Call Home the Heart (49 page)

 

 

Neil would have continued to press his brother's suit, she knew. She
interrupted him with a vehement shake of her head. "It wouldn't
matter when he asked me. I would still have to say no. I don't love
him. He's not the man for me. Barnakilla is my whole life now. I
need to go back. I love Lochlainn. I love him so much it hurts when
I'm separated from him even for an hour, let alone days on end. I
couldn't live my life without him. Not after the past year. We've
been everything to one another, do you understand?"

 

 

Neil scowled. "Yes, I think I do."

 

 

"Please don't start moralizing."

 

 

Neil sighed and sat down heavily in his desk chair. "It's just that
I can't help thinking he's taking advantage. I've been making some
inquiries, ever since you told me about the court case Christopher
Caldwell has brought for the possession of the estate. Did you know
Lochlainn was the old man's illegitimate son?"

 

 

 She nodded. "I do, but I don't care. He loves me for me, I'm
sure of it now. If he didn't, he never would have done all of the
things he has in the past few months, big things like always
supporting me even when he thought I was wrong, little things like
remembering my birthday. He is a good man, kind and tolerant, free
from superstition, bias and ignorance. I've never known anyone with
a warmer heart, though he has little enough reason to be kind to
people when they've done nothing but use him cruelly. Augustine was
the fortune hunter, not Lochlainn. And now Christopher wants to do
the same thing. He wants to marry me to get his hands on Barnakilla,
since his own estate is falling to wrack and ruin."

 

 

Neil stared at her, appalled. "What do you mean, Augustine married
you only for your money?"

 

 

So Muireann once again found herself confiding the whole truth about
her appalling marriage, with the proviso at the end, "But you must
make sure you never tell Alice one word of this, not one word, do
you hear? Or Philip either."

 

 

"Who else knows?" he asked in a shocked whisper.

 

 

"Only Mother, and you. And Lochlainn once he gets my letter."

 

 

Neil rubbed his hands over his eyes, feeling himself close to tears.
He thought he had known her, loved her. Now he could see what true
love really was. He had to let her go, for all their sakes. His had
just been the doting fondness of an aging man for a beautiful,
spirited young girl. After what Muireann had endured, she deserved
every chance of real happiness and true love, and he was determined
to get them for her.

 

 

"You told me about your desperate finances when you first wrote to
me, but you never once let on about your terrible marriage. I don't
know how you could have borne it. But now, tell me everything about
this Christopher Caldwell again."

 

 

She shuddered.

 

 

He noted her reaction, and said, "Go on, you can tell me. After all
you've just revealed, I'm sure it will be mild by comparison."

 

 

She sighed heavily. "No, it isn't. If anything, it's worse. But it
isn't my secret to tell, it's Lochlainn's sister Ciara's secret."

 

 

"I give you my word, my dear, nothing will ever go out of this room.
But you must tell someone. Bottling up all of these worries and
fears for so long has worn you down to almost nothing."

 

 

"All right, I shall tell you everything I know of Christopher, but
if one word of this ever gets back to Lochlainn--"

 

 

"It won't, I promise."

 

 

She revealed all Ciara had told her, and then went on to tell her
brother-in-law about Christopher's threats. "But I won't let him do
it, do you hear? Even if he wins the case, I shall buy the house
from him, no matter what he asks, before he gets a chance to do any
more damage to people, to women, than he already has with Ciara and
Tara. He and Augustine were monsters. I can't believe the two of
them and Ciara and Lochlainn share the same blood.

 

 

"But I know what Augustine was like when he was desperate. I know it
will take a lot to buy Christopher off. To get him to go away and
never trouble any of us again. But it's a price I'm willing to pay
if it means we don't have his shadow hanging over us for the rest of
our lives."

 

 

Neil rose from his chair and paced up and down in front of the
window for a few moments. "I wish you had told me about this problem
with Mr. Caldwell sooner. I would have had more time to look into
the matter further myself. I'm not sure when the court case will
come up, but I think we still have a few weeks. Give me the name of
your solicitor and I'll see what I can do."

 

 

"No, you're so busy already, I couldn't ask you to…."

 

 

"My dear girl, I'm offering. There's no need to ask. But I agree
with you. This all has to be put right somehow. The sooner
Christopher leaves Ireland, never to return, the better. And
something should be done for those two women he abused as well.
Leave everything to me."

 

 

"But it's my problem, my responsibility."

 

 

Neil gave her a fond smile. "Dearest Muireann, you'll have enough of
a fight on your hands when you get back to Barnakilla and have to
battle with the Famine. Save your strength for that fight, for you
will most certainly need it. I brought Augustine into this house,
introduced you, took him at face value without enquiring too deeply
into his affairs. I blame myself for what happened. And no one as
vile as Christopher should be left to prey upon unsuspecting
people."

 

 

"But surely you're not going to have him arrested, have the truth
come out about-"

 

 

He shook his head. "No, but there are other ways to make him pay,"
Neil said with a small smile.

 

 

Muireann allowed herself to grin back. "Why Neil, whatever do you
have in mind?"

 

 

"All in good time, my dear girl, all in good time. But first we have
to free you from this terrible tangle, and then get you home to
Barnakilla."

 

 

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

 

 

Despite his many reservations over her plans for the future, in the
end, Neil proved to be a tower of strength to Muireann as she made
plans for her future. She sold all of her remaining possessions at
Fintry for the best prices she could get, keeping only her most
plain and serviceable gowns and under things, and some of her books.
Even all of her jewels went to her sister, who pleaded with her to
take at least one ring or brooch as a memento of her family and her
past life.

 

 

Muireann adamantly refused. "I don't want to look back anymore, I
want to look forward."

 

 

"But all of your lovely things!" Alice exclaimed with a pettish toss
of her golden ringlets.

