Beauty and the Beast

"Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows." William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), The Tempest, Act II, sc. ii (1611-12)

The feathered fowl scattered, evading the efforts of the short, golden-haired girl to corral them. Elizabeth ran after the clucking hens, shaking her apron at them. "Shoo, shoo! Back into the cage with you." When the last of the creatures complied, she muttered angrily, "Filthy feathered mischief makers. Sometimes I wish a fox would get into the henhouse and eat you all." The chickens of course said nothing, only regarding her with their beady, close-set eyes. Sometimes she felt the animals were more pestiferous than a sheep, stupider than a mooncalf and held more brutality and cruelty in their small-feathered bodies than any beast of prey.

She'd seen the whole lot of them peck ferociously at one of their own members when the hen had had the misfortune to get her neck caught under a loose slat. Elizabeth had been forced to go into the coop, scatter the blood-crazed flock and remove the unlucky hen from the company of its vicious kin. Then she'd had to butcher it because the neck had been too savaged for the animal to live. That hadn't even been the worst part. The beast had refused to die after its head had been removed, the decapitated body fluttering witlessly around the pen before she'd seized it again and battered it into stillness.

Elizabeth shuddered at the memory and made sure the latch was properly fastened. Much as she hated the miserable beggars, the last thing her family needed was for the nasty fowl to get loose or be eaten by a hungry fox.

"God ye good morning, Elizabeth." Elizabeth sighed and counted silently to ten. Here was a much worse curse than any overfed hen. She stood and turned to meet her tormentor.

"Hello, Shawn. It's early for visiting, isn't it? It's barely past dawn." She did her best to be polite although she'd have liked nothing better than to kick him hard enough to lame him for life.

"I thought I'd come to see ye before yer family were awake. Once they get up, yer always so busy, ye never have a spare moment for me," he chided.

"Well, time and tide wait for no man," Elizabeth said gaily.

The pimply-faced man gave her a blank look. "Whut? Is that a seafaring term? I'm just a poor landlubber, Elizabeth. Ye'll have to speak plain talk for me to understand it." His dull eyes lit up as if he'd been reminded of something. "And plain talk's what I've got in mind." He removed his hat, ran his hand through his unruly red hair and grinned smarmily at her.

Shawn was accounted in the village a good-looking man and he certainly shared their opinion. He'd had his pick of village girls, counting on wooing and winning any female he laid his eyes on. But the moment he saw Elizabeth they all faded into the shade. With her sparkling hazel eyes, shining blonde hair and sweet smile, only slightly dimmed by her recent troubles, she was the bonniest thing he'd ever seen. Even if she were a bit on the small side, she'd make a biddable wife and a splendid mother; he was sure of that. His own mother had been in agreement and she'd encouraged him to pursue his latest fancy. That she had her own designs on the family hadn't hurt his cause.

However, the Finn family didn't seem to hold as high an opinion of the McTeagues as the rest of the village and the one who'd stood most firmly against the match was the woman right in front of him. She shied away from him, sought any excuse to flee from him and he often found her in the company of her sisters or that menacing brother of hers when he meant to pitch his love talk to her. She seemed insensible of the gratitude due him both as a handsome man bestowing his favors on an impoverished girl of no owning and the son of the landlady who'd taken pity on her poor father and given them a home and land to tend-for the proper care, of course.

Well, more stubborn wenches than Elizabeth Finn had fallen to his charms. He figured it was just a matter of time before sense and poverty won the woman around.

For her part, Elizabeth hated the man with a passion. He'd been introduced to her family the second time that loathsome McTeague woman had shown up and Elizabeth knew at once what he'd come for as he grinned at her. He'd scanned her body with all the craving of a wolf and the assessment of a horse trader, barely glancing at her face before eyeing her breasts as if he meant to weigh them in his hands before taking a bite out of them. It had been all she could do to stand her ground when her father had mumbled an introduction about him. After that, she made sure that she was never alone with him for long.

"I've no time for any idle talk, Shawn," she replied wearily. "The goats need milking, the roof needs patching and the north fence has to be mended."

"Yer brother can do that," Shawn protested. "He's the man o' the house especially since yer da's nae doin' so well."

"Her brother's standing right behind you." Shawn jumped and spun around, nearly stumbling as he did so. Riley Finn was standing close at his rear. The man had snuck up on him in that unnerving, silent way of his. He'd never actually touched Shawn but something about his eyes gave the former rector's son the impression he could break every bone in his body if he so chose. Shawn wasn't sure whether it was his mother's charity or Riley's own sense of fairness that stayed his hand so far but he wasn't ready to push things. Not yet.

"R-Riley! I was just callin' on yer sister here," he stammered.

"It's early for calling, Shawn," Riley interrupted with emphasis. He'd never had airs about his family before now; he remembered all too well their humble origins. But Riley was damned if he'd let any of his sisters fall into this man's greedy, grasping hands. He didn't like anything about Shawn McTeague: his ugly leering face, his rude manners towards the fairer sex, his swagger, pompous airs or the whispered tales of his thuggery. For a religious man's son, he had a nasty way about him and Riley had sworn he'd trounce the man bloody if he caught him touching Elizabeth.

Shawn braced himself by remembering he was the rightful owner of these grounds-well, his mother was, at any route. "I was just wantin' to ask yer..."

