Cailín (Lass) (Anam Céile Chronicles) by Rosalind Scarlett Page A

cheek to just the corner of me mouth. 
    How I
yearned to take his finger into me mouth and taste it!  Yet I determined it
would not be prudent to overwhelm him with me endless desires fer him.  I did
not wish him to resolve that I be improper. 
    All in
good time . . .
    Just to
be with him as that, ‘twas the best day of me life hitherto!

Chapter Nine
     

     
    F rom
that day forth, I be absolutely the most delighted lass in all of Éire!  And
yet, alas, the profound bliss I felt then would be deplorably evanescent.  Considering
all, Donovan and I spent a great deal of time together. 
    Since Donovan
lived in Ballyvaughan and ‘twas a bit of a jaunt to our place, and he typically
be heavily occupied with his apprenticeship duties, he made it out to call on
me as frequently as he was able.  Which, in truth, be never enough fer me!  On
the other hand, I imagine a limitless amount of time I could have spent with
him and still not been satisfied!
    Me mama
she always be pleasant and welcoming to Donovan when he came to call on me and
encouraged any interactions between us, even though typically that meant
allowing me to shirk me many domestic duties in order to wander off with him. 
She be most jubilant fer me and told me that she always did recognise we were
meant fer each other. 
    Me
father on the other hand, reacted quite differently than I would have
expected.  What I found difficult to understand be that if he had wished me
gone so, why be he not more pleased with me having actually captured a lad?  At
one day’s end, after bidding farewell to Donovan, I entered the house to the accustomed
sounds of me parents quarrelling.  Though, on this particular occasion, a far
greater significance it held.
    “. . . that
bastard is not to set foot on me land again, Meara!” he roared.
    “Quinlan,
now do try to understand.” Me Mama attempted to reason with him.  “Have a
heart, ‘tis genuinely besotted they be with each other.  And such a good lad he
truly be,” she reminded him tenderly, futilely trying to engage something
sentimental in him.
    “’Twas
a proper lad she were supposed to snag at that festival, one ripe fer matrimony! 
One who hails from a decent family, not a bastard child!  And certainly not one
to merely keep amused!”  Clearly, he was not to be convinced.  ‘Twas then he
detected me standing there and turned his admonitions to me.
    “That
lad, he only be amusing himself with you, Cailín, taking as much as you be
offerin’!” he bellowed.  “And yet has he to come to me declarin’ his intentions
with you.  Not concerned he be with marrying you, as nothing has he to offer
fer dowry and cannot possibly take on a wife fer some time, as still he be a
paltry apprentice!  Not that I’d be consentin’ fer some bastard to marry a
daughter o’mine, besides!”
    The
bruised look I wore upon me face did nothing to enthuse him to speak less
harshly.  Why does he keep referring to him as a bastard?
    To me
dismay, he continued on, always having a bottomless quantity of twaddle to spew
forth in me direction.
    “And
when he be in the situation to marry, not to you shall he proposition.  Realise
his mistake he will in wasting his time courtin’ a lass such as you, and he’ll
venture on to acquire a more suitable female.” 
    To his rant,
I responded not at all, fer I distinguished irrelevant it surely would be.
Furthermore, I knew it be wholly erroneous.
    He not
be makin’ any sense whatsoever!
    Merely
a few days thereafter, to me utter distress, me father returned home one
evening and smugly announced that he had favourably come to terms with Aengus
Gallagher on the arrangement of his marriage to me. 
    I
refused to accept it!  How can me own father do this to me?  Particularly
when he knows how I be smitten with Donovan!  And to Aengus, that oily,
baldheaded, gluttonous goat!  Furthermore, he exceeds me by no less than twenty
years! 
    With
horror I gasped and threw me hands over