Wayne Johnson seemed haggard and worn. “As of the end of the month, I’m resigning my post,” he said. “I’m recommending to the board that you have the head administrator position. I’ve done this for nearly forty years, and I’m ready to retire.” He further explained that he decided to avoid a hassle with the St. Johns Board of Directors. They were not going to be happy with the scandal of his affair with an employee who turned out to be psychotic.
“I’m grateful ye think so highly of me, Wayne. I won’t accept the position, though. O’Neill has seniority over me. He’s more than capable to handle the position. I won’t have it any other way.”
“I’ll not argue with you then. O’Neill is very qualified.” Dr. Johnson heaved a great sigh.
Liam stood and left Johnson’s office. When he arrived at his own office, Sean was there. He was sitting in his chair in a state of agitation. He stood abruptly when Liam walked in.
“Are ye all right, Liam? None of us knew. I feel awful that I was not very nice to her. Guilty, more like it. It was me who pushed her over the edge. I’m just surprised she didn’t go after me. I feel guilty for that, too.” Sean was talking fast without taking a breath.
Liam put his hand on Sean’s shoulder, and it stopped Sean’s nervous chattering. “It’s over, Sean. I’m all right. Come with me for a few minutes to help explain to Eva. I want you to tell it, and Sally can interpret the complexity to Eva in Finnish. Can ye do that for me? Then we’ll call things even if ye think ye owe me.”
Sally did as best she could to explain the psychotic episode of Lucy Jefferies, as told to her by Sean. Eva cried as Liam’s near fatal attack was described, provoking memories of Eino’s attack on her in Minnesota. As they all sat in the parlor, she clung protectively to Liam on the sofa as the story was grimly told.
“Vhere sees now?” Eva asked, pulling her hankie out of her sleeve to blow her nose. Liam brought his out to wipe her tears. She looked into his eyes, frightened at the whole story.
“She’s in a locked room, heavily sedated,” Sean said. “She will be transported to a Catholic Hospital for women like her in San Francisco in a day or two. It turns out she has no family in the area, and no one at the hospital knows of family elsewhere.” Sean stood up. “All’s well,” he said. He reached out to take Eva’s hand, squeezing it. He nodded to Liam, and then left to return to the hospital.
“I’ll watch these two,” Annie said, referring to the babies, “while you two go upstairs for a while. You both need soothing from each other in privacy.”
~~~
Liam walked into the bedroom and heaved a sigh of relief. He sat down in the plush rocking chair, feeling like a ragdoll, emotionally drained.
Eva, on the other hand, stripped naked and climbed onto the bed, imploring with blazing sapphire eyes that Liam do the same.
“Eva, I’m sorry, darlin’, but I’m not in that kind of mood.”
Angry, she said, “I take you back, now. Sees took you from me, even yust in sees’ mind. I take you back from her.”
He looked at her, nonplussed. “But she didn’t really take me from you.”
She implored him again. “Liam! I take you back!” she said emphatically.
He came to her with no other argument. She would take him back to settle it in her own mind.
She gave him everything he always wanted and loved from her: her breasts, stimulated to release milk by his tongue; her wetness when he made love to her, warm and sticky, smelling sweet. She obliged him orally, taking his testicles fully in her mouth, driving him mad with need to release. She seemed to want him to come to her again and again, and willingly he did.
They didn’t make it to supper and came downstairs very late, after they had checked in with the children.
Annie or Sally had left two plates of roast chicken, potatoes, and canned corn from the store. Both Eva and Liam were famished after having missed lunch. They sat side by side, chairs against each other, huddled as though each was protecting the other.
“Are you back to me yet?” Eva asked, finishing her glass of milk.
“I never left ye, Eva.” Liam pressed into her shoulder with his, bringing his arm around her waist. “I understand what ye thought ye had to do … with me.” He was trying to sound appreciative, which he was. “Ye surprised me with the testicles in yer mouth… thing … and I hope ye do that to me again, someday. But darlin’—”
“Nobody gonna tink you are free to take ’vay.”
