The Gallaghers of Ardmore Trilogy

a fit of barking, and hastily shoved the sketches into the folder she used to file them.
    She barely got it closed and stuffed into a drawer before Darcy and Brenna strolled in.
    “There’s the fierce warrior dog.” Brenna dropped down on the floor to engage in her usual wrestling match with Finn.
    “Do you have something cold for a weary friend, Jude?” Darcy slid into a chair at the table.
    “I have some soft drinks.”
    “Were you working?” Darcy asked as Jude opened the refrigerator.
    “No, not really. I’ve finished most of what I’d planned to do this morning.”
    “Good, for Brenna and I have plans for you.”
    “Do you?” Amused, Jude set out the drinks. “You can’t possibly want another shopping spree so soon.”
    “I’m always wanting another shopping spree, but no, that’s not it. You’ve been with us for three months now.”
    “More or less,” Jude agreed and tried not to think that her time was half over.
    “And Brenna and I’ve decided it’s time for a ceili .”
    Interested, Jude sat as well. She’d always enjoyed hearing her grandmother talk of the ceilis she’d been to as a girl. Food and music and dancing all spilling out of the house. People crowded into the kitchen, flooding out into the dooryard. “You’re going to have a ceili ?”
    “No.” Darcy grinned. “You’re having it.”
    “Me.” With something akin to terror, Jude gaped. “I couldn’t. I don’t know how.”
    “There’s nothing to it,” Brenna assured her. “Old Maude used to have one every year at this time, before she took poorly. The Gallaghers will give you the music, and there are plenty more who’ll be more than happy to play. Everyone brings food and drink.”
    “All you have to do is open the door and enjoy,” Darcy assured her. “We’ll all help you put things together and make sure the word gets out. We thought a week from Saturday, as that’s the solstice. Midsummer’s Eve’s a fine night for a ceili .”
    “A week?” Jude croaked it out. “But that’s not enough time. It can’t be enough time.”
    “More than enough.” Darcy winked at her. “We’ll help you with everything, so don’t worry a bit. Do you think Ican borrow that red dress of yours? The one with the little straps and the jacket.”
    “Yes, of course, but I really can’t—”
    “You’re not to fret.” Brenna climbed into a chair. “My mother’s all set to lend a hand as well. She’s been looking for distractions since Maureen’s making her crazy about the wedding. Now my advice would be to have the music in the parlor, the main of it anyway, and the kegs and that outside the back door. That gives you a nice flow from one to the other.”
    “We’ll need to move some of the furniture for dancing,” Darcy put in. “And if it’s a fine night, we could set some chairs outside as well.”
    “The moon will just be coming full. My mother had the thought of setting candles about outdoors, to make it festive and to keep people from tripping over things.”
    “But I—”
    “Can you get Shawn to make colcannon, Darcy?” Brenna interrupted before Jude could get the protest out.
    “Sure he’ll make plenty, and the pub will donate a keg and some bottles. Maybe your mother would make some of her stew pies. No one has a finer hand at it.”
    “It’ll please her to do it.”
    “Really.” Jude felt as if she were going under for the third time, and her friends were smiling indulgently after tossing her an anchor instead of a rope. “I couldn’t ask—”
    “Aidan’ll close the pub for the night, so I’ll be able to come along early and help with anything that needs it.” Darcy let out a satisfied breath. “There, we’re all but done with it.”
    All Jude could do was lay her head on the table.
     
    “I think that went well,” Darcy said as she and Brenna climbed back in the lorry.
    “I feel a bit guilty, running over her that way.”
    “It’s for Jude herself we’re doing it.”
    “We’ve left her stuttering and pale, but it went well enough.” With a laugh, Brenna started the engine. “I’m glad I recalled how my father proposed to my mother at a ceili right here in this cottage. It’s a fine omen.”
    “Friends look out for friends.” Some might have called her flighty, but there was no firmer friend once made than Darcy Gallagher. “She’s mad in love with him and too shy to push him where she wants him. We’ll see they have the night and the music, and I’ll come