‘Well, that’s a nice way to welcome Dusty to our family, I’m sure!’ said her mother in surprise.
Erin apologised immediately. ‘I’m sorry, Dusty I didn’t mean it like that … it’s just that I don’t think I’m a very good person to give advice on marriage, that’s all.’ Though Dusty was a very nice girl she was the last person Erin had hoped to see. It was her mother who had been the target of this impromptu visit. Though what she was going to say to her … It had been mostly Sam’s idea. ‘Go talk to your mother,’ he had told her. ‘Maybe she can put you straight. I won’t come with you, you need to be on your own, talk woman to woman.’ It didn’t look as if there was going to be much chance of that; the door had opened again and the rest of the family spilled in.
‘Erin! What a sight to brighten my day.’ Patrick, still in working clothes, kissed his daughter. ‘An’ where’s that husband o’ yours?’ She told him she had come alone. ‘Oh great! I’ve got ye all to meself.’ He squeezed her. ‘But how did ye get here?’
‘Sam cadged me a lift on a villager’s cart that was coming into town. I’d be grateful if one o’ ye could give me a ride back, though.’
‘Oh no! Now we’ve got ye here we’re going to keep ye, aren’t we, Tommy?’
‘Tell him he’s a soft devil,’ said Thomasin. ‘She’s not likely to be captivated by a poor old duffer like you when she’s got herself a strapping young lad at home, is she?’
Erin smiled weakly and looked at the happy couple opposite. Dickie had gone directly to Dusty’s chair where he now sat beside her on the chair arm. He kissed her fondly. ‘An’ what’ve ye been plotting, the three o’ yese while me back’s turned?’
‘Oh, nothing important,’ Dusty replied casually. ‘Just a small matter of a June wedding, nothing for you to worry your head about – it’s all in hand.’ They laughed lovingly at one another, foreheads pressed together. It was plain to all that their adoration was mutual. Thomasin marvelled at the change in Dickie. She glanced at her daughter. There had been a change in Erin too, but not for the better. If anything she looked even more unhappy than on her last visit. Thomasin had tried to winkle it out of her what was wrong, but after Erin’s repeated ‘nothing, nothing’, she had stopped asking, not wanting it to look as if she was interfering again. She knew how Erin detested that.
Her eyes went back to the young couple. ‘One thing we didn’t discuss,’ she told them, ‘was where you’ll be living after you wed. You too, Sonny. There’s ample room here should you choose to make your home with us.’
Sonny was unsure. Peggy was full of grand plans about what type of house she wanted, and those plans didn’t include living with her in-laws. He didn’t know where she expected him to get the money to fulfil these fancy ideas. ‘I rather think Peggy would prefer us to have our own place,’ he informed his mother.
I’m sure she does, thought Thomasin.
‘Of course, it’ll be a lot smaller than this,’ he added appeasingly.
Will it? thought Thomasin. I think you’re wrong to expect a two-roomed cottage to satisfy Miss Adventuress. But she said charitably, ‘Of course I can understand Peggy wanting a house of her own. It’s only natural that she’d want to be mistress of her own household. What about you?’ she asked Dickie, who looked at his Intended. ‘There’ll be plenty of room if you want to postpone buying your own place.’ She had promised each of her sons a substantial settlement on their marriages, just as Erin had had.
The girl smiled, entwining her fingers with Dickie’s. ‘That’s very kind of you, Mrs Feeney. We’ll be delighted to take up your generous offer. I’ve no ambition to stay at home and be mistress of my own household just yet. Perhaps later when we have a family, but just now I’m too involved in helping my father with the warehouse.’ Her happiness turned to gravity. ‘And if anything should happen to him, God forbid, then I’ll be running it on my own. So I shan’t have too much time to run a house as well.’
‘Not alone, darlin’,’ Dickie reminded her. ‘Ye’ll have me, remember?’ The grocery trade would not seem so dull with Dusty at his side.
‘Of course, I’m sorry.’ She squeezed his fingers. ‘But Dickie, you’ll still be required to help with your parents’ business and won’t have a lot of time to spare for mine.’
‘But you’re forgetting,’ said Thomasin. ‘When you wed there won’t be any “mine” and “yours” – it’ll be “ours”. Heaven help that I should bury your poor father before his time, but I do think there’s a lot to be said for merging the two businesses when that time comes.’
