Authors: Nadine Dorries
Rosie studied Kathleen over her glasses. It was obvious she didn’t believe the story. Rosie might have been kindly, but she was no fool.
This was going to be harder than Kathleen had imagined. How could she tell Rosie, once Kitty began to show, that people would suspect Kitty’s father of having murdered the priest? That a baby, growing in her belly, would provide a timeline straight back to the worst night of their lives. That police had never ceased asking questions every day since and were convinced the answer to the murder lay somewhere in the four streets. Like a dog with a bone, they just weren’t letting go.
‘How do ye know the child didn’t lead him on?’
Rosie’s words made Kathleen want to grab her by her scrawny neck and throw her out through the front door.
Instead, she curbed her exasperation.
‘Because she is an innocent child and we know he took advantage when she was ill and in her hospital bed.’
As soon as Kathleen spoke the words, she wished she hadn’t. She knew how incredible they sounded. Who would believe what had happened to Kitty, unless they had witnessed the priest going about his filthy work? She had seen him with her own eyes when she had walked into Kitty’s bedroom at home and heard the girl pleading with him to stop.
Kathleen suddenly felt desperate. It appeared as though someone that she had hoped would provide guidance wasn’t going to be much help at all.
‘Look, Rosie,’ said Julia, suddenly butting in, ‘the reasons why and how the child got pregnant are none of our business now, are they? We were hoping you might have some useful suggestions, with you being so highly qualified and in the know, with regard to midwifery and all that. The problem is that no one in Liverpool, or here for that matter, must know the girl is pregnant. She has to have this child in deadly secret, Rosie, and we need your help.’
Maeve took the compacted straw plug from the top of the dark brown bottle and filled sherry glasses with the thick, deep purple damson wine that Kathleen and the girls had carried home earlier that day.
Rosie was a woman with a tough professional exterior but she was as soft as butter inside.
‘I have no idea why this all has to be kept so quiet but it is not my business if the poor child has to be birthed in secret,’ said Rosie, lifting up her glass.
‘I am assuming this has something to do with the fact that you don’t want to bring shame on this village or your own streets in Liverpool?
‘I find that so sad, Kathleen. We have to change the way girls and women are regarded and treated in Ireland and if we keep hiding these girls away, nothing will ever alter. In Liverpool and across in America, women have it so much better than the poor girls here. I am assuming that what you are asking me to do is to place her into the mother and baby home in the Abbey near Galway?’
‘I know it exists,’ said Kathleen, ‘but I have no notion how it works and to be sure, it had never crossed my mind that it would be possible.’
Rosie carefully placed her glass down on the table and twirled the stem around between her fingers. She remained silent as she thought. Something was obviously bothering her.
The peat logs on the fire slipped and sent a shower of sparks flying into the room, distracting Rosie who then spoke directly to Kathleen.
‘There is one attached to a laundry run by the holy sisters. She can have her baby in secret there. I can deliver it when her time is due and then the child could be adopted.’
Kathleen let out a huge sigh. There were answers. They were getting there.
Rosie wasn’t just offering suggestions, as they had hoped, she was providing a solution.
‘Who would adopt it?’ asked Kathleen.
‘Well, she wouldn’t be the first Irish girl to be in this predicament, Kathleen, despite the numbers filling the boat to Liverpool. The children are adopted by American parents only, so that the child never makes contact with any of the mother’s family in the future. The nuns who run the mother and baby home take over a thousand American dollars from the American parents and a hundred and fifty pounds from you, for her keep. Kitty will be placed in the home and work for the sisters until the baby is born and then, as soon as her confinement is over, you can collect her, once you pay the hundred and fifty pounds.’
‘One thousand American dollars.’ Kathleen almost choked on her damson wine. ‘My God, the nuns are making a profit out of unwanted pregnancies. Holy Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I have heard it all now.’
‘Do ye have a better plan?’ asked Rosie, slightly offended that Kathleen wasn’t more grateful. “Because if you do, I for one would prefer it. I have never delivered a girl in any of those homes and I have sworn, I never would. I couldn’t be more against them and all they stand for. Call me a feminist or any other insulting term you may wish but I think a pregnancy is nothing to be ashamed of.’
