"Not sure," Ryan said. "Seems like the same thing to me."
"No, not at all," Jordan assured her. "I've had guys touch me…all over," she added. "No big deal. Actually, that's why I never had sex with any of them…it was no big deal. I didn't want to risk getting an STD or getting pregnant if it wasn't something that meant something to me, ya know?"
"Well, yeah, that makes sense, I guess. I forget that birth control thing." She shivered as she said, "Thank God for lesbianism."
"Yeah, that is a nice part of it," Jordan agreed. "The difference is that when a woman touches me or kisses me, it's a very big deal. I feel my heart beating so hard that it feels like it's going to pop out of my chest!"
"Hearts almost never do that," Ryan said seriously. "I wouldn't have made it past my first time if they did." She smiled and added, "The first time I kissed Jamie, I honestly felt faint. I don't think I've ever felt that lightheaded over something that I'd done thousands of times before. It was just so…intense," she said, shaking her head at the memory.
"Yes! That's it! It feels so intense that I'm trying to slow it down and stop when it feels too overpowering!"
"That's not a bad idea," Ryan agreed. "We did that, too. The difference was that Jamie was a little freaked out about the sex part, not so much the lesbian part."
"Well, the sex freaks me out, too, but in a good way," Jordan smirked. "I'm afraid I might wear Mia out when I finally let myself go."
"Oh, I think she can handle you," Ryan smiled, thinking that the randy young woman could handle Jordan and then some.
Ryan came trotting down the stairs on Wednesday morning, pleased to see the living room empty for a change. When she entered the kitchen, Mia was sitting on a chair, drinking a glass of juice. "Congratulate me," she said, a smile on her face.
"Congratulations," Ryan said dutifully. She took the container of orange juice from the refrigerator and gulped a half-dozen swallows from it, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Don't tell Jamie," she warned, pointing a finger at Mia as she replaced the bottle. "Now, what am I congratulating you for?"
Mia wiggled her fingers, grinning evilly as she said, "Under the T-shirt. Both hands."
"Wow!" Ryan said, suitably impressed. "Bare breast?"
Mia rolled her eyes and said, "Hey, it's only been a month. Don't expect miracles!"
As usual, Ryan couldn't wait to welcome her partner home, so she picked her up at the airport, stopping for a bite of dessert on the way home, since neither had eaten much for dinner. They entered the house via the back door, obviously surprising the trysting women, neither of whom heard them, and once again they were forced to walk right by them to go up to their room. This time Jordan was lying on the love seat, her long legs draped over the arm of the piece. Mia was lying atop her, twitching her hips as Jordan's hand disappeared up the leg of her shorts.
"Oh, shit!" Jordan moaned, her face coloring as she spotted their friends trying to sneak up the stairs. "I'm sorry, guys. What in the hell time is it, anyway?"
"9:30," Ryan replied.
"I've got to study for a big test tomorrow," she cried plaintively. "How did it get to be so late?"
"I don't know," Mia said, smiling coyly while Jordan extracted her hand. "I went to kiss you goodbye at eight o'clock. How could an hour and a half pass that quickly?"
"I've really got to go," Jordan said regretfully, waiting while Mia slithered off her body. She leaned in for one last kiss, grabbed her gym bag, and ran out the door, saying, "Bye," as she jogged down the porch steps.
Mia ran her hands through her hair and started to climb the stairs to her room, saying in a singsong fashion, "I got my butt squeezed, I got my butt squeezed."
"Bare skin?" Ryan called up the stairs.
"Must you diminish every one of my accomplishments?!" Mia yelled back down, closing her door with a thud.
They were both very tired, neither having slept well during their two nights alone. Jamie was curled up in bed, looking up at Ryan sleepily as the taller woman studied her computer screen, memorizing the number she was going to dial.
"Are you sure it's not too early to call?" Jamie asked, a huge yawn accompanying her question.
