‘Oh my god,’ Catherine declared. ‘Rhonda! Constance! It’s the happy couple!’
Fin blinked. The…whatnow? His hand fell with a thunk to his side as Sweeney dropped it like a hot potato.
But then the crowd surged forward and there was no time to compute anything—not the alarming announcement, not the panic on his mother’s face, not Sweeney’sholy shit what is happeningexpression—as they were swallowed into a collective town hug, everyone talking, kissing and congratulating all atonce.
‘This is brilliant news. We’re so happy for you both.’
‘Have you set a date yet?’
‘Are you getting married in Ballyshannon?’
‘Autumn is such a lovely time for photographs around here.’
‘Congratulations. I knew from the time I saw you side by side in your hospital cribs that you two would end up together.’
By the time their mothers made it through to them, Fin’s head was spinning. But before he even had a chance to ask what kind of wacky they’d just landed in, Connie was dragging them both towards the alcove while laughingly asking everyone to give them some alone time to catch up with their kids.
She was aided by Catherine, who’d never met a crowd she couldn’t control. ‘Give them some space,’ she boomed, appointing herself bodyguard as she stood under the solid beam that separated the alcove from the pub proper.
Finally alone—or as alone as they were going to get for now—Ronnie smiled at them lovingly, drew them into a warm double hug with Connie, and hiss-whispered, ‘What in hell are you two doing here?’
It was fair to say, Finhadn’tbeen looking forward to this moment. He and his mother had gone to Ireland a couple of weeks after the funeral to get away from the grief and sadness of Ballyshannon and visit relatives of his father. His mum had returned a month later. Fin had not.
Consequently, he’d been dreading coming home to this place that was so full of memories. Fin’s last conversation with his father, in particular, weighed like a millstone around his neck. Clearly, what with the hullabaloo and distraction of his apparentengagement, he needn’t have worried.
‘Gee, Mum, it’s nice to see you, too.’
Sweeney looked as pissed as Fin felt as she pulled out of the hug, frowning at one mother then the other. ‘What the hell is going on?’ she demanded.
‘Shh,’ Connie whispered, plucking nervously at the short-cropped strands of her salt and pepper fringe as she smiled at someone in the crowd behind. ‘Keep your voice down.’
‘I will not keep my voice down,’ Sweeney whispered. Loudly.‘Do one of you want to tell us why everyone is under the impression Fin and I are getting married? To each other?’
The women exchanged a long guilty look. ‘Yes … right.’ Ronnie spoke first, giving a shaky little half laugh. ‘It’s quite a funny story, actually. We’re all going to laugh about this one day.’
Fin folded his arms. Somehow, he doubted it.
‘There was some,’ Ronnie admitted, ‘bending of the truth.’
Sweeney sighed. ‘Oh god.’
‘It wasn’t planned,’ Connie hastened to assure them. ‘It just kinda happened. Just kinda… popped out of my mouth.’
‘Mum.’
Fin glanced at Sweeney, her expression aghast as she stared at her mother as though snakes had sprouted from Connie’s hair.
‘Popped out,’ Ronnie confirmed with a nod of her head.
He cocked an eyebrow at his mother. ‘And you just … went along with it?’
‘Well—’ Another sheepish look was traded. ‘The damage was done by then.’
‘Oh my god,’ Sweeney whispered, massaging a temple with her fingers.
Fin looked from one guilty party to the other. ‘Have you both suffered some kind of neurological event in the last couple of days we should know about?’
‘Finley.’
