Under the July Sun (41 page)

‘And the baby? What did ye do with the baby?'

‘That's the bit I would be struck off for Cat. I concealed both the cause of death and reporting a stillbirth. There will be no record of this. I drove out to Mount Carmel and buried him beneath the statue of Our Lady.'

Cat broke down upon hearing all the facts while Daniel sat helplessly witnessing her heart-wrenching wails of grief, crying her daughter out of her life.

Daniel knew he had committed a crime, not for his own advancement, but to preserve the Delaney's good name in Fethard. He couldn't help drawing a parallel in his mind about the time he had helped Cat in a similar predicament during childbirth all those years ago, except that he had been on the scene quicker then and had managed to save her and the child. Hopefully, he thought, when Cat recovered from the shock, she would realise he had done it for the best.

If she did not come to this conclusion, Daniel knew he could wave goodbye to his practice. It was not just his job though, it was his very existence. If this got out, he could not stay in Fethard and he would most certainly never work as a doctor again, even if he managed to escape prison.

His destiny was in Cat's hands; as hers had once been in his.

The minutes ticked by until Cat's crying diminished and she was able to speak.

‘Well Daniel, ye have no fear that I'll ever say a word about this. Apart from anythin', ye've been a wonderful husband to me poor sister Mary, God rest her soul, and friend to us all. T'would kill Daddy if he knew the truth and ye're right, most people in Fethard would cut us dead.'

Cat sat silently for a while, and then looked at Daniel. ‘But thinkin' about it, who
was
the father of the child?'

‘I don't know, Cat.'

‘Did Peggy and Breda know?'

‘No, they did not. They were as shocked as ye about the whole thing. I had a job convincing them not to go to confession about it. None of us can, so we've to live with this on our conscience. 'Twill never be cleansed from our souls, all three of us.'

‘And mine too now,' she added dully. ‘That makes four.'

They were quiet for a while then Cat looked directly at him.

‘But I've never heard that Marie had a boyfriend even. Not that she wrote much, but neither Peggy nor Breda ever mentioned one.'

Silence ensued as Cat gazed unseeing into the fire. Then, as though something had fallen into place in her mind, she suddenly looked up at Daniel.

‘I
hope
this has nothin' to do with Paddy Hogan!'

Cat was about to leave when someone rapped on the front door, shouting for Daniel.
‘It sounds like Tom,' Cat said and Daniel rushed to open the door.
‘Daniel,' Tom struggled for breath as he had run across the fields for speed, ‘can ye come to Monroe quickly, 'tis me father, he's collapsed.'

‘I'll come straight away.'

He turned to Cat. ‘I'll drive ye both down in my motor car. I didn't think he was lookin' good. C'mon now, I'll just get me bag and we're away,' he said to them.

Daniel drove quickly out of the town, raced along Cashel Road and straight down the boreen to Monroe.

Tom and Daniel ran into the cottage, followed by Cat where Norah was sponging Ned's face as he lay on their couch.

It was so dark inside it took a few moments for Daniel's eyes to adjust to the gloom, but soon he could see that Ned was in a bad way and had probably had a heart attack.

Daniel turned to Tom.

‘Can ye send the children into the bedroom with Norah?'

‘Sure,' Tom said looking at his wife. ‘Norah take the children into the bedroom.'

Norah instantly ushered the children away from the room.

‘Just call if ye need me,' she whispered and closed the door.

Daniel listened to Ned's heart and held his wrist feeling the pulse. It was too irregular and weak for his liking, but Ned was conscious, looking alarmed and struggling to speak. But then without warning Ned became very calm and closed his eyes.

Stricken speechless by yet another dilemma for this family, Daniel hesitated to turn and tell Tom and Cat that Ned needed a priest, but he knew what he must do this time, everything must be correct.

‘Tom, I think we should go for the priest, yer father's heart is not in good shape.'

‘Right, I'll send Edward on his bike, 'twill be quicker than me runnin'.'

Tom opened the bedroom door, beckoned to the child and whispered the errand to him.

Edward shot out of the cottage and began pedalling for all he was worth in the direction of the priest's house.

