Page 93 of Calling on the Matchmaker
“The wedding?” Finola’s delicate brows rose. For a second, Riley could see her mind at work piecing together Bellamy’sshenanigans. An instant later, she leveled a glare in the matchmaker’s direction. “You told the priest at St. Vincent de Paul that Riley was getting married.”
“Oh, aye, that I did.” Bellamy nodded. “And Riley Rafferty is getting married, so he is. To you, Finola Shanahan.”
“So all the while you were planning my wedding today, you were letting me believe Riley was marrying someone else?”
Bellamy held up his hands as though he had nothing to hide. “All I said was that there was a wedding. I never did say who would or wouldn’t be in it. Can’t help it if you mistook my intentions for another woman and decided you wouldn’t let anyone else have the man you love.”
Finola locked eyes with Bellamy for several more heartbeats before a smile turned up the corners of her lips. “Bellamy McKenna, you once told me that you were cleverer than me. I didn’t believe you then. But you were right.”
Bellamy’s grin worked free. “Naturally.”
Her smiled widened, so that it took Riley’s breath away. He couldn’t hold himself back. He bent in and touched his lips to her smile. And when she responded with a delicious kiss, he smiled too.
“Ready, Father?” Bellamy peered beyond them toward the altar, where a priest now stood with a prayer book in hand. “It’s not Shrove Tuesday, but we all knew Riley and Finola wouldn’t be able to wait until then.”
“We all knew?” James Shanahan chuckled, his shoulders relaxing and his expression filling with relief.
“The barmbrack ring predicted it.” Bellamy winked at Finola. But the nod he gave Riley said it all—Bellamy didn’t want to give Finola another chance to change her mind any more than Riley did.
Enya tried for a smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Instead, the young woman seemed weary and worn, just as she had when Riley had called earlier.
“I never once lost faith that Riley and Finola would find their way to each other.” Bellamy beamed at them. “Some journeys take longer than others. Some need a little more help to get to the right destination. But in the end, a good matchmaker knows how to make it all happen just so.”
Riley guessed Bellamy had received help from heaven too.
Bellamy waved the priest forward. “Let the ceremony begin.”
The priest seemed to have been instructed by someone—probably Bellamy—to keep the service short and to the point. Within minutes Riley had spoken his vows, and the priest turned to Finola and asked her to state her intentions.
Standing facing each other, Riley hadn’t let go of her hands, and she hadn’t seemed to mind. Now, with her beautiful blue eyes peering up at him, wide and filled with promise, she spoke softly: “I, Finola, take thee, Riley, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God’s holy ordinance, and thereto I give thee my troth.”
As she finished, she offered him another smile, and before the priest could speak the final words of the service, Riley leaned down and kissed his wife.His wife.
He kissed her without reservation, not caring that they still had an audience, that the service wasn’t over, or that everyone would now know—if they didn’t already—that he couldn’t keep his hands off her. The priest cleared his throat and waited, but after a moment he continued the service, raising his voice, as though to make sure they heard him through the kissing.
Finola broke away first, biting her lip, casting her eyes down, but not before he saw the eagerness there and knew their kisses affected her just as much as they did him.
After the service ended, Riley shook hands with Bellamy, squeezing hard. “I don’t know how to thank you, Bellamy.”
Bellamy clamped him back. “Seeing you happily married is all the thanks I need, so it is.”
“I’m more than happily married.” Riley hugged Finola to his side. “I’m the happiest man alive.”
“So you are, Riley Rafferty, so you are.”
Shanahan and Enya had already left for the mansion to organize a small dinner to celebrate the union. Before leaving, Shanahan had informed Riley that he wanted the two of them to live in the mansion. By summer, if the cholera was gone from the city, then Shanahan would build them a house of their own as a wedding present.
It was a generous offer, and Riley had tried to turn it down. But Shanahan had been adamant that he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Now with Bellamy strolling casually down the street on his way back to the pub, Riley stood with Finola just outside the church door. He pulled her close again.
“Tell me how you’re feeling, Finola. I want to know. Was this all too much, too soon? I didn’t want to rush you, and I’m sorry if I—”
Her mouth cut him off with an almost-desperate kiss. It was hard and full of need, but she pulled back before it had time to truly begin. “I knew from the moment I walked to the convent this morning that there was only one place that would ever be home for me. And that’s with you.”
He was partially afraid he was dreaming. If he was, he never wanted to wake up.
Her eyes filled with adoration. “I can’t promise I’ll always be able to share my feelings well. And I can’t promise that we won’t have hard times ahead. But I can promise to love you through it all with every day that I have breath.”
