‘He can if we can’t pay the debt I owe him. I got a letter from his lawyers this morning saying he’s prepared to take over the other debts we owe to the bank, so long as we hand the title of Rathgarven over to him pretty much straightaway.’
‘How does he know we owe the bank money? Did Declan tell him?’
‘I told him as much when I lost that bet to him and he demanded payment. I asked for time so that we could try and come up with the money some other way. He refused point blank.’
‘What a blackguard he is.’ She swallowed what seemed like a huge boulder in her throat. ‘Surely we can’t owe him and the bank all of what Rathgarven’s worth.’
‘There’d be a bit left over. Not much, but maybe enough to tide us over in the short term if we rent something else.’
‘But what about your poor mother? It’ll kill her to lose Rathgarven.’
‘I know.’ James bit down on his bottom lip. ‘I’ll need to tell her before she hears gossip.’
‘Now?’
‘Yes. There’s no point in putting it off. It’ll only make it worse.’
Kathleen looked at his distraught face. Despite what he’d done, she felt for him. After all, this was his family home. The home that was eventually to go to Ronan.
‘And Ronan?’ she asked, trying to control her despair. ‘How will we break it to him that he’s lost his ancestral home?’
‘I’ll tell him on my own. I’m the one who lost it for him. The one who’s destroyed our lives.’
‘Oh my God, James, what will become of us? Where will we live?’
‘I really don’t know,’ he said, blinking hard and moving to the window so she couldn’t see his face. But then he seemed to pull himself together and turned around. He picked up his pipe from the desk, filled the bowl and lit it. Standing there with the pipe in his mouth, he took a few long, deep puffs before putting it down again in the ashtray. ‘There is one possibility that could save us. But I’ve no idea how you’ll feel about it.’
Kathleen looked at him anxiously, trying to read his face.
‘Finn offered me a partnership at Eureka Park.’
Kathleen’s eyes opened wide. ‘You’re joking. You mean go to Australia?’
James nodded. ‘It was just a thought. When he offered it to me I was horrified, like you are. But sitting here now, I could see no real alternative. He says there’s a manager’s house, which he’ll move into, giving us the homestead. It’s on the Peel River, which he says is a lovely stretch of water. As I said we’d have a little left over from here … just enough for our boat fares and to get us started. A way to get back on our feet.’
Kathleen shook her head in disbelief. ‘How can we move to Australia with all the children? And leave your mother here on her own?’
‘Maybe she’ll come with us.’
‘I think that highly unlikely, James. Even if she wasn’t in a wheelchair.’
‘When we talk to her we can see.’ He paused, looking towards the door. ‘Have you any idea where she is right now?’
‘I saw her in the conservatory as I drove in.’ She sighed. ‘Imagine her reaction, James. She saw the place burnt down in the Civil War. Saw it rebuilt. And now this.’
‘She’ll be bound to know there’s something wrong. She’ll pick it up in a second. And be furious if we hide it from her.’
‘You’ve decided already, haven’t you? To take up Finn’s offer?’
‘I don’t see what else we can do.’
He seemed so broken Kathleen found it difficult to be angry with him. Even so, the thought of leaving Rathgarven so overwhelmed her she couldn’t think straight.
‘I need time to think, James. It’s not a decision I can make in an instant.’
‘Kathleen, if I could see an alternative, I’d grab it. From where I sit we have no option.’
‘Even so, you can’t expect me to agree instantly.’
‘No, of course not.’
Kathleen looked at her watch. ‘The least you can do is give me an hour or so before we talk to your mother.’ She shook her head. ‘I just need to be on my own, James. I’ll go upstairs.’
Without waiting for him to answer, she walked out and shut the door. At the bedroom window upstairs she gazed across the meadow where her beloved hunter, Tolly, was sheltering from the rain under an elm tree, and beyond that to the river and the mountains. Angry tears rolled down her cheeks. Despite its dreadful weather at times, Kathleen had grown to love this place more than she imagined possible. She had first set eyes on it just after the war, and as there was still petrol rationing James had driven her here with the pony and trap. She had thought then it was beautiful, despite it being the middle of a freezing cold winter and the trees and flowerbeds being bare. Even though the ivy wasn’t sprouting and the walls of the house were stark and grey, she had felt a huge sense of having come home. To think it would no longer be her home, and the home of her children, was incomprehensible.
