Kilpara (33 page)

As August came to a close, Morrigan, her Aunt
Margaret, and Aunt Sadie pored over final preparations for the
wedding. Prayers were being offered daily for Mother’s health. We
agreed it was better not to subject Mother to the trip to Kilpara
for the wedding, even if it meant having the service in the chapel
there held special meaning for us all. Everyone concluded it was
less risk to have the ceremony at the convent. We spoke with the
Reverend White who had known Morrigan all her life and who showed
sympathy for our situation. He agreed to perform the ceremony
provided it met with the approval of the Mother Superior and Father
Matthews. Fortunately, the pastor was well-known throughout the
community as a kind man and tolerated by the residents who were
mostly opposed to his Protestant faith. Aunt Sadie immediately
accepted this arrangement and Father Matthews offered no
objections.

With the final preparations underway, I
suggested I move into Kilpara after the wedding, but Morrigan was
adamantly against it.

“
It’s too far away from your
mother,” she objected. “You’re needed here. Kilpara can wait.” I
was grateful for her understanding, and showed this by taking her
in my arms and kissing her passionately. Soon afterwards, her
personal belongings began to arrive and were stored in my room in
anticipation of our marriage. I was pleased that she visited the
convent almost every day and spent time with Mother telling her
stories about growing up at Kilpara. Mother listened contentedly.
During her better moments, she joined in with stories about the
early years of her marriage when she was a young bride newly
arrived at the house. In a very short time, a bond had sprung up
between the two most important women in my life, one that wove them
together through experiences and feelings for the home they both
loved.

Taking a stroll around the convent grounds one
evening, I left Morrigan discussing wedding cake ingredients with
Aunt Sadie and her Aunt Margaret. I watched the sun begin its
descent in the west and contemplated how quickly the past was
fading and the future was taking over. So much had happened. It was
getting harder to remember my life before Ireland, before Mother’s
illness. I thought about Stonebridge and my brothers and what they
would think about Ireland and Kilpara. I was so deep in reverie
that I heard Mark’s voice clearly in my mind. It persisted without
any prompting, leading me to wonder why I was imagining
things.

“
Wiz—Wiz— Hey Wiz,” came Mark’s
insistent voice. It seemed so real that I turned toward the sound.
An unbelievable sight faced me. Mark was striding across the
convent grounds. It had to be a mirage. I stood
transfixed.

“
Wiz, it’s me—Mark,” he
shouted.

I ran toward him even before I even knew I had
moved. “Mark, it is you, it really is you.” I grasped and felt him
to make sure he was real. We stood staring at each other, afraid to
trust our eyes, unable to believe we were together here in the
flesh. Dazed, we began walking back toward the carriage. Another
shock awaited me when Dan got out and looked around curiously, hat
in hand. A second carriage pulled up and out stepped Eileen,
Seamus, Rengen, and Jasmine.

I hugged them all in turn. “Put your eyes back
in your head,” Dan said, as I stood back open-mouthed.

“
Need a pinch, Wiz?” Mark said. I
gave him a friendly shove and laughed.

“
Didn’t you get our letter?” Dan
asked

“
What letter?”

“
We wrote and told you we were
coming.”

“
It hasn’t arrived,” I
said.

“
Never mind that. How’s Mother?”
Dan asked, looking worried.

We began walking toward the convent. “Not
good, but she’ll feel a lot better when she sees you.”

We all went inside the convent. Morrigan, her
Aunt Margaret, and Aunt Sadie looked at our strange little party in
gaping surprise. Rengen stared at Aunt Sadie in her nun’s habit,
having never seen a nun before. Aunt Sadie stared back having never
seen a man as tall and black as Rengen before.

Aunt Sadie recovered first.
“Ellis…?”

I provided the introductions.

“
We had no warning,” Aunt Sadie
apologized.

“
We sent a letter,” Dan
said.

“
It must’ve gone astray. But never
mind that now. You’re here safe and well and we’ll make immediate
preparations. You must be worn out after your journey, and no one
to greet you.”

