Page 63 of Coming Home to Inishbeg Cove

Chapter 41

Penny

Rain lashed against the kitchen window. It sounded as though someone was flinging pebbles at the glass. Several times, I thought it might actually shatter from the force. From the living room, I could hear the wind howling down the chimney. The power had gone out several hours before, and we were sitting in candlelight around the kitchen table.

Lucy was conked out on my knee, her mouth half-open. Despite the blanket that Dad had thrown over the pair of us, I sat shivering on the kitchen chair as I tried to come to terms with the evening’s events.

Saying goodbye to Joe and telling him the truth about how I felt and that I believed our marriage was over had been awful. His face had changed from shock almost straight to anger as he registered what I was telling him. In the end he had blazed that ‘the shithole of a village was welcome to me’ before storming out of the house. I had followed him, begging him to at least wait until the storm had passed before leaving. Despite everything that had happened, I still cared about him and didn’t want him risking his life driving in a raging storm, but he climbed into the car, deaf to my pleas, slammed the door behind him and drove away.

I still couldn’t believe I had done it. But as soon as I had uttered the words, relief had flooded through me and I knew I had made the right decision. It felt as though a weight had been lifted off me and I could finally breathe again. I had no idea what the future held, but I had to trust that things would all work out for the best. I hoped that in time, when Joe had calmed down, perhaps we could have an amicable relationship for Lucy’s sake.

I thought about Tadgh too, and how he might react when I told him that I was going to be staying in the village. I knew we would need to take it slowly, but I hoped that the timing was finally right for us to be together.

I let out a large yawn. As the shock started to subside, it was replaced with bone-numbing tiredness. I was exhausted.

‘Why don’t you get some sleep, love?’ Mam suggested, placing her hand over mine on the kitchen table. ‘Things won’t seem as bad in the morning.’

There were still so many things to be worked out, and my head was spinning with all the decisions I’d have to make now that I was going to stay in the village, but they could wait until the morning. Tomorrow was the start of my new life.