One Step At A Time

Liam leaned forward and pressed the tip of his nose against Jo’s, which made her giggle.
“See, that’s how Eskimos kiss, they rub their noses against each other.”

“Do they also have icings on their noses?”, Jo asked, grinning.

“I doubt it.” He pulled her closer and made sure that nobody could hear them as he whispered in Jo’s ear. “Today had been so busy and hectic that I didn’t have the chance to tell you how much I’m looking forward to tonight…”

She suppressed a giggle while she tried to act naïve. “But it’s already tonight…”

“Not quite.”

“Oh…so you mean you look forward to more dancing?”, she asked innocently.

“Not exactly.”

“Hm…do you look forward to watch me throwing the bouquet?”

“No, I’m looking forward get you out of this dress and do some things to you that you--Sir!” Liam quickly pulled back and cleared his throat when Jo’s father showed up next to them.

“I don’t mean to interrupt, but would you mind if I steal the bride for a dance?”, Colin asked friendly.

“Certainly not”, Liam replied, hoping that the older man didn’t hear anything of what he just said to his wife. Jo smiled at him, kissed his cheek, linked with her father’s arm and followed him to the dance floor.

As soon Jo and Colin went to the dance floor, Elizabeth approached Liam. “Liam? May we have a word? It is rather important.”

Jo smiled widely. “Daddy do you remember that one party mother had when I was little and you held me in your arm while we danced. Mother was fighting with some catering staff because there was something wrong with the food. And all we did was dance. We talked about the day of my wedding. I told you I want everyone to wear green dresses and I wanna marry on a field.”

Colin laughed. “Oh I remember that day, it was our spring formal. You wear wearing this beautiful yellow dress. You mother hated this dress she wanted you to wear the purple dress, but you told her purple is to dark and you need to wear your yellow dress because yellow was what was your friends name at that time again?”

“Erm I was about seven was it that year?”

“No I think the year before.”

“Oh you are right I think at the time it was Paddy, the fairy.”

“Right, he was a funny chap.”

“I was a weird child.”

“No you weren’t weird darling. Don’t let anyone make you believe that. You were an amazing child. I think my favourite moments were when you were in my lectures.”

“Do you remember I knew the answer to your question? What stars are on the slide.”

Colin laughed. “Oh yes. Every year I tell this story about you in my lecture and show everyone the automobile in the stars right below the Evening Star. It is an open secret that you get extra points in my exams when you see creative answers in a star chart.”

Jo leaned her head against her dad’s shoulder. “Are you happy darling?”
Only Colin could ask this question without Jo getting defensive, well Liam could ask this question too.

“I’ve never been happier.”

“Darling, promise me something, take your time. You are young and you have still so much time in your live. Don’t rush through it. Treasure each moment.”

Jo lifted her head and look at her father. “Daddy are you okay?”

“Yes darling, just with you getting married and me slowly teaching less hours, I start to feel old. I think I will start to grow a beard.” Colin grinned mischievously at his daughter. They both knew Elizabeth would throw a fit is Colin grows a beard. They both started laughing.

“Jo it is time to throw the bouquet. I’m sorry am I interrupting anything?” Alfie looked at the laughing Jo. “And you still own me that dance Missis O’Doherty.”

It was the first time someone called her by her new name and suddenly it hit her. She wasn’t Josephine Yvaine Williams anymore. Colin kissed his daughter. “Go throw your flowers to find the next young girl that will marry.”

Jo followed Alfie, but she didn’t pay attention. Suddenly she was scared. She needed Liam, but he was somewhere with Elizabeth. Lorelai handed her the flower bouquet, not Jo’s actual bouquet she would never throw her bouquet of pink daisies, lily in the valley and red roses. Jo was standing with her back to all unmarried girls. A small smile appeared in Jo’s face, but not even this exciting moment made the bad feeling go away. “Ready girls?”

There was giggling and screaming from the girls, Jo threw her bouquet, and then she turned around to see how she did it. At least she threw in the right direction, but…

“Oh man, I didn’t see that coming.” Ricky was holding the bouquet and looked rather surprised and shocked.
Jo giggled. “This is unexpected. Ricky you better invite me to your wedding!”

Ricky gazed for a moment at Alfie but knew this would never be happening.

Jo was searching Liam, she really needed him. She couldn’t even explain why she was suddenly scared, maybe it was because she remembered what her mother had told her about what it means to be married.

“Josephine, I know you have this fantasy how marriage is but this is nothing but a fantasy. Josephine marriage is hard work. Liam is young but it is your responsibility that all his needs are satisfied and if you can’t satisfy him you have to find a way that his needs are satisfy. Marriage is not about what the wife wants. You have to be obedient to Liam. This means sometimes you have to ignore what you want or what you think is right. You only do as you are told, you ask for permission and if Liam tells you no you don’t do it. You have to know what Liam needs without him telling you.”

Jo grabbed the arm of a waiter. “Hey have you seen my groom?”

“No I’m sorry but I will go and look for him if you want me to.”

“Yes please do so.” Jo felt a little bit out of place.

Jo had just disappeared with her father among the crowd of people on the dance floor when someone approached him.

“May I talk to you in private for a moment?”, Elizabeth asked in a voice that made him worry if he had done something wrong.

“Sure”, he answered, trying not to sound nervous. Elizabeth was the last person he ever wanted to be completely alone with, she seriously scared the hell out of him.
Liam followed Elizabeth who left the loud tent and sat down on one of the many garden benches. He just stood there uncomfortably, but when she looked strictly at him he knew that she expected him to sit down as well, so he did.
Okay, calm down. You’re married to Jo already, so there’s no way her mother is going to change that now…
But what if she asked him to reconsider the marriage and give Jo the chance to marry someone more…rich?
Whatever it was Elizabeth wanted to tell him, he prepared himself for the worst.

“I don’t need to tell you why I think that you’re absolutely wrong for my daughter”, Elizabeth started. “Your nationality, for starters. Your rather, let’s say, humble upbringing, your level of immaturity, your lack of decent behaviour, your…”

Liam didn’t pay much attention, it wasn’t like he never heard all those things before. Didn’t she just say she didn’t need to tell him why he was so impossibly wrong for Jo? Oh, well, let’s get it over with…

“She was an innocent girl, so pure, and you took advantage of her. You violated her precious flower…”

And here we go again, the flower crap. What is it with Elizabeth and that ridiculous flower talk all the time? And besides, it’s not like I purposely picked Jo because she was a virgin. Quite the opposite, I preferred women with experience before I met Jo…

Elizabeth continued. “Just in Oxford alone are so many young gentlemen who could have offered Josephine everything, young men from good families and…”

Bla bla bla…

“And yet she chose you, for reasons I will never understand.”

