The following weeks in Henredon Castle passed in a steady routine as people healed and reached out to each other in new friendships. Life fell into a pattern of work and play that soon felt as if they’d always been together.
Mike and Gavin and Tommy went out with Frank early the morning after the burials and returned the next evening late with Jaz’s body. They had searched the surrounding woods for Regan but found no clear trace of her remains.
Because of that, Sarah chose to believe—until the months passed and Regan never returned—that she was somehow still alive. She knew Mike didn’t hold out hope but Sarah found no point in believing otherwise.
Not until she was forced to.
Early in what was Thanksgiving week back in the States, Sarah found herself standing on the parapet and looking down the long road that led to the rest of Ireland and the world. The snow from the last several days had finally stuck for good and now everywhere she looked she saw an undulating blanket of white with an occasional brown branch or stubby bush sticking out. She tried to imagine how it would feel to see American military Jeeps driving down that road and then wondered, To what purpose? To take me back home? Is that what I want?
What she really liked to imagine when she looked down that road was the image of John coming home, his backpack on his back and a staff in his hand.
Coming home for Thanksgiving.
When Sarah thought of all the Thanksgivings she’d shared with John—all the happy smells of bustling kitchens—succulent turkeys and dressings, the pumpkin and fruit pies—she remembered him when he was little, wearing colorful paper Indian headdresses made at school or little pilgrim caps.
And she wanted to curl up into a ball and cry.
Siobhan would never know a real Thanksgiving, she thought. It will always be a facsimile of the real thing. Roast squirrel or rabbit during the lean years, a pheasant if we’re lucky. Never cranberries but some kind of berry that might serve as a relish.
God knows they’d always have plenty of mashed potatoes.
She wiped the tears from her eyes. She knew she was being childish. The things that were important, she had.
She noticed movement at the base of the gate tower and saw Mike and Gavin standing and talking with Kevin. They had their horses and their rifles.
Speaking of going turkey hunting, Sarah thought with a bleak smile.
She watched them talk and laugh, although she couldn’t hear their words from this distance. Things were much better between her and Mike these days. Almost like before.
Nothing like getting your life handed back to you to make you appreciate the world and everyone in it.
Not surprisingly, Mike turned and looked up to where Sarah was standing. She grinned. He really did have a sort of radar where she was concerned.
“Be safe,” she shouted and he nodded. Kevin cranked down the drawbridge and Mike and Gavin rode out. Whatever they brought back would be on the Thanksgiving menu, she thought. And that would be fine. Even squirrel.
The plan was for her and Mike to go back to the convent the morning after the big feast. She hoped the nuns had found shelter but just knowing they were alive meant everything.
Funny how the things that matter now are the big things. Life. Death. And everything else was just gravy. As that thought came to her she noticed Frank and Catriona walking across the courtyard. They weren’t touching but there was definitely something about the way they moved that said they were together.
Sarah wasn’t surprised. There weren’t enough men to go around and both Frank and Robby were good-looking guys. It had been two weeks since the army had tried to attack the castle. She was only surprised it took the two of them so long.
As she climbed down to check on Siobhan in the nursery, it occurred to Sarah that people falling in love helped make life feel normal again.
You can’t blush and wonder what your beloved is thinking if you’re starving or worried about dying.
Yes, people falling in love was definitely a step in the right direction.
And that’s what also made this Thanksgiving so special—even if John wasn’t here for it. It was a time for the entire castle population to come together and formally celebrate their safety, their new friends, and their new life together.
Just like the first pilgrims.
As Sarah reached the courtyard she saw Ava leaving the dining hall with her daughter Keeva in tow. She waved to her.
“I’m heading to the nursery,” Sarah said.
“So are we,” Ava said. “Although this one thinks she’s too big for it.”
“Sure there’s just babies there!” Keeva said with a pout.
“Why don’t you ask Mrs. O’Connell if you can be her helper with the little ones?” Sarah asked. “I’ll bet she’d appreciate it.”
“Can I, Mum?” Keeva said.
