by ML Gardner
“Really? You're serious? You're not joking?”
He laughed, hugging her tightly. “No, I'm not joking,” he said. He was overly happy as well. He missed his Maura. He knew that, somehow, she would help to ease the sting of Aryl's loss and return them all to as normal a life as could be expected. He read the telegram over Ava's shoulder again. Never been seasick. He read with a grin.
Yes, Maura would be there for them all. Claire especially, he thought. Help her heal and prepare for her baby. Her presence would ease his own mind, and bring happiness to Ava. And maybe, just maybe, she could get through to Caleb. He closed his eyes with his silent prayer.
The next day, Jonathan and Caleb took the Ahna-Joy out leaving Patrick to do the chores on the farm. Neither of them spoke of the fight in the barn, though they eyed each other’s lingering bruises with a modest look of victory, and the slightest tinges of guilt.
“Ian’s coming,” Jonathan said abruptly, breaking the silence. Caleb paused then nodded. His pace picked up a little after that, and even though he and Jonathan didn’t speak another word the rest of the day, they worked well together.
It was a good haul. Even with prices sinking, at the end of the day, and splitting the money three ways, they walked away with enough to get through a few more days of life.
July 26th 1930
Maura and Ian stepped off the train just after noon the following Saturday with curious excitement. Jonathan used Caleb’s Runabout to bring them to Claire’s house.
The door was unlocked and Maura stepped in and looked around, her lips pursed in disapproval. The house was silent and pent up; acrid smells floated from the kitchen, stale ones from the rest of the house. Taking a brief walk-through as Jonathan and Ian brought in the trunks; Tarin lingered in the doorway with Scottie in her arms. Maura walked from living room to bathroom, finding it neglected, but empty. She tried one of the bedroom doors and it swung open; a cold musty scent met her nose. The second bedroom door, Claire’s, was locked and Maura knocked on it insistently.
“Claire, love, it’s Maura. We’re here.”
After a long silence, the door creaked and Claire’s bloodshot, puffy eye peeked out of the slightest crack.
“I’m glad you made it safely. You can set yourselves up in the spare bedroom and make yourselves at home.” The door creaked closed and Maura put her hand to it.
“Won’t you come out and have a cup of tea with us? Mr. Jonathan is here.”
Claire’s eye flashed. “No, thank you. I have a headache. I’d just like to lie down for a while.”
Maura set to work, insisting that the house be cleaned before she put their things away, while Jonathan went to fetch Ava and Jean, who were squirming with excitement and disappointed they couldn’t go to the train station.
Maura and Tarin began in the kitchen and Ian set to work in the yard. He walked around, taking it in. It was a small yard, maybe twenty by twenty feet in the front, double that in the back. A small dirt drive that ran the length of the house was neglected, potholed and overgrown with weeds. He mentally roped off a section of the back yard for a garden and smiled, thinking how happy it would make Maura to have it. Short decorative bushes and flowers lined the house; the bushes dehydrated to death and the flowers wilted. The little white house could use a washing and a few of the shingles on the roof needed to be tacked. A home didn’t fall into this much disrepair in the short amount of time since Aryl had passed and it warned him of the time consuming hard work ahead of him on the boats. Best get to it then, He knew it wasn’t his, but he reveled in having earth to care for. He dropped to his knees along the front of the house, pulling handfuls of weeds and small bushes that had little chance of reviving.
Jonathan returned with Ava, Jean and all of their cleaning supplies. Ava jumped out of the truck and burst through the door, throwing her arms around Maura.
“You’re really here!” She hugged her, swaying side to side, refusing to let go.
“Aye, I’m here. And just in time by the looks of it.”
Ava grinned so widely her cheeks hurt and finally Maura wrenched her arms from her neck and made her way to Jonathan. He stood in the doorway, watching with relief that was visible in his stature.
She leaned close and whispered in his ear.
“I’ll be needin’ to talk to you later, just the two of us. Make some time and have a drink ready, aye?”