Rosie was suspicious, knowing that there was more to this girl’s pregnancy than they were letting on. But that wasn’t her business.
They had a distance to travel between here and what Rosie was proposing, but Kathleen could see it was an answer they had never considered. They just needed a hundred and fifty pounds and they would all be safe.
‘How do we go about organizing this and having a look to see if it is the right thing to do, Rosie?’ said Maeve, as she stood and refilled Rosie’s glass.
‘You will need a priest,’ said Rosie.
We had a priest, thought Kathleen. It was a priest that was the problem.
‘You can gain access to the home only if a priest either takes you, or sends a letter.’
‘Can you not recommend her to the home, Rosie? You being a midwife and all?’ said Julia. ‘If ye have agreed to deliver the baby, surely they will accept a girl from ye?’
Rosie looked very uncomfortable and squirmed slightly in her seat.
She had never delivered a child in the Abbey and never wanted to. She was a hospital matron who was known for fighting the Irish authorities and their dated and repressive attitude towards women. By delivering a child in the Abbey, she was condoning the practice of humiliation and suppression. But how could she refuse what was in effect a request from Julia? God knew, Rosie had seen often enough how tough life could be for a single mother.
‘I will write to the Reverend Mother and see what she replies,’ said Rosie. ‘When is the girl due?’
‘Around Christmas and none of it is her fault,’ said Kathleen, who was trying harder than she ever had in her life not to let her thoughts take the better of her tongue. ‘Don’t mention who she is yet, please, Rosie. Let us try and protect the girl’s privacy for now, eh?’
‘Aye, well, be that as it may, it is not my decision. When I hear from the Reverend Mother, I shall write to Julia, which will be a safer method of communication. This isn’t something for Mrs O’Dwyer to eavesdrop in on.’
‘Well,’ said Maeve with a smile, as she emptied the last of the bottle into everyone’s glass, ‘that’s something we can all agree on.’
As Maeve closed the front door after waving the two women down the path, she turned to Kathleen.
‘I have heard of the Abbey, Kathleen, and I have been told it is very tough indeed. I am not sure if it is right for the child, but then I don’t know what is.’
Kathleen’s heart sank. She also knew of its existence, and others like it, but had no idea what they were like.
‘God, what a mess,’ she said. ‘You go to bed, Maeve my lovely. I have a letter to write to Maura, which I need to have in the post in the morning. I don’t think we have a lot of time. The child will be showing any day now.’
‘Aye, but if we take this route, Kathleen, you have to remember the Abbey is only just outside Galway, so there will be girls in that home from hereabouts. You know how gossip travels like wildfire. Someone may have heard of Kitty being a visitor and know who she is. Visitors are so rare it will be known almost straight away and that Liverpool accent of hers doesn’t help.’
‘I know,’ said Kathleen. ‘We will have to hide her name. That is another bridge we will cross tomorrow.’
Once Maeve had taken herself to bed and Kathleen had washed up the glasses and cups, she sat down and, by the light of the dying embers of burning peat, wrote her letter to Maura.
The Deane farm
Ballymara
County Mayo
Dear Maura,
Well, my lovely, this is not a letter to read out to Tommy or anyone else, so I suggest if ye have opened this in front of anyone, tuck it away in your apron pocket, make an excuse and read it later.
Kitty is having a ball and has taken to the lrish countryside like a duck to water.
Ye have never seen anyone as excited as she is to be rising at five o’clock tomorrow morning for the market in Castlefeale.
John McMahon from the farm next door and Liam are taking two trucks for the cattle, so there will be plenty of room for them all. She will be back at lunchtime and full of it, please God.
Her and Nellie have taken on a list of jobs they would like to do whilst they are here, which includes milking the cow, would ye believe!
She hasn’t been sick once since she arrived and I have watched her nerves return to nearly normal in just hours, which is a pleasure to behold, Maura.
Now, to our first problem.