Ava winked at Sarah. “I think that’s a grand idea. Go on ahead. Mrs. Donovan and I will be there in a bit.” Keeva grinned and ran across the courtyard to the far stairwell.
“Thank you for that,” Ava said as she watched her daughter disappear. “She can be moody, that one.”
“Can’t they all? To tell you the truth, I’ve had some problems with Siobhan ever since I had her.”
“Postpartum?” Ava frowned but her eyes were kind.
“Possibly. I think it’s better now. But there was a time not too long ago when I was the last person Siobhan would even let touch her.”
“I’m sure that’s not true.”
“Oh, ask anyone. They’ll tell you. She hated me.”
“Sure, I don’t believe it.” Ava clucked her tongue.
“Well, let’s just say it’s been a long hard six months and I guess I feel I have a lot to be thankful for. If only…”
“You’ll be missing your lad?”
“Honestly, I think I’m only really okay when I don’t think of him. Do you know what I mean? Otherwise I’m obsessed with worrying about him all of the time.”
Ava squeezed Sarah’s hand. “Sure that’s motherhood, so it is.” She slowed their steps and Sarah got the idea that Ava wanted to say something.
“You know I lost me husband right after the first EMP?” Ava said.
“I did hear that,” Sarah said. “I did too.”
“So maybe you’ll know that sometimes—for our children’s sake—we’ve had to do some things. Maybe some things we aren’t proud of.”
Images of Ava trading her body for food came to mind. She held Ava’s hand. “We’ve all had to do things we could never have imagined before.”
Ava looked relieved. She glanced again toward the stairwell where Keeva had gone. “Ye love ‘em so much, it’s just amazing what you’re capable of for their sakes.”
“Mike says you never know your true grit until you’re under fire.”
“Aye, he’s a wise man your Mike and no mistake.”
They reached the stairwell and stepped in out of the cold. Before they could resume their conversation, Nuala opened the door and a wave of shrieking poured out into the hall.
“Sure I thought you’d never come!” Nuala said as she held Siobhan in her arms. The baby was arching her back in the throes of a tantrum. “Your Siobhan is a monster today, so she is! Take ‘er, aye? So I can settle the others down?”
Sarah took the baby in her arms hesitantly. A calm Siobhan was no guarantee the child wouldn’t start screaming as soon as Sarah was holding her. But Siobhan surprised her by quickly settling in Sarah’s arms and while she still wasn’t happy, she’d at least stopped howling.
“Shall I find you after dinner tonight then, Sarah?” Ava asked as she stepped into the nursery. “And you can tell me what’s needed for this dressing I hear is so necessary for the feast.”
Nuala laughed. “Aye, it’s taken us four years to get Sarah to stop calling it stuffing!”
Both Ava and Nuala laughed. “It has an entirely different meaning here in Ireland, ye ken,” Ava said, her eyes sparkling with humor.
“Ha, ha, you two,” Sarah said grinning. She waved goodbye and turned to bring Siobhan upstairs to her room. As she turned to go up the stairwell, she was met by Frank and Catriona coming down.
“Oy!” Catriona said. “We were just up there looking for you. A word, Sarah?”
Frank had a sheepish look on his red face and he had trouble looking Sarah in the eye, which she decided didn’t bode well for whatever the two needed to tell her.
“What’s the problem?” she asked.
“You know Frank here and I’ve been keeping company, aye?” Catriona said.
“Well, there hasn’t been a formal announcement that I know of,” Sarah said dryly. “But I think most people have figured it out. Did you want me to talk to Mike about posting banns or something?”
“Oh, you’re a wit, Sarah Donovan,” Catriona said as she threw her head back and laughed. “And sure there’s no mistake.” She took Frank’s hand in hers. “Nay, we’ll handle what’s between the two of us, thank ye very much.”
“So what’s the problem?” Sarah asked again as Siobhan began to fuss.
Catriona took a step closer and lowered her voice. “We’ve been meeting in a few out of the way places around the castle, ye ken, to…you know.”
“Snog,” Frank said with a shrug.
