The Homestead on the River

by Rosie MacKenzie

  As she laid the paper down on the rug, Ma picked it up: ‘I hope that poor lady manages to get her life back in some sort of order. I can’t imagine what she’s been going through.’

  ‘Going through what?’ Ronan asked, flopping down on the grass beside them.

  Although he still had a dreadful limp, his face had filled out and Lillie thought he seemed reasonably happy. He was looking forward to going to New Zealand with Dave in a few weeks’ time.

  Lillie showed him the paper. ‘We were talking about this again.’

  Ronan read the article. ‘He must’ve been a brute of a man.’

  ‘And got what he deserved,’ Lillie said.

  ‘True. And it’s good she’s been acquitted. Anyway,’ he added, putting the paper down and pulling himself up, ‘I’m heading in to Gullumbindy to post this letter to New Zealand. There’s a fishing lodge Dave and I want to visit while we’re there. You want anything?’

  ‘No thanks,’ Lillie said.

  ‘Me neither,’ Ma added. ‘Drive safely.’

  Lillie watched him head towards his car and move off down the driveway. Now that he could drive again he was so much more independent. ‘He does seem a lot better, doesn’t he, Ma?’

  ‘New Zealand will do him good. I bet he comes back with all sorts of ideas about running deer or setting up a fishing lodge.’

  ‘If only we still had Rathgarven he could do that there. A fishing lodge on the island would be wonderful.’

  ‘It would, wouldn’t it?’

  They sat on, enjoying the afternoon, then just as the sun disappeared behind the hill on the other side of the river and they were thinking of going inside, Seamus came rushing through the gate.

  ‘Would you believe this? Guess what Ronan picked up at the post office when he was in there?’

  ‘Haven’t got a clue,’ Lillie said.

  ‘Lo and behold this telegram I’m holding in my hand.’

  ‘And …?’

  ‘I told you that my grandfather had started a trust that was to mature when I turned twenty-one.’ He looked at Ma. ‘He did that after my father was killed in the war. With part of that I bought my flat in Dublin. I gave quite a bit of the remainder to a friend of mine who’s a stockbroker in London to invest in a portfolio of shares. I must admit I didn’t take much interest, apart from receiving the dividends each month. What I didn’t realise was that many of those shares were in a nickel company here in Australia, Poseidon.’

  ‘I read about Poseidon in the newspaper late last week,’ Kathleen said. ‘The shares skyrocketed when they found that nickel site. Along with everyone else I wished we’d invested in it.’

  Seamus’s smile was so wide that Lillie thought his face might crack. ‘My good friend tells me in this telegram that he sold when they were at their peak. He made a whopping profit on my behalf and is waiting to see what I want to do with the money.’

  ‘My God!’ Lillie exclaimed.

  Seamus held up the telegram again. ‘Put it this way, the amount he’s made is enough to put a hefty holding deposit on your beloved Rathgarven for you. With the sale of my flat in Dublin we should be able to come up with the whole amount.’

  Lillie gulped. ‘Rathgarven?’

  ‘Yes! I didn’t want to say anything before and get your hopes up. But when you were last in Ireland I saw how much you missed the place and how sad you were when you heard it had gone downhill. I could see how much it meant to your grandma, too. And,’ he said, touching his heart, ‘the story she told me about the role my father played in rescuing the chalice from the ashes got to me. So I asked Charles to see if he could find out how much Donoghue wanted. When he told me, I thought I’d never in my wildest dreams be able to afford it. Even so, I rang the real estate agent and went and had a look. And like you all,’ he grinned, glancing at Kathleen, ‘I fell in love with the place. How could one not fall in love?’

  ‘So that’s how you could write about it in your novel,’ Lillie exclaimed.

  ‘Quite true.’ He waved the telegram in the air again. ‘And with this I can well afford it. All we have to hope for is that it’s still on the market. In his letter last week Charles said it was, so I can’t imagine someone’s snapped it up in the meantime.’

  ‘Oh my God,’ Lillie cried, jumping up and throwing her arms around his neck. ‘How could you not have told me you went to have a look?’

