Lem quickened his pace to catch up with Nora, not willing to remain behind with the quivering Kieran and that warning glare Arthur held towards him. "Remind me again why we're doin' this?"
"Fishing?" She turned to look over at Lem who only stared blankly forward. "It's a nice break from all the workin' and I thought you wouldn't mind a day to jus' relax."
"Aunt Maggie won't be too thrilled if we're lazing about, mind and besides you k-know I ain't so keen on fishin'." He spared a glance over his shoulder, looking at how tense and stiff Kieran was as he walked behind them. Nora abruptly came to a halt which caught the group off guard, she turned towards Arthur and Kieran and waved them closer. "You two go ahead an' find a good spot." They nodded at her instructions and left the pair alone.
When gone, Nora took Lem's hand gently and pulled him from the path and over to a rock near to sit on. "One, Aunt Maggie wouldn't mind you havin' a break every once in a while and two, you don't gotta fish or stay.. I ain't gonna force ya."
"I'll stay but I won't fish." She chuckled slightly and placed her palm against his cheek. "You an' I can sit on the beach then."
"Sure."
...
She found the men a little bit aways from Clemens Point, already preparing the equipment they brought for their little trip. Kieran had been the one to spot her as she approached and to be kind he gave both her and Lem a gentle wave.
"Nice spot you found here." She complimented and subtly Kieran had turned a darker shade of pink.
"It was more Kieran than me." Arthur pointed towards the male as he said this and Nora turned towards Duffy after being told so. "Well, it is a lovely spot."
To prevent himself from becoming more flustered, Kieran had to move further away from the group than he would like. At first Arthur opened his mouth to shout at the "O'Driscoll" but when he noticed the pink tint to his cheek and the more-than-usual nervey expression, he had realised that Kieran needed to move away from them so he wouldn't embarrass himself. He was definitely going to tease him about this in the future.
Nora sat crossed legged on the grass behind where as Lem sat in front, using his knee to rest his arm. "You two ain't fishin'?" Arthur asked them, when he noticed them sitting by.
Nora raised a hand and shook her head. "I'm poor at it and Lem ain't necessarily a big fisherman neither."
Kieran turned around with a subtle frown, extending hid hand forward even though she was too far to take it. "Come on, why don't you join in for a bit?" He called but she refused.
"I can show you some of my tricks."
Arthur heard his comment and quickly looked over with a warning look in his eye. "These tricks better be appropriate now, Kieran." And at this the man's face had turned a dark red and Nora bursted out into a hearty-laugh from it.
"I-It's not like that, Mister." He tried to defend but realised that the man had only been teasing when he too, broke out into a laugh.
Kieran abruptly looked away to hide the shame and focused entire on his fishing instead of Nora and the other's. "It ain't right." He muttered under his breathe but the other's didn't hear him anyway.
Nora stood between the two men, her hands on her hips as she inspected the calm waters and from across the way she noticed Mary-Beth standing with a coffee in hand, waving gently at them which she reciprocated with a bright smile.
Nothing much had been said amongst them, but there was no awkward silence amongst them rather, it was a nice feeling as they enjoyed their fishing.
"What in the." Kieran commented and both she and Lem looked over at him as his eyes inspected the waters. "That fellers as naked as a jay bird."
Her eyes landed on the person he spoke about once he swam near enough to be seen. "Oh my." She mumbled, turning away whereas Arthur had said "Is this why you like this spot?"
His comment went unheard however, and even then Lem had risen to see what the fuss was about only to be shocked at what he saw. Arthur called out to the naked man as he neared the line and so he stopped to talk with the group, much to their dismay.
"You know, there's this real impressive bluegill over that way!" The man extended his arms outwards to demonstrate it's size but ended up going under the water, Nora took a step forward out of habit and the man quickly resurfaced, everything a little too much on show. "Alright thank you, feller." The man swam away after Arthur's thanks and all excited, Kieran got ready to move over to that new spot recommended.
"I know where that is!" The man cheered. "Come on, we'll check it out now."
