“Just lovely,” said Little Helen, clapping her hands together.
Mary laughed and kissed both children on the top of the head.
“Little Helen, you hide first and Harry and I will try to find you. But mind you’re to hide in the barn or around the house somewhere. Don’t go in the woods, or the fields or down the lane. Harry, let’s count to ten. Go on, Little Helen, run and hide.”
The child giggled and off she went.
A half hour later, Harry called a halt to the game.
“Had ’nough,” he proclaimed, flopping down on Mary’s shoulder.
“You’re right, that’s enough for now. Wait here while I get a couple of bowls for picking berries. And I’ll get a hat for you, little man. The sun is bright today. Don’t want that noggin of yours to get burnt.”
After picking cranberries and eating a dinner of beef hash, Mary and the children took a tray up to their mother.
“Well, what have you three been up to?” Ann asked as she moved the food around the plate with her fork.
After eating a little she snuggled down and patted the bed for Harry and Little Helen to join her.
“Your Uncle John’s not back yet, is he, Mary? Get my purse and bring it here.”
Mary fetched the green-fringed bag. Ann, after rummaging around in it for a minute, brought an old white silk change purse up from its depths. She opened it, drew out a dollar, and gave it to Mary.
“I need you to go to Bailey’s for more of my tonic. Tell him that my leg is paining badly today and I just need something to get me through it.”
“Are you sure? You know that Grandma and Daddy don’t like you taking it anymore. You can have a little bit of Dr. Creed’s medicine tonight.”
“Yes, yes, I’m sure. Hurry now before Uncle John gets back. Me and the little ones will take a nap while you’re gone.”
Mary reluctantly left the room, squeezing the money into her palm.
***
Will had been sure he’d get that job at the Lower Cove stone quarries. Job Hibbard, from the Seaman Company, was travelling around the county looking for workers, and when Will had talked to him in the Wallace general store just the day before yesterday, he’d practically promised him the job. He was all set to get home on Friday night, could hardly wait, in fact, to tell them all that he’d got a new job, a better job, and would be away for a while. He would likely get home only once a month, if that, and he’d send money when he could.
He had smiled to himself at the thought. I’ll be the next best thing to a single man again. Might meet some pretty little Frenchy girls down that way.
But now he didn’t have a job at all, anywhere. Barney Thompson had yelled at him when Will was slow getting back to work after the dinner break.
And I got mouthy, that’s all, he reassured himself.
Confident that he would no longer have to keep himself in the foreman’s good graces, Will told him off, said that he was going to be working for the Seamans and that he didn’t need the Huestises’ two-bit job anyway. Then he laughed in Thompson’s face. He was fired on the spot. Will shrugged, picked up his things at the hotel, and hitched a ride with a man going to Pugwash. Once there he’d made his way to the Wharf Tavern. He’d go in for a little snort with the week’s pay he’d just gotten, maybe even buy something for Ann and the kids and still be home earlier than usual. But it was there, as Will was coming through of the door of the tavern, that he met Job Hibbard coming out.
“So I’m ready to head for Lower Cove any time,” he told Hibbard.
“What? Oh yes, hello, Harney.”
“When should I report for work? I’d like to have a few days at home before I start, if possible.”
“Harney, I hate to tell you this but all the positions are filled. I just signed up the last man a few minutes ago. We might have a place for you in the spring but nothin’ right now.”
Will stared at the man, his mouth open. “You said you weren’t signing anyone up just yet—just going around—seeing who was interested,” he stammered.
“Yes, I know, but I found some good men here and decided to hire them while I could.” Hibbard looked away.
“And I’m not one of those so-called good men?” Will asked, taking a step forward.
“I’m sorry, Harney, maybe in the spring.” Hibbard began to walk away.
Will grabbed him by the lapels of his coat. “The spring, my arse. I need a job now. I’ve got a family to support.”
“You have a job with Huestis, don’t you?”
“Not anymore.” Will let go of Hibbard’s coat, pushing him backwards. “I quit to work for you.”
“Well, that wasn’t very smart now, was it?” Hibbard smirked. “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched, as my mother always said. And if you lay another hand on me I’ll have you arrested.” He straightened his coat and walked towards his horse and rig across the street.
“To hell with you and the Seamans both,” Will called after him. “You know how they made their money? Rum-running and bringing whores up from the States, that’s how. The goddamn stuck-up bastards.”
Will kicked the dirt at his feet. “Goddamn, goddamn, goddamn. I can never get a break. I can’t get a jeezless break.”
He walked into the tavern and sat down at the bar. “Give me a bottle,” he instructed the bartender.
At dusk, after starting two fistfights and with all his money gone, Will was thrown out the back door of the tavern. He crawled under the doorstep and spent the night there.
***
Mary saw her father stumble up the lane around seven o’clock that evening. She and the children were sitting on the veranda. They had had their supper and were now in their nightclothes pretending, sleepily, to read the Mother Goose book to her and didn’t see or hear their father. And Mary, hoping he didn’t spy them, kept quiet as he made his way through the porch door and into the house. She had been worried about both him and Uncle John. It was hours after Grandma said her father would be back. And Uncle John had not come back by suppertime as they expected. It was not like him to be so late.
