Chapter 27 #2
‘Dan! Can you believe it?’ Kate shakes his hand up and down now.
‘Give us ten minutes, guys. Wait for us here? I just need to show Dan one other thing.’ I step in and prise Dan’s hand out of Kate’s vice-like grip.
‘Take your time!’ Kate says. ‘I’ve waited a lifetime, I can wait ten minutes more. Anyway, Mary’s just put out more food!’
Then, I take a concerned and confused-looking Dan by the elbow and lead him back into the Heart Ballroom.
There is no denying the ballroom has an electric energy and in this late hour of the night, with Christmas almost upon us, the festive vibe just spills over.
We walk around the edge of the huge dancefloor that’s now empty with the villagers all queuing for food at the back of the room, so I walk into the middle of the dancefloor.
‘Right here.’ I stamp my foot. ‘The perfect partition. I thought it the first time I stood in here at Aisling and Aaron’s wedding.’ I stamp it again.
‘How’d you mean?’ Dan’s eyes search mine, with that more-than-intrigued look he gives off. I watch as he moves towards me, his hands on his hips and his head tilted in wonder. It feels empowering to have someone really listen to my ideas. Really take me seriously.
‘Okay, so we part the room along this line.’ I drag my foot along the floor moving backwards. ‘You still have what looks like a full dancefloor but now it’s at the top or the bottom of the room depending. We still have the windows, the view . . .’
‘I’ve never even thought of halving this room, but hang on, I’d still have to heat the entire ballroom, though?’ Dan slides his hands from his hips deep into his pockets, but I can see he’s thinking it out.
‘No. Your heating system is killing you. Kill it before it finishes you completely. We bring in storage heaters, cheap to hire for a few days, masked behind classic radiator covers, and take bookings for much smaller weddings. This room should be booked out five nights a week. We spend money on a soundproof divider. That’s non-negotiable.
It will pay us back a million times over in weddings, engagements, twenty-firsts, as you said.
But also book launches, and wine tastings, and comedy nights.
We can run yoga and Pilates classes in here all day if we want to!
Dan, my mind is bursting with ideas on how we can generate more income. ’
A slow developing smile appears. ‘God, you’re right. How have I not been thinking like you?’ He pulls his hands out, and runs his long fingers through his hair. ‘Is this all my fault?’ His voice shakes. His two fists curl up, as they do when he’s anxious.
‘No, it’s not. It’s because your head is too full of trying to keep the wolf from the door. You’re trying to figure all of this out alone. It’s far too much for one person,’ I assure him with a strong, supportive voice.
Dan lifts his head slowly and looks at me like I’m the answer to all his prayers, a bright expression like sunshine that has just risen above the clouds crosses his face. ‘Tell me more, tell me more! Enlighten me, educate me with your amazing creative business brain, Maggie Grace.’
‘Don’t get me started on all the other ways we have to make money, or my creative my brain will explode!
’ I count out on my fingers. ‘Marquee weddings on the grounds in summer, market stalls selling jewellery, handmade goods, picnic benches all down the side of the driveway on the grass for takeaway coffees, castle barbeque days, family fun days, you can even host small gymkhana days for pony clubs with all this green space. I met a new girl to the village, Amy. She’s setting up a coffee van.
Get her up here, charge her to rent castle ground space to start, think of all the passing trade you will get.
You could even have Castlemoon merch! Tourists love that and there is a huge profit to be made on it.
Get a gigantic special board at the castle doors, that will drive passing trade inside.
Let local artists display their work on the walls and take a commission on all sales.
There are endless opportunities, Dan.’ I’m so excited I perform a quick jig, my feet tapping rhythmically on the floor to the music the trad band are tuning up to.
He watches me. ‘Beautiful. Should I call Riverdance, see if they need any new dancers?’ he jokes.
‘They couldn’t afford me!’ I shimmy my shoulders and smile brightly at him.
Then, there is a long pause. Dan’s eyes hold mine steadily so that even blinking feels impossible.
‘Where have you been all my life?’ He gasps a huge lungful of air, as though he wasn’t sure he was going to say that. He’s shocked himself.
‘I know’ is all I say back to him because I do know. We both know. But the thought of saving Castlemoon for him pushes me on to the business at hand. Saving this place is the most important thing of all right now.
