Wishes on the Wind (52 page)

    She had slipped her hand into Sean's then, and through the long hot days of that summer, while the fear had remained fresh in her mind, his hand had always been close by.

    The smile faded from Meg's lips. Aye, she was Sean's sister, after all.

    Meg walked out into the yard to look at the first sprouts emerging from the neat rows she had planted a few weeks earlier. She had started a small garden in an isolated corner of the yard when her time at McCall's had been cut, and she had found a surprising comfort in the chore. Under the clear blue canopy of the sky with the sun beating on her head and her hands working in the warm, moist dirt, she had found herself feeling a bit closer to her Ma. She was certain her Ma could see her more distinctly then, looking down from the heavenly kingdom where she now resided, and she felt her Ma could hear her more clearly when she spoke.

    Kneeling now beside the even rows, Meg picked out the sprouting weeds, inevitably stronger than her struggling seedings. Despair nudged at her mind and she looked up at the sky again. In her mind she saw her Ma's sweet face within the endless blue, and the words her mind spoke came straight from the heart.

    
I've not been able to deter Sean from the path of vengeance, no matter what I've tried, Ma. My concern's turned him against me of late. He's been closer to Terry than myself for the past few weeks, and I'm uncertain where that'll lead. I need to hear your voice in my ear, Ma. I need you to tell me what to do. Ah, Ma
Meg's throat tightened with emotion
I need you to send me the answer. I need to hear you speak my name.

    The absolute silence that followed her silent plea was broken with a single word.

    "
Meg
."

    Gasping, Meg raised her head in the direction of the sound. Her     shocked gaze focused on David's face as he stepped into sight, and she stumbled to her feet, her voice an incredulous whisper.

    "Wh… what are you doing here, David?"

    "I've been asking myself that same question, Meg. The only thing I know is that there's already been too much time spent in anger between us. I want to talk to you and put all the bad feelings to rest. I want there to be peace between us."

    Meg glanced around the empty yard, her heart pounding with the knowledge that there was no safety from prying eyes and wagging tongues despite the privacy provided by the fencing surrounding them.

    "Please go, David. We have nothing to discuss, and your coming here can only cause trouble."

    "Meg…" Anxiety was apparent in David's gaze. "Please. I'd like to be your friend."

    "No one would understand a friendship between us, David."

    "I won't leave until you talk to me, Meg."

    "David, please!" Beginning to feel the onset of panic, Meg looked around her again. "It's far too dangerous for you to be here. You must leave now."

    David's gaze searched her face as he whispered, "I didn't come here to cause trouble, Meg. There's been enough of that."

    "But if Terry or Sean see you"

    "You should have waited, Meg!" Sudden anger flushed David's face. "You should've known I'd come back for you!"

    "What difference would it have made if I had, David?" Meg's gaze implored him. "Nothing's changed except the gulf between us has widened with you now in charge of the colliery. You're the enemy now, even more than you were before."

    "I'm no one's enemy! I came back here to straighten out the affairs of the colliery for the betterment of all involved."

    Meg impaled him with her gaze. "Did you really, David?"

    Anguish clearly visible in his handsome face, David broke the prolonged silence that followed with a softly spoken, "No." Still holding her gaze intently, he continued with obvious determination. "But if there's to be complete honesty between us, there are some things I must say. I love you, Meg. I didn't realize it at the time, but I
did
come back to Shenandoah hoping to find you again. You found your way into my heart a long time ago. When you wrenched yourself away from me, you took a part of it with you."

    Meg paled. "These are wasted words, David. I'm married now!"

    "Wait, Meg, let me finish. Let me at least do this for you. Let me warn you that your brother is in danger."

    The shock of his unexpected words reverberated through Meg's body as David continued. "The police have been watching him, Meg. They know he's working with the Molly Maguires. They don't have anything definite on him yet, but it's only a matter of time until they do. If you want to save him, you'll tell him to get out of the coal fields. He can go out West, change his name, and start over."

    "He'll never do that."

    "If he stays, he'll be caught, Meg."

    "No, don't tell me any more, please." Trembling, Meg looked up into David's impassioned face. "I owe you this much truth in return, David, so I'll tell you now that I love you, too. I suppose I always will. I've suffered endless regrets for letting you leave in bitterness those years ago, and I want to do it right this time. So I'll say the only thing I can to you now, and I'll say it with love. Goodbye… my dear David."

    Her bittersweet smile all the more beautiful for its brevity, Meg suddenly turned and walked back toward the house. She did not see David staring after her, rooted to the spot by the futility of protest. And as her footsteps faded, she did not see reflected in his eyes the end of a dream.

    Meg still had not recuperated from her encounter with David earlier in the day. Closing the kitchen door behind her, she walked toward the street, uncertain of her destination. Everything was changing Sean, Terry, and the life she had so carefully constructed around them.

    She was keenly aware that David had taken a chance in warning her about the danger to Sean. His selfless act could so easily rebound on him, for she knew that the blood oath Sean had taken as one of Molly's sons superseded all else in his mind, including the value he placed on his own life.

    A sense of deep futility all but overwhelming as she reached the street, Meg paused to look up into a sky that was clear and serene, unsullied by a cloud. She drew new strength from the sudden certainty that beyond it all, her Ma was still with her and her mind whispered in silent reassurances:
No, Ma, you need not fear. I'll not desert Sean. Nor will I give up on him, no matter the path he takes.

    The irony of it all cut anew as David's image returned to mind.

    David and she had been separated for five years, and the bond between them was still strong. Yet, in a few short weeks, the man to whom she had pledged her troth only a year earlier had become a stranger.

