Sitting in the rocker with our son in my arms I listened to the rain falling heavily against the window as I watched his sweet face. He has the eyes of his da, soft and gentle and even at four months old I could tell they were to be the brown of his da's as well. Humming softly as his eyes closed into sleep I looked out the window to watch the rain. 1
Glancing at the clock I knew twas not to be much longer before my Seamus will be home, the rain slowing his ride a bit. Looking down again at our sweet son I saw he now was fast asleep so I stood to lay him in the crib built with love by his da and covered him with the soft quilt sewn with love by his Mawmaw, in the States. 2
Running my hand through the soft black curls covering his head I lean down to kiss his cheek whispering, "Sleep sweet my baby, may your dreams be filled with gentle fae folk to play with and puppies galore to only end after tomorrow's rising sun."3
Turning from him I slip quietly to the door switching on the soft nightlight and off the overhead brightness. Walking to the kitchen I wanted to check the roast and potatoes to make sure all was simmering nicely as I got the table ready for dinner. The moment I walked into the kitchen the warm and homey smell of dinner tempted my nose and I smiled remembering some of the catastrophe dinners I've served since our meeting.4
Laughing I thought back to the first dinner I ever made for Seamus. It was supposed to be a simple spaghetti and salad with fresh garlic bread from the local bakery. All I had to do was cook the spaghetti and warm the bread, I still don't know how it all went wrong. I was so very nervous that night, I wanted it all to go perfectly but of course things weren't going to go my way. 5
Being that I was new to Ireland I had only recently gotten a teaching position at a small school and was lucky enough to have boarding at the little cottage next to it part of the benefits. I had been back from the bakery and liquor store with my purchases for a little while now and had placed the Guinness and wine in the fridge to chill while the Jamesons was left on the counter. 6
Placing the water on to boil for the noodles and the bread on warm in the oven I ran to the bedroom to quickly reapply my makeup. Getting back to the kitchen I saw nothing amiss, breaking the noodles into bite sized pieces I dropped them into the water along with a pat of butter to keep them from sticking to the pot. Finishing that I turned to the fridge and got out the salad supplies and began the slicing and dicing of all the vegetables and meats to place on the side. So far all was going well and I hummed as I continued to prepare the meal.7
Reaching back into the fridge I pulled out the ground beef I had been defrosting to crumble into the sauce and pulled out my little cast iron skillet to quickly cook it before adding it to the sauce. Stirring the noodles all was going well, the meat was browning nicely the noodles were softening slowly, the bread was warming and the veggies were ready to be mixed. Flipping the meat I turned to place the veggies into a bowl to start mixing them. That's when all hell broke loose.8
Breaking into the silence of my little kitchen the phone jolted me out of my steady pace and I went to answer it. Twas Seamus telling me he was running just a few minutes behind due to some complaint about a construction worker he managed and he had to go check it out before arriving for dinner. I understood completely, he had worked hard to build himself up into this position and wanted only the best coming from his company. Talking to Seamus I noticed a faint change to the smell of the air, instead of being crisp and clean smelling of the Irish countryside it held something a bit charred in it. Quickly bidding Seamus a good customer visit and safe trip here I hung up the phone as I turned back to the stove.9
The moment I turned my eyes were accosted by the sting of smoke in the air and began to water. Rushing to the stove I opened the oven doors and could see the bread was now hard and black instead of the soft tan shading at purchase. Standing I reached to turn off the oven and bumped the pepper shaker turning it over into the browned meat. Turning both the stove eye for the meat and the oven off I quickly rushed the browned meat to the sink to try and rinse away as much pepper as possible with hot water. 10
Not thinking I turned the faucet on to fast and the water hitting the grease in the skillet sizzled and bubbled popping out and burning my arm. I dropped the skillet into the sink and swung the faucet to the other side turning the water to cold and ran it over the new little red bumps all over my arm. With the water running cold against my arm I turned and saw that the water in the noodles had evaporated away quicker then I had thought and ran to turn that stove eye off and move the noodles from the heat. Grabbing a fork I stirred the noodles praying they weren't stuck to no avail.11
Plopping the pan into the sink with the meat I turned the water off and threw myself down into a chair and began to cry. Thirty minutes later that tis how Seamus found me; head layed down on the table, mascara streaming in tears down my face, burnt bread in the oven and the spaghetti fixings in the sink. I was mortified.12
Checking the roast and potatoes in the crock pot I smiled with the memory of eating the salad followed by some ice cream I had in the freezer. The kitchen had been a mess that night and yet we laughed together and I fell even more in love with Seamus as he helped me to clean up after dinner. Closing the crock pot I walked to the shelf with the cook books and pulled my journal from where I had placed it earlier. Sitting to write I was startled by the ringing of the phone.13
"Hello," I answered and smiled as my Seamus explained that he would be later this evening because of the harsh weather and was keeping dry in a local pub. Glancing out the window again I saw that the rain was now coming down even harder and replied, "Tis good it is that you have found a warm and safe place to wait it out, my love." Wishing him a safe drive when the weather let up we ended our conversation with words of love and hung up. Going back to the crock pot I turned it down to the lowest setting so that the roast and potatoes would not get overdone before he arrived home. Sitting back down I continued my writing.14
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