Mary noticed that Will wasn’t singing when he came into the yard as he often did when he drank too much and was happy with himself. But he walked like he did when he was drunk. She knew what that meant, he was in a bad mood. She had been hoping to be able to get the cows once one of the men got home. Now she could put the little ones to bed and go fetch them. She hoped her father wouldn’t be mad that she hadn’t gotten them earlier. She couldn’t leave the little ones by themselves. Since she returned from Bailey’s store five hours ago, her mother had been sleeping.
Mary heard him shouting upstairs and Ann crying out.
Without Uncle John or Grandma home to break up her parents’ quarrel, it was up to her. Mary disentangled Harry’s arms from around her neck and lay him down on the chair.
“What?” Little Helen asked sleepily.
“Nothing, sweetie. Here, you lay down on this chair beside Harry and I’ll be right back.”
Mary kissed her sister on the top of the head and covered both children with her shawl.
The noise inside the house was getting louder.
***
Will scowled when he came into the kitchen. No supper on the table. And where was everybody? A man comes home after working hard all week and where is his loving family to greet him, to welcome him home with open arms? His head was pounding. After he had awoken, outside the tavern, cold and hungover, with dirt in his mouth, he’d made his way to Hank Baxter’s. The bootlegger had given him a bottle on credit.
“It’s a wonder he did, the cheap bastard,” Will told himself while opening the oven door and looking in. He’d spent the rest of the day walking home and drinking. He hadn’t eaten a thing since yesterday.
“Other men have a wife and a decent meal to come home to,” he muttered. �
��But where the hell is my woman? In the goddamn bed, that’s where.”
Will took the stairs two at a time. He slammed the door behind him, grabbed Ann, and started to pull her out of bed.
“Get up, get up, for Christ’s sake, you lazy cow! Get some supper on the table. I’m just about starved and there’s nothing cooked. The old woman’s off God knows where and there’s no supper on the table. So get at it. I’m goddamn sick and tired of you lying around.”
Ann fell to the floor and lay there in a heap. He kicked her backside. She scurried away towards the bed as if to wedge herself beneath it .
“Oh, no you don’t.” He grabbed Ann by the ankles and dragged her towards the door. Her nightdress rode up her legs. “You’re coming downstairs and making my supper, supposing I have to drag you all the way.”
Halfway across the floor, Will dropped her legs and walked back over to the bed. He picked up the bottle on the side table, stared at it for a moment, then flung it against the wall. It broke and brown liquid splattered on the wall. He walked back to Ann and looked down at her, his legs wide apart, straddling her body. His hands were curled into fists.
“I should have known. You’re half cut from all the trash you drink. Well, that’s your last.”
Ann sat up. “I need my medicine.”
“Medicine, my arse.” He grabbed her under the arms and forced her to stand up.
“Leave her alone.”
Will raised his head.
“Leave my mother alone,” Mary repeated.
Now there’s the two of them against me, he thought.
Will released Ann and she fell back onto the floor, but just as quickly tried to scramble to her feet.
I’ll get up, Will! Don’t touch Mary.”
He strode across the room and slapped the girl across the face.
“That’s what you get for sassing me. I’m the boss around here.”
No!” Ann limped over to her daughter, who stood holding her cheek, her eyes never leaving Will’s.
“How dare you?” Mary whispered.
“I’ll do what I like in my own house,” He kept his eyes locked on Mary’s while batting away Ann’s hands.
“This is not your house,” Mary corrected him. “This is Uncle John’s house. You’ve never made enough money to have a house of your own. That’s what everyone says.”
“Is that right?” He pushed Ann away. She landed on the floor once more.
“Mary, please don’t talk to your father like that.”
“And who told you that, I wonder? Was it that young Reid asshole you’ve been whoring around with? Didn’t think I knew, did you? I know a lot more than you think. He’s one cocky little son of a bitch. He needs a good tuning up, and I’m just the person to do it. Be sure to tell him that the next time you see the little bastard. He won’t always have his old man around to protect him.”
Will grabbed Mary by the throat and backed her against the wall. Mary struggled to remove his grip. Will could see the colour rising in her face. His hand tightened.
“You know, you’re just like your mother was at your age. You’re turnin’ into a right little slut.”
Will bent down and kissed her hard on the mouth, then loosened his grip and backed away. She slumped to the floor, coughing.
Ann rushed toward her. “Forgive me please, Mary, forgive me.”
Mary hid her face in Ann’s nightdress.
Why did that girl always bring out the worst in him? All Will wanted was something to eat and his blasted headache to go away. Why didn’t everybody just leave him alone? When would he get any peace around here?
He started across the room again, towards Mary and Ann.
His fists are hard against my flesh.
I’m not strong enough.
I fall. I flounder. Beat the water, sink and rise.
My trial by ordeal, punishment for my sin.
He watches me, silent, curious.
