Blessed Be, Chapter 1, Part 1

August, 2008

Her mother died.  Her mother had died and now she was on a plane headed halfway across the world.  She was devastated, but they all had known it was coming.  Sooner or later, the cancer was going to take her. Catlyn Marie Benton, with her long blonde hair and stunning features, had been the envy of every Girl Scout and PTA room mother. She was the kind of mother that gave everything and more to her children, never missing a moment of soccer games or dance recitals. And she was a fighter.

She lasted through three relapses over a period of twelve years, until the last round came about. Catlyn lost that battle, and in turn lost her life. She was close to her daughter, too close to keep secrets from each other.  At least Olivia had thought they were. They had talked on a daily basis, sometimes just to hear a friendly and loving voice. Now her daughter, Olivia Anne Benton, after being instructed by Catlyn’s last letter, was flying to Ireland and had no idea why.

The flight attendant was making her way up the narrow isle to pass out little plastic cups filled with a choice of soda, orange juice, or tomato juice. The luxuries of coach knew no bounds.  Oli sat in the very back of the plane, having gotten to the airport late and barely catching the flight, it was the only seat left for her.  The actual seats were very uncomfortable, blue vinyl that her legs stuck to.  Maybe the stylish green summer dress was a bad idea for the trip. After being a busy real estate agent in New York City, she had yet to figure out that sometimes style could coincide with comfort.

  Oli could soon afford to order first class round trip if she chose, with the large inheritance her mother had left her. That’s the one thing her mother did tell her was waiting in Ireland.  The letter said “Forget everything you know. I’m sorry to have kept this from you Olivia. You’ll learn more when you receive a package in Ireland. Trust me on this darling and don’t worry about money. Just remember I love you more than anything and I’ll be watching.” This was followed by a number with too many zeros for Olivia to count, and was marked from Catlyn Olivia Benton POD Olivia Anne Benton, Natalie Maeve Connelly, and Emma Grace Harper.

They had always lived modestly, but never to an extravagant extent.  She couldn’t believe her mom had stashed all that money away, and with some lawyer in Ireland. What had the money come from? And more importantly who in the hell were these other women?  Olivia had never heard of them in her 27 years as Catlyn’s daughter, and now they suddenly appear in her dying words? Well, she was going to find out whether she chose to or not according to this Mr. Macanely.

  Mr. Pierson Macanely was her mother’s lawyer, and had told her the package was not to be received unless all three parties were present and willing to agree to the terms.  He was likely some old man with a beer belly, green suspenders, and a stuttering problem that hadn’t seen an actual courtroom in over a decade.  Just thinking of it made Oli sick to her stomach; it was enough to make her wish this plane carried hard liquor in bottles fit for a real woman and not a Barbie doll.

She decided on a Dr. Pepper, better make that diet, from the attendant and fixed her mind on relaxing for now. She needed a clear head to deal with this situation, and whatever “terms” her mother had in store. She had no idea what the next few days were going to bring and opted to shut all of it out for now.  She was good at that it seemed.  That’s what her ex-fiancé had told her, over and over again. Ryan was a good guy, when it came down to it, but just wasn’t for her. Another thing she should have listened to her mother about.  He didn’t yell, had a steady job making good money, and wanted marriage and a family.  What more could she ask for, except for heat or passion?

Oli needed heat, she needed some clashing, someone that could exchange blows with her and have amazing make-up sex. Obviously Ryan didn’t know what that sizzling, rough, can’t get close enough sex was like. So she left him and his soft spoken “I understand how you feel, lets talk it out” stability back in New York. What did he expect getting involved with an Irish-Italian New Yorker?  Oli needed heat and she could avoid any situation or problem as long as she chose.  And she chose to put her mother’s death, the terms of the will, the other women, and Ryan out of her mind. 

