Vault

 
Bells Of Ballintoy

1&2  3&4  5&6  7&8 9&10 11&12 13&14 15&16 17&18 19&20 21&22 23&24

1

Mark rubbed his eyes, the clock said 7am, and the sun was shining through the curtains, he looked over at the other side of the bed, but there was no one there. He got out of bed, and wandered out into the hall, he could smell bacon, and also fried bananas. He immediately knew that they were having pancakes for breakfast.

“Morning” Mark said, embracing his girlfriend, Eilidh.
“Mark, I didn’t wake you, I just thought I’d make a start on the bedrooms, if we’re expecting everyone after lunch.”
“I can’t believe that today the lads will meet you. I mean, I can’t wait for them to meet you.”
“I know, and also you get to show off your new house overlooking the beautiful Ballintoy Harbour.”
“I can’t believe all those 3 months ago, I’d never been to this little coastal village, until you told me about it. And then we went here for the weekend, and you showed me about the place. I couldn’t help falling in love with the place, and then when we walked down to the harbour, we both spotted this house, and it’s for sale sign. We didn’t have to think twice, before knocking on the door. I don’t think the owners expected to sell their house to a pop star.”
“The look on their faces was priceless. So are you hungry? Do you want coffee or tea?”
“Tea, I’ll make it, should we eat outside on the balcony, or inside.”
“Outside, if you want. Go on out, I’ll bring the pancakes”
“Eilidh!!”
“What?”

Mark stood there, at the door; his face was full of surprise.

“You knew I’d ask if you’d want to eat outside, so you set it up.”
“Mark, well, you know me full of surprises!”
“Yup.”

Mark sat there, deep in thought, it was 3 weeks, since he’d seen the lads, and they were coming to his house to discuss the future of the band. He couldn’t wait to show off his house, and his girlfriend to them. They didn’t even know that he was seeing someone, he was spending most of his time up here in Ballintoy, and even the locals treated them like they were locals, and not celebrities. Even tonight when the 10 of them go to Molly’s restaurant and pub for dinner, there’ll be minimum fuss, he didn’t want the town to be the centre of publicity frenzy with the media.

The phone rang.
“I’ll get it,” Mark said, grabbing it.
“Hello,” Mark said.
“Hi Mark, its Bryan. I just spoke to the others, and we’re all travelling up together, we’ll be leaving Dublin about 10am, so we’ll get to you about 3ish, is that okay?”
“Sure is, the weather is so nice here; I bet its raining in Dublin.”
“It is. You mean the sun is shining at your house!”
“Yup, see you when you get here.”
“Okay!”

Eilidh walked outside, with the plates.

“Who was that?”
“Bry, asking if 3pm is okay for arriving. I said it was, apparently its raining in Dublin.”
“Oh dear, won’t they be shocked seeing the blue sky!”
“Yeah, they’re all travelling together. I can see there will be squabbling as soon as they get on the road.”
“Let’s eat before they get cold. I feel weird, meeting the others, I mean, what if they don’t like me, or think I’m not your type.”
“If they do, then we’ll get them to ring my mam, and she’ll tell them that she likes you, and there’s nothing wrong with you.”

It was over 2 weeks ago, that Mark’s family came up to see the house, and to meet Eilidh. Mark couldn’t get over how his family simply bonded with Eilidh, and she suddenly felt as part of the Feehily’s.
Mark’s mam was full of praise for Eilidh, and knew that the fact that her Mark had a girlfriend was a big secret to the rest of the band, so when they came back from Ballintoy, the Filan’s, and the Egan’s were asking loads of questions, but they were keeping mum on Mark’s love life.
Mark knew his mother well and there was no way that his relationship would be revealed. He couldn’t get over how the media hadn’t even caught a sniff of it either, obviously he wasn’t important enough to be bothered, nor were they looking hard enough, in getting information.

Mark smiled as he gathered up the plates and cups. 
“What are you smiling for?” Eilidh asked, standing by the door.
“Just thinking how lucky I am to have met someone like you.”
“Oh, sure sure!!” Eilidh said, laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing!”
“Come on, you don’t laugh for no reason! Spill the beans!”
“Okay, you’ve got a bit of banana on your chin!”
“Oh, really?”
“All gone now...” Eilidh said, as she leant over to kiss him on the lips. There was something about that kiss that made Mark blush.
Mark stood at the sink, washing the dishes, and looking out the window, he could see Eilidh hanging out the washing, and he couldn’t help smiling!
Maybe this woman would be his soul mate, she had all the requirements that he was looking for, he just needed to find the right moment.
“Mark, are you going to do those dishes or are you simply staring into space!”

“Dishes.”

“Well, that’s the bedrooms done; I hope that they don’t mind sharing two bathrooms. “

“I’m sure it will be fine, its only one weekend that they are staying.”

“Gee, but a lot of things could happen in ONE WEEKEND!!” Eilidh said, shivering.

“You okay?”

”Yeah.”

2

The cloud-less sky was looking perfect, and the sea looking as beautiful as ever. It soon was 3pm and the sounds of a car travelling down the road towards the harbour, made them stand up.

“Oh god they are here!” Mark said, walking down the stairs.

Eilidh walked slowly behind, this was the moment she had been dreading.