Wait a minute, that actually didn’t sound so reproachful…
Liam slowly looked up, noticing that Elizabeth’s face was not as harsh as it usually was.

“I don’t know what it is-most certainly not your maturity-that made her choose you, and I will never understand why you are her choice, but she…” Elizabeth paused for a moment. “Josephine seems happy…with you.”

She was kidding, right? That was by far the nicest thing Elizabeth Williams had ever said to him.

“Now marriage is not a game, it is something that both husband and wife have to work hard for. However, it is the husband’s responsibility to take care of his wife, and I don’t need to point out that I expect you to take not only good care, but best care of Josephine, even though I know you can’t offer her much.”

“I will definitely-“

“Good”, she interrupted him. “Fulfil your duties as husband, take care of your wife- although I’m indeed aware that you are both without a question too young and immature for marriage, but nobody listens to me anymore…”

So…did that mean that she actually accepted him?

Elizabeth scrutinized him intensely, and he got very uncomfortable, but tried to hide it.
“Now that you know your father…who, fortunately, has a name well-known among our society, don’t you want to consider the possibility of changing your last name to his? So that Josephine at least-“

“No”, Liam answered, surprisingly calm. He wanted to yell at her how dare she to ask him that, after all, his name was one of the only things he had left of his mother, but he remained completely calm, there was even a tiny smile crossing his lips. “I am my mother’s son.”

Elizabeth was quiet for a moment. To his surprise she didn’t look at him in her usual cold, criticising and judging way, but rather…understanding.
“Very well, then.” She got up. “Oh, what is this awful sound?”
She referred to the traditional Irish dance music that came from the tent. “Brilliant! Now I will definitely get a headache.”

“Mister O’Doherty your bride is looking for you. She looks a little lost.” The waiter looked at Liam, while he handed Elizabeth a glass of water and a little small pill box. “Mister Williams asked me to bring you this.”

“Thank you. Liam go find Jo, she needs you. There are too many people in this tent that want a piece of her.” Elizabeth often didn’t understand her daughter or was able to express how much she loved her, but a few things she knew about her daughter.

Jo was at the side of the tent right were the buffet is. She had another slice of cake. Hoping her mother hadn’t killed Liam so that she could marry someone with more money. And then suddenly her Prince walked through the tent entrance. He seemed to look for someone.

“Hey dathúil, tá mé ag fanacht leat. Chaill mé leat.” She said loudly that Liam could hear her. Jo was pale, and a little shaken.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?”, he asked, putting his arm around her. “Please don’t tell me you worried that I just ran off.”

“No, I saw you leaving with my mother, so I didn’t think that you would run off with her”, she replied, wrapping her arms around him tightly as if she feared that he would leave her any second. “I was just worried what she said to you. Did she scare you? Do you regret that you married me? Please don’t tell me she scared you away and-“

“Jo, calm down.” Liam touched her face softly. “It’s okay. Of course, she was her scary self, as always, but I think she actually accepts me now. Well, she made it clear that she has no other choice, but at least she won’t try to butt in all the time, which is a good thing, right?”

Jo nodded, relieved that her mother didn’t say anything that made Liam want to run away.

“And apparently she gets a headache from everything Irish”, he said.

She grinned. “Well, I don’t.” She took his hand and pulled him to the dance floor. The Irish music made Liam a lot more comfortable, since he no longer felt completely out of place.
It got really late until the celebration drew towards and end. Most of the older folks were already heading home, and now the younger generations started getting ready to leave. Everybody went to Jo and Liam and thanked them for the wonderful evening and wished them all the best. Ricky was close to tears again while Alfie just rolled his eyes. Of course there was a huge pile of wedding presents, which shocked Liam because he had never seen so many presents in his life.
When everyone was gone and a large crew of staff cleaned up everything, the married couple went back inside.

“I’m so exhausted”, Jo said. “And so tired.” Actually, she lied. Well, she was a bit exhausted from all the dancing, but there was no way she could sleep now, not with knowing that they still had the wedding night ahead of them. However, she liked to tease her husband a bit because she knew how excited he was about it, and pretending to be tired was the best way to tease him.

“You are?” Liam looked definitely disappointed, and Jo had a hard time not to start laughing.

She faked a yawn. “Well, it had been a long day, and by tomorrow afternoon we’ll leave for the States…” She turned away from him so that he couldn’t see the grin on her face and walked up the stairs. However, before she could open the door to the bedroom she felt something, his arms, lifting her up carefully.
“What are you doing?”, she asked, giggling as she realized how hard it was for him to lift her up in that heavy dress.

“I try to...ouch…eh…carry you over the threshold…after all, it’s a tradition”, he mumbled under the amount of fabric he had in his face. Okay, now how could he open the door? He kind of managed to reach the doorhandle with his elbow and almost stumbled into the room when the door opened, but he didn’t want to drop Jo, which almost happened. He didn’t see much because he still had layers of her dress in his face, but she saw just fine. Hundreds of white daisies all across the room, almost like an ocean of her favourite flowers.
“Surprise”, he mumbled, trying to get some of that fabric out of his face.

Liam sat Jo carefully down. He looked disappointed well kind of. He was glad Jo seemed to like the surprise. “Liam this is so amazing!” She whispered nearly as if she was scared when she spoke to lous the flowers would disappear.

“You did all this?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you help me out of my dress? The zipper is on the back.” Jo turned around and he undid her zipper, before he went to the window, it was clear that Liam was hurt that Jo said she is tired.

“Hey there…” Jo said from behind, Liam didn’t react right away he started to blow out the candles between flowers. “Whoa! Stop, Liam!”

Liam stopped blowing out the candles but he didn’t turn around. “Liam, you can’t blow out all of these candles we will die of the candle smoke fumes and don’t you dare to tell me what the stuff is really called. And you might want to turn around and look at me.”