Cat sank to her knees holding Ned's hand, buried her face in his rough old jacket and cried.

‘Daddy, don't leave us. Please, don't go. We've not had long enough. Please open yer eyes.'

She felt Tom's hand on her shoulder.

‘Don't, Cat. Let him go. He's not been the same since Mummy died. He's tired and he's ready to join her. Let him rest in peace.'

‘Why does all this keep happening to our family?' she cried.

It was Daniel who answered. ‘It happens to all families, Cat. It's just tough it's all happened in a short space of time for all of ye.'

The men stood watching Ned labour for breath, his face pallid and swathed in perspiration. He was slipping away and Cat could not bear it.

‘Give him some brandy, or somethin' to bring him round, can't ye?' she cried to Daniel.

'Twould be dangerous to introduce any drink at present, it could choke him as he isn't awake, Cat.'

‘Well ye can't just stand there both of ye's. Do somethin' for God's sake,' she yelled.

Daniel bent down and lifted Cat up, putting his arm around her shoulders. He spoke to her soothingly.

‘Cat, yer father has a weak heart; all the emotion of recent months has taken its toll. When he's called to the Lord, 'tis his time, and as mere mortals we cannot override God's will.'

They heard Edward skid into the yard, throw down his bike and burst through the cottage door.

‘Father O'Dowd's on his way,' he said ‘he's drivin' in his motor car.'

Norah brought Teresa in from the bedroom and they all drew up chairs around Ned's prone form, now covered with a blanket. Minutes later they heard the unmistakable sound of the priest's car chugging down the boreen.

The car door slammed and Father O'Dowd appeared, framed by the doorway, his figure silhouetted against the light outside. He strode into the room and donned his robes.

They were aware of the clock on the wall marking off the minutes of Ned's life, and when he began to make a strange noise in his throat Daniel shot a glance at Father O'Dowd.

The priest immediately made the sign of the cross above Ned's body and began to recite words that were the most unwelcome sounds to all of them.

‘Ego te absolvo. Omnibus peccatis tuis. In nomine Patris et Fillii et Spiritu Sancto…'

Cat sat with her arm around Ned's sister, Nellie. She had been deeply shocked, unable to work since hearing about Ned's death, and as a result her husband Mick had to take over all her duties in the hotel.

‘We've to go to the solicitor's in the mornin' Auntie,' Cat said softly, ‘to hear Daddy's Will read. Will ye come?'

‘No. No. I don't think so Pet. 'Tis for all his children to go, not me.'

‘As you please, Auntie. But I don't want ye to feel we're leavin' ye out of things.'

‘Ah, Cat. This is somethin' I wish I'd been left out of entirely. Ye've hardly buried yer own little darlin' and now this! 'Tis a cruel world at times ye know,' she said patting Cat's hand, ‘God forgive me, but I wonder who in the world's lookin' out fer us up there.' She pointed skywards.

‘I know what ye mean,' Cat murmured, ‘what a time of it we've had. It cannot get any worse now, can it?'

Inwardly Cat was hoping Auntie Nellie didn't go the same way soon. She felt all the people that she held onto in the back of her mind, her securities in life, were falling away. Disappearing, leaving her to face things alone.

* * *

Tom knocked on the solicitor's door and turned the brass knob when he heard him call for them to come in. Cat, Peggy and Breda followed him.

Sean Burke rose from his leather chair and took off his glasses which he placed on the desk in front of him.

‘I'm sorry to meet ye all on this sad occasion,' he began, ‘please accept my condolences. He was a fine man, yer father. Yes, a fine man.' Then he seemed to be counting up something in his head, nodding. ‘Two, three, four, me five and Miss O'Carroll, that'll be six,' he said.

He called for Miss O'Carroll to join them from the outer office and soon a mousey little woman poked her head around the door. Sean Burke raised his eyebrows.

‘Please Miss O'Carroll,' he said to her, ‘would ye bring in another chair?'

He then turned his attention back to the family. ‘Sit yerselves down. Yes indeed, sit yerselves down.'

Sean Burke went through the preliminary details of the paperwork and said that he had been empowered to deal with Ned's estate.

