Ashes on the Waves (21 page)

“Miss Ronan would love that plan,” I said. “Besides, you’ll be leaving soon, and I’d be back in the same position.”

“You are so dense sometimes. I don’t plan to leave as long as you are here.” She took my hand. “So you’ll just have to come to New York with me and get off this island forever.”

“I couldn’t possibly . . . I’d be—”

“That’s a lovely idea,” Francine said. “But for now, you are moving into my aunt’s house and I’ll have no more discussion on it. Understand? I need to get back to the shop and don’t have time to dillydally with you.” She climbed the porch and opened the closed house. We followed.

“I really like her,” Anna whispered.

“So do I.”

Francine opened all the windows, and she and Anna set about shaking out curtains and dusting furniture while I mopped the floor with my special mop and bucket Francine had evidently brought up from the store on her way to Taibhreamh. It was waiting in the center of the room when we came in. The house had a separate bedroom, which was bigger than my entire shed had been.

From the doorstep, Francine gave a round crocheted rug one last shake. “I would have offered to let you move ilety entin here when my aunt died, but I knew you enjoyed the tie to your mother in the shed.” She placed the rug just inside the door. “And I didn’t want to give anybody more reason to cause a fuss. You living in a nicer place than some of these villagers would have invited their ire.”

“I believe that invitation was extended eighteen years ago,” I said, wringing the mop in the bucket. “But you’re right. I was comfortable in the shed.” I carried the bucket out the door, tipped the water out, and set the mop and bucket upright.

“Also, unlived-in houses decline quickly. You’re doing me a favor, see?” Francine pulled a set of sheets out of a chest in the corner of the bedroom. The bed was much wider than mine had been. It dawned on me as I helped her make the bed just how exhausted I was. I hadn’t slept last night.

“So, you are all good now, right? I put some food in the cupboard for you, but you’ll need to collect some firewood.” Francine picked up the mop and bucket. “I’ll see you soon. Our next delivery doesn’t come until day after tomorrow, so feel free to take off work until then.”

I put my arm around her shoulders. “I can’t thank you enough. I’d be long dead if it weren’t for you. You’re better to me than I deserve. Better than a mother.”

She sniffed and shrugged out of my hold. “Be good to him, Anna,”
she said. “They don’t come better than this.”

“I know,” Anna said, kissing Francine good-bye. Finally alone with me, she leaned back against the closed door and gave me a look that made everything inside me stir. She reached up and untied the knot from her hair and shook it free. Without a word, she strolled to the bedroom and, from the doorway, delivered a smile that left me gasping for air.

“I’ll be right there,” I said, washing the mop water off my hand in the kitchen sink.

Heart pounding, I entered the bedroom. The curtains were closed and from a small gap between them, a single shaft of golden light shone across Anna on the bed. I slipped off my shoes and padded closer. She lay on her side fully clothed, her glorious hair fanned out on the pillow, fast asleep.

I reached into her handbag on the chair and pulled out my sketch pad.

And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain

Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before.

—Edgar Allan Poe,
from “The Raven,” 1845

T
he best sleep I’d ever had ended with earsplitting pounding on the door. “MacGregor! Do you got the Leighton girl in there?” a man’s voice shouted.

Bang, bang, bang.

“Open up! She’s gone missing and Miss Ronan sent me to fetch ’er back before nightfall.”

“Crap.” Anna covered her head with a pillow and then mumbled something indecipherable.

I attempted to disentangle my legs from hers, but she tightened her grip and grabbed my shirt. “No. Ignore him.”

“I can’t. There’s no lock on the door of this house and he’ll come in if I don’t answer.” I swung my legs over the side of the lety dth="1em">bed. “Just a minute,” I called.

“So what? We’ve got our clothes on. Believe me, I’ve been in crazier situations than this.”

I ran my fingers through my sleep-tousled hair. “Not with me. I won’t do anything to compromise you.”

She rolled over to face me. “Oh, my God. You are something else. My own hot time capsule.”

“I don’t know what that means, but thank you.” I looked out the curtain to see the sun setting. We had slept all day.

Bang, bang, bang!

“I said I’m coming,” I shouted, lacing up my hiking boots.

I closed the bedroom door behind me and opened the front door. Connor MacFarley, red-faced and sweating, stood on the porch. “Where is she?” He craned his neck to look around me into the house.

“She’s inside. I’ll bring her to Taibhreamh directly.”

“Listen here. I’ve been instructed to bring her back myself without you. And you’d better watch your step. Next time, it won’t just be yer home that’s burned to ashes.”

“Are you threatening Liam?” Anna asked from behind me. “Aren’t you a Taibhreamh employee?”

Connor’s mouth clamped shut and his face grew even redder, all the way up over his bald head. He adjusted his eye patch and shuffled foot to foot. The fear of starvation or freezing to death in the winter could shut down even the most aggressive of men.

