Kate Hoffmann: Conor

“I will,” Olivia said.

Conor laughed, then sat back in the booth. He’d expected an excuse, a plea to wait before they took such a serious step. After all, they’d known each other less than a month. But as Olivia smiled, he knew she was as anxious to begin their future together as he was, and they already knew enough to want that future to begin now. “Really? You’ll marry me?”

She nodded. “I will marry you, Conor Quinn. And we’ll live together and love together and I promise to give you handsome Irish sons and pretty Irish daughters.” She reached out and softly touched his cheek. “And I promise that no matter what troubles come our way, I will never, ever leave you.”

With that, Conor stood and slipped out of the booth, then tugged her out behind him. He couldn’t resist pulling her into his arms and kissing her again, long and hard. When he was through, he glanced around to find his brothers all standing nearby. He laughed, then hugged Olivia to him. “I’m getting married.”

“Oh, yeah?” Dylan shouted. “And where did you find a woman crazy enough to marry you?”

“The same place he found a woman willing to be a sister-in-law to a bunch of rowdy Irish brothers,” Olivia said. “That is, if you’ll have me.”

The Quinn brothers gathered close, showering Olivia with their best wishes and a fair share of kisses as well. Conor stood back, watching the woman he’d come to love more than life itself, and the brothers who had been his life up until he’d met Olivia. And when all the congratulations were given, he grabbed his glass of Guinness from a nearby table and raised it above his head.

“To the Quinn family legend,” he said.

His brothers grabbed their own glasses and held them up. “To the Quinn family legend.”

Conor stared into Olivia’s eyes, unable to believe that he’d won such a prize. “May you all find a woman as wonderful as Olivia, and may you all be laid low by your love for her. For a Mighty Quinn is nothing without a woman by his side.”

They all took a drink of their Guinness and then Conor grabbed Olivia around the waist and kissed her again. Liam put a quarter in the jukebox and the strains of a lively Irish reel filled the bar. Conor swept Olivia into the dance, spinning her around and around until her face was flushed and she was breathless. And as they danced, he thought about all the dances they’d share in their future-the first dance together as man and wife, a dance on each of their anniversaries, a dance at the wedding of each of the children they would have.

He knew as long as he had Olivia at his side, in his arms, he would never regret a single moment of his life. A Mighty Quinn had found a mate and now that he’d found her, he’d wasn’t about to let her go.