excerpt
The two women sat at the table, drinking tea and eating slices of fresh wheaten bannock.
‘I got a letter from Connie yesterday,’ Dervla said. ‘She’s in Dublin some- where but didn’t give me a forwarding address.’
‘Did she say anything about Rowan?’
‘Not a word. She didn’t mention him at all, nor ask about him. Like he never existed. She and Robert have split up and will be divorced eventually.’
‘Michael told me about Robert’s lady love.’
‘The love of his life,’ said Dervla. ‘Kathleen Bingham. A war widow. She was married to Robert’s best friend, Frank Bingham. Robert and Kathleen have bought a house in Donegal. Bunbeg, or Derrybeg, or Killybegs. Somewhere like that. Again, no address.’
‘Connie sent me Rowan’s birth certificate,’ Caitlin said. ‘It arrived yesterday too.’
‘Posted together.’
‘Yes. But her name on the certificate is Agnes Clodagh Hanlon.’
Dervla smiled. ‘That’s the name she was baptized with. Agnes Clodagh. Connie always hated it. She never forgave her mother for giving it to her. At St Teresa’s the girls who didn’t like her used to tease her by calling her Aggie the Clod. So as soon as she left school she made sure that everyone knew her as Connie. That sounded more perky, more in character. Certainly more like her than Agnes Clodagh.’
‘Where did she get Connie from?’
‘From her father. He was Conn Doherty. And she worshipped the ground he walked on. So she became Connie.’
‘Quite a girl,’ said Caitlin. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone like her.’
‘Nor will you ever again.’
‘But why would she give up her baby?’
‘She’s done it before, remember,’ Dervla pointed out. ‘Now she’s on her own again. She won’t want to be burdened with a baby. She told me last summer that Michael had mentioned that he always wanted a son. So I suppose she decided to grant him his wish. If you’re going to keep him, that is.’
‘Yes, Dervla, we’re going to keep him,’ Caitlin announced. ‘He and your Sean Michael can grow up together and take over the farm when they’re men. Michael would like that.’
Libros Libertad 