“We’ll both walk her back,” I said.

“Yer to stay put here.”

“I don’t trust you to deliver her home safely,” I said. “People tend to fall off cliffs when you’re around.”

“It’d be best you keep that in mind, MacGregor.”

“Stop it,” Anna said. “I’ll go back, but I want Liam to come with us. He goes or I don’t.” She slammed the door in his face before he could react.

“I hate this place,” she fumed, stomping to the bedroom. “People push each other off cliffs!” She picked up her handbag and slung it over her shoulder. “And they get away with it.”

She paused, staring at the drawing on the floor I had made. She picked it up and sat on the bed. “You make me look like an angel.”

“You are one.” An angel sent to save me from the misery of this world where people do horrible things and get away with it.
My
angel.

She said nothing for a long time as she stared at the drawing. “I love how I look through your eyes.”

My rib cage felt too small for my heart.

Bang, bang, bang.

Anna growled and set the drawing on the bed. “When I finally get to talk to my parents, old One Eye out there is top on my list of complaints.”

As expected, Miss Ronan was waiting for us when we reached Taibhreamh. On the porch along with her was Deirdre Byrne, her dirty smock replaced with a black dress and a starched white apron. Anna smiled at her, but the girl couldn’t take her eyes off Connor MacFarley, whose salacious stare held her paralyzed.

“I have told you that it is dangerous to be out after dark, Anna,” Miss Ronan said. “I assured your parents you would always be home before sunset.”

old you t1em">
Anna smirked. “Oh, yeah. Well, it was okay. I was with Liam. . . . No, wait. He’s one of the dangers, isn’t he?” She pulled my face to hers for a kiss that left me breathless and stunned. “I love danger,” she said, leading me up the porch steps by the hand. “Danger turns me on.”

She yanked the door opened and slammed it behind us once we were inside. “I wish I could see Ronan’s face right now,” she said, running up the stairs. I followed, still a bit stunned.

“It is best not to incite her,” I said. “We don’t know enough about her yet to agitate her.”

Anna flopped onto her bed. “She’s always agitated.”

I stopped just inside the room. “Yes, but until we know exactly who or what she is, it would be best to play by her rules.”

“I know exactly what she is,” she said. “She’s a—”

“Stop. Francine believes words and actions come back. We need all the help we can get.” A horrible sense of foreboding had haunted me all the way here. “We need to find out more about her and what happened to your uncle.”

“And your mother.”

“Yes. I think they’re all linked.” With that, the Bean Sidhes started up at a deafening volume.

“So, they
are
linked?” Anna asked the air. The wailing increased in volume, which I didn’t think possible. “Linked to this house?” The pitch got higher and Anna stuck her fingers in her ears. “Okay, then be quiet so we can think.”

The Bean Sidhes fell silent and I sighed with relief.

“Time to explore,” Anna said, pushing to her feet.

Deirdre knocked gently on the door frame, eyes cast to the floor. “I’m sorry, miss. I’ve been sent to tell you that dinner is served and to ask if the . . . if Mr. MacGregor will be staying for dinner.”

“He will, and so will you. Tell Miss Ronan to set three places.”

Deirdre’s eyes grew huge. “Oh, no, miss. I couldn’t possibly. I’ll be beaten for sure.”

Anna strode through the door. “I’ll tell her, then. If anyone raises a hand to you, they are fired.”

Deirdre stood trembling in the doorway.

“Did Miss Ronan threaten you?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No. My da.”

I nodded. “Mine too.”

She met my eyes for only a moment, bobbed a curtsy, and fled. At least it was something. She’d actually made eye contact. Though earning her trust might be next to impossible after thirteen years of brainwashing.

We dined in the huge room where Anna had entertained her friends. This time there was no roaring fire at the end of the room. The enormous fireplace stood cold and black like the entrance to a dungeon rather than the fiery gateway to hell.

The food was amazing, of course, though part of me pondered the grim possibility that Brigid Ronan might have poisoned it. This didn’t give me pause for long because it smelled irresistible. Deirdre didn’t eat at first but eventually agreed after Anna threatened to turn her out if she didn’t clean her plate.

“Would you like some of the chicken, miss?” Deirdre asked, pushing the plate closer to her.

Anna met my eyes before answering. “No thank you. Not today.”

“Fish, then?”

“No. I’ll pass for now.”

“My ma says that I have to eat meat so I’ll be strong for my hus . . .” Her eyes filled with tears. “Excuse me.” She shoved her chair back and ran from the room.

Anna dropped her fork. “A little girl shouldn’t have to go through this.” She scooted her chair away from the table. “Have I told you I hate this place?”

I set my fork down. “You have indeed.”

