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“This is fucking barking. I never touched
her and she knows it.”

Sarah watched as the two gypsy men began to
try to haul Mike out of the crowd. She had an irrational image of
King Kong flipping a swarm of natives off him, only in this case,
the natives were winning.

“Let him go!” she shouted as she watched
Mike grapple with the men. She turned to Gilhooley. “You can’t
accuse people without evidence. It’s insane to think he touched
her.”

“I’d say the
evidence
is prominently
displayed for all to see, Missus,” Gilhooley said
primly.

Declan leapt off the porch in a sudden
movement that made Sarah jump and stumble backward onto the
decking, but Iain stopped him with a hard fist to the stomach.
Declan crumpled to his knees as Sarah watched in horror as Iain
lifted a large cricket bat over his head and brought it crashing
down on his head.

Fiona screamed and ran to her husband,
immobile in the dirt and the gravel.

“Motherfucker tried to interfere with camp
regulations,” Iain said, tossing down the bat and wiping blood from
his mouth from his earlier beating. “Looks like we’ll have at least
one person in the new jail. Get him outta here.” Two more
men—friends and neighbors—materialized from the crowd to grab the
unconscious Declan under the arms and begin to drag him off.

Sarah ran to where Fiona was pounding on the
backs of the men hauling Declan off and pulled her away. “You can’t
stop it, Fi,” Sarah said. “You’ll just end up getting hurt.”

“Wise words, Mrs. Woodson,” Gilhooley said
as he watched the proceedings with grim satisfaction. “You’ll need
to heed them yourself if you have any ideas about interfering with
camp justice. As you are no longer a member of this camp, I’ll ask
you to remove yourself to your quarters.”

“Have you lost your mind?” Sarah said. “You
can’t assault people or throw Mike out of his own camp! I don’t
know why Papin is saying what she’s saying but—”

“I have the power to do exactly that and
more, Mrs. Woodson,” Gilhooley said. He turned to the crowd, most
of whom were following Mike as he was forcibly escorted to the camp
entrance. “I’ll ask everyone to clear this area for a time,” he
said to their retreating backs.

Sarah helped a sobbing Fiona to her feet in
time to see Caitlin lead Papin away.

“Papin!” Sarah shouted, but Papin never
turned around. “Papin!”

“Sarah, what is happening?” Fiona said, her
face streaked with tears as she looked in the direction Declan was
taken. “What will they do with him?”

“Come on, Fi,” Sarah said. “Let’s get you
inside. Who knows what that lunatic is capable of next.” As she
climbed the stairs, she saw Gavin standing alone in the crowd
looking bewildered. “Gavin! Go find John and bring him to your
Auntie Fi’s. Do you understand me?” She watched him nod as if in a
trance and then turn away.

As she stood on the porch watching the last
of the crowd disperse, Sarah thought she saw a flash of Mike’s blue
shirt at the far side of the camp at the north entrance.

Well,
she thought
. I guess Caitlin made
her first move.

***

The old cabin had been open to the weather
in the months since Sarah and David had lived in it. Mike stood on
the rickety porch and got a flash of memory of the many times he’d
visited Deirdre and old Seamus here. Hard to believe the couple was
dead and gone these past many months. He pushed open the front door
with his foot and was rewarded with the sound of rustling in the
interior. Something had obviously taken up residence over the
summer.

The two-mile walk from camp had helped work
off his anger, so that by the time he reached the old cottage he
felt relatively calm. Although at first he was aghast and furious
with Papin, it didn’t take long to work out that the real culprit
in this piece was Caitlin. Although how she got Papin to mouth the
words she needed saying was anybody’s guess.

He shook his head and sat down on the wooden
chair on the porch.

What a mess. Me, exiled
from me own camp. Everyone thinking I took advantage of a young
girl, for cripe’s sake. And Sarah
…the walk
to the cabin had given him some time to think of Sarah’s reaction,
too—what he’d had a chance to see.

No, she’d not doubt him, he knew that. But
still, she had to be sick about it.

“Hello! Mike!”

He jerked his head up to see Aideen riding
down the winding drive from the high road in a small pony trap.
Taffy sat next to her, clutching the seat, her eyes wide. He stood
up and dropped to the ground from the porch to put his hand on the
pony’s cavesson. “Whoa, there,” he said. “Jaysus, Aideen, what are
you doing here?”

