‘It’ll never be the same again, Alice,’ said Stella.
They were in their pyjamas and seated before a glowing coal fire in Stella’s bedroom.
‘Without Johnny?’
‘Yes. I know he’s been living in Dublin. But going to Glasgow – it feels more permanent.’
‘If he gets to Glasgow.’
‘I think he will. The Tans are looking for him down in Queenstown. A Canadian mother and son crossing from Belfast to Stranraer shouldn’t draw attention.’
‘You’re right, we should be positive,’ said Alice firmly, then she sipped her mug of cocoa. ‘It’s been a crazy few days, hasn’t it?’
‘Terrifying,’ answered Stella, thinking back to her father’s near miss in The Eastwood Hotel, and the subsequent slaughter that they were calling Bloody Sunday. The fallout was still going on, and after the Tans had finished their search of the hotel, Dad had agreed that Mom would stay overnight in an adjacent room in the Mill, to be with Stella until things settled down. He had had to return to Baldonnel, and so there had been no time to discuss the compromises with their beliefs that both Dad and Johnny had made.
‘I’m really glad Mam was in Rush when the Tans came today,’ said Alice, breaking Stella’s reverie.
‘What, you think she’d have turned Johnny in?’
Alice grimaced. ‘I honestly don’t know. She’s never been keen on him. And she’s furious that he brought the Tans down on us. But I’d still like to think that she wouldn’t have sold him out.’
‘I don’t think she would. But it’s best she doesn’t know the truth.’
‘No, she’d have a fit,’ said Alice. ‘I don’t like keeping secrets, but this time what she doesn’t know, won’t worry her.’
‘I wonder how it will all end,’ said Stella.
Alice sipped her mug and shrugged. ‘Who knows?’
‘Looking back, I can’t believe the last two years.’
‘Yeah?’
‘Meeting you, meeting Johnny, playing in the band, seeing Balbriggan being burnt down. If I live to be ninety I won’t forget this time.’
‘You say that like it’s coming to a close.’
‘I don’t know what Dad’s plans are. But I don’t think Mom is eager to stay here after what nearly happened to Dad.’
‘So you might be going away too?
‘I hope not, Alice, I love it here. But who can say?’
‘It’s bad enough losing Johnny. If you go as well it’ll be awful.’
‘Then let’s not think about it. We’ll cross our bridges if we come to them.’
‘OK.’
‘And when all this is over maybe Johnny can come back, and we can all be friends again.’
‘I’d love that,’ said Alice.
‘To you, me and Johnny then,’ said Stella, smiling and raising her mug in a toast.
Alice raised her mug and smiled back. ‘To you, me and Johnny!’
* * *
The ship came gradually to a halt, and within minutes thick ropes were cast ashore and tied, and a gangplank lowered. The sea air had a sting to it, but Johnny had come out on deck earlier, wanting to see the moonlit Scottish coastline as the ship approached the port of Stranraer. Now the brightly lit dockside was alive with activity as the first passengers made their way down the gangplank and onto the quayside.
Johnny watched carefully, on the lookout for police officers – either uniformed or in plain clothes – but none of the foot passengers who streamed off the boat was stopped, and there seemed to be no police presence.
‘I think it’s going to be OK,’ he said to his mother, who stood beside him.
‘I think so too,’ she answered with a smile.
In fact, everything had gone smoothly once they left behind the Tans in the Mill. With their train tickets already bought, they had boarded the train for Belfast unchallenged. Johnny reckoned that Stella’s invented story had focussed attention on the County Cork port of Cobh, and no one in Belfast had paid them attention, either at the train station or the ferry terminal.
Even so, his mother had suggested that they exit the ship in Stranraer when the quayside was at its busiest. His mother. He still loved being able to use the term, and he looked at her now, her profile lit by the dockside illumination. Once again he was struck by how much he looked like her. He thought that it was magical that there was someone else in the world with similar features to his, and that it was a small miracle that they had found each other after all this time.
She turned to him now and caught him staring at her. ‘What?’ she said with a quizzical smile?
‘Nothing,’ said Johnny, ‘I’m…I’m just glad we’re going to be together.’
‘Me too, Johnny,’ she said simply. ‘Me too.’
Johnny was touched by the affection in her tone. ‘Thanks, Mam,’ he said. ‘But, eh…time to go, I think,’ he said, indicating the quayside and picking up his suitcase.
‘Yes, it looks all clear.’
His mother took up her case also and they made their way to the gang plank. Now that they were almost on Scottish soil he found himself thinking of those he had left behind in Ireland. He hoped that Mrs Hanlon wouldn’t be mistreated in custody, and that Mr O’Shea would evade the Tans. He hoped too that Alice and Stella wouldn’t get in trouble with their parents or be linked to his rebel activities. But he had been really careful all along not to leave any evidence that would implicate his friends, and he told himself that they would be safe. And finally he hoped that they could all be together again as soon as possible. Alice and Stella had been the best finds he had ever had, and he would miss them.
But now he was about to begin a fresh chapter in his life. He would be part of a family and he would get to know better his mother, and his uncle and aunt, and his cousins. He had been given an opportunity that he had never expected, and he was determined to make the most of it.
He reached the end of the gangplank and stepped down onto the quayside. His mother looked at him and smiled, then held out her free hand. Johnny smiled back and took her hand, then he walked off into the night, and the start of his new life.