‘Cork. The ancestral home. Spent my happiest years of my life here in Cork.’
‘Yourhappiestyears?’
But Nora was too busy, lost in thought, looking out of the window, no doubt rememberingmagical days of mud and melodeons.
*
It was late afternoon when we pulled into Schull, the village where Rosaleen had grown up. We parked beside the church to stretch our legs and I managed to get enough of a signal to text Clodagh.
Survived journey so far. No one has been murdered. Yet. How are you? Stay away from the sugar. Back in the morning.
I didn’t call Red because I didn’t havetime to say everything I wanted to. I’d told Rosie about the baby and it was about time I told Red and I was feeling nervous about it. What would he say? The memory of what he said to me on the bench kept replaying in my mind. He hadmissedme. He had missedme.
I did text him, though.
In West Cork. Will call tomorrow xxxx.
And then I deleted the xxxx’s. And then put them back in and pressedsend.
Rosie was more mature than me, I thought.
‘That drive wasn’t too bad,’ I said to Rosie and Nora who were perched on an old wall. Rosie was texting as well and Nora was sniffing the air.
‘Not too bad,’ she agreed, ‘and worth it just to breathe properly. Dublin is too smoky.’ She wrinkled her nose.
‘Mum,’ I said, ‘welive by the sea, the air is amazing.’
‘But it’s sweeter down here,’she said. ‘Honeysuckle and heather and bluebells. It’s like a tonic.’
‘Mum, I think you might be a little too romantic about West Cork. I mean, it’s nice and everything…’ But I looked around and I knew exactly what she meant. A robin hopped onto the ground beside us, looking at us, his head on one side. ‘Who’s ready to go and see Rosaleen’s house?’ I said.
‘Me,’ said Rosie, who jumped to herfeet and turned to give Nora a hand. Rosie was looking well again. Smiling and happy. Like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She seemed to be just glad to be here with us, me and Nora.
‘Who were you texting?’ I said.
‘Alice,’ she said. ‘We spoke properly last night…’
‘That’s good news.’
‘We were both crying,’ she said. ‘She said she missed me and she thought I hated her or thatshe’d done something wrong.’
‘So when are you going to see her and Meg?’
‘Well, they’re in the middle of the exams.’ She pulled a face, as though she had been reminded of her awful reality. ’But I thought about going tomorrow, when we get home…’
‘That’s a plan. Right, next stop, the old house.’
We drove through the village and found the house and once we were out of the car, we stood at thegate, peering in.
‘There’s her cherry tree,’ said Nora, pointing to a low and overgrown beautiful tree in full leaf. ‘It could do with a prune.’
‘I don’t think we can go in,’ said Rosie.
‘I think Granny was thinking we would just march in and demand to be shown round the house,’ I said. ‘Not just have a look at the tree.’
‘That is not a bad idea,’ said Nora. ‘House tour anyone?’
‘Let’s stickwith the tree,’ I said.
