The scene opens in the kitchen of Assumpta's wine bar. Assumpta has cleaned up after the simple tea, checks on her partner out front, and, finding all well, goes to the phone to dial a number.

"Hello, Niamh?" she speaks into the reciever.

"Yes, Assumpta, are you all right?" Niamh's concern is audible.

"Well, I can't say 'never better', but yeah, I'm okay. How about you, is Kieran rested up yet, are you all packed?"

"Sean and I are packed, but Kieran is still napping, we won't wake him up until we have to. Say, can you get away and come up to our hotel?  We never got to say a proper goodbye at the park."

"Yes, I know I can get away, I'll be right over!" Assumpta hangs up the phone, steps out for a brief chat with her friend, then leaves the bar through the back door, getting into her own car to drive to the hotel. Stopping briefly at the front desk, she enters an elevator, goes up a few floors, and exits. Niamh and Sean's door opens, Niamh has been expecting her. The two friends embrace, and enter the room. Sean is seated in a chair, and Kieran is tucked into one of the two beds, sound asleep. Niamh and Assumpta sit on the other bed, and start up nearly where they had left off earlier in the day, though quietly.

"So, when did Peter leave?" Assumpta asks her friend.

"Just a few minutes ago, we only spent a few minutes in the bar, and Brendan and Siobhan decided to take Aisling home, Padraig and Kevin had an earlier flight, and Peter told us all goodbye and headed home, I believe. Assumpta, what are you going to do?  You went through so much to be together, you were so close, and I know how very much he loved you!"

"I know, I know, I need some time, I need to think. I was so sure I could be okay without him, now I just don't know. My life was just so wrecked, I needed to get it back under my control, everything was just racing along so wildly, and I was so afraid of how much pain I was in for. Think of the gossip, it was going to be vicious!  And I was afraid he'd change his mind again, ask for a transfer, run away from me as he'd run from Jenny in Manchester. I couldn't bear it, the thought of losing him again, he'd run from me before, so I decided to really push him, really test him. I suppose I should have trusted him, but how could I, I just couldn't handle another heartbreak. And then, when he did fail me, fall back on his church and follow orders even when he knew I'd never have wanted what he did, I was so disappointed I just wanted to run, get away and never see him again. Was I wrong, Niamh, did I ask too much of him?"

Niamh takes her hand. "I don't know, Assumpta. Father Mac was going to do it if Peter didn't. If Peter had resisted, what would you have done?"

"Called him the next morning, of course, and arranged to meet him as soon as he could get out of town!  We could have lived together here, in the city, until my divorce went through and his dispensation did, too, then we'd have gotten married in a civil ceremony. But you know, I think I was dreaming, believing he loved me that much, he'd have never lived without his Church. What would I have done, if he'd gone back to the Church, even after marrying me, years later?  Niamh, I could never have lived after that!"

"No, I don't think he'd have ever left you, Assumpta, but you'd have fought, I fear, and he'd have wanted to raise your children in the Church, and what would you have done then?"

Assumpta puts her face in her hands, "I don't know, Niamh, I just don't know. I don't know, now, if I want to find out. I don't want to be like my parents, loving someone but fighting all the time, over every little thing, when the real root of the trouble was bigger. I don't want to live like that."

"No, you don't!  I know...." Niamh's face shows old sorrow, and Assumpta takes her hand.

"I know you and Ambrose loved each other when you married, Niamh, just as I loved Peter, and I remember when you'd call me, in tears, or spitting nails. And finally, when you decided that it was over."

"It was a hard time, but I got through it, between you and Sean." Niamh leans her head against Sean's arm, as he has gotten up and come to stand beside her. She looks upward to his face, and they share a look of clear happiness and satisfaction. Niamh looks back at her friend. "I'd love to see you this happy, Assumpta. Sean and I share so much, I guess it comes from going through so much together, and being adults when we met. And now we have a new adventure to go on together!" Assumpta looks expectantly at the couple. "I'm pregnant!" Niamh says, and Assumpta squeals happily, leaning forward to take her friend in a hug. Kieran stirs and wakes at that, sitting up.

Sean goes to sit by him, and, looking at his watch, tells his wife the time. "We need to get ready, Niamh, Kieran needs a bite to eat before we go to the airport."

"Yes, love, I know. I'm sorry, Assumpta, we haven't really figured anything out, have we?" Niamh takes her friend's hand.

Looking at Niamh, Assumpta answers her, "No, I think I have, Niamh, I think I have figured something out. I'll call or e-mail you when you get home. Before I go, though, lets talk about something *really* important!  When are you due, do you know if it's a boy or a girl, when did you find out?" Assumpta's voice is clearly excited.

"I'll get Kieran dressed and fed, Niamh, you talk," Sean tells his wife, taking Kieran's bag into the bathroom.

