Travels in Eire - Epilogue

The party lasted well into the wee hours of the morning. There was so much to celebrate besides the marriage of Darren and Cailin. The reunion of Conner with his parents and the first opportunity to see their first grandchild was a bonus that no one expected, especially Maura and Philip. And Cailin's gran was in attendance and had the opportunity to meet Rorey, her distant relative.

Besides her boss, a few of the girls from her office made the trip across the pond for the wedding. Not surprisingly, they found a couple of Darren's friends to be quite accommodating and charming. Cailin would not be surprised to hear of one or two deciding to come back and visit again soon. Declan seemed to take a liking to one of the GOTT girls from Derry. She was wearing a huge smile all night long. In passing Cailin warned Declan that he better be a perfect gentleman with her, or Darren would be coming after him. Declan laughed commenting that he was always a slightly imperfect gentleman, but he did get the warning.

When Conner and Darren had a minute to talk, Conner explained that he, Jessica and little John were in attendance at the wedding. They had slipped in the side door while Darren was outside waiting for Cailin to arrive. They stayed at the back of the church so as not to be seen and sneaked out as soon as the ceremony was over, so they could get to the hotel and hide in their room until Declan told them all was ready. Conner laughed when Darren told him how upset he was after the ceremony.

“Brother, I just had to pull this one last one over on you,” Conner teased. And they hugged until they almost fell over. Maura and Philip took John up to the room to bed so that Jessica and Conner could enjoy the party.

Keith kept the music rocking the house much of the night. Damian sang a couple of popular tunes, and Ryan joined in with a few of his new songs that had just been written. At some point the music turned from dance and rock music to an Irish session with everyone sitting around listening to tunes they had grown up hearing all around.

And as always with the band, there were a few lasses for whom Keith, Damian and Ryan had caught their eyes and sat mesmerized watching the musicians.

Most of the attendees had reservations at the Connemara Coast Hotel for the night ,knowing it would be a long party and there would be much drinking and craic. It must have been around four in the morning when the crowd grew thin and the band packed up. The bar had officially closed hours earlier, but Declan made sure there was an extra supply of whiskey and beer under a table.

Cailin and the other young women headed off to their rooms while the men had their last few toasts of the night.

Tomorrow began a new life for Cailin as the wife of Darren Ryan.

Thinking back to her summer vacation, which in itself was a get away from New York City, Cailin smiled knowing that she was now exactly where she belonged. Only new adventures awaited both Cailin and Darren together as a couple and she knew that whatever life threw at them, they would weather any storm.

End.