Page 41 of Destined Lovers

It was also when we said I love you to each other for the first time, not just as friends. It’s where we promised each other a future together.

So I can only hope this painting has more meaning than just a memory.

When I was lost in thought over the painting, Nora gifted a custom perfume to Maeve that she is obsessing over. I think it may be her first perfume, which makes it all the more special.

I hand the folder to Nora, and her eyes bug out of their sockets when she sees what I’m proposing.

“Declan…”

“Give me one week, Pip. That’s all I’m asking for. Then I go back to London, and it’s up to you how slow we take things. After all this time, please… one week,” I beg.

“What is it?” Agnes asks, and Nora passes the folder to her. “Did you paint this?”

Nora nods. “That was the last Christmas gift I gave Declan. We planned on taking a week-long road trip when I turned eighteen and moved back from The States. I painted all our stops on this watercolor map of Northern Ireland and part of the Republic.”

Agnes can’t hold in her emotions any longer, I’ve seen her holding back all day, but this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

She bursts into tears. “You better say yes, or I’m going.”

“Agnes,” Nora warns.

“Go after Boxing Day, be back in time.”

“In time for what?” I ask, and they both ignore me. I’m not pushing my luck right now, so I stay quiet.

“Remember what we talked about earlier, Nora?” Agnes reminds her, and she nods.

“Free yourself, Child,” Agnes whispers to Nora but locks her eyes on me.

“Okay,” Nora mutters, glances at me, and repeats it.

“Feck, really, Pip?”

“Yeah, really, Dec.” She smiles with complete conviction.

“We’re going on our road trip,” I announce to everyone and no one.

This is going to start our next chapter. It’s exactly what we need.

We’re going on our road trip.

7

Nora

I rundown the main street in town like a crazed woman, needing to have gotten to the pub ten minutes earlier to pick up my check before my boss leaves for the day.

Not that I expect Declan to let me pay for a single thing on this road trip, but I would still like to be prepared.

There is something deeply ingrained in that man never to let me pay for a thing. We had huge fights about it when we were young—I needed to empower my inner feminist, and I told him I didn’t need to be taken care of but secretly I loved it, so I eventually gave in. And in the end, I guess I’m glad I gave up because he never once stopped paying.

He was barely a teenager and would use every last penny of his allowance to buy me ice cream, even though my da sent me with money for the summer.

“What kind of man would I be if I didn’t take care of my best girl?”he would ask, so I would kindly remind him he wasn’t a man yet to annoy him.

Then I would pocket the extra cash hoping my mam or da wouldn’t find out, but of course, at the end of summer, Mr. Goodie Two Shoes made me hand back the money to them.

I think that was the start of Declan earning respect from my parents, then every day until their last breath.

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