So I finally finished another chapter, I'm so sorry for the delay. I hope it was worth the wait.
Keep voting and commenting, I try to reply to as many of you as I can. xo
Chapter 6
Once Trish and her family had freshened up it was time to head over to the marquee and greet the rest of their guests.
"Wow this is amazing." Trish gasped as she took in all the decorations and lights.
"We thought it was rather apt to go with the magical theme." Beth replied, but her smiled faded as she remembered the conversation with Jory earlier. "Although now all I want to do is forget about magic."
Trish put her arm around Beth's shoulders. "Let's go get a drink and you can tell me what happened."
She looked at Trish then at Liam. "It's ok you need to talk to Trish, we've got a while before we sit down to eat. I'll stay here with the girls and greet our guests."
Beth hugged him and gave him a quick kiss. "Thank you."
Liam watched his wife walk over to the bar, a slight frown marring his handsome features. He knew it would do Beth good to vent to her best friend, but he was still worried about what effect the latest revelations would have on her. His thoughts were rudely interrupted by the high pitched squeals of his daughters, as they welcomed some of their college friends to the party. He looked over the crowd of young adults, and recognised some faces from the village along with others he had never met. Although he trusted his daughter's judgement when it came to their friends, he hoped that things didn't get out of hand with all the alcohol available.
He rubbed his face with his hands and thought ruefully about the things that he had got up to at their age. But that just made him feel worse, so he gave a few of the guys that were huddled around his daughters a hard stare before walking away. "God I must be getting old." He muttered as he looked around for Joe and Rory.
Once all the guests had arrived, they sat down to eat. The music was turned down to a more acceptable level and was overshadowed by laughing, glasses clinking and the odd party popper being set off prematurely. The triplets sat at separate tables with their best friends, but soon got up to wander round and chat at the other tables.
Liam and Beth sat with, Rory, Ginny, Trish, Rob, Joe and Alison.
He relaxed a little when he saw that Beth seemed a little happier after her chat with Trish. He even teased Rory about his reaction towards his daughter's boyfriends. He kept glaring over at their table whenever the girls laughed at something the boys had done. Ginny kept nudging him to make him turn round and leave the girls alone.
"I think the medieval knights had the right idea with chastity belts mate." Liam sighed.
"Now there's an idea." Rory replied through gritted teeth.
Beth and Ginny turned to their husbands in shock.
"Since when did you two turn into grumpy old men?" Beth joked.
"I can't believe you two are getting your boxers in a twist over this." Trish remarked.
"It's easy for you to talk, you only have boys." Rory retorted..
Beth turned on Rory, clearly annoyed at his remark. "Oh so it's ok for the boys to do what they want because they're one of the lads, but the girls have to behave. I never took you for a sexist pig Rory."
Rory put his hands up to defend himself from Beth's rant. "Whoa, that's not what I meant at all. I just don't want my girls to be taken advantage of."
"Well I think despite having you as a father our daughters have more sense than that." Ginny retorted.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rory almost whined.
"I agree with Ginny, all our girls have been brought up to be open and honest. They have a lot of common sense and never hesitate to speak to me or Ginny about anything. They understand how important it is to be safe, and when the time comes I think they will make the right decision."
Liam shifted in his seat and folded his arms. "Can we please not have this discussion tonight. I really don't want those thoughts in my head."
"I agree with Liam and after that battering I think I need something stronger than wine." Rory grumbled and got up to go to the bar.
Liam was about to follow him when Beth put a hand on his arm. "Don't go disappearing, it's nearly time for your speech."
"Great." He huffed and finished off the wine in his glass.
The waiters made sure every table had a bottle of champagne, the music was turned off and Liam took Beth's hand as he reluctantly walked towards the stage.
When he took the microphone from Trystan he gave Beth one last look of desperation, she just smiled and squeezed his hand.
He waited for the chattering to settle down and cleared his throat.
"Eighteen years ago today my beautiful wife delivered three babies into the world. We named them in the Cornish tradition, Morwenna, Tregereth and Ailla." He smiled at each girl as he said their names.
"Now I'm not going to say that bringing up triplets is a piece of cake, and I'm not going to embarrass the girls by going into details of all the trouble they got into." This raised a few sniggers from around the room.
"But looking at my daughter's tonight, I think Beth and I can be proud of our achievement. We have three beautiful, intelligent and caring daughters, and I know I speak for Beth as well when I say it was all worth it." There were a few aaaah's around the room.
"However, even though I hate to admit that my beautiful babies have grown into young women. I can't really ignore the fact, seeing as they insist on running around the house in their underwear." His cheeks coloured slightly at this remark, especially when there was a roar of approval from the young guys in the room.
"I have decided that the only woman who should be running round my house half naked, is my wife." He turned and gave Beth a cheeky grin just as Rory shouted "Hear, hear." And was promptly smacked on the back of his head by Ginny.
"So the solution to this problem is your birthday present." He said as he smiled at his daughter's. They looked at each other in confusion.
Beth stood beside him with three small boxes in her hands.
"Come on you three, I thought you would be eager to get your present."
The girls stood up and walked towards their parents, they still had no idea what was coming.
Beth gave them a box each and watched as they opened them.
The girls looked even more confused when they each pulled out what looked like a door key.
Liam stood grinning at them until Beth nudged him. "Stop teasing them."
"Ok, we decided it was time you moved out so that Beth and I could have the house to ourselves. We decided not to sell the cottage at the other side of the farm. I finished renovating it and it's all yours."
The girls stood in shock for a minute as the words sunk in, then shrieked in unison.
"Oh. My. God."
They jumped up and down and hugged each other as they squealed in delight, then turned and leapt onto Beth and Liam.
The guests clapped and cheered and champagne corks started to pop. Rory handed Beth, Liam and the girls a glass and raised his, shouting. "Happy Birthday girls." Everyone joined in wishing them a happy birthday as the waiters wheeled in three cakes, each with eighteen candles glowing brightly.
After the cakes had been cut and passed round, Trystan cranked up the music so that everyone could dance.
Beth sat down between Ginny and Trish and took another sip of her champagne.
"So, that DJ is quite a hunk." Trish remarked.
"Mmm I agree." Ginny smirked.
"Have you noticed the looks passing between him and Morwenna?" Trish asked.
Beth nearly choked on her champagne. "Well he certainly made an impression on her that's for sure. I just hope she shows a bit of that common sense we were talking about. She's never really been that interested in guys before this."
"Unlike her sisters." Trish remarked as she scowled across the dance floor.
"What?" Ginny and Beth both turned round to see what she was talking about.
They spotted Tregereth and Ailla dancing with Trish's sons, both looking more than comfortable in the young men's arms.
"What's wrong with that?" Beth asked her hackles rising.
Trish turned to her friend and realised that she had misunderstood her.
"Hey I'm only worried that my boys behave themselves, they are a bit older than the girls. It may be a nice thought to have our kids hooking up together, but if it goes pear shaped, we're stuck in the middle."
Beth relaxed and sighed. "Yeah I see what you mean."
"But you know what they say, better the devil you know." Ginny chuckled as she watched Morwenna walk up to speak to Trystan.
Beth and Trish followed her gaze and groaned.