"As she said, there's no time for that. I've got work to do on the grounds and I'll need every hand I can muster to help get it done before the rains come."

"That's nae fit work for a woman, especially a wee, pretty thing like Elizabeth, and ye know it, Riley. Say the word and I'll get a couple of the local lads up here-"

"But there's no need for that." Riley grabbed him by the arm and swung him around none too gently and quick-marched him back to the worn path leading from the ramshackle house. "We've taken too much from your family already. I'm sure whatever strong lads you know will be all too happy to go about their chores and leave us to ours. We can't act like we're royalty any more, Shawn. We have to pull our weight like all other humble folk."

They'd reached the front gate where Shawn's horse was waiting. Riley let go of Shawn abruptly and the other man staggered. Resisting the urge to rub his aching arm, the red-haired man straightened himself and attempted to bluster his way out of the situation that had turned so unexpectedly against him.

"That's right, Riley Finn. Remember yer place. I know ye and yer family may have been rich folk once, prancing around and giving yerselves airs in the big city. But yer naught but humble tenants now, living off me mother's kind charity, and ye'd best be showin' me respect-"

His next words were choked off as Riley grabbed the man by his shirtfront and slammed him against the fence. "The only thing I'll be showing you is what the ground looks like from a worm's point of view if I catch you sniffing around any of my sisters again like a dog after a rabbit. I'm sure the local girls keep you plenty busy so there's no need to add Elizabeth to your list. In fact, from what I hear there's one or two red-headed boys running around who could call you 'father' so I'm sure you've got plenty on your plate without adding another female to your tally." He opened the gate with one hand and shoved Shawn rudely out of it with the other.

Shawn barely managed to regain his footing before catching the pummel of his saddle. He swung himself clumsily onto the animal's back and glared at Riley from the safety of his height. "I'd have a care if I were ye, Riley Finn. Me family's known in these parts. Me ma was married to the rector and yer kinfolk are just nobodies down on yer luck. One word from me and ye'll know what true ruin is. I'll see to it me ma casts you off and no one in the village hires ye to do so much as swab down a barn door."

Riley said nothing only leaned on the fence with that menacing glare of his. Shawn thought it best to make a strategic retreat. He'd had the last word; let Riley and that stuck-up Elizabeth think about what harm he could do them. That would knock some sense into the pair of them.

Riley watched him go and then sagged against the fence wearily. It was nothing to cow someone like Shawn; like all true bullies he backed down when he met up with real resistance. [Too bad I couldn't master that Job and Cal when they showed up at our old place.] He knew he couldn't have bested those two. Unlike Shawn they had been trained in violence towards their fellow man and might have done him real damage if Mr. Cather hadn't called them off. He'd been lucky; as it was he'd limped for a week before the pain in his leg and shoulder had faded.

His sharp ears heard a steady step behind him. "Riley, you shouldn't have done that. I was taking care of things just fine," Elizabeth told him.

"No ye weren't, Lizzy. From what I've heard, Shawn doesn't deal honorably with women."

"A lady has ways of holding a man off, Riley. Trust in a woman's powers to keep a man interested and at a distance. Well, to keep that man at arm's length at any rate. " He turned at that knowing tone and saw her smiling in that pert way at him. Elizabeth was doing her best to show confidence in her womanly powers. But he also saw the anxiety in her dull eyes, growing stronger every day.

"Lizzy, I'm worried..."

"Don't call me that. Besides, why should you be worried? You're not the one who has that greasy, overfed, beefy trout of a man popping up whenever you turn around. I swear I think he's waiting for me to drop one of my undergarments so he can snatch it up and sniff it." She shuddered exaggeratedly.

Riley's eyes narrowed, the slate gray turning dark as storm clouds. "Has he touched you in any way, Elizabeth? If he has-"
"No, Riley, no. I told you. I'm keeping him at bay for now. I try never to be alone with him. The only reason it happened today was because he came earlier than I expected." At moments like this Elizabeth was almost afraid of what Riley might do if he flew into a real temper. There were no more of the furious arguments he'd once had between him and their father. But now she feared his discontent might spill over to Shawn and there would be trouble to pay if he injured the landlady's son.

"And why did he come so early?" Riley muttered. "I'm thinkin' he meant to propose. It's a good thing I was here to stop him."

Elizabeth's pearly white teeth gnawed at her lower lip. "About that. Riley, I've been thinking."

He raised his eyebrows when she didn't continue. "Thinking what?"

"We're not doing so well here. We're fixing up the land nicely and it's yielding a little for the chickens, geese and goats. But it's hard growing crops on this land and the animals aren't ours to do with as we please. Father's also been doing poorly since we lost everything in Galway. He seems to get frailer every day."

Riley automatically denied this. "No, you're wrong, Lizzy. Da's just a little under the weather. He'll be fine again once spring comes."

"It was spring when we came here, Riley," Elizabeth pointed out. "That was five months ago and he gets no better. Sometimes I believe he's lost hope and given up entirely."

"Don't say that! Da's a fighter. He always has been."

"When he had something to fight for," she pointed out.

"He's got something to fight for now," Riley stated. "We're his family. He still has us to look out for and he'll not give up as long as we're here."

