Dominic had decided to meet his family at the airport instead of hiring a car for them.  He felt like sending a car would be incredibly impersonal, and if he was attempting to start over with the members of his family that were willing to try, he wanted to do it right.  

The plane had finally pulled up to the gate and passengers were beginning to disembark.  He saw his mother walking down the ramp and he immediately felt a tightness in his throat.  She didn’t see him, so he was able to watch her without her seeing him.  She looked tired and worried.  Not at all like the vibrant, happy woman she’d once been.  Dominic swiped at his eyes at the thought that he had something to do with her unhappiness.  Yes, how she treated the woman he loved was beyond the pale, but she was his mother and he still loved her very much.  Dominic began to crane his neck and wave, trying to get Aileen’s attention.  She finally saw him and her face split into a grin that tugged at his heart.  He had always loved seeing his mother smile.  He smiled back at her with a grin that mirrored hers.  She began to move faster, trying not to jostle the people in front of her.  She finally cleared the tunnel and ran towards him.  She stopped when she got close enough to touch him.  “Son”, she said breathlessly.  “I’ve missed ya, Maw”.  Dominic grabbed his mother and hugged her tight, lifting her off of the ground as he did so.  “You put yer Maw down this instant!”  She said laughing.  A few people walking past them looked at them and smiled, with one elderly woman going so far as to say, “That’s how every son should greet their mother; with unabashed love”.  If she’d only known what had transpired between them and what it took to get them to this point, she wouldn’t reduce what was happening here to such a trivial platitude.  Aileen pulled back from her son and said “You look good.  Marriage and fatherhood agree with ya.”  Dom smiled.  “Yeah, my girls make me happier than I ever thought I could be”.  

Dominic suddenly looked over his mother’s head.  He hadn’t seen Donal exit the tunnel yet.  “Where’s Donal, Maw?”  He watched his mother get a bit twitchy and he automatically knew something was up.  “What’s going on, Maw?”  Aileen began to wring her hands.  “I told him that you wouldn’t be happy, Dommy, but she caused such a stink…”  ‘He wouldn’t have’, Dom thought to himself.  Then, as if God decided to provide proof of his brother’s disregard for his wishes, Donal walked out of the tunnel...with Irene in tow.

***************************************

Dominic glared at Donal and Irene.  He was pissed.  If Donal was trying to mend fences, he was going about it the wrong way.  “Dommy, let me explain…”  Dom turned towards his brother, his jaw ticking, “Do. Not. Speak.”  The group of four made their way out of baggage claim and headed towards the lot where Dom’s truck was parked.  He refused to make eye contact with Irene and barely uttered a greeting to her when he saw her.  He opened the front door for his mother then stowed their luggage in the cargo area of the truck.  Dominic climbed into the front seat of the truck, then unleashed hell.

“WHAT THE FUCK, DONAL?!  I had ONE request...ONE!  Do NOT bring her with ya.  Why is she here?  Why are ya here, Irene??  You don’t like my wife...not one bit.  So why the FUCK did ya come?”

“So you can spare forgiveness for yer Maw and Donal, but ya can spare none for me?  Is that fair, Dominic?  We’ve been family for a lot longer than ya have yer wife and her kin, ya should have some loyalty to us as well.”

“Yer speaking outta turn, Irene”,  Donal warned his wife.  “Lia’s Dominic’s wife and the mother of his child.  They come first, as they should”.

“Oh shut up, Donal.  Just shut up”. Irene said, rolling her eyes at her husband.  Aileen turned and glared at her daughter-in-law.  “Irene”, she said, her voice full of venom, “mind yer mouth.  I don’t like that ya strong armed yer way onto this trip, especially since ya were told ya weren’t welcome.  If ya do anything else to upend what is supposed to be a happy time, I’ll pull yer pretty blonde hair from yer head...strand by strand.  Do ya understand?”  Irene looked at her mother-in-law with wide eyes, then folded her arms over her chest and turned her face towards the window.  She stewed for the entire ride to Dom and Lia’s home.

*****************************************

Nessa was outside sitting on the front steps of the house when Dom pulled up.  She ran over to the passenger side of the truck and yanked the door open.  “Maw!” she shouted excitedly as Aileen jumped out as fast as her body would let her.  “Nessa, my wee girl!”  The two women wrapped each other in a warm embrace.  Aileen pulled back, cupping Nessa’s face in her hands.  “Ya look lovely, my girl”, she said with tears in her eyes.  “I’m so so sorry.  For everything.  For running ya off, for not practicin’ what we always preached.  I miss ya and yer brother so much”, she said, tears running down her face unchecked.

“I missed ya too, Maw.  So much.  I’m so happy yer here!  Wait till ya see Allie.  She’s just the most fantastic little thing.  Such a sweet little baby!”  

“Hey wee girl”, Donal said from over Nessa’s shoulder, “spare a hug for yer big brother?”  Nessa turned and threw herself at her brother, hugging him hard.  “I missed ya big brother!”  She looked to her right and her face hardened.  “What’s SHE doing here.  Dominic said not to bring her”.  “It’s good to see ya too, Nessa”, Irene said snidely.  “Oh shut up, ya hateful cow!” Nessa snarled.