    But she was bound to the Terry she had loved and married, and Meg breathed a sigh of relief that the confidence David had imparted made no mention of Terry's involvement in Molly affairs. Her husband had not been found out. She saw in that a hope for the future.

    Maybe David
would
be able to turn it all around. Maybe he
would
get the men in the mine behind him and bring all the violence to a halt. Maybe there
was
a way out of all this, and the first step had been taken today.

    Taking courage from her thoughts, Meg looked toward the colliery road as the whistle signaled the end of the first shift. Unconsciously turning toward the sound, she walked faster. She was breathless from the oppressive heat and exertion when she arrived at a point where the first shift began trailing past her. Wiping the perspiration from her brow with the back of her arm, she absentmindedly tucked a stray curl back up into her bound hair, intent on the gradually thickening stream of men.

    In the midst of the almost unidentifiable throng, Sean's subdued swagger caught her eye and she became immediately alert. He came abreast of her and she fell into step beside him, realizing Terry was nowhere to be seen.

    ''Terry's gone another route today, if it's him you're awaitin'."

    Realizing the bite of Sean's tone reflected the recent strain between them, Meg responded, "In truth, I came in hopes of walking home with
you
today."

    His expression guarded, Sean raised his brow. "Is that so? And what's the occasion?

    "Nothing much." Slipping her hand into his, Meg offered her brother a tentative smile. "It's just my feeling that the dog days of summer have come a bit early this year."

    Sean studied her face, and a long moment passed before his hand closed tightly around hers. The smile that touched his lips touched her heart as well as Sean responded softly, "Aye, Meg, so they have."

    Night had fallen and the only sound in the room above Lawler's saloon was the echo of voices from below as twelve men sat around a circular table. All eyes were intent on the carefully    folded slips of paper in the overturned derby resting in the center as a familiar figure stepped out of the shadows of the kerosene lamp overhead.

    His coarse features drawn into an unrevealing mask, Terry Donovan touched the shoulder of the first man, and the fellow drew a slip. Moving around the table to touch the shoulder of each man in turn, Terry waited until the last man had drawn before reaching in to take the remaining piece of paper. The group immediately disbanded, leaving singularly and in small groups, to go their separate ways.

    Standing at the bar below a few minutes later, Terry raised his glass to his lips, emptying it before replacing it on the bar and carefully unfolding the slip of paper in his hand.

    Blank.

    Turning toward Sean, who stood at his side, Terry waited as his brother-in-law slowly opened his hand to reveal that his slip was also blank.

    Intense relief flushed Terry's face, and he briefly closed his eyes. He had been spared the final betrayal of Meg's trust for a little while longer. Three men had received slips with the symbolic drawings of a coffin and dagger that appointed them Bully Boy's executioners, but Sean and he were not among them.

    Terry signaled the bartender. "Two drinks over here if ye please."

    Barely giving the whiskey a chance to settle in the glass, Sean tossed it down. "I'll be leavin' now. I've things to do."

    Terry nodded, familiar with his brother-in-law's abrupt changes of mood. "Off to visit Sheila, no doubt."

    "My private life's my own, and not up for discussion!"

    Terry snorted with a low, "There's truth in that."

    The door closed behind Sean, and Terry tossed back his own drink as well. He had known where Sean was going, for he'd had a similar inclination himself many times in the past. Aye, when a man's blood finished pumping hot and strong as it had this night, he sought to put his feelings to rest deep in his woman's body. Sean would have his relief this night, and he was glad, but he had his doubts that his own relief would be forthcoming.

    Suddenly fixing his mind to settle it all between Meg and himself before another day passed, Terry turned from the bar, only to hear Muff Lawler mumble at his back.

    "Bully Boy will breathe his last before the week's out, there's no doubt, but I'll not be one of them that'll do the job."

    Terry glanced up. His expression hardened as he refused Lawler the information he was seeking in return, and he walked away without a word, his mind on matters of a far different kind.

    The narrow dirt road of the patch was shrouded in the shadows of evening as Sheila made her way toward the water pump that served her family's section of houses. A muddy trail signaled the well's heavy usage that day, and Sheila frowned. It had been an unusually warm week, and the thought that the people of the valley might be receiving a warning of the summer months to come depressed her. She knew what that meant. She had made this same trip during previous years only to find the well dry as the season wore on, but it was early in the year for such worries, and she had other things on her mind.

    Small frown lines deepened between Sheila's eyes as she recalled her mother's most recent harangue.

    "You're gettin' older, me girl. Yer flesh is beginnin' to sag and yer face to line, and in a few years there'll be a new crop of fresh-faced colleens in the patch and ye'll have lost yer chance to catch a decent, hard-workin' man of yer own. Forget Sean O'Connor! He's content to take his pleasures on yer body and to spend his remainin' energy on matters that are better left unsaid. Keep up yer foolishness and ye'll never hold a babe of yer own in yer arms, I tell ye! Ye'll die unfulfilled and alone, cursin' the day ye ever heard the name O'Connor!"

    It had occurred to Sheila as she took up the bucket to fetch water in an effort to escape, that her Da had long since given up his sermons, and those of her brothers still remaining at home had long since abandoned her to her commitment to Sean. There was only Ma…

    Forcing the frown from her face, Sheila gave a short laugh. She could handle her Ma with a deaf ear and a strong back, for while she continued to carry the major portion of the workload in the house, she knew her Ma's complaints would remain under reasonable control. But the grains of truth in her mother's lectures had most recently begun abrading her raw.

    Within a few feet of the pump, Sheila stopped and turned to look behind her. A smile picked up the corners of her mouth as she saw Sean walking toward her. She had sensed his presence even before she heard his step, and she knew it was because she loved the man with every ounce of life in her. She was his as long as he wanted her. It could be no other way.