On the other hand, if she was hurting, James must be hurting so much more. And it was with James that her loyalty should lie. Perhaps it was time for him to make a new start. Although he loved the place, Rathgarven had been a millstone around his neck for a very long time. Even before this had happened with Donoghue it had been a constant struggle to keep on top of things. Neither of them was getting any younger. Maybe a new start in Australia, away from the Donoghues of this world and constant money worries, was what they both needed. Besides, there really was no alternative. Although she was dreading the scene with Alice, James was right that the longer they left it, the worse it would become. Alice was no fool. She must have realised before this there was something going on. She knew finances were tight. In fact she had offered to help with some of the money she got from her articles. James and Kathleen had refused point blank, for they knew how much she liked having her own money. Not that it was a great deal, anyway; it would have been a mere drop in the ocean compared to what they owed the bank. And that’s before James went off on a tangent at the Killarney Races.
She stepped over to her dressing table and took out a handkerchief, wiped her eyes, and went downstairs. James was still at his desk in his study.
‘I don’t suppose there’s any alternative other than to go tell your mother now,’ she said. ‘So let’s get it over with.’
James sighed and rose to his feet. ‘Thank you,’ he said, going to her. ‘I know it’s not easy for you, but I can really see no other way.’
‘Then you can find Ronan,’ Kathleen said, looking away. ‘I don’t envy you that task. I fear he’ll be very angry.’
They found Alice sitting in the conservatory, writing. She looked so peaceful that Kathleen was loath to destroy that calm. For a moment she thought of shying away. But as soon as Alice saw them she beckoned for them to sit down. She gave them both a warm smile and placed her notebook on the table beside her.
‘You two look as if a tidal wave’s about to rage in from the Atlantic to wipe us all out.’
Something nearly as bad, Kathleen felt like saying, but instead looked at James.
‘Nothing like that, Mother,’ he said. ‘All the same I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news.’
When he told her what had happened, Alice sat for some time without saying a word, looking out of the window at the raindrops on the trees. To Kathleen the silence was far worse than if she’d exploded in an absolute rage.
Finally she turned to them. ‘When I saw that man, Donoghue, pull up at the jetty the other day I thought there was something going on. I’ve known him since he was a young boy. He was a scallywag then. He still is.’
‘You saw him?’ Kathleen asked.
‘I did. And saw you go down and shoo him off.’
‘It was my fault,’ James said. ‘I should have been more careful. There’s no one else to blame.’
Alice looked at Kathleen’s distraught face. ‘That’s quite true.’ Without a hint of reproach she added, ‘Well, there’s little point in crying over spilt milk
, is there? But,’ she asked, turning back to James, ‘tell me, where do you plan on taking your family to live?’
James told her about Finn’s offer and how he hoped she might come with them.
Alice was silent again. Eventually she nodded. ‘I think the offer Finn has given you is hard to refuse. It really is the only way out for you. To stay here and see Donoghue take over our home would be too soul destroying.’ She turned away and Kathleen could see how hard she was trying to stop herself from weeping. ‘Thank you for your offer for me to come with you.’ She looked at them. ‘All the same, I’m far too old and set in my ways to consider moving. Besides,’ she added, touching her wheelchair, ‘I have this encumbrance.’ Then she smiled, although Kathleen could see it was forced. ‘As it turns out I was thinking of having a change of scenery for a while anyway. You’re aware I’ve a little money put aside from my writings, so I’ll be very happy to go to a private hotel in Dublin.’ She tried a smile again. ‘I know it won’t be forever. You’ll be sure to make your fortune in Australia and then you can all come back. Now,’ she said, picking up her fountain pen to indicate the meeting was over, ‘you’d best go and find Ronan and tell him what’s happened.’ It was then that Kathleen could see the tears Alice had tried so valiantly to repress watering her eyes. But there was no way she was going to let James and Kathleen see her cry.