She listened to the soft sounds of the plane ride and hoped the overly large woman next to her didn’t fall asleep.  She had a flower printed dress on that looked like it came straight out of Mr. Sally’s Tarps and Tents, back in New York.  Mr. Sally was an “out and about” man with a love for the outdoors and his fellow outdoorsman. He owned his little camping outlet on 9th and Grand, four blocks from Oli’s old apartment.  She missed her little studio apartment.  It wasn’t much, but it was enough for her, and it fit her. At 5’5, Oli wasn’t the tallest woman and after a long period of six months being 20lbs over her normal weight of 125lbs, she had hit the gym and weight watchers to get back on track.  She was back to her norm now, and wished she was back in her cute apartment with its tan carpet and jade walls.

As she was thinking of the cute brown and pink bathroom back home filled with fluffy poke-a-dot towels and little teddy bear figurines, when a sharp jolt had the plane in an uproar, jerking up and down through the sky. Oli was lifted off her seat, the seat belt pulling a little too tightly on her already uneasy stomach.  She knew she was going to be sick.  This wasn’t her first time on a plane, but a little more turbulence like that and it would definitely be her last.  Just last a few more moments; it’ll be over soon, God she hoped so.  Oli felt light headed from a rush of adrenaline and her vision began to blur.
“Wait, wait”, Oli reached for the woman next to her and noticed she was already looking at her, eyes wide.

“Blessed be”

The woman was talking to her like she was on her death bed! Blessed be? What does the hell does that mean and why wasn’t her mouth moving?  It was probably some kind of Irish fairy magic to get the seats to herself; lord knew she needed them both. That would be her luck, she thought, not even to Ireland yet and already being attacked by fairy folk. Was she supposed to be seeing a light and tunnel now? She wasn’t seeing much of anything with this blurred vision. Oli heard one last fading “Blessed Be” and her world went black.


____________________________________________________________________


“Miss, Miss… are you ok?”  Oli heard someone vaguely. “I think she’s coming around, hey get a glass of water!” It was a woman’s voice she knew maybe the attendant? Yeah, that was it the flight attendant with the diet Dr. Pepper and librarian look about her. Oli opened her eyes to see people gathered around her, staring.  Oh she was going to be sick.

“Oh god, someone get me a sick bag! Its ok honey you let it out.”

That one’s not the attendant, that’s the lady with Mr. Sally’s tarp on, the flowered tarp, Oli thought vaguely as she tried to regain consciences.

“Oh God! What was that?” Oli woke to the most horrible smell, abruptly sitting up in her seat. It was so bad her nose was burning. “Shit! What the hell was that?”

“Well now it’s about time you wake up, now don’t you go passing out on us again.  You gave us all quite a scare and we’ll have no more of it.”

Oli realized it was the fairy woman she had been seated next to again talking to her.  A few were still gathered around, watching the commotion she had started.

“I’m sorry; I’m not sure what happened. I just remember it felt like the plane was going down and, and...”

“And you got white as a ghost and passed out. I hate to tell you honey but there hasn’t been any turbulence this whole flight. Now maybe you got scared and…” Oli cut her off with a hurried wave of hand.

“No, No, I know what I felt. The plan jerked and my seat belt got tight, because the turbulence lifted me right off my seat, I remember.” Oli could still feel where the seat belt had dug into her shoulder and stomach.

“I think you should just take a little rest, the nice attendant is bringing you something to help you sleep and before you know it we’ll be back on the ground.  And don’t you worry; they say they have to do this all the time. People that have never flown before, they get a little light headed sometimes and have an anxiety attack or just plain pass out, like you honey.”

“But I’ve been on a plane many times before; I loved to fly when I was a kid. I know what turbulence is like and that was turbulence!” Oli exclaimed.

“Well now honey why don’t you tell Miss Murphy what your name is and we’ll get you settled.”

Confused and frustrated Oli didn’t want everyone thinking she was crazy so she just said, “I’m Olivia Benton, Oli.”

