Across a Summer Sea (38 page)
Lizzie caught her mother’s hand and began to pull her away.
Mary laughed. ‘Look at her! She can’t wait.’
‘Come on, Mam!’ Tommy urged.
‘Goodbye, luv, take care and God bless you!’ Nellie called as she watched the little group ascend the gangway, brushing away a tear. She would pray and pray hard every night that whatever it was that was standing between the marriage of Mary McGann and Richard O’Neill would soon disappear.
They all stood on the open upper deck and waved as the
Leinster
pulled away from the Landing Stage and moved out into mid-river and the figures on the shore grew smaller. Then Mary ushered them down to their cabins: small, neat and very well-appointed little spaces, with narrow bunk beds made up with sheets and green and white bedspreads tucked tightly in. There was even a small hand basin with soap and towels and, wonder of wonders, a tiny curtained cubicle with a commode, Mary marvelled.
Leinster
pulled away from the Landing Stage and moved out into mid-river and the figures on the shore grew smaller. Then Mary ushered them down to their cabins: small, neat and very well-appointed little spaces, with narrow bunk beds made up with sheets and green and white bedspreads tucked tightly in. There was even a small hand basin with soap and towels and, wonder of wonders, a tiny curtained cubicle with a commode, Mary marvelled.
She settled Tommy and Katie into one cabin and then Lizzie and herself into the other. She knew Lizzie was so excited that she would have trouble sleeping but as Mary lay in the bunk with the crisp white sheets she thought the same applied to herself. At last she was going home. To Ballycowan. And to Richard.
Chapter Twenty-Five
H
E WAS WAITING AT the station for her and came towards them smiling broadly. ‘Mary, you’ve arrived at last!’ He made no attempt to touch her or kiss her, but it didn’t upset her. People were watching.
E WAS WAITING AT the station for her and came towards them smiling broadly. ‘Mary, you’ve arrived at last!’ He made no attempt to touch her or kiss her, but it didn’t upset her. People were watching.
‘You look beautiful, Mary. Even more beautiful than when you were here last.’
‘Thank you. I’m so happy, that’s why.’
‘Are you glad to be back?’ he asked of Katie and Tommy. Lizzie was already clinging to his hand.
Katie simply nodded but Tommy grinned. ‘It’s
great
!’ the lad enthused. ‘Where’s Sonny? Isn’t he driving?’
great
!’ the lad enthused. ‘Where’s Sonny? Isn’t he driving?’
‘There wouldn’t have been enough room for us all and the luggage. But if you can still remember all he taught you, you can drive us home.’
‘I think I can! Oh, thanks, sir!’ Tommy rushed towards the station yard, his progress slowed a little by the bags he was carrying.
‘Do you think that’s wise?’ Mary asked.
Richard laughed. ‘If he gets into difficulties I’m on hand and anyway that animal knows its own way home.’
‘Oh, I’d forgotten how beautiful it all is!’ Mary exclaimed as they drove out past Charleville Castle. It was high summer now and everything looked so green and fertile. In the fields crops were slowly ripening in the warm sun and cows and horses stood in the shade of the trees that overhung the hedgerows and lazily flicked away the flies with their tails. As they passed people came out of their homes to stare and occasionally to raise a hand in greeting.
‘Word gets around fast,’ he commented, amused. ‘You see you haven’t forgotten. It’s something you never really do forget. Like riding a bicycle,’ he added to Tommy who was managing the reins expertly, delighted with himself.
‘Where are we going first?’ Mary asked.
‘Home. Julia would kill me if I took you down to the cottage first.’
‘And she’s happy with the . . . arrangements?’
He nodded. ‘She’s overjoyed you’ve come home and so is Sonny, even though he’ll have to go back to cleaning up the yard. It’s something that seems to have slipped his mind since you’ve been away.’
She laughed. ‘I still won’t have him traipsing in through the front door.’
And then they were on the towpath and the tall sandstone chimneys could be seen above the treetops.
‘Oh, Mam! I’d forgotten how big it is!’ Katie cried and Lizzie stood up to get a better view.
It was heart-breakingly beautiful, Mary thought, tears pricking her eyes. But they were tears of happiness.
Sonny was waiting at the gates and gave a roar of delight and approval as Tommy swung the pony into the yard. The lad was bursting with pride and happiness.
‘Yerra! Would you look at the size of him now! A fine, tall, strong lad!’ Sonny cried, taking the pony’s head.
Julia and Bridie came hurrying from the front hall, their faces wreathed in smiles.
‘You’ve come back to us, Mary! Thank the Lord! The procession of women I’ve had to put up with would make the Archangel Gabriel weep, so it would! And it’s been a fierce black mood Himself’s been in all this time, I can tell you.’
Mary hugged her tightly. ‘I’m so glad to be back!’
Katie and Bridie were hugging each other too and exclaiming over each other and Lizzie clung to Richard’s hand, still not quite able to believe it all.
Julia urged them towards the house. ‘Come on inside with you all. You must be desperate for a cup of tea and I’ve been baking all morning.’
Richard kept hold of Lizzie’s hand but with the other he guided Mary towards the house she thought she would never see again.
She looked around the hall. She’d forgotten how big everything was, but it looked neglected. ‘I see there’s plenty of work to do.’
‘But not today! Today is a holiday. Julia, bring the tea into my study, if you would. There’ll be plenty of time for you both to gossip.’
‘Sure that’s one thing neither of us can be accused of and well you know it!’ Julia retorted but she was smiling. She was overjoyed to see Mary back, yet a small doubt nagged at her mind. She wouldn’t be around all the time to act as a chaperone. Would Mary be strong enough to resist temptation? Still, it was very early days yet.
