Chapter 7: A Reason to be Thankful

At exactly 12:30, Mary O'Shea and Gina returned home. When they entered and did not hear any noise in the house, they looked at each other nervously. They were starting to remove their coats when a loud bellow erupted.

"DAMN!"

Both women forgot about their coats and ran to the kitchen where they stopped abruptly in the doorway.

"Yeah," Liam laughed, "and then she started telling him off in front of the entire band! I didn't think anyone could turn that deep a shade of red! I don't know what got to him more; the fact that she was half his size or that she was pointing out his deficiencies loud enough for the entire school to hear!"

"What she didn't have in size, she sure made up for in spirit, huh? Damn!" laughed the elder O'Shea. "I knew she was tough, but she never told me about that. It reminds me of the time your mother..."

"Ahem!" interrupted the stout Irish woman. "What in the Sam-Hill is going on here?" she demanded.

"Oh hi, Mother. Back already?" Patrick O'Shea rose from his chair and went over to kiss his wife on the cheek. "Is it that time already? We'd better check on the food, son. Why don't you and Gina set the table, Mother? Liam and I will serve." Leaving his wife stunned, Patrick went over to his son, slapped him on the back, and hustled to work.

Both women remained in the doorway staring at each other with confused looks on their faces.

Liam approached Gina and placed a quick kiss on her lips. "You better hang up your coat, Gina, and help Mom set the table. The dinner's just about ready."

The women recovered enough to hang up their winter garments. Still stunned, they gathered what they needed and set the dining room table in silence. Once the table was set, Liam took Gina by the waist and whisked her into the empty living room while his father and mother continued to place food on the table.

Before Gina had a chance to question anything, Liam wrapped his arms around her and kissed her hard on the mouth. When he pulled away roughly, they both were panting.

"What was that for?" Gina asked, trying to steady her shaky balance.

"That is the beginning of my thanking you. And there will be more where that came from." He gazed into her eyes and grazed her cheek with his fingertips.

Before Gina could ask more questions, Patrick O'Shea called everyone to the table.

Standing behind his chair, Patrick extended his hands to either side of him. Taking his cue, the other three adults held hands and bowed their heads.

"Dear Lord, thank you for this special feast here before us for which we are all grateful. You know it will be filling to our hearts as well as our stomachs. Thank you for the special friends you have presented to us; they have proven to be our angels on earth." Patrick paused and gave Gina's hand a quick squeeze. "And we thank you for the time you allowed our Bridget to be with us here on earth." Patrick O'Shea paused again, this time to choke back a sob. "We still miss her very much. Maybe with your help we can heal and begin to celebrate her life. Amen."

Everyone echoed Patrick's "amen", released hands and sat in their places. Patrick held up a dish and passed it to Gina. "Guests first," he invited. She took it and placed some food on her plate then passed it along.

The dishes were offered around and everyone took their fill. Tears began to fill Mary O'Shea's eyes when her husband started talking about his daughter but the tears were soon forgotten. For the first time in a long time, there was laughter shaking the walls. Once dinner was finished and cleaned up, Patrick asked his wife to bring out the photo books she had done of their children. Everyone sat around the books spread out on the table. Gina looked on quietly as the hurting O'Shea's began to heal. More stories about Bridget were told, and some embarrassing ones about Liam, as well.

As the afternoon wore on, the house grew silent again. Liam sat with Gina by his side, his arm draped over her shoulder caressing her arm. Liam's parents were snuggled on the small love seat, giggling like newlyweds.

"Ah, Liam," began his father, "why don't you take Gina out and show her around town? I know nothing's open, but you can still show her where a few of the places are that we talked about today."

"Are you two still leaving in the morning?" asked his mother.

"Yes, Mom. This is the first time in about a month that we've been able to be together."

"Not that this hasn't been fun!" Gina interjected.

"But," Liam continued, turning to Gina, "we've got some talking of our own to do when we get back."

Liam stood and held out his hand for Gina. The two donned their coats and hats and left the house holding hands. When they arrived back a couple hours later, the house was dark and quiet. Liam checked upstairs while Gina searched on the first floor. When they met up in the dining room, Liam had a smile on his face.

"It seems," he began, "that my reconciling with Dad has kind of helped him 'reconcile' with Mom, if you know what I mean." He held Gina close and nuzzled her neck as she nodded her understanding.