"Nah. It's fine. It's seven a.m. there," Ryan said. "Moira has to get the younger kids off to school, and I'm sure Maeve isn't just lying about with all of that activity going on around her." She dialed the long string of numbers, and Jamie watched as a delighted smile came over her lover's face. "Brenna!" she exclaimed. "It's Ryan." She listened to her cousin's reply and said, "I'm just calling to check up on Aunt Maeve. Has Granny driven her to take up residence in the pub yet?" She nodded and smiled and said, "Sure, put her on."
"Ryan?" Maeve's clear soprano rang out.
"Just calling to see how you're faring," the younger woman replied.
"That's so thoughtful of you, Dear," she said with her usual level of enthusiasm. Ryan could hear the lightness leave her aunt's voice as she related the truth of the situation. "I suppose things are going about like I expected."
A look of consternation settled on Ryan's face as she replied, "That bad, huh?"
"I shouldn't be surprised," she said, a little hitch in her voice. "I knew this would be hard for Mam to take. I suppose I was fooling myself to think she'd gotten over…"
"How she feels about Da," Ryan supplied helpfully.
"Yes, that's mostly it, of course. But she's also upset that she won't be able to attend the wedding. She didn't see either your mother's or my first wedding, and it hurts her to miss this one as well. I think it brings back the pain of losing us both in the first place."
"There's no way she'd come here, is there?" Ryan asked, knowing the answer.
"I assume you're teasing, Ryan," she laughed. "She still talks about the time she had to go all the way to Dublin to see your grandfather off to the war. She acts as though it was yesterday!"
"Do you regret going, Aunt Maeve?" Ryan asked gently.
She quickly replied, "No, not at all, Dear. Regrettably, Moira can't make it either, so this is my only opportunity to spend time with her and the kids."
"That's a shame," Ryan said. "I know you were looking forward to her coming for the ceremony."
"Yes, it seems silly at this point in my life, but I will regret that no one in my family came to either of my weddings," she said with her voice breaking just a tiny bit.
"What would you ask for if you could have any wish granted?" Ryan asked quietly.
She thought about that for a few minutes and finally said, "I wish we could have all come here for the wedding. I just don't know why I'm so emotional about this, Ryan," she sniffed a little. "I feel your mother's spirit so close to me when I'm here. And a very big part of me would like her to be near when I marry your father."
Ryan sniffed her own tears away as she said softly, "Aunt Maeve, I can't make your entire wish come true, but I can give you the biggest part."
"What…?"
"Jamie's mom gave us two round-trip ticket to anywhere in the world. I'm going to arrange for Da to come over there and marry you in Killala."
"Oh, but Ryan," she said wistfully, "then we wouldn't have the children with us."
"What's to stop you from having two weddings?" she asked with a laugh. "This is the last time you'll marry, Aunt Maeve," she said somberly. "I say you do it up right!"
"Oh, Ryan," she said breathlessly, her enthusiasm pouring out. "Do you think Martin would do that for me?"
Ryan barked out a laugh as she assured her, "He'd swim over there if it was important to you, Aunt Maeve. The poor man's quite over the moon, you know," she added in her Irish lilt.
"I can't…I can't tell you how much that would mean to me, Sweetheart."
"I know, Aunt Maeve, I know," she assured her. "I want you to go over to church and speak with the priest this morning. Find out what you have to do to get a license. Then get on the phone and call every cousin you can get hold of and tell them you're getting married on Saturday!"
"Is there any way you and Jamie could come, Ryan?"
She sighed and said, ""I wish there was, but I've got two volleyball matches this weekend, Aunt Maeve. There's no way I can get away." She thought of an even bigger reason to refuse and told her aunt, "Even if we could come, it would be unfair to the other kids if just I got to go. I'll play nice and wait until January. You will still have a service in January, won't you?"
"Oh, of course! It wouldn't feel right to not have a celebration with all of the children there with us." She paused for a moment and said, "You are the most generous woman, Ryan. You make me so proud," she said as her voice quavered again.
