The Fourth Life of Sean Donoghue, Trish Hanan [interesting books to read txt] 📗

could get a painting of us to put next to the others.” Sean hugged her and laughed.
“Ah, lass, you’d kill me if I cheated on you?” he teased her. Julie nodded.
“You bet your sweet arse I would, now go and fetch the milk and I’ll start breakfast, I’m starving,” she retorted and he left the house whistling. Yes indeed, this was the wife for him.
It was late for fall planting but they did it anyway. The wheat, barley and corn looked good. Julie loved going down and sitting on the fence and watching her husband in the fields plowing with the mules, his shirt off and his strong back, shoulder and arm muscles gleaming in the sun. He was a fine looking man that husband of hers. The three old folks sat on the porch and watched her watching him.
“She sure loves to stare at him doesn’t she?” Ryan remarked casually. Anjulie laughed.
“If I was young and married to that, I’d love to stare at it too,” she chortled and they all laughed. Then she looked at Danny. “You wouldn’t fancy a bit of a tumble would you?” The two old men were shocked. She laughed.
“Why not, I’m not dead yet and if it still works, why not use it?” she said. Danny couldn’t figure out why not so they went into the house. Ryan laughed until tears came to his eyes and sipped his cold iced tea. Some grandchildren came up to the porch and wanted to hear about blasting the Hamish ships so he told them that story. He was almost finished with it when Danny came rushing out of the house and interrupted him.
“Wait a minute, Danny, I’m just reaching the end,” he snapped at him. His brother grabbed at his arm.
“I don’t think she’s sleeping, Ryan,” he snapped back and Ryan looked at him with surprise.
“Who’s sleeping?” he asked. Danny sighed.
“After we, you know, the old woman fell asleep but I don’t think its sleeping I think I’ve killed her,” he told him. The children all opened their mouths with shock.
“You killed the Grandmother, Granddad?” one of them asked. Danny nodded.
“Go and get Granddad from the fields,” Ryan told the oldest and she ran off yelled for Sean. He and Julie came rushing up the slope. He held up his hands to quiet the children.
“Okay, okay, settle down, Ryan, please tell me what happened, why does Danny think he’s killed Anjulie?” he asked calmly. Ryan nodded.
“Well, we were all sitting her talking about how much Julie loves to watch you work,” he began and Julie blushed. Sean grinned and kissed her which caused the children to giggle. Sean held up his hand.
“And then what happened?” he asked. Ryan cleared his throat.
“Well Anjulie said if she had something that nice to look at she would stare at it too,” he said and the children all giggled again. Sean sighed. Ryan continued. “Then the old woman asked Danny here if he’d fancy a tumble, just like that,” he informed them. Sean grinned and his wife gasped. All the children looked confused.
“What’s a tumble, Granddad?” the oldest girl asked Sean. He grinned down at her.
“Ask your mother, darling, she’ll explain it to you,” he told her. Julie slapped his arm.
“That’s not nice, Sean,” she said with a twinkle in her dark, brown eyes. Sean grinned at her. Ryan grinned.
“Anyway Anjulie said that she might be old but as long as Danny’s wasn’t broken he might as well use it so they went inside and used it,” he said and the children were confused again.
“Used what?” one of the boys asked. Sean grinned down at him.
“You’ll find out, lad, in about eight years,” he told him. Julie slapped his arm again. Ryan and Danny both laughed.
“Its true, lass, he will,” Sean defended his statement. She made a face at him.
“Then I was telling the kids the story about blowing the Hamish ships out of the water when Danny came rushing out to tell me that the old woman had fallen asleep afterwards but he didn’t think she was asleep at all, he though she was dead,” Ryan finished his story. Sean and Julie looked at each other with alarm. Sean patted her shoulder.
“You stay out here and I’ll check on her,” he advised and went inside. She nodded and sat down in her grandmother’s chair. The oldest girl looked at her.
“What did she fall asleep after, Julie?” she asked her, her dark, green eyes alive with curiosity. Julie smiled at her.
“Ask your mother, dear, she’ll be happy to tell you,” she told her and little Maggie Donoghue nodded. Sean came back out on the porch and took his wife’s hand.
“I’m sorry, lass, but your grandmother is dead,” he told her gently. Julie nodded and then she grinned.
“Well, at least she died happy,” she announced and all the children cheered and clapped their hands. Danny shuddered.
“I’m never doing that again,” he declared. Ryan patted his hand.
“I’m just glad she didn’t ask me,” he said solemnly and his brother glared at him.
