Three weeks have passed since the big thunderstorm and Fionn's passing, and Maggie and Orla are just about hopping in the pub, it being a busy summer season. The Dillon family have moved back to the farm, and about a week after getting settled, had a "Housewarming/ Homecoming" party there. Maggie and Orla catered and served a lunch buffet under a tent in the field, reminiscent of the Dillons' wedding, though the lunch was nowhere near so formal an affair. Niamh announced her pregnancy at the party, and recieved, of course, numerous congratulations and good wishes. Peter Clifford did put in an appearance, but Assumpta did not, though she spent much of the previous week privately with Niamh, helping her and Sean get moved in. She and Maggie have spoken seriously many times, and Assumpta has also spoken with Niamh and Siobhan and Brendan. She has reached her decision, but will not be hurried in her acting on it, and Maggie and Niamh have both resolved not to pester her about it, either. Maggie is especially aware of how serious and life-altering this decision is, and hopes desperately that her friend will not suffer another heartbreak such as the last one.

Today's episode opens with Maggie and Orla talking during a lull in afternoon business at the pub.

"So, who do you think we should invite to the baby shower?" Maggie asks Orla.

"Well, we'll have to ask Niamh, of course, unless you want to do a suprise shower, but certainly Siobhan, Frankie, and Kathleen, for starters." Orla answers. "Are we going to do it here?  What nightwould be slowest, so we can close?"

Maggie chuckles. "We can have the party any night everyone can come, Orla, as long as we advertise a few days in advance so nobody's inconvenienced. No matter what night we do it, though, I'll bet Brendan is going to grouse about it!" Both women laugh, and start thinking about menus, entertainment and what's likely to be a good evening. Not too many minutes later, Maggie calls Niamh, and plans are finalized.

Two weeks later, on a Wednesday evening, the signs "Closed for Private Party" go up in the windows of the pub about five, and Orla and Maggie hang decorations in pastel colors, while delicious smells drift from the kitchen. Maggie has baked a couple of casserole dishes, as well as some soup and salad being prepared, plus fresh bread and cookies. The cake was Orla's creation, it is crowned by a little baby carriage covered in lace.

About 5:30, the guests begin to arrive, Niamh first. She is ordered to relax, however, and the decorating is soon finished. Kathleen Hendley comes across the street, nearly unable to see around the gift-wrapped box she carries. Siobhan and Frankie arrive, as do other ladies of the village, many of whom have known Niamh since her own girlhood. Gifts are piled at the foot of the stairs, and about six, Maggie and Orla serve supper, the ladies seated at the tables in the main room of the pub.

"Maggie," Kathleen Hendley stops Maggie as she's carrying salads out from the kitchen, "how did you get all the smell of smoke out of the pub, here? People have been smoking cigars and cigarettes in here for decades, and you'd never know it now!"

"Well, I did ALOT of scrubbing at first, laundered everything I could, then I either painted or varnished all the surfaces with two or three coats. It's sealed up pretty well, I hope. I know I lost customers, not letting people smoke in here, but hey, it's my pub now, and that stuff is so toxic, nobody should be forced to breathe it just because some addict can't go a half hour without a fix! No disrespect to your Dad, Niamh, but tobacco smoke is just plain nasty, and we'd all be healthier without it, firsthand, secondhand, or whatever!"

"Maggie, I made Dad smoke outside when I was here, either pregnant or after Kieran was born. I'm just grateful I never started the habit, I know how hard it is for people to quit, some never can."

"It's a nasty habit, it is, Niamh!" Kathleen answers her. "American movie stars or no, there's many women in Ireland who never started it, it was thought very un-lady-like, no glamour in it at all! Then, look at the cost of it, not many could afford it, either. I'm glad you got the pub cleaned up, Maggie, it makes it nice for occasions such as this."

"Thank you, Kathleen!" Maggie continues serving, and soon everyone has salad, soup, and bread being passed around, and the casseroles come out of the oven to set on the bar. They are also soon being dished up, and a good hour is spent enjoying supper together. The main topic of conversation is babies, as might be expected, but the storm, weather in general, and all other village doings come up. Niamh is soon fully back in the stream of hometown news, and feels almost as if she had never left.

