My tears flowed as I pressed the locket against my throat. How was I ever to part with it? To do so would be like betraying the best friend I had ever known. That night I dreamed of Mrs Shaw. In the dream, she gently unfastened the locket from around my throat and thrust it into my hand. ‘Take it, dear girl,’ she whispered. ‘This is a journey you must make. Take it with my blessing.’
The next day I rode in the pony and cart with Da into Donegal Town. He had business to attend to with some local farmers, he said, while I made up a story about wanting new boots. I left him at the corner of the main street, telling him I would be back in an hour. I went straight to the only pawn shop in town. I’d decided that instead of selling the locket outright, I would pawn it. The idea comforted me with the hope that one day I could buy it back. Still, I had a lump in my throat when I handed it over.
Ma was quick to notice the locket was gone. I had worn it every day since I’d been home, and my throat felt naked.
‘Where is it?’
‘I pawned it.’
‘Well, good riddance,’ said Ma.
The night before I was due to leave, I was in my room packing my few belongings when there was a knock at the door. I cursed under my breath. What did Ma want now? I opened the door roughly, but there stood Da. He shuffled his feet and nodded at me.
‘Hello, daughter.’
I didn’t know what to do. Da had never visited my room before. I stood there like an eejit until I realized I should ask him in. He took off his cap and bowed his head as he stooped to fit through the door. I don’t know which of us was the more nervous.
Without saying a word, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small article wrapped in brown paper. He held it out to me, and I stared down at it.
‘What is it, Da?’
‘Open it, girl.’
My fingers shook as I unwrapped it. There, in the palm of my hand, lay Mrs Shaw’s locket.
I gaped up at Da. ‘How did you know?’
‘Your ma was after mentioning it last night and I guessed that’s what ye’d gone to Donegal to do. I went today and bought it back, so.’
Tears filled my eyes. ‘But the money, Da, where . . . ?
‘Sure your ma will hardly miss one cow,’ he said, his back to me as he walked through the door. ‘Safe journey, daughter.’
The next morning, I fastened Mrs Shaw’s locket around my neck once more, picked up my bags, and left the cottage for good.
SHOTGUN CITY
1913
DELIA
A week later, Mayflower rushed into the house all business. ‘Get Lily ready,’ she said, ‘we’re going on a trip.’
‘Where to?’ I said.
‘It’s a surprise. You’ll find out soon enough.’
‘Oh I love surprises, Aunt May!’ said Lily as she raced upstairs to get dressed.
‘What’s this about, Mayflower?’
My first thought was that it had to do with Aidan. But I dismissed it. Surely Mayflower would not have arranged anything without talking it over with me first. No, she wouldn’t have. I’ve got to get this obsession with Aidan out of my mind, I thought, there are other things in the world besides him.
‘Like I said, darlin’ – it’s a big ole surprise.’
A half hour later, Lily and I were sitting in Mayflower’s car, riding down Swiss Avenue in the direction of Dallas. Surely she wasn’t just taking us to Nieman Marcus, I thought, we could have ridden the trolley there. It had never occurred to me to ask Mayflower where she lived. I’d always assumed it was close by. Now I thought perhaps it was outside the city, a ranch maybe, and she was taking us to visit. I was reluctant to enquire, since she had made it clear she wasn’t going to spoil the ‘surprise’.
It was a beautiful morning. The sun was bright, but the temperature hadn’t yet climbed to its usual sweltering level. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, enjoying the sun on my face. I’d noticed lately when I looked in the mirror that my complexion was no longer as pale as it once was. I no longer looked like the ghost Ma used to call me. I smiled. This was one benefit of Texas I hadn’t expected.
Lily chattered away, hardly taking a breath. She made dozens of guesses about where we were going – as if it was a game. Mayflower said ‘No’ as every new question came up. Eventually, Lily realized she was not going to find out, so she turned her attention to the passing scenery.
We left Dallas behind us and rode out into the countryside. Manuel, Mayflower’s driver, kept the car at a slow and steady pace. I sensed we were going south. Growing up in Donegal, I’d become quite good at guessing directions by the position of the sun. It was another skill of mine that convinced Ma I was a witch.