  ‘Because if I had you would’ve been asking all sorts of questions, which I’d have had to give you answers for. It would have broken your heart to hear how Donoghue had let it all go. But now — well, hopefully — we can bring the old girl back to her glory days. What’s more your lovely grandma can visit us as often as she desires. And Ronan might come and help us run it for a while when he’s back from New Zealand. For a farmer I am not. And you, my sweet, will be far too busy finishing your English literature course. And then teaching little brats and producing a heap more wee Flahertys.’ He laughed at Kathleen. ‘What do you say to that, my lovely lady?’

  ‘I think it’s marvellous news,’ she said, tears in her eyes.

  ‘Would you like to come there to live?’ Lillie asked. ‘You and Dad, I mean. And Marcus and Freddie.’

  Ma shook her head. ‘No, darling. That’s very kind of you. However, Dad and I decided long ago that Eureka Park’s our home now. But to think Rathgarven might come back into the family makes me happier than I could ever imagine. And, as you say, maybe Ronan could come over for a while and give you a hand.’ She checked her watch. ‘So what are you waiting for? You know where the telephone is, Seamus. Go and see if it’s still for sale.’

  And it was. With a holding deposit from Seamus it was taken off the market. Three weeks later the real estate agent in Dublin had found a buyer for Seamus’s flat, and Ronan had agreed to go to Ireland with them for a while after he came back from New Zealand.

  ‘You never know, I might pick up a few hints in the shaky isles that could make the old place viable.’

  The thought that Ronan would be coming back with them to Rathgarven made Lillie very happy. It wouldn’t be forever, though it would be lovely to have him there for as long as he wanted. She wondered if he was sad it wasn’t him who had been able to buy it back. At least this was something.

  * * *

  When it came time for Lillie, Seamus and Gemma to leave for Ireland, Lillie found it incredibly hard to say goodbye to the family. Ronan had already left for New Zealand, but it nearly broke her heart kissing Marcus and Freddie and Ma before getting in the car with Dad behind the wheel. She was also sad to leave Deb, who she had fare-welled the day before with a lunch together at the Telegraph Hotel.

  ‘I’ll miss you heaps,’ Deb said gloomily. She gave Lillie the Akubra hat she had brought as a farewell present. ‘I thought you’d look dapper in that when you go hunting in Kerry.’

  ‘You’ve got to come and visit,’ Lillie told her. ‘I won’t take no for an answer.’

  ‘Wild horses won’t keep me away,’ she laughed. ‘Particularly if you have another Seamus waiting there to sweep me off my feet.’

  Now the car was moving down the long driveway, and she could see Cosmo and the rest of the horses, including her Muffin, grazing contentedly behind the post-and-rail fences, and Dingo barking his farewells as he ran alongside the car. Lillie tried to curtail the tears flooding her eyes. There were so many things about Eureka Park she would miss. So many things about Australia. The wide-open spaces, the warm sun on her face, the smell of gum trees and wattle. And the people she had met. But as she looked at Seamus sitting beside Dad, and then at Gemma on her knee, she knew she had made the right decision. Particularly as Ronan would be joining them next month. And Ma and Dad had assured her they would come over when she and Seamus were settled at Rathgarven.

  Nearly twenty-four hours later as their plane neared Dublin airport, Lillie looked down to where the choppy Irish Sea met the hotchpotch of green and gold fields divided by stone walls. She could see tiny specks in the fields, wh
ich she was sure were sheep grazing happily. The blue-grey waters of Dublin Bay spread out towards the Wicklow Mountains. Lillie took Seamus’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘Thank you for making this happen.’

  ‘You better wait until you see Rathgarven before you say that. There’ll be so much work to do you may rue the day we bought it.’

  ‘Oh, I doubt that very much,’ Lillie said, giving Gemma a bounce on her knee. ‘No matter what it looks like.’

  Straight off the plane they caught a taxi to pick up Seamus’s car from his friend’s flat and headed to Grandma’s hotel. She was so delighted to see them and to meet little Gemma that Lillie felt guilty it would be another two weeks before she could come down to Rathgarven to visit them. Lillie wanted to make sure her room was ready for her arrival — and, as much as she could, the rest of the house.

