Page 8 of Lucky Girl

“I like it.”

“It’ll never be a dull moment. Wait till you meet Tara,” I say, mentioning my sister. She’s an actress who might be insane.

“I can’t wait.” She giggles as I pull her toward me.

“Let’s go to bed,” I say.

“Let’s not,” she says, winking at me before taking off down the hallway at a playful run.

I have no choice but to follow her. I’ll follow this woman for the rest of my life.

Epilogue

Fiadh

Six Months Later

Ilove being his wife. In just six short months, so much has happened. We spent the whole first day in bed together, not even getting up for food. The second day, we emerged from the apartment and went on foot sightseeing. We stopped at a cool restaurant where we ate on the roof overlooking the street. We also found a jewelry store where he bought me a platinum wedding ring set that came with a matching band for him. I’m also pregnant, but that’s not surprising. We are very excited to start our family. Speaking of family, I am still trying to prove myself to my mother-in-law, Annie. She was surprised and hurt that Eamon got married without telling her. Rationally, I know it’s not me exactly; any other woman in place would be dealing with the same thing, but being pregnant, my emotions are all over the place, and I’ve been avoiding her like the plague so that I don’t say something to her that I don’t mean. Neil, my father-in-law, was much easier to win over.

Aunt Rita is in remission and coming to visit as soon as she feels up to it. Turns out, being able to relax not having to worry about what the NHS covers in the aftermath of chemo makes recovery that much easier. We traveled back and forth to Dublin to be with her, but I can’t fly anymore. Eamon has been amazing. He’s spared no expense in her care, including a team of highly trained home nurses for her.

It’s Eamon’s birthday, and I have no idea what to get the man who has everything, so I am making his favourite food, which thankfully is my wheelhouse. Macaroni and cheese with smoked sausage. He calls it comfort food, and I like it too. It’s one of the three things I can make.

It’s not much, but he really has everything. Watches, ties, electronics. There is nothing I could buy that he doesn’t already have. I went shopping twice and both times came away empty-handed. Instead, I went to a lingerie store and bought some gauzy contraption that makes me look like a present. It’s strappy and has bows. It’s cheesy, I know, but I really couldn’t think of anything. I am standing in the kitchen wearing practically nothing, cooking. Eamon had an emergency in the textile factory of his family’s company, but he texted to tell me that he was on the way home about twenty minutes ago.

I’ve just pulled the pan out of the oven when I hear the elevator ding.

“Hello?” my mother-in-law shouts from the other room. I look down at my outfit and freak out.

“Annie?”

“We’re all here,” she shouts.

“Uh. Feck,” I mumble. “Please make yourself at home,” I say before scrambling into the bedroom. Once inside the closet, I pull a wrap tie dress down off of a hanger and put it on, deciding to leave the gold strappy heels on. Running a brush through my hair, I think I look pretty cute. I rush out into the living room, where my husband’s entire family stares back at me.

“Hello, dear,” Neil says, pushing past his wife to pull me into his arms.

“Hi. I wasn’t expecting you guys.”

“It is my oldest son’s birthday,” Annie says, rolling her eyes. “Why wouldn’t we come here?”

“Calm down, Mama,” Tara says from her place next to her boyfriend, Hans, who is also an actor.

“Yeah, Ma,” Flynn says, chuckling. Dorothy, the girl from the night we got home, is now his wife. She’s pregnant with twins and as big as a house.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

“You should be,” she says.

“You know what? I’ve had enough of this. I’m sorry. Sorry, I married Eamon without you knowing about it, but I didn’t know about you, to be fecking fair. If you are going to be mad, be mad at Eamon. I’ve been nothing but nice and accommodating to you. Whether you like it or not, I am your daughter-in-law, and we need to get along. This baby doesn’t care if we like each or not right now, but she’ll care soon enough.”

“It’s a girl?” Annie says. We were keeping it a secret, and of course, I’d be the one to blow it.

“It is.”

“I’ll admit, I’ve been a bit testy about you, but you are right; it’s not you. I just can’t believe that my son, the son who never dated, got married so fast and without his family.”

“What if we had a do-over?”

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