The landscape was different to what I had seen that first day on the way to Dallas. Now, green grasses covered the land, there were more trees than I remembered, and fields were filled with crops almost ready for harvesting.
A field in the distance caught my eye. Small white fluffy clouds hovered in the air just above the ground.
‘Please stop the car, Manuel,’ I said.
I got out and walked to the edge of the road, shading my eyes with my hand. I’d never seen the likes of it. Was it a mirage, I wondered, like the visions I’d read about that appear in the desert?
‘It’s just a cotton field, darlin’.’ Mayflower’s voice drifted over my shoulder. ‘As common in Texas as ticks on a coon dog. You should see them out west of here – fields and fields of them stretching on forever. They sure do make a lovely sight, don’t they? If you were up close, you’d see those are white flowers on the plants. We call them bolls. In another day or two they’ll turn pink and the field will look as if it’s lit by sunset.’
Back in the car, Mayflower decided to give me an education on the vegetation I was seeing.
‘Them tall green stalks over there,’ she said, ‘they’re maize. It’s a kind of corn the Mexicans brought here. And them trees, they’re pecan trees.’
I looked over at rows and rows of leafy trees bending towards each other to make an arch like a cathedral.
‘Too bad y’all got here too late in the year to see the bluebonnets. It’s like nature threw a blue carpet all over the state. The sight of them have made grown men cry. So beautiful. God surely has blessed Texas!’
Again, I heard the same pride in Mayflower’s voice as I’d heard when she showed me around Dallas. This woman truly loved Texas.
I put my head down and closed my eyes. I was now well and truly in a strange and fascinating land. I’d never heard of cotton plants or maize stalks or pecan trees. And these were only the things I’d seen so far. What else was out there across the state of Texas – a state so vast that Ireland would fit into it eight times over?
My stomach tightened at the thought of Ireland. I’d been so busy exploring Texas that I’d hardly thought about Donegal. How different the two worlds were. I pictured Da carrying turf in a pail down the hill towards the cottage. No exotic plants grew on the rough, rocky land around Kilcross. It was hard enough to find places where sheep and cows could graze. Even in other parts of the county, between the wild gales that blew in from the Atlantic and the frequent rain – sometimes falling in buckets, sometimes fine as mist – crop farms were scarce.
I wondered then, as I hadn’t done for a long time, what Nora would have thought of Texas. I smiled to myself. She’d have liked Dallas with its fashionable shops and swanky houses, but she would hardly have been impressed with cotton fields or pecan trees, and she’d have been tortured by the heat. Nora would never have adjusted to Texas the way I was beginning to. Had fate intervened to correct the mistake Ma had surely made by choosing Nora to work for Aidan? A tiny twinge of guilt twisted my stomach. Would it ever leave me?
I was getting restless when Manuel suddenly took a left turn and began driving east. We left the main road behind and were riding on a rutted track more suited to horses than to cars. Eventually we reached the outskirts of a town. Shabby tin shacks appeared, thrown up
haphazardly on either side of the road. Small children and dogs raced across the road, narrowly avoiding the car, while tired-looking women hung washing on makeshift lines. I could take Mayflower’s secrecy no more.
‘Where on earth are we?’
‘Look at the signpost over there, Miss Delia.’
‘Shotgun City, Population 400’ was written on a white sign hanging on a pole. Someone had crossed out the 400 and written 4,800 in a crude hand. My mouth fell open.
‘But we can’t go to Shotgun City,’ I said. ‘Aidan has forbidden it.’
Mayflower waved her hand at me. ‘Oh, pay him no mind.’ She grinned. ‘Besides, Hans told me he and Aidan would be down in Beaumont today, inspecting the eastern oil field.’
Part of me was alarmed at defying Aidan’s orders, but a bigger part of me was elated. I’d finally get to see this place I’d heard so much about. Manuel pulled the car over to the side of the road at the edge of town and parked. He pointed to a small café, with the sign ‘Taqueria’ above it, indicating he was going to have lunch. Mayflower, Lily and I got out. I clutched Lily’s hand and the three of us began to walk up the main street.
