“Where do you live?” Eoin asked.
Francis was momentarily left speechless. “Well, at the moment I’m not sure.”
“I thought married people lived in the same house. Why do you not live in Mom’s house?”
When Francis hesitated in his reply, the boy continued. “Do you not like us?”
“I love you both very much.”
This confused Eoin. This man who was his father had said ‘home was where the people we loved lived,’ but he does not live with us. Not able to decipher what his father meant, Eoin decided to wait until he saw his mother. He could ask her.
Eoin enjoyed being up on deck where he could see the full sweep of the Irish Sea and only left the boat rail when Francis suggested they go the dining room to eat. By then, the boy was shivering from the cold. Francis pulled out an Aran sweater from his duffle bag and wrapped it around his son. Eoin, who was ravenous, did not speak again until he had eaten a good portion of all the food on his plate.
“Maude said Harry was my father, but Harry said that was a lie when we were in the bathroom at the train station.” Eoin, in his belief that adults had the all the answers, hoped Francis might clarify all this for him.
“Harry was someone your mother knew before she and I met.”
“But Mom married you?”
“Yes. Peoples’ lives are not like math where two and two always make four. Instead, they are emotional entities which at times don’t seem to make sense. Harry wasn’t a good person, and he caused your mom a lot of heartache, but in the end, he showed great bravery.”
“If he didn’t come and find me in the toilets, might these men have killed me?”
“I wouldn’t think so.”
“Why did Harry kidnap me?”
“To hurt your mother by taking you from her.”
“Did he hate her?”
“Love and hate are opposite ends of the spectrum, but sometimes they join forces. I believe Harry loved your mother and also hated her, due to his own inadequacy and the fact that she refused to let him ruin her life. She had fought back and won. This time she nearly lost, but Harry managed one heroic deed, which is what enables us to be going home today.”
“Did you not like Harry?”
“I didn’t know him very well.”
As the boat came into Dun Laoghaire harbor, Eoin and Francis saw a lot of familiar faces: Kate, Mr. O’Toole, Genevieve, and about a dozen old neighbors from the lane. There were some people whom Francis had not met: Rory and Gwen, Eoin’s school companions, neighbors from their new community, all of whom had kept watch with Kate. Eoin, getting off the boat, ran to his mother. Kate, who tried very hard not to cry, did just that on embracing her son. There were tears of joy mixed with tears of horror at what might have happened, and nearly did happen to him. Kate did not seem able to let go of the boy.
“He’s safe now, Kate. You can release the boy,” O’Toole said gently separating mother and son after some time had elapsed. “There is someone else here who could use a welcoming home from you,” and O’Toole stepped aside so that Francis was standing in front of her.
Each of them had visualized this moment and what they would say, but now they hesitated, each uncertain of the other. Breaking the impasse, Francis held out his arms and Kate eased into his embrace, and they were transported back to an earlier, more innocent time when Kate had said, “Yes, I will marry you.”
“I’m sorry, Kate, truly sorry. After I left, and I got over my hurt feelings, and my anger subsided, I became embarrassed by my behavior towards you. I didn’t know if you’d want me back after my dreadful behavior. I thought I might redeem myself if I worked hard and saved so we could afford the things we wouldn’t have been able to have if I’d stayed in Dublin. I thought, like Eoin O’Toole, that I, too, would come back a wealthy man. Of course, O’Toole having become wealthy while working overseas was probably just a rumor. Why else would he live in a small cottage in the lane? Although I was earning a better wage in London, the cost of living there was higher. When I left the bookstore to work on a farm, I did manage to save a respectable sum, but Aunt Mary then told me you had come into an inheritance, making my savings inconsequential. I discovered the longer I stayed away, the more difficult it was to return. A year might have been forgivable, but three years or more absence was a lot less forgivable. Things didn’t work out as I thought they would. I was just burying myself in a hole.”
“Let’s just forgive each other and bury the pain in that hole rather than you.”
