Eva and the Irishman

by Janne E Toivonen

  ~~~

  Liam went back to City Hall two weeks after his initial visit. He checked in at the office where he had applied for their passport and the other documents needed for their emigration. Everything was in order. Now he was ready to book passage on a White Star ocean liner for New York. He found out they’d have to get to Liverpool, the port from which New-York-bound ships departed. He and Dolly had been given a clean bill of health from the doctor a week ago. Even though winter trans-Atlantic crossings could be rough, Liam was bound and determined to go as soon as possible. If an ocean liner was going, he wanted to be on it.

  He went to the passenger line office at the Belfast docks and was able to procure a second-class room from Liverpool, England, on the Teutonic in one week. That would give them enough time to ready their belongings, which didn’t amount to much. They would bring one big steamer trunk, Dolly’s carpetbag, and Liam's leather satchel with all their paperwork, including his medical school diploma and letters of recommendation. He would have enough money for them to be able to get the things they didn't haul there. Once they were in New York, he would have a bank wire the Edinburgh bank to transfer his funds and exchange it for American dollars. He had already made arrangements at the bank in Scotland.

  “I’m frightened of the boat, and the water,” Dolly said in his arms on their last night in Belfast.

  “It’s like a floatin’ city,” Liam said. “The passengers will be dinin’, and dancin’, and havin’ parties.”

  “Five days, ye say?”

  “That’s all. Don’t be scared, darlin’. I’m with ye the whole way.”

  He held her tightly as she cried herself to sleep.

  ~~~

  Annie, Sadie and the girls, and an assortment of O’Briens came to wish Dolly and Liam a bon voyage. Annie was in tears, as was Dolly as she hugged her.

  “I’ll be comin’ soon, darlin’,” Annie tried to reassure her. “I know it’s all so grand and unknown, but it will all be fine. Send me a post card from New York. I’ll be waitin’ for it.”

  Liam took Annie away from the group to have special time with her. After all, they meant a lot to each other, like a son and mother. They held one another for a long time, not wanting to let go. When Liam did break the embrace, he looked into Annie's tear-filled eyes.

  “I know I’ll be seein’ ye soon, but I wanted to let ye know that you’ve been a strong force for me. Ye loved me and I’ll never forget that.” He kissed her on the lips strongly and meaningfully.

  Annie could not speak. She put her hand on his cheek, looking at him lovingly, and gave him her own kiss. “Do ye have yer watch?” she whispered.

  “In my pocket, next to me heart,” he answered, touching his chest.

  The on-board signal was given.

  “God in Heaven, I love ye, boy,” Annie finally managed to speak, but she could say no more.

  They walked back to the group, arm-in-arm. Liam shook hands with Patrick. “Stay safe, Paddy,” he said.

  Liam turned to Mary O’Brien. “Thanks for the room and board, Mother Mary. Ye’ll find an envelope on the kitchen table.”

  “I don’t want anythin’. Ye’re like a son to me.” Mary teared up.

  “I left it while ye weren’t lookin’, ’cause I knew ye wouldn’t take it otherwise. Put it away for a nest egg.” He hugged her.

  “God bless ye, Liam,” Mary croaked through the tears.