“
Some kind people at the
Traveller’s Inn in Galway found us carriages and grooms for hire,”
Dan answered, unperturbed.

Hospital staff and nuns gathered around to
inspect the Americans who had converged on their quiet little
world. Trista smiled widely.

“
May we see our mother, Ma’am?” Dan
asked.

“
Yes, yes, of course, Aunt Sadie
said, but please call me Aunt—or—Sadie. Trista, take the lads to
see Ann.”

Trista indicated to Dan and Mark to follow
her.

Rengen looked around at the nuns and nurses.
“Are all’s them nurses? And why do theyse wear funny
clothes?”

“
No.” I nodded toward the nurses in
starched uniforms. “Those are nurses like Trista. They wear white
uniforms and blue pinafores, which means they’ve not taken
religious vows. The others,” I nodded toward the nuns in black
habits, “those are nuns who are called Sisters. They’re not related
to each other, they’ve just taken the vows of the same religious
order and beliefs.”

“
Sisters? Hmmm. All’s
them?”

“
Yep.”

“
What's religious people doing at a
hospital?”

“
Their religious vows commit them
to caring for the sick,” I explained. “They’re called the Sisters
of Mercy.”

Rengen scratched his head. “It don't make no
sense no how. And your aunt?”

“
She’s the head nun. The Sisters
call her Mother Superior.”

“
Shoo, shoo,” Aunt Sadie said, to
the gathered crowd. “Don’t you have anything better to do than to
stand around and gape?” The group began to file out. Aunt Sadie
recovering from the shock was in charge again. “We must prepare
somewhere for you to stay. You’ll want to freshen up and get
something to eat.”

“
Point us in the direction of the
kitchen,” Eileen said, beaming. “Jasmine and I will help to prepare
the food.” Jasmine who stood behind Rengen peaked around at Eileen
when she mentioned her name. Eileen took her hand. “No one will
hurt ye here,” she reassured the frightened Jasmine.

“
There’s luggage to put away,
Mother Superior,” Seamus said.

“
You may do that once the Sisters
have prepared your lodging,” Sadie said.

“
Mast’r Ellis, where we’se be
staying?” Rengen asked, eyes large and round.

I grinned. “You’ll stay with Mother and me
over yonder in the building for visiting priests and nuns. I
pointed across the lawn. The nuns live here in the
convent.”

Rengen looked relieved.

“
Them Catholic priests here are
like them ones back home?”

“
The very same.”

Satisfied, he walked over to Aunt
Sadie.

“
Tell me what chores youse needing
done, Ma’am—er—Mother Superior.” He turned a wide grin on me.
“Youse got some wood that be needing split?”

Aunt Sadie wiped her forehead. “No, but I’m
sure there’s turf to be brought in for the fires.”

Rengen looked bewildered. “Turf?”

“
Follow me,” Seamus said. “I’m sure
I’ll find it.” They started toward the door.

“
Wait.” Aunt Sadie called out. She
looked at Rengen, walked around his strong body before asking,
“Would you mind helping out in the hospital on
occasion?”

Rengen's brows knitted together. “What youse
meaning?”

“
My nurses have difficulty lifting
patients, returning them to their beds and the like. Would you mind
assisting them, once in a while?”

“
That be all right, I suppose,”
Rengen said cautiously.

“
We’ll talk more about it after
you’re settled,” Aunt Sadie said.

Rengen and Seamus went out to bring in turf
and to unload the luggage. With everyone tidily taken care of, Aunt
Sadie flopped into a chair.

“
What an impressive family,”
Morrigan’s Aunt Margaret said with awe.

Morrigan giggled and came over to where I
stood. “They certainly are different.”

When we gathered for dinner that evening, it
was my turn to shock my brothers. I announced my betrothal to
Morrigan. They immediately toasted our nuptials and welcomed
Morrigan into our family. It was easy to see she had already won
them over with her green-gray eyes, genuine smile, and gentle
manner.