“Good. I wouldn’t want to give the wrong impression.” She stood.

“You could never be accused of that.” I smiled in spite of myself. She was gorgeous with heightened color in her cheeks.

She placed two more rolls on the girl’s plate and covered it with a napkin. “Where do you suppose she went?”

“I have no idea. To her room, perhaps?”

Anna picked up the plate. “I’m going to go find her. You can stay and finish your dinner if you want to.”

I stood. “And let you play hide-and-seek without me? We can start exploring right now. Maybe we can find some clues as well as your assistant.”

Anna nearly slammed head-on into Miss Ronan as she burst from the dining room.

“Is something wrong?” she asked in her deep voice.

“Yeah. Where’s Deirdre’s room?”

“Through there.” She pointed at the door under the center of the double staircase.

I shuddered. The staircases on either side of the door still looked like the jaws of a huge spider to me and we were about to willingly walk into its mouth.

Miss Ronan didn’t appear the least bit ruffled at Anna’s urgency. “The first door on the left.”

When we reached the room, the lights were out. The white, gauzy curtains on either side of the open window fluttered in the evening air. “Deirdre?” Anna whispered. She flipped on the light switch. The door in the far corner was closed, as was the one to the left of the entrance door. She opened the one to the left first. It was a closet containing only a black dress, an apron, and Deirdre’s clothes from earlier today. A muffled cry came from behind the other door.

“Deirdre?” Anna called again, setting the plate on a chest of drawers. There was a thumping sound and then a scream. “No! Please don’t!”

Anna sprinted to the door with me on her heels. She threw the door open and gasped.

Connor MacFarley had Deirdre backed up against the wall with her skirt hiked up to her waist.

“Stop!” Anna shouted. “Let her go right now.”

He released the girl and she slumped down to a heap on the floor, racked with sobs.

“What do you think you are doing?” Anna asked, fists clenched.

“I might ask you the same thing,” MacFarley replied coolly.

Anna helped Deirdre to her feet. “It appears I’m stopping you from raping a child.”

“What’s yours can’t be raped,” he said, arms across his chest.

Anna’s mouth fell open. th

He yanked Deirdre back to him by the upper arm. Her only sign of resistance was a pitiful squeak. “She’s mine. Her parents gave her to me. I’m to provide for her and take care of her any way I see fit.”

“Oh, my God,” Anna gasped. “You’re her . . . They’re marrying her off to
you
?”

Deirdre gave a pitiful sob that made my chest ache. My pa had beaten me, but I had never feared a lifetime of torture like this poor girl.

The grin on MacFarley’s face exposed several missing teeth. “They are. We are to be wed on the next full moon, so you can leave now.”

“Please go get Miss Ronan,” Anna said to me.

I didn’t have to go far. She was lurking right outside the door. Her completely unconcerned demeanor made the demon in me growl.

“Yes, Miss Leighton?” she said in an almost-bored tone.

“Here’s the deal,” Anna said. “From now on, this . . .” She pointed at MacFarley. “This
man
does not set foot inside the house. He is not to have access to Deirdre ever on this property. She is not to leave this house without me. Not even with her . . . no,
especially
not with her parents.”

Miss Ronan simply lifted an eyebrow.

“If I find out he has laid a finger on her, neither Connor MacFarley nor you will have a job. My family will close this house and throw you out, Miss Ronan. Do you understand?”

She no longer looked bored. With precise articulation indicating focused control, she answered. “You have made yourself perfectly clear. Yes, I understand.”

“Let her go,” Anna ordered.

MacFarley raised his hands in the air in surrender and the girl flew to Anna, clinging to her like a drowning person to a life ring. Anna’s voice was low and measured. “Where I come from, there are laws against attacking children. You are despicable. Get out of my house.”

MacFarley shot a glance at Miss Ronan, who looked away. Without a word, he stomped out of the room. No one moved or spoke until after the front door slammed.

“I’m sorry, miss.” Deirdre sniffled, still clinging to Anna. Anna ran her hands through the girl’s mess of hair that had been in a tidy knot at dinner.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

When I stole a look at Miss Ronan, she appeared to be moved. Her features had softened and her lip quivered. She caught me looking and immediately stiffened into her stoic self. “Will there be anything else, Miss Leighton?”

“Yes. I want her things moved up to my room. She’s going to stay with me tonight.”

The girl clung even tighter. Anna met my gaze over her head and I smiled. Her heart was so giving and strong. Never had I known anyone like her.

Once Anna had tucked Deirdre into her bed with the plate of food and the iPad playing a movie made of drawings about a mouse, she joined me on the upstairs balcony overlooking the entry hall. “I’m going to find a way to get her off this island before that monster hurts her.” She glanced over her shoulder at the closed door. “Poor thing. She’ll be asleep before the movie is over.”