  As Dolly and Liam parted from the group, Liam gave Annie's hand one last squeeze. Up the gangway they went and stood at the railing until the steamer ship cast off, slowly making its way into the harbor and out towards the open water.

  ~~~

  It was an overnight trip to Liverpool where Dr. and Mrs. Dady were put up in a rather seedy hotel near the White Star Line docks. At least they didn’t have to share a room with anyone. There were hundreds of people from all over Europe waiting to board the same ocean liner for America. Many of them were crammed like sardines into one room, if they had the money to pay for said room. Some of them seemed well-to-do, but the vast majority were poor.

  “Liam, how can some of these people afford to go? When ye told me how much it’s costin’ us, I couldn’t believe it.”

  “I don’t know. Where’s there’s a strong will, there’s always a way.”

  “Where did ye get all that money?”

  “Don’t ye remember what my means of makin’ money was in Edinburgh—”

  “I don’t want to hear any more of it,” she said, half smiling.

  Liam didn’t know whether to smile or look sheepish. In bed that night, after finding a pub and eating sausage and mashed potatoes, Dolly told Liam she didn’t know if she wanted to make love. She was so full of anxiety over the enormity of what they were embarking upon. Liam held her in their favorite position, stacked side-by-side like a couple of spoons. He soothingly rubbed her lower back.

  “We just left our home, Liam.” Dolly's voice sounded lost and far away.

  “Well, except for Annie bein’ there, it wasn’t a very happy home for either of us.”

  Suddenly Dolly turned toward him. More like rolled, with her belly. She kissed him in a building frenzy of nerves and sadness; it was a combination of loss and fear, of hope and expectation. “Lay on your back,” she demanded, pushing him down.

  “Remember, I’ll not turn ye down if ye need me, so ye don’t have to—”

  “Shut yer bloody gob, Liam.” She slammed her pubic bone into him.

  He needed to stop her for fear of the baby, so he grabbed her close as he rolled her to her side.

  “Stop,” he said gently yet firmly. He held her so she couldn’t move, although she was now shaking uncontrollably. “Ye’re afraid, I know. So am I. We’re doin’ somethin’ bloody big here. Somethin’ I’ve only dreamed of and never thought I’d ever do.” His soft voice and words appeared to be calming her. “Take deep, slow breaths,” he said.

  He stroked her neck and hair slowly. “Let me hold ye, Dee.” He felt her relax and calm as he stroked her neck and back, kissed her sweetly, and whispered little things to her as if he were comforting a child. It wasn’t long before they were making slow, calm love. Their release made peace with the world, and peace with the road they had chosen to take.

  ~~~

  The Atlantic crossing, Liam realized with horror, was a vertigo hell for Dolly. The Belfast to Liverpool trip was the beginning of it. She had no sea legs and never got them. Liam had to hold onto her wherever they went so she wouldn’t fall over, especially on stairs.

  “I’m afraid of the stairs, Liam,” she cried on her first day out on the open sea. “They're so steep and I’m so dizzy.”

  He would not let her out of his sight, even in his bit of sea sickness on the rough Atlantic. They were fortunate that no big storms came, and by the last two days of the crossing, there was abundant sunshine and moonlight and relatively calm seas. After luncheon, Dolly and Liam decided they’d get some fresh air and found two empty chaises on deck in the bright sun.

  “I’ve forgotten my ladies’ magazine in our room,” she said.

  He was stretched out on a chaise, covering himself with a big wool blanket. The air was cold, just a little above freezing.

  “I’ll go get it,” he offered, and started to get up.

  “I can go get it,” she remarked, sounding irritated. “It’s only around the corner and down the hall a little way.”

  “All right, ye don’t need to bite me head off,” he teased. He was feeling lazy after his meal. She was right. It wasn’t that far. He watched her as she swayed away noticing her balance was only a bit better on the calmer sea. He dozed off.

  The next thing he knew, he was being awakened by a porter. Liam, disoriented, looked at the porter’s face, which was clouded over in serious concern.

  “Dr. Dady. Please come with me. Your wife is in the infirmary. She’s … she is injured, sir.”

  Liam could not fully register what had been said. “What did ye say?”

>   “You’re wife, she’s badly injured.”

  A feeling of abject dread enveloped him. He could barely move. “Oh, Jesus…” he cried under his breath. His heart was in his throat as he followed the porter to the infirmary in second class.

  Dolly was on a gurney in the exam room with the ship’s doctor next to her. The doctor looked pale and grave. Liam rushed to Dolly. She was conscious but in pain. Her face was deathly ashen.

  “I’m sorry, Liam. I fell down the stairs. Please don’t be angry, it’s not ye’re fault.”

  “I’m not angry—Oh, God, Dolly.” He was horrified. He looked down and noticed the heavy bleeding. He looked desperately at the attending doctor, his heart full of fear. Tears began to well in his eyes. “Doctor, what can ye do?”

  “I can put her under and see if I can stop the bleeding,” the doctor said. But his eyes told Liam it was nearly useless.

  “Then do it, man.”

  Liam felt helpless and it made him angry. The doctor did not look optimistic. Just the opposite. Liam looked to Dolly.