“You won’t be able to sleep by all the light.” Liam said to the window.

“You won’t be able to see me if you blow out all the candles. Now turn around, please.”

Liam turned around and… “Whoa! I know this lingerie.”

Jo smiled shy from the bed. Her heart was beating so fast that she thought it would jump out of her chest. “Yes you might. I thought since I was wearing it when we had our first time it might bring us luck for our first time as husband and wife.” Jo looked a little worried at Liam, he was just starring at her.

“Liam, say something!” Jo got up and went over to him, a goofy grin appeared on his face. “You are so beautiful.”

“You think?”

“I know it!”

Liam picked up Jo again, this time easier without the unpractical dress, and carried her to the bed. “So, not too tired?”

“For our wedding night? Are you kidding I dreamed of this night since you asked me to marry you.”

Liam kissed his bride again and again, and slowly let the kisses turn into more. It was the first night they spend as married couple and Jo would never forget this night.


Jo’s head was resting on Liam’s chest, just when the sun was rising. They both wear sweaty and out of breath, but neither one wanted to stop they were just take a little break. Liam’s hand was gently petting Jo’s back while Jo was playing piano with one hand on Liam’s stomach. Jo was mumbling. “Husband, husband, husband…” Each time she changed her voice. Liam chuckled. “What are you doing?”

“Practicing to introduce you, my husband.” Jo looked up. “Liam each time someone called me Missis O’Doherty I had to think of your grandma. I feel weird to be called Missis O’Doherty. I mean yeah it takes some time to get used to it, but still Missis O’Doherty is your grandma.”

That made Liam laugh. He hadn’t thought about it, but now that Jo mentioned it…
“Hey Gran, I have to say, the anti-aging cream is really working for you.”

“You idiot!” She pinched him playfully. She had no idea what time it was, sometime in the morning, but luckily they didn’t have to be at the airport until later in the afternoon. “You do realize we haven’t really slept at all…”

“Every minute asleep would have been a wasted minute.”

“I know.” A smile crossed Jo’s lips. “You know, this right here is as perfect as it gets. Yesterday, last night, this morning…we’re married, Liam, we’re really married.”

“I know, I was there.” He started playing with her hair.

“I never would have believed something like that would happen to me. You would happen to me. I really prepared myself for a life like Jane Austen’s…writing books, but never being married, always alone.”

“Well, I guess you’re lucky that some desperate Irish guy found his way into your knickers”, he said teasingly, getting pinched by Jo again.

“You’re such an idiot”, she giggled.

“That makes you an idiot’s wife then…” He leaned forward and kissed her.

“I can live with that”, she mumbled, returning his kisses.
They spent another hour in bed, then they got up. Usually Liam was the one preparing breakfast, but as a special wedding treat Colin had ordered a caterer who had prepared a huge breakfast downstairs in the dining room for ten o’clock, so all they had to do was to get up and go downstairs. But first they took a long shower together and didn’t really pay much attention to the time. They also took their time while they had breakfast, but they weren’t in a hurry anyway, they still had an hour until they had to leave for the airport.
When it was finally time to go Liam stared at all the bags that Jo would take with her.

“Are you serious? You do know that we’re not moving to the States, right?”

“I’m a girl, what do you expect?” Jo grabbed some of her bags. “Besides, most of them contain lingerie, so you better stop complaining…”

“What…?” Liam looked from the bags to Jo, suddenly getting very interested. “You’re just teasing me, aren’t you?”

“No.” She winked at him. “Ask Lorelai, we did a lot of shopping together… “

He smiled cheekily, but before he had time to think more about the content of those bags she reminded him that they really had to go now.

The driver drove the two newlyweds to the airport and the closer they came the more nervous Jo became.

“Liam I can’t do this.” They had just checked in and were waiting at their gate. Jo was shaking and pale. Liam pulled Jo into his arms, but this time she didn’t stop shaking. The thought of sitting at least eight hours in a plane scared her more than anything else.

“Jo it is just a plane.” Liam wasn’t very good in calming her down when it came to planes. He might have stopped telling her statistics of how likely something can go wrong but he still didn’t understand why she was so scared. He sighed and got the valerian out of Jo’s hand luggage. “You want these?”

Jo looked at the bottle of pills. “No.”

The speaker system cracked and announced that they had to board now.

“Jo are you coming?”

Liam helped Jo up, gently. He held her hand while she slowly followed him. “Liam? I don’t wanna die.” Silent tears were running down her cheeks. “Not now. Maybe we should take the ship you know like the Titanic?”

“Yeah, and everyone knows how wonderful that ended”, he replied sarcastically, but at the sight of Jo’s tears he pulled her into a hug. “You’re not going to die, Jo. The chances of you dying in a car crash are much higher than dying in a plane.”
When she looked terrified at him he realized that he once again wasn’t really successful in calming her down. “Just…believe me when I’m telling you that you’re not going to die.”

“How do you know? It’s not like you have superhuman powers and can see the future and-“

“Because it’s not time yet”, he interrupted her.

“How do you-“

“I know. Period. We’re not going to die after we just got married.”

“But-“

“I won’t let you die, Josephine O’Doherty. You hear me?” He looked into her eyes, he really meant it. Of course he didn’t worry that their plane would crash, but he said it in general. He would not let another person he loved die, never again. He took her hand and pressed it gently. “You can hold my hand for the entire flight if you want to. If you’re scared you can squeeze it so hard that you break it, you can also bite my hand if you feel like it, I just want to make sure that you know I’m here, okay? I won’t let go off you unless you want me to.”

Jo slowly looked up to him. Her heart was still beating insanely fast, but she started to feel less scared because she realized that she wasn’t on her own.
“Okay…” She took a deep breath.

“And remember, you will be highly rewarded when this whole flight is over”, he leaned a bit closer. “I’ll personally give you a reward every night.”

She giggled shyly. That moment the gate opened and the passengers queued up and showed their boarding passes.

“You can do this, Jo”, Liam said while getting out their tickets, his left hand still holding on to Jo’s. She still looked worried, but she nodded and followed him, showing her boarding pass and clinching his arm as if he would run away any second.

“Do you want to sit at the window”, he asked when they found their seats, but she shook her head.

“No, just the sight of us being so far up in the air freaks me out.”

