Speak Now

V

When I arrived in London, I knew that our time there would be brief. Despite the wedding being weeks away, Keira and Logan wanted as many of the wedding party to decamp to Ireland as soon as possible. But not urban Ireland, like Dublin. No, we were going to the back end of beyond, to a small town outside Ballina, County Mayo. We couldn't even go to a part of the country that I'd even heard of. Galway, I know. Mayo, that's not a county, it's a condiment. A disgusting one, at that.

Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful on the west coast of Ireland, absolutely stunning, especially when you get to the coast with the wild Atlantic breeze whipping inshore. We spent New Year's Eve here two years ago and it was the best and worst night- the best because we were so far away from any neighbours that we could party into the early hours of the morning, but the worst because the weather that night was horrendous. Ireland only has one season: wet, windy, wild.

Surprisingly, when we landed in Ireland, the weather was mild; for once, it wasn't raining but there was a breeze, lowering the temperature a few degrees. Thankfully, I'd dressed somewhat appropriately, throwing a heavy knit sweater over a white tank top and teaming it with a midi denim skirt, a look that James, Keira and Logan all said wasn't really appropriate at all. Still, all we were doing was leaving NOC airport and driving over to Lismaura House, the Delaney's country house. Honestly, it still amazed me how filthy rich this family is; their combined fortune easily put them in the top ten wealthiest families in the world but you could never tell. Thanks to their old-money traditions, the Delaney's were unaffected by their fortune. Even James had an air of entitlement that people like Keira and Charlotte didn't have and his bank balance was missing a few zeroes compared to the Delaney clan. 

The men loaded the car as Keira jumped into the driver's seat, announcing that she was going to drive. Logan looked panicked at that and advised James and me to 'strap in' and 'pray you get out alive.' I honestly thought he was kidding but as she zoomed around each and every bend of the narrow roads, I found myself taking Logan's words seriously, closing my eyes and sending out a message to the powers above. Just let me live long enough to get out of this car. 

"Hey, Keira," James muttered from where he sat directly behind our erratic driver. "I don't suppose you'd like to, I don't know, slow down?"

Logan scoffed, turning around and looking at us in the back seat. "You're wasting your breath."

Indeed, he was. Instead of slowing down, Keira became even more heavy footed, speeding up as she took another bend and crossed the carriageway so she could fly down a single lane road. Or rather, a driveway, since I managed to make out a sign for Lismaura House. Struggling against the ever-tightening seatbelt, I crane my neck so that I can see out the front window, watching as the intimidating house came into view. This place never ceased to amaze me. 

The main house is imposing, sitting proudly as two wings extend outwards on each side. One wing now housed the family pool, while in the other, there was an orangery as well as a library that housed thousands of first editions. On the lower ground of the main house, there was the kitchen and family rooms that were far more relaxed than the opulent rooms on the entrance floor. To be fair, you just had to see the vast entrance hall to know what the rest of the house was going to be like. Upstairs, there were nine ensuite bathrooms, all in various colours. There was the blue room, the green room, the red room... every colour of the rainbow was represented, more or less. But that wasn't the highlight of Lismaura House for me. No, that would be the garden. Gardens. The ten perfectly manicured acres of gardens.