Travels in Eire #64

Cailin and Darren were pretty much attached to each other as the evening began. This was mostly so that Cailin could introduce Darren to the friends and relatives and help him remember who he had met along the way. There was no question that Darren was a charmer. Everyone loved his Irish accent and wonderful smile. He could be selling Irish dirt and everyone would be buying! As Darren felt more relaxed he and Cailin moved around the room separately.

It could have been the drinks, or just the casual atmosphere but Cailin was really enjoying herself. She had been so tense about this party, but everything was going just perfect.

That was until Shannon arrived at the party. Shannon was a friend from the office, but Cailin didn't know that she had been invited. Bonnie, her co-worker, and Rob, her boss, were at the party and neither had said anything about Shannon attending. Unfortunately Shannon was not alone, and it appeared that she had been doing some drinking before she arrived. Shannon, evidently, was crashing the party with none other than Nick!

Cailin's relaxed feeling suddenly turned to panic as she searched across the room for Darren. Darren saw her and immediately headed over to where she was.

“What's the matter Cailin?” Darren asked as he reached Cailin and noticed her color had turned ashen.

“He ruins everything,” is all Cailin could respond.

Darren immediately picked up on what was going on as Nick approached the two of them.

“Well Cailin, sweetie, I just couldn't let this party happen without me.” Nick leaned over to grab Cailin and was met with a strong arm on the shoulder that stopped him in his tracks.

“So you're the one who threw her away for me to find? Gotta say I'm the lucky man here. Nice to meet you, I'm Darren, Cailin's fiancé,” Darren put his hand out to interrupt Nick's movement to Cailin and stop his aggressive posture.

Nick was so taken aback that he was suddenly speechless.

“Here, let me get you a drink,” Darren was ever the master at this, and Cailin was so happy for that. He pulled Cailin toward the bar as he went to get Nick's drink.

“So give me the the five second version here so I can get some liquor in him and talk him into leaving,” Darren was obviously in charge here.

“Old boyfriend, Nick, who was a....” Cailin couldn't even finish.
“Got it Cailin. Leave this all to me,” Darren seemed to have a plan in place already.

“Nick”, he called across the room, “Come on over and have a little toast with me.”

Darren gently nudged Cailin back into the party. She dreaded what was going to happen, but had to leave this to Darren. She turned around to see Darren hand Nick a double shot of Jameson. Cailin had never seen Nick drunk before and was worried he might be a very mean drunk. He was a big guy, had played football in high school.

“Cailin dear, come over hear and meet our new neighbor,” Cailin's mom was calling and she could no longer watch what was going on between Darren and Nick. Cailin couldn't remember how long it had been since Darren sent her away. Every time she tried to peek at what was going on, she was pulled further away.

That was until she heard some loud noise coming from the bar area.
“Slainte!!” “Slainte!!” “Salinte!!” Cailin turned around to see Darren and Nick in a challenge of Jameson shots! She knew from her father that is was never a good idea to challenge an Irishman to a duel of shots. She also noticed that her father had put a chair just behind Nick. As Nick lifted his hand and tilted his head back for the next shot, he fell back into the chair and passed out.

There was a huge cheer throughout the room. And Darren politely raised his last shot as a toast to the crowd and downed it like a champion. Cailin walked over the Darren and wrapped her arms around him. She couldn't have been happier.

“Darlin, I'm as drunk as a skunk. Can we say our good nights now?” Darren whispered in her ear as he leaned on Cailin for support.

“I'm thinking this is the perfect end to the night Darren,” Cailin whispered back.

They watched Sean and another neighbor help Nick out the door with Shannon as they had called a taxi to get him home. Nick was going to have a sore head the next morning and not want to do anything. He had been beaten at his own macho game and lost. It was all over now.

Cailin and Darren bid their farewells to the guests as they headed up the stairs. Darren was more difficult to maneuver that Cailin would imagine, but she managed to get him into bed, and pull off his clothes as he fell asleep as soon as he hit the bed.

Cailin smiled as she left Darren's room and entered hers. Darren was her knight in shining armor tonight. No man had ever done anything like this before for her. She continued to smile as she climbed into bed and pulled up the covers and fell sound asleep.

The party had been a huge success. And tomorrow she would be shopping for her wedding dress with Ruth.