by BJ Hoff
Sara nodded, her heart aching for the steadfast, devoted Englishman they had all grown to love and admire. “We must help them, Michael. However we can. I’m sure Father…and Grandy…will want to help, too.”
He nodded. “Of course, we’ll help. Apparently, Evan and Dr. Grafton intend to explain things to Nora the first of the week. Once Nora knows, we’ll talk with them and see just what we can do.”
After a moment, he came to her and, lifting her out of the chair, took her place, then settled her onto his lap. “In the meantime, though, Sara a gra,” he said, wrapping her tightly in his arms, “what, exactly, are you intending to do with your wayward girl upstairs? Hmm?”
“I don’t quite know,” Sara admitted with a sigh. “She can stay here for the time being, until we think of something.”
He stroked her hair, saying nothing for a moment. “Sara, I hope you won’t be too hasty in involving yourself with this girl. We don’t know her at all, remember.”
Sara pulled back enough to look at him. “We know she needs help. And we know she’s bright and brave and seems quite resourceful.” She paused, then added almost angrily, “And we know a terrible injustice has been done to her.”
“Indeed. But I still think you need to be cautious. It’s my observation that Quinn O’Shea might be running from more than Ethelda Crane.”
She frowned. “I suppose you can’t help thinking like a policeman, Michael, but do keep in mind that the girl has only come across recently. Obviously, she’s frightened and unsure of herself. But that doesn’t have to mean she’s running from something, does it?”
He studied her for a moment. “Perhaps not. But there’s a look about her I’ve seen too many times before, Sara. If you asked me to define it, I’d not know how. But—”
He broke off, and Sara knew she hadn’t convinced him.
“Surely you’ve noticed how skittish she is around me?” he said. “She acts as if she half expects me to haul her off to jail at any moment.”
Sara shrugged off his skepticism. “You’ve told me yourself the Irish are often suspicious of policemen. And the truth is, darling,” she added, “that you can be rather intimidating. Especially when you’re wearing your grim expression.”
“Indeed?” He cuffed her lightly on the chin, then pulled her back into his arms. “Well, at any rate, we’ll have to be making some arrangements for her soon. She seems willing enough to work, but she’s had no chance to go looking for a position as yet. Being Irish is going to severely limit her chances. You’d best warn her about the way things are for the Irish in New York.”
“I’ll help her find something,” Sara said, brushing off his concern. “Michael,” she said, burying her head against his shoulder, “you are going to launch an investigation of that dreadful Women’s Shelter, aren’t you?”
“Oh, you can count on it. I’ll set my best men to it, first thing Monday. And I intend to ask for a subcommission investigation as well. We’ll do whatever it takes to clean house at that place, including closing it down, if need be.”
“I want to help,” Sara announced, again rearing back to look at him.
“I think the police can handle it, love,” Michael said teasingly.
“But I want to help,” she repeated, all seriousness. “And I think I can. Ethelda Crane is used to members of the mission societies visiting the Shelter now and then. She’d have no reason to be suspicious if I made an unexpected call.” She paused, then added, “Michael, I mean it. Please, let me have a part in this.”
Taking her by the shoulders, he searched her eyes. “The woman really got to you, didn’t she?”
Sara bristled. “I sensed Ethelda Crane was an unqualified phony the day I met her. Not to mention the fact that she’s a bigot.”
Even now, months later, Sara became incensed at the memory. She could still see the pious Ethelda Crane, standing in the midst of the group of women from the church, her tight, thin lips wagging on and on about the “filthy, diseased” Irish.
She should have confronted the woman right then and there, Sara thought, still angry with herself for walking away. And she should have demanded a thorough investigation of the Shelter—and its administrator—at the same time. There was no telling how much grief she might have spared Quinn O’Shea and the other residents if she had only followed her instincts.
With a long sigh, she sank against Michael, grateful for his warm strength and his patience. “I’m so thankful for you, Michael. You can’t imagine.”
He brushed his chin over the top of her head. “Because I tolerate your propensity for stray animals and wandering girls?”
