There was a fire at the Curragh, Caitlin said woodenly. Annies in the hospital.
Dear God. Brigids hand flew to her lips. Is she badly hurt?
Shes alive, thanks to Brian. Keith Murphy is waiting for me in Naas.
Ill find someone to stay with Ben and follow you.
Caitlins face crumpled. Oh, God, Mum. What have I done? She never wanted to come here. I should never have brought her here.
Brigid crossed the floor and folded her daughter in her arms. Hush, love, she crooned, holding the dark head against her shoulder, marveling at the unfamiliar feel of it, wishing shed felt comfortable enough to do it long before. You mustnt blame yourself. It isnt your fault. It must have been an accident.
Caitlin pulled away, scrubbing at her eyes. Ive got to go. Annie needs me. I want to be there when she wakes up.
Brigid walked her to the door. Ill follow you as soon as I find someone to care for Ben. She watched Caitlin back the car into the road and winced as she rounded the corner too quickly and nearly clipped the right fender in her haste to be on her way. Praying that her daughter would arrive in one piece, Brigid returned to the kitchen. Ben was nearly done with his soup.
Wheres Mum?
She sat down across from him. There was a fire at the Curragh. Annies been hurt. Your mum is goin t see her at the hospital. Ive got t get Mrs. Finch t look after you so I can help your mother and Annie for a bit.
What happened to Annie?
Come here, love. Brigid held out her arms to him. Ben slipped out of his chair and climbed into her lap. We dont know yet. Thats why I have t go and find out.
Will you come back and tell me?
Of course. Go t bed for Mrs. Finch tonight and Ill be back here in the mornin. She hugged him. Not t worry. Well sort it all out.
Annie lay curled up on her side in the hospital bed with one hand under her cheek. Caitlin pulled the blanket up over her shoulders and smoothed out the wrinkles. She bit her lip. Annie looked so peaceful, ethereal almost, like an angel.
Her eyelids fluttered and opened. Her eyes met Caitlins. She smiled. Mama? she whispered.
Caitlin leaned forward. She breathed in the sweet, warm breath that was her daughters. A lump formed in her throat. Yes, love. Im here.
Sleep with me, Mama.
Careful not to disturb the IV, Caitlin climbed over the guardrail, nestled in beside Annies slight body, and wrapped her arms around her daughter.
My throat hurts.
I know. Relief swept over Caitlin. Oh, Annie. Im so glad youre all right. You scared me to death.
Im sorry, Mama. The childs voice grated like sandpaper.
Caitlin soothed her. None of this is your fault. Go to sleep now. Ill stay here with you.
I need to tell you something, Mama. Brian told me to tell you.
What is it, love?
Its not so bad here anymore. Its different and I like my school in Kentucky better, but I dont hate it like I did in the beginning.
Do you mean that, Annie?
Yes. Brian told me to tell you.
Did he? Caitlin felt a surge of warmth flood her chest. Daddys expecting you and Ben back in Kentucky for Christmas. You havent changed your mind about that have you?
Annie shook her head. No. But, Ill miss you.
Tears choked Caitlins throat. Ill miss you, too, but I can stand it if I know youll be back.
The child turned to her, fit her body against her mothers, and buried her face in Caitlins shoulder. The steady beating of the small heart, the charred smell of her hair, the trusting fingers curled around her mothers handall that she had nearly lost terrified Caitlin. Pressing her lips against her daughters forehead, she whispered tenderly. I cant live without you, Annie. Nothing is worth that.
Annie smiled and closed her eyes. Caitlin looked at the small face with its promise of beauty, at the thin eyelids delicately etched with a faint smudging of blue veins, at the small vulnerable mouth and obstinate chin. Annie, lovely, difficult, misunderstood Annie. Her heart broke. She began to weep, silently, shoulders shaking, tears coursing down her cheeks.
John OShea was not much for conversation but he could be counted on in any emergency. Brigid didnt hesitate to call when she needed him for a ride. He came immediately, without asking a single question. She told him what she knew of Annies condition.
