anything to Stella,’ Michael explained. ‘The truth is, she was so innocent that – that she might have not realised … oh, hang it, I won’t believe she slept with anyone else, not if she’d left me with half a dozen redheaded babies! But Toby, what am I to do? I can’t stay here, I’ve got to go back to my people in Kerry. I’m willing to send money back to Mrs Bennett but I can’t, and won’t, take that kid back to me mammy and try to pretend it’s mine when, in my heart, I have such doubts.’
‘D’you think it’s a changeling? One of them pixicated kids what the fairies change over in their cradles?’ Toby asked, only half-jokingly. ‘To be frank, old feller, you’ve got two choices, unless you fancy it were the Angel Gabriel what fathered little Ginny! Either she’s yourn, or she ain’t. If she is, then you surely can’t deny her, and if she ain’t, then you cut and run, with my blessing at any rate.’
‘What if I pay? An allotment, like, same as we did in the Navy? I’d send it straight to the old girl, so she could buy extra food and that when the kid gets bigger,’ Michael said desperately. ‘If she were mine – if she looked like me – then I suppose I’d have to take her back home and me mammy would be landed with the task of bringing her up. If she were a boy now, I reckon I could cope …’
‘But she doesn’t and she ain’t,’ Toby interrupted. ‘Have you told Mrs Bennett that you don’t think the kid’s yours? Or George?’
‘No, and I’m not going to,’ Michael said, suddenly realising that he had made up his mind and was really only asking Toby for his opinion in the hope that his friend would think as he did. ‘I shan’t have to tell George anything because his ship sailed yesterday and all I need tell Mrs Bennett, surely, is that I’m going to send money for the kid. It ain’t as if me and Stella managed to get married, because we didn’t. Mammy and Daddy are too old to get landed wi’ a baby and we live a long way from the nearest village. Bringing up a baby out there would be terrible hard. I’d do me best but it wouldn’t work. No, little Virginia’s best off here, living with her gran, and I dare say, when Stella’s brothers marry, their wives will give a hand. So I’ll get myself a berth aboard an Irish ferry just as soon as I can.’
‘Are you going to tell Mrs Bennett that you’re leaving?’ Toby asked suspiciously. ‘I think you should, old feller.’
‘I will,’ Michael promised. But next day, when he told Stella’s mother that his contract with the Royal Navy was finished and he would be returning to Ireland, he managed to make it sound as though he would be back in Liverpool as soon as he’d settled things with his parents. Certainly the old lady had no idea that Michael was planning to abandon his child to her tender mercies. As it was, she waved him off quite happily and it was not until several days later that she realised he had not given her an address.
‘But these bleedin’ Irish are all the same; they come up from the bog, scarce able to talk the King’s English, and probably don’t even know what an address is,’ she said disgustedly to a neighbour, as the two of them queued outside a greengrocer’s shop. ‘Mind you, he ain’t all bad. He left me three quid, for the kid I suppose, but milk only costs a few pence, and she don’t want anythin’ else yet. And I dare say he’ll gerrin touch afore the money runs out,’ she finished.
When Michael had left Liverpool, it had been cold and grey, and when the ferry deposited him in Dublin it was cold and grey still, yet to Michael there was a softness in the air which he had not noticed in the city of Liverpool. It cost him a pang to look around at the bustling streets of Dublin, however, because he had thought he would be bringing Stella here, proudly showing her his country’s capital city. As it was, he looked around him with only moderate interest. If Stella had
‘D’you think it’s a changeling? One of them pixicated kids what the fairies change over in their cradles?’ Toby asked, only half-jokingly. ‘To be frank, old feller, you’ve got two choices, unless you fancy it were the Angel Gabriel what fathered little Ginny! Either she’s yourn, or she ain’t. If she is, then you surely can’t deny her, and if she ain’t, then you cut and run, with my blessing at any rate.’
‘What if I pay? An allotment, like, same as we did in the Navy? I’d send it straight to the old girl, so she could buy extra food and that when the kid gets bigger,’ Michael said desperately. ‘If she were mine – if she looked like me – then I suppose I’d have to take her back home and me mammy would be landed with the task of bringing her up. If she were a boy now, I reckon I could cope …’
‘But she doesn’t and she ain’t,’ Toby interrupted. ‘Have you told Mrs Bennett that you don’t think the kid’s yours? Or George?’
‘No, and I’m not going to,’ Michael said, suddenly realising that he had made up his mind and was really only asking Toby for his opinion in the hope that his friend would think as he did. ‘I shan’t have to tell George anything because his ship sailed yesterday and all I need tell Mrs Bennett, surely, is that I’m going to send money for the kid. It ain’t as if me and Stella managed to get married, because we didn’t. Mammy and Daddy are too old to get landed wi’ a baby and we live a long way from the nearest village. Bringing up a baby out there would be terrible hard. I’d do me best but it wouldn’t work. No, little Virginia’s best off here, living with her gran, and I dare say, when Stella’s brothers marry, their wives will give a hand. So I’ll get myself a berth aboard an Irish ferry just as soon as I can.’
‘Are you going to tell Mrs Bennett that you’re leaving?’ Toby asked suspiciously. ‘I think you should, old feller.’
‘I will,’ Michael promised. But next day, when he told Stella’s mother that his contract with the Royal Navy was finished and he would be returning to Ireland, he managed to make it sound as though he would be back in Liverpool as soon as he’d settled things with his parents. Certainly the old lady had no idea that Michael was planning to abandon his child to her tender mercies. As it was, she waved him off quite happily and it was not until several days later that she realised he had not given her an address.
‘But these bleedin’ Irish are all the same; they come up from the bog, scarce able to talk the King’s English, and probably don’t even know what an address is,’ she said disgustedly to a neighbour, as the two of them queued outside a greengrocer’s shop. ‘Mind you, he ain’t all bad. He left me three quid, for the kid I suppose, but milk only costs a few pence, and she don’t want anythin’ else yet. And I dare say he’ll gerrin touch afore the money runs out,’ she finished.
When Michael had left Liverpool, it had been cold and grey, and when the ferry deposited him in Dublin it was cold and grey still, yet to Michael there was a softness in the air which he had not noticed in the city of Liverpool. It cost him a pang to look around at the bustling streets of Dublin, however, because he had thought he would be bringing Stella here, proudly showing her his country’s capital city. As it was, he looked around him with only moderate interest. If Stella had
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