Mastering Maeve by Tara Finnegan Page B

up without her own parents. Maeve’s school results were only a fraction as good as they should have been. If only Bridie herself had been given the same opportunities, she’d have made so much more of her life, instead of having to go to America and work as a housemaid for more those more fortunate.
    The right thing for Maeve would have been to send her off for a few years to the States, but with all that had happened, Bridie was afraid to let her go. What if something had happened to her? Bridie was always afraid that with the way life had heaped a pile of dung at Maeve’s door at such an impressionable age, drugs would have been an easy option for her. It was hard enough to let her go off to Dublin to college. She was all Bridie had left. She couldn’t bear to lose her too. In one way Larry might not be the ideal man as he might end up dragging Maeve away, but even if he did, at least he’d do what he could to keep her on the straight and narrow. And safe!
    America would also give her tons of opportunities, if she chose to use them wisely. Of course, if Bridie could manage to work it that Larry would move to Ireland, that would be even better. She certainly intended to try her best, but even her powers of persuasion had limits. As it stood, she knew his plans were to spend as much of the foreseeable future here as his ranch would allow him. Bridie tried not to dwell too much on the long term; mostly she worried that she could keep Larry here for as long as it took to implement her plan.

Chapter Seven
     
     
    The delays were really frustrating, but finally the contract was in place and the money was through. The bank was paid off and it had been a very busy season so far thanks to The Gathering, a government-backed tourist incentive designed to bring as many part-Irish people into the country as possible that summer. An added bonus of unexpectedly good weather, coupled with the recession, also meant that Irish people stayed home for a staycation and by the end of July they had not only been completely booked out for the previous six weeks, but August was full too. They even had to turf Larry out of his room and put him up in the private quarters, at his suggestion. He wasn’t a paying guest, he reasoned, so it was silly to waste the income from the room.
    While she was relieved to feel the release from the financial burden, Maeve found the place was so busy she hadn’t as much time to spend alone with Larry as she would have liked; they made the most of what they had, either working together or in the company of others, and had become really close. So close that even Bridie had been let in on the secret and to Maeve’s utter astonishment, when Larry moved over to the private quarters, she put him in Maeve’s room.
    “Sure yiz will only be sneaking around behind my back, having to stay up ‘til I’m asleep, and then getting up early before I catch yiz. Sleep is hard enough got around here in the summer season without being at those antics,” she announced.
    “Ma’am, I wouldn’t want to cause you any upset,” Larry tried to put her off, mortified by her forthrightness.
    “Ach, sure you weren’t too worried about upsetting me when you were sneaking around behind my back; it’s only now you’re thinking of it when it’s out in the open, you scamp you. Get on out of that,” she countered. “And while we’re at it, you must have the bookwork down to a fine art by now, so isn’t it time Maeve showed you the ropes in the bar and the dining room? If you’re going to be here, you might as well earn your keep.”
    Maeve had to admire the way Bridie was managing the whole situation. She had roped in another set of hands, without having to pay wages, and had freed his room up for paying guests. On top of that, she still had him eating out of her hands thinking she was a sweet harmless old lady. He was forever doing little jobs for her. Although she teased Larry about it, his kindness to her grandmother was