“Ah, well put, ye auld romantic,” Catriona said slapping him good-naturedly on the arm. “And sure it might be nothing, but we found a place that…well, we thought we should bring it to someone’s attention.”
“What do you mean?” Sarah was fast losing patience especially as Siobhan began to squirm.
“Can we show you, missus?” Frank asked earnestly. And Sarah noticed that the fun and laughter had drained right out of him.
Patting Siobhan on the back settled her down and since the howls that were coming out of the nursery didn’t appear to have abated since Sarah had taken Siobhan out, she decided to keep the baby with her. She followed Catriona and Frank as they made their way down the stone stairwell and back out into the courtyard.
There were a few people walking about outside but not many. It was still snowing and the wind had become sharp. At midday, most people were either working in the kitchen, patrolling the catwalk that spanned the perimeter of the castle, or doing any of a hundred smaller chores like stacking firewood, mending clothing, oiling tack or tending to the horses.
Sarah noticed that Catriona and Frank were holding hands as they walked across the courtyard. Shaun and Saoirse were just coming from the dining hall. Sarah knew Shaun was trying to find a job for Saoirse that didn’t involve a lot of contact with other people but also kept her away from sharp implements or weapons in general.
Saoirse scowled at them as they passed in the courtyard. Sarah thought Shaun looked particularly worn. She knew he still grieved for his mother but was keeping busy in helping to organize the running of the castle—and of course as usual he had his hands full with his sister.
Frank and Catriona walked quickly to the stairwell parallel to where the dining hall backed up to the ocean side of the castle. Sarah had never been in here although she knew Mike and Gavin and Tommy had found the ancient weapons and longbows stacked in a room back here. The museum gift shop was in this section too, as was a storage room with a copier machine and some stacked office furniture.
As the two led Sarah down the hall past several doors that used to be administrative offices once upon a time, Sarah felt a chill rake her arms under her wool jacket. She pulled Siobhan inside her coat and rubbed her back, hoping the child wouldn’t start to fret. So far, she appeared docile and even sleepy.
“It’s freezing in here,” Sarah said.
“Aye,” Catriona said over her shoulder. “Like what you’d expect from a castle dungeon.”
“Is that what’s down here?” Sarah asked as the hall descended a set of six very slick stone steps into a hallway with a lowered ceiling. Frank had to stoop to pass through it.
“This had better be worth it,” Sarah said, hurrying to keep up. A vertical slit window in the hallway gave her a glimpse of the ocean on this side of castle. The window wasn’t big enough to get much of a view and there was no glass on it so the cold seaward air slithered into the hallway.
“I can’t believe you two really come down here,” Sarah grumbled. “It’s about as romantic as a bowel blockage.”
The hall dead-ended into a stone wall with a small alcove to the right which hid a wooden fairy door with wide brass hinges. They stopped in front of the door. Grasping the door handle, Frank put his shoulder to the door and pushed it open.
At first glance it was too dark to see anything and Sarah felt the first true prickles of unease. She followed them inside. A vertical slit window was in the far corner with just enough light filtering in to give shape to the items in the room.
“Do you see it, Sarah?” Catriona asked in a whisper.
Sarah forced herself to move to where Catriona and Frank stood in front of what looked like a large sculpture. She tightened her hold on Siobhan and waited for her eyes to adjust in the gloom so that she could see what they were looking at.
When the shape became clear, she felt the chill of the room intensify. She reached out and grabbed Frank’s arm before she knew she was doing it and a gasp jumped from her throat loud enough to startle the baby.
Dear God…
It was a pile of bones. Human skulls, leg bones, arms and what looked like ribs and backbones.
A pyramid of jumbled human bones of all sizes—large and small—stacked to the ceiling.
Sarah desperately tried to think of any good reason why these could be here.
“What does it mean, Sarah?” Catriona whispered. “It’s not good, is it?”
Sarah fought to clear her mind—to try to understand what she was seeing. The sound of the door creaking shut behind her made her dig her nails into Frank’s arm. She whirled around.
Shaun stood at the door with a gun in his hands. A gun pointed at them.
“I really wish you hadn’t seen this,” he said.