Okay. Peter and Assumpta have gotten together and I’ve used perspectives from
everyones viewpoint.

~Niamh~

Okay, I admit it. I knew something was going on. I suppose I suspected something
during the play. I saw the way Assumpta looked at Fath..Peter when Enda Sulliavan
came back to be in the play. I also caught the looks that each other sent when the
other was not looking. It was strange. The amounts of times that I tried to get
Assumpta together with a nice man like Leo or Enda, she would always still want
Peter. I suppose I was right more than I knew when I said that she always wanted
what she couldn’t have. But now, she’s so much happier. She smiles a lot more. She
looks forward to having a family. Love is all around in the air. I’ve given up trying to
make her see straight. I suppose that for some people, having what you thought you
couldn’t have is, for them, a dream come true.

~Ambrose~

I think of myself as a good man. I’m an effecient guard, I look after my son and my
wife and I am a good friend. I have always been good to Assumpta and Peter. I like
Peter very much. He’s got me through some difficult times in my life, like when I was
thinking of becoming a priest. I am very glad he talked me out of that. I think that it is
wonderful that they are finally going to be together. Today, for the first time, I saw
Assumpta smiled with pure happiness. She seemed to have no cares or worries, which
is not something people see often in her. Peter is beaming too. It, in fact, reminds me
of the happiness that Niamh and I have. Which we wouldn’t have had without the
help of Assumpta and Peter. So, they have my blessings.

~Kathleen~

What is this town coming to? A priest taking up with a married woman? Well, I never
liked him anyway. Trouble from the start I thought. And I have never been on good
terms with Assumpta Fitzgerald. An Englishman too! Two of Miss Fitzgerald’s pet
hates and she gets them both in him. Fr Mac has begun taking the Mass at St Joseph’s
and the poor man is getting run off his feet. I had decided that I would be going to
Cilldargen for Mass if Fr Mac hadn’t been so kind and caring as to take over the Mass
at St Joseph’s. One thing I am appalled at is the support that these two are getting
from the rest of the town. Though, I must say, should I be surprised?

~Liam~

Fitzgerald’s was open later than usual tonight. It was a party so we didn’t get booked
by Ambrose. He would have been incriminating himself anyway as he was drinking
too. It was a party for Assumpta and Peter. I’m still of two minds about them getting
together. On one hand, I’m glad that they’re happy. On the other hand, I wonder,
about priests and all that. Mr Quigley says I should stop thinking so much, that I
might strain my brain. But I wonder....

~Donal~

Now I know people think of me as not the most intelligent person but I can see and
hear and I understand how they feel. Not that I’ve ever been a priest or a female
publican but I understand that they love each other and wanted what they couldn’t
have at first. That was what it was like with Sue Ellen except it was the other way
around. I think.

~Brian~

The priest and the publican. Has a strange ring to it. I think what remains to be seen is
how business reacts to this kind of thing. I mean, it’s not exactly great promotion is
it? But I suppose, each to their own. It’s got Liam thinking though which is not a good
idea. I mean, anything could come out of that head of his. It really is frightening when
you think about it........

~Kevin~

Assumpta has always been a good friend to me. Kind of like a surrogate mother I
guess. I could go to her with problems I had that I couldn’t talk to dad about and she
would help me sort them out. I know from some things that Dad has said to Mr
Kearney that she hadn’t been having an easy time of it. But I noticed that she and Fr
Clifford had some sort of connection. Fr Clifford is a nice person too. He was always
kind to me when I need a hand. So, I think it’s great that they are together.

~Siobhan~

Bonding. It happens in everyone. Even priests and publicans. But never before has
this town heard of it happening between a priest and a publican. I always suspected
that there was more than just friendship between them. Assumpta was ruder to him
that most of us, which, by her standards, probably meant that she like him a bit more.
I remember when the Revenue men came, and they were going to annoy him, how she
was ready to kill them. Now if that had been Brendan or Padraig they were going to
annoy, I don’t think she would have reacted like that. Assumpta is always careful with
her emotions, never lets them get the better of her. But I think, somehow, that this one
was inevitable.

~Eammon~

Think of it like pigs. They have feelings too you know. To be honest, I don’t take
much interest in affairs of others. That’s their business. I don’t go to Mass much
either, so I suppose that Fr Clifford was more like an everyday man rather than a
priest. One thing though, he wasn’t as overpowering as Fr Mac. Assumpta was always
a good kid from what I saw of her. Never liked priest though, so it is rather strange.
This is too much thought for me. Mary’ll be wanting her tea.

~Padraig~

I like this town and I like the people. I like the pub, and I like Assumpta. I like Peter
too. If you think about it, they make a good couple. He is the only one that can stop
her killing me, Brendan or Quigley. One thing this whole town know though, is that if
you want Assumpta to do anything, or you want something from her, ask Peter to ask
her. It never fails.

~Brendan~

I suppose I was one of the first to notice that something was going on between them.
More than just the usual friendship. It was a deeper bond than that, and I think in
time, that not just the town knew it. It took those two a little while longer to figure it
out though. Assumpta has always been special to me, since I knew her from when she
was a small child, so I have always seen it as something of a duty to make sure that
she is okay. Sure, we have our off moments but that doesn’t mean she isn’t special
anymore. Peter is a good man and I can see that they love each other a lot. Peter was
always different, and not just because he was English. He had a heart and listened to
you. He didn’t shove Church teachings down you throat and he taught you to think for
yourself. If anyone is more deserving of her, it is him.

~Fr Mac~

I suppose it was inevitable. I began to question his vocation sometimes. He tried hard,
to be sure, but it was inevitable. Assumpta was not only a temptation but she was a
distraction. I could tell that something was brewing, every time he stood up for her, or
did something for her. I knew for sure that something was happening at the rehearsal
for that damn play. By Christmas of his third year with us, I could see the vocation
losing the battle. It was definetly lost when he came back from his mother’s
deathbed. And now, they are a couple and I am running between two churches.

~Peter~

A priest and a married publican. That’s what a lot of people keep saying. It sounds
strange together, almost like chalk and cheese. But that’s not what Assumpta and I are
like. I suppose we are almost like the other half of each other. It’s hard to explain
really. Assumpta and I have both found that. Kathleen isn’t talking to us anymore. She
won’t even tell us the price of things, so we have become accustomed to looking for it
ourselves. But I can say now, that I am truly happy and in love. And Assumpta
definetly is my other half.

~Assumpta~

A married woman and a Catholic priest. Almost sounds like a plot of a movie doesn’t
it? Well, I have finally discovered the elusive true love. With a priest of all things!
But, Peter and I are truly happy. He loves me and I love him. I suppose what I said
after Ambrose re-proposed to Niamh was true. If two people are meant to be together
there is no force on this earth that will keep them apart. They can delay the inevitable
or speed it up. At first I think that Peter and I tried to delay the inevitable, but,
eventually it sped up. And now, for once in my life, I truly have what I want. I am
loved by a truly wonderful man. And for the first time in my life, I can actually say
that I am blessed.