Her expression turned hopeful. “Do you swear it? I don’t want you to have regrets.”
“My only regret would be letting you get away.”
She nodded then, and stepped into his arms. “Then we’ll figure out all the rest,” she said softly.
“What about your photography, though? If you’re spending all your time here, you won’t have nearly enough time for it. I don’t want you to squander that amazing talent to work in a pub.”
“My choice,” she reminded him. “Not yours. I love photography. I can’t wait for this one show that Megan’s planning.” She held his gaze. “But I don’t need fame or fortune, Luke. I need you. I’ll be content with the photography as it began, taking pictures of people I know at weddings and other occasions that truly matter to them. And, since I’ll have an in with the boss here, I imagine I can have a permanent collection right on the walls of this pub. If there’s more and I’ve the time for it, well, we’ll see how it goes.”
“I’m sure you can manage it all,” Luke said, taking the first deep breath he’d had in what seemed like days. He felt as if his world had finally righted itself as they stood on the sidewalk, oblivious to everything except each other. He never wanted to let her go, not even to go back inside and finish those ridiculous interviews.
“I should get back in there,” he said eventually. “What kind of boss leaves a slew of potential employees waiting while he stops just sort of seducing a woman right out here in public?”
She smiled at that, then glanced inside. “Is there a one of them worth hiring? I may want a day off now and again.”
He grinned at that. “Would you care to sit in on the interviews with me?”
“I could just take over, save you the trouble.”
“The pub is O’Brien’s,” he reminded her dryly, but he couldn’t help chuckling at her take-charge manner.
She glanced up at the sign over the door. “So it is.” She winked at him. “Then, again, aren’t we about to add me to that roster? In no time at all, I’ll be an official O’Brien.”
Luke laughed at her sudden embrace of the concept. “Then, by all means, get in there and take charge.” Still, though, he held her in place. “But not before we clarify just how much I love you. I’ve said it before, but I think it bears repeating until you truly believe it. I’ve loved you since the first night I laid eyes on you when you were behaving at your absolute worst.”
She smiled at that. “Now that’s just plain crazy,” she said. “Only a fool could have fallen in love with me then.”
“It was Christmas,” he reminded her. “In my family the season of miracles seems to work out pretty well.” He studied her. “So, is it yes? Just to have it on the record, I’d like a formal acceptance.”
She gave him an odd look. “Why are you so intent on solidifying my response?”
“Just answer me. Is it yes? Are we to be engaged for something like five minutes, and then married at the first opportunity?”
“We are,” she said demurely, then leaped into his arms with an exuberance that had him staggering back.
It also drew applause and cheers from quite a crowd of people gathered on the sidewalk, openly listening in—most of them O’Briens. He’d seen them gathering as word apparently spread about what was happening in plain view on the sidewalk outside the pub. He’d wanted witnesses. He smiled, satisfied.
Now there’d be no turning back. Moira would never back out on a deal she’d made in front of the family she’d always envied and wanted so much to be a part of. He’d always taken it for granted, but it was new to her and he’d come to view its value through her eyes.
As she saw it, the things he’d considered a nuisance—the meddling, the intrusiveness—were the best things about this town and about this family. There was unconditional support to be found everywhere. Even when it was at its most exasperating, it was exactly the thing that made Chesapeake Shores the best possible place to build a life.
Add in this impossible, maddening, wonderful woman by his side and the future looked very bright indeed.
Epilogue
The white Victorian gazebo in Nell’s backyard was decorated naturally with climbing yellow roses in full bloom. The groom stood by the steps in his tuxedo, his eyes filled with anticipation. A quartet usually more adept at traditional Irish tunes than the wedding march began to play. As it did, all eyes turned toward the house, where the bride emerged wearing a simple silk suit and holding a bouquet picked from her own summer garden.
Nell took Mick’s arm and walked slowly toward the man she’d once fallen in love with as a very young girl, and now had the chance to love again in the twilight of her life.
A few steps behind her, another bride stepped out of the house and took the arm of her mother, who’d flown over from Ireland just days before.
Nell glanced back over her shoulder and smiled at them.
The July day couldn’t have been more perfect. She and Moira had agreed to a double ceremony, since time was definitely a factor for