 

 

"They are only
things
,
Alice, not people. What need have I of gowns and jewels when I'm
surrounded by love?"

 

 

"Love doesn't put food on the table," her sister replied with a hint
of her old hauteur.

 

 

Muireann smiled at her and Alice shook her head, unwilling to
quarrel with her sister now that she had proven herself a tower of
strength to her mother after a good talking to from Neil.

 

 

"In five years' time, you and the children will come and visit me,
and you'll see the best-run estate in Ireland," Muireann declared,
before turning back to pack her small valise.

 

 

But though she tried to pack light, her one bag soon grew to a small
mountain of luggage. When she finally admitted what she was doing,
going back to Barnakilla to try to save it from the Famine, all of
her family from far and wide had turned out in full force to lend a
hand, showering her with all sorts of useful items for the house,
plain but serviceable.

 

 

 Muireann did try to point out that she didn't own a grand
house any longer, not in the sense they imagined, but her elderly
aunt Martha waved away her objections.

 

 

"Every married couple needs a house. You'll get one soon, mark my
words."

 

 

"But Aunt, who said anything about getting married?" Muireann asked,
puzzled.

 

 

Her aunt tapped her nose with her forefinger, and scurried away to
help crate up all the gifts that kept flooding in.

 

 

Soon everyone was talking excitedly about her owning Barnakilla,
marrying the man she loved, and living happily ever after as though
it were a foregone conclusion. Muireann gave up trying to argue with
them, or even curb their lavish gift-giving, which was rapidly
filling the
Andromeda
from bow to stern.

 

 

Only the livestock had yet to be loaded, and that was only because
Muireann kept protesting that she didn't want to strip the Fintry
estate of every four-footed creature it possessed.

 

 

The rumors of Muireann's impending marriage weren't long in
filtering back to Christopher, who had some friends in Neil's social
circle. With Muireann married in Scotland,  he was convinced he
would win his court case.

 

 

But just to make sure of Barnakilla, he thought he ought to remove
Lochlainn from the equation entirely. He rode over to his
neighboring estate with the gossip about Muireann's forthcoming
nuptials as fast as his horse could carry him, and positively
gloated as he told Lochlainn the news.

 

 

"Why don't you clear out now, while you still have some dignity
intact? This place will be mine soon enough, and you'll be traveling
the roads like the beggar that you are in no time!"

 

 

"I told Muireann I would wait for her, and wait I will," Lochlainn
said stubbornly, though deep down he was in agony. How can she be
planning to marry?

 

 

"You're not wanted here, don't you see that?"

 

 

Lochlainn rounded on the blond man furiously then, letting his
emotions bubble over. He clenched and unclenched his fists at his
sides, praying he would have the strength to resist throttling him.

 

 

"You're the one who's not wanted here, Christopher! Do you think
even if you do win this estate, that these people will work for you?
They won't! They stayed because they had faith in Muireann, came to
love her. Even if you do win, what are you going to pay these people
with?

 

 

"Look at these wages books. This is how much you owe to all these
people before you can discharge them from your service, or they
decide to leave. They will demand their payment, and I will make
sure that you give every penny you owe every one of them, even if
you get dragged through the courts for years. You'll have to file
for bankruptcy, will go to debtors' prison. I'll make sure of it!"

 

 

Christopher harrumphed. "Impossible. You don't pay wages to
peasants!"

 

 

"But that's where you're mistaken. They aren't peasants! They're
workers. They worked these many hours at that rate, and after
deducting food and laundry and rent, this is how much they are all
owed."

 

 

Christopher stared, horrified at the huge sum at the end of the long
column of figures. "But that's impossible."

 

 

"Don't think your nearest neighbors will do any trading with you for
wool and such like, as they have done with Muireann all these
months. They don't like your blackmailing her, threatening to take
everything away from her, any more than I do.

 

 

"There won't be a person in the country who will work for the likes
of you once they learn the whole truth. Everyone has always thought
you completely dissolute and unreliable. Everyone now knows how
financially desperate you are! No one will give you credit anywhere!
It's you who have lost everything, Christopher, even if the
magistrates do decide to give you Barnakilla!"

 

 

Christopher raged, "It's not true! None of it!"

 

 

 Lochlainn gave a small smile of triumph. "It's all here in
black and white. And before you think about trying to destroy the
books, they're only copies. I sent the originals to Muireann's
solicitor in Dublin, along with a few other important official
papers."

 

 

"It still doesn't alter the fact that rumor has it Muireann is
marrying. That can only mean Muireann is staying in Scotland,"
Christopher countered.

 

 

He shook his head vehemently. "You said it yourself, Christopher.
It's only a rumor, not a fact. I shan't believe a word of it until I
see her wed with my own two eyes, view the license and the man she
is marrying. Muireann will come home to me. To Barnakilla. She
promised," Lochlainn said simply with a certainty he wished he
really felt.

 

 

"So that's the way of it," Christopher said with an evil leer. "You
tricked the poor girl into thinking you cared about her so you could
get your hands on the property yourself. She isn't stupid. She'll
figure it out in the long run."

 

 

"Whatever she believes about me," Lochlainn said with a sigh, "she's
still coming home to Barnakilla."

 

 

Christopher let out a snort of disgust. "Then she's an even bigger
fool than you are!"

 

 

Lochlainn crossed his arms over his chest, and lounged against the
wall of Muireann's small office as if he hadn't a care in th world.
"You know, I've never forgiven you, Christopher, for what you have
done to me and my sister all these years. But at the end of the day,
the only person you've really hurt is yourself. You tried to get the
big prize of Barnakilla after you had run your own estate into ruin.
Now people know you for what you really are, a dissolute drunkard
and gambler with no loyalty to anyone but yourself, and no money to
call your own.