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But you noticed his.
    Jenny and Laurence ran up to him as soon as he walked in.
    “Daddy!” they both yelled, and they buried their faces in his jacket.
    He put one arm around Jenny and one around Laurence, and kissed the tops of their heads.
    “I’ve missed you guys! Don’t worry. I’ll get this whole mess straightened out, and we’ll all be home again. And you guys will be able to play me a song on, what?” He looked around the room and saw the instruments the other kids were playing. “Jenny plays the tuba, and Laurence plays the triangle. Right?”
    They laughed and said no, that Jenny was learning to play the piano and Laurence the guitar.
    Mr. Delaney noticed there was a priest watching him, and nodded his head at Father Burke. Father came over and said: “Mr. Delaney.”
    It would have been rude if Father did not shake his hand, so he put his hand out and they shook. “I’m Father Burke. Your children have a great deal of musical ability; we’re very pleased to have them here.”
    “Thank you, Father. I appreciate their being here. And I appreciate being here myself.”
    “You’re welcome. Make yourself at home. Is there anything we can get you? Tea? A soft drink? A sweet?”
    “No, no, I’m fine.”
    “Ah, sure you’ll have something.”
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    “Well, a cup of tea then.”
    “Ian!” Father Burke turned to the kid closest to the table, Ian McAllister. “Pour Mr. Delaney a cup of tea, and bring him over that plate of sweets, after you wash . . .” Ian made a grab for a teacup and put his finger right inside it when he picked it up. “. . . after you wash your hands, I was about to say. Then get a fresh cup. Keep your fingers out of it.”
    “Yes, Father.”
    Jenny saw me looking at her dad, so she said: “Daddy! This is Normie. She’s the one that told us about Four-Four Time.”
    He looked down at me and smiled, but his eyes behind the big glasses looked sad. “That means you’re Miss Collins,” he said.
    “That’s right.”
    “Your father is a wonderful man and a great lawyer. You know he is helping me.”
    “I know.”
    “Well, I think the world of him. And he must have a very fine daughter.”
    “Thank you.”
    Then I went over to a little kid I was supposed to be helping with sight-reading. He had dropped his book on the floor and was standing on it and making faces at another boy instead of reading. You have to have a lot of patience with little kids.
    I looked back at Jenny and saw that she was clinging to her dad and trying not to cry.
    †
    You wouldn’t believe what happened at our house the night after that. Daddy was out at his place getting a guy to fix his furnace, and Tommy was playing with his band. So Mummy and I decided to order a pizza, just for ourselves. Without pepperoni. Dominic is only a baby and he’s too young to eat pizza. Obviously. When the Tomaso’s guy came to the door, there were two pizzas; it was a special deal, which Mummy had forgotten about or not paid attention to. So we decided to call Father Burke to share them with us, since he lives only a few blocks away. He said yes and went to the Clyde 16

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    Street Liquor Store to get a bottle of wine. He didn’t look like a priest when he arrived; he was wearing a regular shirt with a sweater over it. The baby was fussing and crying but when Father Burke arrived, a big grin came on Dominic’s face, and he kicked his little fat legs in the air and moved his arms up and down to get Father to pick him up. Dominic was always doing that whenever Father Burke came over. It was really cute, especially because he looks like Father, with black hair and really dark eyes. We put him in his high chair to eat, but he fell asleep.
    “Sit your blessed arse down, Father,” Mum said. “How may I serve you?”
    “Sure I have an awful thirst on me, Mrs. MacNeil, and I’m a bit peckish as