Ava, Maura, and Tarin began cleaning the kitchen, listening to Maura’s animated recounting of the last few weeks. Claire sat on the floor inside her room, leaning her head on the door. She listened to the commotion below, but was unable to come out and face anyone.
Jonathan stepped into the kitchen, interrupting the cleaning party and feminine chatter.
“Ian and I are going to get Caleb and Arianna. We’ll be back shortly.” He spotted Ava and frowned. She was on her hands and knees in the corner of the kitchen working on the stained tile where the garbage can had once sat. He walked over and reached for her hand, pulling her up.
“You’re in no condition to be working this hard,” he scowled.
“Jon, I’m fine, I–”
“Maura, is there something else that Ava can do?” Jonathan asked, ignoring Ava’s protest. Maura put Ava to wiping down cupboards and Jonathan kissed her cheek. “I’ll be back shortly.”
When Jon returned, Aislin joined Scottie and Jean in the backyard while Arianna toted the babies inside to an eruption of oh’s and ah’s, a happier reunion than the last. Caleb stayed outside, making small talk with Ian. He lifted his goat from the back of the Runabout and led him by his rope to a stake Jonathan had driven in the middle of the front yard. He began munching away at the overgrown yard, and Jonathan smiled. It had been his idea to bring the goat, initially to get Caleb to leave the barn, and to help Ian get control of the wildly neglected yard.
Ian nodded his approval with a smile. Caleb frowned, avoiding looking directly at the house. He shoved his hands in his pockets and scuffed the ground with his shoe. He was the physical picture of uncomfortable and awkward.
“You don’t have to go inside,” Jonathan said in a low voice while handing him a pair of pruning shears. “We’ll just stay out here, alright? There’s plenty of work to do.”
Caleb nodded in appreciation and found a small crabapple tree at the edge of the front yard to work on. He glanced along the side yard, into the back, and could see the three children squatting down looking intently at something. His breath caught and he stared for a moment at the three heads bunched together, the dark curly hair of Aislin, Scotties dark auburn hair, closely shorn and Jean’s jet black locks. He took a ragged sigh and pushed aside childhood memories that he wasn’t prepared to deal with.
The clatter, chatter and laughter coming from the house made the men smile from time to time. They were so concentrated from the women’s voices echoing from the house, they didn’t hear the clunky dairy truck until it was in the driveway, sputtering to a stop.
Jonathan waved and rose from the dirt, walking over to meet him.
“Gordon, how are you?”
“Doing alright. And you?”
“Fair enough. There’s someone I want you to meet.” He nodded toward the house and Gordon followed with a small crate of dairy goods in hand.
Inside the house, the smell of cleanser was slowly winning over the sour and Gordon looked around in slight confusion at the commotion. Jonathan pulled him along into the kitchen.
“Maura, there’s someone I like you to meet.”
Maura pulled her head from inside the oven and wiped her hands.
“This is Gordon. He’s the local dairy and he’ll be making deliveries here regularly.” He turned to Gordon before Maura could make a polite acquaintance. “I’m going to need to you to double that order, Maura and her family will be living here with Claire for a time.”
He nodded happily and held his hand out. “Very nice to meet you, Maura.”
She had smiled automatically, but then as she did
a quick appraisal of him, smiled wider as she stood. “Mr. Gordon. How very nice to meet you.”
“Oh, no, just Gordon is fine.”
“Trust me.” Jonathan leaned in close to Gordon’s ear. “Let her call you whatever she wants.” He grinned.
Maura’s eyes flashed at Jonathan and he laughed quietly.
“This is my niece, Tarin.” She stepped out of the way to reveal Tarin standing by the sink, eyes glazed over and her mouth hanging half slack. She began a sentence but it cut off unintelligibly, and looked down embarrassed.
“Very nice to meet you, Tarin. What a lovely name.”
She smiled, her cheeks flushed red, and looked up just in time to catch his eyes move swiftly up and down in his own appraisal. Suddenly lightheaded and mute, she held the counter for a moment until the dizziness passed, with a nervous, unsteady grin.