We had a visit tonight from Rosie, who is the sister-in-law of Julia. Rosie’s from Roscommon, and she is also the matron midwife at the hospital in Dublin. She has made a suggestion that Kitty remains here and is placed into a mother and baby home near Galway. She is writing tomorrow to the Reverend Mother who runs the home to see if she will accept her.
Kitty would have be moved fairly soon. I saw the first signs of her showing today. It won’t be long before others notice too.
She would have the baby at the home and the sisters would place it with an American family for adoption. Hold onto the chair here, Maura. They sell the baby for one thousand dollars. Then we have to turn up with a hundred and fifty pounds and we can take Kitty home.
Now, the second problem. Kitty will be away from home for months not weeks, and there is no way on this God’s earth Tommy will be happy about that and so ye will have to find a way of handling that one.
Before ye get carried away with any grand ideas that she can return home and ye can look after her, Maura, just bear this in mind. When she turns up back home with a belly, it will only be a matter of time before the penny drops with everyone. Even thick Peggy will work that one out.
Ye have to write back soon and let me know what ye think.
In the meantime, if the sisters are amenable, I will travel to see the home as soon as ye let me know. Rosie has agreed to deliver her baby in the Abbey and then we can take our Kitty out of there and back home to Liverpool.
I think it is our only choice, Maura. Maeve says not to worry about the money. We can all work the hundred and fifty pounds between us, so we can. We will all chip in.
Write back to me quickly, Maura. I need to move fast if the sisters are agreeable to taking Kitty in so early. There is one other thing, and that is that the events leading up to our holiday are common news around here. Everyone I have met in the village has asked me for the smallest detail.
I am beyond shame, Maura, but even I blushed when the spinster at Carey’s corner asked me how big was the langer they found in the graveyard and God alone knows, she must be ninety.
We are going to have to be as secretive moving Kitty from here to Galway as we were bringing her here. Also, Maura, we shall have to hide her name and give her a new one, just to be on the safe side. You never know.
The home is run by the sisters themselves and until her confinement Kitty would need to work in a laundry they run at the Abbey. Kitty has never been idle and I am sure that if she is doing something useful, she will feel the days pass more quickly. The sisters are well used to pregnant women and will keep a good eye on her.
Anyway, Maura, Maeve, Liam and everyone here sends their love and best regards to Tommy and the children.
Let me know if everything is all right across the road. Brigid is keeping an eye on Alice for me. I will write to Alice next but you know what it is like, I am just a bit worried about her being on her own all day, with her not long being better. Call me a witch, if ye like, but I am not convinced that someone can alter so much so quickly and I am a bit worried that she may have a relapse.
Write back soon, Maura, love, please.
Lots of love,
Kathleen
M
OLLY THOUGHT SHE
would sleep on what Daisy had told her. After all, Molly had known Tommy and Maura since the day they arrived on the four streets, when Maura was six months’ pregnant with Kitty. Molly had always admired Maura. She was a worker, that was for sure.
Molly was so shocked at Daisy’s revelations, she inhaled a sultana from her fruit scone. What a palaver all that had been, thought Molly, as she pulled on her housecoat over her flannelette nightdress to walk downstairs.
It was four o’clock in the morning and, abandoning sleep, she decided to make a cup of tea as she placed the kettle onto the range and lit a candle. She didn’t want to switch the main light on, in case Annie O’Prey woke and saw the light in the backyard. Molly nursed a mild disdain for Annie, who felt the need to tell Molly and anyone else who would listen all of her business.
‘That woman leaks like a colander,’ Molly had told her husband on a daily basis many years earlier, when he was still alive.
Molly maintained a level of one-upmanship, simply by withholding information from the inquisitive Annie.
Whilst Molly sat in her candlelit kitchen, in her hairnet and slippers, surrounded by a haze of blue smoke from her second Woodbine, burning in the ashtray next to her as she munched on a slice of fruit cake between puffs, she chuckled as she imagined the look on Annie’s face if she had a notion of what Molly knew following her chat with Daisy..