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“How’re you feelin'?” I asked Ma, keeping my twang.
She only shrugged. “I may want some of the Percocet.” Then she saw the Bass and her eyes grew sharp. “Or maybe not. Just yet.”
I offered her the can, without a thought. She took it with both hands. And had a sip. Barely wet her lips. Then she let out a mournful sigh and offered it back to me. “The taste is wrong. Like drinkin’ tin. Awful.”
“There’s some Carling in a bottle.”
“That’e even worse.”
“Does the medicine do that?”
She nodded. “Nothing tastes right, anymore. Even the lemon water’s startin’ to go off on me. How I used to love makin' fry-ups and feastin’ on them. Blood pudding. Beans on toast. Even dinner from the chippy. Or pasta and sauce. Simple tea and toast burned over the fire. None of it’s right, anymore.”
I sat in the chair Aura’d been in. “What else would you like to eat?”
“No matter. The less taste there is to it, the better.”
“How about a potato mashed, with some cheese?”
She cast me a wary look. “Mashed?”
“Like creamed potatoes.”
She shrugged. “I have to eat somethin’, I suppose.”
“I’ll bring some up, shortly.”
“I hear Kieran, downstairs,” she said with a near smile. “Let him bring it. He’ll have all the gossip of the day. Better news about the strikes. Things you wouldn’t have access to, Jeremy.”
Jeremy. And she was serious about calling me that. No hesitation.
“Mrs. Kinsella,” I asked, carefully, “what do you remember about the bombing Brendan was caught in?”
That took her a bit aback. “Brendan? What’s he to do with anything?”
I decided to push it. “Third child? Second son?”
She cut me off with a huff. “Runnin’ away from home like a spoiled child. He always was that. No shock he got hurt. He knew nothin’ of the world.”
“I...I understand he was badly hurt.”
“Stupid men.” She grew confused. “Was it a bomb hurt him? Did they tell me that? No. No, he was hurt and they wanted him dead and I had to stop them. Didn’t care about any of the rest. Didn’t even call a doctor for him till I made them. Bastards. It was my husband stopped ‘em. My Eamonn.”
What? “Your husband?”
She almost smiled. “My Eamonn stopped them. They knew not to cross him.”
”Eamonn Kinsella?”
“That’s him. How he was.”
“What...what can you tell me about him?”
“My Eamonn. Always there for the cause. Bold and strong, he was. Beautiful man. Enough said about that.”
“Well, when did you get married?”
Her expression grew confused. Distant. “Married? Married to my Eamonn? Oh, he was such a fine man, back then. Tall. Strong shoulders. Mari was so jealous of me, havin’ him. Belfast was such a city, back then. Even for us.”
Belfast? “You weren’t living in Derry, when you were married?”
She rubbed her eyes. “Of course we were. Twelve years we had. De Valera come to Derry. I showed him my Eamonn. First born and so beautiful. To see my Brendan, next to him...it was like a punishment.”
I had to draw in a breathe and grip the can with both hands to keep from saying anything, in answer.
“I wanted to go back to Belfast, but it was too late. Word was around.” She looked at me, so lost and innocent in her expression. “What did you ask me, Jeremy?”
It took me a moment to answer. “When were you married?”
“Why? Why ask that? My Eamonn is dead. Fifteen years dead. Why do you want to know?”
“It...uh...it would be a nice detail to add to my paper.”
She nodded, almost like she was saying Ah-ha. “For your schoolin’. Tellin’ tales. Are they good ones? My Eamonn used to tell tales. People sought him out to tell them. To sing. All the old songs. The old stories. He knew them all. Told them all, and so well. His face open. His eyes bright. ”
“He told a lot of them?”
She didn’t seem to hear me. Her fingers began to dance at the air. “I met him as a dancer. On a stage. He would speak and people would stop to listen. His voice soft, almost like music. Three girls and I...we danced after him. Once his story was done. We all thought he was fine. So beautiful as he spoke.”
“When was this? Were you at a fair? In Derry? Belfast?”
“The nuns didn’t like him. Thought him wicked. Kept me away from him as much as they could. He laughed at them. What a lovely laugh he had. I joined him and listened so happily to him. The music of his voice. The loveliness of his touch. They wanted to send me to another home, when I was with my first.”
