“Now, daughter. Out with it, what’s all this agro about,” Barney demanded slamming a fist on the table that rattled the crockery. “Don’t think to lie to me, or hide something. You’ll tell me the truth right this minute or live to rue the day. What is it ye were plannin’ to keep from me?” Da towered over her, glaring down with blood-shot eyes. “I’m waitin’.” He rapped the top of her head with a hard knuckle.
“Da!” she protested. “I’m not a child anymore. Don’t do that.”
Barney bent down so his eyes were level with hers, the sour stink of his breath wafting across her face. “Aye, that’s only a taste of what’s in store if ye don’t start talkin’,” he warned. “What divilment have ye got up to the now? Haven’t ye embarrassed yer old da enough?”
“It’s my own business and none of yours, to be sure.” Bella stuck out her chin in belligerence. “You can’t make me tell you if I don’t choose to.”
“Do ye think so, then?” Da took a step back and unbuckled his wide belt pulling if free of his trouser loops. “I have a bit of leather and the back of my hand that says otherwise.”
He doubled the belt and snapped the two sides together inches from her nose. Bella flinched in spite of herself. If he was sober he’d never lay a hand on her, but clearly he wasn’t anywhere near sober. When he got in this state he often mistook her for Mum and she’d learned it was best to hide in her room until he was back in his right mind. There was no chance of slipping away now though. She’d have to tell him in the end, the only question was whether she’d be black and blue first. Da snapped the belt again before he caressed her cheek with the edge of it.
“Come now, Lily. Tell Barney what’s go you all hot and bothered,” he cooed, his eyes bright and a bit unfocussed.
“Da, it’s me. Bella, your daughter. Mum’s not here—”
“Quit talkin’ nonsense, my pretty lily flower. So white and delicate … tell Barney yer problem and I’ll make it right.”
“Oh for the love of God,” Bella muttered. At least he’d forgotten about smacking her for the moment anyway. Maybe she could humour him and slip out and upstairs. Get her door locked before he realized what she’d done. “Sure, Barney. Sure, just let me go and fetch you a jar of ale. ‘Twill only take me a moment, I’ll be back in a jiffy.” Bella sidled toward the hall door. Her fingers were on the latch when the sharp pain in her scalp made the breath hiss between her teeth. Da twisted his fist in her long hair and hauled her back, forcing her into the chair she just vacated.
“Do you take me for a fool, Arabella? Sit you down and spit out whatever it is you were thinkin’ of keepin’ from me.” The belt slammed on the table inches from her hand.
She drew a shaky breath. There was no reasoning with him tonight it seemed. She might as well tell him the truth, well at least part of it and hope that would satisfy him. He’d probably think the child was Daniel’s. For once, that was an almost comforting thought.
“Alright, Da. Alright. I’ll tell you. Quit waving that thing around first.” She gestured at the belt.
“It’s not you callin’ the shots here, girl. I’d mind my tongue, iffen I were you. That’s right, innit? Start yapping or….” Da moved toward her, arm raised.
“Alright, don’t get your shirt in a knot. In a way, it’s good news I have for you. Really.” She paused. “Please don’t be disappointed in me, Da—”
“What have you done, girl?” Barney roared. “Spit it out!”
Bella swallowed and tried to get the words out past the constriction in her throat. Her lips moved but she couldn’t seem to get any sound to come out. The force of the backhand blow to her cheek took her by surprise. She’d been concentrating so hard on trying to speak she’d forgotten to keep one eye on Da. Pain exploded along her cheek bone and jaw followed by a sharp agony in her ribs when she hit the floor.
“Speak, daughter. Or there’s more where that come from,” Da growled.
“Don’t, Da,” she managed to gasp. “I’m trying to tell you, really I am.” Bella pulled herself upright, one hand cradling her throbbing cheek. Vertigo tilted the room on its end before she settled gingerly into the chair Da thrust at her. “Don’t … don’t hit me … it’s not just me … I’m preggers, Da.” She whispered the last words.
Disbelief and incomprehension chased each other across Da’s face. “What did you say?” he asked in a monotone.
“I’m going to have a baby, Da. You’re to be a grandfather….” She broke off at the look on his face.
“Grandfather to a bastard, that’s what I’ll be. More gossip for the old hags in the village to go on about. Cut from the same cloth as your mother, you are.”
“Da….” She tried to reason with him.
“Whose brat is it?” he bellowed. “Not that whelp Treliving’s, I’ll wager.”
Bella swallowed. This was the sticking point, right now she needed him to believe it was Daniel’s, much as the thought sickened her. “Who else could it be, Da? I haven’t been near another man….”
Barney studied her with bleary eyes. “It’s not his, quit yer lying….”
“But Da, hasn’t he been all over town bragging in the pubs about how he’s banged my brains out and how I keep begging him for more? Bragging about how I love his John Thomas so much I can’t keep my mouth off it? How could—”
Barney raised the hand with the belt still clutched in it. “Yer lying, you lifted yer skirts alright, but not with him. Why else would he be nagging me to make you let him take liberties entitled to a fiancé and anticipate the wedding night? Whinging about what a right little ice princess ye are. Goin’ on about the chore it’s gonna be to pry yer thighs apart to feck ye proper. I’m your da for Christ’s sake, it’s not my problem if yer man figures yer fanny’ll be drier than a sawdust pit.” Barney paused in his tirade to hawk on the floor.
“Now out with it? What scrote did ye lie with?” Barney crossed the kitchen to rummage in the cupboard over the stove. He emerged with a whiskey bottle clutched in his meaty fist. Opening it, he threw the stopper across the room with a violence that sent chills down Bella’s back. She’d never seen Da this angry.
