Chapter 11

 

 

That night, I put three months’ rent down on a tenant farm for Muirin, and I head to the tavern for supper. As soon as I sit, Sean comes over to me. “I heard all about what you and your boys pulled off.” He shakes his head. “You guys are something else!” He slides me a mug.

“Couldn’t have done it without you, Sean.”

He laughs. “I can’t believe Lucas didn’t notice your drink disappearing! ’Twas some trick! I could hardly keep from laughing. Had to lower my head under the bar, I did, so no one would notice.”

“Can you get me a plate of whatever your Ma made?”

“Sure thing, Redmond, on the house.”

“Oh, no, I haven’t given you your cut yet.” I slide a small pouch over to him.

“I’d have done it without this, but ’twill go to some use.” He starts to go for the food but turns. “Nearly forgot, you have a gentleman who’s waiting for you in the snug.”

I turn and look into the small room off the bar and see a man with his back to everyone in a red uniform. I pick up my mug, walk over, and sit with my back to the bar also. The man turns, gives a faint smile, and says with a thick Scottish brogue, “Heard about your exploits last night.”

“Oh, news travels fast within the garrison.” I grin.

“No, was there to see Lucas limp in half-dressed with all his sorry men lagging behind him.”

I laugh heartily. “Alister, what I would have paid to see that.”

“Not a good move, Redmond. Lucas wanted you before, but now he’s waged war.” He shakes his head. “He had a whole list of bandits prior, but after yesterday, he’s set his sights on you.”

I shrug my shoulders. “I’ll take my chances. The man didn’t impress me.”

“Well, I’ve come here to warn you. Lucas has gotten Ormonde to pay for thirty of the best mercenaries to come Tory hunting for the next three months.”

I whistle. “Good to know, thanks for telling me.”

“Let it be said by me, lay low the next three months and go bury your money somewhere deep.”

“But I bank my treasure in the hearts of my people. No safer place, I tell you. I see with many eyes and hear with many ears.”

“Well, still, lay low. Be careful not to bolt your door with a boiled carrot. And stay away from the garrison for damn sure.”

Sean brings over my plate with warm bread in a basket and fills up Alister’s drink.

“I’d like to give a toast!” I hand the bottle over to Sean to drink from. “A toast to faithful arms, clever companions, and discreet spies.”

Sean takes a sip. “Don’t know if I fit into any of that, but I’m honored, truly honored.” Then he walks back to the bar.

I push a three-pound bag of shillings under the table to Alister. He takes it and puts it inside his coat covertly. “I’ll be sure to share this with the clerk.”

“You’re one of my best intelligencers. Whatever you need, I can get you.”

“This is fine.” He gets up to leave. “You know they’ve paid almost as much for hunting Tories as they have for killing wolves!”

“Oh, no, now you got me sympathetic for the wolves.”

He smiles wide, showing his deep dimple, walks out, and puts his hat on after he gets out the door.

 

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

 

I wait early morn outside Muirin’s house. I see she’s arguing with a few women inside. I’m about to open the door to see what they’re doing to her, but she opens the door with tears streaming down her face. When she sees me with the cart, she smiles and runs into my arms.

I hug her tight and say, “You sit right here while I go inside and get your things.”

“They’re all right there by the door.” She fumbles for something to grab as she climbs up to the seat.

I open the beautifully carved door, that I have no doubt some poor miserable Irishman got paid nothing for, and see a stack of chests, crates, and bags. As soon as I bend down for a chest, someone grabs my arm hard by the elbow. I turn around, ready to punch the guy who put his hands on me, but see ’tis a large woman in plainclothes with a dirty work apron on.

She speaks in Gaelic, “You’re making a big mistake, outlaw. She’s not your kind. She’s used to all of this.” She puts her hands up to point out the high ceiling and wood carvings of the fine house. “No matter how much you steal, you’re going to end up with a noose around your neck, and she’ll be left with nothing but a bad reputation.”

Her words hit me hard, and instead of realizing she’s only speaking the truth, I yank my arm from her grasp and bend down again for the chest. I walk out and stack it on the cart. Every time I go back in, she says something else to me, but I pretend not to hear her and keep filling up the cart until the last chest. She gets in front of me and blocks the door this time.

“You’re taking her away from her family, and once you’re gone, she’ll have nobody, and her father won’t ever take her back.”

“Get out of our way,” is all I can think to say.

She huffs and moves away toward the fireplace. “I’ve said my piece.”

I open the door and throw the last chest in. Once on the seat, I give Muirin another big hug, but I don’t talk the whole way to our cottage. My mind can’t block those words out.

The cottage is only three farms away from my Ma’s and ’tis the last house on the path. There’s a slight incline up, and once we’re on the top of the little hill, Muirin brings her breath in quick. “Oh, it’s perfect, absolutely perfect.”

She clasps her hands together, jumps out, and I watch her run down the hill toward the little thatched cottage nestled against another hill. I drive the cart down to the house as she reaches the door. She screams once she’s inside, and I’d hoped ’twas because she liked all the furniture I’d stocked it with. I appear at the door, and she’s rocking back and forth quickly in the pine rocking chair.

