by S. L. Finlay
This wasn't going to end well. I felt my heart sink.
"Okay..." was all I managed to say before the little man from Cork took a deep breath.
"Your parents have said they won't consent for you to study creative writing, and that they want you to return to America immediately." He told me and seeing my face immediately after the news his eyes dropped away from mine as he told me, "I am so sorry."
Tears burst out of my eyes. I couldn't believe it, not only were they unhappy, but they were trying to force me to come home. I didn't want to do it. I wouldn't do it. I couldn't leave my Daddy right now, not when we were so happy and things were going so well.
Just the thought of returning to my old life in the states didn't make sense. Returning to a life like the one in the US felt like living a poor life. Sure, my parents had money but I had never been rich where it counted - rich with the love of friends and a partner - like I was right now.
It mattered so much to me that I had built this life here, even if it hadn't been very long. I felt like I had grown up while away. I had truly grown up and grown into myself like I never had before and that meant so much to me.
To be suddenly taken away from all of that by my parents just because they were not one hundred per cent happy with the choices I made hurt.
I felt the tears welling inside my eyes and made my excuses to leave. I begged the man from Cork not to change anything yet, telling him that I would work through this with my parents. He nodded and let me leave, sensing, I was sure, the emotional outburst that was about to come.
I got away from his office as quickly as possible and had actually left campus when I realised that I should talk to Daddy.
Pulling out my cell phone, I dialled his number. We weren't going to see one another tonight as I had work to do for an assignment but when I dialled he picked up anyway.
"Hello?" He asked.
"Hi. It's me." I told him through sniffles.
"Are you okay?" He asked, immediately concerned.
"Yeah, I, well no. I am not okay." I told him.
"What happened?" He asked.
I took a deep breath then and released it all at once. It was several beats before I could answer, "My parents are saying that I should leave. They have to give some permission for me to study in Ireland, and they're not giving it."
Silence stretched down the phone for a long moment before Daddy asked, "Where are you?"
I looked around and told him what street I was on. I had just walked away without thinking of where I was going.
"I'll come get you." He told me before hanging up.
I was left with a dead line, but felt somewhat relieved that Daddy would be here soon.
That was until I realised that I didn't know how soon he would be - he hadn't told me where he was when I called - I thought it was likely that he would be at the university considering it wasn't yet five pm.
There was a nearby brick fence that I sat on. I put my head on my hands and cried. I felt hopeless. Everything I loved about this place would soon disappear like a mirage. I wouldn't get the life I had been dreaming about anymore.
There would be no living with Daddy while I finished my degree, there would be no periods of time spent with Sammy where we both chilled out and laughed about everything. I would miss them both, they were so close to me even though it had been a relatively short time I had never had relationships like these ones before.
I guess this was what happened when you studied abroad, but it didn't feel quite real anyway, it felt special and it felt wonderful but when I thought about how I could lose it all, it didn't feel like this was really happening at all. It couldn't be, I thought as I cried. I didn't want it to be.
There was this sense of unrealness about it all as I sat there, crying about how everything felt so hopeless and how useless I was at fixing my own problems.
When Daddy appeared out of nowhere and wrapped his arms around me, that sense of unrealness lifted. This was real, it was happening. It wasn't simply going to stop happening just because I wanted it to.
Daddy was here to help though. I wasn't doing it alone, I had his support. As he held me to his body, I felt sure it would be okay. We just had to overcome this, together.
The thought of what would happen if we couldn't was enough to choke me up. But I wouldn't keep crying. Now was a time for action, and Daddy was here to help me take that action.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Happily ever afters are not quite like the stories. In mine, I didn't wind up studying creative writing in Ireland, actually, I was taken away from Ireland in the end because I couldn't defy my parents - especially so publically.
So, I went back to America. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as I had thought it would be. I got on the plane at Dublin airport after Daddy drove me there. Both he and Sammy were standing at the departures gate waving me goodbye.
That was a sad day for everyone, a day none of us wanted to bear, because neither of them knew whether they would see me again.
Daddy had taken a big risk in declaring his relationship with me to his boss, and now I was leaving him. Sammy and I had formed a very strong bond and now I was flying back to the states to complete my education.
Getting home was weird. I felt resentful towards my parents, even as they were so happy to see me again. I felt so angry at them and wanted them to know all about it. My mother and I fought, she told me it was as if she couldn't do anything right.
In the end, I was in my final semester of university - after having spent the previous semester angry and in tears - when my father told me he wanted to talk to me about something.
I went into my parent's office and they broke the news to me, I would be going back to Ireland.
"You can go back there, if it's really what you want." My father told me, defeated.
"But only for a year. If this is the man for you, he can marry you and you can work there. But if you don't get married, then we want you back here in law school." Her voice was stern, but she was telling me exactly what I needed to hear.
