Read Online The September Girls by Maureen Lee - Free Book Online Page B

bedrooms, like those downstairs, piled high with ash and rubbish. There were beds in every room: a double at the front, two singles in the back, and another single in the box room with two blankets folded on top. They were old beds, but perfectly respectable: the mattresses without a mark on them. After a while, they finished up where they’d started, in the hall.
    ‘What d’you think, luv?’ Colm asked.
    ‘It’s like a palace,’ Brenna breathed, starry-eyed. ‘Your Paddy must have bought the furniture and started to distemper the kitchen. The little bed in the box room was probably for him. Remember that woman, the one who gave us the sixpence, saying he was going to live with his brother? It looks as if he might’ve already been sleeping there. Poor Paddy,’ she sniffed.
    Colm put his hands on his hips and looked the walls up and down. ‘The place wants scrubbing all over, Bren,’ he said practically.
    ‘I know. Let’s go back to Upper Clifton Street and fetch our things. I brought a scrubbing brush and some floor cloths from Ireland. We’ll sleep in our house this night, Colm, and as soon as it’s cleaned up a bit, I’ll fetch our Fergus and Tyrone from St Hilda’s. On the way, I’ll call in Parliament Terrace and tell Nancy the news and ask her to thank Mr Allardyce: it was him who saw the notice in the paper and cut it out.’
    ‘Do you think it’s wise to take the lads away, Brenna?’ Colm frowned. ‘I haven’t got a job. Even if this was the biggest and best house in the world, we still need to eat.’
    ‘The Blessed Virgin’s looking after us, I can feel it in me bones. You’ll find a job any minute, by Christmas I expect. If necessary, I’ll pawn me wedding ring to see us through.’ She would have done it before, but had been worried she might never get it back. Now she felt sure it would be no problem.
     
    Three hours later, when it was almost dark, and a mist had descended on the city like a thick, grey veil, Brenna banged on the door of St Hilda’s. Cara had been left at home with her father for a change. The door was opened almost immediately by Sister Kentigern.
    ‘I’ve come for our Fergus and Tyrone,’ Brenna announced in a loud voice. By now, she felt delirious with excitement. There’d never been a day like this in her life before.
    ‘But it’s not Sunday, Mrs Caffrey,’ the nun protested.
    ‘I know that, Sister. I’ve come to take them away for good. We’ve got a house of our own now, with plenty of room for them to sleep.’
    Sister Kentigern sniffed disapprovingly. ‘You can’t expect to take them at a moment’s notice, Mrs Caffrey. Your request needs to be processed.’
    ‘I can do it whenever I like, Sister.’ Brenna brushed the nun aside and strode into the convent, shouting, ‘Fergus, Tyrone, where are you? Fergus and Tyrone Caffrey, your mammy’s come to take you home.’ Sister Kentigern scuttled after her, having trouble keeping up on her old, stiff legs.
    Brenna stopped and said kindly, ‘I’m sorry, Sister, but I want me lads back and I want them now. It’s been good of you to keep them all this time, but I can’t wait another minute to have them under the same roof as their mammy and daddy.’
    The nun looked at her shining face, then turned away. ‘They’ll just be finishing their tea, Mrs Caffrey,’ she muttered.
    ‘And where would that be, Sister?’
    ‘In the dining room - go down the corridor to your right and through the door at the end.’
    ‘Thank you, Sister Kentigern, the Blessed Virgin will smile on you for that.’ Brenna strode along the corridor, Colm’s boots slithering on the stone floor, and threw open the dining-room door with such force that it bounced off the wall and nearly came back and hit her. ‘Fergus, Tyrone,’ she shouted, her eyes raking the rows of white-faced boys for her own dear two.
    ‘Mammy!’ they shouted together. There was a clatter as they dropped their spoons, then came racing towards her. Brenna