Aka Amy

The rest of my Friday went well, after Emma and I got back to work again. I was still happy when the day came to a close though. It was the end of my first full week of work, and I couldn't help smile as I set off for the short drive home to start the weekend.

Amy had a glass of wine ready for me when she welcomed me home, which was very much appreciated. We exchanged a hug and a kiss as she handed me my drink, then picked her own up from the coffee table and returned to her seat.

I settled onto the sofa next to her and had a sip of my wine before smiling, "I could get used to this, you know? Come home from a long day at the office and find my cute girlfriend waiting for me with a hug and a nice glass of Riesling."

She teased, "Perhaps I should give up my dream of being an ambulance attendant and just focus on being your happy little housewife instead? How do you feel about being the sole bread-winner of the household?"

"I don't know," I teased back, "You might need to sweeten the deal first? When you say 'little housewife' how small are we talking about? Can we throw in some other terms and conditions? How about loyal and obedient too?"

She giggled, "We'll see. Anyways, what do you feel like for dinner, now that you're home from a hard day's work at the office? Shall I go prepare you a nice wholesome and hearty home-cooked meal? Or do you want to just order something in?"

I smiled as I had a sip of my wine. Then I told her, "Friday night routine, let's order in. I feel like something simple though, so is pizza ok with you?"

"Pizza it is," she agreed.

It was early yet so we didn't order right away. Instead we relaxed and cuddled while we enjoyed our wine. And I told her about my day, especially my lunch with Emma. I mentioned the possibility of going over to her place for dinner at some point, "She's going to check with her wife but I'm sure it won't be a problem. If we do get an invite, are you ok with that?"

"Of course," Amy nodded. "I'd love to meet your new colleague. From what you've said she sounds interesting."

I nodded, "Yeah. I've only known her a few days, but we've been spending our lunch breaks together? It sounds like she's had an interesting life so far."

The only thing I hadn't told Amy about yet was Emma's specialty. I wasn't sure whether or not to mention it. And of course I hadn't said anything at all about her daughter either. Or daughters, depending on how you counted them.

"Anyways how's your day gone cutie?" I asked. "Have you been keeping yourself busy with Goddess work, or are you still on vacation?"

Amy had another sip of her wine before replying, "It's been quiet. I guess I'm still in vacation-mode. There's been a trickle of prayers and things, but maybe it'll pick up this weekend? The full moon's on Wednesday, so we'll be doing our thing Tuesday night."

Thinking about spending another night with the Goddess sent some very excited flutters through my stomach, and some other places as well. I was already looking forward to it, although I was also a little worried about whether or not I'd be any good at work the following morning.

After a few seconds enjoying those happy thoughts I finally got my mind back onto the topic at hand and commented, "On the subject of prayers and worshipers, I haven't heard from April at all since the thing with her girlfriend. Have you heard anything from her? Or from Ada?"

For a moment there was something in her expression, but it was gone before I could tell what it was. Then she smiled, "Sorry Tess. You might be sleeping with a goddess, but I'm not going to spread any gossip or share private information about my people."

"Not even with your cleric?" I asked with a pout. I was mostly kidding, but I couldn't help feeling a little worried. Like if everything was going fine I figured she'd have just said that. The way she responded left me thinking maybe the situation with my friend maybe wasn't as good as I'd hoped.

She shook her head, "Sorry love. If you want to know how April's doing, give her a call or meet her for lunch or something? You were having lunch with her almost weekly for a while there."

"Or if you want to know how Ada's doing," she added, "You could play the cleric card and follow up with her to see if everything's ok."

I frowned, then sighed. "It's been almost two months since we visited her and April. I was so excited to do that, to perform a miracle and change someone's life. And after the way it turned out, I haven't really been tempted to do it again."

"I've noticed," she replied softly, as she gave me a gentle squeeze. "I know I've said this a dozen times but you didn't do anything wrong, and you did exactly what I'd have done. We gave Ada what she wanted and she was happy and grateful for it."

Before I could respond she added, "Anyways let's not worry about that stuff now. Why don't you order that pizza, and I'll get us more wine."

"Ok cutie," I replied with a wan smile.