She heard the smile in his voice, knew he was trying to lighten her mood. “That, too. But mostly for being yourself…for being all the things I’m not.”
“Such as?”
“Oh…practical. Sensible. Steady. Dependable.”
“You make me sound deadly dull, love.”
“Hardly. I can’t think of a man less dull than you. But certainly I’m not quite as prudent or rational as I need to be at times.”
He chuckled softly as Sara went on. “And I suppose I need to heed your caution about Quinn. I’ll admit that I find myself admiring the girl’s grit. I do like her, Michael, but it’s true that we don’t know her—even if she is upstairs, sleeping in our best guest room.”
Still stroking her head with his chin, Michael uttered a small sound of approval. “I know you only want to help the lass, Sara. And so do I. It’s just that, at present, I think Nora and Evan should be our first concern. That doesn’t mean the girl can’t stay here for a time, if your grandmother doesn’t object. We’ll speak with her in the morning, and—”
“Michael?” Sara jerked upright and looked at him instantly. “Didn’t Evan tell you that what would help most…is a girl to take over the housework and look after Teddy?”
“Aye, he did.”
“They’d be looking for an immigrant girl, more than likely. Someone who wouldn’t be expecting an exorbitant wage, perhaps someone who would be satisfied with a small salary in addition to room and board?”
Michael nodded. “Yes, she’d have to be reasonable about her earnings. They don’t have all that much to spare, but Evan said they’d manage somehow.”
“Michael?” Her voice was muted, muffled against his shoulder. “What about Quinn?”
Michael grew still. “Quinn?”
With one hand on his chest, Sara pushed herself back and looked at him. “Yes, Quinn! She’s recently immigrated. She’s young, she seems healthy—and I doubt she’d be expecting an unreasonable wage, not for her first position in a new country. Oh, Michael, she might be just the one—”
“Now, Sara, just slow down a bit.” He caught her hand in his. “I don’t think Quinn O’Shea is necessarily the best choice for Evan and Nora.”
“Why not?” Suddenly impatient with the sensible nature she had been praising only a moment ago, Sara frowned at him.
“For the same reason I told you not to be too quick to get involved with the girl. We know nothing about her! You’re suggesting that Evan and Nora take a complete stranger into their home, to help look after Nora and the baby—”
“Michael—you told me once that you trusted my instincts about people. Remember?”
He admitted, grudgingly, that he had told her exactly that.
“And didn’t you just say that Nora and Evan should be our first concern?”
He clamped his jaw and nodded.
“But you also agreed that we should try to help Quinn, too.”
“All right, Sara, that’s true. But it wasn’t my intention to drop them all in the pot together to see if they can make soup! Quinn O’Shea is but a slip of a girl, and a stranger at that. We haven’t even a notion as to whether she knows how to keep house or cook or tend a baby.” He stopped. “And don’t forget,” he said pointedly, “that Evan and Nora are our friends.”
“It seems to me that’s exactly why we should be trying to help
them. Michael—couldn’t we at least talk with Quinn?”
Michael frowned. “Talk with her?”
Sara nodded eagerly. “Yes, couldn’t we talk with Quinn and find out if she has the necessary qualifications for such a position? Don’t you see, Michael? If Quinn is qualified…and if she’s interested…we’d be helping her as well as Nora and Evan! Quinn would have a job and a place to live—and Nora would have the help she needs. It could be an ideal arrangement.”
In the end, he agreed that, no, it wouldn’t hurt to talk with the girl. He was quick to remind her, though, that talking would not obligate them. And, yes, she did have a point: It might turn out to be a good thing for the girl as well as for Nora and Evan. He said all this, and then he smiled as Sara threw her arms around his neck and told him, not for the first time, that he was really quite wonderful.
42
I Have Brought You to This Place
My heart is the seed of time, my veins are star-dust,
My spirit is the axle of God’s dream.
T.D. O’BOLGER
Late the next morning at the hospital, Evan said a final goodbye to Billy Hogan, reassuring him that he would be back to visit the next day. “Right after Sunday m-morning worship,” he promised. “Perhaps Daniel John will come with m-me. Would you like that, Billy?”