‘Go,’ she said firmly. ‘Go and find him, James. It’s best you tell him how he no longer has a home to inherit. That you lost it in a gambling bet.’
Her voice sounded so wretched that Kathleen not only felt sorry for her, but also for James. She wondered if his mother would ever forgive him for what he had done. Or, for that matter, if she could.
CHAPTER
6
Ronan was in Paddy’s prized walled garden, collecting fallen Granny Smith apples for the two pigs in the sty. He shooed the chickens away and smiled as he thought of the letter in his pocket that had arrived from Clara this morning. She had written it the day she got back to London, and told him how she missed him dreadfully and it was pouring rain outside.
So different to that glorious day under the mulberry tree with you.
It was one sunny afternoon when they had pulled the rowboat into a clearing further along the shore from Rathgarven. They picked mulberries from the giant tree in the middle of the clearing until their lips were so red from the luscious fruit that Clara fell about laughing.
‘We look like a couple of clowns,’ she gasped.
‘Here,’ Ronan said, wiping his own lips with a handkerchief. ‘Let me wipe your mouth.’
After he had sat down beside her and gently wiped her lips, she leant over and kissed him fully on the mouth. Although it was only a small kiss, an exciting tingle had passed through Ronan’s body, setting it afire in a way that frightened him.
Clara leant back and looked at Ronan with a wicked grin. ‘Gosh, I shouldn’t have done that, should I?’
‘Why? I really liked it.’
‘Do you want to do it again?’
‘Yes please.’
This time he held her in his arms and when their lips met he knew that as long as he lived he would never forget that moment. The next day they kissed again; after they’d searched the rocks and seaweed on the shore for treasures that had drifted in from the ocean, they had taken the rowboat across to the island and sat in the ruins of the old fort looking down the cove. As he kissed her, Ronan realised that although he always loved Clara from when he was a little boy and she first started coming to Rathgarven, he had now fallen very much in love. So when she left to go back to school in England, he missed her dreadfully. She was his first thought in the morning and his last at night. And every time he played the harp he could hear her melodious voice singing along with him; see her beautiful eyes locked on his. He couldn’t wait to see her again and hold her in his arms.
Oh, Ronan, I miss you so very much. I’ll beg Mummy to let me come to Rathgarven for the next holidays, the letter said. In the meantime don’t you dare go kissing any other girls. If you do, I’ll know for sure.
As he was happily thinking about all this, he saw his father approaching.
‘Ah, there you are, Ronan,’ James said.
Ronan threw him a smile. ‘The pigs love these Granny Smiths.’
‘They do indeed.’ His father paused, kicking his heel into the ground. ‘Before you go to feed them, there’s something I need to tell you.’
Ronan thought he looked worried. Mind you, he often looked worried. Ronan knew there were problems with the economy which were affecting Rathgarven. And that his parents were concerned and sometimes had words about it. After Lillie had told him about that man Donoghue coming around, he wondered if there was some truth in what she’d overheard. However, Dad had seemed less worried since Uncle Finn’s visit, so he had put it out of his mind.
‘Sure,’ he said, throwing an apple into the bucket.
James beckoned him to come and sit beside him on the stone wall. Once seated, his father waited some time before speaking. He took out his pipe, patted the tobacco down and lit it, then coughed nervously a few times.
‘Are you okay?’ Ronan asked.
‘I’m not sure how to tell you this.’ His father paused again and Ronan could see he was searching for words. ‘Nevertheless, there’s no easy way. Unfortunately, we have to sell Rathgarven.’
Ronan’s eyes widened. ‘What do you mean? Why would we have to do that?’
‘Well, as you know, the economy is not great here at the moment.’
‘But we’re muddling through, aren’t we?’
His father sighed. ‘In a way.’