“She wasn’t normal, Eva. Like Eino.” He looked into her eyes. “Tell me somethin’. Did ye feel like ye got yer power from defeatin’ her by using yer feminine wiles on me, to bring me back to ye?”
“I had to show I can keep you.”
“If ye think ye have to manipulate me to keep me, then I have all the power. And you believe any woman has the power, and you have to trick me to stay. It’s not power, Eva. It’s desperation.”
“Vhat despir—”
“Doin’ anythin’ because ye’re afraid.”
Eva seemed dejected. He put his arms around her.
“Den, vhat I do, Liam?”
“You, my sweet love, must believe in your heart and soul that you deserve to have a happy marriage, a love with only me. You must know you are good enough to have that, that you are truly my only one.” He was stressing the words to make them sound powerful. “I can say it a thousand times to ye, but it’s up to you to know it. Perhaps another way to say it is that your power lies in what you know to be true.”
They sat for a while in each other's arms. Then Liam had an idea. “Do ye know it to be true, that I love and want only you?”
“Yes, I do.” She let him kiss her fervently.
Many minutes passed as they sat re-connecting emotionally.
Finally, he spoke. “I noticed that upstairs this afternoon in bed, I was havin’ all the orgasms. You didn’t have one.”
She studied his face, puzzled.
“Why don’t we go back up now, and I’ll give you a few?” He watched her face color.
~~~
After her third orgasm, Liam laid his head on Eva's inner thigh. “What is it that ye know to be true?”
“Dat you luff me, all by myself.”
“That’s one way to put it. I get what ye mean, though.” Liam laughed at her sometimes hilariously nonsensical way of speaking American. He shifted to lie next to her.
She put his fingers on her erect nipple and moved it round and round.
He rolled on top of her. “Do ye want to go for four?”
~~~
Eva squirmed underneath him, happily spreading her legs. She felt happy and in love with Liam Dady. It was stronger than ever. His words of love were beginning to resonate in her soul. She moaned, wrapping her legs around his bum, letting him deep inside.
“Ummm, you my sexy man.”
Chapter 11
That spring, Liam started to take shooting lessons from Jake Russell, armed cabbie and ex-cowboy. Ed Murphy had heard from customers at his restaurant that McKay was more than likely to come back, specifically on the Fourth of July.
Liam was impressed and amused that Jake had seen it all in the earlier days of westward expansion. The cabbie had wild stories to tell of his youth in Texas and Montana.
“I drove cattle in my teens and twenties,” Jake said. “They were some of the last drives, with the railroad now takin’ the cattle to the slaughterhouses in the Midwest. There were plenty of hot dry days and cold wet nights. There was an incident where we were chased out o’ town. Abilene, Kansas, I remember. One o’ the cowmen in my outfit had cheated in a card game, and you can guess the rest.”
“Even in Ireland we got the stories,” Liam said. “I grew up readin’ ’em and dreamin’ of the prairie.”
“It’s tame here compared to even twenty years ago, but people still think it’s fittin’ to have a gun fight in the streets now and agin,” Jake said. He was dressed in a wrinkled white cotton shirt and faded dungarees. Liam laughed to hi
mself when recalling Ellen’s comment that she thought his moustache could sprout legs and crawl away at any time. He had on the same Stetson as when Liam first met him nearly a year ago. Liam also saw, for the first time, Jake Russell’s slightly bowed legs, no doubt from driving cattle, and long hours on a horse in his early years.
Jake had brought Liam to his property on the far west edge of town. Liam had just watched Jake pick off seven rusty cans from a fence rail.
“I’m not interested in becoming a gun slinger,” Liam said. “I just want to learn to handle and shoot. And I want ye to recommend a pistol.”
“Why would a doctor want to learn how to shoot a gun? And don’t tell me ye wanna go huntin’ elk. This ain’t a gun for elk.”
“Remember when I first met ye? You mentioned Sheridan McKay.”
“No shit, you know the bastard?” Jake asked, wide-eyed. “How the hell do ye know ‘im?”
