
d,” she said. “Sometimes, you get sucked into a relationship and you end up compromising and doing things you never thought you would do. I agreed to all these things just to be with him and make him happy, but I forgot to make myself happy, too.”
“Sometimes I look back on my time with Julia and I think the same thing,” I empathized. “You just think, ‘What’s the big deal?’ This little compromise, then another and another… They all start to add up.”
She looked up into my eyes.
“I know! It’s weird, right? Then you break up and suddenly, you can see them all!” she said. “But when you’re in the relationship, you’re totally blind to them. Or you just refuse to see, so you can keep the relationship.”
“Yeah, because if you acknowledge them, then you’d have to talk to the person or break up with them. I think, in my case, I was too afraid that Julia would leave me. The ironic thing is, she did in the end, anyway. All she ever talked about was leaving Luck’s Hollow and all I ever did was compromise myself, hoping that she would stay. In the end, I couldn’t compromise or give her enough to stay. She wanted what I didn’t have and couldn’t offer: something different.”
Shanna nodded.
“I guess for me, I just felt like Derek would get better or something?” she said. “I know that sounds weird. A lot of what women do is try changing a guy or things about him. Guess I was doing that. I wasn’t really in love with Derek; I was in love with this image of Derek I thought I could mold him into. But really, the whole time, he was molding me. Isn’t that weird?”
“A wee bit, yeah,” I admitted. “You don’t have a list of things for me and Brody, do ya? To change, I mean.”
“No, I don’t think so,” she said, with a chuckle. “I mean, you guys are great the way you are. I don’t want to get that way again. And I don’t think I will, because Derek and I weren’t right together, and I feel that you and Brody and I are. But just promise me if I start to do that out of an old bad habit or something, you’ll call me out on it. You’ll tell me this is who you are, and I’ll accept it. Or at least I’ll try to.”
“Sounds fair,” I agreed, giving her another kiss on the forehead. “And if I become your obedient lapdog, doing everything you say, promise me you’ll order me to stop.”
“Well, if I order you to stop listening to me, and you don’t want to be my obedient lap dog, doesn’t that mean you’ll you stop listening to me and not do it?” She asked, running her hands up my chest.
“Dammit, it’s a paradox,” I joked. “Ah, well, guess I’m stuck with ye, one way or another.”
Shanna rose up on her tippy toes and gave me a quick kiss. When she pulled back, her eyes were distant.
“I wonder if the McDonnells even know about the wedding yet,” she smiled. “Oooh, I would love to give them the message.”
“Wait a tic,” I said. “If your sister’s getting married, won’t your folks fly over for the wedding? I mean, they’ll be here.”
“Oh, Christ,” she said, a little worried. “You’re right! I mean, they’ll definitely come for Nora. They would probably not come for me.”
“Maybe you can get a bit of closure there,” I suggested. “If the wedding blows up in her face, she can hardly blame you. You washed your hands of it.”
“That’s true,” she agreed. “Although my folks always seem to find a way to make me the bad guy and Nora the good guy and I’m sure that will hold true in this situation as well. Maybe we shouldn’t go to the wedding at all.”
“You already told her you were coming, with two dates,” I said. “That’ll make her double jealous. Don’t sweat it. It will be fine. Well, it won’t be fine because of the McDonnells, but you know what I’m sayin’. It’ll be fine for us.”
“Everything is always fine for us,” Shanna agreed. “As long as we’re in it together.”
We went back to cutting turnips for Aunt Bridget’s recipe. Shanna seemed to take to the kitchen work well. Maybe it was because it was new and novel to her, but she seemed to actually enjoy it.
I was really glad she was able to relax and forget about her evil sister. I was looking forward to helping her get the revenge she deserved.
Chapter 23
Shanna
The next three weeks were amazing. I moved in with Ryan and Brody. We took the apartment on the third floor of the Hennessey House and turned their old rooms back into rooms for guests.
We were openly living in “sin”, but most of the village had gotten over the initial shock. The only people who were openly shunning us at this point were the McDonnells and I think that was mostly due to the fact that they wanted to blame us for their poor reputation.
Today was the day of Nora and Derek’s wedding, and I guessed we were in for a treat, with whatever would end up happening. My sister and parents hadn’t bothered to ask me why I was staying in Ireland so long, or if I was ever coming home.
I hadn’t given returning to Love’s Hollow much more thought after I’d told the guys I’d stay here in Luck’s Hollow with them. It was working out well this way, and I didn’t want to complicate things by thinking about the future.
