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“I guess that taught you all a lesson,” Maeve laughed.
“Not really. The next week, he caught us putting him behind a cardboard shield and shooting at him with BB pistols. He was doing a fairly decent job of defending himself with it until the ole fellah came out yelling at us, and he panicked, dropping it about the time Olcan took a shot. It hit him right in the corner of his eye. That’s why he’s got that tiny little pockmark there even now,” Niall laughed.
Maeve laughed until her sides hurt, enjoying this much more than she had expected. By the time they left, she felt like she’d gained not only a future husband, but a whole family. Between them, they already had nine kids. Hers would make number ten, or maybe twelve, by the doctor’s latest checkup. She’d know once he did an ultrasound the following week.
They said their goodbyes early so that the other couples could pick up their kids and get them home. She and Ronan had to be up early in the morning to look at houses in Boston. They had still been staying in Becky’s garage room for her food truck business, but she’d recently been preparing to move it to Boston, which was easy enough to do with a mobile restaurant.
Ronan had sorted out the proper permits for her, which she’d heard were hard to get in Boston, but seemed no problem for him. She suspected she had an idea why but didn’t ask. Much of the business his family did remained a mystery to her, and that was fine. They’d agreed it was the one area in which secrets were allowed.
In the morning, they had to meet a contractor about some more work on the house they’d purchased recently. They’d found a large ranch house on the outskirts of the city. It needed some work, so they had remained at Becky’s until that was done. The last bit of work was just installing the surveillance system that Ronan insisted they have. It seemed a bit much for her, but he reminded her that his business life dictated protection.
With that out of the way, she’d finally be able to finish planning their wedding. Though she’d always dreamed of a large wedding, she found that she no longer wanted one. With no family to invite on her side and Ronan not being keen on big gatherings, they decided to just keep it simple.
Fergus would walk her down the aisle. Becky would be her maid of honor and Niall would be his best man. They planned to hold the ceremony in the large gazebo that sat in the center of the town near Becky’s place rather than in Boston.
Though Maeve had been concerned about it raining on her proverbial parade, when the big day finally rolled around, it was beautiful and sunny outside. She got out of bed and opened the windows to let the sunlight in as Ronan stirred in the bed and complained.
“Are you trying to blind me, woman?”
“Yes. I don’t want you to see how big and fat I’m getting.”
“You’re beautiful,” he said, pulling her to him as she got near the bed. His hands roamed across the growing bulge of her nearly four-month-along pregnant belly and leaned in to kiss it. “You should come back to bed. We can discuss how decidedly unturned-off I am by your baby belly.”
“Ronan McNally, you do know we have a wedding to get to today, don’t you?”
“Really? Who’s getting married?”
“Not you, with that attitude.”
“Okay, I’m up. I’m up!” he laughed, jumping out of bed and kissing her on the cheek.
“Good. Now get a shower, get your stuff, and get out of our house!”
“That doesn’t seem conducive to getting me to the wedding,” he said, feigning hurt feelings.
“You are getting dressed at your brother’s hotel. It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding. Everyone knows that.”
“Fine, Bridezilla. I’m going,” he laughed, running away as she pretended to smack his backside.
“I’ll show you Bridezilla,” she teased as he disappeared into the bathroom.
She gathered her things and waited for him to leave before getting her own shower. She had a full morning with Rose Rhea coming over to do her hair and makeup before Becky came to help her get dressed. She arrived right on time and made quick work of a spectacular updo.
“All right, we’re all done here,” Rose said as Becky stood and turned to look at her once both of them were done.
“Wow, you look amazing,” Maeve told her. “If you don’t make some guy’s eyes pop out of his head at this thing, there is no hope for a single woman in this town.”
“I wouldn’t count on it. There are slim pickings around here. You cheated by bringing your own.”
Becky saw Rose out and then helped Maeve get into her dress. She was already wearing hers, an off-the-shoulder knee-length lace gown with a cream-colored sash running around the waistline and tying in a back bow. Maeve’s dress was the opposite, a cream-colored lace dress with an asymmetrical hemline that was just below the knees in the front and almost ankle length in the back. The gentle outward slope of the material hid the fact that she was expecting, though it wasn’t really a secret from anyone with Ronan running around town telling anyone who would listen that he was going to be a father.
