An O'brien Family Christmas

Nell reached out to Susie to steady herself as she looked into the clear blue eyes of the man she’d once been so certain she was meant to marry.

“Hello, Dillon,” she said softly.

He shook his head. “After all these years I’d have known you anywhere,” he said. “You’re as beautiful as ever with your red hair and those grand eyes.”

She laughed. “And you’re as full of blarney. My hair hasn’t been red in years. I can barely find a few strands amid the gray to remind me of the shade it once was.”

“In my eyes, you’re the lass you were the last time I saw you,” he insisted.

For just an instant, Nell allowed herself to feel like that girl again, young and carefree and wildly in love for the first time in her life. She’d been Nell Flanagan then.

“Come in, Nell,” Dillon pleaded. “Talk to me. Tell me about your life.” He glanced again at Susie. “This has to be your granddaughter.”

“She is. Just one of them. This is Susie O’Brien Franklin.”

Dillon clasped Susie’s hand, though his gaze remained locked on Nell. “And she brought you to Ireland for the holidays? What a lovely thing to do.”

“Actually this is her honeymoon trip,” Nell said wryly. “Can you imagine? She insisted that the whole family accompany her.”

Dillon laughed. “Then she is, indeed, truly a Flanagan with a huge heart. I look forward to getting to know you, Susie.”

“So, you and my grandmother go way back?” Susie asked, her face alight with curiosity. “Way back,” Dillon confirmed.

“Did she always have a wild and reckless streak?” Susie asked.

He laughed. “You have no idea.”

“Stop it, you two,” Nell ordered. “I’ve never been wild or reckless.”

“You went back to America and broke my heart, did you not?” Dillon asked.

Nell frowned at him. “I’m quite sure there were plenty of women around to mend it. Christina Ahearn comes to mind. Didn’t you marry her not long after I’d gone home that last time?”

“Only after I was convinced you were never coming back,” he insisted. “Now, come inside. I’ll brew some tea. I have the Earl Grey you love so much.”

Nell stared at him in amazement. “You remember that?”

He held her gaze. “I remember everything,” he said solemnly.

Susie regarded them hesitantly. “Should I leave you two to catch up?” she asked.

Nell hesitated, torn. She wanted to know everything about Dillon’s life, wanted to fill in all the blanks that her grandparents had been so careful to leave unanswered once she’d gone.

Yet so many years had passed. What was the point at this late date?

Still, when she looked into Dillon’s hopeful eyes, she couldn’t say no. “I’d love tea,” she said at last, then squeezed Susie’s hand. “I’ll be fine here for an hour. Why don’t you come back then?”

“Or I could see that she gets back to her hotel,” Dillon offered.

“I’ll come back,” Susie said, apparently sensing that Nell needed backup. She smiled at them. “Enjoy your visit.”

Dillon escorted Nell inside, waited as she looked around.

“You’ve kept it mostly the same,” Nell commented.

“How could I change a thing, when everywhere I looked I saw you?”

She shook her head. “You shouldn’t say things like that.” “Why not, if they’re true?”

“You’re married to someone else,” she reminded him. “Christina died ten years ago,” he said, then held her gaze. “And your husband?”

“Gone, too,” she said softly.

“Then there’s no reason for us to feel guilty for indulging in a bit of nostalgia, is there?” he suggested. “Come in the back and I’ll make that tea. There’s a lot of ground to cover and you’ve only given us an hour to do it.” He studied her. “Or will you be in Ireland for a while?”

“Two weeks,” she admitted.

His expression brightened. “Then there’s time for a nice, long visit. This will just be the first of many, I hope.” Nell couldn’t argue. She hoped so, too. After all these years, her heart had taken a little leap at the sight of this dear old friend. It was too late to go back in time. She wouldn’t want that, anyway. But to have a few days to recapture those old emotions, to experience just for a moment that surge of optimism that came with spending time with a man who appreciated her, well, she wasn’t going to deny herself that.

Mick frowned as Susie sat in the lounge with him, Megan and Jeff describing the meeting between his mother and Dillon O’Malley.

“You think there’s some kind of history there?” Mick demanded irritably.

“It looked that way to me,” Susie said. “Neither one of them explained anything more than that they’d known each other years ago, but there were definite sparks in the air. Who knew that Gram had a secret past?”

“It’s not something to brag about, if she does,” Mick said testily.

“How do you know a thing like that?” Jeff asked reasonably.

“Has she ever mentioned Dillon O’Malley?” Mick responded, then answered his own question. “No, she hasn’t. And do you know why? Because she’s ashamed of it, I’ll guarantee you that. I need to take care of this.”

“Let it go, Mick,” Megan commanded. “You’re not rushing over there to intrude on their reunion or to rescue your mother.”

“Well, who knows what sort of man this Dillon O’Malley is? For all we know he’s gotten wind of the fact that the O’Briens are well-to-do and he plans to take advantage of Ma.”

His brother frowned at him. “And how would he know a thing like that?” Jeff asked. “Would he have stored away this knowledge just in case the entire family decided to pay a visit to Dublin one day? You’re acting crazy, Mick. Didn’t Susie just say that Ma didn’t even know if he was still running the store our great-grandparents once owned? Obviously they haven’t kept in touch.”

Mick regarded his brother accusingly. “Don’t tell me you don’t worry about Ma.”

“I worry about Ma falling and breaking her hip,” Jeff countered. “I worry about her feeling lonely in that little cottage of hers. I don’t worry about her finding a companion whose company she enjoys.”

“Then you’re naive,” Mick grumbled.

Megan rested a hand on his arm. “Nell is a wise woman, Mick. She’ll see right through anyone trying to take advantage of her.”

“Of course she will,” Susie said adamantly. “I only told you because I thought it was sweet, not so you’d get all worked up. Now I’d better walk back over there to get her. I told her I’d be back in an hour.”

“I’m coming with you,” Mick said, standing.