Page 48 of Rory: His to Discipline

Molly, Patrick and their boys were there before everyone else, but Molly was always on top of things. She looked like an angel herself today, Maeve thought. But then that was just Molly—always beautiful, always calm.

Rebecca and Mason were there too, with their new baby. Maeve couldn’t wait to get her hands on that little one later today.

The homily was wonderful, keeping them all mindful of just how much they had to be thankful for. Rebecca and Mason took the baby home for a feeding and a nap. They would be over around noon, but the rest of her family headed to Maeve’s house to help out. Sean and Maeve stopped to pick up donuts to tide everyone over till dinner.

Nick and Patrick had already put the extra leaves in the dining room table and Molly and Maggie were busy with the table cloth while Lilly, Rose and Caitlin argued about who would get to sit next to grandma.

Shooing them off to play, Maeve helped set the table with the good china, crystal and silver. Placing a lovely autumn floral arrangement in the center of the table, they finished off with matching silver candelabras that had been in Maeve’s family for generations. Clever Molly folded each linen napkin into the shape of a swan and placed them on the center of each dinner plate. Satisfied that everything looked lovely, they headed into the kitchen for coffee and donuts before they were all gone.

“What time do you want the squash to go in the oven, Ma?” Bridget asked.

“Aw, Ma,” Rory complained with the box of donuts in one arm and the other around Tess. “I thought you said Bridget wasn’t cooking today.”

“I’m only cooking your food, Rory,” Bridget replied with an evil grin. “You might want to stay close to a bathroom. Now, give me a donut,” she ordered trying to reach the box he now held high above his head.

“Let me get one first,” he taunted her, looking in the box she still couldn’t even reach.

“You have had three,” Tess shot back. “Do not be selfish.”

“Rory give your sister a donut, before I take a wooden spoon to you. And get out of this kitchen unless you’ll be wantin’ to put an apron on and wash some of these dishes,” Maeve told him.

“I’m going, give us a kiss, Tess, I won’t be back till the work is done,” he grinned snatching Tess up for a thorough lip lock despite her blushing refusal.

Exchanging grins, the girls went back to work. Potatoes were peeled and set in cold water, cabbage, onions and carrots quickly became cabbage salad. Extra stuffing was spooned into a big baking dish and cream was whipped for pies that had been baked the day before. Pickles and olives were put into small crystal dishes along with tiny serving forks.

The girls chatted and joked, catching up on all that had gone on in their lives since the last time they had seen each other. Tess was fairly quiet, her ring on a chain around her neck and hidden inside her sweater. She did not want a lot of questions until Rory announced their engagement.

Thankfully, Maggie was not angry with her about having to find another nanny. She understood Rory had made the decision without consulting Tess and while she had Rory on the phone ripping him a new one, Nick had calmly called an agency that sent over several qualified applicants. The woman Nick hired was very kind and funny and the kids were already getting attached. A widow with grown children, she fit in so well that Nick suggested having her live in when they found their dream home.

Finally, the conversation got around to Bridget and everyone wanted to know about the man she had invited to dinner.

“His name is, are you ready for this?” she grinned, “Delbert.”

“We call him, Del,” Tess put in quietly while she rolled dough into little balls that she placed in a muffin tin, three in each hole. “And he is a very nice man,” she continued, sending Bridget a disapproving look.

“I’ve met him,” Maggie said. “I thought his name was Del,” she giggled. “Really it’s Delbert?”

“Really,” Bridget replied. “I call him Winston, that’s his last name. Delbert Bertram Winston IV.”

“Why would you call him by his last name,” Colleen asked seriously.

“Because when I try to say Del, I think of Delbert and I can’t help but laugh,” she replied, trying her best to keep a straight face. “It makes it much easier for me if I just call him Winston. I think I may have hurt his feelings the first day I met him, but it just struck me as so funny. I can’t imagine naming a child Delbert. I’ll bet the kids in school teased him terribly.”

“It sounds like you certainly didn’t help, if that was the case,” Maeve put in. “I thought I’d raised you better than that Bridget. ‘Tis ashamed I am of you, teasing that poor young man.”

“All right, enough about his name,” Colleen said. “What does he look like? Is he cute? Does he have a nice ass?”

“Colleen!” Maeve yelled in surprise. “What kind of a question is that to be askin’?”

“An important one, Ma,” Colleen replied with a grin, “right girls?”

They all nodded and laughed agreeing with Colleen until Maeve laughed too.

“He’s cute,” Bridget answered, “in a geeky, nerdy way. He’s very tall with sandy hair and everything about him simply oozes establishment. Apparently, he comes from a ‘long line of influential Winstons,’” she quoted with her little nose in the air as she drawled out the words in a deep voice.

The girls cracked up at her impersonation.

“If he’s such a jerk, why did you invite him to dinner?” asked Molly who had been quiet till now. Fixing Bridget in her stare, Molly wordlessly dared her to tell the truth.