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Thomas mounted the gangplank, his back turned to land and the place that had been his home for the past two years. There was no home without his home, his heart, his haven. No sanctuary existed for him any longer now, and this knowledge was like a deadweight upon his shoulders. He was weary from it.
He ran his fingers over worn leather binding, then, with his thumb, carefully lifted the cover. He was met with the soothing sounds a book that longed to be opened made—crackles and snaps like a collapsing log in a hearth.
“And I shall cook for you,” Maggie declared, and Thomas knew she eagerly looked forward to doing so, for when she truly liked a person, she wanted nothing more than to please their belly.
“The Devil got hold of my tongue.” “Likely excuse,” Thomas said, letting go of her arm. “Blame the Devil rather than your own self.”
But when people cannot understand something, when they can’t make sense of a thing, they always become fearful. People fear what they do not understand, you see?”
You see, I had figured out by a very young age something about men. The lot of them are not to be trusted.
Men are governed by their whims and passions far more than us women, yet they ascribe such traits to us. It is the purest form of hypocrisy there is. It has existed since the dawn of our time. Think of Adam and Eve. Oh aye, the Devil tempted Eve with knowledge, and she thought to better herself. And so she took the bait, and then Adam grew curious and envious and wanted a piece of it all. Just like a selfish child. But go ahead and tell me again how man is governed by his mind and woman by her heart. They have lied to us from the beginning.
Some men, though, are better than the lot. My eyes looked over the galley. I saw there Samuel Stratton. He is a rock, solid and devoted to my best friend, Alice. He is like my Love, my husband, Thomas.
She who was a part of me, she could not just disappear. Aye, for certain, she was a heavenly creature now. And I, too, believed that God possessed the power to send angels to walk here amongst us. How could such life—such love—disappear? 235Impossible, that it could be extinguished—smothered—by earthly death.
“Well, sir, cats are known to be evil creatures, Satan’s pawns. They do as they please, unlike dogs. They cannot be trained, they are evil by their nature.”
Often when I found myself in a quandary, I would seek out and find the humor, because it were better than dwelling upon the misfortune of it.
“When a man watches his brethren be slaughtered by his fellow countrymen, it changes the way a man sees his country.”
“Love makes us daft,” I said with a wry laugh. “Love makes us whole. Love makes us rise above.”
There were few who had not heard of the bloody siege of Drogheda. Even the nuns were not spared. God damn this war, all wars. In the end, it were always the powerless and the innocent who suffered most.