I couldn’t take in the sights fast enough, jerking my head from left to right, anxious not to miss anything. Rickety, roughly constructed one-storey wooden buildings were crammed together on either side of the street. Signs on the buildings reflected the businesses within – saloons advertising card games and low-priced beer, banks which looked legitimate and loan shops which didn’t, cafés with signs in Spanish and English. The only building made of brick was the Kearney Hotel and Saloon, which towered above the street.
A dizzying array of people rushed past us – men in crumpled white linen suits with gold teeth and silver fobs, cowboys who doffed their hats to us, their horses tethered to railings, and women dressed in low-cut gowns as if on their way to a ball.
‘Prostitutes,’ Mayflower announced. ‘They flock to every makeshift camp town like this one.’
I noticed that among the well-dressed women and the men in linen suits were drably dressed men and women with weathered faces and stern expressions. Mayflower said they were farmers and ranchers.
‘God-fearing people who disapprove of all these newcomers,’ she said, ‘exceptin’ for the money they get for leasing out their land to wild-cat drillers and oil companies.’
As we walked, sweet and spicy aromas from the cafés wafted across the street and I realized I was starving. Mayflower led us to one which she said Hans had said was good and clean.
‘Good and clean is important to Hans,’ she laughed. ‘He never lets me forget he’s German.’
‘Can we sit outside?’ I said, anxious not to miss a minute of the activity on the street.
We sat in the shade and ordered spicy chicken-filled tacos with lemonade. I had come to enjoy these new foods, especially the jalapeño peppers which sent hot waves of flavour up my nostrils and down my throat. I’d never tasted the likes of them in New York, and certainly not in Donegal. As we sat, the sound of singing, shouting and laughter drifted out from the saloon next door, and the street was filled with accents of all kinds.
‘That’s where Daddy stays,’ said Lily, pointing up to the Kearney Hotel. Then her attention jumped back to the empty plate before her. ‘I’m thirsty,’ she announced, ‘can I go in and get a soda?’
‘I’ll go with you,’ I said, standing up.
She put her hands on her hips and stuck out her bottom lip. ‘I can order it myself, Miss Delia,’ she said. ‘I’m a big girl now.’
‘Oh, what harm can it do,’ said Mayflower, giving Lily a coin.
‘But . . .’ I began to protest, but the child had already run inside the café. I made to follow her, but Mayflower grabbed my arm. ‘Stay here, darlin’,’ she said. ‘I have to go see the dressmaker right quick.’ I sighed and sat down. I looked over at the Kearney Hotel and up to where Lily had pointed. I imagined Aidan looking out one of the windows, shirt unbuttoned and his hair falling over his forehead. I imagined I came up beside him and he smiled and whispered sweet words in my ear.
‘Should I check on Lily?’ Mayflower’s return called me back to reality. I shot to my feet.
‘I’ll go,’ I said. ‘She’s been gone a while.’
‘Probably prattling to the owner,’ Mayflower said. ‘That child could talk the leg off a table.’
A bad feeling settled in the pit of my stomach and I rushed into the café. There was no sign of Lily. In alarm, I asked the owner and customers if they’d seen a small blonde girl drinking a soda. They shook their heads. Almost hysterical now, I ran outside to Mayflower.
‘Did she come out?’
Mayflower shook her head.
My voice grew shrill. ‘Oh, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, she’s gone!’
Mayflower stood up. ‘No need for panic just yet, Delia. Lily was always wandering off when she was a little ’un. Drove poor Mary crazy. I’ll bet she went over to the hotel to see if she could find her pa.’
Together we rushed across the street and into the crowded ground floor of the hotel. A handsome, impeccably dressed man in his thirties, with silky black hair and brown eyes, approached us. He took Mayflower’s hands in his and kissed her on both cheeks.
‘My dear Mrs Humboldt,’ he said in a low drawl, ‘what a sight for sore eyes you are. I see your fastidious husband far too often, and you far too rarely. I tell him all the time to bring you – you are so much more fun than he is.’
‘This is Mr Kearney, the owner,’ Mayflower began, but I was about to burst with impatience. I stepped between him and Mayflower and put my face close to his. ‘Have you seen Lily?’ I shouted. ‘Aidan O’Hanlon’s daughter? She’s lost. Did she come in here? Can you question your staff? Can you guess where she might be? Can you—’
Mr Kearney’s face creased in a smile. He put his hand on my arm. ‘Don’t fret so, dear lady. I have an idea just where she might be. Wait here, please.’