Elizabeth sighed. "Riley, I think you know as well as I do that it was mother he truly loved. He sees some of her in us, especially me. But that's no comfort to him. If anything, it hurts him worse. I catch tears in his eyes of a times when he thinks we can't see when he looks at me. He misses mother sorely and the loss of the fortune he'd made to prove himself to her broke him completely. It's like-we were never enough for him," she finished softly.

Riley began striding away from her, his long legs quickly widening the distance between them as she attempted to follow. "Riley, you have to listen to me. If worst comes to worst..."

"But it won't," he growled without looking back.

"But if it does, I may have to take up Shawn on his offer." She halted, certain that would make him stop, and she was right.
Riley came to an abrupt stop and wheeled around, grabbing her by her shoulders. "Ye'll not marry that man, not if I can help it," he hissed.

She stood her ground, managing not to flinch as his fingers bit into her shoulders. "Riley, I'm not saying I want to. Believe me, if there were any other choice I'd take it. But no other man in the village comes near here out of respect for him."

"Fear, ya mean. I don't think a single one of them even likes the nasty shit. Excuse me for swearing, lass," he added when she raised a slim eyebrow.

"I've heard you say worse when you and father were arguing," she said wryly. "But, Riley, he's the only man to come calling and, if he's the only thing standing between us and utter ruin, then I may have no choice." She hung her head at last but not before he caught a glimmer of unshed tears in those downcast eyes.

"We don't need him, Lizzy. Da made his fortune when he was younger than me. I'll find a way to bring money into the family."
She lifted her head to gaze pityingly at him. "Doing what, Riley? There's only one thing you're good at and no one here needs a hunter. And you heard what Shawn said. No one will hire you for anything if he turns against us."

"I'd willingly do anything rather than have one of my sisters sold off to him like, like-"

"Like a mistress?" Her eyes sparkled in memory of their long-ago conversation and the changeling color of them, so like their dearly departed mother, shifted to an iridescent green. It lifted his heart to see a hint of her old gaiety.

"Aye. Just so, Lizzy. Things aren't that bad for us yet and there's no need for you to lower yerself to the likes of him. Just give me a few days to come up with a solution. Just a few days. I'll think of something; I swear," he added desperately when she opened her mouth.

"Like what?"

He cast about in his mind. "Well, there's always the army. They always need strong, healthy men and they pay good money for the enlistment fee."

"NO!" She shouted at him as she twisted out of his grip. "That's your solution? Taking yourself off to get killed?!"

Riley smiled bravely even while he tried to reason with her. "It needn't come to that. There hasn't been an active war for awhile and I may not get called up. Whatever pay I get, I'll send home to the family."

"Riley, no! I don't want that and da doesn't want that! He's lost a wife. He'll go mad if he loses his only son. Promise me you won't do anything so crazy!"

"I'll promise no such thing, Elizabeth." She looked into his face, startled. He almost never called her by her full name and doing it now meant he was in deadly earnest. "We're grown now not children. Only children ask for promises and only children give them."

"Oh, but I'll make a promise, Riley. If you go off to the army, I swear I'll marry fat Shawn McTeague the moment he asks me. Trust me on that." Elizabeth stepped from him and folded her arms, tilting her chin defiantly.

For a moment the two Finns stared at each other, each willing the other to back down. Riley was the first to glance away. "Fine, Lizzy. I won't go to the army."

Elizabeth stared anxiously at him, trying to see if he meant it. Then she smiled feebly at him. "Thank you, Ri. I'd hug you but I've got eggs in my pockets."

Riley smiled back at her. "I appreciate the sentiment, Lizzy."

The nickname irked her but in a good way since she knew it meant his good humor was restored. "Don't ever scare me like that again, you big lummox." Elizabeth adopted a light tone to match his but inside she was deeply worried.

He tried his hardest to help; goodness knows they all did. But they had fallen on low times and nothing in this place could make it any better. The only chance they had of bettering themselves was either her marrying the local rich man or the entire family pulling up stakes and leaving. And the latter simply wasn't in the cards for them for where could they go that things wouldn't be as bad or worse?

"Is he gone?"

Elizabeth started as Cordelia came up the path, lugging a pail full of goat's milk. "Who?"

Cordelia wrinkled her nose. "That Shawn bastard. I saw him and Riley talking."

"Cordelia!" Riley said, appalled, while Elizabeth giggled.

"Don't pretend to be shocked, Riley. We could call him worse than that and you know it."

"I know. He's a big shit and I hope he falls into a pile of it before he goes home," Elizabeth said.

Cordelia let out an unladylike snort in spite of herself before schooling her features again. "Well, considering how badly he sits on a horse, that may well be a possibility. Riley on the back of a donkey would look better than he does."

"What would da say if he could hear the two of you talking that way? Staying in this place has certainly gotten rid of your ladylike ways," Riley smirked.

"Don't you have a fence to be mending?" Cordelia said with a pointed look.

"Oh, you're just trying to get rid of me so you can have more 'lady' talk. No more discussions about shoes and hats for you, Cordy. It's manure, pigs and donkeys. Goodbye, ladies." He swept them both a mock bow before sauntering off to the barn for his tools, whistling as he went.

The two women watched Riley. The farm life agreed with him. Hard work had made him fill out, broad shoulders, chest and arms fulfilling the promise of the Finn frame. Of course, that sort of look was all very well and good on a man. It did less than wonderful things for a woman. "Look at him," Cordelia groused. "He's the only one of us who's glad to be here and he's never happier than when he's getting his hands dirty. You can take the boy from the farming but not the farming from the boy. You'd think we were never in Galway from the way he acts." Then Cordelia sobered and stared anxiously at her little sister.

