Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
W hen Grace had first stepped outside with Diego and Wesley , Bryan’s heart all but stopped in his chest. Up until that moment, he’d been half-afraid he’d misread the situation, misread her book and all she’d shared with him, as well as all the things she hadn’t.
Nervous she might be furious with him for the surprise double quinceanera—for his interference, for asking Diego to fly out—he had taken the risk anyway, to show her what she’d come to mean to him. One look at her in her big brother’s arms, resplendent in the dream dress his auntie had turned into reality, and it was all worth it, especially after a glimpse of her face.
Lùc had made sketches of the dress based on descriptions in Grace’s book, and Diego had helped with as many details as he could over hurried text messages as he scrambled to make the trip over from LA . That had been worth it, too. In some small way, giving the two of them this moment felt like it made up a little bit for missing Diego’s wedding all those years ago.
While she and her brother danced, Bryan busied himself at the dessert table, cutting the cake his sisters had baked to feed the whole town. It hadn’t been easy to swallow his pride and ask them for help, but all in all, his family had really come through. Maybe they’d been waiting years for him to ask them to.
Returning home with the decorations only to find his grandfather’s worry stone on the counter beside his mess of a speech had felt like a nod of approval from the old man. Bryan shivered, recalling the split second when he thought Grandad’s ghost must have rescued the stone from the airport and left it on the counter for him to find.
But no. It was Grace who had found his worry stone, Grace who had saved it just as she saved him, just as she was still trying to help, unaware he’d forgotten—actually forgotten —his investor was arriving today of all days. Unaware of what the precious stone meant to him.
She tried to slink up next to him, almost impossible in the massive skirt, and she bumped his shoulder. “ Pretty nice party, MacNeil .”
He wanted to make some witty reply, but all he could do was grin like an idiot.
“Are you going to dance with me, or do I have to beg?”
Bryan didn’t need to be asked twice. He swept her up in his arms and attempted a traditional waltz, though he was pretty sure the music was all wrong for it.
“You looked up these steps online, didn’t you?” she teased.
“Guilty.”
“Thank you.”
“It was Wesley’s idea,” he demurred.
“It absolutely wasn’t.”
“No, but she was going to take the heat for me if you hated it.”
“I don’t hate it. Thank you, truly,” she said again, resting her head against his shoulder as they danced.
What god did he have to pray to, to stay just like this forever?
“Jules seems to be having a nice time,” she said, and he followed her gaze to see the investor dancing together with Eòghann and Wesley .
“At least they won’t have made a completely wasted trip.”
Grace pulled back and stared up at him. “ Wasted for whom?”
“The town doesn’t want me or my distillery. They only agreed to stop picketing ’cause I offered them cake.”
“Speak to them. Give them a chance to surprise you.”
“I’m not going to be the asshole who makes your day about me.”
Grace stopped dancing. “ Today was always supposed to be about you. Stop trying to hide your trauma behind mine.”
He stared at her. “ That’s not what I’m doing. Is it?”
“It’s a good speech, Bryan . They need to hear it and you deserve the chance to speak it.”
He shook his head. “ It’s grand thanks to your changes, only I haven’t had time to memorize it.”
“Then read it.”
“I can’t.”
“Of course you can. You read my whole book.”
“Not out loud. The stammer… it’s easier if I recite.”
“They’ll know it’s from the heart. And if anyone teases you, Diego and I will kill them and dump their bodies in the ocean.”
He laughed. “ It really doesn’t matter,” he protested.
“Don’t argue with the birthday girl. What do you have to lose?” she asked, stepping away from him and over to Lùc’s band to steal the mic. “ Excuse me, everyone? May I have your attention please?”
Bryan rolled his eyes and shook his head desperately at her, but she ignored him as his neighbors fell silent around the bonfire, the sky painted in party pinks and golds behind them.
“I know I’ve only been here a short time,” she said. “ But in that time, I’ve really gotten to know the character of this island. You’re tough. Hard -working. Extremely close to each other and your history and traditions.”
The old-timers murmured their agreement.
“Thank you so much for sharing my traditions with me today. It means the world.”
They clapped.
“I’m sure aspects of it were new and strange.”
She paused to let them laugh self-consciously.
“But it’s been fun, right?”
They cheered in affirmation. How was she so good at this?
“I didn’t get to have my quinceanera when I was fifteen because I let fear and anger drive a wedge between myself and the people I loved, and I’ve regretted it ever since. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for sharing this double quinceanera day with me.
