The stooped figure of her mother, bending over a wooden pen as she fed two noisy piglets, brought a tear to Catherine’s eye. She quickly gathered herself together and wiped the salty drop away, before it could be seen.
“Ma, Breege says you wanted to see me, out here in the garden.”
Mary placed the empty bucket on the ground beside her and slowly turned to face her eldest child. The two women held each other’s gaze until Catherine noticed one of Aunt Annie’s wooden bowls in her mother’s hand.
“I want you to take this with you, to America. I’ve given one to Thomas, but I asked him not to tell any of ye before he left. I wanted to surprise you with one of your own,” Mary held out the shiny wooden bowl that had been passed down to her by James’s aunt. “I never thought to give one to Mary-Anne and I regret that now, but sure I’ll see her soon enough, no doubt. She won’t stay away for too long.”
“Ma, you cannot split up the set like this. These are yours and they must stay in Ireland, in your home,” Catherine’s eyes glistened.
“Myself and your da have always agreed that each of our children should get one of these after we’re gone,” Mary stepped forward and placed the bowl in Catherine’s shaking hands. “We may not be gone yet, but our children are leaving us, one by one.”
“Oh Ma. Please don’t make this any harder for me than it already is.”
Mary wiped Catherine’s face with the end of her apron and shook her head slowly. “There’s no easy way to say farewell, you know that yourself, my love. Tomorrow your da will bring you and the children to take the boat to Liverpool, but I’ll be staying here. Don’t ask me to be there when you leave, I’ve stood on that dock too many times, watching those I care about sail out of my life. I cannot do it again after what happened over Mary-Anne. It almost killed me. That’s why I couldn’t go to see Thomas and Lily off.”
“So you were not ailing the day they left, were you, Ma?”
“It was my heart that was troubling me, love, not my stomach,” Mary turned to look at the pen where the piglets were still rummaging through the scraps. “It was very good of you to give us your banbh, Catherine, and your stove. You should have sold them both to raise a bit more money for America.”
Catherine assured her mother that they had enough to keep them going until Patrick found work. Thomas and Lily had moved to a larger apartment on their return to New York and had invited the young family to stay with them for as long as they wished.
“Now my love, let’s wipe our eyes and go back in to the family, they’ll be starving waiting for us to join them. We should make this last meal together a happy memory for the wee ones to carry away with them,” said Mary.
When Catherine and Patrick left the house later that evening, Mary said her final farewell and asked them not to call to see her on the way to the boat next day. She kissed each of the children and told them that it wouldn’t be long before they saw one another again and that they must gather a book-full of stories about their adventures in America.
“I’ll want to hear about everything ye’ve been getting up to. Do ye hear me now? The good as well as the bad, and I promise I won’t tell your da,” Mary winked at Patrick.
As she kissed her son-in-law’s cheek, she whispered in his ear that if anything should happen to her grandchildren or her daughter, she would hold him personally responsible and never forgive him.
“I give you all my blessing on your new life,” Mary said dry-eyed, smiling at each one of them, including Patrick. “But if America is not for ye, then come home. There’ll be no shame in it. Some do come back, you know.”
Mary opened the door and shooed them all outside, including Maggie. “Now go on, the lot of you. I can’t stand around here gabbing all day. There’s work to be done, is that not so, James?”
******
The next day both Patrick and Catherine were relieved that Mary had said her goodbyes already and that the heart-breaking scene that occurred at Mary-Anne’s departure, would not be repeated. Only the young ones chatted to each other as the men silently walked each side of the donkey leading the cart to Dundalk. Maggie was sitting with the children, pointing out to them the Cooley Mountains and other landmarks they were to bring to mind when living far from home.
James looked over the donkey’s head at his son-in-law and made an attempt at some small talk, but neither of them were in the form for conversation. When they arrived at the quayside Catherine asked to speak to her father alone and took him to one side.
“I know why Jamie didn’t come with us. He’s at home with Ma, isn’t he? You were worried about her being left alone.”
James smiled at his daughter, who had always been so tuned in to his feelings, even as a little girl.