He clucked sympathetically. Poor little lass, he said when shed finished. Call me when youre ready to come home.
Thanks so much for everythin.
Dont mention it. I hope everything goes well for the child.
She waved him off and hurried into the hospital lobby. Caitlin was at the desk talking to a man with a white coat and a face that looked much too young to be trusted with the care of her granddaughter. At least Caitlin didnt look as if her world had fallen apart. Brigid breathed a sigh of relief. Annies injuries couldnt be too serious.
Caitlin introduced her. Dr. Moore, this is my mother, Mrs. Keneally.
Brigid nodded. Close up he looked even more like a teenager. How is Annie? she asked.
Ive just gone over her condition with your daughter, said Dr. Moore. Shell explain it to you. If either of you have questions, please ask. Ill be here for the night.
Brigid sniffed. Hes a bit young, isnt he? she asked after hed left them.
He seems all right. Caitlins mouth quivered. Annie is going to be fine, Mum. Shes asleep now. Theyve given her enough to sedate her for the night. She has a sore throat from the smoke but thats all. Were very lucky. You can look in on her if you want but they told me to go home for the night. Im going to stop by the Curragh and see Brian. Hes been hurt and hes not picking up the phone. I wont be long.
Dont worry about me. John will pick me up. Be careful, her mother said automatically, her mind already in the hospital room with her granddaughter. The roads are wet.
Caitlins soft kiss startled her. Brigid touched her cheek in disbelief and watched the daughter who was least like her walk down the hall to the exit. How long had it been since Caitlin had kissed her? Twenty years? Twenty-five?
Brigid smoothed the covers over the sleeping child. Deep in her own thoughts, she never heard the door open or the harsh intake of breath behind her. The first indication that someone else was in the room was a firm hand on her shoulder. When she heard the voice that went with it, she stiffened.
I heard what happened and came right over, said Father Michael Duran.
Quickly, she pulled two tissues from the pack beside Annies bed and held them to her nose. Annies not dyin, Father. There was no need for you t trouble yourself.
Martin told me what happened. He met Brian Hennessey on the way to the doctor. He looked down on the sleeping child. Is there anything I can do?
No, thank you.
His hand fell from her shoulder. For Gods sake, Brigid. Youre a hard woman. Let me do somethin.
Brigid turned on him, her eyes throwing blue sparks. The old Michael Duran, the one who refused her when she needed him most was back. Like a vulture with black wings he stood there, eyes remote, cheeks carven, waiting for the worst that could happen. We dont need your help, Father, not this time.
Martin told me about the fire. Ive grown close to Annie since shes come to Saint Patricks.
Annies a lovely child.
Shaking his head, he smiled painfully. You always did have your share of pride, Brigid. You were wasted in Kilcullen.
She stood silently, her posture stiff and straight, her arms folded, the look on her face that told him he wasnt welcome.
He moved to the other side of Annies bed and looked down on the sleeping child. Reaching out he touched the dark curls spread across the pillow, twisting a single strand around his finger. Then, ever-so-gently, he rubbed the back of his hand across the small cheek. Shes like you, he said, under his breath. Not the coloring but the bone structure.
Brigid was having none of it. Have you eyes in your head, Father? Annie is the image of Caitlin.
He nodded. Caitlin is also like you.
It was true. Not many saw it because of the differences in eyes and hair but from the moment Caitlins features began to take shape, her lineage had been impossible to deny. Brigid had forgotten that or perhaps shed chosen to ignore it over the years. Caitlin with her love for language, her tenacity, the quick intelligence that had lifted her above her classmates, her rejection of the boring, the mundane, the unnecessary, and backward portions of her lessons at Saint Patricks, shared many of the same qualities as both her mother and daughter. How ironic that Michael Duran, of all people, had noticed.
I havent been a good priest for you have I, Brigid?
She stared at him in amazement. Regret, she could have told him, was part imagination, a net woven during long dark lonely evenings, as much a part of her life as his. Dont be so hard on yourself, she said instead. It wasnt a priest I needed, but youve helped a few.
