Another Man’s Child. Anne Bennett

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       SIX

      There was a funny atmosphere in the house the next morning as they got ready for Mass. Celia thought her mother seemed vexed about something. She seemed angry with all of them and even Ellie and Sammy, sensing it too, were quieter than usual. There was no breakfast eaten before Mass on Sunday for the family would take communion so Celia was surprised to see her mother making up a tray with a bowl of porridge on it and a cup of tea. She exchanged a surprised glance with her sister and it was Norah who asked who the tray was for.

      Peggy sighed. ‘Well I suppose you’ll know soon enough,’ she said. ‘Tom isn’t well and he’s having a morning in bed.’

      Celia knew that wasn’t true because their mother seemed almost cross that Tom wasn’t well and for a minute wondered if he had taken a drop too much the night before, but she had known him do that before and yet he had never missed Mass over it. Anyway, if he had taken a drop too much, would he have wanted porridge and tea?

      Celia watched her mother lift the tray just as Dan came in with Dermot and Peggy caught her husband’s eyes and her eyes flashed fire. It was the sort of look the younger children dreaded for when it was directed at them it was usually the forerunner of smacked legs, but this time she was looking at their daddy that way. It was very strange and so was the very pointed sniff Peggy gave before she left the kitchen. Celia glanced at Dermot and he shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands and it was obvious he could shed no light on anything.

      Later, as they made their way to Mass, Norah, Celia and Dermot walked ahead of their parents and Dermot said quietly, ‘Don’t know what’s up with our Tom, but there was a bit of moaning and groaning when he got into bed last night.’

      ‘Wasn’t half,’ Sammy agreed.

      ‘You were asleep,’ Dermot said disparagingly.

      ‘No I wasn’t,’ Sammy protested. ‘And if I had been I’d have woken up quick enough with all the turning and tossing Tom was doing.’

      ‘What is it all about?’ Norah said, perplexed. ‘Daddy said nothing, I suppose?’

      ‘Are you kidding?’ Dermot said. ‘Daddy has enough trouble bidding me the time of day on the normal run of things. And if I’d dared ask him, the mood he was in this morning, then I would have had the ears scalded off me.’

      ‘But what did Tom look like?’ Celia persisted. ‘Did he look strange?’

      ‘How would I know that, Celia?’ Dermot said. ‘It was dark when he came in and he didn’t light the lamp and this morning when we got up the covers were pulled around him.’

      ‘One side of his face was like black,’ Sammy said.

      ‘And how do you know?’ Dermot said disbelievingly.

      ‘Cos when you went downstairs he pulled the covers away a bit and I saw before he tucked them in again.’

      ‘Well we’ll likely know all soon enough,’ Norah said. ‘And we’d better shut up about it now because we’ll be at church in a minute.’

      Norah welcomed the silence that fell because all morning she had been thinking that it was all right to come up with this great idea about how she could make it to America anyway and also give Celia her heart’s desire, but how it was going to be achieved was another thing. She needed to see Andy McCadden alone and see if he really loved her sister enough to take her away out of this before she was spirited across the Atlantic.

      But they had reached the church now and were greeted from all sides by fellow parishioners. Among those that usually greeted them were Mr and Mrs Fitzgerald, but that morning they were ignored and Andy, who was usually with them, was not there. This didn’t strike her as odd initially; Norah thought maybe he was running late and would join them later. But he didn’t and when the Mass began she took a surreptitious look around but could see no sign of him. She concluded he had been taken with doing some jobs on the farm and would likely go to the later Mass and a sudden excitement gripped her as she realised that this might be the only chance she had to see Andy McCadden alone.

      But had she the courage to walk out of church in the middle of Mass? Not if she had been near her mother, she knew, but she was right on the other side of the pew. And her eyes were fastened on Sammy. He was sitting on the boys’ side of the church with all the others but his mother always sat as close to him as she could because he was inclined to fidget and chatter and drop his collection money and make a great deal of noise and fuss retrieving it and sometimes he was better behaved after a good poke. So Peggy’s attention was taken by her youngest son and beside her were Dan and Dermot, then Celia, and Norah was at the end. ‘Cover for me,’ she said to Celia out of the side of her mouth.

      ‘What?’

      ‘I need to leave Mass. There’s something I’ve got to do.’

      ‘What sort of something?’

      ‘Tell you later,’ Norah promised. ‘When Mammy notices I’m not here, say I was taken sick.’

      She slipped from the pew into the side aisle before Celia could reply to this and for the benefit of the parishioners, who were looking at her askance and who she knew would report what they saw to her mother, she bent her head as she scurried quickly down the aisle with her hand to her mouth. Once out of the church she continued to hurry for she knew she wouldn’t have long. Her mother might not notice her absence until communion, but then she would miss her and quiz Celia and she might send someone to see if she was all right and it would never do if she was found anywhere near Fitzgerald’s farm.

      The day was fine and warm and the countryside had never looked lovelier, but Norah hadn’t time to stand and stare and she cut across the fields which was quicker and where there was less likelihood of her being seen. She had expected to see McCadden in the field, or failing that the farmyard, but he was in neither place and she reached the farmhouse door without seeing him and though she knew he slept in the barn there was no way she was going in there on her own.

      Then she heard a noise from the kitchen, like the scrape of a chair on the kitchen floor, and though she nearly took flight she reminded herself what was at stake and knocked on the door tentatively. When it was opened, McCadden stood there with a towel over his arm and his face was one unholy mess, battered, bruised and grazed, one eye blackened and nearly closed up and his lip was split open as well.

      ‘What happened to you?’ Norah asked though she knew fine what had happened him.

      ‘Give СКАЧАТЬ