I made to follow him, but Mayflower restrained me. ‘Let it be, honey,’ she said. ‘You can trust Mr Kearney. Come, sit down now.’
I forced myself to sit still while we waited for news, but I couldn’t keep my hands from fidgeting or my legs from trembling. I allowed myself a small sliver of hope that Mr Kearney would find her. I had sensed immediately that he was a man who, despite his youth, wielded a great deal of power in town. I bowed my head and said a prayer.
‘Delia? Mayflower? What are you doing here? Where’s Lily?’
I shot to my feet as Aidan’s voice called out from behind. Panic gripped me as I spun around to face him.
‘S-she’s lost,’ I blurted out. ‘Mr Kearney’s gone to try and find her.’
Aidan’s face turned pale. ‘What do you mean “lost”?’
Mayflower stood up. ‘I wouldn’t jump to conclusions just yet, Aidan. I’m sure she’s in the hotel somewhere.’
Aidan gave us a wild look. His rage filled the space between us. Instinctively I backed away. ‘For God’s sake, she could be anywhere and yet you both sit here waiting for Kearney to find her? What is the matter with you?’ He fixed his eyes on me. ‘And you – didn’t I tell you not bring Lily here? Didn’t I insist on it? Didn’t I—’
He was interrupted by Mr Kearney approaching across the hotel foyer holding Lily by the hand. ‘Here she is,’ he said, ‘safe and sound.’
Aidan ran to the child and enveloped her in his arms. ‘Oh, Lily,’ he said. ‘Thank God.’
I wanted to seize Lily and hug her too, but I didn’t dare go near Aidan. As I watched them, an elegantly dressed woman with red hair and too much rouge appeared and extended a gloved hand to me.
‘You must be Lily’s governess,’ she said in a smoky, foreign-accented voice. ‘I’m Francine, I manage the dance hall in the hotel.’
I gaped at her, unable to utter a word.
‘The darling girl came to the hotel looking for her daddy, and when she didn’t find him, she came downstairs to find me. We’ve been best fr
iends since she was a baby, haven’t we, honey?’ Francine beamed down at Lily who looked up at her with a tear-stained face.
‘Why are you crying, Lily?’ I said, ignoring Francine. ‘Everything is all right now.’
‘I didn’t mean to . . . to get myself lost.’
I looked at Aidan, then back to Lily. ‘It wasn’t your fault, Lily, it was mine. I should not have let you out of my sight.’
Lily let go of Aidan and threw her arms around my waist. I hugged her as I watched Francine slip her arm through Aidan’s.
‘Come on, let’s go and have a drink to celebrate your daughter’s safe return.’ She paused and looked at me. ‘I expect we can trust you and Mrs Humboldt to escort Lily safely back home.’
Mayflower looked from Francine to me, one eyebrow raised. I took Lily’s hand and turned to go. But Aidan pushed Francine aside. ‘Another time, Francine. I will escort them to the car. I have something to say to Miss Sweeney.’
Without waiting for an answer, he took Lily’s hand in his and began to stride ahead of us back down the main street. Even though he must have been filled with relief that Lily had been found, I could see that he was still fuming, and that his anger was directed towards me. I was ‘Miss Sweeney’ again and my heart sank. Mayflower tried to calm him.
‘It was all my fault, Aidan. Delia had no idea where I was fixin’ to take her when we set out. She knew nothing until we arrived in Shotgun City. Besides, Hans said you were going to be out of town. Blame me if you must.’
‘I had last-minute business here,’ Aidan said curtly without even looking at me. ‘Maybe I could forgive the disobedience, but I cannot forgive her carelessness.’ He spoke as if I was invisible. ‘Her only job is to look after my daughter, and she cannot even do that. She is an irresponsible chit.’ He paused to draw a breath. ‘I knew it was a risk to bring her from New York after she deceived me, but I never expected this. I cannot imagine the awful things that might have happened to my daughter. It was an unforgivable lapse on Miss Sweeney’s part, and she deserves the harshest punishment. I shall expect her to leave my employ at once and return to New York.’
The Titanic Sisters Page 20
