Seven

We walked always in beauty, it seemed to me. We walked and looked about, or stood and looked. Sometimes, less often, we would sit down. We did not often speak. The place spoke for us and was a kind of speech. We spoke to each other in the things we saw.” -Wendell Berry

Their last night in the cottage, Paddy made a romantic dinner.  There was a note with a white ribbon attached to her wine glass.

“TICK TOCK

TICK TOCK

OPEN THE DOOR

TO THE CHIME CLOCK”

Kelli knew just where the Westminster wall clock was.  It had been in Paddy’s family for years. 

Carefully, she opened the door and found a small box.

Paddy knelt next to her.

A surprised Kelli opened the box.

“Will you marry me?” Paddy asked.

“In a New York minute,” Kelli smiled.

Six months later, Kelli and Paddy exchanged vows on the sacred Celtic land his great-great grandfather farmed along the verdant pasture. Their families stood beside them smiling like Cheshire cats. Over the years they traveled back and forth to Ireland several times a year, often staying for weeks at a time. They found their real home.  Together.