Eventually, dessert is served, the cake being universally admired, as well as coffee and tea, and Niamh goes over to the lounge area, sitting on a sofa, while Orla shuttles presents for her to open, and Maggie begins listing what each present is, and who brought it. Maggie brings out a camera and takes some pictures, as well, for the baby book. Eventually, most of the ladies take  their leave, kissing Niamh or hugging her, telling her how happy they are she has come home, and how excited they are for her and Sean about the baby. Finally, just Niamh, Orla, Siobhan, Frankie and Kathleen are left.

"So, anyone want to watch a movie?" Maggie asks. "I've moved the television down to this end, we hardly watched it at the bar, and we might as well be comfortable, right?"

Sofas are arranged, and the eventual consensus of "Sleepless in Seattle" is reached, and Maggie pops the video in the player. As the movie winds to its romantic conclusion, Maggie gets up to turn the lights back on.

"Those two are just SO CUTE together, I think they ought to get married in real life and have a dozen children together!" Maggie says, sitting back down.

"Ah, but they aren't in love for real, Maggie!" Niamh answers. "Wasn't it just like Meg Ryan's character said, when you met your husband? Wasn't it just *magic*?"

"Well, I don't remember what I thought when I met Brendan,"  Siobhan says, "but I'm pretty sure I didn't think he was magic!" Everyone laughs, Brendan is certainly not anyone's notion of a dashingly romantic leading man. "Still, he's usually sweet, and smart, and gentle, and kind, and he's become a wonderful father, and I've lost most of my romantic streak, too, and we get along very well. I don't think I've ever met a man I'd have been happier with, really," Siobhan finishes.

"How about you, Orla? Did Connor sweep you off your feet?" Niamh turns to her slender blonde friend.

"You remember, Niamh, it was more like he fished me out of the drink! He saved me and your Dad from drowning at the end of that stupid balloon race! Then we found out that the huge pot of money, what that Frenchman said was 40,000 francs, was about 400 francs in today's money! I'll bet your Dad had some choice words for Monsieur D'Argan!"

"I'll bet he did, too! But afterwards, after you'd gotten to know Connor, what made you finally decide he was the one you wanted, after all." Niamh will not be denied, it seems.

"Well, I guess it was what Aidan said, about how it seemed Connor was the perfect man for me, but if there was no spark, well, too bad. I got to thinking, after Connor left, and Aidan went back to the monastery. I travelled some more, but I kept missing that little cottage, and that smile of his, when he'd come over to fix something, and I realized that the spark had been there, but I'd smothered it. You know, thinking I had to be a free spirit, not tie myself down, all that. So, I went to Spain, and I did manage to find him, after some searching, and I got all my stuff together and went down to his mooring one day, and waited for him to come back to port. He did, an' you shoulda seen his face when he saw me, sitting there with all my worldly goods, plunked there on the dock!" Orla smiles, it is clearly still a sweet memory for her. "He gave his mates some money, sent them off as fast as he could, and he just had this huge grin on his face. He asked me on board, and when I sat down, he sat across from me, and then I started to say something, then he did, then eventually I just reached out, put my fingers on his lips, and told him I was sorry I had been such an idiot, and asked him if he could forgive me? I thought he was going to cry for a minute, then he just reached out and hugged me. You know, I didn't realize until just then, finally, that his arms made anyplace feel like home. But we did come back here, and the cottage is home, as well as that poor old boat, but we are both happy, and even better, we feel free, even together, we can really go where we like, whenever we want, but we have each other to lean on, no matter what."

Maggie gets up, and reaches for a tissue from behind the bar. "Oh, Maggie, you are such a hopeless romantic!" Orla laughs at the older woman, who returns with tissue box in hand.

"Well, that *is* a romantic story, Orla, you know it is! And he adores you, that much is plain, as well!" Maggie answers. She turns to Niamh. "So, was it love at first sight when you met Sean? Or would you rather not talk about it?"

