Chapter Five - ‘Courtship to Marriage: Lanigan to Fanning’
One evening on her way walking back home from job hunting in Waterford all day, Mary was almost knocked down by a car that ran over a patch of oil on the road.
Being short of money, Mary Lanigan had decided to walk the twelve miles home from Waterford City and save what little money she had remaining for bus fares to carry on her job hunt tomorrow, especially if it was raining. If she had to walk one way with each job hunt in order to make her finances stretch as far as possible, far better she decided if she caught a bus to her interview and didn’t arrive sweating like a Portlaoise pig on heat.
The vehicle that careered off the narrow road and headed straight for Mary was a 1970 white Ford Escort. It was driven by a young man in his early twenties called John Fanning. John had been to Waterford City that afternoon to meet up with a sales representative of a factory that made Hurley sticks. He was on his way back home to Clonmel via the country road that took him past Portlaw, then on to Carrick-on-Suir and Clonmel, when he suddenly hit a patch of oil and skidded across the road.
Although John applied the brakes, he momentarily lost control of the vehicle as it skidded towards Mary.
Mary jumped out of the way and narrowly escaped getting knocked down. However, the car brushed her, and she fell to the ground, more in shock than collision. A worried John ran across to her and was profuse in his apologies as he helped her to her feet and brushed the dust off her coat.
“I’m so sorry. It wasn’t that I didn’t see you up ahead, or that I wasn’t concentrating, but I ran across a patch of oil spillage in the road and the car skidded out of control. Are you okay? Do you need taking to a hospital to be checked over? I’m so sorry!” John said.
After Mary assured the driver that she wasn’t hurt, but merely stunned, he asked, “Can I drop you off somewhere then? It’s the very least I can do. I’m on my way back to Clonmel, but I’ll gladly drop you anywhere you want.”
“Thank you,” Mary replied, adding, “I only live two miles along this road in Portlaw, but if you drop me at the bridge into the village, that would be fine.”
“I’d be glad to,” responded the driver, who pulled his car back into line with the road ahead and opened the passenger door for Mary to get in.
“I know it’s somewhat late for formal introductions,” he said to Mary smilingly, “but I’m John Fanning, and while I’m pleased to meet you, I only wish it could have been under more favourable circumstances.”
Mary smiled back at the stranger and replied, “I’m Mary…Mary Lanigan.”
During the five minutes it took for John Fanning to drive Mary to the ‘The Bridge’ that marked the entrance to William Street that ran up the centre of the village, the handsome stranger and Mary hardly spoke. Whenever either wasn’t looking straight ahead, both driver and passenger were sneaking glances at their car companion when they thought that the other wasn’t looking.
Mary noticed the driver looking across at her legs and then noticed that her fall had put a huge ladder in her nylon stockings. She didn’t know if it was her legs or her torn stockings which had attracted his interest.
The car arrived at the ‘Portlaw Bridge’ and Mary alighted saying, “Thank you…”
“John…John Fanning’s my name,” he said reminding her. “It’s been a pleasure, Mary Lanigan.”
As Mary was walking away from the vehicle, John leaned across and wound down the passenger window and said, “Please don’t consider me too forward, Mary Lanigan, but there’s a dance in Carrick-on-Suir next Friday night if you can make it. It should be good crack, and I can pick you up at your door if you’d like to go with me?”
Mary smiled at the cheek of the man. As she was thinking of a kind reply that let him down gently, he smiled at her coaxingly and said, “Come on, Mary. You’ve already fallen for me today, so how can a little dance hurt? Come on, lass, and say yes!”
Without knowing why she’d changed her mind in a matter of moments, Mary Lanigan asked herself if the driver who’d almost killed her fifteen minutes earlier could be the man for her. So, seizing the moment, she smiled back broadly at John Fanning and said, “Okay, John Fanning. I’ll go with you next Friday, but I won’t have you parking outside our house and getting the neighbours talking. I’ll meet you here, by ‘The Bridge’ at 7.00 pm.”