Francis smiled, “It’s done.”
“I put the government’s compensation money for the cottage in a bank for you.”
“The cottage became yours when I left. That money is yours.”
“No, it’s yours.”
“All right, it’s ours,” Francis laughed, as did Kate.
“Am I going to get an introduction?” Rory, seeing Kate and Francis laugh together after what had seemed like a very serious conversation, came forward and inquired.
“My brother, Rory, and this, Rory is . . .” she was about to say her husband but the word wouldn’t come out, “Francis.”
“Well, nice to finally meet my brother-in-law,” Rory said, firmly grasping Francis’ hand. “And this, Francis, is my wife Gwen,” he added, as Gwen joined them and poked her husband in the back to let him know of her presence.
Brother-in-law! He accepts me into the family. What a nice fellow. What do they know of our break-up?
“That’s Momma over there,” Kate broke into his inner conversation.
O’Toole went to speak with the media who were impatiently waiting behind the police barricade, and then the photographers came forward and took pictures.
After the lane people hugged Eoin and Francis, telling them how happy they were to see them both home safe and sound, they loaded Eoin down with chocolates. These good friends refused Kate’s invitation to come back to the house, wishing instead to give Kate, her son, and husband this precious time to be alone together to rediscover their relationships.
“Francis and Eoin must be hungry after their trip, and you, Kate, haven’t eaten a decent meal during all this upheaval. So, may I suggest Gwen and I take the seven of us out for dinner?”
“A gallant suggestion, Rory,” O’Toole, who had just joined in, said. Genevieve, who stood beside him, agreed.
Kate, seated between her husband and son, turned to the boy and said, “I’m sure you have many questions to ask about all that has happened.”
“Not really. I already asked your husband a lot of things.”
“My husband,” Kate softly spoke so none other than Eoin could hear. “I believe, young man, you will need to refer to him as your father now that he is back and living with us. What do you think?”
“I like him,” the boy answered with a wide smile, and Kate hugged him.
“If you two need time to get reacquainted, Francis, you can bunk down temporarily in my room,” O’Toole said later in the night when they were out of hearing range of the others.
“Thanks, I’ll take you up on that if I don’t get a better offer,” the younger man replied with a smile.
“Eoin is very attached to O’Toole,” Francis observed.
“Yes, Francis, old Eoin has been very good to both of us.”
“O’Toole was a curiosity factor in the lane, because he never spoke to anyone. People of my parents’ age knew that, when growing up, he lived with his parents and brother in one of the big houses on the main road and that he went abroad for several years before returning and moving into a cottage in the lane. It was rumored he displeased his parents, and they cut him off from any inheritance. Nobody knew for sure what happened between him and his father to cause him to take up residence in the lane. He didn’t speak with anyone, so how did Eoin and you get to know him?”
“He came down with pneumonia one winter when Eoin was a baby. I attended him.”
“Well, I didn’t really know him, but on All Hallows’, as
far back as I can remember, there was always a pound note attached to the sweets he put into my bag,” Francis told her. “As I grew older, the pound note became a five-pound note, then a ten-pound note, and on my last year to go trick-or-treating, when I was thirteen years old, a twenty-pound note was inconspicuously attached to the chocolate. That was a huge amount of money at the time. Nobody else among my friends received money. I told my mother when I received the first of these gifts. She asked that I tell no one. It would be our secret. I did as she instructed. I’ve always wondered why he chose me as the recipient of his gift. My encounter with him as a child was but a few seconds once a year.”
“He has done likewise for Eoin,” Kate revealed, “and, just as when you were a child, Eoin has been the only recipient of his generosity.”
“But you helped O’Toole through his sickness, and he repaid you by his kindness to Eoin. That is reasonable. My parents didn’t have any communications with O’Toole. I had no ties to him. So what caused his generosity to me?”
“You’ll have to ask him that, Francis.”
“Yes, I will, now that this small mystery has become an even bigger one.”
