The wounded man and a group of fellow Mesabi miners had been at a tavern up by the range.
“We came out, Sheriff, and this man pulled a gun on us, said he wanted our money. Well, we said we just spent it all in there, and what was he gonna do about that? Then he shot the gun and ran.”
“How old was he? Anything unusual about him?”
“It was hard to tell, he was so dirty and scruffy. Maybe late twenties, early thirties. He had a Finnish accent.”
“So do three quarters of the people around here,” the Sheriff said. He was Finnish himself.
“He looked to be a merchant sailor. Like I said, he was dirty. He ran off into the woods behind the roadhouse.”
~~~
Early Saturday morning, while Liam was at work, Eva and Ellen, with Liisa in the pram, went to the dry goods store for flour, salt, and sugar and whatever else Eva thought they would need. Annie was due to arrive any day.
Eva, pulling the little wagon, breathed in a sunny spring day. With the lilacs blooming, it smelled fresh and heavenly. “Ve pick some from our buss for Annie’s room,” Eva said to Ellen. She pointed to a patch of lilacs.
As they walked up to the newly built brick store, Eva saw a vagrant out of the corner of her eye. He was standing on the opposite side of the street. Not paying full attention, she left the pram, the wagon, and Ellen to watch Liisa in front of the store.
In Finnish, Eva said, “Stay right here. I see a stranger across the street.”
She promptly went in to get her groceries.
As Ellen played with Liisa, she didn’t notice the vagrant until he was about twenty feet away.
“Who’s dat lady?” he barked.
Ellen noticed his inflection was Finnish. He was dirty, as if he hadn’t had a sauna in months. His jacket and trousers were in tatters, and he wore a navy blue sailor’s hat that was caked with oily dirt. His beard and hair were scruffy and long.
“She is my modder. Her name used to be Eva Mattson, but my Pappa died. Now she is Eva Dady.”
Ellen stepped back, knocking over a stand of brooms in a small barrel. She took her eyes away from the vagrant, and picked the brooms back up. When she turned back to look at the man, he was no longer there. She peered up and down the street and saw no sign of him. She shrugged, but a shiver went through her spine. She went back to the pram to wait, careful not to knock anything else over.
It wasn’t long before her mother came out. She handed Ellen a peppermint stick.
“Tank you, Mamma,” Ellen said with wide eyes and a grin.
Mr. Jacobsen followed Eva with her boxful of groceries and placed it in the wagon. “Thank you, Ellen, for picking up the brooms,” he said.
“You’re welcome, Mr. Jacobsen.”
They walked back home. Eva pushed the pram and Ellen pulled the wagon, happily sucking on her peppermint stick.
~~~
At the hospital that afternoon, Liam was delayed from leaving by another man with a gunshot wound, this time more serious. A man described as filthy, with an overgrown beard and a sailor’s hat, had shot at a group of men. They were leaving the same roadhouse as the previous gunshot victim, and the man was trying to rob them. Again, the gunman had taken off in the woods. Dr. Andersen was on a house call, so Liam was the one to take the emergency. He called Eva to let her know that surgery was necessary. He wouldn’t get out of there until seven or eight o’clock. It had to be done.
~~~
Eva had just finished breastfeeding three-month-old Liisa in her bedroom when she heard the Five O’ Clock train pull into the station. The boarders would soon be in from their Saturday errands, and would expect their sauna and supper. She was thankful that Saimi was on kitchen duty and had fired up the sauna earlier. Eva and Ellen had spent the afternoon upstairs fixing up the spare bedroom for Annie. When their cleaning was finished, Eva had come down to change and feed the baby, when she heard the train.
Several minutes later, Eva heard Ellen’s stomping feet in the foyer.
“Someone is at the door,” Ellen yelled.
Villi Ruusu, Eva thought, buttoning her blouse as she walked through the kitchen after putting Liisa in her crib. She could hear people conversing.
“Mamma! A lady with red hair is here,” Ellen hollered.
Eva rushed to meet Annie, still tucking in her clothing from feeding Liisa. Ellen swung the door open.
“Well then, ye must be Ellen. Liam has written about ye. I’m Annie MacDonald. I’m pleased to make yer acquaintance.” She shook hands.
