Julian took the young woman by the shoulders and saw tears glistening in her eyes.
“Three things you need to know. Number one is I will be back before you know it. Number two is, trust that I love you more than you will ever know. Know that whatever our future holds, I will always love you.”
“And number three?”
“They say everyone knows about us. I don’t want to leave any question.”
“What?”
Julian took the doctor in his arms and kissed her with the entire population of the district looking on. He and Ailís were consumed with each other and both were beyond being able to hear the applause, whistles, catcalls and congratulatory hoots from the local residents.
The crowd parted as Julian shouldered his duffle bag and set off down the path that had brought him to this place and these people not so long ago. The gathered population cheered and waved and wept until he was out of sight.
***
Julian entered the area of rolling fields and smiled broadly. As he turned a corner, he encountered Timothy standing with Moira Hagan and Squire Lanigan.
The Lanigan’s son, Daniel, had been ordered to a psychiatric facility. Moira and the Squire had, they told Julian, made plans to travel down to see Daniel every visiting day. The Squire shook Julian’s hand and made him promise to come play chess with him on his return.
“Julian,” the Squire said softly. “Our son was mad. Oh, he seems to improve each time we see him, but he was quite mad. Murder and attempted murder were committed on his orders. He would have destroyed this valley to get at his mother and me.”
The Squire stepped close, took the younger man’s hand, and continued. “At the well, you had the wherewithal and the opportunity to end it. His madness threatened you and those,” the Squire paused and looked down at Timothy, “nearby.”
The Squire looked into the distance and said softly, "I would have put him down. Thank you for not doing what a frightened old man would have done in your place.”
Lines of memory creased his forehead before Julian said, "Had there been no other choice, I would have put him down too."
"No you wouldn't, Blessing. I know you, you would have found another alternative, invented one on the spot if needs be. You're not fooling anyone. You are nothing but a great bloody fraud."
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention that to anyone." They shared a smile and the Squire stepped back to allow Julian a moment's privacy.
He knelt in the dirt of the road and took Timothy in his arms and said, “Take care of your mother, Timothy, and don’t give her any cause to worry about you. She will look after you, but you must promise to look after her too. You and she are very precious to me.”
“Yes, Sor. You will come back Mr. Julian, won’t you?” The boy said trying to master his emotions. “Me ma and me would make you welcome.”
Julian held the boy tighter. “Timothy, I am counting on that, so I’ll hold you to your promise. And Timothy, never hold back a tear, eh?” The boy nodded and tears rolled down his cheeks. Timothy took the Squire’s hand and they headed back to the village leaving Julian alone with the teacher who became his mentor and his friend.
“He is a fine man,” Julian said indicating the Squire. “And I do love that boy. He has his mother’s eyes.”
“You’re right about Timothy. There is much of his mother about him. As for the Squire, he has always been the finest man I’ve ever known,” Moira answered and her smile turned wistful. “Would that my character allowed me to be so fine a wife, eh?”
Julian said nothing.
“A spell has been cast on you, my boy. Let me assure you the spell has a tight weave to it. You felt it when you left the village. The respect and the love, the gratitude and the admiration were obvious and you’ll be able to feel them over all the miles you travel.
“Now come here you great ass of a man.” Moira took his arm and they began to walk slowly along the dirt lane.
Julian considered his words carefully before he spoke. “This place, these people, this is what is most real to me. Being here is what I want and what I need. I have to leave Ireland for a while in order to straighten out my residency papers and other matters. But this is home for me now. I believe that with all my heart.
“Moira, I came here broken, alone and lost.” He smiled and shook his head. “They didn’t fix me, befriend me and point me in the right direction. Half measures will never do for the Irish. No, they remade me from the ground up. I owe them a lot.
“Oh yes, well, you might have rendered some small assistance,” he chuckled and nudged his companion. Moira’s smile set off a cascade of lines at the corners of her eyes and she swatted her student’s arm.
Moira said, “Bridget told me, of course. Age-old coins and death. You’re going to Rome. But why are you going Julian?”
“It is hard to explain. I want to repair an injustice perpetrated a very long time ago. At least, I think that’s why I’m going. I just feel there are things I need to make right. I have no idea how I’ll accomplish any of it or if I’ll be successful, but it is something I need to attempt.”
“Stay open to the possibilities, Julian, all of them. Sometimes the reason we go to a place ’tisn’t the reason we need to be there.”
“And sometimes the reason we go isn’t the reason we stay,” he said.
***
Unpleasant, unattractive and unhappy, Bogdan Sokolov ruminated on things that made him even more unpleasant, unattractive and unhappy.
In his office on Via del Pellegrino, in the Campo de' Fiori district of Rome, the focus of his displeasure was Julian Blessing. Again.
Two large, dangerous looking, Eastern European men stood before their despondent employer. “Julian Blessing,” Sokolov said with palpable distaste. “We lose money in New York because of him. Now you say he is coming to Rome.
“I want that man dead.”
THE END
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Echoes Through the Mist: A Paranormal Mystery (The Echoes Quartet Book 1) Page 37