Finding Ellie (Complete)

Chapter 6

After nearly two and a half hours of driving, Ellie maneuvered around the small village of Blarney. Following the signs she was soon parking her car at Blarney Castle, finally, a childhood dream about to be realized. She was a little surprised by the amount of tour busses parked in the far right corner but it didn’t matter, she was ready to take on the castle. She stretched as she got out of the car then grabbed the lunch bag Mrs. Callaghan had packed for her. The woman sure loved to feed her. Ellie was pretty sure there was enough food in there to feed three people. She hadn’t let on that she had overheard the older woman remark on how Ellie could use some fattening up. The words had made Ellie stand in front of the bathroom mirror in her room to take a good look at her reflection. Really look. Sure, she had lost a bit of weight over the last year but she didn’t think she had lost that much.

Despite the gloomy mist that seemed to be sticking around Ellie was excited. Besides, she thought, the fog would add an air of mystery to the castle and grounds. It may be true that visiting Blarney Castle was a very touristy thing to do in Ireland and Aidan – who else – had already made fun of her for it, however, the castle had been a childhood dream of hers and she was finally going to realize it.

Walking paths, fields of green and various gardens were scattered throughout the vast grounds ready to be explored. On the path to the keep, Ellie strode by overzealous children running here and there. Up ahead, she could see the stone castle peeking through the massive trees. She picked up her pace and with a final curve of the path she was now standing at the foot of the ancient stone building. Incredible!

Her tranquil observation was soon shattered by a boy of about twelve knocking into her on his way to his friends.

“Watch it, lady.”

She took a good look around her, so many people everywhere. There were ridiculous lineups to go into caves, in the tower, even the gardens and no one ended up on a thrill ride at the end. This wasn’t Walt Disney World, it was Blarney Castle. She had expected people, of course, but this was sort of absurd.

            Blarney Castle, how very American of you.

            “Shut up, Aidan.” Ellie grumbled under her breath. Thank goodness he wasn’t there to point out the obvious. She would never hear the end of it. She glanced at the tiny scratch on her palm, remembering the brief, tender moment between them. There was nothing for it; she didn’t come all this way to turn around five minutes in.

            First, she went through the castle. She had read that the current structure had been built in 1446. It was mind-blowing to her that she was standing in a centuries old castle. She climbed up the worn down stone steps, marveled when she reached the Kitchen, Great Hall and the Banqueting Hall where her imagination took her to medieval feasts, beautiful maidens and noble gentlemen vying for their attention. Finally, she stood at the top of the castle where Blarney Stone itself was located. A line had already formed to kiss it but Ellie opted not to. She had heard some rumors about locals finding it funny to relieve themselves on the stone and then watch unsuspecting tourists kiss it. Even though she didn’t really believe the rumors, a small part of her wondered if they were true. While at the top she took in the scene below. The fog was lifting, the clouds were breaking and the sun was actually trying to peek its way through. It seemed like she had chosen a great day to come out and nothing was going to ruin it for her.

“Just beautiful isn’t it?”

Ellie looked beside her where an older couple stood looking over the landscape as well.

“Yes it is,” Ellie responded. “I keep trying to find a better word other than amazing but I can’t seem to come up with anything worthy.”

The woman smiled then slipped her hand in her husbands as they moved away. Seeing the love they shared filled Ellie with a profound sadness. Although she had not been happy in the last years of her marriage it had still hurt to know she could be discarded so easily. Chad had made no pretense at how she embarrassed and disappointed him. The memories came rushing again as she wound her way down a spiral staircase.

Chad was late again. Nowadays, he didn’t even bother to let her know when he would be in or out. He just showed up when he showed up. He left in a huff, as usual, angry that she had been working on a manuscript for another book. Her fourth one! She was so proud seeing her name in print and he couldn’t even muster a congratulations.

“You’re walking on thin ice here Ellie.” Chad’s nostrils flared which, for Ellie, meant tread lightly.

“I don’t understand why you’re angry.” She thrust the finished manuscript in his hands imploring him to read at least one of her books. “I’m on the bestsellers list. I’m very successful at what I do.”

“You’re acting as if you’re a literary genius when in reality you’re writing silly stories for children.” Chad threw the manuscript over his head as he walked out scattering the papers every which way. “You have no idea how humiliating this is to me. I don’t want to see this again.”

He had sent her a message thirty minutes later “see you in five”, but had come home three hours after that. And she still either couldn’t admit, or see, that something was no doubt going on. Chad had likely meant to send it to someone else.

After he left she sat on the floor picking up and rearranging the pages. Was she really an embarrassment? He had known from the moment they met in college that she aspired to be a writer. It’s true he had encouraged her to deviate from Creative Writing and take Journalism, a respected profession in his eyes. And she had let him hadn’t she? She should have seen how he was molding her to his opinion of a perfect wife.

 She decided then that she wouldn’t bother telling him about the books anymore and wiped the tears trailing down her cheeks.