Mary looked at the papers strewn over his desk and then ran a finger along the edge of the bureau. ‘You’ve been badly neglected,’ she said, looking at the dirty marks on the finger of her glove.
‘I’d let no one in here but myself,’ he replied, taking her in his arms. ‘Oh, Mary, it’s been so long and I lived with the constant fear that you’d change your mind. That I’d get a letter telling me you couldn’t come home.’
‘Oh, you
knew
I wouldn’t change my mind! I’ve lived for so long without you.’
knew
I wouldn’t change my mind! I’ve lived for so long without you.’
‘And now I’ll see you every day. I’m going to buy you a horse and teach you to ride. I won’t have you walking everywhere.’
‘A horse! Me
ride
! I couldn’t! Richard, I couldn’t! I’d fall and break my neck!’
ride
! I couldn’t! Richard, I couldn’t! I’d fall and break my neck!’
‘You won’t. It’s not hard and I’d be very careful in choosing the right animal. A good steady schoolmaster that will take you everywhere safely.’
‘Couldn’t I just learn to drive the trap?’ she asked, still full of trepidation.
He laughed. ‘Mary McGann, you amaze me with such lack of confidence in me. But you delight me too,’ he added, kissing her forehead.
Further conversation was curtailed by the appearance of Julia with a huge tray. Mary rushed to take it from her.
‘Would you be so good as to try to clear a space on that desk?’ Julia asked him, casting her eyes to the ceiling at the clutter.
He did so and Mary poured the tea.
Julia sat down with the air of someone it would be hard to dislodge.
Richard just smiled at her, well aware that she would protect Mary’s virtue from all-comers to the last. Himself included.
‘What are the children doing?’ Mary asked, amused at the odd situation and wondering just how much he’d told Julia Moran.
‘Out running all over the place with Bridie and Sonny. Tommy’s already pulled his rod out of the outhouse and fired everything in there into a heap! You’ll not get them away from here for hours yet.’
Mary laughed. ‘I don’t suppose I will.’
‘Then when you’ve had your tea we’ll be after taking you down to the cottage and you can get unpacked. It’s nothing grand, mind.’
‘It will be wonderful compared to what I’ve just left,’ Mary replied. She wanted to see it but she was disappointed that there could not be more time alone with him for now.
Julia had been right about the children, at least about Katie and Tommy. They had set up such cries of dismay when she had gone to look for them that she had no option but to leave them to their own devices. There was no leaving Lizzie behind, however. She clambered up into the trap ahead of them all and bounced up and down on the seat.
‘Will you tell that child she’ll have us all thrown out on the road if she carries on like that,’ Julia demanded and Richard had to settle her down.
The cottage was just beyond the graveyard beside the little church, up a narrow track or bohreen. Mary’s eyes lit up when she saw it.
‘I never even knew it was here. You can’t see it from the towpath.’
‘It was in a shocking state. There’s been some fierce hard work done on it, I can tell you, and I’ve given Matty Donelley the lash of my tongue when he’s been up complaining about just how long it would take him to get it set to rights. If ever there’s a man who’s work-shy it’s him!’
‘Still, he did manage to get it done,’ said Richard soothingly.
‘But it was only the promise of the extra pounds from you that did it,’ Julia shot back.
It was small but it was bright and comfortable. Obviously it had been furnished with things brought from the house, Mary thought as she looked around. Some of the things were far too grand for just a simple cottage.
‘I wanted you to have every comfort here, Mary,’ he said, watching her as she ran her hand lightly over the nice brocade fireside chair.
‘And she has. There’s plenty of everything,’ Julia commented, opening the doors of the dresser for her to inspect the table linen and the food and condiments stored there. The top of the dresser was filled with blue and white delftware.
The bedroom for Tommy was tiny. There was just enough room for a single bed and a chest of drawers but Mary knew he wouldn’t mind. The other room was larger and contained a double bed and a single bed, all neatly made up. There was a wardrobe, a chest and a washstand with a rose-patterned china bowl and water jug. On the broad stone window sill was a jug of wildflowers. Mary touched them gently.
‘That was Bridie’s idea. Sometimes she does be having some strange notions.’ Julia shook her head at the vagaries of Bridie’s mind.
‘It’s beautiful, it really is.’
‘You do know that if you get tired of it or you feel cramped, your rooms are waiting for you above at the house,’ he said quietly.
She nodded. But she knew she couldn’t sleep under the same roof as him, she couldn’t trust herself.
Julia shot him a guarded look. ‘Why don’t you take the child for a drive while we unpack? Sure, what use would you be here?’
He was reluctant to leave Mary. ‘I could carry the heavy things.’
‘And what heavy things would that be? ’Tis only a few bags.’
‘I can see you can’t wait to be rid of me. Come on, Lizzie.’ He took the child’s hand and went out, she skipping along beside him.
‘Oh, she missed him terribly. I had such a time with her. It was so worrying.’
‘Didn’t you have enough things to be worrying about? Was it very bad, Mary?’
‘It was. I don’t know how I got through it. He hated me.’
‘Ah, don’t think about it now. It’s all behind you. You’re back where you belong. I was never so glad as when he came back and told me he’d seen you and that you were going to come home.’
Mary looked at her steadily. ‘Just what did he tell you, Julia?’
The woman sat down in the armchair and Mary pulled a little three-legged stool out and sat facing her.
‘That your man was dead. That he killed himself, the Lord have mercy on him! That you were living like beggars.’
Mary nodded. ‘We were. There was only the money I could earn and it wasn’t much.’
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