Ryan smiled broadly at the compliment, acknowledging that her aunt's approval meant a great deal to her. "Much of what I am is directly because of you, Aunt Maeve. You've been the best mother-of-choice anyone could wish for."
"I think that's the nicest compliment I've ever gotten," she sniffed. "My Lord, Moira must think I'm having a mental breakdown!" she laughed. "She keeps poking her head in to see why I'm crying."
"Well, you've got a busy day ahead of you. Call me before you go to bed tonight and let me know what you've found out, okay?"
"I will, Ryan," she promised. "Should I call your father or should you?"
"Why don't you call him right now and propose?" she suggested. "Tell him to call me in the morning and tell me when he wants to travel. I'll take care of getting the voucher traded in for a ticket."
"Bless you, Ryan," she said softly. "I love you."
"I love you too, Aunt Maeve. Call me later."
She replaced the phone and lay back fully on the bed, resting her head on her linked hands. "Not a bad night's work, huh?"
"You rule," Jamie said as she crawled over and wrapped her arms around her. "Now wrap those arms around me and cuddle me, Baby. I've missed your touch more than I can say."
They were almost asleep, Jamie's embrace too comforting to allow for any other options, when the ringing phone caused Ryan to jerk upright, her eyes wide with alarm. "Damn! I hate to be wakened by the phone!"
"
Siobhan
!" Martin's voice rang through the line, "There are plans to be made, child, get out of bed!"
"I'm awake, Da," she laughed. "I take it you spoke with your betrothed."
"Yes, and I've decided to let you run my life from now on. You're obviously more adept at it than I am," he said wryly. "Why I didn't think to do this originally is beyond me!"
"So you're not mad that I got involved?"
"Of course not, Sweetheart. I'm entirely serious-you're in charge of all my important decisions from now on!"
"What did he say?" Jamie asked excitedly when Ryan hung up.
"He is sooo excited," Ryan related. "I've never heard him sound so happy."
"So when will he leave?"
"He wants to go tomorrow, but only because it's too late to get a flight out tonight!" she laughed. "I'm going to take the morning off and take him to the airport. Boy, I can't remember the last time he took an unscheduled day off," she mused. "He called some of his friends and got people to cover for him, so they'll come home together on Sunday as originally planned."
"What about a honeymoon?" Jamie asked with waggling eyebrows.
"When I asked him that, he told me to get my mind out of the gutter!"
"He is so funny about that topic," Jamie grinned.
"Well, he'd better get used to it, 'cause they'll be the butt of a lot of teasing for a very long while. Harassment about sex is a long O'Flaherty tradition," she said proudly.
"Don't I know it!" Jamie wryly agreed, having been on the pointed end of those barbs more often than she cared to count.
Ryan lay awake in bed for a long while, her mind too filled with details of the events to allow her to relax. She was up at four, having decided to get dressed and get across the bridge before traffic became unbearable. After her shower she called Ireland again and spoke to her Aunt Moira, who was now alone in the house, Maeve having gone into town to speak to the parish priest. "Aunt Moira, I had an idea and I wanted to conscript you into helping me pull it off. Interested?"
"Of course, Ryan. Your ideas always spice up my day. How can I help?"
Blowing a kiss to her still-sleeping lover, she took off while it was still fully dark, whistling a happy tune to herself as she got into her car.
Martin was packed and ready, looking quite dapper in a navy blue blazer, light blue golf shirt, and neatly pressed khaki slacks. "You look great," Ryan said, taking in her father's tidy appearance and giving him a hug.
"One of the most beautiful women in the whole of Ireland is going to be waiting for me," he said with a wide smile creasing his face. "I have to look my best!"
"I hope Aunt Maeve knows how special she is to you," Ryan chuckled. "Switching days off…flying halfway around the globe at a moment's notice…borrowing Conor's jacket," she added, brushing a fleck of lint off his collar.