Dusty nodded. ‘I’m sure you’re right. I hadn’t given it much thought, but that would seem the logical solution. I trust, though, that my father will last a good many years yet.’
Thomasin inclined her head, not wanting to press the point and have it sound as if she were only welcoming Dusty for her inheritance, for that was not true. ‘Shall I ring for more tea, Pat – if you can take your eyes off your future daughter-in-law, that is.’
Patrick looked startled. He had been studying Dusty and thinking how like his wife the girl was in a lot of ways, especially her candid manner. He laughed and declined the tea. ‘I was just thinking how it’s going to be with two headstrong women in the house. Us poor lads’ll be doing all the fetchin’ an’ carryin’ no doubt. Gone is the day when a man is master in his own house. I don’t know what things are coming to.’
‘You poor old soul,’ derided his wife, then turned serious for a while. ‘Getting back to the subject of weddings, Dusty, I suppose you are aware that you’ll be marrying into a Catholic family?’
Dusty replied that she was. She gave a sidelong glance at her Intended. ‘I think we ought to tell you now that we’ll be marrying in my church.’
Patrick was instantly alert. ‘Richard, why have ye not mentioned this before?’
‘Because I knew what a stink it’d cause,’ Dickie told him, then spread his hands. ‘Look, Dusty’s father is a very easy-going man, but one thing he won’t have is her gettin’ wed in a Catholic church. So, I told him there was nothin’ to worry about …’
‘Oh, ye did, did ye?’ stormed his father.
‘There isn’t Dad,’ replied Dickie. ‘Ye know very well that going to church means nothin’ to me, absolutely nothin’. I can’t see the difference if we get married in a Catholic church or a Protestant one or a register office or the middle of a bloody field. I’m marryin’ Dusty, not the bloody church.’
‘Richard!’ commanded his father.
‘I’m sorry, but ’tis no use you goin’ on about it, ’tis all fixed.’
‘Mr Feeney – we don’t want this to cause a split in the family,’ said Dusty. ‘I wouldn’t have brought it up had I thought that.’
‘Well, I’m glad ye did, Dusty,’ answered Patrick heatedly. ‘At least now we know how highly our son prizes his faith.’
‘Not my faith, Dad, yours,’ said Dickie. ‘I’ve always made it plain how I felt but ye insisted on my being there. Well, no more. Once I get married in Dusty’s church I’ll be excommunicated an’ that’ll be that’
‘You hypocritical little toad!’ Patrick scowled witheringly. ‘Forsaking one church for another as simply as changing your socks an’ neither of them meaning a toss to ye.’
‘You’re right they don’t. I’m only doing it for Dusty’s sake. If she says we get married in a Protestant Church then we do.’
‘Protestant or no the lass has more sense of responsibility than you,’ snapped Patrick. He moderated his tone to address Dusty. ‘Don’t think all this is directed at you, colleen. I respect you for your loyalty to your own church. I just wish my son had the same quality. Father Kelly isn’t going to be too pleased. ’Tis as well we won’t have this trouble with Sonny.’
Thomasin was thinking unkindly that she would rather have Sonny marry against his faith than marry Peggy any day, but asked, ‘What date do you and Peggy have in mind, Sonny?’
‘Peggy’d like a June wedding too,’ he rep
lied. Sonny of all the family was the most relieved that Dickie had found himself a partner. He also wished his mother would be a little less hostile towards Peggy. One might say it was understandable that a mother should be overcritical when faced with her son’s choice of partner, but then she wasn’t that way with Dusty, was she? One could also be charitable and say that it was different in Dickie’s case – Mother would be pleased to see him married to anyone. Even so, he could not help feeling a little disappointed in Thomasin for her glaring favouritism. He stood.
‘Right, I’m off to collect Peggy. I’ll be back in time for supper.’
Before he could reach the door, though, Josie entered looking a trifle apprehensive. ‘Don’t go, Mr John,’ she waylaid him in a softer voice than she normally used. ‘Miss Peggy’s here.’
Sonny’s face broke into smiles. ‘Peggy? Why, I was just …’
‘She’s not alone, Mr John,’ cut in Josie, and turned to Patrick. ‘Her father’s with her, sir. He asked to speak to you.’ She chose not to repeat the man’s exact wording; such language was beneath her dignity.
‘Well – show them both in, Josie.’ Patrick rose. ‘I’m sure we’ll be delighted to meet Peggy’s father.’ It was something he would have preferred to take place before this, but Peggy had always been cagey about her background.
