Page 38 of Heart of the Wren (Haunted Hearts: Season of the Witch #2)

County Kerry, Ireland

LORCAN

Sitting in my living room, I flicked through the paperwork in the blue morning light of late January.

Pat had done his inspections. He understood the condition the farm was in.

His daughter and her husband had poked around the place.

They had some experience of farm work and I felt sure they’d be able to cope.

They were keen to get started on renovating the farmhouse.

They talked about knocking down walls and changing room layouts.

They even planned to demolish my greenhouse, which stung my heart.

I had to steel myself. Selling the farm meant letting it go and letting a new family make their mark on it.

The museum archaeology team spent two weeks pouring over the top field.

They found nothing else of any interest, which I have to admit I was pleased to hear.

I didn’t know how Clíona would react to them removing anything else from her hill.

They paid for the brooch fairly quickly and I had the comfort of knowing Dara and I had the money to fall back on.

I sold my furniture and most of my belongings too.

I expected most of it would end up in a skip but oddly, once I sat back with the paperwork in my hand, I found I didn’t mind.

Hardly anything in the whole house was actually mine.

It had all been passed to me, as much a burden as an heirloom.

I kept a handful of books, including the one Dara had given me, of course.

Also, a box of photographs, my best clothes, and one small spider plant in a bone white pot.

Standing under the eaves where Dara had nailed up the horseshoe, I watched him on his haunches by his van, deep in conversation with a cat.

I thought of the first time I’d opened my door to him, just over two months ago.

Lank hair, scruffy clothes, and a smile to light up any room.

His clothes were clean now, and ironed too.

His hair had grown out after his session with my sheep clippers and sat neatly combed into a side parting.

He was, I thought now as I’d thought when we’d first met, quite the most handsome man I’d ever seen.

As I approached, the cat — the black one with the white tuft of fur like a crescent moon — raised its tail and sauntered away .

“I wanted to give you space to say goodbye,” Dara said.

“Are you talking to me or the cat?”

The farmhouse, the only home I’d ever known, loomed over us, harsh and aloof, its curtains open, its fireplaces cold. “The fairies wanted to take me to the Otherworld. If you hadn't been here, I would have gone. I would have left all this behind. And here I am, leaving it all behind anyway.”

“It’s not too late, if you’ve changed your mind.”

I took a deep breath and put my hand on the small of his back. “Nah.” I called the dogs and opened the brown bear door to let them into the back of the van. “I worry how they’ll cope with going from a farm to a cramped van.”

“We’ll be driving in the countryside,” Dara said. “They’ll have miles and miles of open space to run.”

A teal-coloured Ford Anglia roared over the flat bridge and stopped by the house.

Pat hopped out, wearing a shirt and tie and fixing his moustache, which of course was as perfect as ever.

“Ah, I’m glad I caught you before you left.

” He was all smiles and handshakes. “I’d have kicked myself for missing you. ”

I told him I’d left the paperwork and keys in the living room.

“Grand, yeah, grand.” His smile lingered a touch too long. “Oh, c’mere to me. Have you heard the news? I was in with Mrs Murphy on the way here and she told me about Father McDonagh.”

“What about him?” Dara asked.

“He’s gone.”

“Gone?” I gave Dara a furtive glance .

“Gone,” Pat said. “Moved to another parish overseas. Mrs Murphy says there was a whole big furore on New Year’s Eve. He was having dinner with some of his coterie, you know, and a woman came knocking on his door, demanding money.”

“Money for what?” I asked.

“Their children,” Pat said. “Hers and Father McDonagh’s.

Ho-ho! Honest to God. It’s all after coming out over the past couple of days.

All his dirty little secrets come to light.

He’d been sleeping with a woman from Cork for years and had at least three children with her.

And he had another woman on the go in Galway.

God only knows how many others dotted around the country.

Sure isn’t that why he kept getting moved around by the church?

He was only here for, what, six months? Can you believe it?

He’s gone. Sure it’s all change around here. ” He smiled at me again.

I touched his arm.

“Ah, stop, will ya,” he said with a laugh.

“You’re a good man, Lorcan, and I’m glad you’ve found someone.

You’d better keep in touch, now. I expect a letter or a phone call once a month, at least. You may not know where you’ll be, but you’ll always know where I’ll be. ” He waved his arm towards the house.

“I thought your daughter and her husband were moving in,” Dara said.

“They are, they are,” he said, “but I’m getting on a bit and they thought I should move in with them. There’s plenty of room. And Brian wants to do up the old cottage out the back for me. He’s worried I won’t be able to manage the stairs. ”

“Go on outta that,” I said. “There’s plenty of life in you.”