“It’s a long story and I’ll cut to the chase. I was a fighter the first years I was in America. I worked in his scheme, riggin’ fights. I lost a fight I should’ve won and he’s out fer me. I ran from St. Louis all the way to Northern Minnesota to hide. That’s where I met my wife. McKay caught up with me in Minnesota just before we arrived here. He almost got me. That’s why we’re here in Helena.”
“Ye don’t figger you can run agin, so ye learn how to shoot, to git him before he gits you.” Jake handed Liam the pistol pointing the handle at him.
“That’s about it.” Liam took the proffered pistol, a Colt six-shooter, and aimed at the far left can of five on the fence. It was the first shot he ever took in his life.
“Now, don’t jerk yer finger. Just squeeze gennle-like,” Jake said softly.
Liam squeezed gently. The sound reverberated up his arm and made his ears ring. The kick of the pistol didn’t bother him all that greatly. The weather-worn can he aimed at flew from the fence, leaving a momentary pouf of brown-red rust.
“Christ, I hit it,” Liam murmured in mild surprise. “It’s not so bad, the feel of it.”
“Not bad, Doc. Not bad at all. Ye have a natural talent. Ye can’t be afraid if ye’re gonna use a firearm. I don’t sense fear.” Jake seemed pleased with his student, smiling behind that top lip of furry facial hair. “Now go fer the rest, slowly.”
Liam got the remaining four in seven shots. Jake showed Liam how to reload.
“Well, I wasn’t too bad for the first time,” Liam declared.
“That’s what I said to the whore I lost my virginity to,” Jake mused, shoulders shaking in a silent laugh. “Then she laughed and showed me a thing or two I ain’t seen yet at sixteen.”
Liam laughed at Jake’s self-amusing, unabashed statement. He knew Jake had no idea how similar his life was to his, in the loss-of-virginity realm.
“One more round of shots, Jake. Then I need to get back to my errands and home. Saturday is sauna day.”
“I heard o’ them steam baths.”
“Why don’t ye come by with a clean change of garments and have one. Come at four and we’ll feed ye, too. It’ll be in lieu of yer Saturday night bath.”
“Don’t mind if I do. Thanks, Doc.”
Liam told Jake where they lived, and then reloaded. He fired away at the bullet-damaged cans. Liam saw McKay’s face on every one of them, hitting each one in a single shot.
~~~
When Liam arrived home with dry goods and sewing items, Eva smelled the gun powder on him right away.
“Are you learnink to see-oot?”
Liam would not lie to Eva. She had had enough of that in her life. “Aye,” he said. “Jake Russell is my instructor. And he’s coming for sauna at four.”
“Good, I make somptink nice for supper.”
Ellen, carrying her brother, came into the kitchen. Liisa toddled behind.
“Who’s coming for supper?” Ellen asked.
Conor started to fuss when he saw his Mamma. Ellen handed him over. Eva opened her blouse to feed him. At five months, he was the size of a twelve-month-old.
“Mr. Russell. Remember the cabbie with the big moustache?” Liam asked.
Liisa tugged on Liam’s trouser leg, and Liam picked her up. He blew a raspberry on her neck that made her titter.
“Yes, I remember Jake Russell,” Ellen said. “He was amazing.”
“Ellen,” Eva said. “It nice day. Liisa vant to play in a svink. You take her.”
“Yes, Mamma. Come Liisa, let’s play outside.”
When Liisa and Ellen were on the other side of the door, Eva asked Liam what he was doing. “I don’t understand you vit gun. I know it not huntink.”
“The McKay troubles are not over. I feel helpless, and I asked Jake Russell to help me. McKay is goin’ to be able to come back to Helena this summer. Ed’s heard rumors it’s this July Fourth. I just want to do … somethin’…”
“I can’t say any tink. You do vhat you vant to help you. I don’t know vhat else you can do.” Eva switched Conor to the other breast, leaving herself half exposed to Liam's gaze.
“Where’s Sally?” he asked.
“I know vhat you vant,” said Eva. She smiled at his blatant staring. “Too bad you are not baby.”
“Was it that obvious?” Liam laughed. “I’ll get mine later, after dark.”
“You tink so?”
“I know so,” he said with confidence. He gave her a lecherous smile and got a laugh from her.