The boy managed a faint smile. His forehead was bandaged, as was his left eye. His cuts had been cleaned and dressed, and due to a fractured shoulder, his right arm was in a sling. But he was alert and able to communicate with Evan and Michael Burke, who had walked into the children’s ward not long after Evan arrived.
“Mr. Evan?” The boy’s voice was little more than a whisper. Obviously, he was still in great pain. It occurred to Evan again that, given Billy’s grave physical condition, it was nothing short of miraculous that his voice had reached beyond the coal cellar the night before to attract their attention.
“Yes, Billy?” Evan bent lower to hear him.
The child glanced at Michael Burke, standing at the foot of the bed with his arms over his chest, then lowered his voice even more. “Am I in trouble?”
“Trouble?” Evan stared at him. “Why, of course, you’re n-not in trouble, Billy! What would make you think such a thing?”
The boy’s gaze slid back to Michael Burke, who obviously had heard his question. Smiling, the policeman came around the bed to stand next to Evan. “I’m here strictly as a friend, Billy. You helped me out in a tight place a couple of years past. Do you recall?”
Billy frowned, shaking his head. “No, sir.”
“In the Five Points, when the strikers jumped me and Sergeant Price? You ran for help. If it hadn’t been for you, we’d have been in a bad way for certain.”
The boy’s expression cleared, and he gave a brief nod.
“Am I going to get well, Mr. Evan?”
“Oh yes, Billy!” Evan rushed to assure him. “Why, you’re going to be as good as n-new in no time. I have the word of two physicians on that. But you m-must do exactly as the doctors and nurses tell you while you’re here.”
The boy looked away, and Evan thought he was drifting off to sleep. But after a moment, he asked quietly, “Do I have to go back home when I’m well?”
Evan swallowed against the knot in his throat. He turned to look at Michael. The policeman’s expression was grim as he gave a curt shake of his head.
“N-no, Billy,” Evan said quietly. “You don’t.”
After another silence, the boy turned back to face Evan. “Then where will I go?”
Evan drew a deep breath, let it out again, still not answering. An urge overwhelmed him to gather the broken boy against his heart and tell him he would take him home with him. But with Nora so ill and the house already crowded, how could he even think of it?
Instead, he sank down on the side of the bed and took Billy’s hand in his. “It’s too soon to m-make plans just yet, Billy. For a while, you’re going to b-be right here, getting strong and well. B-but I promise you, when the time comes for you to leave, we will find you a good…safe place to live. Please promise m-me you won’t fret about this for now, that you’ll concentrate on getting well.”
“Aye, Mr. Evan,” Billy said after only the slightest hesitation. “I promise.”
Seeing that he was growing drowsy again, Evan rose. “Captain Burke and I m-must go now, Billy. You rest. And be sure to eat everything the nurses b-bring you. I’ll come again tomorrow.”
On the way out, Evan could not help but notice the crowded conditions of the ward. Every bed was taken, many with children much younger than Billy Hogan. Some lay sobbing, in obvious pain. Others bore bruises and injuries all too similar to Billy’s. The scars of abuse.
Unable to restrain himself, Evan stopped several times to visit with a youngster who looked unhappy or lonely. By the time he and Michael reached the exit of the hospital, his heart felt almost as heavy as it had the night before.
Outside, they stopped to talk before going their separate ways. “I came in a patrol wagon,” Michael said. “Why don’t I take you to the ferry?”
Evan shook his head. “Thank you, Michael, but I think I’d like to walk a ways. I think b-best when I walk, and…well, I have a fair amount of thinking to d-do.”
“About Nora, I expect.”
Evan nodded, drawing his muffler more tightly about his throat. “And Billy. About a lot of things, actually.”
They both stood looking out over the East River, choppy in the brisk November wind. As always, the river was dotted with a variety of ships, largely immigrant vessels. They kept coming by the thousands, week after week, month after month, bringing their sorrows and their dreams to America.