“I thought I was supposed to carry you over the threshold?” I smile, leaning against the frame.

“We’re not married yet.” She laughs as she looks around, studying every corner, every beam, and every catin-clayed wall.

“Have I done this all going after my back?” I scratch my head jokingly.

“No, I wanted to see the house before I married you.”

“Oh, then the truth comes out. You’re after me for my money.”

She laughs, gets up, and throws her arms around my neck. “Let’s go.”

 

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

 

We drive all the way to the church in Newry her parents were married in. As I come up the narrow dirt lane and see the small stone church, a strange feeling washes over me. I search my memory, trying to figure out if I’d ever been here before.

“There ’tis! Oh, isn’t it beautiful,” Muirin coos.

“Grand,” I answer, but I don’t really know quite how I feel about it. We pull up in front of the sleepy church, quiet now in the late afternoon. I lift her down from the carriage, and she goes inside where a church lady welcomes her to change. I look out from the top of the hill down into the lough valley. The hillside is lined with small fisherman’s houses, and boats dry upside down on the thin, rocky beach. A shiver runs through me, yet the wind off the ocean is warm. What is it about this place? Newry is both welcoming and foreboding all at once. I feel like staying here and running at the same time.

Nevertheless, this is where Muirin has her heart set on being married, and I’ll have to put my superstitious feelings right where they belong—far from my matrimonial thoughts. I check back to the church to see if Muirin is ready yet, but the door’s still closed. I follow the worn grass path back behind the church, and I’m surprised to be comforted by the ancient graveyard sinking into knobby ground. Most of the stones are so old and worn by wind there is little left of them, and the moss obscures any carvings on some of the less ancient ones. One grave draws me from the path, and I place my hand to trace the faint Celtic symbol.

A strong breeze whistles from behind suddenly and lifts the cap clear off my head. I lunge to hold on to it, but it rolls along the uneven grass with the spirited wind. It settles at the far side of the graveyard against a tall stone. I cram it back on and almost turn back to the church, but I catch the odd carved bird in the corner of my eye. I wipe some of the dirt away, and there perches an ominous crow staring back at me. Rubbing away more sediment, I expose elaborate scrolls that trail all the way down to the dark soil. I place my hands on the cool ground and feel something, something resonant. Is this some ancestor of mine, pulling me to where his bones are buried?

“Ahem.” I turn to the priest standing halfway into the graveyard with his Bible in his hands. I hurry from my crouched position and almost stumble among the graves. He nods and starts back to the church, and blood rises to my cheeks that he should spot me in his graveyard on my wedding day.

I catch up beside him and try to explain my strange behavior. “That is a beautiful grave, that one with the crow on it.”

“That’s no Christian grave. It’s a rune left by the Norsemen that invaded this area hundreds of years ago.”

“You don’t say,” is all I can think to say as I scratch my head, wondering why I was so drawn to it.

The priest opens the heavy worm-holed door, and the setting sun shines through the high windows down on Muirin waiting at the front of the church for me. She looks so pretty standing there in her blue dress, the one I robbed her in. The priest begins our prayers, and it all blurs into a distant song as I watch her blush when she senses me staring at her. The priest’s words echo in the small church, since I’d decided not to scare Muirin away with meeting my acquaintances all at once. When ’tis time for the ring, I slide a well-worn gold band with a crowned-heart clasped between two hands down her dainty finger. She sees it and smiles, thinking most likely of where I got it from. I hold her gaze and the words barely come out, “Let friendship and love reign.”

Tears well up in her sparkling eyes as the priest wraps our wrists together with rope in the sacred handfasting. When we reach our cottage, I pick her up and carry her light body in through the door, then place her on the small roped bed. I couldn’t have asked for more.

 

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

 

In the morning, we awake to a loud knocking on the door. I put my hand up to my lips to make sure Muirin stays quiet and go to grab for my gun.

“If you’re grabbing for your gun, don’t bother, it’s just me, Art!”

I walk to the door and open it halfway. “What’re you doing here?”

“Funny thing, I was talking to Sean last night, and he asked me how you like your new place. I said, ‘Redmond got a place?’ And he tells me where he heard ’twas. So I had to see for myself.”

“I bought it two days ago, Art. I haven’t seen you since then.”

“Right, but here’s the other funny thing. You told all us outlaws not to rent a house but to stay in a different spot each night. So why would you go and buy a place if you tell us that?”

“I’ll explain all of this to you later tonight, okay?”

He raises his eyebrows at this and nods, but then quickly pushes me into the house and breaks through inside. He sees her right away.

“Redmond, what are you doing?” He puts his hands out, baffled.

“It’s not what you think, Art. We’ve been married.”

He hits his hand up to his forehead. “Why were you keeping this from me? Aren’t I your best friend?”

“You are my best friend, Art, but this is between me and Muirin.”

He glares at me and then gives a quick look to Muirin, who huddles under her blankets, and flies back out the door.