Rockley
Nova Scotia
September 9, 1877
Will was leaning against the kitchen stove holding a towel to his face. He had bloody scratches on both cheeks. John was seated at the kitchen table. Ann was in the parlour lying down. It was after midnight and the Dempsey kitchen and porch were full of men who had come, at the behest of Will and John, to look for Mary. Others stood in the yard and peered through the kitchen windows, their faces like full moons in the glow of the lanterns.
“It’s like I told you all before, me and the wife sent her out to fetch the cows around seven and she never came back. We called and called for her and nothing. My punt’s missing too, the stupid fool probably took off with it down the river.”
“What happened to you?” Hiram Reid asked. “Looks like a cat got at your face.”
“The wife went crazy when we couldn’t find Mary. Started at me like it was my fault. Stings like hell, don’t think it don’t.”
“Where have you looked?” Hiram asked.
“Down along the river, in the fields behind the house, and in the fishin’ shacks, the ones that weren’t locked.”
“Locks never stopped you before,” someone yelled from the porch.
Snickers rippled through the kitchen.
“What time did you say she went missing?” Hiram asked.
“It must have been around seven. I wanted to get the milking started. She’s usually just wasting time, walking around and singing to herself. So me and the wife went looking. It was getting dark, so we came back here and brought the cows with us and I had to do the milking by myself. Then there was nothing doing, the wife got me and John to get people to come and help.”
The crowd murmured.
“The wife’s going crazy,” Will continued. “I told her and told her that Mary would come back sooner or later with some story, but nothing doing. We had to start looking for her right away.”
“Then we better get going,” Hiram said, turning towards the kitchen door.
As the crowd pushed its way outside, rain started to fall and the wind gusted. Lightning flashed in the distance over Pugwash.
“I think we’re in for a storm by the looks of it. We better get going before this rain gets worse,” Calvin Bailey said.
Once outside, Will walked away from the others. Fred LeFurgey watched him go and shook his head. Hiram, shouting orders so everyone could hear, divided the men into search parties.
“All right, Fred, you, Frank, Ken, and Owen go walk along the Pugwash River as far as you can. Two of you on each side. Me, Jack, Smith, and Calvin will do the same along the river here. Dave, can your boy Harold drive to Pugwash and Wallace to ask about Mary? Good. John MacDonald, can you get your father’s rig to drive into Oxford and do the same? Ask around about Mary and spread the word that she’s missing. The rest of you stay close together, and start looking in the fields behind the house, then spread out to the woods, go around the school and up and down both sides of the road. Walk in the ditches. Don’t know how much we can do tonight with the rain coming on but we’ll do what we can. Watch the ground: there may be footprints, or she might have dropped something.”
As the men dispersed, women, with their coats and shawls soaked through, pushed into the house carrying firewood, food, and tea. They kept the fire going, and made sandwiches with the ham and bread they had brought with them. Soon three pots of hot tea were steeping on the back of the stove. After the women arrived Ann began to pace back and forth, limping through the house, from kitchen to parlour, wringing her hands and sobbing. Her faded blue nightdress was torn in the back and covered with dirt and stains.
“I tried to get some tea into her but she keeps asking for her tonic,” Elaine Clarke explained. “Does anyone know where it is? And where’s Mabel?”
“John told me he took her to Oxford this morning to attend Kay Brown. She was planning to spend the night,” Rita LeFu
rgey answered.
“Kay’s having another one?” Freda Mills snorted. “That husband of hers never leaves her alone.”
Elsie McDonald and Elaine Clarke tried their best to calm Ann. They got her to lie down in the parlour, again reassuring her that they would wake her the moment they heard anything. She lay back, wide- eyed, hugging a pillow.
“We’ll need to keep an eye on that one,” Elsie said as she came back into the kitchen. “Did you see the red marks on her neck? They look fresh. He likely laid a beating into her.”
Elaine sighted. “Something went on here tonight, I don’t know what.”
“God knows,” Freda replied. “I heard Mary’s been running through the woods at all times of the day and night with that oldest boy of Hiram’s. He’s been shying around her for months.”
“Smith Reid?” Elsie raised her eyebrows. “I never knew that. He seems like such a nice boy and he’s been brought up right.”
“Boys that age usually have only one thing on their minds, no matter how nice they are,” Freda told them as she rose to check the fire in the wood stove.
“Oh Lord, poor Ann. No wonder she’s the way she is.” Elaine shook her head. “She just hasn’t been the same since her fall last year.”
“Lower your voice, she’ll hear you.”
“Not in the state she’s in,” Freda said.
“Mary’ll turn up. Her parents were likely fighting and she got scared and ran off. I’ve often seen Mary out on the river in John’s punt. She probably went for a ride and stopped somewhere along the bank because of the rain.”
“All I know is if she was one of mine, I’d break her neck when she got back home.” Elsie took out her knitting.
“I’m just grateful that I know where all mine are tonight. I can’t imagine what Ann is going through right now,” Rita said.
The others, silent, nodded in agreement.
***
Hours later, Hiram’s party came across Will standing in the doorway of John’s fishing shack, stubbing out a smoke.
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