Name one.
Martin, she said promptly. Youve been a help to Martin OShea. You gave him peace when he sorely needed it. Its because of you that hes a priest.
He laughed. You always did manage to have the last word, Brigid. Its one of the qualities I admire in you.
Why are you really here, Michael? I need to know.
Bending his head he told her, forming words shed wanted to hear thirty years before, words that no longer mattered.
23
Caitlin stood on the porch, her face pale, her hands trembling. May I come in?
Wordlessly, Brian stepped aside and closed the door behind her. Neeve lifted her head briefly before settling into her original position.
Caitlin kept her back to him and clenched her fists to stop the shaking of her hands.
How is Annie? he asked.
Shell be all right. Her voice cracked on the last word.
Im makin tea, he said to the back of her head. Would you care for a cup?
She still wouldnt look at him. Do you have anything stronger?
Will whiskey do?
She turned and something in her face must have shocked him.
Are you all right?
She nodded. Are you?
He held up a bandaged hand. Nothin serious, accordin to the doctor. Sit down. Ill be right back.
He returned with two glasses filled with a liberal amount of amber liquid. She was seated on the couch, her face warmed by the heat of the hearth fire. Friendly light it was, copper colored, slightly aromatic, safely contained. He sat down beside her.
She took the glass from his hand and swallowed more than she should have.
Easy now, he warned her. Theres no hurry.
I cant She stopped.
He waited.
She stared into the fire, not looking at him. I wanted to tell you Again she was unable to continue.
He set down his drink and took her hand in his. It was ice-cold against his warmth and she was still trembling. Carefully, he drew her into his arms.
She buried her face against his shoulder and sobbed. From deep within her the sound came upthe guttural, wrenching, primitive cry of a woman uncomfortable with tears. She felt his hands move up her arms, tenderly, soothingly. Cradling the back of her head in his hand, he pulled her tightly against him and pressed his lips against her temple. He muttered words in Gaelic, words shed forgotten and would have no memory of beyond this moment. Over and over he stroked and soothed and kissed and spoke, and all the while she sobbed and shook in his arms.
When there was nothing left, when the tears had battered her face so that her eyes disappeared and no one outside of her own mother would recognize her, she relaxed.
Somehow he knew what she needed, a reaffirmation of lifeAnnies, his, her own. He must have felt the change in her at the exact moment it happened. She felt his hands, no longer soothing, slide beneath her jumper to caress the bare skin of her back. His lips moved from her temple to the hollow of her cheek, the line of her throat, the curve of her mouth. Circling his neck with her arms, Caitlin pulled him down on top of her and parted her lips.
She was a woman whod gone too long without and it all came together quickly. For Caitlin it was as if shed never known the intimacy of a mans tongue in her mouth, never felt her bare breasts filling his hands, his leg urging hers apart, his fingers sliding down her belly, moving against her, inside her. His words, urgent, whispered, encouraging. For the first time she understood the building intensity, the ache of rising heat.
Meeting his mouth eagerly, she arched her back and held his head to her breasts, to the dip of her waist, the inside of her thigh and when it was time, she took the hard length of his swollen flesh in her hand, guiding him in until her body closed around him, every nerve heightened, exposed, waiting for his thrust and that first delicious rush of pleasure that would begin it all.
She loved the way he slepteffortlessly, thoroughly, without motion or sound. She loved the texture of his hair, the black shine of it, the way it fell across his forehead and grew down unevenly to the base of his skull where his spinal cord began. She loved the feel of his ribs and the play of hard muscle beneath his skin when he moved his arms. She loved the way he smelled of linseed oil and hay, leather and horse. She loved his voice, kind with rough edges, amusement lifting the ends of his sentences in a lovely Irish lilt. She loved the rise and fall of his smooth chest, the lean spareness of his shoulder blades, the clean line of his nose, the firm, no-nonsense cut of his lip. In fact, decided Caitlin, she could not have designed a man to be any more appealing than Brian Hennessey was to her at this moment.