“Daniel—”
“Don’t tell me it’s him when I know plain well it cannot be. Do ye want me to beat the truth outta ye? Daniel is always on about how I should have used a harder hand wi’ ye, I’m beginning to think the man’s right.” He paused to take a long swig from the bottle.
“You might as well start in on the beating, because you won’t believe me if I tell you the truth,” Bella said.
“Try me,” Da challenged her. He took another pull on the bottle and swayed on his feet. “Fine mess you’ve got me into. Ye might well find yerself up the spout with no man to claim ye, or the bastard. Treliving’s a proud man, so he is. He ain’t likely to want another man’s bastard under his roof. Damn it, girl. If ye’d even let him at ye once, ye could claim the nipper was his.” He set the belt down and scrubbed his hand through his hair.
“I’m sorry, Da. I never meant this to happen, it’s not like I planned it or anything—”
“Enough! Who is it?”
“It’s not what you think, really it isn’t. I love him, the father, I mean.”
“Which of the village lads do I have to beat the snot out of?”
“He’s not from the village, Da. I’m not sure he’s even human.”
“What nonsense are you blethering on about? Not human?” Barney eyed her unsteadily and took another drink of the whiskey. He held the bottle up to the light and squinted at it. “Bloody hell, I’ve a feelin’ I’m gonna need more gargle a’fore this night is through.”
“When I met him, I thought he was human. I mean he’s ever so ‘andsome. Tall and dark. But after he rescued me out at the cave near Lamorna….”
“Rescued you from what?” Barney demanded.
“From Daniel, if you must know. He found me when I first ran away and he tried to well, you know….”
“Aye, well I know. Ye wouldn’t be in this mess if ye’d just let him have his way. Who rescued ye? Some bleeder from Lamorna, or Saint Buryan?”
“No, Da. You don’t know him. You couldn’t possibly.” Bella paused and drew a deep breath, holding it and then letting it out slowly. “He’s a … he’s a selkie. A seal man,” she blurted.
Barney sat down heavily and set the whiskey before him. He blinked twice and then wiped a hand over his face. “Ye’re trying to tell me the sire of yer brat is some mythical being? What kind of a prat do ye take me fer, girl? A selkie!” He snorted loudly.
“It’s the God’s honest truth, Da. Selkies are real. You know it. Remember the time when I was a kid and that rogue wave took you overboard. You almost drownt you told me, but then a dolphin brought you to the shore. When you woke up there was a beautiful woman with you, helping you. You told me the story so many times I know it by heart. Once she was sure you were alright, she picked up her pelt and walked into the sea. You swore she turned into a seal and swam away. Remember, Da?”
“Aye, I remember, daughter. Was only a tale I told to calm yer fears when I went back out on the water. It was only a dream….” his voice trailed off.
“It wasn’t, Da. You said her name was Morwenna and she was the most lovely thing you’d every laid eyes on. It was real. And so is Vear Du. He’s as real as this baby in my belly.”
“Even if what you say is true, Bella, what are we to tell your betrothed? I promised ye to him and Barney Angarrick is a man of his word. If he’ll have ye still, ye must marry him. Where is this selkie lover of yours, if he’s so besotted with ye?”
“It’s a long story, Da. He is under a geas, he can never see me again. He doesn’t even know about the baby.”
Barney tipped the bottle up and drained the last of the spirits. He pushed back his chair and set the empty container carefully on the table. Swaying as if he were on the high seas he made his way to the hall door. Da paused with his hand on the latch and turned to look at her. “Be here when I get up in the morning. This isn’t finished, I just can’t think straight….” He stumbled through the door and she listened until his faltering footsteps faded and his bedroom door slammed shut.
Bella let out the breath she’d been holding and went to fetch ice from the ice box and a tea towel to wrap it in. Cautiously, she pressed compress to her throbbing cheek. A headache pounded behind her eyes and blurred her vision. Her other hand stroked her belly. “It’s okay, little one. Everything will be fine, Momma will figure a way out of this mess. You’re mine and Vear’s, I’ll die before I let anything harm you.”
It took a moment for her vision to settle and the two phones dancing before her to reconcile themselves in one. Her hand only shook a little as she lifted the receiver. Best be careful what she said, who knew who might be listening on the line. Sarie picked up on the first ring.
“Bella, are you alright? Do you need me to come?”
“No, it’s okay for now. I told him everything, mostly. At least what he needed to know.”
“What’s wrong with your voice, you’re slurring a bit?”
“I’m fine, it’s nothing. Da smacked me, but it’s alright, really.”
“Do you need to see Doc?”
“I said I’m fine.”
“Suit yourself. Does he believe it’s Daniel’s?”
“Not a hope. The skivver’s been complaining about my lack of enthusiasm for his lovemaking. I had to tell Da the truth.”
“Did he believe you?”
“Not at first. I think he does, now. I’m not sure….”
“Where is he? Are you there alone?”
“Da’s gone up to bed. He’s so bladdered he can’t hardly walk. Come morning he might not even remember tonight’s convo and I’ll have to go through it all over again.”
“Are you sure you’re alright? Mum can run me down, just say the word.”
“Really, I’m fine, Sarie. Thanks for offering. I’m just knackered. I’ll ring you in the morning after I’ve talked with Da again. I just wanted to ring tonight and let you know I’m fine. I didn’t want you worrying till morning.”
“Thanks for that. Mum and I have been sitting here on pins and needles wondering if we should check on you, but not wanting to make things worse. Go get some sleep. Ring me as soon as you can tomorrow.”
“Night, Sarie. Tell your mum thanks too. I’m sorry Da was so rude.”
Bella replaced the receiver and turned out the overhead light. Clutching the ice pack to her cheek she retreated to her room as quiet as she could. The lock snicked into place and she felt a bit safer. Without taking off more than her shoes, she collapsed onto the bed and closed her eyes, sure she wouldn’t be able to sleep.