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EXCERPT:
Connor cleared his throat. “Barmbrack is something my mammy made and was my favorite Halloween food when I was a kid.”
Looking at the brown bread with light and dark raisins almost reminded me of a fruitcake my grandmother made for Christmas. I had never liked it, and used to dissect the insides until a mountain of jelly candies sat on my napkin before throwing it away.
Deirdre placed her hand on Connor’s. “I rarely bake this, but tonight’s a special night. Barm comes from a brewery, and we use it as yeast. We bake it with raisins and little surprises. Little trinkets. Each trinket symbolizes something for the coming year.”
Jaime cut a thin slice and spread butter across the side. “Ma, what’s in the bread?”
I expected a list of ingredients; instead, Deirdre rattled off objects. “A stick, a ring, a coin, a rag, a pea, and a thimble.”
I widened my eyes and then looked at the slice of bread Jaime had placed in front of me. “That’s in here?” I pointed to the flat slice on my plate.
“Yes and no. I hid charms representing all those items and wrapped them in parchment paper so the cake is still safe to eat. I think we all should dig through and see what we find.”
The four of us ripped our barmbrack into tiny pieces, searching for parchment paper and charms. More than half the bread remained uncut.
“I got one,” Jaime said, revealing a coin.
I leaned over to get a better look. “What does that mean?”
“Good fortune,” Connor said. He held up a tiny metal thimble pendant. “Looks like I’ll be a spinster for life.” Leaning across the table, he kissed his wife, and Deirdre chuckled.
“You aren’t so lucky,” she said, and I smiled at their cuteness.
I continued digging. “Ooh!” I pulled out a bag and removed the charm. “A ring.”
Deirdre’s eyes widened, and her eyebrows rose to the top of her head. “Ooh, that means you will find love.” Willie Daly’s prediction of finding love within the next six months poked me in the heart. She winked at Jaime and smiled at me. “That’s a great one to have.” After a moment of silence, she said, “It appears the others are still in the loaf. Guess my life won’t be changing this year, aye?”
After dinner, Jaime and I cozied on the couch in front of the telly. My belly was full of comfort food, and my soul was full of love. With the help of Jaime, Deirdre, and Connor, I was falling in love with Ireland. I had never imagined being so welcomed into a family and couldn’t imagine my own parents treating Jaime with the same level of hospitality.
“Jaime,” I whispered.
He looked down at me and stroked my hair.
“Thank you. For showing me what it’s like to be from Ireland. As much as I don’t want to be a trash bag for Halloween, I’m happy I’ll get to spend the night with you.” I gazed into his eyes and counted the freckles sprinkled across his cheeks.
“No, no, if you hate it, you don’t have to wear it.” My body tingled with every touch and I closed my eyes, memorizing the way he made me feel.
“A bet is a bet, and I lost fair and square.”
He smiled and gazed at my face. “Would it make you feel better if I wore a bin bag, too?”
A grin erupted at the thought of Jaime wearing a trash bag with nothing underneath, and I nodded quickly. “Yeah.”
Author Bio:
E.D Hackett is a Speech-language pathologist by day and a writer by night. She writes novels that investigate layers of self-expectations, family dynamics, self-love and self-acceptance. She hopes that her novels create a safe and cozy environment for her readers to fall into and explore.
She writes women’s fiction novels with one foot in romance. And every story has a happy ever after.
She lives in New England but in her heart, she feels that she belongs in Ireland. She reads women’s women’s fiction and romantic comedies, prefers books to movies, ice cream to cake, and fall to spring.
Please visit https://www.linktr.ee/edhackett for more information! You can also find her on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Goodreads.
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