There were two meeting places in the village of Portlaw which were to assume capital importance over the centuries in the day-to-day life of the villagers; ‘The Square’ and ‘The Bridge’.
All public meetings between one person and another would most often take place in ‘The Square’ at the top of William Street. Meetings of a more romantic and clandestine nature would invariably start at ‘The Bridge’ before moving to another destination more suitable for purpose.
That night when she went to bed, Mary Lanigan thought about the dance next Friday and her mind stayed on John Fanning most of the night. It was perhaps a good job that Mary shared a bedroom with her twin sisters, otherwise she’d have had an extra sin to confess to the Parish Priest when she next went to confession.
Being short of money, Mary Lanigan had decided to walk the twelve miles home from Waterford City and save what little money she had remaining for bus fares to carry on her job hunt tomorrow, especially if it was raining. If she had to walk one way with each job hunt in order to make her finances stretch as far as possible, far better she decided if she caught a bus to her interview and didn’t arrive sweating like a Portlaoise pig on heat.
The vehicle that careered off the narrow road and headed straight for Mary was a 1970 white Ford Escort. It was driven by a young man in his early twenties called John Fanning. John had been to Waterford City that afternoon to meet up with a sales representative of a factory that made Hurley sticks. He was on his way back home to Clonmel via the country road that took him past Portlaw, then on to Carrick-on-Suir and Clonmel, when he suddenly hit a patch of oil and skidded across the road.
Although John applied the brakes, he momentarily lost control of the vehicle as it skidded towards Mary.
Mary jumped out of the way and narrowly escaped getting knocked down. However, the car brushed her, and she fell to the ground, more in shock than collision. A worried John ran across to her and was profuse in his apologies as he helped her to her feet and brushed the dust off her coat.
“I’m so sorry. It wasn’t that I didn’t see you up ahead, or that I wasn’t concentrating, but I ran across a patch of oil spillage in the road and the car skidded out of control. Are you okay? Do you need taking to a hospital to be checked over? I’m so sorry!” John said.
After Mary assured the driver that she wasn’t hurt, but merely stunned, he asked, “Can I drop you off somewhere then? It’s the very least I can do. I’m on my way back to Clonmel, but I’ll gladly drop you anywhere you want.”
“Thank you,” Mary replied, adding, “I only live two miles along this road in Portlaw, but if you drop me at the bridge into the village, that would be fine.”
“I’d be glad to,” responded the driver, who pulled his car back into line with the road ahead and opened the passenger door for Mary to get in.
“I know it’s somewhat late for formal introductions,” he said to Mary smilingly, “but I’m John Fanning, and while I’m pleased to meet you, I only wish it could have been under more favourable circumstances.”
Mary smiled back at the stranger and replied, “I’m Mary…Mary Lanigan.”
During the five minutes it took for John Fanning to drive Mary to the ‘The Bridge’ that marked the entrance to William Street that ran up the centre of the village, the handsome stranger and Mary hardly spoke. Whenever either wasn’t looking straight ahead, both driver and passenger were sneaking glances at their car companion when they thought that the other wasn’t looking.
Mary noticed the driver looking across at her legs and then noticed that her fall had put a huge ladder in her nylon stockings. She didn’t know if it was her legs or her torn stockings which had attracted his interest.
The car arrived at the ‘Portlaw Bridge’ and Mary alighted saying, “Thank you…”
“John…John Fanning’s my name,” he said reminding her. “It’s been a pleasure, Mary Lanigan.”
As Mary was walking away from the vehicle, John leaned across and wound down the passenger window and said, “Please don’t consider me too forward, Mary Lanigan, but there’s a dance in Carrick-on-Suir next Friday night if you can make it. It should be good crack, and I can pick you up at your door if you’d like to go with me?”
Mary smiled at the cheek of the man. As she was thinking of a kind reply that let him down gently, he smiled at her coaxingly and said, “Come on, Mary. You’ve already fallen for me today, so how can a little dance hurt? Come on, lass, and say yes!”