After they sat down Liam could feel the pressure of her hand increasing.
“You’re not letting go off me, right?”, she whispered, squeezing his hand.

He smiled. “Never.”

Jo nodded and closed her eyes. She tried to concentrate of breathing. In and out, in and out…

“Liam, are you there?” She asked too scared to open her eyes.

“Of course.” He wriggled his fingers so that Jo felt his hands in hers. He kissed her gently on the cheek. “Your hands are cold, I can ask for a blanket.”

“No. I’m fine.” They both knew that Jo was far from being fine, but she couldn’t say how she really felt because then she would fall apart and get off the plane. “Maybe a blanket would be nice.” Jo opened her eyes at looked at Liam while he caught the attention of a stewardess and asked for a blanket. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Now Liam looked a little confused at her.

“For making such a fuss.”

Liam lifted her head and kissed her. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“Oh my God what is that?” Jo asked panicked. “Liam? Are we crashing?”

“No actually we are taking off.” Liam said trying to sound calm and reassuring.

“Oh.” Jo leaned her head against his shoulder, while he wrapped the blanket around her. “I love you.” Jo looked straight ahead at the seat in front of her, she didn’t mean to but she had the need to say goodbye to him just in case.

Although Jo was covered with the blanket he could still feel her shaking.

“Don’t you want to take a look outside? Look at the clouds, it’s beautiful.”

She lifted her head carefully but quickly turned it away again, biting her lips. She felt so bad for panicking so much, but she just couldn’t stop it. Liam felt a bit helpless because nothing really seemed to calm her down, no matter how hard she squeezed his hand or how many times he assured her they are not going to crash. And the flight just started, so they had at least another seven to eight hours ahead of them.
He took a deep breath and watched the clouds.

“You know what I always have to think of when I watch the clouds?”

“That you actually fall right through them and all the cartoons are lies because they depict clouds as some sort of soft pillow you can jump around on?” Jo stared at the seat in front of her. “As if!”

“I think of Icarus.”

“Icarus?”

“Yes, the Greek story where Icarus’ father builds two pairs of wings out of wax for him and Icarus so that they can escape their imprisonment.” Liam noticed that Jo was listening carefully, which was a good sign, because he managed to distract her, so he continued. “So, before they escape from the island where they are held prisoners, Daedalus, Icarus’ father, warns his son not to fly too high up, because he will get too close to the sun and his wings will melt. However, as soon as Icarus is flying, he is so excited and curious that he forgets about his father’s warning and flies very high, too close to the sun. So, of course, the wax melts and he falls, right into the sea.”

Jo looked at him with big eyes. “That’s so sad.”

“I have to think of that everytime I get close to the clouds.”

“So Icarus died, right? What if-“

“No, we do not end up like Icarus”, Liam said. “The plane is not made out of wax. And besides, Daedalus had no idea how to make it right. I swear, if I had lived back then I would have come up with something way more useful to escape than wings out of wax. Come on, they might as well use pixie dust!”

Jo giggled. She was still not completely relaxed, but at least she wasn’t shaking anymore.

“If there’s anything I can do to distract you from freaking out, let me know. I’ll try my best”, he said, kissing the back of her hand.

“Actually…” Jo blushed.

“What is it?” Liam looked at her, brushing some lose hair out of her face. She was little pale but except of that she was beautiful. He couldn’t stop looking at his wonderful wife.

“I need to use the bathroom, but it is all the way at the back and I read in an article that when a plane crashes it is the worst place to be at the back and…” Liam kissed Jo to make her stop talking and to calm her down. It worked, she looked embarrassed on the floor. “Can you come with me?”

Liam grinned, he helped her to unbuckle her seatbelt and folded the blanket aside. Jo followed Liam’s hands with her eyes and as soon she could he took his hand again. They walked down the aisle, it weren’t many people on the flight and barely anyone was sitting in coach.

“I’ll wait here okay?” Liam leaned at the wall next to the bathroom Jo went in.

“Okay.” Jo whispered, she kissed him and disappeared in the bathroom. It wasn’t long until Liam heard her wash her hands and unlock the door.

“Hey you didn’t get suck through the toilet that great.” Liam chuckled, when Jo grabbed his shirt and pulled him close. “Whoa Jo?”

“Can we start the honeymoon right here and now?” Jo whispered shyly.

Liam looked at her for a moment in shock but then a huge grin appeared. “Seriously?” The young wife nodded.

“Hell yes, we just have to be quiet I think this is illegal.” Liam followed his wife in the small plane bathroom. Jo giggled this was weird and arousing and clearly amazing. The two geeks would so end up with bruises after this. Liam kissed Jo to make sure she wouldn’t be too loud so that they would have been heard.
A few minutes later Jo was buttoning her blouse, while Liam pulled his shirt over his head. They both were sweaty and out of breath. Jo was giggling when an old lady just walked through the curtain.

“Oh love, are you alright?” The old women asked.

“Yes.” The newlyweds were giggling and stumbling over each other. The old women looked at them wondering what was so funny.
“Liam? Can I sit at the window? I wanna see the clouds, my husband told me they are pretty.” Jo looked calmer. “Liam?”

“Jo?”

“We are safe up here, right? The plane can’t melt because it is too close to the sun, can it?” Jo was holding Liam’s hand again and pulled the blanket over the two of them, she still didn’t like flying but she was calmer now. She hadn’t noticed that she buttoned her blouse wrongly.

“No, we’re not going to melt”, he assured her, his eyes wandering to the window. “I can’t believe you don’t like being up here. I mean, I understand why people are scared of flying, but still…If I had the chance I would fly into space. I’m so jealous of that Armstrong guy, flying to the moon…”

“You’re insane. Just the thought of flying so far up makes me dizzy.”

“I bet the view is awesome.”

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t become an astronaut otherwise I would have to worry even more about you. And we wouldn’t see each other as often.”

“And while I would be somewhere in space I would worry that you have fun with another guy.”

“What? You think I would do that?”, she didn’t want to sound offended, but it was hard to hide it. “Liam, you know I would never-“

“I wasn’t serious.” He leaned closer so he could kiss her.

Jo looked at him for a moment. “You know I wouldn’t do something like that, right?”

“I know you wouldn’t.”

“You, on the other hand…” A smile played around her lips. “I would have to worry if there were a sexy astronaut lady with you on that rocket.”

