Travels in Eire #60

In respect to Darren's parents, Darren stayed in his room upstairs and Cailin stayed in the same room downstairs as she had stayed before. Darren gave Cailin a sad puppy dog look as he headed upstairs after saying a long goodnight.

Cailin was up early and refreshed the next morning. She quietly showered and headed outside to take a quick walk in the cool morning air. It was so different being near Galway Bay compared to living in Derry. As she arrived back at the B&B she caught the aroma of an Irish fry and smiled. Maura would not let her son get by on tea and scones.

As they all sat down to breakfast Cailin slipped back into her room to pick up something to share. She slipped back to the kitchen without much notice and joined the others for her Irish fry.

“Darren, I've been waiting to share something with you and your parents and thought this would be the perfect time.” Cailin started as everyone suddenly stared at her. “You know that my lineage is Irish and as long as I'm living here and working I thought it only appropriate to made a decision for dual citizenship.”

Cailin looked around the table and could see the surprise on Darren's face. Philip and Maura were smiling as big as their face would let them.

“So I've been working on getting my Irish citizenship since a few days after I arrived and it's almost complete. At the end of next month Cailin O'Neill Doherty will have her Irish citizenship!” Cailin finished and was hoping for approval. She showed off the paperwork she had showing the process.

Darren jumped up as Cailin finished and grabbed her wrapping his arms around her. Philip and Maura clapped their hands in approval. This was more than Maura could hope for. Her son would be marrying an Irish girl. And from the looks of it they would be living in Ireland.

After many questions and chatter about how Cailin had been going about this without Darren's knowledge, Cailin reminded everyone that she needed to call her parents with the news of the engagement. She dialed the number from Philip and Maura's phone and clicked onto speaker phone.

“Hello, Mom? It's Cailin. I'm in Galway at Darren's parent's home,” Cailin wanted to make sure her parents knew where she was calling from and that they knew she was on speaker phone. “Is Dad there too?”

“Cailin, it's so good to hear from you. We weren't expecting to hear from you until tomorrow. Is everything okay?” Her mom seemed a little anxious as they had a regular Sunday call and this was Saturday. “Yes, Dad is right here with me, let me put the speaker phone on.”

“Cailin, it's Dad. What are you doing in Galway? Did you take some vacation time again.” Cailin could see the smile on her Dad's face as he teased her.

“Mom, Dad, I'm calling with some great news..... Darren and I are engaged!” and Cailin heard a cheer at the other end of the phone. She could also see how happy this made Maura and Philip. “I can see you two approve of this and I”m so glad you do. I also have some other news for you. With the help of granny, I've applied for my Irish citizenship and it's in the process of being approved!”

“Cailin we knew that was something that you would probably do, so we are so glad for you. And granny kept it all a secret at this end. That alone is a miracle!" her mother responded.

After a short conversation Cailin said her goodbyes to her parents. Now that all surprises were out, the rest of the day was free time for Darren and Cailin to relax as Maura was going to be on the phone telling all her friends about her son's engagement to his Irish girlfriend!