I go on. ‘So, I’ve set up a new Instagram for the castle, that’s what I was doing tonight in my room. In your room, Dan Delaney Is Cool.’ I raise an eyebrow.
He laughs knowingly, and then cringes slightly. ‘What made ya look under the stool?’
‘It fell over. Too cute. Anyway, I’ve used the article that I did for the magazine and my pictures.
I think it’s the tool we . . .’ I check myself, I’ve been saying ‘we’ all the time I realise, a flush stabbing my cheeks.
‘You . . . I – I mean . . . the tool you need when the cellar is done and you feature Kate and Jimmy’s wedding as the more intimate option – please never use or refer to it as the cheaper option, it cheapens the cellar and I’d hate that – bookings will fly in.
My best friend Jill is a huge influencer, vintage clothing mainly but a lot of vintage wedding gowns too, and she’s agreed to post on her page in a few weeks.
I know you can go viral with Castlemoon as a wedding venue, Dan, I just know it.
’ I’m nodding so enthusiastically my hair bounces with every movement.
Dan says nothing. So I wait. I now know he’s not the kind of man to rush his thoughts. Dan is a deep thinker. Then, slowly he lifts both his hands, cups my face within them but now I’m used to the physical jolt his touch delivers.
‘I’m hoping you can’t get home in this weather, did I tell you that? I’m hoping Faith is on our side.’
‘Me too,’ I admit. I can’t scan the room to see if people are looking but I know they must be.
‘Let’s get out of here,’ he says as the céilí starts back up. Seán is on the mic telling the crowd it’s the last few dances and to get up on the floor. Conversation and laughter swirls again as fiddles, flutes, bodhráns and accordions sound out.
‘We have to show the cellar to Kate and Jimmy. They’re waiting for us.’ I put my hands on his and gently remove them from my face. I scan the room for them, no sign. ‘They must be outside,’ I tell Dan as he follows me back out to the lobby.
‘Sorry! Here we are!’ I call out to them. Kate sits on Jimmy’s knee by the blazing fire, her cheeks rosy.
‘At last! The band are back for the last hour and we have dancing to do. Need to dance those Christmas turkey sambos and chocolate Santas off my fiancé so he fits into his wedding suit next week.’ Playfully, Kate squeezes Jimmy’s non-existent stomach.
‘Follow us.’ I lead them back through the Sweet Orange Room, down the winding stairs and open the gate to the cellar with ease.
‘Good job, Dan.’ I smile over my shoulder to him.
‘Thanks, boss.’ He nods as he flicks on the also newly fixed overhead light. A lone hanging bulb shines brightly.
‘Now, I need you both to use your imaginations,’ I say.
‘Maggie, right now I feel like Charlie Bucket himself! I’m bursting with the excitement!’ Kate says but I can hear serious trepidation oozing from her voice.
‘We do have a huge back-door emergency-exit area that will be made available to guests for arrival and departure. I just need to tidy up the area around it,’ Dan tells them, ‘needs a lick of paint.’
‘I need you both to think bougie – twinkling white fairy lights, tall candles, white roses, a quartet, quality food, dancing . . .’
Dan goes on ahead and turns on the generator lights as the three of us follow close behind.
‘Ta-dah!’ I turn to get Kate’s immediate reaction.
She’s turned rather pale under those rosy cheeks.
‘Kate?’ I say more quietly now. Oh no, does she hate it?
Have I made a huge mistake? Have I got her hopes up for nothing?
Have I got Dan’s hopes up for nothing? The voice in my head starts to question my own decision.
‘Ya alright, Kate?’ Dan moves to her, puts his hand on her shoulder.
Kate turns and fixes on me with the most intense stare I’ve ever seen before she bursts into tears. I see her shoulders shake and her breath comes in heavy pants.
‘Oh, I’m so sorry!’ My hand flies to my forehead. What have I done?
‘Give her a sec,’ Jimmy says as he looks around.
‘What have you done? You’ve possibly performed a miracle! I love it! Oh my God, Maggie! I love it! I love it so much! I can see it! I can see it all!’ Kate is as giddy as I’ve ever seen her and now I see Jimmy nodding his head with her, approvingly.
‘Right!’ I heave a gasp of relief.
‘Phew!’ Dan bends, rests his hands on his knees.
