A Bargain Struck (Choc Lit)

by Liz Harris

  Ellen glanced towards the back room. ‘Is Oonagh still in there with Bridget?’

  The doctor shook his head. ‘She left just after they set Bridget down. I’m guessin’ that she and Bridget didn’t see eye to eye about something. Whatever it was, it made Bridget mighty upset when she saw Oonagh by the bed. She got herself riled up all over again, and had trouble breathing. We didn’t have to ask Oonagh to leave. She could see the harm she was doing by bein’ there, and she’d gone before Conn got here. Isn’t that right, Conn?’

  He nodded, his face grim. ‘It sure is. I’ll be speaking to Oonagh in the morning. I wanna find out what went on. But it’s time I took Bridget home.’ He glanced down at Ellen. ‘Ellen, too,’ he added. ‘She looks quite pale.’

  The doctor glanced at Ellen. ‘Didn’t expect to see you twice in one day,’ he said with a smile. ‘Conn’s right. You do look pale. You need to go carefully.’

  ‘I feel a little tired. That’s all. The wagon’s outside and there are some blankets in it, Conn,’ she added.

  Connor moved towards the door. ‘I’ll get them. We’ll keep Bridget real warm on the journey back.’

  ‘You can leave her here tonight, if you want. You said you’re coming in tomorrow, so you could collect her then.’

  ‘Thanks, Doc, but no. Home is where she’ll wanna be when she wakes up in the morning.’

  ‘I expect you’re right. I’ll give you some Echinacea to take back with you. When you’ve seen Oonagh tomorrow, would you stop by and have a word with me? There’s something I want to talk to you about.’

  Connor turned sharply and stared at the doctor. Ellen saw alarm spring to his eyes.

  ‘It’s nothin’ to do with Bridget. She’ll be fine. Or Mrs Maguire.’ The doctor smiled at Ellen. ‘She’s fine, too. No, it’s something else, something I’ve been meanin’ to talk to you about. Should’ve done so sooner.’

  Connor frowned slightly. ‘Now you’ve gotten me wonderin’. OK, I’ll come over as soon as I’ve spoken to Oonagh. I can leave off seeing Niall till later. He’ll want to know what’s happened, maybe come down to the ranch to see her, and I want him to know he can do so. We’ll be off now. If you give Ellen the medicine for Bridget, I’ll get the covers.’

  The next morning, Ellen went quietly into Bridget’s room, carrying a tray with a plate of biscuits and eggs and a mug of sweet milk. She saw that Bridget’s eyes were closed, and hesitated. Standing for a moment at the side of the bed, holding the tray, she stared down at her. Then she placed the tray on the low table next to the bed, and went and sat on the chair in the corner of the room.

  Bridget opened her eyes. ‘I heard you come in.’

  ‘I rather thought you did.’ Ellen smiled and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. ‘How are you feeling this morning?’

  Bridget pulled the quilt up to her chin and stared at the ceiling.

  ‘I’ve brought you your breakfast. You didn’t have dinner last night, so you must be hungry by now.’

  Silence.

  Ellen waited for a few minutes. ‘Does your leg hurt?’

  No answer.

  ‘You spoke to me a moment ago so I know you’re able to speak. Are you in pain? Are you angry about something I’ve done? Is that it? If so, you must tell me what it is. I can’t help you if I don’t know what I’ve done to upset you.’

  Bridget turned on to her side, her back to Ellen.

  Ellen moved closer to her and leaned over her. ‘Please, Bridget,’ she said gently. ‘Tell me what’s made you so unhappy that you ignored everything you’ve been told about safety. I’d like to help you if I can.’

  Bridget pulled the quilt over her head, and Ellen heard muffled sobs coming from beneath it.

  ‘I wish I knew what to say that would help.’ She waited quietly for a few minutes, listening to Bridget cry, then she stood up. ‘I’ll leave you to eat your breakfast. I’ll stay in the house all morning so you can call for me if you need anything or if you want to talk.’ She stepped away from the bed, then impulsively turned back, pulled the quilt away from the top of Bridget’s face, kissed her lightly on the side of her forehead, and replaced the quilt. ‘We love you, Bridget, and we want to help you. I hope you’ll let us.’ She straightened up and started to move away.