He had to admit, she looked beautiful. Her
fair skin was pink in the late afternoon breeze and her eyes were
lively and intent.

“What do you mean?” she said handing the
reins to Taffy and jumping down to the ground. “Where you go, I go.
If they don’t want you, they don’t want me either.”

“I’m sure it’ll all be resolved shortly,”
Mike said. “Did you bring your clothes and belongings?” He moved to
the back of the cart. There were only a few boxes. Taffy’s
toys—most of which required batteries and didn’t work any more—and
two suitcases full of clothes.

“I told Jimmy I’d return the cart in the
morning,” Aideen said, reaching in the back to drag out a
suitcase.

Mike put a hand on her arm to stop her.
“Aideen, no,” he said. “You’ll go back tonight.”

“But Mike, why? Not only do I not want to be
any where near those hypocrites and back stabbers you call friends,
but I prefer to send the message of where my loyalties lie.”

“You don’t have to send any message to me,”
he said, shoving her bag back into the cart. “Hello, darling,” he
said to Taffy who stared at him with big frightened eyes. He had to
hand it to Aideen, by bringing her own daughter to him she was
broadcasting to the world her complete faith in Mike.

He put his hand on her shoulder and felt a
rush of relief and gratitude toward her. She really did love him.
“Come in and let’s put together a cup of tea,” he said, dropping
his hand to her waist and guiding her around the back of the cart
toward the cottage. “And then I’ll drive ye both back to camp.”

“Mike, no,” Aideen said. “We’re here to move
in with you.”

“I know that, lass,” Mike said, reaching up
to help Taffy to the ground. The child looked terrified. “But it’s
not a good idea.”

“I don’t care what they think.”

Mike watched Taffy grab at her mother’s pant
legs and look up at him with wide eyes. He sighed. “It’s what I
think, too.”

Aideen watched him silently for a moment as
she combed her fingers through Taffy’s hair. Finally, she leaned
down to the child and whispered to her. Taffy turned and climbed
into the back of the cart, digging out a doll wearing a wedding
dress.

“All right, Mike,” Aideen said quietly. “Are
you breaking it off with me?”

“I’d rather not have this conversation in
the road.”

“I don’t really feel like I can wait until
we have optimal conditions. Why, may I ask?”

Mike ran a hand through his hair. The truth
was he hadn’t known what he was going to say anything until the
words were out of his mouth. But there was something about standing
here looking at this cottage—with the community he built barred to
him—and then seeing her, that made him realize once and for all
that it was a lie.

“I don’t know why. And I know that’s no
answer. And I’m sorry as I can be about it.”

“Even with Sarah leaving?”

“This has nothing to do with Sarah.”

“Oh, I believe you. Millions wouldn’t.”

“I just can’t…” He shook his head. “I am so
sorry, Aideen. You are a great woman. You’re gorgeous and smart and
sexy as all hell—”

“Stop it, Mike.”

Mike could see she was fighting to keep the
tears in and it made him feel about two inches tall to know he’d
led her so far down this rosy path.

“I just know it wouldn’t work,” he said,
looking away.

“So you’re just going to live in this
cottage by yourself and become the Irish hermit?”

“I told you. I have every reason to believe
this Papin thing will get sorted out.”

“Well, if you think that,
then you haven’t been listening. This is the first wave of the
attack. They wanted to get you for
rape
. If you could’ve seen Caitlin’s
face when Papin wouldn’t stick to the script, you’d realize
that
banishment
will not satisfy her.”

Mike frowned and glanced in the direction of
the community.

“Plus,” she said, “you do know they beat up
Declan and hauled him off to the jail?”

“What?!” Mike took two steps toward the
community and then turned back to her, his eyes flashing, his fists
clenching. “When? Why?”

“I think mainly because Brian’s an asshole
being led around by his psychopath wife.”

“What’s the charge against him?”

“I don’t know that
there
is
one
except for Iain hating him. Still think Taffy and I are better off
there?”

Mike looked into her eyes and saw the utter
defeat reflected in them. “No. The two of you’ll stay here with
me.”