She got up and took our glasses back to the kitchen while I picked up my phone and put in the order. Then when she returned with the drinks we put something on the TV and passed the time cuddling, sipping wine, and generally taking it easy.

Amy took care of it when the food arrived, and we ate dinner on the sofa while we watched a show. It was over by the time we'd both had enough to eat, then she started to tidy up. As she did so she turned off the TV and said, "There's actually something I wanted to talk with you about, if you don't mind?"

"Sure," I shrugged. "Anything serious?"

"Not exactly," she replied as she topped up our wine glasses again.

When she joined me on the sofa I noticed she seemed to have some tension in her shoulders, like whatever it was she wanted to tell me had her feeling a little anxious.

After a sip of her wine Amy began, "So this actually has to do with your family tree? That incomplete branch, where Niamh couldn't find any more information about Bridget or Elaine."

"Oh?" I asked with some excitement. "Don't tell me you've found out what happened to them?"

My girlfriend nodded, "I have. So relax, enjoy your wine, and I'll tell you a little story."

She still seemed slightly uneasy which made me worry. Instead of relaxing with my wine I asked, "Does this story have an unhappy ending? You seem tense Amy, like you're uptight about this."

"Sorry Tess," she grimaced. "I'm a little uneasy but that's on me. As for the story having a happy ending, I think that's up to interpretation? So how about I just dive in and tell you?"

I nodded, "Ok cutie. Try and relax though, however it ends I'm sure it'll be fine."

"I hope so," she responded. She paused for another sip of her wine, then took a deep breath and dove in. And I kept quiet and listened, while I enjoyed some wine as well.

"So as we learned from Niamh," Amy began, "Your great-great-grandmother Siobhan gave birth to her second child in nineteen thirteen. That was a girl, named Bridget Cleary. I wasn't able to find out when or why or what happened, but Bridget had a falling-out with her mother and at least one of her brothers, your great-grandfather Liam. Bridget moved to Wexford town in the thirties, and that's where she gave birth to her daughter Elaine Cleary, in nineteen thirty-seven."

I nodded quietly as she talked. I already had some questions, like how'd she find out about the falling-out or that Bridget had a problem with her mother and older brother specifically, but I kept quiet while my girlfriend shared the story.

Amy continued, "The reason Niamh lost track of them after that was they left the country and changed their last names. In nineteen forty, when Elaine was just three years old, Bridget decided to move overseas. Apparently even though Ireland was neutral she was worried about the Germans invading?"

"I think that was during the Battle of Britain," she added, "And I'm sure there was a lot of stress and anxiety about whether or not British Isles were going to be invaded. I actually did some digging and found out the Luftwaffe bombed a village in County Wexford in the summer of nineteen forty, although I don't know if that was intentional or if they got lost and it happened by mistake. There were also quite a few planes that crashed on Irish soil, from both German and Allied air forces."

"Anyways back on topic," she said after another sip of wine, "The two of them came over to Canada, and when they arrived Bridget changed her and Elaine's last name to O'Niell. She never actually married, but O'Niell may have been the last name of the man who fathered Elaine. They settled in Montreal, where there's been a strong Irish community presence since the mid eighteen-hundreds. Bridget spent the rest of her life there, she passed on in the year two thousand, and is buried in a Montreal cemetery."

I smiled, "That's amazing. What about Elaine, do you know what became of her? And is she still around?"

Amy nodded, "I do. And yes, she is."

We both had some more wine before she started on the next part of her story, "Elaine grew up in Montreal, and in nineteen sixty-three she married a man named Henry Gordon. In nineteen sixty-five they had a daughter named Tracey. Then in seventy-eight Henry's job was relocated to Kingston Ontario, so all three of them moved there. Henry passed away in twenty twelve, but Elaine Gordon, previously Elaine O'Niell, previously Elaine Cleary is still alive. She's eighty-five years old now, and lives in a nursing home in Kingston."

By that point my eyes were wide and I couldn't help feeling excited. "Amy this is amazing! Do you think we could go and meet her? We'll have to send all this to Niamh too, she'll be happy to have that last branch filled in."

"Yeah we can go and see her if you want," Amy replied. She was grimacing slightly again though, and still seemed uptight about something.

I frowned, "What's wrong? You don't want to go visit Elaine?"