“Well Oli, here is the attendant and if I were you I’d take what she gives you.  It’ll make the ride a lot smoother and your travels will be over before you know it.  Hell I might even have her slip some in my orange juice, now that it’s handy. If I wasn’t so caught up with this new book I picked up for the flight I’d do that too. I just can’t get enough of that Nora Roberts, she’s just amazing.  Ever read any of her stuff?” The woman was crazy, Oli thought, and decided right then and there she would take whatever the nice attendant gave her.

“Yeah, she’s good.  A good mix of romance and murder-mystery, she’s got all the right mixings.  Hold on, here I am discussing novels with you, and I have no idea what happened to me. You’re telling me you didn’t feel any turbulence?”  There was a long pause and then a worried nod from Mrs. Murphy and with that Oli gave up and tried to settle in. Maybe she did just have too much on her mind.  With everything that happened lately, it could have caused an anxiety attack.  Well, it certainly wasn’t out of the question, but the bruises from the seatbelt still weighed on her mind.

It seemed this Miss Murphy, (did she say?), was the maternal type.  The type that took control of the situation on instinct and had obviously raised her own nest, however funny looking she was with her black bottle rimmed glasses and pudgy red cheeks.  Her hair looked like something out of Little House on the Prairie, but under all of that, she was kind of… pretty.  Actually she was very pretty once Oli got passed the glasses and home on the range look. Maybe she wasn’t a fairy after all.

She had wildly curly, blonde hair about the same color as Oli’s, and what she wouldn’t give for a little curl every now and then. Hers had been board straight since she could remember and hastily rejected any attempt to curl and all efforts to perm. The woman’s eyes were amazing, she couldn’t get over them, a dark brown in contrast with Oli’s light blue, with a shimmer of gold outlining… almost beautiful. It was a shame about the glasses, and the hair… and the tarp. All Mrs. Murphy needed was a good makeover, Oli decided.  She couldn’t have been over forty. She was definitely overweight, but made it look good.  She had the kind of air about her that made you think, if not wish she was your aunt.

“Ma’am, I have some sleeping pills. We keep them in emergency cases, if you would like some.  I’m sure they would help your fear of flying.”  This was the flight attendant that looked like Thelma from Scooby Doo, was all Oli could think. She had that smart, shy look about her. Almost an innocence that, Oli could tell by her inability to hold eye contact, mixed with self-doubt.  So Oli took the medicine gratefully, feeling almost sorry for the girl. She looked at Miss Murphy, but the woman was just looking at her, kind of sizing her up to make sure she wasn’t going to throw up again or pass out.  So she took the medicine and waited impatiently for it to work. 

“So where you headed to honey?” Miss Murphy asked.

“I’m meeting a lawyer, in a place called Maryvaile, somewhere in Ireland. I’ll have to find a map when I get there I suppose.” Oli noticed Miss Murphy didn’t reply and saw she was looking at her like she had fallen from mars.

The look made Oli nervous,“What?  Do I have something on my face or did I say something to upset you? I do that sometimes, just blurt out what I’m thinking without thinking, or, um...”

“No, no honey, slow down child, you didn’t upset me. You said Maryvaile right?”

“Yeah, it’s a small town in the country I’ve heard, probably not so easy to find.  You know the kind, usually one dirt road in and the same one out.”

“Yeah honey, I know the kind.  If you need someone to show you where it is, seeing as I’ve lived there for going on thirty three years now, I’d be the one to take you.”

Oli didn’t quite know what to say, realizing she just insulted the woman’s town that had been taking care of her for the last, well however long she had been out.  There she goes again ruining a relationship before it began, maybe Ryan was right.

“I’m, um, I’m sorry Miss Murphy.  I didn’t realize, well I didn’t plan on meeting anyone from Maryvaile, I had heard it was a very small town.”

Miss Murphy gave her a stern look for about ten seconds then started to break into a belly roll of a laugh, literally.  Oli watched as her face turned red as she bounced in the seat just laughing. Oli had no idea why, but she started laughing too.  She must have drifted off from the medicine, because that’s what she remembers, Miss Murphy in all her red cheeks and flower dress glory laughing like Oli had told her the funniest joke, but didn’t have a clue.