Without knowing why she’d changed her mind in a matter of moments, Mary Lanigan asked herself if the driver who’d almost killed her fifteen minutes earlier could be the man for her. So, seizing the moment, she smiled back broadly at John Fanning and said, “Okay, John Fanning. I’ll go with you next Friday, but I won’t have you parking outside our house and getting the neighbours talking. I’ll meet you here, by ‘The Bridge’ at 7.00 pm.”
There were two meeting places in the village of Portlaw which were to assume capital importance over the centuries in the day-to-day life of the villagers; ‘The Square’ and ‘The Bridge’.
All public meetings between one person and another would most often take place in ‘The Square’ at the top of William Street. Meetings of a more romantic and clandestine nature would invariably start at ‘The Bridge’ before moving to another destination more suitable for purpose.
That night when she went to bed, Mary Lanigan thought about the dance next Friday and her mind stayed on John Fanning most of the night. It was perhaps a good job that Mary shared a bedroom with her twin sisters, otherwise she’d have had an extra sin to confess to the Parish Priest when she next went to confession.
~~~~~
The following Friday Mary Lanigan got ready to meet up with John Fanning by the ‘The Bridge’ as arranged. It was obvious to her mother that she was preparing herself to see some man by the number of times she changed her dress and checked her make up in the mirror.
“It’ll be a young man you’re getting dressed up for then, Mary?” Her mother asked smilingly. “I hope he’s worth all the effort!”
Mary blushed. She and her mother had always freely talked about all manner of things a mother thought her growing daughter should be acquainted with, but whenever the topic got around to young men and the activities young couples were prone to get up to, young Mary still felt a bit uncomfortable talking to her mother about such matters.
Although Mary was a virgin, she nevertheless experienced all the usual feelings that were common in a young woman of her age. She had obviously heard the stories told about the amorous adventures of other female friends, many of whom had boastfully lost their virginity while still at school.
Indeed, her mother often warned Mary whenever some other Portlaw girl had found herself in the family way before they’d barely left school, “Don’t you ever worry yourself, Mary, if ‘holding out’ makes you ‘the odd one out’ in the crowd. You weren’t made ‘special’, just to spoil your marriage night, my girl. Take it from your mother, Mary, it’s best done at the right time, in the right place and with the right man!”
Mary blushed to hear her mother speak so frankly about sexual matters, and after putting on her coat, she rushed out the front door and said, “See you later, Mammy. I’ll be back home before midnight!”
“See that you are, my girl, or I’ll have the Garda out looking for you and this chap you’re off galivanting with.”
Mary quickly made her way down towards ‘The Bridge’ at the bottom of William Street. There was a bounce in her stride that is usually seen in the walk of springtime sweethearts and courting couples anticipating the immediate hours ahead. Her head was dizzy with all manner of romantic notions that fluttered from maidenhood to wife.
As she neared the bottom of the street, Mary took one final opportunity to make her face more presentable. She opened her compact and checked her cheeks once more before retouching her lips slightly with red lipstick which the advert described as ‘an invitation to kiss’.
John was waiting at ‘The Bridge’ as planned and he’d left his vehicle running to keep the engine warm. As soon as Mary came into view, he alighted his car and smilingly welcomed her as he opened the passenger door in gentleman fashion.
“Good to see you, Mary,” he announced as he gently kissed her and watched her safely seated before closing the door again. No sooner than he’d got back in the driving seat, he looked at Mary once more and said, “You’re looking lovely, Mary. No…that’s not enough, lass; you are lovely!”
Mary blushed with the double compliment and positioned her legs so that she was still able to show their shape off to best advantage without demeaning herself.
The couple were in Carrick-on-Suir within half an hour and had a momentous night that neither would ever forget. Between dances, they sat and talked and continued to look each other over at every opportunity.
John was a good height, nearly six feet tall, and possessed a head of black hair, along with a muscular torso that reflected his fitness. He was a keen athlete and a football fanatic. Most weekends of his would be spent playing with the ‘St. Mary’s Gaelic Athletic Association Hurling and Camogie Club’. The club was a part of the South Division of Tipperary GAA and is in the town of Clonmel, County Tipperary.
