Chapter 6
The first night in their new home was magical for Eva. She hadn’t realized how much she’d needed to leave Minnesota. Her senses were heightened once they got in bed. They had the windows open. She smelled the air of Montana, much different than in the upper mid-west. Crickets and other night bugs that Eva had never heard back east sang sweetly. She lay snuggled in the crook of Liam’s arm and chest. His fingers played with the wisps of hair around her ear. His touch started her arousal. Her fingers traced softly around his belly button. She was sharply aware of his maleness. His dark belly hairs were soft under her fingertips. It seemed as if she and Liam were the only ones awake in the whole city, sharing a new intimacy in an unfamiliar house that felt strangely comfortable.
“Maybe I need to get ’vay from Minnesota, too,” Eva said. “It vas hard to say goodbye, but it vas good tink I can say goodbye to Victor. And Eino, too.” She paused for a moment. “You understand?” She leaned into Liam’s neck and began kissing the warmness behind his ear. He tasted salty and smelled good. It was Liam’s scent that made Eva want him whenever she breathed it in.
“Aye,” he said, pulling her closer. “I was attached to the place, too. It’s where my life turned for the better and I met you. I was afraid to leave,” he admitted.
“I tink, if Victor stayed ’live, would I stay vit him, or go to you? If I know you stayed.”
“Why do ye think I didn’t leave town after he insisted I go from the boardin’ house?”
“I tink I never see you ’gain.”
Liam smiled and shifted to his side to look at Eva, pulling her close. “Aye, I was hidin’ from McKay, but the real reason I stayed in Virginia was to be there for ye when ye couldn’t take the marriage any longer. Ye were on the brink when I first came.”
“You know dat vould happen?”
“I didn’t know for sure, but I felt strongly about stayin’. Even through my sickness I could see it.”
“I am SOO-prised. I cry vhen you left.”
“I saw ye.” He kissed her.
She touched his face softly.
His desire for her came on strong. His free hand began to undo her braid. It was light enough to see by the rising moon. “I like yer hair flowin’, like I’m makin’ love to somethin’ exotic and wild.”
She sighed into his chest as he unwound her long tresses. Her hair was filled with a scent that reminded him of sweet, grassy fresh air. The fragrance was mixed with soap from washing earlier, the foods she cooked, Liisa, and now sex. It was intensely carnal, and at the same time innocent, sweet, and sensuous. His hand cupped her face and head. His fingers wound in her hair as he kissed her. He felt his foreplay overpower her. She opened to him. She started to lie on her back, but he pulled her to straddle him, exposing her. He could see her in the light of the full moon. Her skin glowed blue gray, making her seem ephemeral, and his urgency rose to a peak. She moaned at his finger sliding on her most sensitive spot. When he was inside her, he bolstered her torso so her body was erect and she didn’t fall into him and hide herself. He wanted to watch. Her hips gyrated. He started to breathe deeper. His heart began to pound. As she was grinding into him, her swollen belly and her movement were all an aphrodisiac.
Her breasts wobbled as she moved for him. She knew what he wanted and how it affected him. She wanted to give to him what he desired, for he would always return it.
She could feel herself moving toward her climax. She knew he would come inside her again, and how that always brought her over the precipice and into exquisite release. It came quite strongly. She bucked and panted to every pulse she felt. She felt him start his own release. “Eva. Oh, God. Oh, God …” He lost his breath, then growled and thrashed erratically, grinding his hips into her.
He finally let her fall to his chest as they began their recovery. She rolled to her side, facing him. He seemed so … done in. She smiled and pulled the cool cotton sheet over him so he could fall asleep. She leaned to him and kissed his mouth. She laughed silently as he tried to reach for her face and mumble something in response. As he drifted off, she looked at his smiling, strikingly handsome face and mussed dark mass of hair in the moonlight. Happy, she spooned into him. She thought of the revelation of a few minutes ago that he somehow knew her marriage would fail, and that he was going to be there for her. It stunned her. Then he came to me to bring me back when I didn’t want to live. She cried. She knew he would know why. He pulled her closer.