  ‘Where’s Pa?’ Ellen heard her ask from beneath the quilt.

  ‘He’s gone into town. He went on the horse.’

  Bridget pulled the quilt down from her face, turned and stared up at Ellen. ‘You don’t love me. You’ll love the baby and you won’t want me. I want to live with Uncle Niall.’

  ‘Oh, Bridget, honey. Of course we’ll always love you.’ She bent down and tried to take Bridget’s hand, but Bridget pulled it away.

  ‘You’ve got a baby in your belly, haven’t you?’ she snapped, her voice accusing. ‘I know you have – Miss Quinn told me. She kept on telling me you’d still want me, even if the baby was a boy, but I could tell she was sorry for me. She kept saying I wouldn’t be in the way, but I know I will. That’s why you didn’t tell me.’

  ‘I only told your pa a couple of days ago. We didn’t even know for certain till I saw the doctor yesterday. It’s why we went into town. I don’t know how Miss Quinn found out. I’m sure your pa didn’t tell her. He couldn’t have, in fact, as we were together all of the time. We were going to tell you in two or three weeks, when the difficult time had passed. We didn’t want to worry you. I don’t know how she can have found out. I’m real sorry you had to hear it from someone else.’

  ‘Then you shouldn’t have told anyone.’

  ‘But we didn’t. We decided …’ She stopped short and put her hand to her mouth. ‘Yes, we did, but we didn’t mean to. We met Martha’s ma as we were leaving the doctor’s office, and she guessed why we’d been there. But she was going to be in town all day, so I don’t see how Miss Quinn would have learned of it before school got out.’

  ‘I saw Mrs Carey talkin’ to Miss Quinn when she brought Martha’s lunch pail into school. Martha left it in the wagon by mistake.’

  ‘So that’s what happened! Well, we didn’t think to ask Mrs Carey not to tell anyone as we got into talking about the wedding.’

  Ellen sat down on the side of the bed, close to Bridget.

  ‘The baby’s not going to change anything. Your pa loves you, Bridget, and he always will. The fact that he’d like a son doesn’t alter the way he feels about you, and it never will. He can love more than one person. He loved both your ma and you, didn’t he?’

  Bridget twisted the corner of the quilt. ‘I guess. But now that you’re gonna have a baby …’

  ‘You and your ma will still be important to him. Your pa will never love anyone else like he loved your ma. I know that, Bridget. But I’d like to think he feels comfortable with me. He works hard, and he needs a home where he can relax when his day’s work is done. I don’t ask for more from him than that he’s content to sit at the table with me at night.’

  Bridget stared up at her. She bit her lip.

  ‘Ma died because of the babies. You might die, too.’

  Ellen smiled at her. ‘I’ll try not to,’ she said lightly, and she stood up. ‘Now eat your breakfast. I fear that the eggs are already cold. Here, let me help you to sit up.’ She slid her hands under Bridget’s arms and raised her into a sitting position. Releasing her, she moved back.

  Bridget reached out and caught her arm. She stared up at Ellen. ‘I don’t want you to die.’

  Her vision blurring, she gazed down at Bridget. ‘And I don’t want me to die either. I’m very happy living with you and your pa.’

  ‘You must try very hard not to die. Pa likes sitting with you. I can tell he does.’

  Ellen bent down and kissed her on the top of the head. ‘Enough talking,’ she said, her voice shaking slightly. ‘You must eat your breakfast.’ She smiled down at her and ran her finger down Bridget’s cheek.

  Bridget smiled back.

  She turned and walked to the door.


  ‘Ellen,’ she heard Bridget call after her.

  She looked back at Bridget. Bridget had turned her head and was staring at her. Ellen took a step towards her. ‘What is it? Do you need something?’

  ‘It’s funny, but when I look at you now, I never notice that mark on your face.’

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Connor went straight to the schoolroom when he reached town, getting there before any of the children, as he’d known he would.

  Oonagh was in the corner of the room, lighting the wood in the potbelly stove. She glanced up at him, then carried on with what she was doing.

  He sat down on one of the tables and stared at her. ‘You’re obviously not the least bit surprised to see me.’