“I’m happy to meet you,” Ellen chirped. “You sound like Pappa Liam.”
Eva beamed at Annie and nearly burst into tears upon finally meeting the woman who was responsible for raising her beloved husband. Eva told Ellen in Finnish to put Annie’s carpetbag next to the stairs.
“Annie, I so happy you here,” Eva said. She took Annie’s hand.
“You must be Eva.” Annie looked at Eva. “You are absolutely beautiful,” she said. “Liam wrote ye were.”
Eva felt her face flush at the compliment. “Come in,” she said. “Come in. Velcome to our home.” She helped Annie with her coat and shoes. Ellen had a pair of knitted slippers on a side table, ready for Annie to put on.
“These are brilliant. Thank you, Ellen.” Annie smiled at the knitted slipper socks. She sat on the bench and pulled them onto her stocking feet. “They are comfortable.”
“How ’bout cup a coffee?” Eva offered.
Annie followed Eva into the kitchen. They both sat at the kitchen table while Saimi got the cups and saucers and a plate of sliced nisu ready.
“Dis Saimi Laivo,” Eva said to Annie. “Sees live here and cook and clean vit me. Sees my friend, too.”
“Hello, Saimi, I’m Annie,” Eva and Saimi smiled at Annie’s excellent pronunciation. “I am so charmed by you lovely women with such brilliant blue eyes.”
“I am sordy Liam is not home yet. He’s do operation. You can have coffee, den I take you room and you can clean up. I know you verdy tired. It’s lonk, lonk trip here. I did it, too.”
“Oh, aye, I am travel weary. I feel as though I could sleep for a week.”
Annie sat and drank coffee and ate nisu for the first time. She seemed to love the sweet cardimon flavored bread. The three women chatted about their epic journeys from their homelands.
Ellen sat with them, with her own cream-diluted coffee in her animal cup. Eva noticed that her daughter was intrigued with the woman Liam knew as a young man.
“Pappa Liam says you vere a cook at his house and you took care of him,” Ellen said. “His Mamma vas too busy.”
“You could say that, Ellen. We are very close.”
“You knew his first wife,” Ellen asked gently.
“Aye, I did, God rest her soul, dear thing.” Annie crossed herself.
Eva spoke quietly to Ellen in Finnish. “Please don’t ask anymore, Ellen.”
When coffee was finished, Eva and Ellen took Annie upstairs. Ellen carried her carpetbag. Eva pointed to the bathroom as they passed it, then walked Annie to her room.
“I leef you get fress up,” Eva said. “Maybe rest lil, too.”
“Thank you, Eva. I need a little time to rest.”
~~~
Liam arrived home at seven o’clock, bursting through the front door. “There’s a steamer trunk on the front porch. Where’s Annie!?”
The instant Eva told him Annie was upstairs he bounded up two steps at a time. He knew which room she would be in and flew down the hall.
The bedroom door flung open when Liam got to it. Annie rushed into his arms. He grabbed her hard enough to hear her “umph.” He didn't care. They were together again.
“Oh God, oh God, it’s you, Annie,” Liam whispered through her hair. He kissed her face. He couldn't hold back his tears. “Jesus, I missed ye.”
Annie couldn't hold back her tears either. She sobbed into his chest. He could see she couldn't speak. He just held her as they stood in the doorway, shedding tears. Everyt
hing from the last year Liam had spent in Belfast and Edinburgh flew distinctly through his mind: Dolly; their wedding; her pregnancy; his schooling; their flight; and Dolly’s death. It flew hard into his heart. Six long years of separation had ended in this bittersweet reunion.
“Did ye meet everyone, then?” Liam asked when he gained some composure. He wiped his tears, then Annie’s with his thumb. He cupped her face in his two hands, studying it adoringly. “Ye’re just as beautiful as I last saw ye.”
“Oh, don’t ye tell me that,” she said blushing. “You, my dear, are a little changed to me.” She, too, studied his face. “It was hard on ye, wasn’t it?” She smoothed his forehead creases with her fingers. “I can see ye have a line or two on yer face that a thirty-two-year-old shouldn’t have yet.”