“Sexy astronaut lady?” Liam chuckled. “You’re adorable.” He kissed her on the forehead. “And I can’t believe that we did it in a place as disgusting as a plane toilet. You know, the germs and-“

“Eew, Liam, I don’t want to think about that!” She kissed him to make him shut up.

A little later Jo rested her head on his shoulders, her eyes closed. She didn’t sleep, but she was so tired all of a sudden that she just wanted to close her eyes for a moment. Meanwhile Liam flipped through one of the air plane magazines and came across a big America map. They had planned that they wanted to start at the east coast, New England, and work their way to the other side. They would land in the state farthest up on the east side; Maine.
The state where he lived with his mother for two years, and where she died. It was a beautiful state, without a question, but he felt like he wanted to avoid this specific place. They would land in Portland, Maine’s biggest city, which was about two hours away from the small American town he had lived in. So, there was a good distance…Liam looked closely at the map, his eyes fixed on Maine. There was something he had to do, and he knew it. He had to make a specific visit.

The landing was gently but Jo got scared, she kept her eyes closed and buried her face in Lam’s chest. Liam has wrapped her into his arms. “We are just landing. Everything is normal.”

Jo nodded but didn’t say anything. As soon the plan was landed and the stairs was docked on it Jo and Liam were holding hands. Jo was a little shaky but she seemed okay. The taxi brought them to their hotel.

“Are you tired?” Liam asked.

“No. I’m hungry.”

Liam laughed. “Okay let’s get something to eat. We also have to pick up our rental car. And…”

Jo kissed Liam passionately. Her hands were moved down his body and unbuttoned his trousers. Liam grinned. “Mrs O’Doherty what are you doing?”

“Starting the honeymoon.” Jo pulled off her own shirt, she kept kissing Liam and it didn’t take long until his desire was clear. They stumbled to the bed, while more clothes were dumped on the floor. “Oh Liam, that feels so good.” Jo was moaning wanting her husband so much.

“Is it just me or did you get particularly horny from the flight?”, he asked jokingly after they had just officially started their honeymoon. Well, they kind of started it in the airplane already…

“Don’t you think we should make the most of our honeymoon. And by ‘most’ I really mean as much as possible.” She smiled cheekily while her hand was wandering down his chest.

“I guess I don’t have anything against that plan.” He leaned forward and kissed her neck. “And you smell so good, I want to eat you.”

Jo giggled. “Don’t I smell like airplane?”

“Not at all”, he mumbled while he continued kissing her.

“I wonder if we really get to see all those things we had planned. I doubt we will see much of anything really if we continue…Liam, that tickles!” She giggled.

“It would tickle even more if I had a beard.”

“Don’t you even think about it! I’ll divorce you in a heartbeat.”

Liam grinned. “Reason of divorce: my husband was growing a beard.”

“That’s right, so you better keep your baby face or you can tell me good bye.”

“Little Miss Bossy-pants…” He started playing with her hair. “I like it when you’re like that.”

“You do?” Jo smiled shyly.

“You have no idea how hot that is. I don’t like girls who never have an opinion to anything.” He didn’t say it aloud, but that was one of the reasons he had been so into Lorelai, because that woman was anything but a quiet wallflower, and he liked her especially when she was bossy. Jo, of course, had a completely different personality, but when she raised her opinion about something, he was especially attracted to her.

“By the way, I’m going to do most of the driving”, Jo said.

“What?”

“Don’t look at me like that. You know just as well as I do that you’re a bad driver, and you would have to drive on the right side of the road here.”

Oh dammit. Americans and their bloody right side of the road! No, he really hadn’t missed this part about the country…

OVER 18'S ONLY, CONTAINS SEXUAL REFERENCES

Jo enjoyed the kisses of Liam. “Hey Liam…?” Jo was blushing. Liam stopped for a moment resting his hand on her left boob and looked at her. “Do you want me to stop?” He wondered suddenly how much she wanted all this honeymoon activity in bed.

“No don’t. Just erm, you remember this thing you did last night?”

Liam looked at his wife curious. “This thing…? I did mane things on our wedding night. Can you be a little more specific?” He couldn’t stop from grinning, their wedding night was a very fond memory he would cherish forever. One day he would be night and they would talk about their wedding night while they were sitting in the wheelchairs and probably be drooling, because of the age and the memory.

“You know the thing that tickled but it was this really good tickling, the one I asked you to do again?” Jo was so embarrassed to ask Liam to do something in bed. She felt weird and dirty.

“Oh you mean that thing, sure I can do that.” Liam kissed her passionately. “I love it when you talk dirty.”
Jo blushed even more and hid behind her face behind her hands. Liam kissed each of them before he disappeared under the blanket and did the thing he already did on their wedding night. Very soon Jo relaxed and started to giggle between her moaning. She knew at some point they had to eat something but right now seemed dying of starvation while having sex with her husband not a bad death, at least better then crashing with a plane.

(( aaaaand there we have it again, a commercial break))




About thirty minutes later, while they were snuggled up next to each other, Liam’s stomach growled.

Jo giggled. “You’re hungry, aren’t you?”

“No”, he lied because he didn’t want to get out of bed, it was way too nice right now, but in fact he was starving. “Are you hungry?”

She shook her head, but she was just as hungry as he was. Both stared quietly at the ceiling and without knowing what the other was about to say, they both said at the same time: “God, I’m starving!”
They looked at each other surprised, then started to laugh.

“All right then…” Liam sat up. “Guess the hunger won.”

Jo sighed and grabbed her clothes. “Stupid stomach!”

“Don’t worry.” He had just put on his pants, walked towards her and put his arms around her waist. “We still have almost three months ahead of us of doing…this…”

Jo giggled shyly. “Doesn’t sound bad to me.”

“I’m pretty sure we’ll pass out as soon as we’re back in Oxford, and sleep for months.”

“That sounds very tempting, but unfortunately we have to get back to building up an entire school if we want to open it by January, and we still have a large amount of interviews for possible teachers ahead of us, and-“

“No work-talk during our honeymoon!”, he interrupted her. “That was our agreement, remember?”

“I’m sorry.” She smiled innocently at him.

After they were fully dressed, they walked into the dining room and sat down at one of the tables.
Jo folded out a map of New England. “I heard one should visit the cute little fisher villages here, because they are Maine’s beauty. We can just get into the car tomorrow after we had enough rest and drive through a couple of those villages, is that okay with you?”