At five o’clock Jonathan announced he would be heading over to fetch Shannon and Patrick, who had been left at the farm to finish the chores for the day and prepare dinner for the gathering. He was glad this was the last trip he’d have to make.
Jonathan drove slowly back to the farm. He enjoyed any gathering that Maura was at the head of, but he was still getting used to the different feel of it. It was full, but not complete. No one had said Aryl’s name, but he was very much there. The ghost in the room that no one would speak of.
Shannon loaded several loaves of bread in the back of the truck along with a massive pot of stew and a large cake with the thinnest layer of boiled frosting on top. Patrick looked tired from his day of work, but brought a few tools to help with the repairs and a few extra chairs from the barn to accommodate everyone at Claire’s. He climbed in the truck with Shannon squeezed in the middle of the cab.
“The cow’s stopped givin’,” he said with a hint of worry and frustration.
Jonathan glanced at him sidelong and raised an eyebrow.
“You mean milk?”
“No. Well meanin’ advice.” Patrick shot him a tired look. “Aye, milk.”
“I don’t know anything about cows, Pat.”
“Well, you should know enough that all they give is milk, and meat.”
“What’s to be done about it? Can we breed her again? Or is it time for old Hannah to go to that big pasture in the sky?”
“I have to talk to Caleb. See what he wants done about it.” He scrubbed his face with a tired hand and sighed. “So Maura and Ian are settling in then?”
“Well, I don’t know about settling. They’re both working. Got the whole lot of us working, too.”
Patrick laughed. “Sounds like them. Give me a fat piece of bread and a cup of coffee when I get there and I’ll be ready to put in another day’s work.”
It was a loud gathering, with standing room only spilling from the kitchen into the living room. Maura passed out mugs of stew and slices of bread, shouting out the next round of cleaning and repairs to be done before everyone called it a night.
Children ran underfoot from room to room with shrieks and giggles and Ava smiled leaning against the wall next to Jonathan, wrapping her arms around herself, just above the small swell of her stomach.
At Maura’s unarguable insistence, Gordon had returned after finishing his deliveries to eat with them. He stood in the corner, apart from the commotion of strangers. She handed him food with a cunning smile, which he returned and from the corner of his eye, saw Ian’s hard glare of warning.
Catching Tarin relatively alone, Maura passed her own word of warning.
“I’ve seen how ye been lookin’ at Mr. Gordon.”
“Auntie, I–”
“The only meat you need to be eyein’ is the meat in yer bowl, young lady. Yer only seventeen and besides—” She cast a glance back at Gordon. “I’ve got plans for the man.”
“What plans could you have for him, Auntie? Yer married!”
“Not for me, ye silly girl. For Claire.” Maura’s smile dropped when the room fell silent, reduced to a cough or throat clearing here and there, and the clink of silverware on dishes.
Claire stood at the bottom of the stairs.
“Don’t stop on my account.”
She had showered and dressed, even styled her hair, and wore a light, sleeveless summer dress. Only the darkness under her eyes and a few wrinkles from lingering puffiness gave away the hardships of the last month.
The room reluctantly came back to life and Maura’s eyes went from her, to Caleb, who stayed by the open front door, staring at the floor, picking at his food.
It was Jonathan who noticed Gordon. Frozen in place, looking rather love struck, staring at Claire. Seeing her not in a state of sour dishevelment for the first time had a tremendous effect on him, and it showed. Jonathan glanced at Maura, nodded discreetly to Gordon, and raised his eyebrows in question. Maura made lightning fast glances all around and smiled, nodding back to Jonathan with a wink.
∞∞∞
Later that evening, as Maura readied for bed, she could feel Ian’s stare on her back.
“Do ye have something on yer mind, Ian?” she asked, not attempting to hide her smirk.
“Well, since you asked.” He sat on the bed and bent to aggressively unlace his boots. “I’m not entirely likin’ the way ye were cozying up to yer new friend, Gordon.”