Removing her jacket, Ellie continued her tour and ending up in the fern garden by the time lunch rolled around. It was by far her favorite spot. She couldn’t believe the height of some of the ferns as the crushed-stone paths wound around them. She turned in a slow circle, her neck craned up to get a better look. It was oddly quiet as no one seemed to be in that particular area at the moment. It was peaceful and serene, and she was grateful for that. When she found a bench she sat and enjoyed her food.

Another sandwich she noted when she opened the bag, this time it was leftover roast beef from dinner the night before. A small laugh escaped her when she spied the lemon tea cookies Mrs. Callaghan knew she favored. Ellie didn’t divulge much and she knew the woman was curious about her. She also knew Mrs. Callaghan had deliberately called her Mrs. two days ago to see how she would respond.

She didn’t know if she would ever re-marry and, if she did, it wouldn’t be for some time. She needed to be herself and when she figured out what that was she hoped she could find someone who didn’t make her feel like she was doing everything wrong all of the time. Just the thought of throwing herself in the dating pool again was daunting enough. She wasn’t interested in going to a bar or club to meet someone and she wasn’t sure about online dating. So, really, what was left? Poppy had threatened her that if she didn’t get back in the game soon she would create an online profile for her.

Finally, after a few hours she bid farewell to Blarney and vowed she would be back one day when there would, hopefully, be less people. Her trip back to Doolin was uneventful and seemingly felt quicker than the mornings ride. Since she had dinner plans with Colm and Carrick she quickly freshened up and walked down to Dunne’s, crossing her fingers as she breezed through the door that Aidan would not be in that night. Her luck was holding out so far. There had been no sign of Aidan for nearly an hour.

She reveled in the men’s company; laughing, tapping her feet to the music and ignoring the steely glares thrown her way by Brenna. If she was trying to hide it, it wasn’t working and Ellie had serious doubts that Brenna would ever try to hide anything. She was a little taken aback as she and Brenna hadn’t even spoken one word to each other, yet the beautiful singer seemed to dislike her greatly. Ellie was sure everyone else had noticed as well.

When her cottage pie came out her stomach fiercely growled at the wonderful aroma it was emitting. She dug in.

“Ellie, dear, tell me you’ve been out and about enjoying this beautiful country of ours,” Colm asked, as she took a mouthful.

Ellie nodded, held up a finger to signal she would answer him shortly.

“Yes, I was actually out today.” She eventually managed.

“Did you see Blarney Castle like you’ve always wanted to?” Carrick scooped up a nice spoonful of Guinness stew.

“I did, it was amazing.” She was not willing to admit otherwise.

“Of course it was. You American’s just eat up that sort of stuff up don’t you?”

Ellie froze with her fork halfway to her mouth. Why? She had been having such a wonderful time. She turned in her chair, with her mouth set in a hard line, to face the bar where none other than Aidan Dunne stood.

“What is your problem?” Ellie hissed through her teeth. She couldn’t… no, she wouldn’t let him ruin her much anticipated dinner with her friends. Had she not promised herself she wouldn’t let anything quash her good mood? And that included the self-centered, egotistical pub owner.

“My problem is your type coming in here, looking for God knows what and flocking to all the obvious tourist attractions, then going around saying you’ve been to Ireland.” Aidan pointed a finger at her. He had thought his icy attitude toward her would have deterred any more visits to his pub. She must be denser than he had initially thought. He would soon fix that.

Ellie was starting to get angry “My type?” she narrowed her eyes dangerously, trying to decipher what that meant. From the very, first meeting his demeanor toward her had been anything but welcoming. Enough was enough. Ever since their interaction at his cottage he was downright miserable to deal with and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

By now the whole pub was silent, looking between the pair as they argued. Aidan came around the bar to stand in front of Ellie who had now risen from her chair, cheeks scarlet. She wanted nothing more than to crawl under a rock and stay there when Aidan jerked her left hand up and pointed to her ring finger. Pointing specifically at the faint line where her wedding rings used to be.

“Would you care to explain this, Mrs. Sullivan, or were you hoping to have a good time away while your husband is faithfully awaiting your return at home?” Proud of himself Aidan dropped her hand abruptly and crossed his arms over his chest.

No longer red, her face paled. She was now furious. How dare he? Who did he think he was to make assumptions about her, her marital status and what she was doing in Ireland? Ellie shook as her hands balled into fists at her side. She opened and closed her mouth several times but no words would come out. She was not sure what she could possibly say. She knew people were curious, asking themselves why she was traveling alone. But she would have never thought this.

“Ellie, darling,” Colm called from the table. He recognized the look on her face, as his own daughter had once worn it when her husband had been found with his mistress. It was the look of pure humiliation.

Reaching the door Ellie turned back to Aidan, her face now cold as stone. “Not that my marital status, or lack thereof, is any of your business,” she held up her left hand, showing the faint lines again. “But it’s called a divorce.”

Aidan’s smirk fell off his face and he closed his eyes when the door snapped shut behind Ellie. What had he done?