"No, I can talk about it, Maggie, I think I've talked out most of the guilt now. I know I loved Ambrose when I married him, but I think sometimes I was as much in love with the idea of *being in love* as I was with him. I will always regret deeply that he died, that we didn't have a chance to talk things through. But yes, when I met Sean, I think it was love at first sight. I don't know how to explain it, really, I can't say what it was about him, but I just knew he was the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with." Niamh puts her hands on her abdomen. "And now we'll have this little one, as well as Emma and Kieran, as part of our family. I know we'll have storms to weather, but we will weather them, and we'll be happy."

"I think you will, Niamh, I only wish all romances had happy endings. How about you, Frankie, met Mr. Right yet?" Maggie asks the young Garda.

"Well, I thought I had, but now I just think it was a passing fancy. Here in the village, there aren't many eligible men, you know!" Frankie smiles.

"Well, you know Donal Dougherty worships the ground you walk on, Frankie," Maggie tells her. "Why don't you go out with him, you might be very suprised to get to know the real person under that shy exterior!"

"Donal! No, thank you, Maggie, his exterior is as familiar to me as I want it to get, no more!" Frankie holds both hands up in the common gesture of being ready to push someone away. Everyone laughs softly. "Seriously, I won't be posted here forever, unless Uncle Minto comes back and gets you to sell poteen for him, Maggie. Mr. Right will come along, or at least Mr. Okay-you're-good-enough, and I'll marry him, I guess." Frankie sighs.

Kathleen Hendley turns to Maggie. "So, Maggie, how about you? Did you meet Mr. Right, was it 'magic'?"

"Okay, Kathleen, truth or dare, I'll spill my guts if you'll spill yours, how about it? We want to know when Dermot Malone is gonna pop the question, so if you'll end our suspense, I'll tell my cautionary tale, okay?" Maggie leans forward.

"Well, all right then, but I asked first." Kathleen leans back against the cushioned back of the sofa, clearly settling in to hear a story.

"Yes, I did meet Mr. Right, it was 'magic', I just knew. I was all of 16 years old, and he must have been at least ten years older than I was, but when I shook his hand, and looked up into those blue eyes, all I could think was how much I wanted him to kiss me, for just that one split second. Then, reality intruded, and I left the room, ASAP!" Maggie also leans back in her sofa corner.

"Reality, what kind of reality?" Orla prompts.

"Oh, no, it's Kathleen's turn now, Orla, we want to hear all about Dermot!" Maggie smiles, but it seems unlikely she will divulge any more details.

"Well, we were both much younger, of course, and he was going to England for work, going to make enough money to get us started. He was so tall and handsome, and he could have had any girl in all of ten villages, but he wanted me. We were so in love, I promised I'd wait for him, and wait I did, for all these years. Still, there was never anyone else, no one I ever loved like I'd loved him. When he came back, at first, I didn't want to see him. But your brother, Orla, well, he didn't say much, but he said enough, and so Dermot told me why he'd never come back. I thought that was the last I'd see of him, but he's been back, three times now. We go dancing, still, and it's as if time has never passed. I don't know, I'm so settled here, so set, but if he asked me, yes, I'd marry him, even now. He's still the man I love, even after all these years." Kathleen reaches forward, and picks up the tea she had set down.

"So, the question now is, Kathleen, how do we get him to pop the question!" Maggie says, then laughs and stands up. "More tea or coffee, anyone?"

"Oh, no you don't, you're not running out on us like that, we want to know the details!" Niamh tells Maggie. "Sit down, I want to know what reality, other than the age difference, kept you from the man of your dreams!"

"Man of my nightmares is more like it!" Maggie tells her. "I still want some coffee, be right back." Maggie brings back a plate of cookies as well as hot beverages, and sits them on the low table between the sofas and armchairs gathered around.

"Well, the age barrier alone was bad enough, if he'd actually tried anything he'd have been hauled up on a statutory charge. But worse than that, he was already taken." Maggie sips coffee.

"Married, you mean?" Siobhan asks.

"As good as, really." Maggie says no more.

