“Clearly, it’s something if Ronan is so relieved,” Maeve retorts, anger rolling off of her. “Turn your ass around. You’re not getting out of this one,” She calls to a retreating Ronan. He turns around slowly.
“It’s really nothing, Maeve. Cal wasn’t going to go through with it. He—”
“Shut the fuck up, Ronan,” I grit out, cutting him off. He’s singing like a damn canary.
“If you’re gonna stop him from talking, then you’d better start. I’m over this secretive bullshit,” she growls.
“Look,” I sigh, running my hands through my hair. “Theagreementthey made stated that you and I were to be married by the time we were both twenty-five.”
“Oh, how fuckingconvenient,” she says incredulously. She lets out a single “HA,” shaking her head and peering up at the sky, her hands planted on her hips. “You’re just on another job fordaddy, huh?”
“Maeve, listen to me,” I flex my hands. “I told everyone that this,” I point between us, “would only happen if you wanted it.”
“So is all of this just to accomplish the assignment?”
I’m silent for a moment. The hurt in her eyes is because ofme, because I didn’t tell her something.Again. I step toward her. She looks at me with disdain, and I can’t take it. I grab her face in my hands, making sure that she’s looking into my eyes so that she can see the sincerity there.
“I told them that this would be achoicefor you to make on your own. No pressure. No rules.” I watch as she searches my eyes. “I wouldNEVERforce you to do something like that.EVER. This isn’t some assignment, Maeve. The love I have for you is real. I wanted to know that the love you have formewas real, too, and not some fucked up form of Stockholm Syndrome.” Her eyes soften and her body relaxes. “Know one thing, Maeve,” I say, leaning closer. “You would have been my wife if it had taken a month, a year, or even ten years.You are everything. I never would have told you about the agreement. I would have fought for you. Every single day. For the rest of my life. The moment I saw you staring at me across the sitting room at your dad's, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to stay away anymore.”
“Why didn’t you tell me, Callum?” she asks, stepping back and crossing her arms over her chest.
Fuck me. Why didn’t I tell her? I’m aneejit, that’s why.
“I’m sorry, Maeve,” I run my hands through my hair, blowing a long, slow breath in the process. “I never wanted it to be a thing. I’m sorry… honestly. Tell me how I can make it up to you. Please.” I hold her eyes, hoping for something to shift, for the hurt to recede. But it doesn’t.
Shit.
“If I tell you how, then you’ll never learn. If I tell you how to apologize, then it won’t feel like a genuine apology, Callum. I will not be placated for the sake of a peaceful household. This,” she motions her finger between us, “we will not do things just to keep the peace. Don’t keep things from me, and I won’t keep them from you. It’s a give and take, and if only one of us is giving, then eventually the cup will run dry. I don’t want to wake up one day resenting you because you treated me like a Stepford housewife. We are equals, Callum.” She pauses, searching my eyes. I put my hand over the hand she has on my chest, stepping closer before speaking.
“No more secrets, okay? I promise that if it pops into my head, I will verbalize it. I can’t promise that there are things that arise that even Iforgot about, but I do promise to do my best, Maeve,” I tell her, my voice steady and calm.
“Thank you,” she says, her voice a faint whisper.
“I’m sorry,” I say, leaning forward to rest my forehead against hers.
“Oi, I hate to break up the make-up sesh, but we have a train to catch,” Saoirse shouts from the exit, breaking Maeve and me from our bubble. I sigh, holding my hand out for hers, and she hesitates.
If that isn’t a punch to the gut, I don’t know what is.
We get into our vehicles and begin the drive to the next train station. Orin opts to ride in our vehicle this time, and we don’t object. Having him as a buffer right now is probably for the best.
I steal glances the entire ride, but she just stares out of the window, refusing to look at me and remaining silent.
Roughly an hour later, we pull into the parking lot of the station to see that our train is pulling away.
“Shit,” I say, looking over to Maeve. “Looks like we’ll have to drive to Uncail's. I’m sorry. I really wanted you to be able to take the scenic route.”
“It’s fine,” she says with a sigh. “I’m sure the scenery will be just as beautiful from a vehicle window.”
“I love you,” I tell her as I pull her right hand to my lips, the ring on her left hand sparkling in the sunlight. Damn this country's backwards-ass cars. I want to feel her hand in mine withmyring on her finger. “On the plus side, we’ll get there about four hours earlier than originally planned, so we’ll have time to drive through Wexford, and I can show you where the opera house is.”
“You know, usually when your plan gets screwed up, it's because you weren’t meant to be there in the first place, so maybe there was some divine intervention,” Orin says from the backseat. Maeve and I exchange a glance before looking back at him. He’s spread out across the backseat, the picture of ease, his hands propped behind his head. We look at each other again before snickering.
“Wow, Or, I didn’t know you believed in that kindashyte,” I tease, shifting the Rover into park, waiting on Saoirse to tell us the next move.
“Normally I don’t, but hell if it hasn’t happened before,” he says, a bit softer than before. Maeve is looking toward him as he stares out of the window, zoning out. Saoirse pulls up to Maeve’s side of the vehicle. I roll down the passenger window as she comes to a stop.
“First off, thisgobdawis insufferable. How do you listen to him yabber on constantly?”