  After overnighting at Jury’s Inn in Dublin, they drove down the steep winding road from Moll’s Gap and through Sneem. Lillie smiled happily as Seamus turned into the tree-lined avenue leading to Rathgarven, where snowdrops and winter heath lined the side of the road. Stretched out before them were the choppy waters of the Kenmare River and the rolling Kerry Mountains in the distance. Lillie felt a huge rush of excitement knowing this would be her home again.

  When Paddy wandered out from the orchard to greet them, she was sure she would burst with happiness. She looked at the familiar gabled stone house with smoke billowing from two chimneys. She wondered where Maisie was. Probably in the kitchen getting dinner ready. When Maisie and Paddy had discovered Lillie, Seamus, Gemma and Ronan were coming back to Rathgarven, they immediately asked Charles Fitzpatrick if he would mind if they joined the household there again, which delighted Lillie and Seamus. Lady Fitzpatrick had died a few months ago and Charles was now engaged to a wealthy society girl from Dublin, Annabelle Stratton. They were to be married at Christchurch Cathedral in the autumn, followed by a reception at the Shelbourne. Just the way he and Clara were supposed to do.

  Maisie and Paddy had finally decided they belonged together. They were now married and living in the small whitewashed cottage near Rathgarven’s front gate. Lillie had no idea what Rathgarven had looked like when Donoghue had it, apart from what she’d been told, but now she looked around in astonishment; it didn’t look that different to when the family had left for Australia. Fortunately all the big trees were still there and Paddy, with the help of some workmen Charles Fitzpatrick had insisted on lending him, had the gardens and hedges looking like a million dollars. Lillie glanced down to where she used to wheel Grandma to sit by the cove; a rowboat was tied to the end of the jetty. It was the same one that she and Ronan used to take fishing; Seamus had made sure it was part of the deal.

  To the left of the house, the walled garden with the fruit trees was still there, and in the front garden was the oak tree Lillie could remember sitting under with Uncle Finn on his last trip to Ireland. She saw the trees Marcus and Hugh used to climb and shoot their bows and arrows from, and remembered Clara showing Freddie how to tie a string to Mandrake’s shell last time she was here.

  The house itself was still covered in ivy vines, even though it wasn’t out, and the conservatory was still there, where Grandma loved to knit or write in the sun. That she would soon be sitting there again was very gratifying.

  They got out of the car and the front door opened and Maisie came rushing out, oohing and ahhing at Gemma and hugging and kissing Seamus and Lillie.

  ‘Welcome home,’ she declared with a smile from ear to ear. She was even wearing the very same apron covered in shamrocks and harps that she used to wear when Lillie was a child. ‘I’ve got the room next to the top landing all ready for you two. And,’ she added, tickling Gemma under the chin, ‘the room next door to that is for this little pixie. Ronan can be having his old room when he comes. Isn’t it grand he’ll be here for a while.’

  ‘All sounds good to me,’ Seamus said, placing his arms around Lillie. ‘May I have the great honour of carrying my lovely bride over the threshold?’

  ‘Honestly, Seamus,’ Lillie protested, ‘we’ve already done that with the little cottage at Eureka.’ But when she saw how disappointed he looked, she said, ‘Well, go on, then,’ and let him pick her up and carry her towards the front porch. When he plonked her down inside the front door, he gave her a long lingering kiss.

  The hallway and the two front rooms, like much of the rest of the house, was furnished with bits and pieces that Lillie and Seamus had had delivered after poring over a Broderick catalogue, plus some items Seamus had managed to buy back from Donoghue.

  ‘Aren’t we the lucky ones?’ he said, looking around.

  It seemed funny to see the new pieces they had chosen gracing Rathgarven’s hallways and rooms alongside the family portraits and landscape paintings — not to mention the wonderful harp, which Uncle Finn and Ronan had played — that Grandma had managed to have stored in Killarney. These, along with the chalice, were the family treasures she had refused point blank to give up.

