Page 21 of Whale Harbor

“She told me I was nothing to her,” Rian whispered eventually, though Mac hadn’t stirred. “She said Seamus and Eamon and Thomas are her own sons now, and the rest of them will stay gone, and soon you’ll be off to England and I’m nothing to her. She said my school marks are shameful and I should be sent to the island with Coleman.”

That was an idea, Mac thought. Could their grandfather handle Rian?

“When did she say that?” Mac couldn’t picture Nuala and Rian even standing alone together for long enough to get all that spoken. “Tell the truth. Did you do something?”

“She caught me eating the skin of the milk. But she throws it away, Mac! I’ve seen her. She throws the skin out into the garden.”

She was right that Mac would be gone soon. He could feel it in his bones. He could not stay there any longer. But what about the rest of them? What about Rian?

“Would you want that, Rian? To go out to the island with Grandfather for a while? I’d go tomorrow to talk to him.”

“I want to stay with you, Mac. And I want my other brothers here too. And I want my own mother and not Nuala.” His voice was growing louder as he spoke.

“Hush,” Mac said. “Next thing they’ll all be up.”

“I don’t care,” Rian said.

MAC SPOKE TO HIS FATHER the following day. He asked if sending Rian to the island might be a good idea and had a whole pitch ready, but Cathal stopped him before he even finished the sentence.

“There’s nothing for him there. He has to learn to get along.”

“Doesn’t Coleman have to learn those things too? But he’s there.”

Cathal looked at him. “Coleman is an entirely different story.”

“What do you mean?”

“Coleman will never leave the Cuan, Mac. Surely you know that. Rian will. He’ll have to. And if I send him to the island, I’ll be rewarding him for how he’s treated Nuala.”

HONNIE STOPPED MAC AS HE was passing her cottage one day. It was late October and the expanse of fields that stretched from Sky Road toward the Bens had turned from a rich green to a burnt orange. “Will you come inside a minute, Macdara?” she said. He was very glad to go in, to talk to her, a woman who’d known his mother since before he was born. Why hadn’t he visited her sooner?

She made tea and though he declined, she poured a cup for him and pushed a plate of biscuits closer. He ate quickly, guiltily.

“How’s everyone keeping at home?” she asked.

“Fair enough, I suppose,” he said, knowing that she meant Nuala. “A few rough spots.” His mother used to tell them not to go telling tales to the neighbors but this felt different. The Lee cottage was quiet, PJ and Martin in America, the others out someplace. He felt all of a sudden like he might cry, and with his luck lately that would be when Patricia walked in.

“Did you know, Macdara, that I knew your mother since we were girls? That our grandmothers were cousins?”

“I knew we were relations somehow, going back.”

“She was my friend too. Not only a relation. I miss her every day.”

He realized she’d called him inside for a purpose.

“I wonder if you’re absolutely certain about going to England to join Sean and Barry when the time comes. Your father said that you’ll go quite soon, that you were needed for your brothers for a while, but now that Nuala’s here it’s time to go.”

How could his father have said that to Honnie and never breathe a word of it to him? Was Cathal planning to do to him what he’d done to his brothers? Three days’ notice and then off with him?

“I had a thought I wanted to mention. We’re only just talking now, nothing serious, but I was thinking you might like to try Montana instead.”

“Oh?” Mac said.

“Martin has settled in with PJ and it’s going so well that we’re going to send Peter sooner than we thought. He’s already doing nothing but flitting about all day, blackguarding with the Sullivan boys. He’s only gone thirteen, but he’ll have his brothers in Montana and he could go to school there for a year or two. We’ve talked to him and he’s accepted that it’s the best thing. I was thinking—and mind you, this is just between us now—but I was thinking the two of you could go together. It would settle my heart a bit, knowing you were there with my boys. PJ said they could use someone like you.”

Mac didn’t know what to say.

“The other women and I would put together a bit of money for you if you’re interested. Do you have any yourself? Maybe from when you helped the university people? There’s the airfare but there’s also a fee for the passport, a fee for the visa, you’d need a bit of pocket money to start out, even a bite to eat at the airport is very dear. You’d need a heavy coat, Montana is fierce cold in the winter. I’ll be honest with you, Macdara, I’m not going to mention this to Kevin just yet. He’d feel he must bring it to your father and why trouble him until we have it all sorted, don’t you agree?”