"I hope so." I looked around the bedroom that Billy had transformed into a bright, airy yet luxurious escape. Billy and his crew had gutted the entire house down to the studs and updated it with only the best the materials and appliances. He even installed one of those tricked out showers which we had made good use of. The grounds and the outside still reminded me of my childhood, of my mother and my grandmother, but the changes on the inside made it my home. Mine and Billy's.
Laurie finished my hair and began my makeup. Given that Billy and I practically lived on either his boat or his motorcycle, Laurie had to use both foundation and powder to cover my stubborn freckles.
"Perfect. Just perfect."
I turned around to look at myself in the full length mirror. My hair was swept up in a soft, almost Grecian up-do. Paired with a simple, yet elegant, raw silk gown with a plunging neckline, the look was just right for a second wedding.
"Oh, Mom. You look beautiful."
Veronica stood in the doorway and for once wasn't wearing her customary wry smile. She looked young and bright and happy. Yes, happy. An O'Connor woman happy? Well, four generations in, it was about time.
After the funeral, after I told the children that I was taking a job with the SEC's New York office and leaving their father, my boys rallied around me. They respected their father, they wanted his approval and his attention, but I was the one they loved, the one they adored. I didn't know what to expect from Veronica. Our relationship was more layered, more prickly. And she was always a daddy's girl, or at least always wanted to be a daddy's girl. So despite her accepting behavior at the toradh do bhean muirneach, her response still surprised me. Not one word of recrimination, not one sulky look or tantrum. She was wonderful, really. My downtown office was near NYU so we often met for lunch and her latest boyfriend lived in neighboring Smithtown so I saw her on weekends as well.
"Thank you, sweetheart. So do you."
"And I haven't even gotten my hands on her yet. Sit down here, Veronica, and let me work my magic."
"I don't want my hair too big." Veronica reluctantly took my place in front of Laurie's deadly curling iron.
"This is Long Island for heaven's sake. Big hair is practically a county ordinance!" Laurie shook her own very sleek bob.
I smiled. "Laurie, go easy on her."
"You two are no fun. Where's Carol when I need her?"
I looked out the window again. Carol and Lisa fussed with the strings of fairy lights that draped along the bushes separating the two properties. The feud between myself and my uncles didn't last long. Once they saw that I was serious about moving back to Rose Hill and rebuilding my life here with Billy, they welcomed me with open arms. I think it helped that I gave them full access to the boathouse and the dock, which was all Paul really wanted anyway. I even caved and continued to allow Lisa to include the house on the historical society's summer house tour. Now that I was around more, believe it or not, Lisa had kind of grown on me. We're not close and we're not friends, but we'd gotten used to each other and her voice no longer set my teeth on edge. Or at least not too much anyway.
Molly and I met up occasionally. She'd become a snow bird and spent her winters on the west coast of Florida where she met a very nice retired fireman. She still missed my mother terribly. But, Molly has her children and grandchildren along with her new companion so she was fine. Molly will always be fine.
I saw Sister Elizabeth at mass at St. Ann's and sometimes she would come back to the house with me afterwards for coffee. I imagined my mother laughing as she saw us sitting together. Me, the prodigal daughter. I didn't make mass every week, I wasn't that reformed, but I did go regularly. Billy would come with me sometimes. The quiet rituals, the smiling faces of the neighbors, hell even the hokey bake sales and other fundraisers, they all gave me comfort. Peace. I felt closer to my mother there, if that made any sense.
"There. See. Not too big, right?"
I turned to look at my daughter, her fiery curls tamed into an elegant chignon. She smiled. Her navy silk dress brought out the blue in her wide-set eyes.
"You did good, Laurie," I said to my old friend. "Her hair is perfect."
"You like it, hon?" she asked Veronica.
"Yeah." Veronica smiled. "I do."
"Are we allowed to see the bride yet?" My son Timmy boomed from the doorway.
"Well, look at you two." Michael and Timmy looked devastatingly handsome in their dark suits. Careful of my makeup, Timmy kissed me on the cheek.
Veronica picked up the two rose blossoms and stood on her toes to pin them to her brothers' lapels. My beautiful, beautiful children.
"Mom, are you ready?" Timmy asked.
"Can you give me a minute, sweetheart. I'll be right down."
"Sure, Mom."
I walked to the window. Below, the wedding guests began to assemble around the rose covered trestle under which I was to marry Billy. Billy, his hair trim and neat, stood under it, laughing with his brother Tommy. My brother Denis and his fiancé stood next to them. My brother Dom and his wife Alison walked hand in hand from the boathouse, carrying flutes of champagne. Other guests trickled from the boathouse. My uncles, some new friends from the SEC, and Auntie Maura's sons and their wives. Poor Maura didn't make it to Christmas after my mother died. It was a shame she missed this. She loved nothing more than a good wedding.
Molly and her boyfriend Karl leant against the garden gate. Once Molly had met Karl, some five years her junior and still fit from his years in the fire department, she kidded me that now she too had found her boy toy. At first I was insulted that she had dared call my Billy a boy toy. This was the man who had poured love like oil onto my dried out husk of a life. He loved and adored me in every way possible and after the emotional desert of my marriage and the turmoils of my mother's last few months, I drank it in. In so many ways, he brought me back to life.
And, yet.
And yet, I couldn't discuss my cases at the SEC with him the way I could with Brendan. Billy didn't share my love of reading or of music. I'd never seen him read a paper other than the sports pages and I didn't think he'd ever sat through an entire newscast. I brought him to a work dinner at Le Cirque in the city and while it wasn't a complete disaster, it wasn't exactly a success. Brendan had his faults, but he fit into my world. Maybe not the world I grew up in, but the world I created with my diplomas and my aspirations. What world did Billy fit into?
I moved away from the window and walked to my vanity. In the heart shaped crystal jewelry box that Billy gave me last Valentine's day lay my mother's St. Brigid's cross on its delicate silver chain. I carefully lifted it and draped it around my neck. I wondered what my mother would think of my marriage. And Kitty. I remembered asking my grandmother once if she would ever get married again. She laughed. "Not if he were hung with gold, love. Not if he were hung with gold."
I fixed my lipstick and blotted it on a tissue, as I had seen my grandmother do with such panache so many times. Billy may not be hung with gold, but he was here. He would always be here if I let him. That may not be everything, but maybe it was enough.
The string quartet began to play. I lifted my mother's cross to my lips and slowly walked down the stairs.
The End
Bernadette Walsh is a native New Yorker who, when she isn't busy practicing law and tormenting her fellow commuters on the Long Island Rail Road with the tap-taptapping of her laptop, enjoys reading and now writing novels. As the daughter of an Irish immigrant, she has always been fascinated by the Irish immigrant experience and explores some of these themes in The Girls on Rose Hill. Bernadette has won several writing contests. The Girls on Rose Hill is her sixth published novel. Kensington Publishing has published five of her other titles: Gold Coast Wives, and the four books of her paranormal series, The Devlin Legacy (comprised of Devil's Mountain; Devil's Shore; Devil's Daughter; and The Devlin Witch). Bernadette's books are available on most e-retailer sites.
Bernadette also hosts a show on blogtalkradio, Nice Girls Reading N
aughty Books, where she interviews various members of the publishing industry. In 2013 Bernadette was named a "featured host" by blogtalkradio.
Further information about Bernadette's books and radio show can be found at www.bernadettewalsh.com.
Table of Contents
Cover
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Epilogue
Meet the Author
The Girls on Rose Hill Page 18