~~~
The next morning, the very first morning in their home in Helena, Eva and Sally cleaned breakfast dishes and cookware. Liam was still asleep and deservedly so, Eva thought. She saved a plate full of eggs and plattu for when he finally got up. She was glad he gave himself a few days before starting the rigors of long, unpredictable hours of hospital work and house calls. She knew the kidnapping had been hard on him, even though he didn’t show just how much. His shoulder was nearly back to normal and his bruises, scratches, and scrapes were beginning to fade. The whole ordeal had been hard on her, too. She had almost lost him, and she didn’t know how she would’ve survived. If she had learned anything from losing Victor, however, it was that she could survive.
“I like to build sauna now,” Eva said to Sally. “I need to find somebody who know how to build, vit cedar loks and fancy …” She didn’t know the word “dovetail joints” in English. “… sovittaa liitokset."
“I know vhat you mean, how to connect loks at corner.”
“Yes, I ask Liam vhat Eenliss vord lader.”
“I know people who vould be glad to help you. My husband and my sons, Alpo and Kari, are carpenters.
“Dey vould? Dat’s grand.” Eva had picked up some of Liam’s vernacular.
“I talk tonight. You order cedar loks. It can be done by fall, maybe sooner.”
Eva was ecstatic at the prospect of having her sauna and laundry room built. “I make a picture of how I like it, vit laundry and portts, like in Virginia.” She gave Sally a worried look. “I ask too much?”
“I don’t tink so, as lonk as dere is plan and lumber.” Sally seemed confident. “It vould take mutts veekends, but it can be done. You need vindows and floorink and cinderblock for foundation, don’t forget. And glass and screenink.”
Eva ran to get a piece of paper from a kitchen drawer she had discovered earlier. It held pencils, pens, ink, and paper. She wrote everything down as Sally dictated.
“You gonna need nails, and studs for flooring and roof,” Sally said. “And shingles for roof. Order your stove nice and early. I haff address in Michigan. Cinderblocks for chimney. You vanna paint it? Den put it on list.” Sally finished up the pans and put them away.
“I like to paint red like Old Country,” Eva said.
“I tell you vhat, give me drawink by end of day and Alpo can make measurement and write up list. Den you can take to Svenson at lumber mill. Go to hardware on Main Street vit address, order stove from Leo Nippa in Michigan.”
Liam walked into the white-bright kitchen. He had bathed. His hair was wet and combed back, his face clean-shaven. He leaned down to kiss Eva on the cheek.
“Good morning, Mrs. Pelto,” Liam said, making eye contact with a smile.
“Good mornink, Dr. Dady.” Sally returned the smile. She got up and fetched Liam’s plate from the stove as he poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot on the table. He sat next to Eva. He sweetly pulled his chair close so he could sit right next to her, smiling intimately at her.
“Thank you, for last night,” he whispered. He picked up and sniffed the bowl of preserves. “Raspberry,” he discerned. “Ummm.”
Eva’s cheeks felt the heat as she remembered what he was thanking her for. She could only smile as Sally put the remaining washed dishes away in the cupboard.
“I go upstairs to clean,” Sally said. “Girls are ’vake?” She started out of the kitchen.
“Yes, they are,” Liam said. “Please send them our way, Sally. They need breakfast.” He turned back to Ev
a. “What do ye have there?” he asked, noticing her drawing and list as he started his breakfast.
“I haff somebody to build sauna for me. It is drawink of vhat I vant and list of tinks need to build. Sally says her husbandt and boys can do it. Vhat you tink how bik vas sauna vit portts in Minnesota?”
“I think it was about twelve feet by twenty? Give or take a foot or two.”
“What’s dose numbers? You write dat.” Eva gave him the pencil to write the numbers on the drawing.
“You know how to write the numbers,” he said, feigning scolding.
“I vant dem no mistake,” she insisted. “Alpo can finiss list. I can order from lumber company. I haff to order stove from Michigan.”
“I think it’s grand ye want to build yer sauna. I’ve learned to enjoy it. Add to the list to call the city to get a water line from the main in the street to the new building. Let’s go together when ye get the materials list from Alpo. I’m not sure of the safety of the business district yet. I don't know if you would be able to go alone.”