The little building for visiting priests and
nuns had never seen so much activity. Seamus and Eileen visited
Mother as soon as they were allowed, their visit filling her with
nostalgic happiness. She was no longer afraid of her illness or its
discomfort and talked about it in spurts with Dan and Mark. There
were tears of regret and love as she explained her real motives for
returning to Ireland. My brothers began to accept all this amid
long walks and talks around the convent grounds with Aunt Sadie and
Trista.

Rengen quickly got over his surprise of the
Sisters at Mercy Hospital, and they gratefully depended on him to
help with their patients. He joined them in the vegetable garden
and milked their small herd of cows and goats. Jasmine remained in
awe of everything around her, and when Aunt Sadie learned she
couldn’t read or write, a novice was assigned to teach
her.

On pleasant days it wasn’t unusual to see
Jasmine with a young novice sitting under a chestnut tree poring
over a book. During those sessions there was a lot of smiling and
heavy concentration going on. After only a week, Jasmine proudly
showed that she could write her name and construct a few words of
greeting on letters to her children.

One night I was experiencing pre-wedding
jitters and awoke just before dawn. My mind was full of all the
changes that had taken place. My brothers’ arrival had made me
wonder about the decision I’d made to stay in Ireland. Did I really
know what I was doing? And what would happen if Mother died before
the wedding? What then?

Deep in thought, I looked out the window and
saw two shadowy figures stride toward the chapel. Even in the
dawning light I could tell it was Rengen and Aunt Sadie. I dressed
and followed them. Inside the chapel, Rengen sat on a single pew,
his big frame towering above Aunt Sadie’s petite one. He remained
respectfully seated, lost in thought, while she knelt with her
rosary, praying silently. Aunt Sadie admitted to me later that
Rengen had discovered her early morning ritual and began joining
her during pre-dawn hospital rounds. Afterward, he would accompany
her to the chapel and sit silently meditating while she prayed. He
then accompanied her for breakfast with the other Sisters who
plagued him with questions about America. “He’s brought such joy
into our lives,” Aunt Sadie said.

A week or so after my brothers arrived,
Morrigan arranged for them to visit Kilpara on a day when Purcenell
had business in Dublin and would be away. Dan and Mark stood in
wonderment of Stonebridge’s twin structure.

Looking around each room in turn, Dan said,
“So Wiz, you won this back in a race with Brazonhead, huh? I’d like
to have seen that.”

“
It’s so much like Stonebridge,
it’s eerie,” Mark said. “The doors, the windows, the rooms.
Everything. Mother and Father must’ve loved this place to replicate
it to a tee.”

We were standing in the Great Room. Dan walked
over to a portrait hanging on the wall. “This is one memory they
didn’t care to duplicate.” He pointed to the very distinguished
gentleman, burly like Arthur Purcenell, but with a mustache and
short beard. His smile was broad and superior with no hint of a
split between his teeth. It was a portrait of Morrigan’s
grandfather.

Mark turned his head to one side and squinted.
“That’s one God-awful portrait.”

Dan grinned widely. “You’re right about
that.”

“
It’ll be up to you, Wiz, to
reinstate the O’Donovan clan,” Mark said. “But I don’t see Ireland
agreeing with you the way Baltimore did. You'll be giving up all
that carousing and city excitement.”

“
Can’t see you being too happy
about that,” Dan said.

“
Baltimore is in the past,” I said.
“It feels right to be here at Kilpara. I’ve made my decision to
marry Morrigan, and this is where she wants to live. After bringing
Mother here, I'm beginning to believe it's where I belong,
too.”

As my brothers’ gazes scanned Kilpara, they
looked at me and nodded their understanding.

A hint of autumn ushered in September.
Morrigan and Aunt Sadie agreed it was perfect weather to
accommodate an outdoor wedding. They chose the open lawn between
the convent and the hospital to hold the ceremony. A small altar
was taken from the convent chapel and placed on the grounds.
Baskets of asters and dahlias were arranged at each side of the
altar and set in front. Rengen and Seamus moved pews outside,
placing them in rows. White bows were attached at the end of each
bench. A red carpet appeared to simulate an aisle. All this color
brought a festive look to the otherwise drab cheerless
buildings.