Just as excited as he was, Nora eagerly mounted her horse to follow behind the man as he led the group through more trees and to another beach for them to fish on. They looked over at the water for a moment and to their surprise saw an extraordinary bluegill break the surface, significantly larger than most other bluegills.
Kieran looked bewildered at the fish and his joy grew at the idea of catching such a beast. "Let's go f-fish from the beach there."
"If you say so."
"I'd recommend using a lure for this, bread an' cheese won't do but we may get lucky.. who knows."
Nora had stood more so next to Kieran on the beach rather than anybody else while he fished. Arthur looked on over at the two and gently smiled at how much Kieran had relaxed while they were out. Sure he had still displayed being nervous and tried avoiding eye contact at all times, but he was a lot less tense while out here and more happy with Nora by his side.
Arthur would say allowed that he didn't trust the "O'Driscoll" and yet here he was, enjoying himself with the man he claimed to dislike. Awkwardly, he cleared his throat and turned towards Kieran while he looked with bright eyes towards the waters. "Who taught you how to fish anyway?"
"My Pappy, mostly." The man answered. "But he died when I was real young."
Nora frowned at this and noticed the sadness cloud behind the smile. She gently gave him a pat on the shoulder. "My mammy died too, cholera, nasty business."
"Your mammy?"
"Like I said, I was young."
Nora looked forward, inspecting the ripples in the water as the fish came to feed and the insects landed on it. "I lost my parents when I was.. fifteen maybe?" She quickly sighed. "My father was a drunk, alway's so angry. One day he and my mam went out an' never came back."
"I still had Aunt Marge. She looked after my two brother's and I until I turned eighteen and then I raised them from there." The men remained silent as she told her story, just as they had done for when Kieran told his.
"Somewhere I did something wrong because my brother's are.. well, they ain't great people."
"How d'you mean?" Kieran asked.
"Well, they love to tease Lem over nothin' and other things."
"S'pose that's m-most people. They'd get along wonderfully with the guys at camp."
Arthur looked over with a scowl. "Watch what you say, boy."
"Sorry." Kieran issued but it went ignored when Arthur began focusing on the fish he had hooked. It was a struggle to reel him in, undoubtedly a struggler and hoping it too be the bluegill the group had gathered around Arthur to spectate.
They stood and stared aimlessly at the water, waiting for the creature to be reeled in and eventually it had. Arthur wasted no time in bringing him back to shore, unhooking him and raising him up to inspect such a magnificent fish.
"Holy shit you actually caught it!" Duffy cheered, admiring the creature from his place. Arthur chuckled and wrapped the fish in a cloth to keep in his satchel, ready to take it back to camp for provisions. "I did."
Nora clapped slowly as she gathered the fishing rods for them to all put away, sending congratulations to the man over his excellent catch. "Time to head on back now, boy's." She said, slipping their fishing rods in the respective saddlebags. "We should go out fishin' again sometime, or maybe just go out and do somethin' fun."
Arthur agreed with this, taking the reins of his horse to lead him back to camp. "We should, I'll see you pair around but for now I gotta make sure the other's all know that I kept the O'Driscoll alive."
"I ain't an O'Driscoll." Kieran sighed.
Nora waved them off as they rode away, before turning back to Lem who had taken to idly stare at the calm waters.
...
She rolled onto her side, his back facing towards her and gently she reached forward to poke his arm. "Lem?" She whispered, afraid to wake any of the other people who slept nearby as well as disturb him just in case he had been asleep.
He turned over, looking at her through tired eyes and she wondered if she had woke him. "Did I bother you?"
He shook his head. "Couldn't sleep."
"Me neither." She turned to lie on her back, facing the stars up above.
"E-Everythin' okay?"
"Not particularly, Lemuel." She chuckled. "Another nightmare?" And gently she nodded.
"Come here." He beckoned, holding his arm up for her to roll into him. She shuffled closer and rolled over to stare directly into his eyes, feeling drastically safer once she found herself closer with the male. "Go to sleep. I'm r-right here with you."
"Only of you sleep too." She whispered, the exhaustion already washing over. He hummed his agreement as he gently ran his fingers through her hair. "I will."
"Thank you."