‘I did invite them in, sir, but the gentleman says he’d prefer to see you in the hall – alone.’
Patrick exchanged glances with his wife. ‘Very well …’ he began, but Sonny interceded. ‘Don’t be silly!’ he cried, thinking Mr Clancy was standing in the hall from courtesy. He had never met the man either, always picking Peggy up from her employer’s house. ‘Show them in, Josie.’
At the maid’s uncertainty he tutted, edged past her and threw open the door. ‘Peggy! Mr Clancy! Don’t stand out there, come in, come in!’
But Clancy remained aloof. ‘I’ll stay right here if ’tis all the same to you. I’ve words to say to your father I’d as soon not to have to say in front o’ the womenfolk. Ye’ll no doubt learn about it in due time. Hah! What am I sayin’? To be sure ye know about it already.’
‘About what?’ Sonny peered at Peggy who stood with bowed head behind her father. She had not even acknowledged him. ‘Peggy?’ He approached cautiously and put out his hand – and found it gripped by hairy fingers.
‘You lay another finger on her, me boyo, an’ I’ll tear it off,’ hissed Clancy menacingly.
Consternated, Sonny awaited Peggy’s explanation and saw now that her eyes were red from weeping. ‘Peggy, what is it?’ He ventured forth again.
Clancy was in the process of twisting the boy’s arm when Patrick strode into the hall.
‘What the Devil… take your hands off my son, Clancy if ye don’t want the same done to you! What’s all this about might I ask?’
‘An’ well ye might!’ Clancy thrust aside his victim and stalked up to Patrick. He was a head shorter but twice as wide, with a great beer belly falling over the heavily buckled belt. His voice was still thickly accented though he had been in this country longer than Patrick. ‘I’ll tell ye what ’tis all about: I’m here to make weddin’ plans, that’s what ’tis about.’
Thomasin had drifted into the hall to stand beside Patrick. ‘Why, we were only just talking about …’
‘’Tis more than talk I be wantin’, missus!’ interjected the man rudely. ‘’Tis action. Ye’re goin’ to have to bring them weddin’ plans forward, ’cause that filthy young buck ye call your son has been a bit previous.’ He hung back while they digested his words, then nodded violently when they looked tellingly at each other. ‘That’s right – she’s up the spout!’
Thomasin recovered first. ‘Oh, Sonny! How could you?’ Sonny broke his astonished stare away from Peggy to look unseeingly at his parents. ‘But … I didn’t,’ he stammered.
‘No good tryin’ to wriggle out of it, boyo,’ said Clancy viciously. ‘Ye were clever enough to put a child in her belly, ye’re well able to put a ring on her finger.’
‘My son will stand by his promises, Clancy,’ guaranteed Patrick stiffly. ‘Shall we go into the parlour …’
‘Peggy! Peggy!’ Sonny tried to get near but was held at bay by the girl’s father. ‘Tell them it can’t be true.’
‘It’s true enough, Sonny,’ she whispered into her bosom. ‘I’m going to have a baby.’
‘But that’s impossible!’ Sonny threw up his hands in despair and implored Clancy. ‘I swear, Mr Clancy nothing like that ever took place between us. I love Peggy. I wouldn’t let a thing like that happen.’
‘Well, happen it has, an’ you’re responsible.’
‘No! I won’t have you saying things that aren’t true. Peggy, you must have made a mistake. You can’t possibly be having a child.’ Perhaps Peggy in her innocence thought that babies came from kissing.
This suggestion was received with crude hilarity from Clancy. ‘I think me wife is experienced enough to be sure of her daughter’s condition, her havin’ dropped a dozen or so of her own.’
Sonny was desperate. ‘But I swear before God that I never touched her, Mr Clancy.’
‘Well, unless she’s been playing doctors an’ nurses with the Archangel Gabriel, I’m gonna have to call ye a liar.’
‘I’ll have no blasphemy here, Clancy,’ ordered Patrick severely. ‘I’m sure we can settle this in a more civilised manner. After all, our children were pledged to each other anyway; ’tis only a case o’ bringing the wedding forward.’
‘But I didn’t do it!’ shouted Sonny angrily.
‘Then who did?’ demanded Clancy.
In the ensuing speechlessness Sonny, watching Peggy’s face, saw her eyes flicker over the hallway and followed them. Then, suspicion nosed its way into his brain like a venomous snake and suddenly bafflement turned to rage. ‘It was you!’ He hurled himself bodily at his brother who stood in the doorway alongside Dusty, his arm around her, unprepared for the hail of blows that rained down upon him.