She took my hand, with movements so delicate they were like a whisper. “I was a good dancer. Especially at Sean Nós. Even after my second, I could still do a fine Céilí, and did at a few fetes. It was the third one ruined it for me.” She drifted back in her bed, as if in surrender. “My poor little Brendan. He had no interest in bein’ part of this world. So never was, truly. It was hard to believe he was mine. Was my Eamonn’s. Many wondered, considerin’ the start of our marriage. It’s always on the woman for gossip such as that...”
She seemed to surround herself in silence, her eyes looking at something a thousand miles away.
I kept my voice soft, so as not to bring her out of her memories. “What was the start of your marriage?”
She almost smiled. “A lovely wet Spring day. I wore a cloak, give me by Sister Luke, to hide within. It wasn’t a priest married us. It was a man behind a counter. Mari laughed at him. Said he reminded her of Scrooge. So silly. He cast her a stern look, to hush her. It only made her giggle, the more.”
“Where did it take place?”
“Beautiful country. Magherafelt. No one knew us, there. Sister Luke took pity and helped us. On the bus. Mari in a seat next to her. Us right behind. Quiet. All done so quiet. And I was glad for it.
“So happy, we were, in two rooms off Falls Road. Lovely neighbors. Him doin’ well at the docks. With our wee Eamonn. Then Mairead.”
A cloud grew in her eyes. Crossing her face. Sadness with it, and more than a little confusion. She looked at her hands, and they were shivering. She clasped them together, almost in prayer, and looked at me. “Is there some lemon water? And my pill...where is Maeve?”
I took in a deep breath and smiled, saying in my Texas tones, “In the kitchen, fixing dinner. Want me to fetch her?”
She seemed to finally see me and grew close to tears. “You’re a sweet boy. Not like my Brendan. He was a cat and we were all his dogs. Where’s Maeve?”
I rose, saying, “I’ll get her for you.”
“Some lemon water. It’s no good, but it’s all I can do.”
I went downstairs and found Maeve portioning out the haddock. “She’s asking for you,” I said. “Wants that lemonade and a pill?”
She nodded. “She’s in pain, then.” She handed me the skillet. “Help yourself.”
“I’ll bring up a potato,” I said.
“I do that!” Kieran snapped. “Ma don’t want you here.”
I rolled my eyes and snarled, “But I’m not here, am I?”
I turned to Maeve, who was pouring out a glass of that hideous water, and said, “If she says any more about her wedding, please let me know.”
“Why you asking about that?” she said, not looking at me.
“Maeve, do you ever recall our parents celebrating their wedding anniversary? What day it was?”
“No...but I was hardly old enough to notice, wasn’t I. Have you asked Mairead or Aunt Mari?”
I shook my head and portioned half the haddock on my plate then added peas and half a potato. “It’s something I just wondered about. I can check with the registrar’s office, I guess.”
Kieran had wolfed his dinner down so hopped into the parlor to grab a potato and wrap it in a cloth. Then he plopped it on a plate, cut it into pieces with a knife the added a pat of butter before grabbing the glass of lemon water and bolting upstairs.
I heard Ma joyously greet him as if he’d been gone for years instead of me. Her first words? “Who was that man just in here?”
Kieran’s response? “Nobody, Ma.” Then they spoke in voices too low to be heard.
“He’s a trial for you, isn’t he, Maeve?”
“As I said, he gets her to eat and take her other meds. But she’s close to the point where they won’t be needed...”
I nodded.
“Bren...Jeremy, why’re after knowing when Ma and Da were wed?”
“Something she said...that when I was hurt, Da stopped them from letting me die. Which doesn’t make sense. He’d been dead near seven years. So I want to look into it. Tomorrow, I’m off to Magherafelt.”
“When will you be back?”
She asked as she sat down to eat, a Carling in hand.
“Just there and back. Just to check a few things...no, wait, tomorrow’s Saturday. I’ll have to go Monday. Will that work all right with you?”
She nodded. “I was hoping to go to market, tomorrow. There’s one the other side of the Diamond and...”
“Go. I’ll be with Ma. Maybe get more out of her.”
“Before she’s gone?”
“She’s not one to give much information over, but when she’s lost in a haze of memory, it comes out.”
“Why’re askin’ for all this?”
“To understand. You remember how she treated me, don’t you?” She had to nod, at that. “She almost told me why. Almost. And I...I’d just like to what I’d done to cause it. Aside from being born.”
“Some things cannot be explained.”
I nodded. “I still want to try.”
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