He smirked and dropped his chin. “I might have to keep on my own house, so I have somewhere to go and play, sure you know yourself.” He winked and slapped my arm. “You’ve done well to find a man like him.” He touched Dara’s elbow. “You’re a sexy big brute. I bet you're a great aul ride.”

“ Hah! I've never had any complaints upheld.” Dara grinned, flashed his canine teeth.

Pat chuckled and slapped his shoulder. “Come here to me now, give me a hug, the pair of you. I’m going to miss having you around.” He gave us both a kiss on the lips.

Throughout my life in Tullycleena, he’d been the only person who knew every aspect of me and he’d accepted it all uncritically. “I’m going to miss you too, Pat.”

He waved us off as Dara and I bundled into the van and drove across the flat bridge, along the track, and out through the front gate.

???

We trundled along the hedge-lined lane into the village, turning at the roundabout with its moss-covered Celtic cross, and past the national school.

“You read Carol’s tea leaves, didn’t you?” I asked.

“I did but…”

“But what?”

“I didn’t tell her everything I saw.”

“Why? What did you see?”

Dara bit his lower lip. “Don’t tell her. I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but she’s going to have a big family. Seven daughters. The last of which, apparently, will be a light to break the darkness. I don’t entirely know what it means yet, but I read it right there in the cup, plain as day.”

“Why didn’t you tell her?”

“It’s an awful lot of weight on young shoulders,” he said. “And she needed to make the decision for herself.”

“Isn’t there some fortune-telling rule about always telling the truth?”

“I didn’t lie to her,” he said. “The leaves told me I could trust her. And I will tell her what I saw. One day.”

We pulled up outside Bullseye’s house, a two storey new build on a row of identical houses. Dara beeped the horn and almost immediately, the front door swung open. Eddie appeared, laden with bags. I helped him load them into the van while Dara strapped some of the larger cases to the roof.

In the front garden, Carol said goodbye to the four of her sisters who still lived at home. They talked of having more space in the house, at long last. They all hugged her and wished her well. All except one.

“Are you not going to say goodbye?” Carol asked.

Her sister kept her arms folded and her head low.

“Ah, don’t mind her,” said another sister. “She’s mad jealous.”

“I am not.” The moody sister gave her a shove.

“She is. She thinks Eddie’s a ride.”

The sisters all laughed.

“Ah look, she’s scarlet!”

Bullseye took me to one side. “You’re really going?”

“I really am. ”

He pushed his glasses up his nose and nodded. He crossed his arms and looked all round him. “You’ve decent weather for it, anyway. The ferry crossing should be smooth enough, like.”

The plan was to drive to Cork and get the ferry over to Wales, then drive to the far side of England to drop Carol and Eddie off at his home. “It’ll be the farthest I’ve ever been from home.”

“I’ve been to Spain a few times.” He talked to his feet and bobbed his head. “I can’t believe… I can’t believe I’m losing my daughter and my… my best friend on the same feckin’ day.”

“It’s not forever. For either of us. Sure we’ll be back for Carol and Eddie’s wedding.”

He rubbed his chin on his shoulder. His eyes were turning glassy. “I know. I know. But still.”

“C’mere to me.” I put my arms out and hugged him.

His arms stayed firmly crossed.

“You’ll be grand. You have Aine and the girls. You’ll just have to talk shite to them instead of me.”

“It won’t be the same.” He dropped his hands and hugged me far more tightly than necessary. “They never feckin’ listen to me.”

???

With all of Carol and Eddie’s luggage secured, Dara started the engine. Bullseye, Aine, and their daughters waved and followed us along the road as far as they could before we picked up speed. Carol sniffed in the backseat and dabbed her eyes .

“I’m sure you can’t wait to get home,” I said to Eddie.

He held Carol’s hand. “Yes and no. I’ll miss this place, in a funny way. Not all of it, mind you.” He picked at his ear. “Fairies. I still can’t believe it.”

“You’ll have plenty to tell your friends and family.”

His eye widened. “You think I’m going to tell them I met a bunch of scary Irish fairies?”

“Hey, we have names,” Dara said with a laugh.

Eddie chuckled and wiped a tear from his eye. “You know what I mean. I think maybe we keep all the supernatural stuff to ourselves.”

“I would like to make a good first impression,” Carol said.

“They’re going to love you,” Dara said. “Trust me. I’ve seen it in your tea leaves.”

Carol and Eddie snuggled in the back of the van while the dogs lay on the floor. I set my hand on Dara’s knee as he negotiated the lanes out of Tullycleena.

He pointed out of the window at a sign for Cork. “There we are! We’re on our way to Cork and a new life. Oh, Jaysus!” The van screeched as Dara did a sudden turn, headed towards Tralee instead. “I nearly forgot! We have to make a stop on the way. I have to return a library book.”