  ‘One day one of you might come back and want them all,’ she had said, patting the chalice. ‘There’s no way that I’ll let this go to anyone else. Let alone to that man Donoghue. He might have got the rest of the furniture, but not this precious piece and not our paintings.’

  As Lillie walked into the study and saw the chalice — lovingly polished by Maisie, who had collected it from the bank’s safety deposit box — sitting proudly on the mantelpiece, she thought how right Grandma had been. When they moved along the hallway and she saw the portrait of Dermot O’Sullivan hanging on the wall in its usual spot, she wondered how traumatic it would be for Ronan to look at that picture knowing he was his father. And Clara’s. More than ever she wondered how Ronan would cope being at Rathgarven, knowing it should have been his one day.

  ‘A damn handsome blighter, is he not?’ Seamus said, standing back and looking at Dermot. ‘Pity he doesn’t know the chaos he left behind him.’

  Yes, Lillie thought, studying her uncle’s steady eyes staring out from the portrait. You are extremely handsome. And I can quite understand why Jessica was smitten and why Ma loved you so very much. But I’m sure you’d be horrified to know the turmoil you’ve caused in their lives.

  And your children’s.

  CHAPTER

  52

  Kathleen was going through the mail at Eureka Park’s front gate as she waited for the bus from Quirindi to arrive with Freddie, who’d been staying with a friend during the term break. She was hoping for a letter from Ronan in New Zealand and one from Lillie in Ireland — Lillie had promised to send photos of Rathgarven. There was a letter addressed to Kathleen, but she didn’t recognise the writing. When she opened the envelope there was a letter and then another envelope. The letter was from Mary Archer, the woman who had been living with Jessica before she went into hospital. Mary wrote that Jessica had sadly passed away.

  Kathleen stiffened. Even though she had been expecting this news, it was still a shock. When she had heard Jessica was so ill she had written to her in the end, but hadn’t heard back. She looked at the date of Mary’s letter. It must be at least three weeks since Jessica died. Mary said Jessica had asked her to post the letter enclosed on to Kathleen in the event of her death. She had no idea what was in it, as it was sealed and she had promised not to open it. Sure enough, there was her friend’s familiar handwriting on the front of the envelope, and there was a seal of red wax on the back. She searched in the glove box to see if there was anything there to slit the seal with. She found a screwdriver and slid it under the wax, pulled out the letter, and started to read.

  Dearest Kate,

  I was so sorry to hear about Ronan. I can’t start to imagine what pain you’ve all gone through. And what pain there is ahead for Ronan with his injuries. To think that what happened to him was as a result of my actions.

  As you know the dreaded cigarettes have finally got to me and the grim reaper’s waiting like a rap
acious eagle, ready to snap me up in its claws. In fact by the time you get this it’ll have carried me away. But before it does, I have to make a dreadful confession. Although I haven’t had the courage to tell you the truth in person, I felt I had to write it down while I still have the strength. So that you can try to rectify the awful damage I’ve done.

  A confession and plea from the grave, you might say.

  If only I’d been able to find Clara I may have been able to tell her to her face what I’m about to tell you. But, much as I’ve searched, I’m unable to find her anywhere. I even put a notice in the International Herald Tribune, asking her to write to me or my solicitor. But alas, to this moment she hasn’t been in touch. After what I’ve done, it was the least I could do to tell her to her face that I made it up.

  Yes, Kate, I made the whole thing up.

  I didn’t sleep with Dermot at all. It wasn’t his baby I was carrying. Clara’s father was the colonel in charge of the Garrison Headquarters you and I worked for. Married, of course. A pillar of the military establishment, a nice man, you might remember, and long since dead. Someone I turned to when I realised Dermot had fallen for you, breaking my heart.

  Holding the letter in her shaking hand, Kathleen tried to breathe, but couldn’t find any air. She hurled the letter onto the dashboard, opened the car door and threw up on the side of the road.

  Desperately she tried to stop the boom boom in her head, which was threatening to explode. It was impossible. Wiping her lips with her sleeve, she stood and stared across the road at their neighbour’s herd of Santa Gertrudis that were calmly chewing their cud under the wattle tree. How could the world go on when this had happened?