"What?" Ever since they'd come back to country ways, her family had been a little overprotective of her and Elizabeth couldn't stand it sometimes. It was one thing to be a pampered miss in Galway; it was stifling to be hemmed in here where they all had to get down in the dirt and muddy their hands to eke out a living.

"What was Shawn doing here so early in the morning? He usually shows up around the evenings after he's had his supper. You know there's no way he'd budge from his house for a social call until after he'd stuffed that big fat face of his." Cordelia sniffed in disgust as she recalled seeing Shawn during one of his eating binges.

As part of the McTeague's plan to snare the youngest daughter of the Finns, Mrs. McTeague had had them over to her place for dinner a few times. She'd displayed an obvious pride in her substantial, if cluttered home, and none too subtly emphasized the contrast between it and their impoverished surroundings.

As part of the trial of supposed hospitality, they'd been forced to sit down with the McTeague family, the portly, oversized mother and her two sullen, equally fat daughters and, of course, Shawn McTeague. The man loved to eat and nothing stirred him from his plate before he'd eaten his share and then some of the sumptuous repast that overflowed their landlady's table. It was no wonder the entire family resembled nothing so much as huge pigs. Admittedly Shawn McTeague wasn't so bad yet. He was inclined to beefiness that didn't sit too badly on his manly frame. But Cordelia was sure he'd run to fat when he reached middle age. That type of corpulent fellow always did.

"Uh, he didn't say what he wanted. Riley interrupted him before he could get fairly started." Elizabeth's tone was evasive and Cordelia's eyes narrowed.

"Well, he wouldn't have shifted his wide behind here just to say hello, Elizabeth. He must have wanted something important." She stepped closer to her younger sister, her brows twisted in concern. "H-he didn't try to hurt you, did he, Elizabeth?"

"No! He's a rector's son. He wouldn't go that far."

Cordelia's frown deepened. "I'm not so sure about that. I've heard some ugly rumors about him."
Elizabeth shrugged, an elaborate look on disbelief on her elfin face. "Still, that only came from local girls. I'm thinking that may be just jealousy and they're trying to get us to keep away from him."

"Since when are you on his side? You hate him and that smarmy, fat mother of his more than the rest of us."

"I don't hate him." Cordelia now wore a look of disbelief to match her own. "Well, he's not my favorite person in the world. But he's never been anything but respectful towards me. He hasn't so much as touched me."

"That's because he's afraid Riley will kill him if he tries," Cordelia said in her direct fashion.

Elizabeth shrugged impatiently as she pushed herself in the house past her inquisitive older sister. She wiped her feet on the rush mat before treading the cracked, worn floor. "Even so. He's not a bad man, not as bad as some, and he cares about his family as much as Riley cares about ours. He doesn't drink or gamble or fight-much. He's not the best looking man I've ever seen but there's more to life than looks."

"That's his mother talking, Elizabeth, and you know it. He's a pig and his family is pigs. We Finns can do better than marrying into a pack of porkers."

Elizabeth giggled in spite of herself. Mrs. McTeague and her daughters did look like a herd of swine. She almost expected the woman to fall to her knees and snuffle for scraps whenever a bit of food accidentally fell to the floor. An image of what Shawn McTeague would look like in future years sprang into her mind and her laughter died.

Thanks to being reared on a sheep farm and listening to the gossip of Galway, Elizabeth was no innocent. Oh god, she imagined Shawn lying in bed with her doing the things that men and women did in the dark and her stomach churned. Imagine him, that gross sow of a man, the father of her children! She could just see what any offspring of Shawn's would look like and she shuddered.

Cordelia carried the milk pail to the kitchen. She'd already spent a better part of the early morning separating the milk from the cream and churning the rest of it into butter. She'd never realized before they came to this place how much effort was needed to prepare a simple foodstuff like milk for human consumption.

Now she had to see about using the rest for their breakfast. She set the pail down and rolled her shoulders, trying to get the ache out of them. "Still, I hope Riley isn't thinking of going after him with any notion of beating him up. Not that I'd mind seeing that Shawn idiot with a bloody nose and a few missing teeth. But we don't want that mother of his on our backs." She gestured impatiently for her sister to hand her some eggs from the chickens and began lighting a fire on the troublesome stove.

Elizabeth picked up a broom and began idly sweeping the kitchen floor. The bare boards were as clean as constant scrubbing could make them although nothing could disguise their lack of shine and polish. She just needed the motion to gather her thoughts. However, something about her posture alerted Cordelia. "Elizabeth, what is it?

"Shawn came here... I mean, Riley thinks Shawn came here to propose to me," Elizabeth said, her head apparently intent on her work.

"He did? Ugh. So that's why Riley was marching him down to the gate like that. I didn't think that Shawn needed an escort to be shown off his own property." Cordelia eyed her sister's averted head. "So did he? Propose, I mean?" Seeing the eggs were done, runny like her father liked them, Cordelia removed the pan and added a rasher of bacon, courtesy of the McTeagues, keeping a close eye on her sister all the while.