CHAPTER 15
Eoin had become a celebrity on his return to school. In order to give Eoin some peace and allow the students to concentrate on their lessons, the master invited Eoin to recall his adventure at assembly the next day.
That evening, his mother and Francis spoke with him and suggested he write it all down on paper in preparation for the task ahead. Francis volunteered to go with him as moral support, although he did not like the limelight and was more nervous than Eoin.
Eoin’s friends also told of their involvement and what the Garda had said about their helpfulness in solving the case. In the course of giving their account, the boys mentioned that they had spoken to the Garda two days after Eoin had been kidnapped.
“Two days later!” the master uttered in disbelief. “Why didn’t you two go to the Garda immediately?”
The boys did not have a good answer to that question, and after an embarrassing moment of silence, the master gave them time to recoup and took the opportunity to advise the other students that, should they witness anything like this event or anything else that seemed out of order, they should hurry home and phone the Garda immediately. If they did not have a phone at home, they should go the nearest pub where the owner would make the call for them.
“What an orator! Eoin has the makings of a great lawyer,” Francis said, as he, Kate, and O’Toole sat around the table at supper that evening.
“What would you like to be when you’ve grown into manhood?” O’Toole asked.
“A doctor,” the boy answered without hesitation.
“Why a doctor?”
“Because I want to make people well just like Mom does.”
A hearty round of applause brought delight to the boy.
Mary and Ned phoned and invited them all to the farm for Christmas Eve into Christmas Day. They also extended the invitation to Genevieve, Rory, Kieran, and their families.
“I’m so glad they invited Momma. Now she doesn’t have to make the difficult choice of making Christmas dinner for my brothers and their families, or being with us for Christmas. Now we can all be together.”
“I’m glad they have invited Genevieve, because I enjoy her company,” O’Toole added.
“I wouldn’t have thought Momma and you would become such good friends,” laughed Kate.
“Aw, for a while it was an uphill journey. I took small steps at first—a walk in the twilight. While walking, she surprised me by thanking me for all the help I had extended to her daughter and grandson during his disappearance. That was, as they say, the beginning of a beautiful friendship. I believed Humphrey Bogart said that in ‘Casablanca.’ She accepted my invitation of a train ride along the coast with a stop off for a bite to eat and a show I thought she might like to see—a comedy at the Gate Theater. Soon we were both enjoying being in each other’s company. I am honored to be able to call Genevieve my good friend.”
Mary and Ned led the group into church on Christmas Eve, followed by Kate, young Eoin and Francis, with Genevieve and Eoin in the rear. As they stood for the entrance hymn, Kate inwardly smiled, and her face sparkled bright with joy. This was what she had long waited for and often despaired of happening. She had not been this happy in church at Christmas since her father had stood beside her when she was a child, and with childhood innocence, she believed nothing bad could ever happen to her with him close by. Now, aware that none can protect us from pain or sorrow, she looked over at Francis and knew that together they could handle whatever fate strewed in their path.
As Kate thanked God for Eoin’s safe return, she thought of Harry. Harry had not only not harmed Eoin, he gave his life for him. No matter how much he disliked me and wished to injure me, Harry could not hurt his son. There is good in all of mankind, but only when put to the test, was Harry’s goodness revealed.
My family, Francis thought with pride. Eoin calls me Dad! Kate loves me. I love her. To love and be loved is all that each of us hopes to achieve. And then there is fate. If Kate had not been wronged by Harry, I would have gone home that night after eating in the pub and never have met Kate. Harry unwittingly brought us together. He did not harm their son, not wholly because Eoin was his son, but because Harry, in his own peculiar way, loved Kate. He forfeited his life for her as much as for the boy. God rest his soul.
While Francis had gone out to see Ned and Mary two days after his return, Eoin’s arrival at the farm was another homecoming for them. “Thank God you were there to take this precious boy home,” Mary said after she hugged both Eoin and Francis. “And you, Kate, having to go through that terrible ordeal . . .”