“But today wasn’t supposed to be about me. It was supposed to be about one of you and his commitment to all of you. It was supposed to be about this gorgeous cottage. I’m sure by now you’ve all had a chance to see inside. It’s a symbol, for so many of you, of the island’s past, but the thing is, it could also represent the island’s future. So please, because it’s my birthday?—”
“And double quinceanera!” Wes shouted.
“—and that too, please listen to what Bryan has to say with the same generous spirit you’ve listened to me. Let him speak, and then decide.”
The crowd grew quiet, shifty and uncertain. How was Bryan supposed to follow her?
Cait offered him his tablet, and his hands were so sweaty he almost dropped it, but then Grace pressed the worry stone into his palm, cool and soothing as it always used to be.
“Go on then, lad,” Ellis Stewart said.
“Give him a minute,” his father commanded before nodding encouragingly Bryan’s way.
So he took a breath and read them the speech he’d written, which Grace had so thoughtfully edited.
“When I was young and naive,” he began, clearing his throat before it cracked like he was twelve again, “ I talked a good talk about making the island green. I distinctly recall a few of you telling me if I took my head out of my arse and looked inland instead of out, it already was green.”
A laugh went through the older neighbors, and Ellis shoved his hands deep in his pockets, though he smiled and nodded sheepishly too.
“I was a wee eco-warrior, and you were, rightfully, amused. We may not have seen eye to eye all those years ago, but the one thing we did agree on was our love of this island. All my grand ideas were on account of how much I cared. I wanted to conserve it forever, for my children’s children’s children.”
They were all nodding now, agreeing with the sentiment.
“I’m an island lad through and through, and though I did leave for many years, I took the island with me. I took all of you with me. I learned a trade— I’m good at it. I also learned things about the world. And myself—things I couldn’t learn here.”
A ripple of dismay at that, but it was the truth.
“I’m an island lad, and though I haven’t finished learning, I’ve come home. My wish—my only wish—is to take what I learned and use it here, as my gift to all of you. It’ll mean hard work, but you taught me how to work hard, that the work is its own reward. It’ll mean change, but the world out there taught me change doesn’t have to be a terrible thing. Good things come too, when you let them.”
He took a deep shaky breath.
“As for me, I’ll work hard every day to make good change happen, if you’ll let me.”
Then he breathed out slowly and closed his eyes, gripping his grandfather’s stone for dear life. He worried his words weren’t polished enough, that he sounded too immature or too earnest to be taken seriously. But he’d gotten through it. And he’d meant every single bit.
No one said anything for a minute, and Bryan tried to think what he would do if they turned him away. Jules would certainly leave to find some other young eco-minded distiller to invest in.
“I think…”
“Go on, Tom ,” his Uncle Dàibhidh urged.
“What I think is, a new distillery’s a fine idea. You can buy my north pasture to build it on, if you like.”
“I agree,” Teàrlach jumped in. “ We might have to add another flight to keep up with the increased tourism it would bring.”
Bryan nodded in thanks to his cousin, who’d spent most of the party catching up with Diego . It warmed his heart to see them reunited again, too.
“Reckon I wouldn’t mind sprucing up my cottage a little, the way you’ve done around here,” Old Nellie Coombe conceded. “ I wouldn’t have believed it if blondie hadn’t given me a tour, but you did a real nice job. Your grandad would be proud of you.”
Tears sprang to Bryan’s eyes.
“All in favor of Bryan’s eco-distillery?” Cait called, and everyone shouted, “ Aye ” except for his next-door neighbor.
“Ellis?” his father prodded.
“Oh, fine, aye—only, can you show me how to install those horrible solar panels so my electric bill won’t be so high when the grandkids come to stay?”
Everyone laughed, and Bryan finally released a long-held breath.
Jules approached, carrying one plate piled high with vegetarian tamales and another with cake. “ Bryan MacNeil ,” they said, extending a plate for him to take, freeing up their other hand to shake his. “ I looked over the paperwork you sent me. All in all, I’m impressed.”
“Are you?”
“These people were protesting with signs outside your house when I arrived this afternoon.”
He winced.
“Seems like you’ve pulled off a minor miracle. Miss Rios tells me you’ve found a biochar replacement for peat smoke?”
“Tested.”
“I’d like to break ground as soon as possible,” they said.
“Th-thank you,” he murmured, a bit bewildered by the day’s turn of events.
“It’s been my dream for a long time. You’ve proven you’re more than capable. What are you going to call it?”
“Finnbar,” he said.
They grinned and nodded. “ Perfect . I’m looking forward to doing business with you.”
“Ditto,” he said, a little stunned as he watched them walk away.