The Emerald Isle Read Online Free PDF Page A

future, Aunt Kizzie.”
    “Then tell me this, child—what will happen if you
don’t
go to Ireland?”
    I blinked at the unexpected question. “Well, I’ll just stay here and work, I guess. In the fall I’ll register for classes again, and I should finish college in eighteen months or so. Of course, Taylor and Maddie will be back in New York by then, but they’ll be married, so I don’t expect I’ll see much of them. But I’ll have new friends, I suppose—maybe I’ll meet someone else at school, or at work.”
    “So you’d prefer this bunch of supposings and guesses to an adventure in Ireland? Ah, Kathleen, when did the blinders fall over your eyes? You’ve a chance to go to
Ireland
, the land of magic and wee people and great writers. I’d give my right arm to spend a week there, yet someone is handing you the opportunity to spend
months!
“
    My mind reeled with confusion. “I have responsibilities, Aunt Kizzie. There’s my job and my dog.”
    “I’ll take the wee dog; you can drive him over one weekend before you go. And you can always find another job when you come back. You’re a hard worker. Anyone would be happy to hire you.”
    Sighing, I rested my head on my hand. This conversation was not going at all the way I had expected. I wanted support and reinforcement, but my ally had gone over to the enemy’s camp.
    I faltered in the silence that engulfed us, then took a deep breath and decided I had nothing to lose by being completely honest. “I just don’t know if I can handle seeing Taylor with Maddie,” I confessed. “My heart will break every time I look at them together.”
    Aunt Kizzie’s voice softened. “Are you in love with him then?”
    “No, nothing like that. But we’re friends. Very close. And that will all end soon, I know it will.”
    Aunt Kizzie’s deep, warm, and rich laughter floated into my ear. “Kathleen, lass, ’tis lonely you are. You need to find a love of your own.”
    I snorted into the phone. “Love is for teenagers and romance novels, Aunt Kizzie. I’ll be happy if I can just find a nice man to marry. Someone who would be like me, someone with whom I could share a cute little house and a couple of kids—”
    “’Tis love you need, Kathleen, and I’ll be prayin’ you find it. Now before you make up your mind, answer me this—you said you heard a wee voice right before you met this Maddie. Do you believe what you heard was the voice of God whispering in your ear?”
    I considered the question. “Yes. I do.”
    “Then meeting Maddie was neither accident nor mistake. ’Twas meant to be, and what follows was meant to be as well. Listen for God’s Voice, Maddie, and consider this—when you’re an old woman like me and yearning to see Ireland and the emerald hills, will you be sorry for not going when you had the chance? Don’t think for a moment that only Taylor or Maddie is inviting you, for Ireland herself is calling your name. If I were you, child, I’d go, even if I had only the wings of the morning under my feet.”
    Tightening my grip on the phone, I swam through a haze of desires and feelings. Aunt Kizzie certainly had the gift of gab; she could probably talk the IRS out of an audit. But all the sweet words in the world couldn’t change the fact that I’d be setting myself up for a major heartbreak if I went with Taylor to Ireland.
    I thanked her for her counsel, replied “You, too,” to her “I love you,” then hung up.
    Pulling my calendar out of the desk drawer, I stared at the empty box for tomorrow’s activities. I had no plans but work for any day this week, no plans for this year besides work and school. My life was an endless succession of blank boxes, and though that was true in somesense for everyone, my boxes were blanker than most because I no longer had parents or family to help me fill in the empty spaces.
    Perhaps Aunt Kizzie was right, and Ireland herself was calling my name.
    I picked up a pen, then filled tomorrow’s