Small Blessings

Chapter 12

December 25, 2020

Aoibheann (Pronounced "Ay-Veen") was at it again. Since Thanksgiving, every time the Home Alone movie comes on, she loses herself for the duration.

I stood by listening, for about the 10th time this month, to the characters and decided that I was beginning to hate Home Alone.

If only Aoibheann would open up and talk to me.

But no.

No. That wasn't her way. At least, not with me it wasn't.

While Niall and her could talk together about anything from bullets to the birds and the bees, Aoibheann was a closed book in my presence.

Her Father thought it was because we seemed so different. I understood his point but it still hurt.

I had realized long ago that my ways seemed shallow and too effeminate to Aoibheann. What she failed to realize, however, is how much of my act is for show.

Some men need a lot of support behind the scenes. A pretty wife in tailored gowns, dripping baubles and champagne glasses can get away with things a woman wearing fatigues and a sidearm never would. There was value in both, but the dainty, doting wife was rarely given her due. Suspicious eyes don't linger long on a trophy wife; a point I had never been able to drive home to Aoibheann.

You see, in our business a man enamored into a stupor by flirtatious smiles or curvacious figures was a liability. And where their were men, their were potential liabilites.

Of course, if Tyler had let me join him on his latest mission, he probably never would have been captured by the Russians. Headstrong and stubborn as a mule, when Tyler got it in his head to do something dangerous, he usually needed me to bring him to his senses.

Unfortunately, plans went amiss and I was left off their flight itinerary. When Cooper rang the house about Tyler's capture, I near-fainted. For the first time ever I didn't know what to do.

I couldn't tell Aoibheann about the capture. That was for sure. She'd have been worried sick.

No, there was nothing to be done, and so I sat at home, biding my time by the proverbial phone, throwing charity balls and hosting USO fund-raisers on behalf of our countrymen and women at war.

When she switched the TV off, I watched Aoibheann from the hallway. She gathered herself and went into the dining area to await supper. Niall had prepared a lovely spread this Christmas. I didn't have much of an appetite myself, but I knew how to put on a pretty face and fake it.

When I walked into the room I was surprised to see my daughter running her fingers through the fogged windows. Like a little kid, she was drawing her and someone else's initials onto the glass.

My heart swelled with the thought of some good news.

Was my baby in love?

With a small smile, I called out from the hall before entering the room. I shook my head as Aoibheann startled at my voice. When she quickly wiped her evidence away I knew I'd have to pry this forth-coming story out of her. Just as I thought I was getting somewhere, though, the doorbell rang and all hell broke loose...

...I never wished for Niall and his sense of humor to appear beside me more than I did at that moment.

When Dillon left to get my Dad back from the Russians, he cracked a lot of jokes to try to lighten my mood each day. I always managed a small smile for him and somehow it helped,  if only momentarily.

Dillon promised to come back and I had to trust he'd keep his word.

Looking at my Mother now, though, I really wished some futuristic bodyguard was here to protect me and my plant.