"This is like pulling teeth, woman!" Orla tells her. "What d'ya mean!"

"Oh, come on, this is Ireland, guess!" Maggie tilts her face downwards, she is blushing.

"Oh my God!" Niamh looks at her. "He was a priest, right?"

"Got it in one." Maggie looks up. "It was awful. At first I tried to tell myself it was a crush, you know, but when it lasts years?"

"So, did you ever tell him? Did he feel the same way about you?" Frankie asks, her face has a distinct curiosity in it.

"Are you kidding? No way, I avoided him like the plague. I switched which Mass I went to, if he somehow was saying or assisting at a Mass I was at, I made sure I wasn't in his Communion line. Eventually, since he was an associate pastor, he got transferred, and I went to college, met a great guy, we dated, we graduated, and we got married. We were together almost thirty years, bless him!"

"So, did you ever see him again, the priest?" Niamh asks Maggie.

"Yes, alas, I did. After I was married, we moved to a city where my husband could start his career, and, very sadly, guess who was the pastor of the only Catholic church in the town?" Maggie shakes her head vigorously. "I avoided him by not going to church! But then, during one of my hospital stays, somehow he found out I was there, I guess I put on the admission forms that I was Catholic, and the hospital staff called him or something."

"Hospital stays, whatever for?" Kathleen sounds sympathetic.

"Miscarriage, late term. It runs in my family, my mom had three before she had my brother, then another one between him and when she had me. In the late 40's and early 50's, nobody knew what was causing it for her, but for me, the doctors figured out it was hormonal imbalances and insufficiencies. It always hit between four and five months. Finally we gave up trying to have children. The doctors tried hormone shots, supplements, and I got all the way to six months the last time, but the baby was born prematurely and didn't survive, even with all the incubators and IV's and everything. I just couldn't take it anymore, you know, I had my doctor give me a tubal ligation."

"Oh, Maggie, how horrible, what a terrible thing!" Niamh, sitting closest, puts her arm around Maggie's shoulders.

"I know you understand Niamh, thank you. My poor husband, he never blamed me, bless him, and we made the pets our substitute kids, and loved them dearly. When he was killed in the car wreck, I'd had enough, I travelled, bought a lottery ticket at your store, Kathleen, and you all know the rest of the story." Maggie drinks more of her coffee.

"Not yet we don't," Orla answers. "What happened when the priest found you in the hospital?"

"She is not a Human, she is a Bulldog, I swear, don't you ever let go?" Maggie almost laughs at her young friend.

"No, I don't, so tell!" Orla replies.

"Okay, well, there I was, I'd just lost my second baby, I was in pain, heartbroken, my poor husband was gone to try and get some sleep, and in he walks. I'm hooked up to an IV, in a hospital gown, where am I gonna go, right? So he sits down in the chair and asks me how I am. I didn't lie, I told him I was lousy. He asked me if I wanted to pray with him for my baby. I swear I could have smacked him, but I was so tired, I just said no. He asked me why I didn't come to Mass, I asked him why I should when I had no faith in his God anymore. I think that set him back a bit, but he still didn't leave. He told me he was really sorry about the baby, and I lost it, and started bawling my eyes out. He sits on the bed and leans over and sort of hugs me, and I'm sobbing, and he kisses my cheek! At first I wasn't sure, so I just pulled away and asked him for a tissue, so he gets the box, but he doesn't sit back down in the chair. *Now* what do I do? I looked for the nurse call button, couldn't find the wretched thing that's wedged down between the bed and the frame, can't roll over to hit the one on the wall unless I want to flash a priest, so I sit there and stare off in the distance. He takes the hand that isn't hooked up to an IV, and asks how long I've lived in this town, so I tell him. He tells me how long it's been since he left my hometown, and that he's missed me! I gave up, I looked at him and said 'WHAT?'."