“Mary had every candle in the church burning,” Ned interrupted.
“There was nothing else we could do but pray,” Mary added. “Now, not only is Eoin home, but Francis has returned to the fold.”
“You’re making me sound like a lost sheep.” This brought laughter to all present.
“When I knew you were coming home, I went looking for a suitable horse for you, but I want you to see her before I seal the deal,” Ned told him.
“Did something happen to Roan?”
“No, she’s in fine fettle, and waiting for Kate to ride her.”
“Roan is your horse, Francis. You must choose which you’d prefer to ride: this other horse or Roan,” Kate said.
“We could go over tonight, if you wish,” Ned suggested.
“Yes, I’d like to see her, but you know I trust your judgment when it comes to horses.”
Ned, Francis, and Eoin O’Toole drove the thirty miles to a neighboring farm to see the horse. By lantern light they inspected it, and liking what they saw, the horse was purchased and they arrived back at the farm at two o’clock in the morning.
When they got back they found a horse trailer, attached to a BMW, parked in front of the house. Ned and Francis went over to welcome this early morning visitor to the farm, while O’Toole bade them goodnight. They discovered it was Mr. Fitzgerald’s stable foreman who, on seeing them get out of the car, introduced himself and explained his reason for being there. Mr. Fitzgerald, who had been following the abduction of the boy, was very pleased, very pleased indeed, to know that the boy was safely brought home by his father. To celebrate this occasion, Mr. Fitzgerald wished to present Eoin Egan with a yearling.
“How long have you been here?” Ned asked.
“About two hours.”
“You must have arrived right after we left. Have you left the poor thing locked up in the box?” Ned asked with concern.
“No, sir, since nobody was awake when I got here, I settled it in with hay and water.”
“Ah, good man, good man,” Ned said, to which the foreman replied, “We take good care of our horses.”
“Yes, of course.”
“His pedigree is all here,” the foreman said, handing Francis a large envelope.
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“Let’s go see it,” Francis said, and they went to the barn and were struck by the beauty and nobility of this fine yearling. After much admiration of this new addition to the farm, Ned spoke.
“What a generous gift. The man you work for must be a very fine man.”
“That he is.”
Ned insisted the foreman join them for breakfast, and he gladly did. Over a meal of bacon, sausages, eggs, fried pudding, and homemade bread with fresh creamery butter, cooked by Ned and Francis, the conversation throughout breakfast continued to be of horses.
A sleepy Eoin appeared in his pajamas and was told of Mr. Fitzgerald’s gift.
“Dad, can I go out and see it?”
Francis, hearing the excited boy call him dad, looked with pride on the lad and answered, “Get your boots and jacket on, and we’ll go out.”
Moments later, with his arm around the boy’s shoulders, they went to the stalls followed by the foreman and Ned who wanted to witness the boy’s joy.
“She’s a bit skittish. I suggest now that we’ve all seen her, we leave her to settle in,” Francis said.
“That’s a good suggestion,” the foreman said.
“Please thank Mr. Fitzgerald from Kate, myself, and Eoin for this most generous gift to our son,” Francis said as he walked to the car with the foreman, who insisted he must be back at the farm by four in the morning.
On wakening later in the morning, the womenfolk were told of the night’s adventure and the wonderful gift from Brian Fitzgerald.
“What a beauty,” Kate softly uttered on seeing this small, elegant creature.
Francis conveyed to Kate the foreman’s words that Mr. Fitzgerald welcomes her, Eoin, himself and other family members, at anytime, to drop in at his farm where he personally would be most pleased to show them around.
“This Fitzgerald must be a fine gentleman. Imagine giving the boy such a beautiful animal,” Ned addressed O’Toole as they sat by the fire while Mary, Kate, and Genevieve made preparations for the noonday meal. Kate did not previously mention having had dealings with Fitzgerald, and so O’Toole did not bring the matter up. None of Kate’s family knew what turmoil she had gone through.
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