Liam was quiet for a moment. “Sure.”

“You’ve been in New England before, do you know any nice place we could visit?”

“Camden is pretty nice. Has a harbour and all. It’s not too far from here, a bit north from Portland.” His eyes wandered over the menu while Jo was looking for the town on the map.

“Yes, you’re right, it’s not too far. And you’ve been there before?”

He just nodded quietly behind his menu card.

“Okay, now let’s see what they serve here.” Jo opened the menu and raised her eyebrows. “Oh Lord, all this American food…” She sighed. “That’s going to be an adventure.”

They weren't really more rested the next morning, but Jo was really excited to see Maine so after only a little sleep and a lot of bed exercise they left the hotel to drive around. They planned to have lunch in Camden. The first incident happened when Liam suddenly wanted to usher Jo on the other side of the car until he realized that to drive she had to sit on the left side of the car.

"Okay ready? Here we go." Jo left the parking lot confidently and after just a couple of minutes she felt as if she never drove on the left side of the road.

"Liam you have to tell me which way to go, that's your job as co-pilot oh and kisses each time the car stops at a traffic light." Jo grinned at her husband. He looked a little weird but maybe it was the sleep deficit or something was wrong. She would let him rest a little while she drove and hoped it would get better soon.

Yes, he knew the way very well. And the closer they got to their destination, the more he recognized everything. It’s been seven years when he was here, and it had felt forever until now, until the moment he came back here, and suddenly it started to feel like it was just yesterday when he still lived here. Jo was very cheerful and got so excited every time she got a view of the ocean. She kept saying how beautiful everything here was, and he played along and tried not to show anything.
Then they reached Camden, where he had lived for two years, a charming small town right next to the ocean. Jo had no idea this was his former hometown, and he didn’t feel like telling her while they drove through the streets he still knew by heart. It all looked the same, as if the time had stopped the moment he left this town seven years ago. Since it was a small town he knew every street, ever corner, but he didn’t know all the people who lived here except his direct neighbours, because back then he never made an effort to get to know those strange American suburban people who brought apple pies to their neighbour’s house and kept chatting and gossiping on their big wooden porches. His mother wasn’t very successful in getting to know those people either, but she had a different reason. The women her age avoided her, not because she was unfriendly, but because she was different. She had a job, she wasn’t married, she raised a child on her own, she never wore those ridiculous petticoat dresses and pearl necklaces and she most certainly had no idea how to cook and bake whatsoever. And yet she was the most beautiful among all those women, a fact that the other ladies did not particularly like. They were all the same, looked the same, talked the same, but Catherine was different, and she attracted attention, while those other women fell into the background.

“You’re right!” Jo’s voice reached him and interrupted his thoughts. “This town is absolutely beautiful.”

“Yeah…” Liam looked out of the window, and that same moment he felt how his heart stopped. Completely by coincidence Jo had just made a turn and drove right into the street where he used to live. It looked all the same, on the mailboxes were still the same names, and he recognized the ugly curtains from that old lady that used to call him angel face everytime she saw him. God, he hated that name. And she kept on squeezing his cheeks very hard each time he accidently ran into her.
Every house looked the same; built in a typical New England style, most of them painted white, with big front lawns and porches. All of them, except one…

“Look at this house, it’s adorable!”, Jo pointed out the only house that looked different than the rest in the street. It was at the end of the street, the smallest, not even half as big as one of the other houses, and half covered with ivy. There was an old, almost antique looking mailbox with no name, and some of the windows were round, as well as the door, as if the architect of Hobbiton had some influence on its design.
Jo stared at the house as if she’d never seen anything more beautiful, which was almost funny, because that girl grew up in a freaking castle. And there she was, admiring the smallest house in the entire street, not aware that it used to be the house Liam and his mum had lived in.
“It looks like it’s right out of a fairy tale, kind of enchanted…”

“Enchanted?” He raised his eyebrows. He wondered who lived there now.

“Hey, where do you want me to drive now? Can we go to the harbour? And the beach? Oh, yes, I want to see the ocean!”

“Yes, I…ehm…I wanted to go to the ocean anyway”, he said quietly. “Actually, can we make a stop downtown first, I just need to get something before we go to the beach.”

“Sure, just tell me the way.”

Liam directed her downtown, which was the heart of the town, filled with the typical New England charm.
“Okay, stop here, please”, he said, and Jo looked rather confused when she pulled the car over in front of a flower shop. “I’ll be right back”, he said, and her eyes followed him, still confused that he actually went into that flower shop. One of the last places she expected her husband to go was a flower shop. Was he actually buying her flowers? No way, he wasn’t that romantic. But on the other hand, why else would he buy flowers? She tried not to smile when she thought of him buying flowers for her, and then he returned, with a dozen white lilies.

“Now you can drive to the beach”, he said, not looking at her, holding on to the lilies.

Jo wanted to ask why he bought the flowers because she was curious, but she waited and hoped he would tell her of his own accord, but as always, he kept her in the dark. She was a bit upset that once again he didn’t tell her what he was doing, and she tried really hard not to make a sharp remark, but before she got the chance, they reached the beach, and the sight of the blue water glittering in the sun made her speechless for a moment. Of course she had seen the ocean before, but this right here just looked incredibly beautiful. The ocean always reminded her of Liam, of his eyes, and it made her happy just looking at it for a while. She parked the car and they got out, looking at the stunning sight for a moment, before Liam started walking towards the water. He pressed the flowers to his chest as if he worried someone would come and take them away from him, then he took off his shoes and walked right into the water until it reached his knees.