***

The puppies were a welcome distraction to a
somber house Sarah thought as she poured the fourth pot of tea in
two hours. It wasn’t like Fiona to go all weepy and distracted.
Sarah figured it was probably pregnancy hormones kicking in. The
two boys alternately played with the dogs and whined about not
being able to leave the cottage.

“John,” Sarah said, putting her hand on him,
“I might need you to run an errand for me, but until then I
appreciate you sitting tight, okay?”

He turned his face to hers as if to
determine whether she were serious or merely placating him. “Sure,”
he said. “But the dogs need to go out. I mean, unless Auntie Fi
doesn’t care if they wee all over her living room rug.”

“Fine. You and Gavin take them out, but
don’t dally and don’t wander over to the cook fire. You don’t need
to hear what people are saying right now.”

Sarah watched them as they herded the wolves
out the front door and then she turned to Fiona curled up on the
couch and wrapped in a wool afghan in spite of the summer weather.
“You okay?”

Fiona looked at the closed front door as if
seeing an apparition standing there.

“Fi?”

“I’m fine,” she croaked. “It’s just…it
looked like they’d killed him, Sarah.”

“I know, Fi, but I saw him moving when they
took him.” That wasn’t true, but Sarah couldn’t imagine it would be
helpful at the moment for Fiona to believe Declan was dead.

Fiona looked at her suddenly. “Isn’t today
the day you’re supposed to go to Limerick?”

Sarah shrugged. “I’m not going.”

Fiona nodded. “Well, obviously. But I
imagine they’ll have a flight out tomorrow.”

“I’m not going at all, Fi.”

Fiona stared at her in silence. If Sarah had
been hoping for a look of uncontrolled delight on her friend’s
face, she was disappointed.

I guess we’re a long way away from happy
dances.

“When did you decide this?”

“Somewhere between learning that Papin
couldn’t come to the US and watching her become BFFs with a pit
viper.”

Fiona sighed heavily and nodded. “That would
do it. Well, I’m glad. We’ve got to fix this shite, Sarah. I don’t
know how, but we have to fix it.”

“We will.” Sarah poured another cup of tea
for herself and sat down on the couch with Fiona. “I’ll talk to
Papin. She’ll recant. Mike will return. Dec will be released.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Mike won’t return. They’d never let
him.”

“You’re probably right.”

“I tried to think of what possible reason
Papin would have for accusing Mike of being the father of her
baby.”

“Well, obviously Caitlin put her up to
it.”

“Sure, but why would Papin
do it? She
loves
Mike.”

“I know. I don’t know. She’s so sweet and
dear and cheerful most of the time, we tend to forget she’s
basically pretty fucked up.”

“Poor lass,” Fiona murmured.

The front door banged open and Sarah dropped
her teacup on the floor with a clang. John stood in the opening
with all three squirming dogs in his arms. They appeared to be
trying to bite his fingers.

“Ouch, bastards! Stop that!” John said,
yelping.

“For the love of God, John,” Sarah said,
leaning over to pick up the broken china. “What’s the matter?”

“Winky and Dez said they saw Aideen and
Taffy leaving in a pony cart a couple hours ago.”

“Who in the world are Winky and Dez?”

“The two gypsies who play the guitar by the
fire. Anyway, people are saying they went to stay with Uncle Mike
at our old place, Mom.”

“Mike went to our old cottage?”

“That’s what people are saying.”

“Where’s Gavin? I told you boys to come
right back.”

“Sorry, Mom. Gavin didn’t think you meant
him.” He nodded at Fiona. “He went to see Uncle Dec.”

Fiona gasped and dropped the afghan on the
rug. Sarah grabbed for her cup in case there were more broken
pieces of china to deal with.

“Is he okay? Is he badly hurt?” Fiona
asked.

“I dunno. Gavin’s still down there. But Mr.
Jamison came by when I was out with the dogs and he told me the
camp’s in lockdown and if anybody leaves, they won’t be allowed
back in.”

Fiona turned to Sarah, her face a mask of
determination and fear. “What are we going to do, Sarah?”

***

Caitlin took a long breath
and tried to at least muffle her fury. It wouldn’t do any good for
the idiot wog to get the wrong idea about her intentions. She
straightened the jacket on her ridiculous
pantsuit—
what idiot wore these
things?—
and went to the back bedroom to
sit next to Papin where she lay in bed.