“I gonna be fine,” she started with a defensive tone, but was hushed by a certain look from him that indicated he was not letting her go alone under any circumstances whatsoever.
“I’ll go with ye the first few times.” He changed the subject quickly. “I didn’t tell ye as yet, but a doctor at the hospital is from Ireland, not far from Belfast.”
“Close to you old home, how good,” she said.
Liam nodded in agreement. “This Sean O’Neill and I didn’t have time to talk, but I’m sure we will as time goes on. He and his family live on the other end of this street.” He put the last forks full of breakfast in his mouth, savoring the last sweet bits and drinking the rest of his coffee.
Eva watched him, amused as always with his breakfast ritual. She thought it funny when he looked at his empty plate, then to the stove, then to her.
Just then, Ellen and Liisa appeared. Ellen helped Liisa into a chair. “We need a highchair for her, Mamma,” Ellen announced.
“Sordy, no more plattu for you, Liam,” Eva said definitively. “Rest are for girls, but I can make more ekks if you like.”
“It’s just that I’m starvin’,” Liam replied with an overly marked lamentation. “I need to have sustenance from the rigors of …” He began to snicker.
He got a punch on his arm.
“Ow! Ye brute.” He rubbed the spot.
As she got up to get the girls their plates, Eva leaned in to kiss him. “You like scramble or fry?” she asked him.
“Whatever way is easiest—and fastest.” He grabbed at her skirt, pulled her back, and playfully put her on his lap.
“Fry. You vant me cook, or not?”
He grinned and let her go, obviously not wanting to delay the cooking of more food for his hungry belly.
Eva pulled out the fry pan, put it on the stove, and got the butter and four eggs from the carton in the electric ice box.
“You two are at it again,” Ellen said.
Liam gave her a sheepish grin. “Sorry, Ellen.”
“I heard you last night, too. I don’t know what’s so great about that.”
Eva blushed furiously. “Ellen …” she tried to admonish her blunt daughter.
Liam interrupted her. “I have to go to the bank and take care of transferring ours and Ellen’s funds from Virginia and finish the mortgage paperwork. Then I have to get material for the two gates for the stairs. I’ll take measurements before I leave.”
“Fine,” Eva said, flipping the cooking eggs.
“Ellen,” Liam said. “Since we’re so honest with each other now, what yer mother and I do is grand. You’ll find out for yerself one day. I hope it’s not sooner, but later.”
Ellen rolled her eyes and avoided eye contact.
As Liam’s freshly fried eggs arrived steaming on the plate, he expressed wide-eyed pleasure. Eva sat down with him again, keenly aware of her daughter’s prying eyes.
~~~
Liam returned from his errands much later than he’d expected, but happy that he came back with two ready-to-install stair gates made by an employee at the lumber mill. The employee, by the name of Jim, even accompanied Liam to install them, Liam having offered the man an extra twenty if he would do so. It was well worth the completion for Liisa’s sake. The gates would have to be there as long as he and Eva had young ones.
Eva was relaxing on the front porch, her feet on a padded wicker hassock, when Liam and Jim arrived. She seemed impressed that the two gates were ready to be installed and smiled delightedly, mostly at Liam. There were introductions and an immediate start of the installation.
When the gates were finished, a glass of lemonade was in order, as was a few minutes of relaxation in the afternoon shade of the front porch.
“You could use another gate here, on the porch, if ye want your little one to come out here with you,” Jim said. “I can make you another, if you wish, Dr. Dady.”
“Measure it out then,” Liam said. “There’s a back porch. Let’s gate that one, too.”
When Jim left, Liam sat down with Eva in the shade of the front porch.
“You feel bedder vit gates up?” she asked.
“Oh, aye. It gives me a sense of control, even though in reality I have not one ounce of it.”
After their afternoon coffee, a telegraph attendant arrived with a wire for Liam. It was from Ed Murphy, telling Liam whom to contact for protection.
Contact a Dr. Sean O’Neill at St. John’s.