Dusty cried out as Sonny’s assault knocked her roughly aside and Dickie fell to the floor with his brother’s hands curling into his black hair. Erin, too, raised alarmed hands to her cheeks. By the time Patrick had hauled Sonny off, Dickie’s head had been pounded against the marble-tiled floor several times and a cut was welling blood from his cheekbone.
Patrick fought to restrain his younger son. ‘Help me, Clancy!’ while Dickie looked up bemusedly, rubbing the back of his head.
‘Let me at him, Father!’ Sonny struggled with the two stronger men, trying to shake them off. ‘I’m going to kill him!’
‘Sonny, for Christ’s sake!’ panted his father. ‘Calm down, else I’m gonna have to resort to your methods an’ knock ye out. Ye don’t know for certain your brother is responsible. Nothing was said.’
‘Don’t I?’ yelled Sonny, his face red with fury. He nodded vigorously at Thomasin. ‘Look at Mother. She knows, don’t ye, Mother?’ Thomasin’s eyes were riveted on her elder son. They travelled briefly upwards to take in Sonny with a compassionate look, then lowered themselves back to his brother. ‘Let me go, I’ll bloody slaughter him!’
Sonny lashed out at Dickie with his boots. His brother tried to drag himself out of the way.
‘Sonny!’ commanded Patrick, the sweat standing on his brow. ‘Am I going to have to floor ye? How can we get to the bottom of this while you’re behavin’ like a madman? Give me your oath that ye’ll not try to attack him while we find out the truth.’
‘Mother knows the truth, don’t you, Mother?’ shouted Sonny. ‘Oh, and Peggy of course! An’ how many other people, eh? I’ll bet I’m the only bloody one that didn’t know what was going on under my nose. What about you, Dusty? You’re very quiet. Did you know what sort of fellow you promised to wed?’
Dusty regarded him, outwardly calm, trying to curb the trembling fingers that were twisting her stomach inside out ‘We haven’t yet heard what Dickie has to say. Don’t you think it would be more sensible to do so b
efore accusing him?’ Please, please let it all be a dreadful mistake, she begged.
‘Oh, certainly!’ cried Sonny. ‘Do let’s hear what my dear brother has to say; it’ll be a real eye-opener.’ He twisted round to look at Patrick. ‘You can let me go now, Father. I give my word that I won’t try to kill him till dear Dickie has had his say.’
Patrick and Clancy slackened their grip and Sonny shook himself free. Everyone stared at Dickie who, after being regarded expectantly for what seemed like ages, shrugged and gave a brittle laugh of resignation. ‘Well – it looks like I’ve no option but to own up.’
At his words Sonny sprang into action again and was immediately hauled off. ‘Dickie, ye’d best disappear if ye know what’s good for ye,’ choked Patrick, fighting to contain Sonny.
Dickie, his head still throbbing, struggled to his feet to face Dusty. ‘Dusty, I …’
‘Oh, there’s no need to explain,’ she forestalled him, fighting back the tears of disappointment and betrayal. ‘After all, I’m nothing to you, am I? Why should you worry about excuses?’
‘But ye must let me speak, Dusty! I’m sorry.’ It sounded so insincere.
‘Sorry? Yes, so am I. Sorry that I was foolish enough to think I could change you. Silly of me, wasn’t it? Ridiculous for me to think that I could monopolise your attention for even a few months. It’s obvious that one woman is not enough for the insatiable Mr Feeney.’
He had hold of her by the shoulders, speaking frantically. ‘Dusty, I promised ye I’d not look at another woman an’ I’ve kept that promise.’
‘Yes, well I blame myself for not studying the wording of that proposal more closely.’ She looked so splendid in her feral indignation. Her lips pulled back in an animal snarl, her eyes green fire. He couldn’t lose her. He couldn’t.
‘Listen to me, please! It happened before I met you, please believe that. I love you, I wouldn’t do a thing like that to you.’
‘But you would to your brother,’ said Dusty hollowly.
‘Aye, well I’m sorry about that.’ Dickie had the grace to hang his head, but it was not long before his eyes sought hers again. ‘It was a filthy trick. I don’t know what gets over me sometimes. But I swear it’s all in the past. It’ll never happen again.’
For My Brother’s Sins Page 39
