Another Man’s Child. Anne Bennett
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the farm. And so they sat and chatted easily together though they never discussed the problem of Celia forming an unsuitable relationship with Andy McCadden until Tom and Dan had left the house and were on the road home. When Dan told his son what had transpired that evening Tom looked at him in amazement. ‘He refused the money?’
Dan nodded his head. ‘He did. He said he was settled here, that he had a job he enjoyed and had no intention of moving just because his face didn’t fit with me.’
‘How much did you offer him?’
‘Fifteen pounds.’
‘God, Daddy, that’s a fortune,’ Tom said. ‘Not many people would pass that up.’
‘Well he did,’ Dan said. ‘Said if I offered him four times that amount he wouldn’t leave because he didn’t want to. Mind, don’t tell your mother this or I’ll never hear the end of it.’
Tom smiled because his father spoke the truth. ‘I won’t say a word, never fear,’ he said. ‘But did McCadden say anything else?’
‘Oh, yes,’ Dan said. ‘When I told him to stay away from my daughter he said he meant her no harm, but they liked each other and at her age she should be able to choose friends for herself.’
‘Arrogant young pup,’ Tom said. ‘He certainly needs teaching a lesson.’
‘He’ll get one, don’t worry,’ Dan said. ‘But I’ve been thinking about this and I know in the long run I won’t be able to keep them apart if they are determined to meet. I can’t police Celia every hour of the day and if McCadden really won’t go from here nor agree not to see Celia, then for her own good Celia must go.’
‘Go?’ Tom repeated. ‘Go where?’
‘America,’ Dan said. ‘That’s far enough away to keep her out of his clutches. I just need to convince your mother that that is the only workable plan if we are to keep her safe.’
Tom was quite shaken that his father proposed sending Celia away. Knowing how much his sister loved Ireland, and that she had never expressed any wish to go anywhere else, he had thought she would always be there, and he said, ‘Daddy, it’s one hell of a trek for Celia to make, especially as she won’t want to go, doesn’t want to leave Ireland really.’
‘Well if McCadden won’t do the decent thing and go from here and keep away from Celia then I have no choice but this,’ Dan said. ‘Maria will make certain she makes an advantageous marriage over there and to hell with whether she loves the man or not.’
‘What about Norah?’ Tom asked. ‘She has her heart set on America. Are they to go together?’
‘No,’ Dan said. ‘She will have to put aside any ridiculous idea of going to America now. She only has herself to blame for she colluded with Celia in this relationship. If she had told me in the beginning I could have nipped it in the bud before it got out of hand.’
Tom knew his young sister would be devastated but knew it was no good saying that to his father and so he said, ‘Well I know one who’ll be pleased that Norah isn’t going to America anyway and that’s Joseph O’Leary.’
‘Well that’s another thing that does me no favours,’ Dan said. ‘For she treated that man disgracefully. His father spoke to me about it for when she told Joseph she was definitely going to America he was terribly cut up, because he said they were walking out together. He thought they had some sort of understanding.’
‘Aye, most people did.’
‘And then he finds she hadn’t taken it seriously at all. I mean, she made a complete fool of the man.’
‘Aye she has,’ Tom agreed. ‘I’ve felt sorry for him at times.’
‘Well if she’s staying here she will have to have him in the end,’ Dan said. ‘I’d say it will be Joseph O’Leary or no one, for none of the other men will likely have anything to do with her.’
Tom shook his head. ‘They’ve seen the way she has treated Joseph and between you and me she is known as a tease. I didn’t bother taking her to task about it because I thought she would soon be off to America.’
‘Maybe even Joseph won’t want her after all.’
‘Oh he will,’ Tom said with assurance. ‘He’s mad about her still.’
‘We’ll say nothing to her about this now for I know she will be upset,’ Dan said as the farmhouse came into view and added, ‘One contrary daughter is enough to cope with just at the moment.’
Tom took himself straight to bed when they arrived home and Dan was glad because he wanted to talk to Peggy on her own and he told her that he’d talked to McCadden whom he had met on the road. He said nothing of the money offered but did tell her of McCadden’s reaction when he’d asked him to keep away from Celia. Peggy could see the problem, but couldn’t immediately agree that the best solution was to send Celia away. She knew she wouldn’t want to go to America whereas Norah did, so both would be distraught. She also felt Celia was too young and naïve to cross the Atlantic all by herself. Norah, on the other hand, was older and more emotionally mature.
‘Couldn’t we let Celia marry this hireling man if she is so set on it and help them out with money and all till they’re on their feet?’
‘Oh so you would throw your daughter away like that, would you?’ Dan sneered contemptuously. ‘The man is a hired help and that’s all he will ever be. He will never be able to provide for Celia properly and I will be the laughing stock of the place, letting her throw her life away on the likes of him.’
Peggy thought she would rather suffer the ridicule of the townsfolk than kiss Celia goodbye knowing she would never see her again. But she saw with a sinking heart that Dan’s mind was made up and she was used to giving way to him for it was the only thing to do and so when he said, ‘I want you to write directly to Maria and ask her to send the ticket as speedily as possible,’ she nodded her head and turned away so that he shouldn’t see her tears.
The next morning Norah saw the letter addressed to her Aunt Maria in her mother’s hand and her heart sang for joy because she knew it was to ask her to send the ticket to America, where her life would really begin. Celia didn’t see the letter sent and did wonder what her father was going to do to her for he wasn’t one to let anything drop.
Walking to Mass, Celia was flanked between her parents and neither spoke a word to her. She was allowed to speak to no one at all, either before or after Mass, and though she was aware of Andy McCadden sitting across the aisle, next to Mr and Mrs Fitzgerald, she kept her head lowered.
Andy had seen Celia’s white face though and her saddened eyes, but didn’t know if there was any way of easing the situation for her and for the first time he wondered if it would be better to leave as her father asked him to. He didn’t want the money and the only reason he would consider leaving was if it would make life easier for Celia. It would hurt like hell, but it was obvious she wouldn’t be allowed to even acknowledge him and he could only guess what the situation was like at home. Maybe he should just take off and that might at least give her a chance to find some other man that her irascible father might accept more readily. However, just the thought of leaving and settling someplace else and never seeing Celia again caused his heart to miss a beat and his stomach to give a sickening lurch. He told himself firmly he hadn’t to think of himself but Celia; he had to give her the chance of a future of sorts and he imagined his heart would mend in time.
Dermot watched Andy McCadden’s face and wondered what he was still doing there, for he thought he’d be well gone. He concluded in the end that he probably hadn’t wanted to leave Dinny Fitzgerald in the lurch and so had agreed to stay on for a while until he got someone else. Still, he would be gone soon, he thought with relief, and life would return to normal and his father would not be going round constantly like a bear with a very sore head.
There was no conversation as Dan marched his wife and daughter home that morning and