  She raised an eyebrow in his direction. ‘Of course I’m not. I know you, Conn. I knew you’d be here as soon as you could get here after sunup.’ She slid the iron lid back on to the stove, went across to her desk and sat down. ‘How’s Bridget?’

  ‘She’s doing fine. What I want to know is why any of it happened.’

  ‘She ran into the long grass, which she’s been told not to do. That’s what happened.’

  ‘And what made her so mad that she’d do a dangerous thing like that? What did you say to her, Oonagh?’

  ‘I mentioned the baby. I assumed you’d have already told her.’

  ‘How did you know about the baby? I didn’t tell you. You’re the last person I would’ve told after what you said to Bridget the day before the Carey wedding, and the way you said it.’

  ‘Abigail told me. Martha forgot her lunch pail and Abigail brought it into school. She’d met you outside the doctor’s office, she said, and she was still very excited about your good news. As everyone will be. We all know how much you want another child.’ She paused. ‘I wasn’t to know that you hadn’t already told Bridget. How could I know that?’

  ‘By the fact that Bridget didn’t mention it, didn’t in any way seem different from the way she usually seemed. If Bridget had been told, you’d have known. And I reckon you know that. And a moment’s thought would have made you realise that we wouldn’t want Bridget to be worried sooner than necessary. You saw the way she was when Alice kept on losing her babies. How did you think she’d feel when she learnt that Ellen was carrying a child? This is the second time you’ve deliberately hurt Bridget. Why?’

  Oonagh leaned forward and stared at Connor, her violet eyes full of remorse. ‘I didn’t think, Connor. That’s the truth. None of this was deliberate. I completely forgot that Bridget might fear for Ellen, even though she doesn’t like her. It’s just that my pleasure at your news blacked out all other thoughts, and I told her on the spur of the moment how thrilled I was.’

  ‘Hardly the spur of the moment,’ he said acidly. ‘Abigail told you before the end of the lunch recess. You told Bridget at the end of the day. You planned the time and the way in which you’d tell her, and I’m guessing that you managed to make her think we’d stop loving her as soon as the baby arrived.’

  She started to stand up. ‘It was a thoughtless error on my part …’

  ‘Don’t waste your breath.’ He stood up. ‘Between you and Niall, you seem to be making Bridget one unhappy little girl. Both of you say that you’re fond of her, but giving pain is a strange way of showing affection. I’m not surprised about Niall. Bridget’s no more than a temporary distraction for him – something new, something different. In truth, he hardly knows her and he’s never really thought about anyone but himself. But you, Oonagh. You’re a woman. You’re meant to have a woman’s feelings. Where were those feelings when you decided to hurt my daughter?’

  ‘Connor, I’m so sorry.’

  ‘I don’t wanna hear it. The rattler’s not the only one that’s full of venom. I’ve said my say, and now I’m gonna see the doc, and then I’m going home to my family. But just to bring you completely up-to-date with my family situation, I reckon you’re wrong about Bridget not liking Ellen. Very wrong.’

  He turned and walked out.

  ‘That’s the heifers and calves taken care of. I’m sorry I was gone so much of the day that we didn’t get this done sooner.’ Connor shut the gate of the far corral.

  ‘Well, they’re done now,’ Aaron said. He nodded towards the cows. ‘It’s good to see that so many of the mother cows are already carrying next year’s calves. It’s gonna be a good year next year. Babies all around, I reckon.’ He gave Connor a knowing smile.

  Connor grinned at him. ‘I figured you’d work it out. Yup, you’re right about next year. But as far as this year goes, I’m about to ride out to the ploughed fields and check that we’ve manured them all. I reckon we’ll have snow within the month and we need to be ready to dig the first of it into the soil. Don’t know what it is about the snow, but it sure helps the crops to grow.’

  ‘Right, boss. While you do that, I’ll fill in the outhouse pit and move the outhouse to a new spot. If there’s time after that, I’ll top up the wood in the bunkhouse.’ He started to walk away, then turned around. ‘I plumb forgot to ask. Did you find out what you wanted to know from Miss Oonagh and the doc when you went into town this morning? You said that the doc wanted to see you.’

  ‘Yup. I’ll tell you and Ellen later on at dinner. I wanna catch the last of the light.’