“I was horrendously hard on myself in those squandered years. I wandered, fist fought, and drank hard. I certainly didn’t eat well. So, I’m not surprised ye see it. The doctor told me my liver was enlarged at the stoppin’ point, when I gave up livin’ like I was.”
“I see a light in yer eyes, with yer new life here,” she said. “In the God-forsaken Arctic, I hear.”
He laughed.
“I can’t imagine ye those four lost years, darlin’. In a way, I wished ye had come back home.” She hugged him again.
“Have ye met my baby girl yet?” he asked.
“No, she was sleepin’. I think Eva was waitin’ for you to get home so you could do it. I’ve been sleepin’. Eva’s such a dear. So beautiful, just like ye wrote.”
“She is at that, and more. We’ll go downstairs, if ye’re ready.”
Oh, I’m ready, all right. Let’s see that baby of yers.”
~~~
In the parlor, Ellen placed herself where she could be as close to Liam’s Annie Mac- Donald as she could. She watched with great intrigue.
Liam handed Liisa to Annie. “She’s the spit o’ ye, Liam,” Annie said softly. She let her tears roll. “I can hardly believe it. Ye’re a father.”
“Well, ye’re her Gran, then. All the rest of her ‘grands’ are in Finland—or Northern Ireland. Her name is Elisabet Eva Dady. We call her Liisa, after one of Eva’s sisters in the Old Country, as the Finn community here calls it.”
Just then, Liisa woke up. But instead of crying at a stranger, she gazed into Annie’s face contentedly.
“I wonder why she’s so calm,” Liam said.
“I yust fed her vhile you upstairs,” Eva said. “Sees belly full.”
They all smiled at the preciousness.
~~~
After supper, with the dishes and cleanup done, Liam escorted Annie to the parlor with Ellen accompanying them, where they all sat and chatted with a cup of tea or coffee. Annie was able to meet the two boarders. She and Saimi began to get to know each other better. Both had been cooks in mansions, they discovered.
“I look forward to learning about the Finnish ways of cooking, and also gettin’ to know all of you,” Annie said. “Liam has written so many nice things. I feel I know you so much right now.”
“Vell, Liam has says many nice tinks ’bout you, too,” Eva added.
The standing clock rang out eight o’clock. Annie stood up stiffly. “I must go to bed right now, before Liam and the other gentlemen have to carry me up the stairs.” She smiled at Liam. “Aye, I’m gettin’ a little older. My bones don’t work as well as they used to. It’s all those years on my feet in a kitchen.”
Liam puffed through his lips. “Ye’re as young as a spring chicken.”
“Well then, ye may want to collect my eggs in the mornin,” Annie jested.
Ellen belly laughed from her place on the floor.
“Goodnight, good people,” Annie said. “I thank ye for the lovely afternoon and evenin’, and the fine meal.”
All returned the sentiment in unison.
Eva said, “Velcome home, Annie.”
Liam could see that Annie felt the words in her heart. He walked her to her room. “Ye’ve got what ye need, then?” He stood in the doorway.
She nodded. They hugged and gave each other a kiss.
“Goodnight Annie,” he said. “I’m glad ye’re here. I still can’t believe my eyes.” He closed the door softly and went back downstairs.
~~~
In bed that night, Liam kissed Eva amorously. Eva could feel Liam’s spirit was at a heightened level. She could feel his need for her, strong and healthy. No words were spoken as he swiftly started making love to her. It wasn’t needy, and not gratuitous, but a strong expression of his love for her, and his desire to share that complete, powerful gratification.
He pressed his tongue on her nipple as he set his rhythm in and out of her. Eva held him at his hips, moving her to the precipice that Liam could skillfully bring her to. Her release was so exquisite that she could not hold back crying out. Liam echoed her.
When they woke the next morning to Liisa’s hungry fussing, Eva found Liam in the position he fell asleep in. They looked at each other in amazement. Eva moved her hand to Liam’s morning erection and kissed him, giving him an indication of more to come after Liisa was done feeding and back napping.
Eva rose and took Liisa from the crib. She talked to her as she changed her. She then sat naked with Liam’s baby at her breast, while Liam watched drowsily on his side.
“I like watchin’ ye breast feed,” he said. “Not only is it motherly, it’s very sexy.”
He put his hand on his hardness through the flannel sheet, giving Eva a toothy grin.
