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Show 140 Hugo jumped from his chair, then sat down again. Karl hushed Henry, who'd been frightened by his mother's harsh cry. "I want my girl!" she cried again. "You can't have her back to keep, because she's Jame's wife now," Bridey said, as though she were speaking to a child. "But you can give her a mother's blessing, that she needs so desperate." Hesitantly, she placed her hand on Maggie Rose's shoulder. "Our Jame is a decent lad, and he loves your girl so much, my dear. Don't shut them out of your heart." With a moan, Maggie Rose threw herself against Bridey's soft body and began to sob. Bridey's arms went swiftly around the weeping woman. "I was wrong," Maggie Rose lamented. "God forgive me, I was wrong and mean and hateful. God has punished my hard heart by taking my daughter away." "Whisht, now, God hasn't punished you, love," Bridey soothed her, "and he hasn't taken away your girl. I'm guessin' she's outside your door this minute, her and her husband. Will you let them in?" "Yes!" The assent tore from her chest in a sob. Wiping her eyes with her shawl, Bridey said, "Karl, lad, throw open your door to see who might be on the stoop." Karl did, and Kathleen flew across the room to her mother. Jame slipped through the door and pressed himself against the wall as though he hoped to make his large frame less conspicuous, but Hugo went up to him to throw an arm around Jame's shoulders. "What's happening?" Henry cried. "I don't know what's going on, do you?" |