They took Anjulie back to the Malweenah valley and cremated her according to the custom of her people. Sean thought it odd that two tribes of people an ocean away had the same custom of burning the body while the white man insisted it had to be buried in the ground as if the spirit was going to return and need the old bones again. His wife was sick on the way home and he grinned hoping that it meant what he hoped it meant. A month later she told him the good news.
“We’re going to be parents, I’m pregnant, Sean,” she announced at breakfast and everyone cheered. He took her gently in his arms and hugged her. Ryan and Danny couldn’t have been happier.
“If you’re my Granddad, does this mean the wee little one will be my aunt or uncle?” Ryan teased him. Sean grinned.
“Ah, lad, yes it does, but don’t go and confused the baby before it can talk now, be a good boy,” he teased him back. The old men giggled. Sean just hoped they were both around to see the birth of the new baby. They were both getting up there in years and Ryan had lived longer than any man had ever lived in their family, except for him of course. But the old man was still spry and had all of his facilities and his mind was still sharp. Of course in the dead of winter neither man left the house when it was bitter cold, they weren’t stupid like the women who insisted on going to Church no matter what the weather was. They made Reverend Andrews come to them on the Saturday before.
Seven months on a fine May afternoon after only six hours of labor Kalin Ryan Daniel Donoghue made his appearance into the world with a scream that his father swore could have been heard in Jamestown. He was a beautiful baby and a light gold color with dark brown hair and dark, green eyes. Julie felt her heart break at the sight of him nursing at her breasts.
“Isn’t he the most beautiful baby in the world?” she gushed to her husband who had tears in his eyes. Sean nodded and reached a finger out to the lad. He immediately latched on and held on tight. They both laughed.
“He’s a strong one just like his dad,” Sean said proudly thinking of his other six children who had all grabbed so eagerly for life. How we reach so eagerly for life and how we strive so hard to hold onto it for as long as we can, he thought to himself. After the baby was fed the two brothers were allowed in to see the sleeping boy who woke up and cooed to them.
“Ah, Granddad, he looks just like you,” Ryan gushed and he wiped tears of his own away. Danny did too.
“Hello, Uncle Kalin,” Danny whispered to the baby and Julie laughed.
“Oh, no, you don’t, enough with this silly nonsense, you might get away with calling my husband Granddad, but you’re not calling my son you uncle so quit right now before I have to hurt you,” she told them. Sean looked at them.
“You heard the lady, gentlemen, no Uncle Kalin, he’s just plain Kalin,” he ordered them firmly. They both nodded. But as they were getting ready for bed Danny turned to Ryan.
“Why doesn’t he tell her about the Fairie Cave and the Moon Pearl Pool?” he wanted to know. Ryan shrugged.
“Maybe he knows she’s not as strong as grandmom was and she wouldn’t believe him and she would think he was crazy and leave him,” he reasoned. Danny nodded.
“I guess some people just wouldn’t believe that story unless they found the cave themselves,” he said and they went to bed.
Back in Hamish someone finally found the cave Sean had found a hundred and seventy-nine years ago. It was a young couple from Lennox and they had been searching in the hills for four months when she saw the little ledge from the riverbank where they had been camped for the night.
“Look, honey, up there, isn’t that a ledge and a crack in the cliff face?” she asked him and he looked up and frowned.
“I do believe you’re right, maybe there’s a cave up there,” he suggested and they looked at each other and grinned. They both felt that out of all the others who had searched the Fairie Mountains and looked for the cave, they had the best chance; after all, her name was Tara MacDermot wasn’t it?
They climbed up the river side of the mountain and climbed down to the ledge and entered the cave. When they saw the tunnel to the right they grinned. He entered first and she crawled in after him. After forty feet, he hit the dead end.
“Oh, dear, it’s ended,” he said and she bumped into him.
“Why did you stop,” she yelled at his backside. He turned his head to look at her.
“I said the tunnel’s ended, we can’t go any farther, you’ll have to back up,” he told her. She made a face and started to back up slowly. Several times he stepped on her hands.
“Watch your feet, you’ve got my fingers again,” she snapped.
“Sorry, darling,” he apologized. They stood up in the cave and stared around at the cave moss and flowers growing on the walls with frustration. She kicked the back wall. It was solid.
“Shit, this isn’t it,” she spat. He cursed.
“When I saw that little ledge, I got this familiar feeling like I had seen it before, it was so familiar,” she fumed. He patted her on the back.
“Don’t worry, if your ancestor Tara found the cave, you’ll find it too and we’ll live forever the two of us,” he murmured. She put her head on his chest.
“Why did she get tired of living and come back here and turn the waters white again, why didn’t she wait for me and let me live forever?” she whined and began to cry. He shook his head.
“I don’t know, sweetie, I don’t know,” was all he