Danny Boy. Anne Bennett

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       THREE

      On Boxing Day, Rosie and Danny were greeted grudgingly by Minnie and Seamus and received only a scant thank you for the slippers Rosie had bought her father and the shawl she’d chosen for her mother.

      Chrissie and Geraldine, though, were delighted by the jumpers Rosie gave them. She’d spent many hours in the evenings knitting each jumper, one in blue and the other in lemon. She’d used the softest, fluffiest wool she could find and both girls were almost speechless with pleasure.

      But it wasn’t the presents that mattered. Many people would have had no presents that Christmas, for there’d be no money for them, but for all that there’d be love and laughter and enough to eat for the couple of days at least. It was hard to see her wee brother surrounded by such a wide array of toys while her sisters had obviously received nothing.

      Rosie had bought Dermot a monkey on a ladder that could be made to go up and down and do various other antics, as Dermot soon realised, by pressing the button on each side of the ladder’s base and despite all his other toys, he was enchanted with the one Rosie had chosen.

      It had begun snowing as Rosie and Danny had set out for the McMullen’s, but it had been fine, just a dusting on the ground and they had still cut across the fields. ‘The ground is rock hard,’ Danny had said, ‘and it will take some time for the snow to be thick enough to take hold.’

      He was right, it had been easy to walk the fields, even pleasant, Rosie thought, cuddled against Danny and dressed in her warm clothes with the snowflakes drifting down on them.

      However, by the time the meal was eaten, the snow lay over everything like a white blanket, gilding the trees’ stark winter branches and icing the tops of hedges. When the dishes had been washed, dried and put away, Danny suggested a snowball fight.

      There were cries of agreement from Dermot, but Chrissie and Geraldine looked first towards their parents for permission. ‘You’re both too old for such nonsense,’ Minnie said irritably, but Danny cried.

      ‘Not today. No-one’s too old for anything at Christmas.’

      Minnie was unable to find a suitable response and so the girls went to get ready.

      Like the children they still were, Chrissie and Geraldine leaped outside and into the snow without further ado, dressed in their shabby top coats and bonnets. Neither had gloves, Rosie noted, and she was determined to remedy that as soon as she could. She was a grand one with the knitting needles now.

      The snow was thick underfoot and a watery sun, peeping from the clouds, spread the last of its scarlet rays upon them as they pounded each other with the soft snow.

      At last, they stopped for a break, gasping and laughing. Danny suggested making a snowman, the biggest and best snowman in the whole country, and Dermot could barely contain his excitement. The snowman eventually stood tall and proud, with pieces of turf for his eyes, a carroty nose and an old cap of Seamus’s on his head. Dermot leaped like a young colt in front of him before running into the house and dragging his parents to the door of the cottage to see their creation.

      Later, walking home in the pale moonlight which shone on the snowy fields and road and lit their way home, Danny said, ‘I feel sorry for your wee brother, Rosie, because for all the toys he has, he’s never really played with anyone before today.’

      Rosie agreed with Danny. On one hand her young brother had everything and yet in another way she sensed a loneliness in him, for no young ones lived nearby and he seemed to spend a lot of time on his own. But there was nothing to be gained by talking about it for she couldn’t change the situation and so she snuggled against Danny and his arm tightened around her as they ploughed through the snow together.

      Connie already knew Rosie was pregnant before she told her. She often looked quite pale and strained in the morning, though she’d recover her spirits as the day went on. But she decided to say nothing and let Rosie tell her in her own time.

      When Rosie did eventually say, Connie showed little surprise and so Rosie asked her, ‘Did you know?’

      ‘I didn’t for sure,’ Connie said. ‘But I guessed.’

      ‘How?’

      ‘Well, for one thing, you’ve not used any of the cotton pads from the press.’

      ‘Of course.’

      ‘It’s not only that, though,’ Connie said. ‘It’s a certain something about you – a look. Oh, I don’t know how to explain it, but you’re different in some way.’

      ‘I suppose you’ve heard me being sick too.’

      ‘Aye,’ Connie said. ‘But though it came as a shock to me, I’m still delighted. What did Danny say?’

      ‘He doesn’t know yet.’

      ‘Och, girl, he should have been told first,’ Connie chided gently. ‘When d’you intend to tell him?’

      ‘Today,’ Rosie said. ‘I wanted to be absolutely sure first. None of my family know either – the weather has been too bad for me to make it to their house since Christmas.’

      ‘Well, lose no time in telling Danny.’

      Rosie nodded. ‘I will, as soon as he comes in.’

      Danny, Phelan and Matt had gone up to the hills with the two farm dogs, Meg and Cap, to collect and bring the sheep down to the lower pastures where it was easier to feed them the bales of hay which they relied on for the winter. Nearer to the house it was also easier to keep an eye on the pregnant ewes too, for some of them were due to give birth within the month. They’d been gone a couple of hours already, for it was a tidy tramp, and Danny told her the odd sheep often got into difficulties which they needed to sort out.

      Rosie didn’t envy them: the cold was intense. It was almost too cold to snow, though there had been a sprinkling in the night and this СКАЧАТЬ