“Family are the people in your life who choose you to be a part of theirs. The people who love you for who you are.” He looks one by one to his brothers. They hold their heads up higher, and sit straighter in the high-backed wooden benches. “Family are the people who accept you. Who welcome you. Family are those who will always be loyal.”
A warmth spreads through me when I realize, I’m a part of this family.
Keenan looks out at the congregation, his gaze going from his wife to his brothers, then out to the congregation that spills all the way outside.
“And the reason Father Finn was father to us all was because he treated us all, every single one of us, as family.”
Heads nod, and murmurs of assent ring through the church.
There’s both sorrow and joy in our midst as they complete final preparations for Finn’s burial. Aileen sings the closing hymn, as we process to the cemetery. We walk quietly, soberly, and as we exit the church, clouds part and sunbeams light our path. Aileen’s voice carries bright and clear across the distance.
Go, silent friend,
forgive us if we grieved you;
Safe now in heaven, kindly say our name.
Your life has touched us, that is why we mourn you.
Tully joins me, and quietly holds my hand.
“I’ll miss him as I’ll miss my very own brother,” he says, pinching his nose and closing his eyes briefly. I watch as his Adam’s apple bobs, and I know he’s overcome with emotion. It’s powerful, seeing a man like him succumb to emotion, and for some reason, it makes me respect him even more.
“Aye,” I whisper. “That you will, Tully.”
He smiles at me. “I’m glad you’re to be one of us, lass. I truly am.”
I look out at the throng of people. I’m one of them, now.
“I am too.” I nod, repeating, “I am too.”
* * *
Back at the parsonage, the doors are wide open, welcoming anyone and everyone to come celebrate the life of Father Finn. I almost wish I knew him better, hearing the stories everyone shares. From the humblest storekeeper to the chief of police, everyone has a story of how they were touched by the kindness of Father Finn.
“Drove me up a feckin’ wall,” Tully whispers to me, taking a long pull from a steaming cup of tea. “There was a time or two if he wasn’t a man of the cloth, I’d have knocked him upside the head.”
“Tully,” I say, covering my mouth with my hand. “You shouldn’t say such things.”
He shrugs. “Telling the truth, is all. Like any real brother, he had his ups and downs, you know.”
“Did he?”
Tully nods to Boner when Boner offers him a little nip of some whiskey in his tea. “Aye, please.”
Boner upends the whole thing. I roll my eyes.
Boner chuckles. “He was always giving us ‘hints’ and ‘tips’ and ‘clues’ about various things that happened, but because of his loyalty to the church and to Ballyhock, he would only give us enough information to drive us feckin’ batty, and never enough to actually go on.”
I swipe Tully’s mug and take a long sip myself. I underestimated the searing heat of it all, and choke. Tully clucks his tongue and shakes his head.
“Naughty little girl,” he says under his breath. “You’ll get spanked for that later.”
Warmth spreads through my chest, and it isn’t from the whiskey this time. I catch his eye and ever so casually scratch my temple with my middle finger, then flick it at him.
His nostrils flare, and he shakes his head from side to side. “Oh, dear,” he says softly. “My, my.”
My heartbeat thunders.
He tugs my hand and pulls me to him so I’m perched atop his knee.
“What a naughty girl, misbehaving at such a place and time? Really, McKenna?” But I can tell he’s secretly pleased. “Did you forget the shipment that just arrived?”
I did not. It’s precisely because of that little black leather bag sitting up in our room that I’m provoking him. That, and I crave the intensity of his dominance.
“This doesn’t seem right, doing this here,” I say to Tully. From where I’m sitting, I can see Father Finn’s priest friend with Keenan by the doorway that leads to a sitting room. Children roam about, attended by their nannies. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen the citizens of Ballyhock and the Clan mingling like this, and I have to admit, I like it.
“I bet you don’t see something like this every day,” I say to Tully.
He shakes his head. “You don’t. But a man like this isn’t born every day, is he?”
Father Finn was the bridge between two worlds, and I wonder what will happen now that he isn’t here anymore.
“Do you think the Clan will have trouble with the citizens now that he’s gone?”