"No. He didn't get a chance." She swept the small heap of dust under the broom out towards the door and Cordelia had to sidestep to get out of her way.

Cordelia set up a plate and began preparing breakfast for the rest of her kin. She added heaps more of the bacon to the pan; Riley could really pack away the meat. "So if he didn't propose why do you look all nervous and unhappy?"

"Because... I told Riley that if he did propose..." Her voice trailed away and she gave the broom a vicious flick so that the dust went flying out the door.

Cordelia rushed to her side. "Oh, no. Elizabeth, tell me you're not thinking what I think you're thinking."

Elizabeth lifted her eyes to Cordelia's face, even though her sister's outrage was almost too much to take. "Cordy, if Shawn wants to marry me, then I might say yes. It may be the only way to save us all."

"Oh no. That's a foolish thought. Get it right out of your head, Elizabeth. I'm NOT going to be related to that lot of pigs."

"For god's sake, Cordelia!" Elizabeth flung the broom to the floor and glared at her sister. "This isn't just a case of your stupid pride. We have to think of the whole family, of father. The McTeague money can help him, can help all of us. What are our other choices? Getting thrown off this land and having to make a fresh start elsewhere? That would kill father and you know it. There's no chance now of you, me or Darla marrying into the nobility so we have to settle for what we can get. This is what life has reduced us to and we have to take it as it is. You taught me that so don't deny it."

"But to marry into that wretched family-Elizabeth, you'd be miserable and you know it." Cordelia may have seemed brusque and mercenary to a lot of people. But she genuinely cared for her family in her own way and she couldn't bear the thought of her sister marrying that Shawn oaf.

"It's not about my happiness or your idea of our place in the world, Cordy," Elizabeth replied, now in softer tones. "If we'd remained sheep farmers, I'd probably be married right now to somebody no better than Shawn. It's time to stop hoping and wishing for a miracle."

"But he hasn't proposed yet, has he?" Elizabeth shook her head and Cordelia sighed in relief. "Then we've got time. With Riley around, father still being so ill and Shawn sent running just now with his tail between his legs, it may be awhile before the worst happens. Until then, keep yourself scarce, Elizabeth. Darla and I will protect you."

"Protect Elizabeth from what?" Darla came in at that moment. She'd been put in charge of tending the meager garden, a chore that didn't require doing until the sun was properly up and she could see what she needed to be done.

"From that Shawn. He was here earlier today and Elizabeth thinks he meant to propose."

Darla curled her lip. "Wonderful. Just the news I needed to start the day. Was Riley here for that?"

"He was and he sent Shawn packing. I don't think the little piglet will be back anytime soon," Cordelia replied with a toss of her head.

"Good." Darla dismissed the matter and took up her garden basket and pruning shears. She wished she had work gloves to protect her hands. When she'd asked the McTeague woman for it, the fat cow had glanced at her soft delicate hands and a mean glint had sparked in her eye. She said, as the landlady, she wasn't going to spend money on fripperies like gloves and Darla would just have to get used to pulling up weeds with her bare hands like the other women did. As a result, Darla's once fair, tender hands were splitting and bleeding and getting hard calluses on the fingers. She hated the woman for that alone.
She stepped out the kitchen door and stopped short. "Who's that?"

"Who's who?" Elizabeth and Cordelia looked out the window. There was a small barefoot boy in buckskin breeches and a worn shirt hovering by the gate. He must have been one of the village boys although none of the women recognized him. He spotted Darla and unlatched the gate, trotting up the back path towards her.

"Are ye the Finns?" he asked, glancing from one to the other. He wiped his dribbling nose on one sleeve.

"We are the Finn family," Darla replied in dignified tones. The boy pulled a creased, dirty folded letter from inside his shirt and held it up.

"This came in the post for ye. It looks fair important." He danced away and looked innocently at her when she held her hand out for it.

"Well? If it's ours and it's important, give it to me."

"Ah, it looks really important and I've come a long way to deliver it." When Darla just stared at him, he shrugged and turned away. "I suppose it's nae that important then."

"I don't believe it. He wants us to pay him," Cordelia said in disgust.

Darla glared at the boy and darted after him only to have him scamper out of reach. The boy grinned in malicious delight at her attempts to seize him and it was clear he was too swift for her to catch him.

"We've got no money. We're tenants on this land and anything we have we get from our landlady's largesse." Darla was struck with an idea and she stopped, smiling prettily at the boy. "You know the McTeagues, don't you?"

"The McTeagues?" He snorted. "Course I know 'em. They're only the richest people in town and yer the poor folk what's been working this land for them."

Darla's lips thinned at being labeled 'poor' but she did her best to keep her tone mild. "That's right. We're their tenants and anything that concerns us concerns them. If you give us that letter, I'm sure the McTeagues will be suitably-grateful." She stressed the last word and watched the gleam of greed light up the boy's watery eyes.

"That's more like it then." He gave the letter to Darla. Elizabeth knew if this boy was going to continue bringing them mail, they needed to stay on his good side. So she came out and gave him two of the chicken eggs she'd gathered. He set them into a small pocket and took off down the walk.

Darla came into the house, turned the letter over to read the return address and gasped. "Oh my god!"

"What is it, Dar?" Elizabeth peered around her and squinted at the letter.

"It's from father's solicitor in Galway."

"Mr. Morgan?" Cordelia asked.