"He says, 'I missed you, all these years I've missed you every single day.' 'What in the world do you mean by that?' I asked him, and he tells me that from the moment we shook hands, when we first met, he looked down into my green eyes and all he could think was how much he wanted to kiss me. That he used to watch and try to figure out what Mass I was coming to so he could ask to say that one. He never told his pastor, though he had to tell his confessor. His confessor advised him to go on retreat, he went, but it didn't help, he never stopped loving me. He was going to tell me, after I turned 18, but he told me he kept procrastinating,that he couldn't work up his courage, and then he got transferred, he thought his confessor went to the Bishop. He heard I got married, he figured his feelings were all one-sided, he buried them, but then when he found out I was in the hospital, he couldn't stay away, he had to see me, and he decided to tell me how he felt." Maggie sighs heavily.

"So," Frankie asks, "did you tell him how you felt then?"

"Are you kidding? I told him I would appreciate it if he would leave. He didn't say anything then, he just kissed the palm of my hand, and closed my fingers over it, then he stood up, told me he would love me until the day he died, and that he would pray that I had a long and wonderful life from now on. Then he left." Maggie stands up, and walks towards the kitchen.

Everyone watches her go, then Kathleen speaks. "That is nearly as sad as what happened to poor Assumpta." She shakes her head, and gets up to help clear dishes. Siobhan, Orla and Frankie also get up, insisting Niamh stays and rests with her feet up.

"So, did you ever see him again after that?" Orla asks as they all move back and forth from kitchen to tables and back again.

"Yes, we lived in the same town, I couldn't completely avoid him, and I quit trying to hide from him, as the years passed. I had a third miscarriage, then we tried the hormones, and when little Emily died, I had my tubes tied. I quit putting 'Catholic' on hospital forms, though! I never went to church, any church, but I did alot of reading; comparative religions and philosphy and such. I came to my own understanding of my life and some of the circumstances in it. Then, there was the car wreck, and my husband died. He came to the house, after the memorial service I had at the funeral home. He knocked, and I didn't know who it was, so I opened the door. I tried to slam it in his face, then, but he put his foot in it. He begged me to let him in, that he knew I needed to talk, that he would never mention what he'd told me before, that he just wanted to offer me help and spiritual comfort and guidance. I told him, well, it wasn't very nice, but I was pretty angry and bitter right then, so let's just translate that I told him to leave, and he did, but he told me to call him, day or night, or come to the church, any time, he'd be there for me if I wanted to talk. Then he left, and I closed the door. I paid the stabling bill for Iblis for a year in advance and wrote out a will that gave the stable owner possession if I died, sold the house, put my stuff in storage, and started to travel."

"You never told him, you never even called?" Frankie sounds suprised.

"No, why would I want even more trouble? God keeps tight hold on those He owns, you know, and those who try and get in the middle wind up like me or Assumpta Fitzgerald!" Maggie sounds angry.

"Now, Maggie, you know better than that," Siobhan says. "Lots of priests leave the priesthood and marry, have families, they don't get struck by lightning or some such thing."

"I don't know, maybe He only makes examples of a few of us? I'm not willing to risk it, I've lost enough and suffered enough in my life, I'm not going to put myself back in harm's way. I'm half a world away, I'll never go back, and besides, he's older than me and male, he'll pass soon, and then I will, and maybe next time around our souls will be free to get together as they weren't in this life? I'll hope he's a rabbi or minister or Orthodox priest next time, if he's still bound to his God in his next life. Or maybe this is the life in which our souls' bonds get finally and completely severed, and I'll be free in my next incarnation, I can hope. I'll know when I pass the Gate, even if I don't remember once I step into the Cauldron to be reborn again. I have faith my next life will be better, and for the remainder of this life, I won't do anything to be afraid of, that's for sure!"

Kathleen looks somewhat shocked, but is also saddened to hear Maggie's sadness, and especially of the loss of four babies, thinking how terribly bitter that could make anyone. 'Perhaps I've been a bit harsh, after all, she never made a play for the priest, she lived honorably and denied her feelings, married a good man, tried to have children, but they all died instead. Why wouldn't she be angry, and hurting....' Kathleen thinks to herself. She resolves to try harder to employ Christian charity, and surreptitiously crosses herself when her back is turned from the rest of the women.

