“It’s a pity you and James couldn’t stay for the reception,” she said over her shoulder.
Grace started fussing and Agnes set down her darning and rocked the cradle with her foot. “When you get to be our age,” the older woman answered, “you don’t spend much time away from home. But the ceremony was lovely and Bridget was beautiful.”
“That she was.”
Agnes gave her a knowing look. “You’re going to miss having her under the same roof with you, aren’t you?”
Nora thought about that a moment. It would certainly be strange not having either of her sisters living in the same house with her. They’d never been all separated like this before. No more shared bedrooms and late-night whispers, no more working side by side at their chores, spinning stories for each other and dreaming together of their futures. She would miss that special closeness. But it wasn’t as if she’d never see them again. Soon they would all be living in the same town and there would be opportunities aplenty to visit with each other.
She smiled at Agnes as she moved back to the table. “I suppose I will a wee bit. But it’s the natural order of things for siblings to grow up and start separate families of their own.” She lifted Grace from the cradle. “And I still have Grace, and you and James, here with me. That’s plenty of family to keep a body from feeling lonely.”
Agnes, her eyes a touch misty, reached over and patted Nora’s hand. “You’re a good girl, you are, Nora Murphy, to be adding James and me to your family. And we feel the same about you and that sweet little lamb you’re holding, as well.”
And right then, Nora knew with certainty that she could not abandon this place, this life, no matter how much Bridget and Maeve tried to convince her otherwise.
Almighty Father, surely You didn’t bring me to this place just to have me leave it. Help me to make the right choices to build a good life here for all of us. But always, according to Your will.
Agnes spoke up, reclaiming Nora’s attention. “Do you mind if I ask you a question of a personal nature?”
Nora smiled. “You know you can ask me anything. What is it?”
“When you and Bridget first arrived here you mentioned that you discovered the deed to this cottage only a couple of months ago, and that none of you girls knew anything about Mr. O’Malley before then. I’ve been waiting ever since then for one of you to ask about him and I confess to being a bit puzzled that you haven’t. Are you not the least bit curious?”
Nora shifted Grace in her arms, giving herself time to think about her response. Truth to tell, she’d been a bit afraid of what might come to light if she learned too much. Laird O’Malley had obviously loved her mother a great deal in his youth, and had continued to love her until he died. But had her mother returned that love? Had she secretly pined for this man who had traveled to America and never returned? And if so, what had she felt for their da?
No, Nora wasn’t at all sure she wanted to know the answer to that question.
But Agnes was waiting for her response. “I already know that he was a generous man who loved my mother very much,” she said carefully. “I’m not sure I need to know more.”
Agnes studied her closely for a moment and Nora tried not to squirm under that discerning gaze. Finally the woman resumed her darning. “I see. Do you mind if I tell you something of him? I think he deserves that much.”
Nora knew it would be churlish to refuse, so she gave in graciously. “Of course.”
“Mr. O’Malley was a good employer, fair and not overly demanding. He loved this place, especially the garden, which he tended to personally.” She smiled reminiscently. “There was even a rumor that he had buried a treasure out there, but of course that’s nonsense. Even so, after he died we would sometimes find an occasional youth sneaking out here and digging around, trying to find it.”
Nora was relieved she hadn’t gone down a more personal road. “So he was happy here.”
“Ah, no, I wouldn’t say happy.” Agnes continued to focus on her stitches. “There was a sadness about him, a sort of lost emptiness that seemed to weigh him down. Many’s a day he would spend walking along the beach and staring out over the ocean as if looking for a ship that never came.”
Had he been yearning for her mother all that time? Better not to dwell on that. “Did he have many friends here?”
“He kept to himself for the most part. He wasn’t shunned or outcast, mind you, he just never made much of an effort to get close to anyone, more’s the pity.”
Nora’s curiosity got the better of her. “Did he ever speak of his life back in Ireland?”
“Not to me or James. But then, he was a very private person and never spoke about much of anything.” Agnes sighed. “I always sensed the man had a good heart—he never uttered a harsh word in my hearing and he could be generous if he became aware of a need. It’s such a sadness that he spent so much time dwelling on his past rather than enjoying his present.”
She knotted and snipped her thread, then began putting away her sewing things. “Anyway, in his own way, Mr. O’Malley provided for all of us in this household and I just thought you ought to know the sort of man he was.”
Grace had finished her bottle by this time, and Nora lifted her to her shoulder. “Thank you for sharing that with me. It sounds as if he was a very lonely man.” How sad to have loved someone so deeply and not have had that love returned.
She remembered how dejected and hurt Bridget had been when it looked as if Will would be honor bound to marry another woman. Thankfully, it had worked out happily for them in the end, but what if it hadn’t? Would her sister have recovered from that blow, especially after she’d already suffered being left at the altar once before?
Giving your heart so completely to someone else was a dangerous thing, especially if one had no assurance that the feelings were returned. She had made that mistake once. Back in Castleville, there’d been a young man, Braydan Rourke, who’d lived in the village near their cottage. Braydan was handsome and strong and had a winning smile and generous heart, much like Cam. He’d been kind to the Murphy family, helping them out when Nora’s father had injured his foot and couldn’t tend to his crops for a few weeks.
As she always had for their da, Nora had carried Braydan’s noonday meal and flasks of water out to the fields, and during those breaks they had shared many a conversation. She’d been sixteen at the time and was enthralled when Braydan had confided his dreams of a better life to her. It embarrassed her now to remember how quickly and completely she’d fallen for him. At least she could take some small comfort in knowing that no one had suspected what a love-struck fool she’d been. Because when her da returned to the fields three weeks later, Braydan had not only left their farm but left Castleville itself without a backward glance and she’d never heard from him again.
It had been a painful lesson, but she’d learned it well. She would not so easily give her heart to a man again. Perhaps she was better off focusing her love on Grace.
James and Cam entered the kitchen just then, pulling Nora from her somber thoughts. The two men were sharing a laugh and Nora was caught again by how caring the sheriff was toward the Coulters, how boyish he looked when he was in a good humor and how his laugh could draw you in and make you want to smile along.
