Chapter 9
Aweek after Bridie’s arrival in the town where she had been born, she awoke early. Ella was still sound asleep in the cot beside her. She arose silently, dressing with care to avoid stirring her younger sister, and left the house for an early-morning walk.
Though it was December, it was unseasonably warm; the early-morning mist was already beginning to give way to a fine, bright day, the sort of brilliant blue skies that could only be seen in the middle of winter and that always came as a surprise.
She wrapped her cloak around her as she made her way through the streets, smiling and nodding at the few passersby who were out and about at this hour.
A week in Kinsale had settled her heart a little.
She’d begun to look past both the excitement of her arrival and the disappointment that reality had brought—after all, Ireland was no paradise, even if it was the land of her dreams. She knew now that she had looked back on it through rose-colored glasses.
But for all that, it was a beautiful place, in the here and now.
Kinsale was as quaint and picturesque as she remembered; yes, times were difficult here, but only yesterday the young man at the mercantile had agreed to employ her on a trial basis.
There was no ready-made counter here, but she knew how to wrap up brown paper packages, and she was willing to work.
She decided she would work as hard as she could, and together she and Ella would save up enough to rent a little cottage.
Once they were settled there, she would start saving to bring her family back over—if that was what they wanted.
She hoped they did. Her heart ached for her mother and father, for James and the twins—and most of all for the sight of Jed McHale.
As she began to make her way up the slight rise toward the hills outside of Kinsale, she turned back to look over the town and caught her breath at the beauty of it.
The church spire seemed to be stretching toward the blue heavens.
In the bay, a small ship was just settling into the port; the passengers disembarking looked as small as ants from this distance.
The whole world seemed to glow, something magical and strange.
Ireland had her heart—but only a part of it.
Half of it was back in Galveston, Texas, in the calloused, hard-working hands of Jed McHale.
She had to admit to herself, now that her head was cleared of the mists of daydreaming of Ireland.
The complexity of her feelings, the jealousy she’d experienced, the sense of pride in Galveston and the home she’d almost had—all of it stemmed from the same cause.
She had fallen in love with Jed without even realizing it.
And she had railed against it, too! It was far from the aim she’d had in mind when she agreed to leave Boston and travel to Texas to become a mail order bride.
She had started out a bargaining chip, all unawares; and she had ended up a lovelorn woman, unmarried and unpromised, just as ignorant about her own heart now as she had been at the beginning.
It was foolish—the most foolish thing she’d ever done.
But she had to own up to it. There was nothing to be done about it now. She was back in Ireland, and she couldn’t even think of returning—no matter how much she missed Jed.
Oh, and she did! She closed her eyes for a moment, blotting out the welcome sight of the beautiful little town where she’d been born.
It was here in front of her, real and true—and Jed had taken its place in her mind, in her daydreams. She seemed to see him around every corner, to see his warm brown eyes reflected in every face, and to speak with him in her sleep.
Her life since she’d left Ireland had been haunted by the home of her childhood; now that she had it back, she found herself haunted instead by the man she’d left behind.
Was that simply the way it would always be for her? Must she spend her days haunted by something? Could she never have everything she wanted?
The thought was so overtly selfish that it made her laugh. How childish of her to think she, alone out of everyone else, could get everything she’d ever wanted!
To think that she was special…
Her longing for Jed was sudden and fierce, an ache in her heart.
He had taken Ireland’s place in her heart, and she knew she would never be free of him.
She didn’t want to be free of him—she wanted him there with her.
But there was nothing to be done about it.
She’d made her decisions, and she had to stand by them.
He owed her nothing—and she owed him everything.
“If I spent the rest of my life paying you back, Jed McHale,” she murmured aloud, “I could never manage to give you what you have given me.”
She sighed and opened her eyes. The force of her imagined vision of him stayed with her—it must have been even stronger than she realized, for she seemed to see him coming toward her.
The familiar, tall, broad-shouldered figure, stalwart and sturdy, dressed in a black jacket and wearing a hat pulled low…
She blinked to clear her vision, but instead it only drew closer.
It was a man—someone who looked remarkably like Jed, she thought, her heart beginning to race. But he couldn’t be Jed. Jed was thousands of miles away. He might as well have been on the moon.
But—
But the closer the man came, the more the certainty in her heart grew. It wasn’t, because it couldn’t be.
But it was.
It wasn’t until he was only a few feet from her that he stopped, took off his hat, and smiled.
The sight of that familiar grin did something to her, turning her heart into a shaft of light, like sunlight through the shifting clouds, and she was running toward him without realizing what she was doing.
Then his arms were around her, and his heart was keeping time with hers, double-quick.
“Jed!”
“There you are,” he laughed, his mouth against her hair. “I asked at the boarding house, and your sister said she supposed you must have gone for a walk, since you were gone when she got up. I reckoned you must have come up to the hills.”
“Jed!” Was she crying or laughing? She couldn’t be sure. She drew back just enough to look up at him. “What on earth are you doing here?”
“Why, I’m here for you, of course,” he said, smiling down at her. “And for Ireland. I hear tell it’s the prettiest place on God’s earth.”
“Oh, Jed!” Crying, laughing—and blushing, too. She didn’t care. “How…”
“Well, here’s the way of it,” he said, dropping his hat so he could take hold of her with both hands and looking earnestly into her eyes.
“I wanted you to be happy. I wanted you to have everything you wanted. But after you left, I got to thinkin’—maybe I was going about things all backwards.
Maybe it wasn’t a matter of choosing what would make you happy.
Maybe it was about giving you everything.
And if you had Ireland, like you wanted—maybe you’d want me, a little, too. ”
She went back into his arms, turning her face up to his, and pressed a kiss to his mouth.
“I do,” she murmured. “I’ve been missing you something awful, ever since I left—but, Jed, I’m sorry, I can’t just go back to Texas.
It hasn’t been easy here, and it’s different from what I remember—but it’s still the home of my dreams. I’m just starting to find myself again, to be the best Bridie Hamilton that I can be.
Oh, Jed, all those things that kept me from being worthy of you—the selfishness, the foolishness, and the way I acted like a stubborn child—I think I might be able to fix those things, here in Ireland.
Would you wait for me, Jed, until I’m good enough for you? ”
He smiled down at her, cupping her cheek with one hand.
“You’re good enough for me right now, Bridie Hamilton,” he said, his voice a little rough. “If I didn’t love every part of you, it wouldn’t be love.”
She leaned her forehead against his chest and sighed.
“What are we going to do, then?” she said. “I know it’s still selfish of me—but I don’t want to go back to Texas. I want to stay here.”
He held her close.
“Then stay here,” he said. “And let me stay with you.”
She gasped, eyes flying upwards to meet his once more.
“Do you mean it?”
“As long as this is your home,” he said, “then it will be mine, too.” He kissed her again, then let her go. “All I want is for you to be happy, Bridie—I’ve said it all along, and I’ve meant it, too.”
She took his hand, her heart soaring as they turned to face out over the little valley that held Kinsale, shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart.
The future was there, right in front of her—holding her hand.
Oh, it wasn’t going to be easy; she had no more illusions about that.
It would take work, and there might be some heartbreak along the way.
She had a long way to go. Even further than she had already come.
But with Jed there beside her, and the future spread out in front of her—for the first time since she was a child, she felt as though anything was possible.
~*~*~
Thank you so much for reading my story.
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Sample of Chapter One