“Liam, what are you doing? You’re not taking a swim with your clothes on, are you?”, Jo shouted, but he didn’t pay attention to her. With the lilies still in his arms, he looked across the ocean. How could something so beautiful take away the one person he loved so much? He always liked swimming, he learned how to swim before every other child did, but after he lost his mother to the ocean, to this particular one, this one he was just standing in, he hated the ocean more than anything. It took him a couple of years when he finally got back into a pool, but this was his first time in years that he stood in the water of the ocean. This very ocean that took his mother away from him, and now he stood there, at her grave. It was the first time he paid her a visit, and he brought her favourite flowers, white lilies.
Jo had reached the water and stood behind him, but she no longer asked him questions, she just watched him quietly, because she slowly realized what was going on.
Liam had so much to say to Catherine, so much to tell her, and yet he found himself unable to say a word. After a moment where he just stood in the water, the flowers pressed to his chest, not moving at all, he finally took a deep breath, lowered his arms and spread the lilies across the surface of the ocean.
“Is breá liom tú”, he said quietly. It was almost a whisper, but Jo could still hear it.
She felt tears in her eyes and tried hard to hold them back. This was the most vulnerable she had ever seen him, that person in the water was someone she didn’t really know, someone almost fragile, definitely not the Liam that she knew. And as sad as she felt seeing him like that, it also warmed her heart, because she had the proof that behind all his rational thinking and insensitive comments was someone far more vulnerable than she had ever imagined.
She wanted to go to him, wanted to hug him, but she wasn’t sure how he reacted. He probably wanted to have space right now. Jo watched the lilies floating away from them.
And then Liam turned around. And smiled. It was not just any smile, it was a relieved, almost happy smile, and he didn’t look like a young man but like a little boy, a carefree little boy.
Before she could say anything he walked out of the water, towards her, and she felt his hands under her arms, and one second later he lifted her up like her father used to lift her when she was a little girl.

“You’re so light”, he said, smiling warmly at her. “It’s like you have wings.”

Liam spun around with Jo in the air. It made Jo giggle. “Don’t drop me please.”

“I would never drop you.” Liam let her down slowly, making sure she felt his touch at the right spots. Jo wrapped her arms around him.

“I love you Liam, so much.” Jo breathed in slowly, inhaling his typical smell. She couldn’t really place it what it was but it was the best smell on the world. She peeked around him at the Lilies on the water. Her bare feet were buried in the sand, Liam pulled down her skirt to make sure no one could see her knickers. This was just for him to see.

“You are so amazing.” Liam kissed her passionately. Suddenly Jo started laughing. “And you called me horny, mister pole in the pants. Not here, the thought of having sand everywhere freaks me out, but the car sounds good.” Jo grinned cheeky at her husband. “I have a few moves planned to show you in the car.”

Jo felt so special that this man loved her so much and there was nothing that could destroy this. She would love him forever. He was all the safety she would ever need in her live. “You are my everything Liam! Maybe you can me later show around?”

The next weeks went by incredibly fast. They managed to travel through the entire country and saw almost everything they had put down on their list, which was a miracle that they really managed to see all of those sights, since they also spent a lot of time in their hotel room, doing their daily exercise. But most of the time they saved this for the evening, so they had the entire day running around and visiting all the sights they wanted to see. When they were in the Southern States, Jo had to laugh the entire time, because neither the Southerners nor Liam could understand and communicate with each other, so Liam let her do the talking, since the Americans from the Southern States at least understood her clear, proper English. Of course, Liam with his super-sensitive pale Irish skin got sunburnt various times, basically the second they arrived in the Southern States, and after their trip to Texas his face and arms were so burnt that Jo forced him to wear a cap to make sure it wouldn’t get worse.
Their last stop was San Francisco; from there they would catch the flight back to London. They had two whole days in this beautiful town before they had to catch their flight in the evening. Before they left for the airport that evening, they spent the entire morning and afternoon walking around the city, having lunch in a nice little restaurant and took countless photos, until they had to get back to the hotel to get their things and call a cab to the airport.
While they sat in the cab, Jo leaned her head against Liam’s shoulder. Liam didn’t look like a lobster anymore, but his cheeks were still a bit red from the sun.
“You tired?”, he asked, and she nodded. “Well, we certainly had very busy weeks…”

“And barely any sleep.”

“And so much walking.”

“And so much…other stuff.” Jo didn’t want the cab driver to know everything she and her husband did.

“Yeah, so much…of that.” A smile played around his lips. “I’m telling you, I’m so ready for some serious sleep when we get home!”

She nodded quietly, holding her stomach. “Ouch…”

“Are you okay?” He looked worried at her.

“It’s just…my stomach hurts a bit.”

“Do you need any medicine?”

“No, it’s not that bad. I think it was from the food we had in that restaurant. Just too much American junk food for my British stomach.” She tried to smile, hoping it would get better soon.

“If it gets worse, let me know, okay?” Liam planted a kiss on her forehead. “And try to get some sleep in the plane.”

Jo let Liam deal with the check in and everything she didn’t feel very well. Her stomach was still acting weird, probably because the flight would now even be longer than before. She felt so tired. Jo was sitting at a table in a small restaurant it had the charm of a small pub. Liam was ordering their food, Jo leaned against the wall.

“Hey darling, are you alright?” Liam kissed the sleeping Jo gently. Jo opened her eyes slowly, she nodded. “Yeah, I’m just so tired.”

Liam wrapped his arm around her. “You look pale even though you are so sweet tanned. I sure they have some kind of emergency medical ward here, maybe we could go there?”

“I’m fine Liam, really just tired. Really I promise.” Jo kissed him.

“How is your stomach?”

“Fine.”

“Really? You are not eating your burger.”

“Liam please, don’t do this. I’m fine just tired and we ate so much the past days. I’m fine okay.” J looked at Liam and had to smile. “I love you so much Liam.”

Liam smiled and kissed her very gentle their lips barely touched but Jo felt the rush of butterflies going through her body.
Jo ate a little of her dinner but she wasn’t really hungry. It didn’t take long until they were able to go on the plane. Liam was prepared, no not really but he tried to be prepared for Jo being scared but they were just sitting a couple of minutes and Liam noticed the calm breaths of his wife. Jo was deep asleep and did didn’t wake up.

“Ladies and gentlemen we are landing now in London Heathrow. I hope you enjoyed the flight and have a wonderful day. The crew of this flight says goodbye.” The pilot sounded so bored saying this. Jo was still sleeping leaning against Liam’s shoulder.

“Hey sleepyhead, we’re here.” Liam grabbed her shoulder gently. She had really managed to sleep through the entire flight, which was a good thing. Jo opened her eyes and looked tired at him.

“We’re in London already?”

“Yes.”

“Oh man, I really need to go to the bathroom. I slept for about fourteen hours.”