"Well, we were only sure last week, and I was going to call you, but then we heard Father Mac had died, and I decided to tell you in person. I'm only 15 weeks, but the ultrasounds are all good. I asked the doctor not to tell me if it's a boy or a girl, but I think it's a girl, even if Kieran wants a little brother!" Niamh and Assumpta laugh together. Niamh goes to her bag, taking out pictures and she and Assumpta take turns, looking at the ultrasound images.

"Ya know," Assumpta tells her friend, "I don't know how they can tell anything from these, it's all grey and fuzzy lines to me!"

"Well," Niamh points, "here's the head, of course, and the curve of the spine, and the arms and legs, and you can see--"

Assumpta takes her hand, laughing again. "Okay, okay, I believe you, send me more pictures when the baby's a little bigger, okay?"

"Of course," Niamh answers, "well, it is getting late, I really had better get busy, here, or we'll miss the plane. Join us for a bite in the restaurant before we go?"

"Absolutely, the picnic is hours ago, and Maggie says I need to get fat and dye my hair blonde, so that even if Peter meets me on the street, he won't know it's me!" Assumpta laughs, and Niamh joins her, standing up.

"You?  I think you could eat 5,000 calories a day and not gain an ounce!  Just wait four months, and then look at me, and you'll see fat!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, and you'll lose it all again, too, in no time at all!" Assumpta teases.

"Well, breastfeeding has to be good for something other than feeding the baby, doesn't it?" Niamh asks her. Just then, Sean and Kieran come out of the bathroom, and the family begins gathering up their luggage.

Assumpta goes to take Kieran's hand, and bends over a bit, asking, "So, Kieran, are you excited about having a little brother or sister?"

"Yeah, it's gonna be really cool!  I'm gonna teach him to play football, and Emma's gonna teach him to ride, just like she's gonna teach me, when we come home!"

"Home?" Assumpta asks, turning to her friends.

"That's our other news, Assumpta, we decided we wanted to raise Kieran and this new baby at home, in Ireland. So we're moving back, back to the Dillon farm. Emma will come home for holidays, of course, until she finishes school. I was going to tell Brendan and Siobhan today at the park, share our news with you all, but then we were interrupted," Niamh answers her friend, taking Sean's hand as they leave the room.

"Oh, Niamh, I'm so happy, it'll be great, having you so close again! Are you going to call Siobhan, or can I tell her?"

"Well, Sean, what do you think?  I think Assumpta can share the good news with Brendan and Siobhan, don't you?"

"Sure, go ahead. I'll e-mail Brendan, too, next week, and arrange for Kieran to get enrolled. He might as well start school this fall here at home."

"Look at me, I should be ashamed!" Assumpta tells Niamh. "I am turning into as much of a gossip as Kathleen Hendley!"

"No, you are only sharing happy news with good friends!" Niamh assures her.

The group walks into the restaurant, and they sit and order snacks for themselves and a light meal for Kieran. Kieran begins to tell Assumpta about all the fun he is going to have when he comes home, how Danny and Emma are going to teach him to ride, and he can have his own pony, too.

Assumpta asks, "And are you going to like going to school, and living close enough to have Aisling as a friend again?"

"Yeah, I guess, but she's a girl, she can't play football!"

"Oh, yes she can," Niamh chides him. "If she wants, she can play football, and learn to ride, too! Auntie Siobhan and Uncle Brendan may get her a pony, too."

 "Well, okay, I guess she can play football, but if she falls down, she better not cry!"

Assumpta chuckles, then leans over to Niamh and says, quietly in her friend's ear, "I'll bet he still wails if he skins his knee, right?" Niamh nods, and smiles, but does not say more, sparing her son's ego.

All too soon, it is time for the family to head to the airport, and Assumpta walks them to their rental car. "So, when's the move, then?" she asks Niamh as Sean stows the luggage in the boot, and Niamh straps Kieran into the back seat.

"A couple of months yet, I want to make sure I'm not stressing myself too early, but I want to get settled before I get too big, too. Oh, God! I just thought! Peter can baptise this baby, just like he did Kieran!" Niamh's face is a strange mix of delight and worry. "But if he does, you can't come to the christening, oh, dear, this is going to get harder!"

"Oh, I'll be there, all right, weighing 100 kilos with frizzy blonde hair out to *here*!" Assumpta holds her hands a good foot away from either side of her head.

The two women laugh and hug, and Assumpta looks Niamh square in the eye. "I'll have this settled, don't worry, I won't be kept away from my closest friends any longer, not by *any* member of the clergy!" She hugs Niamh again, then Sean, and the couple climb into their car, and drive away. Assumpta stands, her arms across her chest, staring after them for a moment, then walks to her car, and heads home. "I'll call Siobhan in the morning, and Maggie, too..." she thinks to herself, driving along the narrow streets as she nears the wine bar. "What am I going to do, *how* can I make him understand?"

The scene fades to black.