~~~
Eva made sure she had a chance to talk to Jake alone while he was there.
“I know you teatts Liam vit gun,” she said. “I vant to learn, too.”
“I don’t know, Mrs. Dady. What's the Doc gonna say?”
“Notink. You not gonna tell him. I pay you my money. I see-oot lil bit in Finland for huntink. I yust need lil practice. I see you maybe two, tree times. No more. Please, I vant to. You can help. Yust don’t tell Liam.” Eva was adamant.
“I’ve always been a sucker for a pretty gal. If it’s gonna be a few times, I guess I can oblige ye, Ma’am.” He smiled with a twinkle in his eye. Eva knew he was a complete gentleman, though.
“Good. Liam make operation all day Monday. Vhere I meet you?”
The arrangement was made. She also arranged for Jake Russell to buy her a small pistol and ammunition.
~~~
Jake came to get Eva after she had Ellen and young Sean take the little ones to Molly’s for the morning on their way to school. Her plan was to go to target practice for an hour, and then Jake would take her to the dry goods to buy woolen strips for her weaving.
“I see-oot vone-time gun. You haff to load every time.”
“A muzzle loader of sorts,” Jake said.
Jake bought the smallest Colt hand gun he could find and taught Eva how to load it. “It’s best ye find a high place to keep it, so yer children can’t git at it.”
“Ve know how to keep guns in Finland. Pappas tell seeldren to stay ’vay.”
Jake took a few shots to get the feel of the new pistol. “It’s got a slightly easy trigger. Not a hair trigger, but easy. Here, you try.”
Eva took the gun, aimed at the little rusty cans on the fence, and fired. She hit the first one on the left, cocked it again and fired. The second went flying, then the third, then the fourth.
“Mrs. Dady, I do believe ye’ve done this before. There’s no fear in you, just like Liam.” Jake seemed impressed.
“Tank you, Yake.”
“Ye don’t need practice. Just keep it out of reach.”
~~~
School had been out for nearly a month and Fourth of July was at hand. Helena was holding a big parade to celebrate. There would be horse races and a not-so-overtly-advertised fist fighting tournament. McKay surely was going to take advantage of the big crowds for the horse races in Helena. Liam knew McKay’s modus operandi; maximum crowds meant a bigger take.
Doctors Sean and Liam were on a break in their office discussing the return of McKay. Liam had explained McKay's return to him an
d asked if he could pull a few of his miner friends, former Catholic “warriors” from Belfast days, to beef up the watch on the neighborhood and find out exactly when McKay would arrive. Liam had also talked to Ed covertly. He would be in on the watch for McKay. He’d help downtown from the restaurant he and Annie were now running. They were living on the second floor, just like the place in Minnesota. Ed could place look-outs in the front window to spot any thugs dressed in leather vests and caps. Liam had one wish that would solve everything. It would be grand if McKay just keeled over or one of his enemies got to him.
~~~
Ellen was twelve and enthralled with life. All the upcoming festivities for the Fourth seemed so grandiose compared to Minnesota. Virginia had had a parade, but it seemed so different than how young Sean had described the two-day festival here. She and he were going to participate in the annual parade down Main Street in the horse formation. Their riding instructor found the most bomb-proof horse for Ellen at the behest of Liam who had heard of horses bolting in parades where loud marching bands would be playing and firecrackers would be set off at random. Ellen and young Sean would be riding western with all the rodeo riders. Ellen had gotten a whole western riding outfit and was beside herself with exhilaration.
“Ye look like Annie Oakley,” young Sean laughed.
“Shut up,” Ellen hissed through her teeth, “or I’ll …”
“Or you’ll what?” Sean asked.
Ellen punched him in the arm.
“Ow!”
“That.”
Then she got her very first monthly a week before the parade. Eva shared the advice Liam had given her from a medical point of view. She also talked about what Ellen had to look forward to as she grew older.
“This is awful, Mamma. My belly hurts. And how am I going to do stuff with these cloths pinned to my bloomers? I don’t want to do this!”
Eva and the Irishman Page 69