chuckled as I made my way back to the kitchen.
“You won’t want them around tomorrow,” she added.
I hadn’t thought about them and the wedding. They rarely ventured around the house to the front and I didn’t feel they’d do any wrong.
I hoped.
In all the chaos that had occurred that day, I realised, I hadn’t spent any time with Ronan. It wasn’t until we’d taken ourselves to bed that we managed to get some ‘alone time.’
“How are you feeling?” I asked, as he prepared for bed.
“Exhausted. I don’t think I’ll do this again in a hurry.” He winked as he spoke.
Ronan, my dad, Joe, and Danny had set up the marquee. They had extracted Gerald numerous times until it was decided he was to stay in the stables, then they had arranged tables and chairs seventy times until Joe was completely satisfied, so Ronan grumbled, and then had headed to the pub to drink beer.
I’d had the pleasure of my mother fussing over my hair because she didn’t like the cut, and then going through my makeup throwing out anything she thought was old and would pollute me. Maggie frantically recovered all my items from the bin and snuck them back to my room for me.
“You’d think, since this isn’t our first rodeo, the grown-ups would just chill out,” I said, laughing at the thought of the ‘grown-ups.’
I honestly believed my parents, Joe and Danny even, were making things way more complicated than necessary. It was meant to be a simple and small wedding, although I had to take some responsibility for its growth. All the way through the past couple of days, though, my focus had been on Ronan. He hadn’t smiled or laughed as much in a long time. He was so happy and no matter what went wrong, he smiled his way through fixing it. There wasn’t a thing he couldn’t do.
“I can’t wait for tomorrow,” he said, sliding into bed beside me.
“Neither can I. Technically, you’re supposed to be in a different bedroom tonight, did you know that?”
He huffed. “If we were following tradition, I’d have to wear a suit and not the kilt with the work boots and T-shirt you’re so desperate to see me in.”
I turned to face him and laughed. “You’re not?”
He didn’t answer me. I couldn’t care less what he wore as long as there was at least a kilt involved.
“Are you going to be naked underneath?” I asked. Again, he didn’t answer but tapped the side of his nose. “I might be as well then,” I added.
“After the official bit, there’s a little time to come back here and…rest up, isn’t there?” he asked.
“I’m sure there will be. Why, what do you propose?” I teased.
“Well, you show me yours and I’ll show you mine,” he answered.
“How about we do that now? Just in case it’s too busy tomorrow,” I offered.
Ronan hummed and then rubbed his chin in mock concentration. “I’m not sure that’s the right thing to do. We’re not supposed to be in the same bed.”
I ignored his comment and launched myself at him. While trying to untangle the sheet that I’d got caught up in and laughing, he wrapped his arms around me and kissed my nose.
“I love you so much,” he said before he reached over to his bedside table. He pulled a familiar box from the drawer. “You, naked, but dripping in diamonds is all I want to see right now,” he said.
I sat up and allowed him to place the family necklace he’d given me around my neck. I was conscious of breaking it, of course, but Ronan encouraged me to roll to my back and he made love to me, slowly, gently, and with every part of his soul.
5
I woke in an empty bed to crashing and banging coming from downstairs. Ronan had obviously gotten up way earlier than normal. I stretched planning a nice shower and hair wash, a little pampering and some tea before getting ready.
The house had other ideas.
Maggie burst into the bedroom. “No hot water, anywhere,” she said, waving one arm wildly while holding a cup of tea in the other.
“Okay, do we know why?” I asked, sitting up in bed.
“Nope, everyone appears to be a boiler expert and is outside in the shed and your mum has her head in the Aga.”
“Thankfully, the Aga doesn’t run on gas,” I said.
Maggie laughed as she placed the tea on the side table. “I did tell her that, she didn’t seem to understand me.”