Page 69 of Secrets in the Snow
He walks towards me with determined strides past well-wishers and those who are shocked into silence by his announcement, and for the rest of my life, I don’t ever think I’ll have anyone look at me the way Aidan Murphy looks at me right now. His handsome face is filled with longing and a mixture of pleasure and wonder in his eyes as we both push our way through the sea of bodies to find each other.
The string quartet strikes up a tune, much to the relief of onlookers, who now turn to each other as a low hum of conversation fills the room once more.
‘Roisin!’ Aidan says to me when he reaches my side. ‘Oh my God, Roisin! I can’t believe you’re here! You look stunning. You’re wearing the dress!’
He pulls me close and we just stare into each other’s eyes as the room swirls around us. He shakes his head in awe, unable to find any further words, so I take the opportunity to explain.
‘Someone once told me that the fear of saying goodbye would never be stronger than the love I feel for you,’ I whisper to him as tears fill both our eyes. ‘And they were right to say that when your heart screams, you’ve no choice but to listen. I love you, Aidan. I love you so much and we’ll find a way just as Mabel would have wanted us to.’
Aidan glances around the room and offers me his arm, which I link as the people around us look our way in confusion.
‘Let’s get out of here,’ Aidan says with a grin. ‘You’ve no idea how much I’ve longed to say those words to you. Thank you for coming to support me. I don’t think this night could get any better.’
We walk through the crowds towards the door that leads to the hotel foyer and, as soon as we get out of the heat and the hustle of the party and their guests, I stop and turn to face him, knowing that his night is indeed set to get better.
‘Look, Aidan, I didn’t come here alone,’ I say to him, trying desperately to find the right words to announce what I have to tell him.
He looks as puzzled as I thought he might be.
‘Ben?’ he suggests, his eyes lighting up at the thought. ‘Did you bring Ben with you?’
‘Not Ben,’ I tell him, leading him towards the hotel bar, where I see Cain in the distance, lost in thought as he contemplates a pint of beer in front of him. ‘There’s someone very special I’d like you to meet, Aidan – a brand new member of your family. It turns out you’re not alone after all when it comes to family. I’d like you to meet your own flesh and blood, Aidan. Your cousin, Cain.’
I only wish I could capture the look of utter shock that washes over Aidan’s face when he first sets his eyes on his uncle Peter’s son Cain. It’s as if he is looking in the mirror, and it’s a true moment in time when two hearts have been connected, like missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
‘But – but I don’t understand?’ says Aidan, as they automatically embrace in a jovial hug. They stand back, they stare, and then they hug again.
‘Take a seat and let me get you a drink,’ I say, leaving them to it for a moment and giving them a chance to absorb this massive change in both their lives. By the time I come back, Aidan is wide-eyed and in awe of how their paths have finally managed to cross.
‘Cain is what Mabel sent us to Breena to find, Aidan,’ I say, trying to add to the explanation. ‘He is the truth untold. The one thing in Peter’s life she never knew about.’
‘I had absolutely no idea,’ Aidan says, shaking his head. ‘Did you know about me? That I existed?’
Cain’s lilting northern Irish accent is a joy and another affirmation of their strong family connection.
‘I grew up knowing very little about my father or his background,’ explains Cain. He is truly like a carbon copy of Peter Murphy, right down to the sultry, movie star looks and charming smile. ‘My mother brought me up alone, and it’s only recently when she was diagnosed with a terminal illness that she decided to tell me the truth, and then you two arrived in our pub, and the rest is history. Good timing, eh?’
‘Good old Mabel,’ I whisper, even though I know she had no idea of what we were to discover there in Breena. She must have had a hunch, an instinct that the secret between the Murphy brothers was something worth looking into, even if she couldn’t have faced up to it herself.
I can feel Aidan’s hand shake in mine now and the world spins, but in the most magnificent way as I look on at these two Murphy boys who have been united so much later than they should have been. I remember Aidan’s pain as he thought he’d left Ireland and any connection to his family behind for ever, and now he has so many reasons to return and to start a new life if he still wants to. I remember how he longed for a sibling, for a blood relative, just like I have Ben. I remember how he ached for a sense of belonging after Mabel’s death, and now he has found it all over again.
‘I have a cousin,’ he says, gulping back tears and shaking his head. He can’t take his eyes off Cain and he can’t let go of my hand, which he keeps squeezing for gentle reassurance. ‘This is … Roisin, did you go back to Breena to find him? I just can’t believe this.’
Cain and I nod to him and then both men stand up, locking in a warm embrace again and looking so alike they could be brothers.
‘We’re your true family, Aidan,’ says Cain, looking so tall, strong and protective beside him, ‘and we’re here to ask you to come home.’
I catch Aidan wiping tears from his eyes and I can’t helpmyself as my carefully applied make-up is streaming down my face, tears falling onto Mabel’s beautiful red dress, which I’d saved for this very special occasion with the man I really love – a man who looks at me like no one has done before.
‘Happy birthday, Mabel,’ I say, taking a sip of my champagne and toasting my dear friend up in heaven. ‘I think we’ve made quite a celebration and fuss of your eightieth birthday after all, don’t you?’
CHRISTMAS
37.
Istand here in the little kitchen of the house in Dunfanaghy, watching Ben, Cain and Aidan on the beach in the distance fly a kite against the wintry elements as they run along the sand. Michael Bublé sings on the radio, and I’m hugging a mug of steaming coffee as the smell of Christmas dinner fills our new home by the sea.
The table is set, not for two and not for even for three, but for seven family members who will gather around soon and toast everyone who brought us to this wonderful moment here today.
