Becoming the Whiskey Princess
Page 8

I shake my head. “No, not at all. It may rush us a bit, but I want to marry him because I love him. I believe with my whole heart that my mom sent him to me for a reason. He completes me, Fiona. I love him.”
“It’s just mad is all. So quick and everything.”
“Maybe, but I don’t see myself with anyone but him.”
“’Cause he’s all you had. Hell, you ain’t even had him!”
I smile. “True, but I will, and it will be perfect.”
“Or it could go to hell and then you’ll be stuck in a sucky sex life.”
I laugh as I roll my eyes. “I doubt that will happen, but I can guarantee you, we will have sex before we marry.”
“Thank God.” Fiona decides with a shake of her head.
“Yeah, just to make sure, but I know it will be great. We just get each other. On so many levels.”
“I guess, I mean yous are cute and all sugary sweet for each other, but it just worries me is all.”
“Why?”
“I feel like you’ll regret it later.”
“No, I won’t,” I say with all the conviction in my heart. “I know he is who I am supposed to marry, I just do. In my gut.”
“I don’t know about that gut of yours. You not only dated Casey Burke, but then you blocked a shot for Declan. That gut gets you in trouble,” she says with a grin, but I set her with a look.
“First, didn’t you date Casey?”
“Oh, fuck off,” is her response and I laugh.
“And if someone were about to shoot Kane, wouldn’t you try to save him?”
She stops laughing for a moment and sends me a look. Slowly, she nods. “I would.”
“Okay, and if Kane asked you to marry him, wouldn’t you?”
“You’re making this a losing battle for me,” she says and I smile.
“Because it is. I may be young, but I know what I’m doing.”
“Okay,” she agrees. “I’ll be right beside you all the way through, then.”
“Thanks, couldn’t do it without my maid of honor.”
“Damn right, ya couldn’t!”
Smiling, Fiona gets up and closes the distance between us. Wrapping an arm around my waist, she hugs me tightly to her and I lean my head to hers. In the short time since I met her, I feel as if I’ve known her my whole life. She is the sister I never had, and I couldn’t replace her if I tried. While I respect what she just did here, I’m pretty sure I would have been a little broken if she hadn’t agreed to stand beside me.
“I love you, Fiona,” I whisper, and her arms tighten around me.
“I love you, too,” she says softly. “I worry for ya, you know that.”
“I do.”
“That’s why I said something. It isn’t that I don’t believe in yous two, I do. I think yous two are made for each other, but it just makes me nervous. Getting married isn’t something to toy with, ya know?”
“I do, but I also know that this kind of love doesn’t come around. Back in America, I never would have met someone like Declan. Someone who would love me without sex.”
“Shit, ya usually wouldn’t get that here. Declan is one of a kind.”
“And all mine,” I say with a grin.
We don’t say anything for a moment as we hold on to each other. Within the next couple months, so much is gonna change. I’m going to move out, I’ll be a married woman, and I won’t have this time to just hug my cousin. It scares me, but then I think I’ll be so unbelievably loved by the most amazing man on this earth.
My Declan.
“You’re going to be the Whiskey Princess.”
I smile. “Weird, huh?”
“Yeah, especially since you have to be dressed to the nines eighty percent of the time.”
I hadn’t thought about that. Ew. “Eh, I’m sure that won’t apply to me.”
She laughs. “If you say so. They’ll have you walking in heels and your hair and makeup done every morning. No more buns or jeans, I can tell you that.”
Pulling away, I look over at her. “No. Ugh.”
“Bet ya! Those O’Callaghans are pristine all the time.”
“Well, I’ll be pristine in a pair of shorts and a tee, working the bar.”
She laughed again. “You have no clue what you are getting into. You won’t be working at the bar anymore. You’ll be going to have tea with old people and shite.”
“No way,” I say with a shake of my head. “I’m not going to change who I am.”
She eyes me for a second and slowly nods her head. “I sure as hell hope not.”
I can see in her eyes that she is doubtful, but I don’t believe a word she says. They may be basically royalty and perfect, but being an O’Callaghan isn’t going to change me.
I’ll still be me.
And that’s how Declan will want me.
“Hey, girls.”
I look up to see my aunt standing in the doorway, a smile on her face.
“Howya, Ma,” Fiona says. “What’s up?”
“Come on to the pub with me for a minute.”
We comply, and I hate the way they treat me like a fragile piece of glass. Holding my hand and making sure I don’t die on the way. It’s annoying, but I know they do it because they love me. When we reach the pub after a short walk, we go through the side door, and as I come through, the room erupts in cheers. I smile as I take in all my regular patrons and then the big “Welcome Home, Amberlyn” sign. Tears sting my eyes as I am passed around, hugged softly, and kissed by almost everyone. I have missed my pub family; some of these people I see every day. I know that Mr. Little loves his corned beef hash. That Mrs. Kettle needs lavender in her tea. That Timmy loves his whiskey straight. That Brian would marry me or Fiona, or hell, even my aunt. I know these people. Their life stories. They are my family.
When I’m seated at the bar with Richard in front of me, I smile. He comes in every single Sunday with his guitar to sing. His wife, Laney, sits at the table to the left as he sings songs with his soft, crooning voice. It reminds me so much of my father’s, and that’s why he is probably my favorite person.
Cupping my face, he says, “You gave us all a scare.”
I smile. “I’m sorry. It’s so good to be home though.”