The Family Firm

Chapter 46

May, 2001

Junior and Niamh could not have asked for a more beautiful day to hold their wedding. The sky was clear and blue as the Mediterranean, and the sun was shining down on the moss-covered church in great, golden beams as if God Himself had attended the ceremony.

The bridal party was dressed in mauve, and at the centre of them stood Niamh herself, in a Vera Wang number imported from New York. She looked like an angel in her strapless, form-fitting dress, and every man in the room could agree that Junior was one lucky bastard to have snagged such an exquisite beauty.

Junior was sat with his mates in the banquet hall, working on his second glass of scotch whisky, his eyes trained on the gorgeous blonde he could now call his wife, who was chatting with her two younger sisters, who were both little blonde beauties as well. Siobhan and Caitlin O'Shaughnessy were as lovely as their older sister, and at fourteen and twelve, it was only a matter of time before they were married off as well. Their parents, Fionn and Anne, didn't think that was such a great idea, especially if they were stolen away from them by no-good men like Freddie Evans Jr.

Beside the three immaculate blondes stood Katie, dressed in mauve chiffon like the rest, looking more done up than she had ever been before. Every so often, Junior's and Katie's gazes met, and they smiled at one another. She was rough around the edges, was his Katie, but there was a sort of delicateness to her as well, a quality he wasn't sure she even realised she had.

He was pulled from his thoughts as he felt his father squeezing his shoulder. Donny was grinning from ear to ear, and Junior couldn't help but grin back at him.

'I'm proud of you, my son,' he told him fondly, and Junior looked into his eyes with affection.

'Thanks, Dad,' he said, and meant it.

Beside Donny was Frankie, who was dressed in mauve like the other girls, and had already cried all of her make-up off and had to re-apply it three times so far. Her tears had been from a mixture of sadness at her son officially growing up, and joy for him finding happiness with a sweet girl like Niamh.

Frankie was already pissed, which surprised no one, but she had yet to embarrass him and for that, Junior was thankful. He shouldn't be so hard on her, he thought to himself. She was a good woman, was his mum. Life hadn't been easy on her for some time now. He told himself he would do what he could for her to make sure she was always happy, and he would come around to see her as often as he could. Niamh had temporarily moved into their house while they decided on their first property, a nice bungalow only a few streets from his mum's place, which they would be moving into immediately after the honeymoon. He knew the thought of an empty house was killing his dear old mum. He would do his best to make sure she never felt alone, ever.

'You're such a good boy,' she was telling him as reached across her husband to squeeze his arm. 'Oh, my handsome baby.'

'Mum,' Junior jokingly complained, placing his hand atop hers to squeeze it. 'Enough of that. Come dance with me, you silly woman.'

Standing, he led his mother out to the dance floor, where several other people were dancing to Take That's "Everything Changes", and she stumbled into his arms, laughing.

Nearby, Freddie sat and watched the night's events with a cigar idling between his crooked teeth, and a gorgeous Stella Collins dressed in red at his side. His fingers lightly threaded through her long, silky locks from time to time, but his eyes were fixed on Frankie as she danced with her son, swaying dangerously on her liquor-numbed legs. Niamh and her sisters had joined in nearby, holding hands in a circle as they danced and beckoned Katie to join them.