“He is and I was. I gave him a bit of work to do until I get back, so your ma would not send him off out of her way. Don’t be worrying about her, Catherine. She’ll be fine once Maggie moves in with us.”
“Breege is planning on leaving, too. You know that don’t you, Da?” Catherine’s face was creased with worry.
“Of all of you, our Breege is the one we both knew would follow Thomas to America. Sure hasn’t she been warning us about that for years now,” James replied, smiling.
He cupped his hands around Catherine’s head and gently massaged her forehead with his thumbs.
“I don’t like to see those worry-lines on that pretty face of yours, so give your old da a big smile. That’s better. That’s the picture I’ll carry in my head on the way back home to your ma.”
Catherine turned to look at Patrick, who was standing with young Tom and pointing out something on the steam packet ship they would soon board.
“At first, I only agreed to go to America because I owed it to Patrick. But now, I really do want to make a new life for us there,” Catherine’s eyes lingered on her eldest child. “If I stay here, all I will have to pass on to my children will be a legacy of secrets. I want to end my days, knowing I’ve done the best I can for them, and for Patrick. Can you understand that, Da?”
“I can indeed, love. Why do you think we came back here to Ireland? I had regular work in England and we had a decent roof over our heads, but your ma and myself decided that our children would have a better life here, in Blackrock. The thought of getting back into a boat was tempting, I’ll admit, and made it easier for me to come home. But we both felt sure in our hearts that it was the best decision for the family.”
“And it was, Da. It was. If you ever doubt that, just take a look at Jamie’s face when he’s preparing to go out in the boat. He’s the spit of yourself, inside and out and I know, for sure, he’ll never leave home. You must remind Ma of that when she’s missing the rest of us,” said Catherine.
“Aye, I’ll do that, love. Now, I had better leave you off to gather yourselves together, you’ll be boarding soon,” James embraced his daughter one last time. “I’ll not stay to see ye off. Maggie says she would rather leave before the boat does and I’m inclined to feel the same way.”
While Catherine and her aunt embraced and dabbed tears from each other’s cheeks, James took Patrick out of earshot of the women.
“We’ll not be staying, son. I think it best we get back to Mary, she’s very low in spirit right now.”
Patrick held out a hand to his father-in-law, “I’m sorry to have caused so much trouble. I feel bad about taking the family so far away from ye.”
James took a hold of the younger man’s hand, shaking it firmly as he placed an arm around Patrick’s shoulder.
“There’s no need for apologies. The past is behind us, it’s what’s ahead we need to think on. I’ve told you before, I couldn’t have asked for a more decent man than yourself as a father to my grandchildren and I know you’ll do right by Catherine. Try not to get into any trouble with those radicals over there, you’ve to set a good example for that fine son of yours. You do that, and I’ll be a happier man for it.”
Patrick nodded his head and picked up Maisie, who had come running over to them. James leaned in to kiss her cheek and put some coins in her palm. “Buy a few sweets when you get to Liverpool, Maisie love. For the three of ye, mind. Else you’ll give yourself a belly-ache.”
“I will Dadó.”
“Tell your dadó how much you love him, Maisie,” said Patrick.
“I love you more than the banbh, Dadó,” she leaned in and kissed her grandfather’s whiskered cheek.
The two men laughed and Maisie joined in, her face beaming with delight.
James touched the side of his face, where the gentle kiss had been planted and felt his heart skip a beat. He caught Maggie’s eye and pointed towards the cart. It was becoming more difficult for him to keep the smile on his face and he knew the same was probably true for his sister.
After another round of farewells James and Maggie left the quayside, turning to wave one last time at their little family before disappearing from view.
Catherine slipped her hand into Patrick’s and sighed. Saying goodbye to her father had not been as distressing for her as she had expected. It wasn’t that her love for him had diminished in any way, it was just that her husband had finally taken his rightful position in her heart.
Patrick squeezed her hand reassuringly. “We’ll be grand, love. I promised your da I’d do right by ye and I’m a man of my word, you know that, don’t you?”
“I do, Patrick,” Catherine replied, her eyes lingering on the spot where her father had waved his last farewell to them. “Of course we’ll be grand, sure Da gave us his blessing, didn’t he?”
THE END