"That's right." Darla tore the letter open with trembling hands. Pulling out the wrinkled sheets inside, she smoothed them carefully with one hand and squinted at the date. "It's dated from three months ago."

"Two months after we left? And it's taken all this time to get to us?" Cordelia demanded.

"Well, we didn't go back to our old address and I guess it took time for him to track us down," Darla said absently by way of explanation. She held the letter up and began reading.

"Dear Mr. Charles Finn, I am pleased to be able to convey this wondrous news to you. The last time we met you were in a financial bind because of the delay of your..."

"Yes, yes. We know all that. Could you skip to the part that won't make us yawn with boredom?" Cordelia snapped.

Darla rolled her eyes but skimmed down the letter for the important news. "It says here that one of father's ships came in after all. It was delayed by storms but it put into port at last." Darla looked up, excitement returning her eyes to their former happy green glow. "Girls, do you know what this means? We're rich again!"

At the news, Cordelia bounced up and down, clapping her hands. "We are! We are! There'll be no marrying that McTeague asshole!"

Darla frowned. "Cordelia, language."

"Who cares about language? When you're rich, you can say and do what you like." Nevertheless she grasped at the paper. "This is wonderful. We're a family of means again. I can't wait to tell father."

"You tell him? I'm the one that read the letter. I'll tell him."

"You've got the garden to weed," Cordelia countered.

"You've got the breakfast to make," Darla snapped.

"Which I've already made," Cordelia replied. She set the letter on the breakfast tray and held it up with both hands. Before either of the other two women could protest, she raced through the house and up the stairs.

Cordelia crept up to the door and set the tray on the floor. She soundlessly eased the door open and hefted the tray again; anticipation of her father's happy reaction made her so giddy she could barely hold it straight. She peered at the bed and her eyes widened in shock. Her father was kneeling crouched on the floor in his britches. Muffled swearing came from underneath the bed as he rooted around for whatever it was he had lost. "Father? What are you doing out of bed?"

At the sound of Cordelia's voice, the man's body jumped and the swearing became louder as he bumped his head on the wooden slats under the mattress. He wriggled out with difficulty and emerged with his hair all askew and his hand clutching his pipe. "Cordelia? I was just..."

"Getting out of bed when you're too ill to be moving?" She looked at the pipe and her eyes narrowed. "What are you doing with that?" She set the food tray on the small table near the bed, its contents momentarily forgotten.

"Oh, this? Well, naught, really. I was just holding it and, and, it slipped from me fingers and rolled under the bed."

"Just holding it, eh? Let me see that." She snatched at it and sniffed at the bowl. "This was lit! You were smoking this and you know that the doctor said you shouldn't smoke in your frail condition!"

"I wasn't smoking it! I just thought I'd light it and sniff it, just for old time's sake. A wee wisp of pipe smoke never hurt anyone."

Cordelia didn't listen. Her eyes still narrowed in suspicion, she leaned closer and sniffed ostentatiously at her father's clothes. "You've been smoking and it's not been the first time, has it?"

"Well, I-"

"I don't believe it! You're not sick at all, are you?" She crossed her arms and glared at him.

"I am sick! That's why I don't see why I can't indulge myself with a little harmless smoke every now and then. A dying man ought to be allowed a few pleasures before he departs this world." He lay back on the bed with a mournful expression in his eyes.

The look was greeted with a snort from the brunette woman standing over him. "Oh, da, you may as well stop it. You're not fooling me. How long has this shamming been going on?"

The man drew his blanket over his chest and feigned a cough. Cordelia snatched it down again. "If you don't stop this fooling right now, I'm calling the girls up and telling them about this sorry business. How dare you sit around, loafing like this and leaving all the chores on our backs and Riley's?"

Charles Finn sighed and sat up. "I can see there's no fooling you. You were always the sharp one, Cordelia, just like your mother."

"You can stop trying to flatter me into ignoring this, da. Now are you going to come clean or do I have to have the others in here to give you a good tongue lashing?"

"Nae, lass! That won't be necessary." He stood up and began searching through his drawers for a clean shirt.

Cordelia poked him in the back with one finger. "Dress later. Talk now."

It seemed his recalcitrant daughter wasn't going to let him off so easily. "You know how that McTeague woman keeps hanging around here?"

Cordelia wrinkled her nose. "As if I could forget. That pesky son of hers was just here this morning, nosing around Elizabeth's skirts as usual."

He started up at that news. "He was? He's after my Lizzy?" Cordelia nodded. "Why didn't I know about this?"

"Because everybody thought you were at death's door! We didn't want to upset you with this and we were dealing with it on our own. See? That's what comes of hiding behind closed doors and lying to your own kinfolk." She threw up her hands in exasperation. "Now it's your turn. Tell me why you've been playing the sick man all this while and leaving us to do all the hard work around here."

He grimaced. "Like I said. It's the McTeague woman. She's set her sights on me and this is the only way I can keep her at bay."

Cordelia's mouth dropped open. "She has? That, that lousy cow! So that's why she's been coming here? I thought she was trying to see how well that son of hers was getting on with Elizabeth!" She shook her head, her dark tangled locks flying about her face in agitation. "How dare she! That whole rotten family of theirs is bound and determined to marry us and they don't care who gets their foot into the door! Has she no shame?"