Tom shifted in his chair, clearly ill at ease. If Ned had written anything into his Will that altered his position he could find himself in a difficult situation.

The solicitor put on his glasses and began reading out Ned's Will, outlining the features that incorporated his estate.

Some of it seemed a little odd to Cat as the Will referred to the farm at Monroe eventually being taken over by Tom, his eldest son, when he became of age, and of an amount compensating his daughters, Peggy, Mary, Ellen, Catherine and Breda to the sum of £50 each.

Sean Burke read on.

‘The estate comprisin' of the cottage known as Monroe and the smaller cottage known as Granny's cottage beside the bank of the Clashawley River to be passed to his only son, Thomas Delaney.'

Cat took a sharp intake of breath. Daddy had expressly told her he was leaving the cottage to
her
, so that she would always have somewhere to come home to.

Sean Burke finished reading the rest of the Will and drew a piece of paper from his folder.

‘If ye take a look at this account I have of yer father's estate, ye'll see that there is now no money left to pay any compensation to ye ladies as the taxes on the land have been increased since this was written and eaten away any surplus put aside for that purpose. So if ye'll all sign to that effect, then our business is done.'

He looked up, took off his glasses, smiled and pushed the piece of paper towards Cat.

‘Ye'd better read what ye're signin' for,' he said grinning, ‘or ye may find ye owe someone a fortune.'

He clearly thought the whole thing was some sort of joke, Cat thought, and tried to quickly take in the words on the paper. But the writing swam before her eyes and she felt hot and faint. It had all been too much for her and she wanted nothing now but to get out of the solicitor's office, pack her bag and travel back to England.

Without another word, and not having read what the solicitor had pushed over the table for her signature, she signed.

The other sisters signed too, obviously in a state of shock themselves, and Tom, looking distinctly uncomfortable, signed last of all.

Then Cat decided to ask the question that had formed in her mind.

‘Excuse me Mr. Burke, but can ye tell me when this Will was written, only it mentions me sister, Mary and she's been dead some years now.'

‘Ah. Yes. Good point,' he said twisting the Will round so that he could re-read it. ‘Yes, 'twas written in 1915.'

Twenty three years ago, Cat thought. Long before all this happened! Before any of us married, and had families, or when Mummy had died. She realised that Ned had obviously forgotten to update it. His wish that she should have Granny's cottage to always give her a home in Ireland, had disappeared as quickly as rain drops evaporate when kissed by the sun.

Paddy lay slumped on his couch, where he had passed out drunk the night before. He had not washed or changed his clothes for days and had drunk himself into oblivion.

In his madness, the images, first of Marie and then Cat, danced before his eyes; tormenting, laughing at him, drowning him in kisses, then scratching his face with a thousand razors, tearing his hair out…they kept interchanging until he was driven crazy and had drunk enough to poison himself.

Cat pulled the donkey cart to a halt, dismounted and marched up to the house with a riding whip in her hand. She was hot with anger as she banged on the front door.

‘C'mon out Paddy Hogan!' she shouted.

But deeply asleep, Paddy didn't hear.

Undeterred, she hammered on the door again and when there was no reply she tried the latch. It opened. So she marched in unafraid to face the man who had, in her estimation, been responsible for initiating all her problems for so long.

She stood inside the doorway and listened. The sound of loud snores came from the room to the left of the hall so she pushed the door open and saw him asleep, mouth wide open, shirt unbuttoned and trousers undone. The sight of him repelled her.

She stormed out and made her way down to the kitchen at the end of the hall, filled a jug with water, returned to the sleeping Paddy, and threw the contents over him.

He stirred and then sluggishly tried to sit up.

‘C'mon, get up ye filthy swine,' Cat shouted. ‘Did ye think yer little game would go undetected eh? Did ye think ye could just take advantage of Marie and that nobody would find out? Ye stinkin' worm of a creature.'

‘Wha' ye talkin' about?' Paddy slurred without moving. He frowned as he focussed on Cat's angry face.

‘Ye know what I'm talkin' about, and if ye think for one minute I'm sucked in by yer feigned ignorance, it won't wash.' Cat took a step backwards. ‘This is what I should have done years ago.'