Page 34 of On The Rocks

Donny was right. She was cute.

My ma’s voice rang out as she came bustling over. “Are you okay, Maeve, love?”

Maeve gaze remained glued to my face and softened. “I am now, Maureen, thanks.”

Ma looked forlornly at Maeve’s dress and shrugged off her long, pale blue silky shawl. “Here, love. Put this around your shoulders.” She made a fuss of wrapping the pretty garment around my bride, her gaze shifting to me. “You’re a good boy, Callum.”

“This is lovely, Maureen,” Maeve said sweetly. “The color’s so beautiful.”

Ma beamed.

I rested my hands on Maeve’s shoulders. “Do you like it enough to get wed in it? I know it’s not exactly traditional, but then that’s not us, is it?”

Ma let out a little sob.

Maeve gazed up at me wondrously. “I thought you wanted to call it off. When you told Father Michael to stop the wedding, I thought you’d changed your mind, and I couldn’t blame you.”

“It wasn’t that at all,” I assured her. “But I didn’t wanna say our vows while those assholes sat there all smug, and you were upset. Plus, it seemed wrong with Orla and those girls watching, especially after what they did. Let’s make a deal. Everything we do from now on, we do by our own rules, okay?”

She blinked owlishly and murmured, “Sounds good to me, but I have to know. Are you sure about this? We can call it off, no hard feelings.”

Right then, in that moment, a realization washed over me.

In spite of all the doubts that had plagued me during the week, never once had I considered canceling the wedding. There was something inside me that needed to protect this girl, a feeling that had taken me over since the moment I’d picked her up from the hallway floor in Patrick’s house.

God only knew what I was thinking. I’d obviously lost my mind.

I didn’t know what I was doing, what the future held, or even if we’d still be together in a year, but what I did know was that taking Maeve Monroe away from this life was the right thing to do. If the only way to do that was by marrying her, then so be it. Plus, I could save my bar in the process.

It was a no-brainer.

“I’m up for it if you are,” I announced.

She laughed, the sound like a little tinkling bell. “I’m up for it too.”

I grinned because, against all odds, my idiot brothers had been right when they told me my nerdy little wife was cute. She was a fucking trip.

My hand reached for hers, and together, we turned toward the priest. “We’re ready now, Father,” Maeve said sweetly, squeezing my fingers.

A cough sounded from somewhere behind me, and I peered over my shoulder to see Patrick standing there with Laim.

“Hurry, Father Michael,” he clipped out. “Callum and I need some time to have a little chat before he leaves for Wyoming.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “Don’t we now?”

A cold shiver simultaneously trickled down my spine, and I turned back to face the priest.

Well, fuck.

Then, for the second time that day, Father Michael looked Maeve and me in the eye and began the service.

“Dearly beloved...”

CHAPTER 8

MAEVE

There was no throwing of confetti, no photographs—unless you counted Maureen and Ash taking pictures on their smartphones—and no cans tied to the trunk of Callum’s rental, declaring to the world we were ‘Just Married.’ But it was like Callum said—from now on, we were going to do things our own way.

Was it the wedding I’d dreamed of since I was a little girl?

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