The Mersey Girls (48 page)
‘Finn, why didn’t you come back?’
‘I did . . . but I kept hidden from you. I had to see you, ástor, but I dared not let you see me; it wouldn’t have been right, see, when I knew we couldn’t – couldn’t be together.’
She lifted her chin, then put a hand on the side of the jaunting car. ‘Why not? Why could we not be together?’
‘Because I’m a tinker, always on the move, and you’re the girl who owns all this . . .’ he spread his hands, indicating the size of her acres. ‘Your grandad died and you inherited; they talk, townsfolk.’
‘And that is enough to stop you taking what’s yours? A farm, a bit of talk?’ She sounded not sad now but angry, scornful almost. He watched her small white hand on the edge of the jaunting car, saw her fingers tighten, the knuckles whiten. He looped the reins and leaned nearer her whilst the horse stood still, glad not to be galloping, to have a bit of a rest in the quiet, windy moonlight.
‘Taking what’s mine? Ah, Luceen . . . you don’t know how I’ve wanted you.’
She shrugged. ‘Talk, Finn, just talk. If you knew how I’d wanted you, now – that would be a very different story. Because I didn’t know where you were or what you were doing, and a woman can’t just go chasing after a feller, she has to wait. But you . . . you can’t have wanted me at all at all.’
Her voice was light now, amused! Anger filled him, that the hugeness of his love, which had begun to take over his life, to hurt him with her absence day and night, should be reduced, by her, to mere talk. He leaned closer still, until his lips all but brushed her brow.
‘Lucy Murphy, I t’ought I could live wit’out ye, I t’ought I would be better wit’out ye, but I was wrong. I need you as a bird needs the air under its wings . . . will ye come with me?’
She did not answer, but he could tell by the way she stood, by the set of her head on her slim, strong shoulders, by the look on her face, that her decision was taken, had been taken long ago.
He leaned out of the jaunting car and took her under the arms and lifted. She came easily up into the jaunting car and he stood her on the board floor and then reeled back as she threw her arms round his neck, hugging him hard, hard!
‘Oh dear God, Finn, I thought I’d lost you, so I did! There’s no one for me but you and I’ve always known it. There’s no shame in me any more, I can tell you I love you, have always loved you, and if I’m makin’ a fool of meself, I don’t care!’
Finn gave a subdued whoop and put his hands to the back of his neck. He unhooked the bee-chain and put it, warm from his skin, round Lucy’s white neck. Then he unlooped the reins and put a hard, strong arm about her waist and clicked to the horse.
‘Now you’re mine, alanna, for you wear Granny Mogg’s gift, to be given only to my woman,’ he said, and skilfully turned the jaunting car so that it faced towards the town. ‘If you come wit’ me now, it’s an end to your settled, farming life. As Finn Delaney’s wife all I can offer you is the road, Lucy Murphy!’
They clattered off the bridge and Finn turned the horse’s head towards Killarney, towards the grey road which wound on and on and would take them, eventually, anywhere in Ireland that they wished to go. Lucy stood beside him, slim and strong in her beautiful silk dress with her pale hair tossed by the breeze of their going and her pale face set steady as she looked at the road ahead. Finn felt a stab of guilt and slowed the horse, to give her a last chance to change her mind, get down, and she gave an impatient little yelp and snatched the reins from his hands, bringing them down sharply on the bay mare’s neck.
‘Giddup, horse,’ Lucy Murphy said fiercely. ‘Finn Delaney, are you never goin’ to tell me you love me?’
Finn threw back his head and laughed and then he let her keep the reins and put both arms round her and turned her to face him and began to kiss her.
The horse, finding the reins suddenly loose on its neck, cantered on for a bit and then slowed first to a trot, then a walk, then to stillness whilst it ate the rich grass at the roadside. And in the back of the jaunting car two young people who had loved and hungered for each other for many a long year, loved, and hungered no more.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Epub ISBN: 9781446455852
Version 1.0
Reprinted by Arrow Books in 2002
13 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Copyright © Katie Flynn 1994
Katie Flynn has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work
This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
First published in the United Kingdom in 1994 by William Heinemann Ltd
This edition first published in 1995 by Mandarin Paperbacks and reprinted ten times, then published by Arrow and reprinted twelve times
Arrow Books
The Random House Group Limited
20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA
Random House Australia (Pty) Limited
20 Alfred Street, Milsons Point, Sydney
New South Wales 2061, Australia
Random House New Zealand Limited
18 Poland Road, Glenfield
Auckland 10, New Zealand
Random House (Pty) Limited
Endulini, 5a Jubilee Road, Parktown 2193, South Africa
The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
EPUB ISBN 9781446455852
