A cool breeze blew through the slightly open window and the sound of waves pounding on the sand across from the hotel had a profound effect on Lily. She had left her bed to push up the sash and stood for a moment looking out at a moonlit, restless sea.
“I’ve never felt such passion as I did tonight, Thomas. It must be the sea air. I daresay you think me a woman of ill repute after that,” she said, climbing back into her warm bed.
“And am I not to get any credit for arousing such emotion in you, Lily?” Thomas drew her close and felt the chill on her body.
“Oh, just a little, perhaps,” she teased. “Does the pounding of the waves make your heart race, Thomas, as it does mine?”
Thinking about it, he realized that it had been a very long time since he had listened to that sound. It always reminded him of his childhood years in Blackrock.
“I suppose I must have heard the crash of waves on the shores of America, but I daresay I ignored them. They never made my heart race like it did tonight. But then, you played no small part yourself in that, my love,” Thomas kissed her forehead. “What did you make of my family, Lily? They were all very taken with you.”
“They are delightful, and made me feel so welcome, especially Mary-Anne, in spite of your warning about her. May I ask you something about Eliza, Thomas?”
“Ask me anything, my love, we must keep no secrets from each other.”
“Would you like to bring her back to America with us? For I would dearly love to do so. She is an adorable child and took to me so readily. I would care for her as if she were my own, Thomas.”
“I knew she would have that effect on you, Lily. That’s why I never spoke of her joining us, I didn’t want you to feel that my affections were divided. There is nothing I wish more in the world than to take Eliza with me, but I fear the time is not right. We must wait until we are more settled, with a permanent home and a steady wage. I’ll speak to my father about it, for the thought of losing her would cause my mother too much grief, and I want to see her smile every day that I am here.”
Thomas’s line of thought drifted to earlier that evening, when his younger brother, Jamie, ran to fetch Catherine from her home.
“My sister Catherine did not seem to be quite herself. If I didn’t know better, I would think she and Mary-Anne had exchanged personalities. How did you find her, Lily?
“She seemed a little preoccupied. Perhaps one of her little ones is unwell and it was playing on her mind. From our correspondence with her I was expecting to feel more welcome by Catherine than any other member of your family. In truth, Thomas, she made me feel most uncomfortable.”
“It may be nothing more than what you said about one of the children being ill. It would be in her nature to keep silent about such a thing so as not to spoil the evening. We shall have to spend some time alone with Patrick and Catherine. I would like to treat them to a supper here at the hotel, some evening.”
Lily replied that it would be lovely for the four of them to get to know each other more intimately and she herself would like to spend time with Catherine alone, for the same reason. She instinctively felt that Thomas’s older sister had a lot more troubling her that evening than a sick child.
That same night, in their home not too far from the hotel, the few words exchanged between Catherine and her husband were strained. Patrick had remained at the house as their children slept, while she and Maggie had followed Jamie to his home, unaware of the surprise that lay in store for them.
“Is Thomas keeping well?” asked Patrick.
“He is indeed, as is his wife. She seemed very much at ease surrounded by the family,” replied Catherine.
“And your father? Did he appear to be very much at ease with her?”
“Yes, he seemed quite taken with Lily. Da is a very good judge of character and there are few people he truly cannot take to.”
“Me being one of them,” said Patrick.
“I’m off to my bed. I have to go to the hotel in the morning in place of Maggie, she is not too well of late. In fact, she has asked me if I would like to take her place there, as the stairs are becoming more difficult for her to climb,” Catherine could see that Patrick was about to argue with her, so she cut him short. “I do not wish to discuss the matter with you tonight, Patrick.”
Catherine turned her back to him, quickly undressed and climbed into her bed. Patrick was left struggling to find the right words that would convince his wife the children needed her at home. He slumped onto his chair by the fire, resigning himself to the fact that any argument along those lines would be futile. They needed the money and if Maggie wasn’t able to continue at the hotel it made sense that Catherine should take her place. Half the family were already employed there, young Breege having been taken on the year before.
His eyes drew themselves from the glow of the fire and Patrick let them fall across the slender form lying in his bed. He knew that Catherine would not have fallen asleep already and couldn’t bring himself to lie beside her with such a wall of silent frustration between them. Eventually, his aching muscles drove Patrick into the small room at the back of the house, where Maggie slept with the children.
His youngest child lay in the older woman’s arms, both of them snoring softly, while Tom and Maisie slept back to back in the only other bed in the room. Patrick carefully lifted his daughter, taking her place beside his son. The feeling the young father loved most in the world swept over him as he lay Maisie on his chest. Tom instinctively turned in his sleep and moved closer to his father. It was only when his own children came along that Patrick could understand the determination of his father in keeping his motherless family together. By removing them from the workhouse after his wife’s death and joining the mass of people taking a boat away from their homeland, Thomas Gallagher had probably saved his children’s lives.
A small hand reached up to Patrick’s face, its fingers searching around his mouth, until they found the moustache that told Maisie she was in her father’s arms. Without opening her eyes, the little girl sighed and settled back to sleep. Patrick knew if it came to it, he would not have to think twice about leaving Ireland for the sake of his children.
Financially, the family had been better off in England, but their living conditions had been far worse. Maggie’s income from the hotel helped to supplement what Patrick managed to earn between fishing and labouring. He knew that it made sense for Catherine to take her aunt’s place, if she could no longer keep up with the work, but such an arrangement did not sit well with Patrick. He was well aware of what his father-in-law would have to say about it and didn’t relish giving him the satisfaction of having one more reason to admonish him.
James McGrother was of the opinion that a wife might help her husband in his work, as his own wife had done selling the fish he caught at market, but to clean another man’s premises to bring a little money into the house, was a different matter entirely.
Patrick had to admit to feeling the same way about it, but reminded himself that women had been working in factories and mills for years, and before that, had laboured alongside men in the fields. It was nothing new for a wife to earn money in her own right, it was just a matter of male pride. Patrick considered himself a modern man, and knew there would come a time for change, not just for men but women, too. It was a future he wished for his children and if he couldn’t give it to them in his own country, then he would take them to wherever it was they might find it.