~~~
A few days later, Liam started at the hospital. There was a steady but not overly heavy stream of injured mine workers, cattlemen, and elderly who were sick or overheated. Liam worked in the emergency room with Sean O’Neill and chatted when the stream slowed.
“I’d like to talk to ye in private,” Liam said. “A friend of mine, Ed Murphy, wired me to contact you.”
“Let’s go to our office, Liam. We have privacy there.”
Liam and Sean grabbed lunch from the dining room and headed to the front hall. As they walked past the front desk, Liam mentioned that Lucy, the receptionist, wasn’t there that day.
“Excellent,” Sean quipped. “She’s a corker that one. Stay away from her. She tries to lure the men in.”
“That’s good to know. I wouldn’t be interested anyway. I am terribly in love with my wife. Would ye like to come to dinner on Sunday? Bring the whole family. Let’s introduce the wives and children.”
“Oh, aye, we’ll be there after Mass.”
Liam filled Sean in on his predicament as they ate.
Sean had heard of McKay, having lived in Greenwich Village in New York City. “I grew up on the fringes of the gangs and ended up in one of the Irish Catholic associations. My wife Molly’s father was an elder at the church we went to. That’s where I met her. Most of the congregation was Irish.”
“Did ye get to the fights at all back then, in New York?”
“Oh, Aye. It’s in our blood, don’t ye think? How’d ye survive without gettin’ yer nose busted?”
“I have no idea,” Liam answered. “Why’d ye leave New York?”
“My father-in-law was angry I got Molly pregnant and married her without his permission. It was better than bein’ killed. I think he was goin’ to kill Molly, too. We’ve been here ever since.”
“Jesus.”
They spent the next minute or two finishing their roast chicken dinner. Then Sean spoke again. “Let’s set up a bare-bones watch at the train station for now,” he said. “Ye said ye didn’t think anyone’s comin’ until next summer. My men can keep a casual watch as they go about their daily lives, since ye say the McKay men wear a uniform of sorts. They have been here and I’m sure the men are familiar with what a McKay man looks like. We all went to the fights. Thank God they don’t blend in.”
“That’ll be grand. I’ll keep me own eye out as well. I was pissed off when they grabbed me.”
“I bet ye nearly pissed yer knickers,” Sean said
, grinning. “I have to give ye credit for how ye escaped.”
“I’ll never tell about any pissed-in knickers.”
They both chuckled.
“It may do yerself well if ye got a punchin’ bag or somethin’, to keep yerself in good condition,” Sean said. “I know where ye can get one.”
Sean was ready to get back to work, while Liam had a bit of paper work at his desk.
“By the way,” Sean said. “Did ye have a show name when ye fought?”
“Oh, aye. The Iron Fist,” Liam answered.
“I do believe ye came here a few years ago. I remember that name distinctly. The whole event was booked as ‘The Iron Fist’ and the others. Jesus Christ, you were brutal,” Sean said. “I’ll be sure I don’t get on yer wrong side.” He smiled wryly and left.
~~~
Sean and Liam became fast friends, with their nationality a strong link. Sean, a Catholic, thought it was grand when Liam told him of how he had a Catholic friend and skirmished with his own Protestants, opposing British rule in the region. The two families became friends as well. Sean and his wife, Molly, had an eleven-year-old boy named after his father, and two girls, one eight and the other six. Young Sean, Maggie, and Alice were the spit of their mother Molly, an auburn-headed, blue-eyed pixie of a girl who elder Sean said ruled the roost.
~~~
While young Sean had his mother’s auburn hair, striking pale blue eyes, and freckles, he was not small. Ellen noticed he was all legs and arms with a narrow torso, he had the promise of a tall lean man, definitely his father’s build. Ellen was smitten by young Sean. The feeling seemed mutual on young Sean’s part and the two soon-to-be sixth-graders became inseparable. Young Sean taught her the lay of the “Catholic Hill” neighborhood, the surrounding rocky, rolling hills, and the back alleys and streets of the city in the gulch. He showed her where the school was and gave her a who’s who of the school-aged children she would encounter. He went on and on as they walked around the school grounds.
Eva and the Irishman Page 63