"None and very little pride when it comes to aiming for what she wants. She's one of the pushiest women I've ever met and she won't long take no for an answer. She made it clear the second time she came calling she was in the market for a second husband and thought I'd fill the bill nicely."

"And that's when you came down with this mysterious wasting illness of yours," Cordelia mused. "Well, I have to hand it to you, Father. You had us all truly fooled. Here Riley's been thinking about going into town and getting you measured for a coffin and you've been smoking your pipe and turning jigs behind our backs, no doubt." She started as she thought of something. "Wait a minute. The doctor told us you were near dying all this while. How have you managed to fool him?"

Her father shrugged sheepishly. "One of the things I managed to keep from the creditors was a few bottles of fine Irish whiskey I'd hidden in the floorboards under the cellar. I thought they might come in handy some day. I'd been bribing the doctor with 'em to lie to you and keep quiet to the village."

"Sneaky bastard. No wonder I don't trust doctors," Cordelia muttered. She glanced at her father again, tapping her foot as she tried to sort something out. "The only thing I don't understand about this whole business is why that family is so bound and determined to marry us. They're rich and we're just poor folk they took pity on."

"Well, Elizabeth's the prettiest thing they've ever had in this place. One of the prettiest," he amended when he saw her eyes narrow. "And your father is still quite the handsome man. What woman wouldn't want me, lass?"

She rolled her eyes. Then she reached out and punched him in the shoulder-hard.

He yelped and rubbed his aggrieved shoulder. "Ow! What the devil was that for?"

"That was for not telling me what you were up to all this time up here, you overgrown ox! Don't you think I could have kept your secret?" she glared.

"Frankly, no I didn't." He backed away when she raised her fist again. "I know how women love to chatter and I couldn't take the chance you or one of the girls might talk. Besides I wanted people to think I was genuinely ill and having you all walk around with long worried faces was just the way to convince them."

Her lips thinned. "Father, that was a truly heartless thing to do."

"I know, lass, I know. But that McTeague woman-" He shuddered. "Ye've no idea how awful she truly is. She's as overbearing as a bull-"

"In heat," she finished.

He blinked to hear the coarse term and then his lips twitched in spite of himself. "Aye, that's just how she is."

They stared at each other and Cordelia began to giggle, her body shaking and eyes watering. Her father's chin wobbled and then he laughed as well. Soon the pair of them went off into gales of laughter, their bodies sinking onto the bed. The joke wasn't really funny but coming on top of the relief of getting out of bed and not having to pretend to his family any more was a vast relief to Mr. Finn.

"Cordy, I'm glad you were the one to find me out. There's no telling what Lizzy and Dar would have done to me."
She sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Whatever they did, you would have deserved it."

He smiled faintly and then his stomach rumbled. "Oh, that reminds me. Can I have me breakfast now?" He hungrily eyed the tray she'd set on the table.

Cordelia snorted. "I've half a mind to throw it out and let you fend for yourself." Then she started and remembered why she'd come up to her father in the first place. "Father, we got this from the post today."

"The post?" He glanced at the ripped envelope she held out to him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen mail not that it had ever concerned him unduly. Even though he'd sent his children to school, his reading skills remained rudimentary. That's why he'd hired the fastest messengers in Galway. He could trust them to bring him papers and get his daughters to read them to him or simply tell him the news himself. It didn't hurt to have the best solicitor he could manage. He'd needed Mr. Morgan's help to interpret some of the more complicated documents that crossed his path. Now he watched as Cordelia re-opened the letter and reiterated what Darla had said downstairs.

"One ship? That's nae much from a fleet of five but it might have enough on it to help us out of this hellhole we've landed in. Then we can start again and the Finns will be back on top. You'll see, Cordy. We'll show them all." The familiar pride and strength had returned to his voice and Cordy blinked back tears of happiness at hearing it. So their father hadn't given in. He'd merely bided his time until he could find a way to wriggle out from under that awful woman's thumb. Fate and fortune were smiling on them again and it looked like they might know happy days once more.

Mr. Charles Finn rose to his full height. "Cordy, we've got no time to waste. If that McTeague dog is snapping at Lizzy's heels-"
"And that awful Mrs. McTeague biting at yours," she reminded him.

He grimaced. "Just so. I'm going back to Galway. I'm going to need Cullen to take me."

"But, da, he never lets anyone but Riley on his back. You'll never be able to ride him."

Mr. Finn frowned. "That's true. Ornery beast. And we can't afford to hire a coach in the village to take us."

"We shouldn't do that any rate. If we do, the McTeagues will sniff out what we're about and find some way to stop us," Cordy finished.

He sank back on to the bed again. "I can always walk, I suppose."

"Father, it would take forever on foot! You can't do it!"

"Aye, that's true." He sagged on to the bed again, his mind turning over the matter furiously. There had to be a way out of this dilemma that wouldn't involve the McTeagues. Then his eyes lit up as an idea occurred to him. "I've got it!"

"Da, what is it?"

Her father gazed at her for a moment and then smiled bravely. "Cordy, we're going to Galway and we're doing it in style. Ya say Shawn has been after Lizzy?"

She nodded reluctantly not certain where this was headed. Her father looked confident and at the same time a trifle shifty as if he had something up his sleeve. "Aye. In fact, Lizzy thinks he came here this morning to ask me to marry him."

"Did he ask her?"