“Honestly, Ian. I was just tryin’ to make the man feel welcome.”
“Well, I saw the way he was lookin’ at ye in response to that welcome.”
Maura laughed and Ian’s face flashed with anger.
“Ian, calm yerself. I have an idea for Mr. Gordon is all. Maybe at first he thought I was being overly nice for other reasons, but he knows I’m married.”
“Aye, he does. I was sure to let him know when you were in the kitchen.”
“Ian!” She whirled around. “What did you say to him? You’d better not ha’ scared him off or so help me God!”
“Calm yerself, Maura,” he mocked. “I introduced myself as yer husband, is all.”
She glared at him, waiting for the rest of the story. He sighed and pulled off his socks with a sheepish grin. “An’ I may have said a few words to the effect of you bein’ the love of my life, and being willing to kill a man–”
“Ian!”
“I didn’t word it just like that. I think it was more my grip when I shook his hand that said what I needed to say.”
Maura closed her eyes and breathed through her nose to the count of ten, trying to ease her temper before she gave in to the urge of throwing Ian through the window.
“Ian. Mr. Gordon is a widower. Did ye know that? And did ye also happen to catch the way he stared at Claire when she came downstairs? Cupid’s arrow didn’t just strike him, it beat him over the head much like I would like to do to you right now. Now if you’ve gone and scared the man off when I’ve got plans for him to court Miss Claire.” She stopped and leveled her voice. “Then I’m going to have to pummel you even more senseless than you already are.”
His look of amusement at her rant faded slightly and he crossed the room to her, putting his hands on her shoulders.
“Maura, ye know I’m a just jealous fool. I know you’ve no interest in wee Gordon and I know ye mean well. Ye see a widow and a widower in the same room and want to play matchmaker, see everyone happy again, but don’t ye think it’s a bit too soon?”
“I’m just laying the groundwork. We’re having Mr. Gordon over for dinner next week. I’ll just get him and Miss Claire talking.”
He laughed lightly and took her hands in his, turning them over, examining them.
“What?”
He ran his fingers over hers, reddened from strong lye soap and bleach, scraped in places, burned in one, and brought them up to his mouth, kissing them each in turn.
“Ye started workin’ the minute ye stepped off the train.”
She wouldn’t admit it, but she was tired to the core.
“Come to bed and let me rub yer back.”
“I wanted to make a few lists first, an
d I need to check on Miss Claire.”
“Maura. Yer notes and yer broken people and yer never ending line of loving charities will all be there in the morning. Come to bed.”
She peeled off her gown and lay on her stomach with Ian settling in beside her. He lifted the covers to steal a peek at her backside in the moonlight and she swatted at him. He laughed and lay on his side, holding his head up with one hand and running a strong hand over her back with the other. He massaged her shoulders one at a time, then did a kneading motion with his knuckles down her spine. He heard her sigh and relax, sinking deeper into the mattress, her muscles gone slack.
“How’s that then?” he whispered as he worked.
“Wonderful,” she said, her voice muffled in the pillow.
“I just can’t help but wonder if it might be too soon. For Claire, I mean.”
“It wasn’t too soon fer me. In fact it worked out quite nicely.” She turned her head towards him.
“She’s not you,” he said softly.
“She’s strong enough,” Maura answered. “She’s got loving support from all sides…it’ll work out fine.”
“And what if it’s too soon for Gordon? Does he even know she’s expecting? Love struck as he might be, that might change things you know.”
“It didn’t change anything for you,” she said sleepily.
“He isn’t me.”
“We’ll just do our best, alright, Ian?”
“We? So now yer pullin’ me into yer little matchmaking business, are ye?”
She gave a tired, heavy giggle. “Ye know you’ll help me because ye love me,” she said with certainty.
He laughed, knowing he was caught. “Aye, that I do, Maura. That I do.”
Finished with the harder massage, he ran his hand softly over her skin in such a relaxing way she began to drift off to sleep. Before she could, he put his lips to the back of her neck.