‘Not bad to look at is our Dan. You do know yer the talk of the village?’ She sucks her drink up through a straw.
‘I am?’ I ask her with a grimace. Is it about Frederick, I wonder?
‘Oh yeah, in a good way!’ she says, clearly reading my expression, and reassures me. ‘Seems you’ve captured the heart of the lord himself.’
‘Gráinne? Why did no one tell me he was the lord of the castle?’ I lean into her, glance back over at Dan who is still talking.
‘Ah, we’re fierce protective of him. Many a woman has come along thinking she’ll be rich, then buggered off when she found out he was asset rich but cash poor. One in particular we all recall. Denise Donoghue, horrible, greedy woman.’ Gráinne scrunches up her nose like there’s a bad smell.
‘Ahh, I see,’ I say. ‘Not Denise’s number one fan, I’m guessing?’
‘Nope. She’s Jimmy’s first cousin but very unlike all the rest of the very decent Murphy clan. No doubt she’ll arrive down from Belfast and pop her head up at Kate’s wedding next week. I’ll be steering well clear.’ A man is wrapping Fergus in a bear hug, as Gráinne gets sucked up by the new crowd at the bar.
Denise will be at Kate’s wedding. But I won’t be. The thought flattens me. I sip my drink, watching the dancing for a moment. All the women dance barefoot, their high heels strewn across the floor, heads thrown back, laughing freely. It’s inspiring and stunning to watch. The music is incredibly powerful, and even though I have never heard this type of music properly before, I simply cannot get enough of it. It’s a far cry from the stiff Acquired Finance balls I’m used to attending. Ireland, it seems, is very much part of my DNA. As I watch Jimmy twirl a delighted Kate around the dancefloor, I have a moment of clarity.
‘My God, my life is dull,’ I say as I look down to the parquet floor. ‘It’s so dull.’ Then, a wave of calmness rushes over me, like I have finally admitted the truth to myself. I’ve been living in a bubble of self-preservation that was so unhealthy and closed off to everything life has to offer. I feel like Dorothy inThe Wizard of Ozwhen her life goes from black and white to technicolour. Then the sound of a smooth, fluid bow strike on the fiddle. A rich tone that resonates a soft, melodic tune and the crowd of couples begin to move in closer together. More people rush past me, pushing their way onto the dancefloor. I feel a tingling sensation all along my arms as the powerful music envelops me. The glass of whatever it is I’m drinking may be more powerful than I’d imagined.
‘May I?’ Dan stands in front of me now with his hand reaching out. I finish the drink, put the glass on the bar as I accept it.
‘Hello you,’ I say to him, a little merry.
‘Hello,’ he replies, smirking at me. ‘You look wonderful.When I looked across the room you literally took my breath away,’ he tells me and immediately I recall the words he said to Séamus. I’ll marry the woman who takes my breath away.
‘Thank you,’ I accept his compliment confidently, ‘you don’t look too bad yourself but I don’t know how to Irish dance,’ I tell him.
He puts his hands on my waist and pulls me closer to him. Our bodies tight together. He looks happy, more relaxed than I’ve ever seen him, and I’m delighted.
‘There is no right or wrong way to dance here,’ he whispers in my ear, his breath hot on my face. I shut my eyes, lost in the slow, haunting music. We dance cheek to cheek and I can’t help feeling I am right where I am supposed to be. When the song ends we stay on the dancefloor.
‘How was the meeting? How did it go with the villagers?’ I lean back a little.
‘Good, they’re an amazing community, all on my side. We’ll all pull together. We’ll make it work. And .?.?. they were all very encouraging of one thing.’ His dark eyes twinkle.
‘What was that?’ I tilt my head to the side.
‘You,’ he says on a hot breath.
‘Really?’ I replace my cheek against his.
‘Yes, they all want me to be happy and have a life,’ I hear him say into my ear.
‘I’m sorry about earlier at the pub, I didn’t quite know how to react.’ Somehow, it’s easier for me to be honest with him when we’re this close. Every part of my body feels acutely alive but my brain tells me this is going to break my heart. I leave in twenty-four hours!
‘It’s alright, I understand,’ Dan whispers into my ear again, ‘I just have a sense of you.’
‘And I, you.’ My voice wobbles and I hold him tighter to me, his body rock hard. I’m afraid to ever let him go. The irony ofhow I’ve lived my life for the past two years, sworn off love, is not lost on me.
‘I think you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on, Maggie Grace,’ his cologne strikingly recognisable, ‘but much more importantly, the smartest, the most fascinating, the most captivating, the most intriguing.’
I don’t know what to say but my heart lifts to the highest it’s ever been. Every nerve is tingling.
‘I think maybe the fates want us to be together?’ Dan goes on.
‘It almost seems that way,’ I whisper back on a shaking breath.
‘I just wish you lived here in Ireland. I wish that you didn’t have to go back so soon,’ he says as a tin whistle begins on a high note, going higher and higher, mimicking my heartbeat.
‘Me too’ is all I say as the bodhrán joins in with a deep, resonant thump. We stand still, cheek to cheek, just listening to the holistic sounds of the trad band. I feel grounded in energy, with a sense of lightness and joy I want to bottle.