"It's not that," she replied. After another gulp of wine she said, "And the story isn't over yet."

"Oh right," I nodded. "You said Elaine had a daughter, I take it you found out about her too?"

My girlfriend almost cringed at that point. "Yeah, I know all about her daughter. Tracey Gordon moved to Toronto in the early nineties. In ninety-four she married a guy named Douglas Price, and in ninety-six they had their first daughter Hailey. In ninety-nine their second child was born, who turned out to be a trans girl named Amy..."

As she spoke my eyebrows crept upwards while my mouth dropped open and my stomach felt heavy. I ended up gulping down the rest of my wine, and when her voice finally trailed off at the end I was left staring at her in shock, while Amy was looking down at her drink.

"You're kidding," I responded quietly, once I finally found my voice. "This has to be a joke, right?"

Amy slowly shook her head, "Hailey made the connection. She knew our nana was named Elaine, from Ireland, and born in nineteen thirty-seven. She got some more information from our mom, who confirmed Elaine's mother was named Bridget and that she was born in nineteen thirteen. The last name thing is what threw me. That and I really didn't want to believe it. Then me and Hailey went and visited our nana a couple days ago, while you were at work."

I listened quietly as she told me about that visit, and how their grandmother filled in some of the missing details.

"Since then I've been doing some research online," Amy added. "Looking at genealogy sites, immigration information, historical stuff. And finally, I figured out some magic. It's confirmed Tess. My nana Elaine is the Elaine Cleary on your family tree."

Golden light swirled into both our wine glasses at that moment, then when it faded she had another deep sip of her drink. Finally she said, "Hailey suggested we could get a couple of those home DNA kits? They should provide some scientific proof, to back up my magical confirmation."

After a gulp of my wine I asked, "So what does this mean, for you and me?"

"Nothing at all, really?" she responded. "We're third cousins. Hailey said something about that being eight levels of separation? Anyways, there's no legal, genetic, or biological ramifications. The only real difference is it means your and Niamh's family tree gets filled in a little further. And it answers a question I've had for the past year."

I frowned, "What question's that?"

Amy shrugged, "Why me? Why would an Irish goddess reincarnate into a Welsh family. The answer being, I'm not just Welsh. It turns out I'm as much a Cleary girl as you or Niamh. And as far as we know, I was the first Cleary to be born after Amy Sullivan died. Hailey and Aidan were three years early, you were four months early, and Niamh was two years late."

I nodded slowly, "Ok, that sort of makes sense. It's also a little weird to think that it could have just been the luck of the draw, who was born when compared to when Amy Sullivan died."

"Agreed," she stated. "To be honest there might be more to it than that? I'm probably be oversimplifying things or missing something obvious. But ignoring the goddess stuff, it's kind of a wild coincidence. We'd never have known any of this stuff if we hadn't met Niamh, or if she hadn't put together that family tree."

After a moment she added, "Or if we hadn't told Hailey about it that evening over dinner. Like I said, she's the one who realized the possible connection, not me. As far as I was concerned, nana was Elaine O'Niell from Montreal."

I was quiet for a bit after that, as I sipped my wine and thought about everything she'd just told me. I finally responded, "The more I think of it, the more amazing it seems? You and me and Niamh are all about the same age, and each of us is descended from one of Siobhan's children."

"And Hailey and Aidan too," Amy reminded me. "But you're right. You're third cousins with all four of us."

I nodded slowly, "I guess we should send Niamh an email over the weekend, to let her know what you've uncovered."

"Yeah," she agreed. Then she pulled me into a hug and added, "Thanks for not freaking out about this. I was kind of worried when Hailey told me? The only reason I didn't say anything sooner was I wanted to find out for sure first. I didn't want to risk upsetting you when it was just speculation."

I hugged her back, "It's ok Amy, I get it. It was a shock, but now that I'm past the surprise I can see it's no big deal."

As we held each other she leaned closer then hesitated, "Is it ok if I kiss you?"

I leaned in and kissed her then added, "Of course. Why wouldn't it be?"

"Just wanted to be sure it was ok to kiss my cousin," she replied with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes, "Don't make it weird. But yes, in this case it's ok to kiss. Cousin."