  With a slight wave of his hand, Aaron turned and went towards the bunkhouse. Connor dropped the iron ring over the corral gate, went across to his horse and untethered it. He swung himself into the saddle and headed past the vegetable garden and out towards the fields.

  His head bowed in thought as he rode, he ran over what he’d been told that morning. That Oonagh, whom he’d felt sure was genuinely fond of Bridget, could repeatedly hurt her, was something he still found hard to believe, despite what he’d known for years about Oonagh’s character. She must have been so angry that he’d married Ellen, a woman with a damaged face, and not her, that she’d pretended friendship with them all while doing everything she could to keep Bridget from accepting Ellen.

  He slowed his horse as he turned on to the fields, his eyes scanning the newly turned earth for any large patches that they might have missed when spreading out the manure.

  It had been real bad luck, Abigail coming upon them as they’d been leaving the doctor’s office. She wouldn’t have known about Oonagh’s mean streak and that it was important that Oonagh shouldn’t be told. She would assume, as anyone would, that Oonagh would realise that he hadn’t yet told Bridget, and that it was something that Bridget should hear from her father.

  He rode to the end of the furthest field, his eyes on the ground, but the light was going and he realised that he’d have to leave checking the rest of the fields until the following day. He’d make an early start in the morning, and he’d come out with Aaron. They’d get through it more quickly that way. He turned the horse around and started slowly down a track that ran between two fields.

  What Oonagh had done had been malicious and spiteful. But Bridget would recover, and with Ellen looking after her, she’d have nothing worse than a slight depression in her leg around the bite. No, Bridget’s situation was no longer as worrying as what he’d heard from the doctor.

  He hadn’t known what to expect when he’d gone into the room behind the office and had sat down at the table with the doctor. He’d known only that it must be important. The doctor was a busy man, who wasn’t given to wasting time in the daylight hours, and he wouldn’t have asked to see Connor if it hadn’t been something serious.

  ‘I’m sorry to have to tell you this, Conn,’ he’d begun.

  ‘From the look on your face, I’m guessing this is about Niall,’ Conn said.

  The doctor nodded. ‘There’ve been some more animals killed in the foothills leading up towards Sage Creek.’

  Connor stopped midway in the act of lifting a glass to his lips. ‘And that’s to do with Niall?’ He put the glass back on the table.

  ‘I’m afeared, we’re thinking it might be. For the last couple
of months, there’ve been a few mean-lookin’ strangers hanging around the saloon in the evening. If you’d been in Liberty at night, you would’ve seen them. Just a day or two at a time and then they’re gone. A week or so later, they’re back again. They keep themselves to themselves, sitting around a couple of tables, drinking, playing a few hands of poker, not causing any trouble, not mixin’ with anyone except Niall. We’re thinking they might be the hunters.’

  ‘Is there any evidence against them, or is it just that they don’t look so good and come and go?’

  ‘Not as yet. I guess it’s more of a hunch. A hunch that a few of us have gotten.’

  ‘You think Niall knew them from before?’

  ‘We asked him, and he said he did. He said he knew them from way back, but had been surprised to see them when they turned up in Liberty.’

  ‘And you don’t believe him, I take it?’

  ‘Whether he already knew them or not isn’t important. It’s what he’s doing with them now that matters. He often comes into town with them, and goes out with them. Niall’s got lodgings in town, but we reckon the men are probably holed up in one of the discarded claims north west of Liberty. We think they’re using that as a base for their criminal activities. It’s hard to see why else they’d be hangin’ around Liberty.’

  Connor shrugged his shoulders. ‘So Niall’s not choosy about the company he keeps. It doesn’t mean that he’s out slaughtering animals for their hides. And nor that his friends are, no matter what they look like.’

  ‘I agree. But it’s a possibility that it is them, and that Niall’s involved.’ He paused. ‘One or two of the townsfolk have been wondering how Niall’s got so much money to spend. There’s work to be had, but he doesn’t seem to be asking for any of it, yet he keeps spending.’

  Connor stared at him, frowning. ‘He does odd bits of work around the place, doesn’t he? He’s done stuff for Jack Massie, and in the livery stable, and I know he’s done some bits of carpentry in the new buildings, and he mentioned something about hauling lumber.’