Keen to remain fit and stay on top form, John rarely drank alcohol; and when he did, it would be a social occasion and comprise of a couple of bottles of beer at the most. He told Mary that his father was a heavy drinker and seeing the effect it had on his long-suffering mother was enough to keep him virtually teetotal for the rest of his life.
Having the shared experience of a drinking dad with Mary, eased her concern greatly and made their conversation as open and flowing as any first date could possibly be between two relative strangers. Discovering that they were each their parents’ firstborn and that the next two siblings down from them were twins seemed to make their matching circumstances more to do with fate than co-incidental!
John and Mary talked and talked that first night and used their conversation to fence around each other’s character traits as they each searched for confirmation of areas of compatibility that existed between them, along with any warning signs of irreconcilable differences!
John had enjoyed the benefits of a good education and had gone to a college in Dublin to ‘The Coach Education Programme’. John told Mary that this programme focused on continuing education. Through a series of specifically designed courses, workshops, and conferences, he’d completed his Foundation Course and Level One. He now hoped to advance to Level Two and Level Three and someday coach.
Meanwhile, he earned his living working as a supervisor in a Clonmel factory that made Hurley sticks. The job kept him close to the love of his life and paid well for a young man who was not yet 25-years-old.
The thing that impressed Mary about John was his level of confidence in both himself and his future. He clearly knew what he wanted from life and how best to get it. He carried a realism about his person that exuded a wisdom beyond his years. It was as though he instinctively knew that it’s no good wanting the rainbow unless one is prepared to deal with the rain!
John told Mary that he loved playing Hurley, and while he knew that he was a good player, he also knew that he’d never be good enough to play at county senior level. Hence his desire to get his Level Two and Three so that he might one-day get a coaching assistant’s post to a county team.
Mary also learned that night that John was the oldest of three children, all male siblings. His two younger brothers were 21-year-old twins and had each left home. Frank was working in England as a surveyor and Davy had joined Holy Orders in Dublin and was training for the priesthood.
John indicated that when he was a child, his mother had always hoped that her oldest son, would have joined the priesthood. She never expected one of her youngest sons to be the one to take Holy Orders.
The other ambition of John was to marry a good Catholic woman and have a large family. He told Mary that he loved children; and the more he had as a father the happier he would be. Mary suspected that a part of John felt that he’d let his mother down about joining the priesthood instead of having left it to his younger brother, Davy. In a strange way, John reckoned that bringing up a large family in the Catholic faith was a form of religious atonement for not having joined the priesthood.
“That’s why I need to earn good wages, Mary,” he joked, “to have enough to keep them well clothed and fed when they start being born!”
Everything Mary Lanigan learned about John Fanning that night was enough to tell her how ‘special’ a person she was. Having rarely gone out with any young men during her teenage years, she had been lucky enough at the age of 19 years to meet the man for her!
Her mother had been right all along when she’d said that destiny plays a greater part in our lives than we could ever imagine. Here was a man with all the qualities that shouted out, ‘Good man! Good father! Good husband! Carpe Diem!’
When Mary Lanigan and John Fanning left each other that night, both knew that their search for the perfect marriage partner had ended.
As Mary lay in bed, her mind was a whirl, as was John’s.
Though both resisted calling their first date with each other ‘love at first sight’, there was a strange sense of feeling that touched each of them; a feeling which wouldn't let go when they parted at ‘The Bridge’.
Only one day apart from that first meeting between the couple, and neither could stop thinking about each other. Each knew that they had met someone who’d stirred their emotions in such manner that they would never settle again until they next met. It was as if during their first meeting, they had been invisibly magnetised towards each other and were simply unable to draw themselves apart thereafter.
That first week after meeting and dating in Carrick-on-Suir, Mary Lanigan and John Fanning knew that they’d fallen in love, and both smiled more secretly and a little softer as they went through their future days.
“It’ll be a young man you’re getting dressed up for then, Mary?” Her mother asked smilingly. “I hope he’s worth all the effort!”