Soon all the dishes are gathered, the dishwasher is filled and started, the tables are wiped down, and even the floor swept. Niamh and Siobhan decide to relieve their poor suffering babysitter husbands, and the gifts are loaded into Niamh's car, along with the list Maggie made so Niamh can write thank you notes. Frankie and Kathleen cross the road and go their separate ways to store and Garda station, and Orla, after hugging Maggie, goes out the back door, gets in her car, and goes home to Connor. It has just turned eleven o'clock, and Maggie takes down the signs saying "private party", locks the front doors, and goes into the kitchen. Soon, the phone rings.

"Maggie, it's Assumpta, how'd it go?"

"Really well until some of us, later on, got into the stories of our love lives, and Orla wanted the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth from yours truly!" Maggie carries the phone back into the kitchen and sits back down.

"Oh, no, did you tell her about your miscarriages and everything?" Assumpta asks.

"Yeah, the whole shebang, leaving out names, of course. I think Kathleen Hendley might cut me some slack now, though. And I think she'll actually go for it with Dermot, too! I will happily toss rose petals down the aisle for that wedding! You know, Sis, it was really clear how she felt about him, her face just totally changed when she talked about it. I really do hope they can get together, I love happy endings!"

"So, what'd you do, play "Sleepless in Seattle' after most of the guests left?" Assumpta laughs after asking the question.

"Oh, you, you guessed! Dangit, I love that movie, it's so cute, and really, it's true, I think we do sometimes meet the love of our lives, and it is like magic, bang. Of course, my adolescent fantasies don't need to color your life if you don't want them to, but it does seem, from the number of movies on this theme, that alot of other people have the same fantasy. I don't know if we all believe in love at first sight because the incessant yammerings of poets over the centuries color the subjective unconcious, or if we all believe in it because it's true! Wait, wasn't that in the movie, about something 'feeling true'? Oh, yeah, about how women above a certain age are more likely to get struck by lightning than get married. Now *there's* a cheery thought, eh?" Maggie's mood sounds lighter, she chuckles.

"Hey, honey, love the one you're with, right?" Assumpta counters. "But you know, I agree, I have no idea if 'love at first sight' is real or a delusion, but I do know how I feel, and feelings are more real than the material world in the end, aren't they? After I met Peter, I tried to deny what I felt for three years, but I couldn't. Then I was still too scared, from what my parents went through, to trust him completely, and I knew how the town would erupt in scandal, and there was Leo to deal with, so I came up with that cock-a-mamie scheme to get Peter and me out of town, only it backfired. Now here it is, still more years later, and even though I've met a hundred men I could have fallen in love with, I didn't. So, I've grown, and I can trust a little more, and there's no town to be scandalized, and Leo is legally out of my life for good, so I am going to grab for the brass ring, and see if Peter will grab with me. Will you toss rose petals at my wedding, Maggie?" Assumpta sounds sure of herself for the first time in many weeks.

"You bet I will, but he better let me burn a little sage, too, Sis!" Maggie laughs more easily this time, glad her friend's heart has healed some old wounds. "But Sis, what if, well, I'll be blunt, what if he's no longer willing to leave the priesthood?"

"Then I'll find a good man like you did, like Siobhan did, marry him, and love the one I'm with, Maggie. There are lots of good men out there that I can be 99% happy with, and if that 1% is unreachable, I won't break my heart and pine away and become a bitter old maid reaching for it."

"Good for you, Sis, good for you! So, are you still shooting for Halloween for this to happen? We didn't decide, either, if we want to go all out and have a big costume party for the kids and parents alike at the school, or go for an adult masked ball here at the pub. It's really up to you, what do you think would be better?" Maggie and Assumpta continue their conversation for a while, but both are tired, and hang up, deciding to decide later.

Maggie unloads one dishwasher full of clean dishes, loads up more dirty ones, starts the machine, and goes upstairs to bed.  She wishes goodnight to the spirits of her lost loved ones, adding Fionn's name last, and promises to join them when her time has come. And, as she crawls into bed, she thinks, briefly, of a kiss in the palm of her hand, so very long ago.