  “Don’t be sad, Liam. I’ll always love ye.” Her eyes were large and glassy, with a faraway gaze.

  What are ye sayin’?” Liam was near hysterics. He started to pick her up to hold her.

  “It doesn’t hurt anymore,” she said. “Look at me, Liam,” she said peacefully. “I’m an angel now.”

  The attending physician took a rubber breathing apparatus to administer ether and put it over her nose and mouth. But she had stopped breathing. He took it off.

  “Dr. Dady,” the doctor spoke with great sympathy. “It’s no use.”

  “What do you mean, it’s no use?! Do somethin’! She’s my wife! We’re havin’ a baby!” Liam was desperate. He grabbed the doctor’s lapels and shook him. “In Heaven's name, do somethin’!” Liam began to wail in agonizing grief.

  “Weaver,” the doctor said to the porter. “Go get security. Now.”

  The porter ran out.

  “Doctor Dady, I implore you—”

  “I fuckin’ implore you!! God damn it!!”

  By the time the security men arrived at the infirmary, Liam had knocked the doctor to the floor and torn the room apart. After a short struggle, the security men were able to subdue Liam physically. Once they had him contained, the ship’s doctor gave Liam a strong sedative with a syringe into his thigh. Liam continued to struggle in his raging grief.

  “No! Dolly!! No! No!” He screamed until he passed out.

  ~~~

  The next thing Liam remembered, a motherly, sympathetic, woman about Annie’s age was with him. He was in a hospital room.

  “Hello, Dr. Dady, my name is Sophie.” The woman spoke said kindly and softly in an Irish lilt. Liam did his best to focus his eyes on her. “The officer can unhook ye if ye stay calm, and I’ll help ye through the immigration processing, so ye can get off the island.”

  Liam didn’t say anything, but must’ve given the officer and the lady an indication they could unlock the handcuffs. He had been secured to the bed by both wrists.

  “The doctor gave ye another sedative,” the woman said. “And I do believe we’re ready to go to the main buildin’. I have all your things, and your trunk is safe. I’ll stay with ye the whole time.”

  The woman took Liam to an enormous building next to the hospital. She helped him fill out the paperwork to enter the country and to get Dolly’s body released to be buried ashore in New Jersey.

  “Do ye have anyone ye want to write to back home to let them know what happened, love?” They were sitting in an office somewhere. The woman helped him with a letter to Annie, and they put it in the mail chute in the hall.

  “That’ll go on the next boat back, darlin’.”

  Liam looked into the woman’s eyes for the first time since she’d begun to help him. It seemed like hours ago. He suddenly noticed the two officers in the room with them.

  “Dr. Dady,” the nice Irish lady said. “Do ye remember what happened? Do ye know why the two policemen are here?”

  Liam didn’t speak. He looked at the woman again, and several tears rolled down his cheeks.

  “I know, love, ye hurt. I’m so sorry for ye.” She put a hand on his, tears in her own eyes. She took a deep breath and gathered herself again. “Ye’re goin’ to stay with me for a few days until everythin’s taken care of. I live in Jersey City right here. Ye’ll be able to bury yer wife in a Catholic cemetery. My priest will do the honors.”

  With those words spoken, Liam bent his head down and withdrew from reality again. It was too much to bear.

  ~~~

  He did not remember talking to the priest, or much of the funeral. He remembered it was cold, and the snow falling in big flakes coming straight down, and seeing grave markers.

  ~~~

  A week later, Liam realized he could no longer stay at the nice Irish woman’s house, although Sophie had been a great comfort and help. He did start to eat again, but he hadn’t shaven since he arrived, although he did have a cursory sponge bath. His hostess had washed his laundry for him. He gathered up his things, and put them in his leather satchel and the carpetbag. Sophie had given him a warm winter coat, gloves and a black newsboy cap.

  “It’s January, you’ll need it,” she said. “My husband passed away last spring. I’m glad to find someone who can use these things.”

  Liam finally noticed that he had Dolly’s necklace on, with the charms he had given her. It lay next to his heart now. He glanced at his left hand. The wedding ring was still there. Liam felt his heart ache viciously. He left behind the steamer trunk, Dolly’s clothing, the America book, and anything he did not want to carry. Liam wrote a short thank you note and left money on the kitchen table, explaining it was for his room and board. He went out the front door and walked into the cold North Jersey wind. He headed in what he thought was the direction of the bank he had transferred his savings to earlier that week. He found it a few blocks away and walked in. He offered his documents for identification and withdrew several hundred dollars from the account and arranged with them that he would withdraw the funds when he found another bank. With that pocketed, he headed for the train station and randomly bought a one-way ticket to Chicago.

  The trip to Chicago took a few days, with winter weather and delays. The sky was perennially bleak and solid gray. Liam sat by himself and made no effort to talk to people. After a while, he was left to himself by the train attendants and the other passengers.