I was so overwhelmed after spending all that time away from him that I would get to see him again so soon that I cried. I cried and cried and hugged my parents hard.
My parents were happy and both hugged me tightly before my mother told me, "We mean it though. You guys don't work out, then I want you to come back here and finish your schooling. If you do get married, I still expect you to be a lawyer. Ireland, I understand it, has some very famous and prized lawyers." She told me.
I had learned about Ireland's revolutionaries when I was studying Irish History and one in particular had caught my heart enough that I had told my mother his story, as it turns out, my parents were thinking of him when they loosened the reigns enough to let me go live there full-time. They loved me dearly. I could see that.
Daniel O'Connell had been admitted as a barrister before taking up a career in politics. He managed to use his knowledge and skills for the betterment of the Irish people. By working within the system, he managed to change the system and was referred to as 'the liberator'. When I first heard his story, I was excited about a legal career for the very first time. Of course that excitement didn't last long, but it did last long enough for me to tell my mother the story.
My father was especially happy to deliver the news that I could return to Ireland. He had been complaining about my moping around the house since I got home and now that I wouldn't be doing that and would be getting back to my happy self, he was a very happy man.
I told David about my return and he was so happy and surprised. I could heard it on the phone when he sounded super choked up, "They really do love you, baby girl." He told me.
David wanted to meet my parents himself, and he had for some time. He arranged a flight to the US so he could come over, meet my parents and get everything together with me to move back to Ireland a little more prominently this time.
David would arrive in time to see me graduate and then we'd start making arra
ngements for the big move together.
Knowing that things were going to work out in the end meant I could focus more on my studies, without all the crying in my room and being depressed over this sense of loss I had been carrying with me.
When my graduation rolled around, I was standing up on stage with my classmates. Some of whom knew what they wanted to do with their whole lives. Like mine, there were a number of pre-law students whose parents were keen for them to get the education they needed to pursue their law careers. Those kids had their lives planned out for them.
My life had taken an unexpected turn, but I couldn't see it working any other way. I couldn't see myself being happy with a life determined by others. I had to forge my own path.
What's that saying about burning your own path for others to follow? Maybe that would be me in the future. But if it had a chance to be me, I had to go off on my own. I had to live the kind of life I wanted. If I couldn't pursue my dreams now, I would never be able to pursue them and have any career success - in any field.
It was now or never.
After the ceremony, I walked up to David, who was standing with my parents and gave him a giant hug.
"We're going to make this work." I whispered in his ear so no-one else could hear me, "because all I want right now is to be with you. And I can't imagine it any other way."
David took a deep breath, I'm sure he was inhaling the scent of my hair, "I know baby girl." He told me, "We are going to make it work. There's nothing for you to worry about."
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Moving back to Ireland was easier than I could have imagined. I didn't have to do a single thing for myself. Between the aid of my parents and support of my partner, my transition from living in the states to living in Ireland had been as seamless as if I had woken up here after a long rest and was now enjoying living in a place not unlike the one I had just left.
That is if you ignored that it was an entirely different country. People's accents - and the age of buildings - was a bit of a giveaway.
My life in Galway wasn't much different to when I had been a student here, only now I had enough money to support myself.
I took a job working at the university in an administrative role. It was only supposed to be a stop-gap until I worked out what I wanted to do with my life, but it wound up being my day job as I wrote at night.
Daddy was my biggest support as a writer and my biggest critic too. He would read manuscripts and pick them apart, telling me what I got wrong - plot holes and issues with my characters - until I finally drafted a story which he and I both agreed could be my debut novel. It was published and surprisingly to me, but not to Daddy, it became a sensation and a huge success.
That was the first novel. I went on to write more which were met with critical acclaim and gave me the opportunity to quit my day job and focus on my writing.
One day when we were walking our dogs down the beach in that first year, Daddy had proposed. After he proposed, it wasn't long until we were planning our wedding.
After a few years and best sellers, my parents let go of the idea of my ever being a lawyer, they knew I had made my choice to write for my pleasure and for the pleasure of others. They knew that my readers meant the world to me and now I had found this way to tell stories - I loved story telling after all! - I wasn't going to go back to something as dry and unfulfilling as law, I just wasn't the liberator. We couldn't all be the liberator and that's fine.
They were happy for me. I had found the love of my life, I had found my true calling. I wasn't disinherited after all.
In the end, we wound up having our wedding and it was beautiful. It was our perfect happily ever after, just like in the movies. Only this one was a very Irish happily ever after between a Daddy Dom and his very special baby girl.
I guess that's this story done. I hope my readers love this, just as well as everyone does every happy ending. This happy ending has some truths in it, too.
Walking beside my Daddy, we both entered a future filled with play, fun, and more fantastic stories to share with the children we both knew we would eventually have together.