Padraig stood and picked up a third. “And this one?”
“Was once a handsome prince but is now suffering from a curse cast by an evil witch. I’m sad to say he’s destined to remain a rock until his princess finds him and frees him with a kiss.”
“How many times have you kissed the rock?” Padraig asked with a grin.
“When I was younger, about a million times. I really wanted to be that princess.” Emmy looked at the rocks. “I remember every single rock’s story. And I keep them because someday I’m going to tell the stories to my own kids.”
“They’re going to love these rocks. Where was your brother when all of this was happening?”
“Sometimes he was here and he heard the stories, shared the sweets. He even made a wand with us once, and the two of us cast spells on each other all night. I always liked it when he was with us. But most of the time, he wasn’t. Especially as I got older. My brother was sort of an oopsie baby. My mom got pregnant when she was dating my dad, so they got married. Although they both insisted they were headed to the altar regardless. They were young and poor and barely making ends meet. My brother was nearly seven when they had me. By then, their lives were more settled. Because he was so much older, there were times when I felt like an only child. He fell in with a bad crowd at thirteen. I’m pretty sure that’s when the drugs started. My dad blamed himself, his long work hours, for Sam drifting so far away from us.”
“And your mom?”
“She couldn’t control him. He was always angry, and my mom, well, I’m not sure I ever saw her mad a day in her life. She was a very gentle soul.”
“You take after her then.”
Emmy gave him a curious look.
“I’ve never seen you lose your temper either.”
Emmy was touched to be compared to her beloved mother. “Plus, she couldn’t have helped him after…” Emmy swallowed down the lump in her throat. “She was diagnosed with ALS when I was seventeen—I told you that, right?”
Padraig nodded. “You did.”
“After that, she was too sick to be much help with Sam. I dropped out of school and—”
“You dropped out of school?”
Emmy didn’t tell many people that fact. “I got my GED. My dad needed to work for the health insurance, so I stayed home to take care of my mom and the apartment. That was when I started writing. She’d spent my entire life telling me stories, so I figured it was my turn. I wrote whenever she was asleep, and when she woke up, I’d read what I’d written, to her. She loved romance novels, so that was what I wrote. Although, those earlier stories were much less steamy…closed bedroom door and all that.”
“I think that’s the nicest thing I’ve ever heard.”
She gave him a look that screamed “really?” “I’ve heard of nicer things, Paddy. Maybe take a look in the mirror and think about it a minute or two.”
After all, Padraig spent a year helping Mia accomplish everything on her bucket list after he discovered she was dying of a brain tumor.
He rolled his eyes at her, amused.
“My mom was my best friend,” she continued. “After she died, I sort of disappeared for a little while. Spent every waking hour writing stories because it was easier to live in my fictional worlds than in the real one. A world without my mom wasn’t one I wanted to be in. Dad put his foot down, determined I wasn’t going to hide inside for the rest of my life. So he set me up with a guy, Tim, from his work. And I went out with him to make Dad happy because I knew he was as devastated as I was over Mom’s death, and I wanted to set his mind at ease…at least over me. He had enough to deal with, grieving over Mom, worrying about Sam. I never wanted to add to his stress.”
Padraig ran his hand over her cheek tenderly, and it took a moment for Emmy to recover from the sweet touch to continue her story.
“Anyway, Tim was a really nice guy and we had a good time together, but I think we both knew we weren’t suited to each other for the long run. But the dates with him helped because they got me out of the apartment, got me living again. Then Dad had a massive heart attack a year after Mom died and…it set me back for a little while. Of course, all that shit with Sam didn’t help either.”
Padraig was quiet for a few minutes. Then he asked the question she’d been expecting. “Why didn’t I know any of this, Em?” he asked, genuinely curious. “About your parents, your brother?”
“Because for a long time, it hurt to talk about them. I miss them every day. And also, because you—” She stopped herself before offering the other reason.
Not that it mattered.
Sometimes it felt like Padraig could read her mind. “Because I was grieving too.”
She nodded slowly. “You’ve never really talked to me…about her.”
“You’re right. I haven’t. I…” He looked down at her rocks again. “I’d like to. If you wouldn’t mind listening.”
She reached out and took his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’m a sucker for a good love story.”
4
Padraig leaned back and looked at the clock, suddenly aware they’d been talking for close to three hours. They’d polished off a large supreme pizza while he’d drunk five Coronas and she’d finished her bottle of wine.
Once he’d started, it was as if the floodgate had opened and he found himself telling Emmy things he’d never told anyone about Mia. About how she could cook wonderful meals but burned every single thing she ever tried to bake. How she’d become addicted to The Young and the Restless after she was too sick to work. The way he’d felt as he held her in his arms when they stood together at Sacre Coeur, how he’d wanted to freeze time, right there in that moment, forever.
“So you seriously told your dad you were marrying Mia after talking to her just one night?” Emmy asked.
Padraig nodded. “Yeah. Needless to say, he was very confused.”
“I don’t know,” she mused. “I’ve seen your dad with your mom. He’s very protective, devoted. Your mom told me once that she was married before your dad, that her ex-husband was a violent man.”
Padraig scowled, the idea of his mother’s ex always prompting that response. “He was an abusive asshole. Put her in the hospital the night she tried to leave him. Then he actually kidnapped her.”
“And your dad risked his life to save her.”
Padraig and Colm had been adults the first time they’d heard the horrifying story of their mother’s abduction and the rescue attempt staged by their dad, Ewan, and Aaron. “He did.”
“You and your dad seem to have very similar personalities, always there to protect, to help, to defend. I have a feeling he understood your need to marry Mia, even if he didn’t agree right away.”
Padraig considered that, then thought she was probably right. “I was alone with her the night she died. My parents, Pop Pop, and Colm had been there off and on throughout the day. We knew it was just a matter of time, and they’d wanted to stay close. But as it got later and later, I insisted that they go home.”