“Now, Nessa”, Aileen chastised her daughter.  “Keep a civil tongue...for Dom’s sake.  Irene promised to be on her best behavior.  Isn’t that right, Irene”.  Aileen gave her a silent warning and the blonde woman nodded slightly.

They all entered the house to find Lia sitting in one of the wing chairs in the great room holding her daughter.  She was cooing softly at the baby while gently stroking the soft hair on her head.  Aileen gasped when she saw the two of them.  Lia lifted her head and smiled at the woman.  “Would you like to hold your granddaughter?”  Aileen placed her hands over her heart and walked over to Lia and the baby.  The young mother stood and placed her infant daughter into her grandmother’s arms.  “Oh dear”, Aileen whispered.  “Yer even more gorgeous in person, wee baby.  Look at those eyes.  So like yer da’s”.  She looked up at Lia, smiling through her tears.  “She’s an alert one!  Eyes wide open, just taking everything in”.  She looked back down at the tiny girl. “Yer a clever one, I can tell”.

Donal entered the house with his and Irene’s bags and deposited them by the door.  He walked over to Lia.  He reached down to her and pulled her gently to her feet.  He engulfed her in a warm hug and whispered in her ear.  “I’m so very sorry for the way I treated ya and yer family.  I was foolish; cutting off my nose to spite my face.  I hope ya can forgive me”.  Lia pulled away from him, touched by his gesture.  “Of course I forgive you.  That’s what family does”.  Donal smiled down at his sister-in-law as if seeing her for the first time.  He now understood why his brother loved her so much.

“Now, let me take a look at this little bairn”, he said sitting next to his mother and peering down at his infant niece.  “She’s a pretty little thing, right Maw?” he said smiling.

“She’s absolutely perfect.  Just beautiful”.  Aileen bent her head and kissed her granddaughter on her forehead.  “Okay Maw, give her over.  Let her uncle have a good look”, Donal said reaching for Allegra.  “No.  I’ll be gone from this earth long before ya, I need to get all my squeezes in”.  Donal rolled his eyes.  “First off, stop saying that.  Second, you’ll probably live forever.  Lastly, give over the bairn, Maw”.  

Aileen begrudgingly handed the baby over to Donal who cradled his niece in his arms, cooing and smiling at her.  He looked over his shoulder to see Irene hovering on the periphery with an unreadable expression on her face.  “Irene, come see yer niece”.  She made her approach, but stopped behind the sofa Aileen and Donal were sitting on and leaned over slightly.  “Yes, she’s very cute”, she said with a tight smile.  

Dominic entered the room and leaned over Lia’s chair and pressed his lips to her forehead and stroked her hair.  “Um...Dom, I’m feeling quite tired from the flight”, Irene said.  “Can ya show me where Donal and I will be sleeping.  I’d like to take a bit of a kip before dinner”.  “I’ll be happy to show you, Irene”, offered Lia.  Irene hesitated and then nodded.  

Lia led Irene down to the guest room on the lower floor.  “Okay.  Here’s the room you and Donal will be in.  The bathroom is attached, but there’s another one just a short way down the hall-”

“Ya know, ya have the life I wanted”, Irene said, interrupting Lia.  “Everything ya have...the perfect home, perfect baby, perfect life, really.  And ya have all of those things with the man I’ve loved since I was just a girl”.  Lia turned and met the woman’s eyes.  She wasn’t the least bit surprised at this revelation.  She had assumed that Irene’s disdain for her had less to do with her race and more to do with her feelings about Dominic.  “I loved him, I did.  We dated for a while, did he tell ya?  Of course he didn’t; water under the bridge I suppose.  No matter, he didn’t want me.  No matter what I said or did, he said he could never love me the way I loved him.  He was a gentleman about it, but that’s our Dommy, right?”, she said with a bitter laugh.  “I went so far as to start dating Donal to make him jealous.  Ya see how well THAT went”.  Irene’s voice dripped with sarcasm.  “I worked so hard for his attention and ya got it all without any amount of effort”.

Lia cocked her head to the side and surveyed her sister-in-law.  “Why are you telling me this, Irene?  What is there to be gained?  Am I supposed to feel bad because you didn’t get what you wanted?  Would you like me to step aside so you can fulfill your lifelong dream?  I don’t understand you at all.  You have a husband that loves you and two adorable little boys.  You have a great life, by all accounts.  If you’re unhappy, I hate to sound cruel, but that’s not my problem.  You didn’t lose Dominic because of me.  It sounds to me like you never had him”.  Lia didn’t want to come across as heartless, but she wasn’t going to walk on eggshells because Irene was holding out hope that she and Dom would get their happily ever after with one another.  No way in hell was that EVER going to happen.

“Irene, I harbor no ill will towards you.  Life's too short for that.  I would hope that you would see your way clear to relax and enjoy your visit.  But please know this, I’m not going to entertain drama in my own home.  If your intent when coming here was to cause trouble between Dominic and I, please let me know and I’ll buy you a first class ticket back to Scotland and drive you to the airport myself.  If not, I welcome you to make yourself at home”.  The two women stood eyeing each other for a minute.  Irene’s silence seemed to indicate that she’d be on her best behavior, so Lia took that at face value.  She wouldn’t put anything past her, but she was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.  “Do you think you’ll be needing anything else before your nap?”

“Yes”, Irene said wearily.  “Aspirin, please”.