"No. Riley came up and put a good solid scare into him. I don't think we'll be seeing him again any time soon." The thought of that red-haired lout running away with her brother after him just warmed Cordelia's heart. It was almost better than news of their upcoming change in fortune.

"Oh, that's a good thing. 'Cause I was thinking..." He hesitated and she frowned.

"Thinking what?"

"Well, since he's after Lizzy, we need to find a way to keep him away from her. And that McTeague woman being sweet on me as she is, well-"

He didn't finish as Cordelia leaped to her feet. "WHAT?!? You're going to marry that monster? Father, that's madness! You don't need to do that."

There was a squeak from behind the door and their heads snapped towards it. Cordelia stood up, motioning for her father to be quiet, and crept up to the door. Grasping the knob, she yanked it open and her two sisters came tumbling into the room. "I don't believe you two! Didn't I tell you I was going to tell father the news?"

"It seems you're not the only one with news." Elizabeth fastened a ferocious glare on her shamefaced father. "How could you? How could you just play sick this whole time and let us think you were dying? And how could you think about marrying that, that, awful cow of a woman?!?" The last word came out in a kind of hiss, anger and shock twisting her features.

He waved his hands at her horrified expression. "Nae, lass. That's not it. It's a trick, you see? We tell them our ship's come in and we've just been waiting for our wealth to return so I could marry her in style instead of coming to them as poor folk, dependent on their charity."

"You mean it? Y-you're not really going to marry her?" Of course, Elizabeth had been prepared to make the same sacrifice only moments ago when she talked to Riley and Darla. But it was one thing to make a noble gesture. It was quite to see someone else do it another even if that person was willing.

"Nae, lass, of course not." He patted the bed beside him. Elizabeth crept slowly into the room, glancing around at her sisters before sitting next to her father. "Lizzy, lass, hear me out. All of you," he added. "If we pretend that's what we're after, then they'll suit us up with the finest carriage they possess. Then I can buy a house, send for you and the others and we can all escape back to Galway. We may even make it out of the village before that old cow gets wise to us."

She beamed at him, grateful and relieved almost beyond words. Then she sobered, delicate teeth worrying her lower lip. "Father, in this part of the world, they take vows and promises seriously. If you try to sneak out of this after promising to marry Mrs. McTeague, they might take it as a breach of promise. The McTeagues might even set the law on us."

Mr. Finn shook his head, a canny smile curving under his broad nose. "Nae, lass. Don't underestimate yer da that way. I said we'd be getting things for me wedding day. I'm not saying it's going to be for me marriage to that old hen."

Her eyes widening, Elizabeth stared with awe at her smug father. "Da, you are a crafty old fox and no mistake. No wonder you managed to snatch mother from underneath the O'Connell's noses. There's no dust settling on you, that's for sure."

"Well, not since you got out of bed anyway." Saying this, Cordelia sniffed and edged away from her father. "If you're going to go up to the McTeagues, then you'd better get yourself washed up. You've been staying cooped up in this room too long."

"Are ye saying I stink?" His tone was injured. Nevertheless, he lifted one arm and sniffed gingerly under it.

"No, no. Only that pigs in a sty smell better than you do. Now have your breakfast, wash and get dressed. You've got an appointment with those McTeagues and you want to look your best."

"She's right, father. We want to make a good showing before those people. Let them know the Finn name is something to be proud of," Darla added.

Elizabeth watched the others go and looked thoughtfully at her father. He raised his eyebrows at her sober look. "What is it, lass? Are ye still mad with me for suggesting I marry into that family?"

"No. I understand and I'm not angry." She threw her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek.

He started. "What was that for?"

"I'm just hoping that someday, when I really do want to be wed, I'll be lucky enough to fall in love and marry a man even half as clever and good-looking as you."

He hugged her back, pleased as always by the easy show of affection from her. He loved all of his children with a fierce passion. But his darling Lizzy, so like her mother in looks and temperament, would be his favorite always. He would never say so to the others for fear of paining them but it was the truth.

Now he patted her on the back awkwardly, embarrassed by the well of emotion he felt inside. "Go on. Get along with ye, gel." She took off at last and he watched her leave.

Mr. Finn ate his breakfast as he thought about his littlest girl. Only she wasn't a wee girl any more even if she hadn't grown much in size throughout the years. No, Elizabeth was a woman grown and others had seen it even if he hadn't. Cordelia was right to chide him; he'd spent too much time cooped up here, ignoring his responsibility to his family simply because he was scared of a loud, overbearing heifer of a woman. That was simply no way for a man to behave, especially a Finn.

He shifted through his shirts and sighed. Gone were the fine linens and satins he'd worn in Galway; plain homespun cotton would have to do for his interview with that demon. But he wouldn't let that cow him. He'd been stared down by the glass eyes of murdered animals in the O'Connell home. One rector's widow wasn't going to make him knuckle under.

Riley came back to the house in time to see his sickly father standing in the kitchen arrayed in his best clothes. He started and looked at him, shocked to see the old man out of bed. "Da?"

Mr. Charles Finn grinned at his son's stupefaction and waved Mr. Morgan's letter. "Riley, we've got news for ye."

"Hope is the best possession. None are completely wretched but those who are without hope, and few are reduced so low as that." - William Hazlitt (1778 - 1930), Characteristics (1812)


TBC