  ~~~

  It was terribly cold when Liam arrived at Grand Central station, downtown Chicago. With his bags in hand, he stepped off the car into a cacophony of noise, steam, and frozen breath. He barely noticed the bustling crowd bundled against the frigid air, greeting or bidding farewell to loved ones.

  He stood for a long time at a street entry of the station. It was extremely windy, and it made him want to go back inside. His nostrils dried and froze in the numbing cold temperature. Pulling the collar of his coat around his ears, he began to take tentative steps. Then Liam Dady, heartbroken and alone, went forward aimlessly into the chaotic, indifferent, already-freed huddled masses.

  Chapter 32

  Kelly Ann Sullivan was a diminutive introvert, with pale skin and blue eyes. She had coppery red hair, a disobedient mass of curls if left loose, flowing down her back. She had a profusion of freckles, visible on her face and arms. It was common knowledge at the Chicago Irish neighborhood boarding house where she worked, that she had been orphaned at the age of eleven. Her destitute mother died of influenza four years after Kelly’s perennially delinquent, alcoholic father abandoned them. Before her death, Kelly’s mother was so destitute, she resorted to prostitution in an attempt to earn money to house, clothe and feed her only child. Kelly was undernourished and virtually uneducated when the nuns at the convent in the Irish section of Chicago took her in. It had been rumored between the nuns that Kelly’s mother, who had also turned to drink, may have acquiesced to a drunken john who wanted to have Kelly when she was
seven. Kelly would never speak of it, but the common consensus was that it probably happened from time to time until her mother died. Finally, with Kelly out of profound poverty, she flourished as much as she could, though she was severely introverted and remained a bit slow in her learning. Her grades at the parochial school were quite poor. The other school children ended up ignoring her, because the nuns would punish those who antagonized her. As a result, she faded into a colorless background, alone and friendless. The nuns, amongst themselves, started to call Kelly Sullivan “the invisible child.” They took great sympathy, and she remained well cared for and loved by the Sisters, cloistered amongst them in the convent.

  Kelly was blossoming into a fine young woman. She was a bit plain in looks, but by no means unattractive. Soon after she turned eighteen, she was given a low-wage position at the run-down, yet tidy boarding house not far from the convent. She was appointed the cook’s assistant. There, she flourished in her budding, newfound craft of cooking.

  “Kelly,” the plump, elderly cook named Flossie said one day as she perused the prepared dining room table. “You are out-cookin’ me! Look at these loaves of soda bread and the lamb stew. It all smells heavenly.”

  Kelly was pleased with her cooking, and she blushed more than smiled. She rarely, if ever, spoke, but she had taken to the sweetly pleasant, grandmotherly woman.

  “It’s all right to say somethin’ darlin’,” Flossie said kindly. “Ye don’t have to be scared o’ me.”

  “Thank you, Miss Flossie,” Kelly whispered. She fleetingly glanced at Flossie with affection.

  When she turned nineteen, she was given a bed of her own in Flossie’s room in the back, near the kitchen. A few weeks after Kelly moved in, Flossie passed away. Shortly thereafter she became the only cook.

  Although she did well, Kelly was so introverted that she never strived to be a part of the people in her surroundings. She would speak politely when spoken to, but she would never initiate conversation unless absolutely necessary. The Mother Superior gave Kelly’s care over to a devout congregation member, the boarding house manager, Bill Ronan. He was to report back to Mother Superior and keep male boarders from bothering her.