Liam decided to put together a light dinner since they had eaten so much for their big meal. He was about to call up to his parents when they strolled into the kitchen wearing their robes.

"Sorry, son," his father apologized. "We went up to take a rest and slept for longer than expected."

"Not a problem, Dad. I'm just putting something together for dinner. It's ready if you want to sit down."

Their meal was casual and filled with continued stories from Liam's and Bridget's childhood. Gina looked over at Liam a couple of times and noticed he never stopped smiling. She even heard him whistling while doing the dishes later on.

Mary O'Shea made a hearty breakfast for her son and his girlfriend in the morning. She also packed up some leftovers from the feast the day before. After they ate, and amid tearful good-byes, Liam and Gina headed back home. As they were walking down the hall toward their apartments, they were almost run over by their neighbor.

"Hey guys, Happy Thanksgiving!" greeted Dennis.

"You too, man. You headed into work?"

"Yeah, brother. You know what they say -- no rest for the wicked." Dennis smiled. "Speaking of 'wicked.' Gina, I wanted to let you know that your ex-boyfriend, Chris, won't be around for a while."

"Aw, what a shame," she replied sarcastically.

"It seems," continued Dennis, "that the dude has been quite busy with the ladies. They had outstanding warrants for him in three other cities. Each one cited multiple domestic violence and assault charges. With your charges and pictures, on top of those others, he's going to be someone's unhappy wife behind bars for a long time! Well, gotta run! Have a good day, guys!"

"One more ghost from the past exorcised. Why don't you unpack and then come over for some leftovers and good company?"

"I thought it was 'good leftovers' and 'some company, '" teased Gina.

"Everyone's a comedian! What do you say?"

"Sure. Give me about thirty minutes to check e-mails and voice messages, too."

"Hey!" Liam stopped Gina before she entered her apartment. When she turned around, he leaned over and gave her a lingering kiss. "Can you make it fifteen? Don't check anything, but get into something more comfortable?"

"I'll see what I can do." Gina's husky voice made her arousal apparent. Ten minutes later, she was entering Liam's apartment. Liam came out of the kitchen just as she closed the door.

"I thought we could have some lunch and then talk for a while," he suggested.

Gina had been standing with her back against the door until she heard Liam say "lunch." That word sent Gina lunging directly toward him. By the time he said "while," she was in front of him, pulling his mouth down to hers. As soon as she felt his lips touch hers, Gina used her tongue to gain entrance to Liam's mouth. She wrapped her arms as tightly as she could around Liam's shoulders until she felt his arms snake around her back.

It didn't take long for Liam to respond to Gina's kiss. His arms pulled her tightly to him; his moans of pleasure were quickly mixed with hers. Liam used his hands to lift Gina to her toes; his tongue continued the erotic duel.

When they finally broke the kiss, both were panting and unsteady on their feet. When Liam tried to speak, Gina placed two fingers over his lips. She reached behind her to take Liam's hand and then led him to his bedroom. She sat him on the edge of the bed and then took a couple steps back. Slowly she pulled down the zipper on the sweatshirt she was wearing. She kept her eyes on his while she pulled the two parts of the top open.

"See, no more bruises there," she said softly. "And I can hardly tell there is anything on my face." She took a step closer to Liam and dropped her sweatshirt from her shoulders. "I think we can figure out something better to do than talk, don't you? We've got the rest of our lives to talk."

Liam reached out and allowed his fingers to brush over her breast. He smiled when he heard her catch her breath as her nipple started to harden. Keeping his eyes on their target, he brought his hands to Gina's hips and pulled her between his legs. As she was moving, so was he. Liam latched on to her aroused nipple and began sucking while caressing her ass with his hands.

Before moving his mouth to her other breast, Liam flicked the hardened nipple with his tongue one last time. As he began sucking her other breast, his hands ran the length of Gina's back, tickling her spine. Gina arched her back, feeding more of her breast into Liam's hungry mouth. When he flicked her nipple and then unlatched from her, Gina looked down at Liam with hungry eyes.

Liam used his hands to guide Gina back a step so he could stand next to the bed. Releasing Gina's hips, he began to remove his shirt. As his chest was exposed, Gina reached out to explore his body. Not expecting her touch, Liam groaned through his shirt.