He then told him how, hoping to make matters better, he had bet on the horses at the Killarney Races and lost money to the bookmaker, Donoghue. And how, as a result of that and what they already owed the bank, Donoghue had threatened to bankrupt them.
‘You’ve gambled Rathgarven away?’ Ronan spluttered. ‘To that man, Donoghue?’
‘I took a risk. It didn’t pay off.’
‘But why on earth did you take that risk?’
‘It seemed a good idea at the time. As I said, I thought it could help our financial situation.’
Ronan moved over to the apple tree and picked a fallen apple off the ground and held it a moment before hurling it into the bucket. He couldn’t look at his father. Good old Lillie had been right. Donoghue had been here because their father had lost money to him.
‘Does Grandma know?’ he threw over his shoulder.
‘Yes. We told her a little while ago.’
‘She must be devastated.’
‘Naturally she is. And for that I’ll never forgive myself. Or for losing your inheritance.’
‘And Ma?’ He turned around. ‘What about her?’
‘As you can imagine, she’s very sad.’
‘Sad! She must be a lot more than sad …’
‘Yes. But your mother’s a strong woman. And I think she understands what I was trying to do. Improve the situation. Though it backfired, that’s for sure. She’s being extremely understanding. Now, I am asking that you be understanding as well.’
Ronan shook his head. ‘So what happens now?’
‘We’ll make a new start.’
‘Where?’
‘Australia.’
Ronan gasped. ‘Why Australia, for heaven’s sake?’
His father explained how Uncle Finn had made him an offer, and he and Ma had decided to accept it.
‘So it’s all been decided on.’
‘More or less.’
Ronan felt like asking why his father had bothered to tell him at all if it was a foregone conclusion. What was the point?
‘We wanted to tell you first,’ James said, as if reading his mind. ‘You’re the one it will affect the most. For that I’m truly sorry.’
Ronan could see tears in his father’s eyes. He knew he was hurting, but Ronan couldn’t bring himself to console him. All he could think of was how this would
affect his grandmother. His mother. And Lillie, Marcus and Freddie. While he had always thought Rathgarven would be his one day, he was not naïve. He knew it could end up being a millstone around his neck, but he had always thought he would be able to work through that. Particularly if the economy improved, which it was bound to do. Now he was never going to be given that chance because his father had taken it into his head to make things better by gambling on the horses. And had made matters so much worse. Worse than anyone could imagine. Clara’s beautiful face flashed before his eyes. So many times she had told him how lucky he was to live at Rathgarven, how much she loved to visit. And it was here at Rathgarven where Ronan had fallen in love with her.
‘I think I’ll go down to the jetty, Dad,’ he said, salty tears stinging his eyes. He didn’t trust himself not to cry in front of his father, so instead he added, ‘Before I say something I’ll regret.’
‘Ronan …’
‘No, Dad. Not now.’
He left his father standing there and walked through the gate, carefully shutting it behind him. As he traipsed through the grass in the front meadow to the jetty, tears stung his eyes. At the jetty he sat with his feet dangling in the water and placed his hand on the small wooden rowboat tied up next to it. He loved to take the boat out fishing in the cove, but it was hard to accept that soon he would be unable to do so, and he wiped his eyes with his sleeve. Despite his father’s explanation, he couldn’t imagine what had possessed him to do such a thing. Ronan knew he had the odd flutter. But to blow so much money that they lost Rathgarven …? What the hell was he thinking? It seemed so out of character Ronan thought James must have been drinking. But his father wasn’t a big drinker. Uncle Finn was a different matter. If it had been him who had done such a thing, Ronan could understand — he was known for going on a bender. To think they were all to be uprooted and taken to Australia to live on Uncle Finn’s property was beyond belief.
He thought of Clara again. What would she say when she could no longer come to Rathgarven? And Ronan would be on the other side of the world. She was bound to meet someone else and forget about him. If he were older he would tell his parents he was staying in Ireland. As it was he had no choice but to go with them.
The Homestead on the River Page 6