Woes of the Wingmen

№ 20:

Saturday, January 20th

"Ah, Donna, right?" Terrence Blake asked the girl standing outside of his door.

"Yes, Mr. Blake. I'm Finney's girlfriend." She said, coming in and hanging her coat up.

"Oh, don't be a stranger, the name's Terrence." He said, putting his hand out for her to shake it. She took it and then went into the kitchen. Where both siblings waited.

"Your girlfriend's finally here," Gwen teased her brother. Making mocking kissy faces.

"Shut up."

"Stop teasing your brother. Come sit, there's already some soda bread while you wait."

She was really confused as she sat down and looked at it. It was dark brown in color and cut into sixths. "Soda bread?"

"Yeah, it's a staple dish my mother used to make."

"Irish cuisine. Every family has their own way of making it. Saoirse and her family used plums."

"Perfect, I like plums."

"Sour food is her favorite," Finney clarified.

"Good to know."

...

"The main course is Irish stew. Made with potatoes, onions, lamb, and thyme."

"Sounds delicious, another recipe left from uh," She tried to remember their mother's name.

"Saoirse. It's actually spelled differently from how it's said. S-a-o-i-r-s-e."

"Huh, strange, yet it's 'sur-sha?'"

"Yes, everyone pronounces it 'sair-suh.' It's Irish so it's a really weird name."

"I don't think it's weird. It's a beautiful name in my opinion. I have an older brother whose real name is Oliviero. Why do you think he goes by Oliver?"

"Right," Finney smiled. Pleasantly surprised at her complimenting her mother's foreign name.

"So tell me more about her. Only if you want to, of course. I know it's a hard subject for you guys."

Gwen decided to speak, "Her maiden name was O'Connor. And she's a first-gen immigrant."

"Same with my parents, both met here in America on Ellis Island."

"She was born and bred in Ireland, to a Methodist minister and a Welsh woman."

"Did she convert you, Mr. Blake?"

"Yes, yes she did. My family believed in God, but we didn't go to church every week. Only on holidays like Christmas and Easter."

Donna nodded her head, understanding.

"So I was open to the idea of getting baptized and then doing the same for our children. So we did it when they were infants."

"Catholics do the same thing, but you do guys also have different names?"

"No, the pastor baptizes with just the first name." Finney clarified.

"What's your baptismal name? Or whatever they call it." Gwen asked, being curious.

"Maria, I was named after her but also Giuseppe Di Donna. Coincidentally the youngest of nine children like me."

"You have eight siblings?" Gwen was shocked and almost horrified.

Donna and Terrence laughed.

"I do, four older brothers and sisters. I'm the last one in the house."

"That would explain your parents being older then." Terrence pointed out, remembering them from church.

Donna nodded, "Yeah, they both happened to be Italian immigrants in a foreign country. And they fell in love."

"At Ellis Island, I presume?"

She was a bit surprised at him knowing what that place was. "Yeah, do you know it because of Saoirse?"

He nodded his head, "Yes, I was raised in Jersey City. Ellis is right in between NY and NJ. So she decided to move to Jersey and that's how we met."

"Wait, so how did you two come up to be here, on the other side of the country?"

"My job, I got promoted but I had to move to their headquarters in Denver. So we looked for a home in a nice place like this. Finney hadn't even been conceived yet."

"A really similar thing happened to my father. He was offered work here and they moved here. I think my mom had been pregnant with my twin sisters. Who are the eldest of the family." 

They went the rest of the night sharing stories about their families and themselves. Some embarrassing, some tragic and others happy. Terrence definitely approved of Donna. Someone who understood his son. She knew about the shit he went through and stayed. Giving him a space to heal. Gwen and Terrence liked her a lot and were rooting for them to stay together.