Mary blushed. She and her mother had always freely talked about all manner of things a mother thought her growing daughter should be acquainted with, but whenever the topic got around to young men and the activities young couples were prone to get up to, young Mary still felt a bit uncomfortable talking to her mother about such matters.
Although Mary was a virgin, she nevertheless experienced all the usual feelings that were common in a young woman of her age. She had obviously heard the stories told about the amorous adventures of other female friends, many of whom had boastfully lost their virginity while still at school.
Indeed, her mother often warned Mary whenever some other Portlaw girl had found herself in the family way before they’d barely left school, “Don’t you ever worry yourself, Mary, if ‘holding out’ makes you ‘the odd one out’ in the crowd. You weren’t made ‘special’, just to spoil your marriage night, my girl. Take it from your mother, Mary, it’s best done at the right time, in the right place and with the right man!”
Mary blushed to hear her mother speak so frankly about sexual matters, and after putting on her coat, she rushed out the front door and said, “See you later, Mammy. I’ll be back home before midnight!”
“See that you are, my girl, or I’ll have the Garda out looking for you and this chap you’re off galivanting with.”
Mary quickly made her way down towards ‘The Bridge’ at the bottom of William Street. There was a bounce in her stride that is usually seen in the walk of springtime sweethearts and courting couples anticipating the immediate hours ahead. Her head was dizzy with all manner of romantic notions that fluttered from maidenhood to wife.
As she neared the bottom of the street, Mary took one final opportunity to make her face more presentable. She opened her compact and checked her cheeks once more before retouching her lips slightly with red lipstick which the advert described as ‘an invitation to kiss’.
John was waiting at ‘The Bridge’ as planned and he’d left his vehicle running to keep the engine warm. As soon as Mary came into view, he alighted his car and smilingly welcomed her as he opened the passenger door in gentleman fashion.
“Good to see you, Mary,” he announced as he gently kissed her and watched her safely seated before closing the door again. No sooner than he’d got back in the driving seat, he looked at Mary once more and said, “You’re looking lovely, Mary. No…that’s not enough, lass; you are lovely!”
Mary blushed with the double compliment and positioned her legs so that she was still able to show their shape off to best advantage without demeaning herself.
The couple were in Carrick-on-Suir within half an hour and had a momentous night that neither would ever forget. Between dances, they sat and talked and continued to look each other over at every opportunity.
John was a good height, nearly six feet tall, and possessed a head of black hair, along with a muscular torso that reflected his fitness. He was a keen athlete and a football fanatic. Most weekends of his would be spent playing with the ‘St. Mary’s Gaelic Athletic Association Hurling and Camogie Club’. The club was a part of the South Division of Tipperary GAA and is in the town of Clonmel, County Tipperary.
Keen to remain fit and stay on top form, John rarely drank alcohol; and when he did, it would be a social occasion and comprise of a couple of bottles of beer at the most. He told Mary that his father was a heavy drinker and seeing the effect it had on his long-suffering mother was enough to keep him virtually teetotal for the rest of his life.
Having the shared experience of a drinking dad with Mary, eased her concern greatly and made their conversation as open and flowing as any first date could possibly be between two relative strangers. Discovering that they were each their parents’ firstborn and that the next two siblings down from them were twins seemed to make their matching circumstances more to do with fate than co-incidental!
John and Mary talked and talked that first night and used their conversation to fence around each other’s character traits as they each searched for confirmation of areas of compatibility that existed between them, along with any warning signs of irreconcilable differences!
John had enjoyed the benefits of a good education and had gone to a college in Dublin to ‘The Coach Education Programme’. John told Mary that this programme focused on continuing education. Through a series of specifically designed courses, workshops, and conferences, he’d completed his Foundation Course and Level One. He now hoped to advance to Level Two and Level Three and someday coach.
Meanwhile, he earned his living working as a supervisor in a Clonmel factory that made Hurley sticks. The job kept him close to the love of his life and paid well for a young man who was not yet 25-years-old.
