“Just a short time ago,” he returned dryly.
“Ah.” It was allElizasaid in reply and Fallon noticed that she didn’t even askhowhe got there.
Recalling her purpose, Eliza shook herself andsaid excitedly. “Father O’Leary is downstairs!”
While Fallon regretted being interrupted, that caught her attention. She stood up. “What?”
“Yes! I got to meet your Irish priest at long last!” Eliza beamed. “He’s waiting in the front parlor for you.”
Fallon turned to Atticus who shrugged his shoulders. “I can honestly say I didn’t know anything about his impending arrival.”
The trio headed downstairs and entered the parlor to see the aged gentleman standing by the mantel, his cap in hand and his thinning, white hair fully revealed.
Fallon didn’t say a word, but approached him with sorrow in her voice. “I’m so sorry I left the way I did. I shouldn’t have gotten so upset with you—”
He laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. “All is forgiven, child. God knows your heart is true.”
She sighed, more relieved thanhe could have known.
“Mr. Clare.” He acknowledged Atticus in a formal manner, but then, Eliza didn’t know about Atticus and his secret identity.And while Fallon hated to keep secrets from her, it was one she could not ever tell.
“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, for I’m so glad that you’re here, but has something happened to make you leave Ireland?”
“No.” He shook his head and relief poured throughFallonuntil he added, “I came because of you.”
Atticus stiffened beside her, so he suggested that they all sit down. With him by her side, her hand in his, the priest and Eliza settled across from them, where Father O’Leary continued.“After I found out you were in trouble with the constables, I feared for your safety, and while I had made plans to go to Castlebar already, I went there in the hopes that any information regarding your family might assist you if you found yourself in true peril.”
She squeezed Atticus’s hand almost unknowingly. “You found my family?”
“I fear I wasn’t that fortunate,” he said sadly,“although I did speak with someone who had known Eoin O’Malley. He used to toil in the fields with him before he married Moira Burleigh.”
This revelation caused Fallon to sit forward slightly, eager to hear anything that might put an end to her torment regarding her mother’s unsavory past. She would like to know that she hadn’t been the adulteress that she’d believed, but she feared that wasn’t the news she was going to hear.
“After speaking with Mr.Ephraim, who had lost his family during the famine and hadn’t yet fully recovered himself, forced to live off of charity since those dark days, he was rather forthcoming with information when I imagined he would be particularly reticent considering his terrible losses.”
Fallon’s heart immediately went out to the man. She even wondered if she’d known him all those years ago, but as a scared child who had relied on the rest of the villagers just to survive, it was no wonder her own memories were faded and lost to time.
“Mr. Ephraim told me thatEoinO’Malley was a strong worker, but he had always felt as though something was missing in his life, so it didn’t come as a surprise when a mysterious woman walked through the village and he found himself instantly captivated.”
It made Fallon smile at theidea thather fatherhad been sosmitten withher mother. But consideringMoirahad been rather lovely, it was no wonder he’d fallen for her. She glanced at Eliza and it seemed she wasalsodrawn into the tale that was unfolding.
“The gentleman went on to tell me that their courtship had been ratherswiftand they had married within a month.” The priest looked at Fallon with an expression that told her she wouldn’t like the next part he relayed. “Eoin later confided that the reason for the hasty nuptials was because she was increasing, but while the child wasn’t his, he intended to care for it and raise it as his own.”
Some part of Fallon’s spirits sank at the revelation. While she had wanted to know the truth, she had alwaysbelieved thatEoinwas heractualfather. Now, she might never know whothismysterious man was.
She felt a squeeze of her hand and looked to Atticus who was sitting by silently, but who had made sure to let her know he was still there. With Eliza across from her, it did help to know that she wasn’t alone.
“Unfortunately, he didn’t know anything more about your mother, and I’m not sure if she even told Eoin everything that had transpired before she’d arrived in Castlebar.”
Fallon swallowed past the lump in her throat and shook her head, for the priest’s recountingcausedmore questionsto invadeher mind. “It just doesn’t make sense. How did my mother end up in Castlebar in the first place? What made her go to Ireland after Kolin Durmor perished at sea?”
Who is my real father?Fallon left that part unsaid, but it rang around the room as if she’d spoken it aloud, all the same.
Feeling restless all of a sudden, she stood and walked over to the window. She stared out at the light shining through the pane and while it penetrated her brain that it was a lovely autumn day,shejustsaw the dark, ominous clouds of doubt swirling inandclosing all around her.
She could feel Atticus’s presence behind her, the warmth of his body, before he actually brought his hands up and laid them on her upper arms. He rubbed gently and bent down to whisper in her ear. “What can I do?”
Fallon released a sigh. “I wish I knew. At this point, I’m at a loss.”