“We have to leave the plane first.” He helped her up carefully, and as soon as they were in the building Jo stormed into the ladies’ bathroom while Liam waited for her.
“Are you okay?”, he asked when she came out, looking as if she was about to faint.

“I’m just…so tired.”

“After fourteen hours of sleep?”

“I don’t know why.” She shrugged her shoulders and held on to his arm. She was so weak that she was afraid to fall.

John picked them up from the airport and was very chatty, but he soon noticed that Jo was not in a talking mood, so he continued talking quietly to Liam while she closed her eyes again until they were in Oxford. Back in Waterfall Downs, Jo almost immediately fell into bed and continued sleeping, which continued the next few days as well. She was constantly tired, and her stomach hurt.

A few days later both Lorelai and John came for a visit. Lorelai wanted to check on Jo earlier, but she was always asleep when her cousin stopped by, and now she was finally awake, making tea for everyone. She still looked pale and strangely unrested, as if she hadn’t slept for days, although it was quite the opposite.

“Let me make the tea”, Liam said when they were in the kitchen. “You can go to the others, I’ll be right there.”

“Okay…” She nodded, gave him a kiss on the cheek and left the kitchen. A few minutes later John appeared behind him.

“Hey, you need any help?”, he asked.

“Nah, I’m okay”, Liam said, waiting for the water to boil. He noticed that John seemed a bit weird, as if he wanted to say something but didn’t know how.

“So…how is married life treating you?”, John asked.

“Good.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yes.”

“With Jo as well?”

Liam was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know…I think she suffers from jetlag or something, that’s why she’s tired non-stop and sleeps through the entire day.”

“Jetlag?” John didn’t seem very convinced. “Usually jetlag doesn’t include stomach-ache.”

“Maybe it was just the combination of not getting much sleep, jetlag and eating wrong food.” Liam got out the cups.

“Ehm…Liam, I don’t mean to freak you out, but…”

“But what?” He turned to John.

He took a deep breath. “The last time I saw symptoms equally to Jo’s was…well…when Lory was pregnant. In her early stage.”

Liam stared at John for a while, then he let out a nervous laugh. “No.” He shook his head and put the cups on a tray. “That’s bullshit.”

“I’m serious, Liam. I’m not saying this to mess with you here. I’ve been there, believe me. Lory has been pregnant two times, and each time she showed exactly the symptoms that Jo is showing right now, and I’m pretty su-“

“No!”, Liam interrupted him harshly. “She is not…” He couldn’t even say that word. “She’s just not, okay?”

John saw no point in arguing with him further, so he just sighed. “Okay, I was just saying…”

Jo and Lorelai were sitting in the common room. The windows were all new and it was a nice late August day, but Jo was shivering.

“Josey sweetheart are you alright you are shivering?” Lorelai looked concerned at her cousin.

“Yes I’m fine I think we were just such a long time in really hot weather that I’m just cold here for some time.”

“Okay. Hey John bought me yesterday pralines would you like one?” Lorelai held the box of expensive chocolate and Jo went pale, but giggled. “What?”

Jo blushed, and looked shy at Lorelai. “Um at some point Liam call me his personal praline. He said I was the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted.”

Lorelai raised her eyebrows. “Really what did you do?”

“It was more what he did. He erm he covered my on chocolate sauce, butterscotch and whipping cream. And…” Jo broke off and blushed insanely.

“And…?” Now Lorelai was curious.

“And… erm… he licked it all off me. It was so disgusting, sticky and so awesome.”

“Really? It was me…” Lorelai stopped herself.

“You what?” Jo looked demanding at her cousin.

The older woman sighed. “”During his first time I wrote with melted chocolate on his bare chest the word hot and… well that was it.”

Jo got up and looked out of the window. “Okay.”

“Jo…”

“No! Erm I’m tired and you better go now, please. Or no better I go. I’ll see you around.” Jo stormed out of the room and upstairs into the room they were using at the moment as their bedroom, she crawled into bed.

“Hey were is Jo?” John asked cheerful.

“Oh she didn’t feel well and well John we better go I need to talk to Ellen about Gracie’s riding lessons. See you later Liam. When you two have a day the boys would love to visit you.” Lorelai kissed Liam on the cheek and left a rather confused boy. Liam put the tray with tea on the table and ran upstairs. He found Jo cuddled into lot’s of blankets.

“Hey, what you doing here?”

“Liam? Did Lorelai teach you the stuff with the chocolate and licking it off?” Jo peeked at him, she didn’t understand why she was more emotional than ever before.

Liam felt that he was blushing. Did Lorelai seriously have to tell Jo everything? What was it with girls telling each other every single detail? Jesus…

“Ehm…see…” Liam focused on some spot at the wall rather that looking at Jo who looked like hurt little doe. “You think I would come up with that stuff on my own? I mean…I’m not very creative.” Well, actually, when it came to attractive girls, his creativity usually increased, but he didn’t have to point that out to his wife right now.

“Okay…”, Jo whispered and pulled the blanket to her chin. She just couldn’t stop feeling cold.

“You’re not mad, are you?”

“No.”

Liam sat down next to her. “But hey, the whipped cream and butterscotch was totally my idea! If that makes you feel any better…”

Jo didn’t really look like it made her feel any better. In fact, she looked sick.

“Jo, I’m sorry if that whole thing upset you, I-“

“No, it’s not that.” She mumbled under the blanket. “I mean, it will always bother me that I wasn’t your first, but that’s not it. I don’t know, it’s just…I’m tired, and so cold…”

Liam looked worried at her. It was August, and yes, it might not be as hot as Texas, but it was at least twenty-five degrees outside, and the sun was shining. For a second he had to think of what John said…but immediately banned that thought out of his mind. This particular thought didn’t belong in his mind, not for another few years.
He touched her cold cheek. “Do you have your…you know, thingy?”

“Thingy?”

“You know…” He didn’t know why, but he always felt awkward when it came to women’s menstruation. “Your…um…time of the month again?”

Jo shook her head. “No, it’s not that.”

“Do you get a cold?”

“No.”

Liam sighed. She was so happy and carefree during their weeks in the States, and now she looked so helpless and fragile. “I’ll make you some tea, you need something hot to warm you up. And if you want I can read something to you, like The Wizard of Oz or The Three Musketeers or something like that. You pick.”

Jo smiled weakly. “Thank you”, she whispered.