‘Ya weren’t wrong about it being all hands on deck alright.’ Jimmy says on a muted exhalation.
‘This wedding is definitely happening!’ Kate croaks, filled with happy emotion.
‘I’m getting married in Castlemoon! We are going to be blessed, Jimmy, our marriage is going to be blessed.
We will stand under the same roof Esther and Michael Delaney stood under.
And that makes me so happy. That is my dream come true.
’ Kate spontaneously bursts into tears again.
‘Group hug!’ Jimmy declares, opening his long arms out wide as all four of us huddle in a hug. His physical gesture displays to me yet again the warmth and closeness of this community.
‘Go, the pair of ya! We can talk first thing. Get back to the céilí for the last hour, all your pals are up there!’ Dan shoos them out as I now try to untangle Kate’s arms from around my neck. She kisses both me and Dan as they rush back up to the céilí.
‘Love ye!’ Kate yells back down the stairs.
For a moment, Dan and I both stay where we are.
Then, Dan speaks first. ‘How does it feel to make someone’s greatest dream come true?’
‘Let’s not jump the gun.’ I laugh. ‘There’s a lot of work to do yet.’
We both let the elephant in the room hang heavy. That I won’t be here to see this wedding. That I’ll be back in New York.
‘Let’s go let you finish your drink,’ Dan says as we make our way out, he shuts the gate and we walk back up the winding stairs into the quietness and the warmth of the Sweet Orange Room.
The turf fire blazes, catching the flashing lights on the Christmas tree.
I can smell the fresh pine, crisp and earthy-sweet.
‘It’s where they met,’ Dan suddenly says in a quiet whisper. ‘Well, where they properly met, where they first spoke, did they tell you that?’ he asks me, emotion dripping from his voice.
‘Your parents? Oh yes, they did. Of course, your dad was sitting there, right?’ I point to a large seat with a tall back by the fireside.
‘Same seat, reupholstered, obviously.’
I walk over to the chair and rest my hands on the back of it, running my fingers across the tweed, seeing the deep intricate pattern in the woven material for the first time.
‘Your father had his head in his hands if I’m not mistaken? He was afraid he was going to lose the castle?’ It’s easy for me to recall my conversation with Esther and Michael. In fact, I could recite it verbatim such was the impression they made on me.
‘Correct.’ Dan moves towards me now, walking slowly, rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt, that sinew of muscle catches my eye again.
‘And Esther came in . . .’ I go on as though narrating their love story.
‘And saved his life,’ Dan finishes, so close to me now that his lips are inches from my mouth. ‘Is history repeating itself? Are you going to save mine?’ His words are a low whisper.
I can just see his lips move under my eyeline, our mouths are a needle width apart.
‘Maybe we can save each other?’ I murmur back.
Then I kiss him. It’s soft. Tender. It’s everything I want. He’s everything I want.
I pull away just in time as Terry pounds into the room.
‘There ye are.’ He strides over to us. ‘Maggie, I owe you an apology.’ A genuine expression of regret conveys the sincerity of Terry’s feelings.
‘No, Terry. You really don’t.’ I hold my hand up.
‘I do.’ Terry’s brows join together to form his very own disapproving line. ‘I should have checked out the facts fully first. Most unacceptable of me. Dan explained it all. I think I’ve been so stressed, not just with the castle but also with Giselle – she had . . . in the past . . . issues . . .’
‘Holding onto the pregnancy, I know,’ I say softly. ‘I had my own part to play, I was too focused on myself. I owe you an apology.’
There is a tiny twitch at the corner of Terry’s mouth. ‘Friends?’ He extends his hand, a towering presence, and I shake it, my hand lost in his large palm.
‘Terry?’ Dan says. ‘What is it?’
‘Oh, yes, well I just heard from Kate and Jimmy inside about their wedding down below and how they are paying us the rest of the money we need to pay the vultures to have their wedding in the cellar! That’s all your doing, Maggie.
We are forever in your debt,’ Terry says.
To have his seal of approval means everything to me.
I know Terry is a good man, devoted and dedicated to Dan and to Castlemoon.
‘W-what?’ Dan spits. ‘They are?’
‘Oh yeah. Meant to tell you that too.’ I shrug nonchalantly, as Dan moves to me, lifts me off my feet effortlessly and spins me around.