The thing that impressed Mary about John was his level of confidence in both himself and his future. He clearly knew what he wanted from life and how best to get it. He carried a realism about his person that exuded a wisdom beyond his years. It was as though he instinctively knew that it’s no good wanting the rainbow unless one is prepared to deal with the rain!
John told Mary that he loved playing Hurley, and while he knew that he was a good player, he also knew that he’d never be good enough to play at county senior level. Hence his desire to get his Level Two and Three so that he might one-day get a coaching assistant’s post to a county team.
Mary also learned that night that John was the oldest of three children, all male siblings. His two younger brothers were 21-year-old twins and had each left home. Frank was working in England as a surveyor and Davy had joined Holy Orders in Dublin and was training for the priesthood.
John indicated that when he was a child, his mother had always hoped that her oldest son, would have joined the priesthood. She never expected one of her youngest sons to be the one to take Holy Orders.
The other ambition of John was to marry a good Catholic woman and have a large family. He told Mary that he loved children; and the more he had as a father the happier he would be. Mary suspected that a part of John felt that he’d let his mother down about joining the priesthood instead of having left it to his younger brother, Davy. In a strange way, John reckoned that bringing up a large family in the Catholic faith was a form of religious atonement for not having joined the priesthood.
“That’s why I need to earn good wages, Mary,” he joked, “to have enough to keep them well clothed and fed when they start being born!”
Everything Mary Lanigan learned about John Fanning that night was enough to tell her how ‘special’ a person she was. Having rarely gone out with any young men during her teenage years, she had been lucky enough at the age of 19 years to meet the man for her!
Her mother had been right all along when she’d said that destiny plays a greater part in our lives than we could ever imagine. Here was a man with all the qualities that shouted out, ‘Good man! Good father! Good husband! Carpe Diem!’
When Mary Lanigan and John Fanning left each other that night, both knew that their search for the perfect marriage partner had ended.
As Mary lay in bed, her mind was a whirl, as was John’s.
Though both resisted calling their first date with each other ‘love at first sight’, there was a strange sense of feeling that touched each of them; a feeling which wouldn't let go when they parted at ‘The Bridge’.
Only one day apart from that first meeting between the couple, and neither could stop thinking about each other. Each knew that they had met someone who’d stirred their emotions in such manner that they would never settle again until they next met. It was as if during their first meeting, they had been invisibly magnetised towards each other and were simply unable to draw themselves apart thereafter.
That first week after meeting and dating in Carrick-on-Suir, Mary Lanigan and John Fanning knew that they’d fallen in love, and both smiled more secretly and a little softer as they went through their future days.
~~~~~
The couple met each other the week after, the week after that and the subsequent week. Within two months they were meeting up every Friday and Sunday evening; and sometimes John would drive across to Portlaw midweek and collect Mary by ‘The Bridge’. He’d pick her up and the couple would drive out of Portlaw a few miles and sit and talk in the car, breaking off for a cuddle and kiss.
The couple would never meet up on Saturday nights though, as John would often be too tired and would want to have a hot bath and relax after his Hurley game. After two months of regularly seeing each other, Mary said that she’d like to introduce him to her parents and siblings the next midweek-visit he made to Portlaw. Being a mid-week evening, Mary could be reassured that her father would be at home and on his best behaviour.
Both Mary and John knew the significance that her parents would place on such a formal introduction to her home and family. Mary would never have introduced any man to her parents whom she wasn’t set upon marrying, and they knew that to be the case!
Mary’s parents took to John with ease and considered him a suitable partner for their firstborn. Mary’s father was instantly reassured once he’d satisfied himself that John came from a good Catholic family. And when Mick Lanigan learned that John Fanning’s younger brother, Davy, had entered the priesthood, that piece of knowledge was sufficient to put the icing on the cake!
As for Mary’s mother Lizzy Lanigan, she could see how happy the couple were together. It was as plain as boil on a bumble bee’s nose that her oldest daughter, Mary, and her betrothed, John, were in love with each other.