“I see you are verdy lusty dis mornink,” Eva said, switching Liisa to the other breast. It was already letting go milk.
“I’m rememberin’ last night,” he said. “That was about as grand as ye get.”
Eva felt her face flush, and she continued to gaze at him. “I tink dis baby is full, she’s sleepink ’gain.” Eva disconnected Liisa from her nipple and put her back in the crib. She made sure the little hook and eye lock on the door was engaged so they wouldn’t have a premature visitation from Ellen in the middle of their early morning sex. Eva latched the door and climbed into bed with a very aroused husband. She positioned herself on top, her genitals rubbing his cock.
“Ye smell like baby milk,” he said. He sniffed around her bosom, tickling her and nibbling on the sensitive crease underneath. He appeared to be mesmerized by her breasts jiggling in his face.
She slid him inside her as he suckled, letting him enjoy himself. He put his hands on her hips, moving with her gyrations as he lay nearly motionless. It was slow. After a while she could hear a muffled “Oh, God” as he began to thrash in ecstasy.
“Christ!” he said, his chest heaving.
Eva kept moving until she felt her own climax, then collapsed on his chest and nuzzled into his neck. “Now vhat?”
“I feel like more sleep. Ye’re a temptress, that’s what ye are, Eva Dady.” He put his arms around her torso and rolled her off him.
“I make mess,” she whispered, rolling onto her side. She leaned over the edge of the bed, remembering there was a towel nearby.
“Let me clean ye,” he said and reached for the nearest towel on the floor. He went about his gentle ministrations as she kissed him anywhere she could reach with her lips.
It was Sunday morning. Not that long after, the spooned, peacefully dozing lovers were awakened by Saimi clinking pans and dishes to make Sunday breakfast for those heading to church.
He had put his hand on her genitals after making love, holding them. Realizing where his hand was, Eva asked, “Are you owning dat or somptink?”
“Of course, I own it, ye’re my wife. It’s mine. All mine.” He smiled and tickled there, making her squirm.
She felt his immediate arousal pushing against her buttocks, and she turned her head back to look at him as though he were crazy. “More? Again?”
“Just another quick one, before we get up. I’m wild for ye this mornin’.”
He began once again, nuzzling her neck and hair. He t
ook her from behind as they lay. She arched her back and hips so he could reach her. She was still slippery from his earlier ejaculation. It was not quick. It was slow and loving. She climaxed first, with his finger helping. It brought him to his finish.
Still holding onto the crevice between her legs, he fell limp in post-coital bliss. “Eva, I can’t get enough o’ ye. Everything seems different. I’m feelin’—I don’t know what I feel. I find comfort and love and carin’ from ye, and I want to give it back to ye a hundred-fold. A thousand-fold.”
“I tink, maybe Annie here, and you talk to her now ’bout everytink happen to you. You feel happy more.”
“I think ye’re right. I’ve missed her for so long, wanting to be in that cozy kitchen with her in Belfast. She soothed my every hurt, taught me right from wrong—not that I listened to her all the time—but she was my gauge, and then she taught me how to start usin’ my own gauge.”
“Vhat gauge?”
“More or less, my own brain pointing me in the right direction,” he said, smiling. He paused in quiet contemplation, his head resting on Eva’s shoulder from behind her.
“Take her to lake lader. It look like no more rain. You can talk vit her.”
“Good idea, love.”
“I vant body parts back, now. It’s time to get up, villi mies.”
“Ye’re callin’ me a wild man?” he said in mock indignance.
“Yes. I am.”
“I thought I’d been gentle and caring and soft and sweet and—” He nuzzled her hair from behind.
“Stop already! I need to take bat and clean myself. I don’t vant smellink like ruttink moose.” She laughed under her breath and turned herself toward him.
“Oh, that’s brilliant. First, I’m I wild man. Now I’m a bleedin’ ruttin’ moose.”
“Vone more tink,” she said with half seriousness. “Dis tink.” She took his damp, half erect penis in her hand, mimicking his earlier claim. “Dis all mine.”
He took her by the shoulders as they sat on the edge of the bed. “Yers, and yers alone, for the rest of our lives.” He looked directly into her eyes.
Eva and the Irishman Page 53