“I’ve got to be honest,” said Ryan, as he checked his tie in the mirror. “I’m a little nervous about going to this wedding. You think the McDonnells will start a fight? That would be crazy.”
“I hope so,” smiled Brody. “I’d like a good excuse to punch Ailbe McDonnell right in the face!”
Ryan stopped in his tracks.
“He’s an old man. You might kill him, brother,” said Ryan. “Maybe just zap him with some secret spells – give him an itch in his pants that lasts the whole wedding, or something.”
“Nah, the world couldn’t be so lucky for him to be killed off,” assured Brody. “That old codger is too ornery to die. He’ll just keep on livin’ despite what the rest of the world thinks is a decent age to die.”
“I can’t wait to see this,” I said excitedly. “Is it wrong that I want to see my sister fail so badly?”
“Kinda,” said Ryan.
“A little, yeah,” agreed Brody.
“Fuck it, she’s an asshole,” I said. “But thanks for agreeing to go with me.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” said Brody, as he put on his suit coat. “I’m sure I’ll think of something very wrong that you can do for us in the future.”
“I’m not sure I like the sound of that,” I said suspiciously.
Brody gave me a wink.
The three of us, dressed nicely, made our way over to the McDonnell homestead. I couldn’t wait to see the look on everyone’s face when I walked into the wedding with two Irish elves on my arms.
Nora had a tent set up on the McDonnell property, but it looked like they hadn’t really cleaned the place up since I was last here. There was still an old kitchen chair with the seat kicked out of it, a rim from a truck that no longer ran, and several cinderblocks littered around the yard. As we arrived, Ronald was moving this junk and throwing it into the side yard. He was wearing pants, which was somewhat of a surprise, but his suit was old and threadbare.
“Jesus,” muttered Ryan. “I’ll bet they told him to clean that shit up a week ago and he’s just gettin’ around to doin’ it now, in front of the guests!”
“I’m surprised he’s doing it at all. But, oooh, see up there?” I pointed. “Next to Ailbe and Fiona? That’s my mother, Anna. We should sit in the back. I want to see everything.”
“Holy shit,” muttered Ryan, as we sat down on the last wooden bench. “I just realized. Your sister didn’t ask you to be the bridesmaid. Although I guess with the way things worked out, she wouldn’t expect you to accept.”
I put my hands on both their knees.
“Oh, she did ask me to be a bridesmaid, but she didn’t want me to be,” I revealed. “In fact, my mother had to force her to call me and offer it.”
“What did you say?” asked Brody, clearly amused by the whole thing.
He draped an arm over my shoulder.
&
nbsp; “I said, fuck no, of course!” I laughed. “Bridesmaid is like the worst job at one of these things and I kinda hate my sister.”
“Ya don’t hate your sister,” corrected Ryan. “Ya just hate what she did.”
I still loved his Irish accent, even when he was saying things I disagreed with.
“No, I think I kinda hate her,” I corrected. “And what she did. And my mother too. Do you know she had the nerve to call me up and chastise me for not being a bridesmaid? She said I hurt my sister’s feelings.”
“Oooh, boy,” said Brody grimacing. “How did you handle that?”
“I didn’t know what to say, so I hung up,” I admitted. “What do you say to something like that? I mean, really.”
“Is that it for your parents then?” asked Ryan.
His eyebrows were pointed up in concern.
“You’re done with them?”
“I’m done with enabling their bad behavior,” I corrected. “If they want to be a part of my life, then fine. I’ll accept them, but only on my terms. I’m not tolerating their abuse or criticism or anything along those lines now. They’ve lost all credibility with me. If they want that back, they’ll have to earn it.”
“Seems harsh,” said Ryan. “But I understand how you must feel. It’s not right that they picked sides in this. And if there’s any right side, it’s not your sister’s.”
“Damn right!” agreed Brody. “What kind of parent sides with a homewrecker? I mean, you wreck one daughter’s wedding for the other? It’s crazy, if you ask me. And not the good kind of crazy, like we are, but the bad kind of crazy, like people shouldn’t be.”
“No one’s askin’ ye, Brody,” added Ryan. “Keep your opinions to yourself for once.”
“I’ll do what I want, thank you very much,” defied Brody. “I’m not gonna sit here while someone insults our Shanna. I don’t care whose wedding it is, or the fact that it’s her kin!”
“Oh, boy,” muttered Ryan.
“Relax, Ryan,” I said softly.
I squeezed his knee.
“He’s not going to do anything.”
“You haven’t seen him drinking at a wedding,” said Ryan. “He gets into fights with people he likes.”