Ship of Brides Read Online Free PDF Page B

approximation of his own. ‘He’s got more fight in him than a Dundalk wedding.’
    No, this table lacked someone else entirely. She sighed, pushing Noreen from her thoughts, as she did countless times every day. Then she said brightly, ‘Alf Pettit’s wife has bought one of those new Defender refrigerators. It’s got four drawers and an icemaker, and doesn’t make a sound.’
    ‘Unlike Alf Pettit’s wife,’ said Murray. He had pulled over the latest copy of the Bulletin , and was deep in ‘The Man on the Land’, its farming column. ‘Hmph. Says here that dairy yards are getting dirtier because all the women are quitting.’
    ‘They’ve obviously never seen the state of Maggie’s room.’
    ‘You make this?’ Murray lifted his head from his newspaper and jerked a thumb at his bowl, which was nearly empty.
    ‘Maggie did,’ said Letty.
    ‘Nice. Better than the last one.’
    ‘I don’t know why,’ said Margaret, her hand held out in front of her the better to examine a splinter. ‘I didn’t do anything any different.’
    ‘There’s a new picture starting at the Odeon,’ Letty said, changing the subject. That got their attention. She knew the men pretended not to be interested in the snippets of gossip she brought to the farm twice a week, gossip being the stuff of women, but every now and then the mask of indifference slipped. She rested against the sink, arms crossed over her chest.
    ‘Well?’
    ‘It’s a war film. Greer Garson and Tyrone Power. I forget the name. Something with Forever in it?’
    ‘I hope it’s got lots of fighter planes. American ones.’ Daniel glanced at his brothers, apparently searching for agreement, but their heads were down as they shovelled food into their mouths.
    ‘How are you going to get to Woodside, short-arse? Your bike’s broke, if you remember.’ Liam shoved him.
    ‘He’s not cycling all that way by himself, whatever,’ said Murray.
    ‘One of youse can take me in the truck. Ah, go on. I’ll pay for your ices.’
    ‘How many rabbits you sell this week?’
    Daniel had been raising extra cash by skinning rabbits and selling the pelts. The price of good ones had risen inexplicably from a penny each to several shillings, which had left his brothers mildly envious of his sudden wealth.
    ‘Only four.’
    ‘Well, that’s my best price.’
    ‘Oh, Murray, Betty says to tell you their good mare is in foal finally, if you’re still interested.’
    ‘The one they put to the Magician?’
    ‘I think so.’
    Murray exchanged a glance with his eldest son. ‘Might swing by there later in the week, Colm. Be good to have a decent horse around the place.’
    ‘Which reminds me.’ Letty took a deep breath. ‘I found Margaret riding that mean young filly of yours. I don’t think she should be riding. It’s not . . . safe.’
    Murray didn’t look up from his stew. ‘She’s a grown woman, Letty. We’ll have little or no say over her life soon enough.’
    ‘You’ve no need to fuss, Letty. I know what I’m doing.’
    ‘She’s a mean-looking horse.’ Letty began to wash up, feeling vaguely undermined. ‘I’m just saying I don’t think Noreen would have liked it. Not with things . . . the way they are . . .’
    The mention of her sister’s name brought with it a brief, melancholy silence.
    Murray pushed his empty bowl to the centre of the table. ‘It’s good of you to concern yourself about us, Letty. Don’t think we’re not grateful.’
    If the boys noted the look that passed between the two ‘olds’, as they were known, or that their aunt Letty’s was followed by the faintest pinking of her cheeks, they said nothing. Just as they had said nothing when, several months previously, she had started to wear her good skirt to visit them. Or that, in her mid-forties, she was suddenly setting her hair.
    Margaret, meanwhile, had risen from her chair and was flicking through the letters that lay on the sideboard beside Letty’s bag. ‘Bloody