“Mark!!!!” voices cried.

“You made it.”

”You should have said you lived right on the north edge of Ireland,”

“There’s someone I’d like you all to met, this is Eilidh”

“Hi” Eilidh said, with a shy smile.

“Mark, how many secrets are you hiding, I mean there this house, which looks amazing, and you’ve got a girlfriend that nobody knows about.”

“Maybe some things are better kept secret.” Eilidh said.

"Yeah, yeah, just point me to the nearest bathroom.” Gillian said.

“If you’ll follow me!” Eilidh said.

“This is a nice house; I couldn’t believe that Mark actually liked this place!”

“He’s full of surprises, now I should warn you, only 2 bathrooms down stairs, and this is Shane and Gillian’s room, Bryan and Kerry are across, the next one down is Nicky and Georgina’s and across from them is Kian and Jodi.”

“Thank you.” Gillian said, rushing into a bathroom.

A while later, once everyone was settled in, and sitting on the deck area.

“Mark, I actually thought you were pulling my leg, when you said that you had bought a house in Northern Ireland.” Kian said.

“Why is that?” Mark said.

“I didn’t actually think you’d buy a house outside Sligo, I mean I thought you always said that you’d never move out of Sligo.”

“Sometimes things change&ldots;”

“So, Mark what actually can one do in Ballintoy?”

“Oh, there’s the Giants Causeway, Dunluce Castle, and the Carrick-A-Rede Rope bridge, just to name a few.”

“Sounds all too exciting, but what about the shopping?” Georgina asks.

“Apart from what’s in the village, there’s not much!”

“So you’re telling me, that there is actually no shopping malls, no boutiques.”

“What do you think this place is? Paris or London?” Eilidh said, sharply. 

Eilidh walked inside, not wanting to hear anymore. Mark followed, leaving the others outside.

“Sorry about that!” Eilidh said.

“Don’t be, that’s just Georgina, anyway, should we head down to Shamus’s, I know it’s just gone 5 but they’ll want pre-dinner drinks.” Mark said, embracing her.

“Okay, it should be a nice night tonight to walk down.” Eilidh replied.

Mark told the others to get ready to head down to the restaurant, of course there were a few protests at the thought of walking there and back, but they were quickly defeated.

The sun was still up, and showing no signs of setting, as everyone left the house. It was a 10 min walk to the town centre, which wasn’t so bad, and you got to see some of Ballintoy’s most beautiful sights, including Ballintoy Old Church, where legends says that only those destined will hear the bells toll the number of letters in their lovers name. Eilidh had bought the book, “Bells of Ballintoy” as she was fascinated by the legend.

The old bookstore next to Shamus’s sold it, and the old lady seemed to know a lot about it, maybe she and her late husband were blessed with the tolling of the bells. Eilidh often wondered what would happen when she’ll sell all the ‘Bells of Ballintoy’.

Eilidh walked slowly past it, and as if on cue, the bells tolled, Eilidh stopped in shock; she stared at the church, breathing deeply as the bells tolled, and she silently counted them, eight and then five. She soon realised that she wasn’t destined to be with Mark. But who else heard the bells? She wondered, carrying on walking.

“You okay?” Mark said.

“Yeah, just admiring the church, to be here all those years ago, when people were married here, and the whole town would line the streets to catch a glimpse of the couple would have been so special.”

Eilidh glanced over at the rest of the group, everyone seemed to be okay, and no one seemed to be worried. Maybe she was imagining it, but it did seem real to her, maybe she should re-read her “Bells of Ballintoy, or get another copy just in case some one else wanted to read about the legend.

As they approached the Restaurant, a few kids stopped and stared but they didn’t actually say anything. A few adults smiled in surprise, but carried on their way home with their shopping and their children.

“That was weird.” Jodi said, “You’d think that they’d come bother us, by saying ‘aren’t you a pop star or a TV star?”

Entering the restaurant, they were greeted by Shamus.

“Evening all,”

“Evening Shamus,” Eilidh said, smiling.

“I’ll take you through to the main restaurant, so you won’t be bothered with some of the antics of the locals. Slim Jim has already fallen off his stool twice, and he keeps on getting back up.”

“Thanks, Shamus, when is Kara back?” Eilidh said, as they moved into the other room.

“She’s back. She’ll be your waitress tonight.” Shamus said, smiling as he led the group to the table, a few other diners were already eating, but they glanced over to see who would be sitting at the big table.

Dinner was amazing as usual,  thought Eilidh, as she started on her main, Shamus was famous for its Garlic Chips, and Eilidh absolutely loved them, and almost every time hassled Shamus for the recipe, but tonight she had other things to think about, the bells for instance. She couldn’t believe that it actually happened. And who was the one for her, then it hit her, there was only two people in their group that had the numbers 8 and 5 in their names, one was Georgina and the other was Nicky or Nicholas. Could she be destined to be with Nicky, how would Mark cope, and how would Georgina react with the fact that the bells actually tolled us together, Eilidh thought!

She needed to talk to Nicky before he went back to Dublin. Maybe he was thinking about the bells as well, as he was very quiet all through dinner.

“Eilidh, can I trouble you for a minute,” Kara said, 

“Sure, if you’ll excuse me for a minute. I’ll see you outside.”