“Have you talked with Nora yet, about your visit with Dr. Grafton?” Michael asked, still staring at the river.
“No. Dr. Grafton is coming by Monday evening. He thought it m-might be best for him to be there when I tell her. It’s just as well. It was too late last n-night. I was exhausted, and with everything else—well, it will be best to wait, I think.”
He explained about the fire, went on to tell Michael his Aunt Winnie’s observation: that God’s purpose had been accomplished in the fire, that He had turned it to good use for Johanna. “Ever the optimist, Aunt Winnie,” Evan said with a faint smile. “And as Nora would say, I’d not b-be the one to argue with her.”
After a long silence, Michael turned to him. “Sara and I want to help, Evan. However we can. You and Nora—well, I expect you know—we feel that you’re family.”
“Thank you, Michael,” Evan responded, pleased by his words. “I’m sure Sara will be a great help in finding us a girl to live in.” He turned to look at Michael. “I think it’s absolutely vital that I find someone as soon as p-possible. N-not just anyone, of course, but someone Nora will feel comfortable with, someone qualified.”
Evan paused and gave a rueful smile, “It should be a very simple m-matter, don’t you think: finding a girl who’s willing to take on the responsibility of keeping house, as well as providing care for an infant—and Nora? A very small, crowded house with a g-great deal of work. And all at an af-affordable wage, of course. I can’t think why I’d have any difficulty finding the person we need.”
Michael folded his arms over his chest, regarding him with a studying look. “Well, Evan, as it happens, you may not have all that much trouble finding someone. In fact, we may have already found her—if you’re agreeable, that is.”
Evan stared at him. He was unable to suppress the surge of hope that began to rise in him as Michael explained the situation with the young woman named Quinn O’Shea.
Michael ended his story with a word of caution. “Sara says I’m too much the policeman, but I’d not feel right if I didn’t tell you I have misgivings about the girl. I can’t shake the feeling that she’s not being altogether candid with us.”
“You think she’s lying?”
Michael hesitated. “Perhaps not lying so much as…withholding something. I know
you’re anxious to find a girl right away—but with Nora and the children, I also know you’re not wanting to take any chances. I just thought I should mention what I suspect.”
Evan thought about it for a moment. “You say the girl has n-nowhere to go?”
“She has nothing but the clothes on her back, and that’s the truth. Sara was going to enlist her grandmother’s help this morning in altering a few things for her. She’s absolutely destitute.” Michael’s eyes darkened. “Apparently, she never saw the first penny of a wage, though she worked several hours a day at the Shelter.”
“You indicated that she’s had experience, m-managing a household?” Evan asked thoughtfully.
“So she claims, and Sara seems to think the lass is knowledgeable.”
Trying not to feel too eager, Evan chose his words carefully. “Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to at least talk with her. It would seem that an arrangement m-might be as beneficial to the girl as to us.”
“Sara said as much last night. She likes the lass.”
“What about the girl? D-does she seem interested in the position at all?” Evan asked, feeling more hopeful still.
Michael lifted an eyebrow. “Let’s just say she seemed a bit dubious at first, that the English and the Irish could manage to live under the same roof without starting a war.” He grinned. “But Sara seems to think you and Nora can settle her doubts about that particular issue.”
Evan walked for a long time. He walked, and he prayed, letting his thoughts wander where they would.
He thought about Nora and the shadow that had recently fallen upon their life together, and he wondered if he would ever sleep an entire night through again, without waking up in fear for her.
Yet on the heels of that somber thought came the reminder of everything Nora had survived up until now. The famine in Ireland. The loss of her entire family, except for Daniel. The nightmare of the Atlantic crossing. The scarlet fever. Teddy’s difficult birth.
Not to mention the fire last night, he thought with a sigh.
He could not help but remember how she had looked the first time he ever saw her: a small, weary, half-starved woman with a world of sorrow in her eyes. God had brought her from that seemingly hopeless life all the way across the ocean, through danger and illness and threat of death, to meet the challenge of a new life in a new land with a new family.