Page 53 of Faithless Vows

Alannah, Age Nineteen

I wake to the sound of the front door slamming. I lie there staring up at the ceiling until I remember what day it is.Oh no.Right on cue, a racket breaks out downstairs. You’d swear a team of horses had been turned loose in the house.

“Lannnnnieeeee!” Catríona stretches the last syllable of my nickname as her heavy footsteps start thudding up the stairs.

“Catríona, will you slow down!” Róisín calls after her. Another set of footsteps follows, lighter and quicker. I squeeze my eyes shut. I’d hoped they might forget. I roll over and drag the quilt up over my head, covering myself from head to toe and holding perfectly still, as though if I don’t move she might believe I’m still asleep and leave me in peace.

My bedroom door flies open without so much as a knock, and the blanket is ripped away. Cold air rushes in around me. “There she is,” Catríona announces brightly, as though she’s genuinely surprised to find me there. “The birthday girl.”

I grab blindly for the blanket and come up with nothing. Catríona already has it in both hands, holding it just out of reach like a prize she has no intention of giving back. I shove my face under my pillow instead. “Noooo,” I mumble. “Not today. Go away.”

“Absolutely not.” The mattress dips as she throws herself down beside me. A moment later I feel sharp fingers digging into my ribs. Catríona has the boniest fingers of anyone I know, and she uses them like weapons. “Up,” she says, tugging the pillow off my head. “You only turn nineteen once, Lannie. Time to get up.”

I crack one eye open. Róisín leans against the doorframe, arms folded, watching the whole thing with open amusement. “You’d swear she wanted us to forget.”

I squint up at them both. Catríona stares down at me. Then at Róisín. Then back at me. “Did you honestly think we’d let it pass?” I open my mouth. Close it again. Because the truth is,yes. Eighteen sat heavy enough that I wasn’t sure I wanted to stand at the edge of it and look back. I wasn’t sure I wanted to mark the year at all. Better to let it pass quietly, like any other Friday. Work on the ledgers. Help Grandmam in the kitchen. Just an ordinary day. “I’d hoped,” I admit.

“Too bad,” Catríona says, and when I show no signs of moving, she pokes me sharply in the ribs again. “Get up, Lannie. We’re going into town.”

Róisín has already crossed the room to the wardrobe and pulled it open. She rummages through my clothes before tossing a jumper and skirt onto the bed, one brow raised. “Here.”

I look between the two of them, and it’s clear I’m not winning this fight. I grab the clothes. “Fine,” I say. “Give me ten minutes.”

The two of them are already heading for the door. “Five,” Catríona calls over her shoulder. “I’m starving.”

Sure enough, five minutes later, I’m dressed and in the back seat of Róisín’s mam’s car on the way into town. Róisín parks in front of the café, and the three of us head inside. We take our usual booth by the window, Catríona sliding in beside me while Róisín takes the seat across from us. Before we’ve even got our coats off, Catríona waves the waitress over and orders for all three of us. Róisín looks at me and rolls her eyes. I grin and shrug. She wouldn’t be Catríona otherwise.

Our tea arrives first. I wrap my hands around my cup, letting the warmth seep into my fingers. Catríona bumps her shoulder against mine. “So, nineteen. Feel any different?”

“I don’t feel any different.”

“You’ve only been nineteen a few hours,” Catríona says. “Give it time.”

I look down at my tea, turning her words over. Maybe she’s right.

I’d spent years waiting to turn eighteen. It was supposed to be the age when everything I’d been looking forward to finally began—marrying Ronin, making a home with him, building the life we’d planned together. Instead, it became the year I walked down the aisle toward a man I trusted completely and found out before the night was over that he’d been lying to me. The year he broke my heart and the people who were supposed to care about me showed me that their reputations mattered more to them than I did. The year I ran.

Eighteen was never mine. But maybe... nineteen could be.

The waitress brings our food, and we keep talking as we eat. Catríona complains about the exams she has coming up at the training college, then asks how Róisín and I are getting on with the Lent preparations at the church.

We’re nearly finished eating when Róisín starts telling us about the time Declan borrowed Grandda’s car and put it through a hedge after a wasp flew in through the open window. I hadn’t heard that one. By the time she gets to Grandda asking Declan if the wasp had been driving, Catríona is laughing so hard there are tears in her eyes. Then she snorts, setting Róisín and me off too.

Catríona is still wiping at her eyes when she glances toward the door and lifts a hand. I follow her gaze and find Finn standing near the entrance, scanning the tables. When he spots us, he smiles and starts across the café.

“Afternoon, ladies.” Finn takes off his coat and slides into the booth beside Róisín, then leans across the table and squeezes my hand. “Happy birthday, Lannie,” he says.

My cheeks warm and I can’t help smiling. “Thank you,” I say.

Finn orders a coffee, and the four of us stay for another hour, talking long after our plates are cleared. I think of the day I’d expected to have—sitting over Grandda’s ledgers andletting my birthday pass like any other Friday. This is better.So much better.

Róisín parks outside my grandparents’ house, and we start up the path. Before we reach the door, I hear a houseful of voices inside. I slow and look from Róisín to Catríona. “Is that why you were so determined to get me out of the house?”

Catríona just grins. “Maybe.”

I shake my head and push the door open. The house is warm and loud, and it smells like chocolate. Declan spots me first. “Alannah girl!” He crosses the room with a grin and pulls me into a hug.

More voices call out as everyone realizes I’m there. “Happy birthday!” “Many happy returns!” “Alannah girl!” Chairs scrape and laughter follows as people turn to greet me.