The last seven months had gone by so quickly. Despite O’Connell’s concerns, Earnshaw hadn’t jumped ship after his win and was as much a part of Driscoll’s as ever. In fact, the endorsement deals he’d set up after O’Connell’s win meant that, if we were very careful, O’Connell wouldn’t have to work again if he ever got injured. He had his whole career ahead of him and would probably end up striking it rich, but I’d rather live cautiously comfortable than extravagant and reckless. As much as he loved boxing, I wanted to make sure he could give it up at any time. His health would always be more important to me than the money.
I bounced my knee up and down impatiently while I waited for my name to be called. Like most of the families here, we were all heading out for dinner after this. I let the boys decide where were going so chances are it would be a steakhouse.
It was my surprise after that I was most looking forward to. Our house was finally finished. O’Connell promised to let me drag him around for the summer so that we could pick all the decorations and furnishings together. He made out like it was a chore until I found a stash of interior design magazines under the bed. No one was more excited to move into our own home than he was.
Over the last few months, O’Connell had split his time between training and working on the house, with a lot of help from the boys. We were all going back there after dinner so they could show me what they’d done. I don’t think there is anything I could ever do that would repay the debt I owed to them. This big, loud, brash group of burly, tattooed fighters were my family. Before them, I didn’t even know what that meant. Now I couldn’t live without them.
I wish I could tell you that happy ever afters wash away the sins of the past, but they don’t. I still couldn’t sleep without making sure the door was locked, I wouldn’t drink if we went out and O’Connell was drinking, and, from time to time, I still had nightmares about Frank. I kept up with my counseling sessions. O’Connell would always take me if he was home and often came in with me. And there were still demons to battle.
O’Connell hadn’t seen his mother since before I was kidnapped, and now that he knew Frank had paid her to get me away from Kieran, I figured there would be a reckoning there if they ever saw each other again. My feelings toward my own mum were complicated. Shortly after we got back from Vegas, the policeman friend of Danny’s paid us a visit to return my wedding and engagement rings to me. They’d raided Frank’s flat in Canning Town and had seized evidence as they put a case together against the people he’d had been working with. They would have kept it as evidence, but Frank was dead now so they had no need of it.
O’Connell had them cleaned and polished by a jeweler and blessed by Father Patrick before he put them on my finger again. He was romantic that way. As I stared down at them now, glistening in the sunlight, they didn’t remind me of what I’d been through, but of how far I’d come and how well I was loved. As for my mother she was still alive though I didn’t know where. I figured the police would have told me if she had died. At this point I didn’t really care. I had all the family I’d ever need. One day, God willing, we’d add to it with a baby of our own, but even if that was never on the cards for me I had a life I never dreamed I’d have, and I thanked God every day for it.
“Emily O’Connell.” The dean called out my name at last, and I walked to the front of the auditorium and climbed the stairs to get my first-class degree in mathematics. After this, I was taking the summer off with O’Connell, who’d just weeks ago won his first title defense.
I was going to become a teacher. That disappointed a lot of professors who encouraged me to take a master’s degree. I knew they thought I was throwing away so many opportunities. But the truth was, I didn’t want a think-tank job or one in the city earning six figures. Money wasn’t important to either of us. When I talked things over with O’Connell, after meeting with my tutor and worrying that I’d made the wrong decision, my husband told me to pick the option that I thought would make me happy. It was as simple and as uncomplicated as that.
“Congratulations, Mrs. O’Connell,” the dean said to me as I shook his hand. I took my degree and turned to the audience, as we all did so families could take our picture. Kieran, Liam, Tommy, and O’Connell all whooped and hollered as they clapped, with Danny noisily swearing at them to pipe down because they were embarrassing him.
I grinned from ear to ear, having never felt so proud. My life wasn’t a fairy story, but the people I loved taught me that I chose how it ended. And if there was one thing I was sure of, it’s that it would be a hell of an ending.