Whereas it was the fact that John Fanning came from a good Catholic family that swayed her husband Mick towards accepting Mary’s man as a suitable son-in-law, it was the knowledge that he was an avowed teetotaller that clinched it for Lizzy Lanigan!
Mary’s mother witnessed the sudden change in her daughter. Within the space of three months, she had matured so much. Everything about shouted ‘bride-to-be’.
John had even persuaded Mary to concentrate on her education at night classes and get the required number of qualifications behind her she’d always resented not being able to acquire by having been pulled out of school two years before her time.
“You get a few qualifications behind you, Mary. Who knows how you may want to use them in the years ahead. Any children we have when we’re married won’t stay young for ever, you know!” John said.
John never made any formal request for Mary to marry him. There was no candlelit dinner or the getting down on one knee to propose. As far as the couple were concerned, his proposition and her answer had never been in question since week one of the start of their relationship.
The couple would never meet up on Saturday nights though, as John would often be too tired and would want to have a hot bath and relax after his Hurley game. After two months of regularly seeing each other, Mary said that she’d like to introduce him to her parents and siblings the next midweek-visit he made to Portlaw. Being a mid-week evening, Mary could be reassured that her father would be at home and on his best behaviour.
Both Mary and John knew the significance that her parents would place on such a formal introduction to her home and family. Mary would never have introduced any man to her parents whom she wasn’t set upon marrying, and they knew that to be the case!
Mary’s parents took to John with ease and considered him a suitable partner for their firstborn. Mary’s father was instantly reassured once he’d satisfied himself that John came from a good Catholic family. And when Mick Lanigan learned that John Fanning’s younger brother, Davy, had entered the priesthood, that piece of knowledge was sufficient to put the icing on the cake!
As for Mary’s mother Lizzy Lanigan, she could see how happy the couple were together. It was as plain as boil on a bumble bee’s nose that her oldest daughter, Mary, and her betrothed, John, were in love with each other.
Whereas it was the fact that John Fanning came from a good Catholic family that swayed her husband Mick towards accepting Mary’s man as a suitable son-in-law, it was the knowledge that he was an avowed teetotaller that clinched it for Lizzy Lanigan!
Mary’s mother witnessed the sudden change in her daughter. Within the space of three months, she had matured so much. Everything about shouted ‘bride-to-be’.
John had even persuaded Mary to concentrate on her education at night classes and get the required number of qualifications behind her she’d always resented not being able to acquire by having been pulled out of school two years before her time.
“You get a few qualifications behind you, Mary. Who knows how you may want to use them in the years ahead. Any children we have when we’re married won’t stay young for ever, you know!” John said.
John never made any formal request for Mary to marry him. There was no candlelit dinner or the getting down on one knee to propose. As far as the couple were concerned, his proposition and her answer had never been in question since week one of the start of their relationship.
~~~~~
Despite all physical temptation to rip off Mary’s clothes and ravish her many an evening as they parked up in some quiet country lane, John confined his physical contact with Mary to kissing, heavy petting and the occasional manual manipulation of each other’s pleasure.
To tell the truth, Mary was glad that John had possessed the will power never to try to go all the way, as she wasn’t sure she’d have had it in her to stop him, had he tried to!
Two months later, 19-year-old Mary Lanigan and 24-year-old John Fanning were married in St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Irishtown, Clonmel.
Despite it being a day that both Mary and John welcomed with open arms, it nevertheless was a day that kept the newly married couple on tenterhooks until it was over, and they could commence their married life without the added encumbrance of their respective fathers.
To tell the truth, Mary was glad that John had possessed the will power never to try to go all the way, as she wasn’t sure she’d have had it in her to stop him, had he tried to!
Two months later, 19-year-old Mary Lanigan and 24-year-old John Fanning were married in St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Irishtown, Clonmel.
Despite it being a day that both Mary and John welcomed with open arms, it nevertheless was a day that kept the newly married couple on tenterhooks until it was over, and they could commence their married life without the added encumbrance of their respective fathers.