Hed fallen asleep on top of her. Shifting carefully so as not to disturb him, she maneuvered his weight so that she could breathe comfortably. He muttered something inaudible and moved his hand to cup the underside of her breast, but didnt wake.
She saw the back of his hand and winced. It was badly blistered, burned because of Annie. If it hadnt been for Brian, Annie would be She couldnt face it, not yet. That was why shed come. After Annie had been sedated and fallen asleep in her hospital bed, Caitlin had come to see Brian, to reassure herself that he was alive and well, to tell him just how much what hed done meant to her.
Those had been her intentions, nothing more, despite what had passed between them that night on the Naas Road. But when he opened the door and she saw the bandages on his hands, the raw scrape across the plane of his cheek and the weariness in his eyes, she lost what was left of her control. She hadnt planned to seduce him. She would never have done such a thing. He was particularly vulnerable just now. Perhaps she should have been the strong one, the one to step away. It would have been the fair thing, the right thing to do. But she desperately needed comfort and shed waited such a long time for a man, this man, to want her.
Admit it, Caitlin, she said under her breath, hes not like anyone else. Not that admitting it changed anything. She was in the middle of a bitterly contested divorce that could drag on indefinitely. She could be forced to change her domicile from Ireland to Kentucky at the whim of a judge and she was nearly out of moneynot an appealing package for a man who had choices. What theyd done was rash, foolish even, because neither of them was a casual kind of person. Sex meant more, a great deal more, than a relieving of tension. But she wouldnt take it back, not now, not for anything.
Brian lifted his head, bracing himself on his hands and looked down at her. Regrettin me already? he chided, softly mimicking her own words.
Not for the reasons you think.
For what then?
She hesitated.
Tell me, Caitlin.
Im afraid to start something that may not play out.
He traced her jaw with his finger. Doesnt everyone begin that way?
She frowned. Not in the same sense.
Meaning?
Suddenly self-conscious, she turned her head to the side. Im still married and it looks like it may be some time before Im divorced.
I can wait.
If the judge finds in Sams favor at the custody hearing, I could be forced to return to Kentucky.
No one can force
you to do anythin.
I cant lose my children.
Of course not. The amusement was back in his voice again. Is there anythin else?
Her voice lowered to a whisper. Im not in the best position financially.
Brian chuckled low in his throat, winced and swallowed painfully, lingering effects of the fire. After a minute he spoke. I rather like havin you dependent on me.
You know what I mean.
I do.
Doesnt it matter to you?
He kissed her nose, then both eyelids, and finally her lips. Things have a way of workin out.
She sighed and closed her eyes, only too willing to give up her objections and revel in the feel of his mouth moving across her skin. Much later, when hed found an afghan and wrapped it around the two of them, she whispered into his ear, Thank you, Brian, for Annie. I cant tell you how grateful I am. There are no words for what youve given me.
His eyes were bright. Youre very welcome, he replied gently. Im happy that it all worked out.
Gratitude isnt the reason Im here with you, like this.
No?
No.
Laughter deepened the lines around his eyes. Its settled then.
Relieved, she rested her cheek against his chest. Somehow he understood and it was enough.
Succumbing to the combined effect of alcohol, darkness, and warmth, Caitlins eyelids drooped. She was nearly asleep when Brians words jarred her awake.
There was a casualty of the fire, Caitlin.
Her eyes flew open. What do you mean?
His arms tightened around her. Irish Gold died in the flames. Im sorry.
Her lip trembled. Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled over. She wiped them away. Poor little thing. He never had a chance. You never told me how the fire started.
Brian shook his head. We dont know yet. There will be an investigation.
Were any other horses injured?
No.
Something was wrong but she couldnt put her finger on it. Her brain was too muddled with drowsiness and drink and the afterglow of sex to think clearly. I should be getting home. I said I wouldnt be long.
Ill know more after the fire chief looks into things.
IRISH FIRE Page 23
