GRACE LISTENED TO the Palestrina Choir singing some Handel as she sat in the crowded wooden pew. Their voices were pure and beautiful, the music so stirring that tears pricked her eyes. The long mass in Latin seemed no hindrance, as the voices of the choir filled the roof and dome of the great cathedral.
The boys and young men of the Palestrina well deserved their reputation; it was the finest choir she had ever heard. They were like a host of angels singing and it moved her deeply. Joe had told her that the world-famous tenor John McCormack, when he was younger, had trained and sung here, his first audience the poor from the nearby tenements who were able to listen to such a voice sing at their masses.
This church was so very different from their church in Rathmines, for here no well-to-do Dublin families were given pride of place and positioned in the front pews. St Mary’s was a church of the people. Some of the families she recognized from Liberty Hall and from serving school dinners with Maud Gonne and her sisters – factory- and dockworkers kneeling to pray alongside shopkeepers, students and bankers. Mother would have hated it.
Grace’s faith had always been assumed, marching to Sunday school and service with her family. Now she was an adult and she wanted to make a choice about it. To Joe his spirituality and faith meant so much. Father, despite Mother’s disapproval, had kept his faith, praying in his own church. It had seemed weak when she was young, but now she realized the hidden strength that Father possessed.
Kneeling down, she put her head in her hands and prayed.
She thought of her father. Getting up to leave, she stopped in front of the brass candlestand with its little flames flickering in front of a large statue. She reached into her purse and dropped a few pennies into the stand, taking a small candle and lighting it.
‘Lord, this is for my father. Look after him, please.’
Mother was sitting quietly reading in the drawing room when she returned home. The nurse was upstairs minding Father. Mother looked tired. Father’s illness had taken its toll on her too.
‘Mother, I want to talk to you about something important.’
Her mother put down her novel and looked up.
‘Are you all right, dear?’
‘Yes … Mother, I’m engaged to be married – to Joe Plunkett.’
For a second Mother looked confused.
‘The Plunkett boy with the car and the motorcycle? You intend marrying him?’
‘Yes,’ she said, keeping her voice level. ‘We love each other.’
‘How can you even consider such a marriage?’ snapped Mother. ‘The Plunketts may be wealthy property owners, but I have heard of creditors and unpaid bills. They say the countess is a law unto herself and does what she pleases.’
‘Mother, I am not marrying the count or countess, I am marrying Joe. Joe Plunkett is the man I love. I will not let religion be a barrier.’
‘Why am I so afflicted with such daughters?’ Mother sighed dramatically. ‘There are also rumours that that Plunkett boy is consumptive and has to travel abroad for his health.’
‘He has had pleurisy but is much better now,’ Grace returned angrily.
‘But what if his tubercular illness returns? You could be left a widow.’
‘Mother, with the war thousands of wives will be left widows. I can’t think of such a thing. Why would you even say it?’
‘I am only thinking of your good.’ Mother’s eyes flashed.
‘Can’t you be happy for me, that I have found someone to love and be loved by? I am twenty-seven years old, nearly twenty-eight – do you not want to see me married like my sisters?’
‘Grace, I want only what is best for you.’
‘Then be happy for me, for marrying Joe Plunkett is my happiness.’
Mother said nothing more and picked up her novel.
‘I wanted to tell you, as Joe and I intend officially announcing our engagement as is the custom.’
She went upstairs and sat beside her father. He had lost weight and could not stand, walk or talk. One side of his body was still weak. She reached for his hand and his eyes opened.
She told him about Joe.
‘I am happy, Father – very happy.’
He tried to talk and she knew that he approved of their engagement. Grace kissed his cheek and sat with him awhile.