Cathy Read online

  “The short version of the story is this. Zack saved Wilma and her daughter's life a long time ago. They found each other in Denver. Zack found Wilma's granddaughters and came back here when Wilma brought them home,” Mrs. Grey explained.

  “And your daughter?” Erin asked.

  “Solace died a year ago,” Wilma replied in a monotone voice.

  “Oh, Wilma, I am so sorry.”

  “What’s done is done. At least she was well looked after prior to dying. She didn't die alone and she knew her babies would be safe.”

  At the closed look on Wilma’s face, she decided to ask her another time about Solace.

  “So why are they having difficulty settling down here? Do they miss their friends in Denver?” Erin probed.

  “They do, but that's not the problem. It's...”

  “Charlie Staunton and his cronies. I do wonder if that man ever worries about the time he has to meet his creator,” Father Molloy mumbled as he crunched on a cookie.

  “It's not just the adults, Father. Bertram Shaw and his friends haven't helped. Eleanor, Laura, and Ellen have taken steps to deal with the school children but it isn't enough,” Mrs. Grey added.

  “Mick will try to help, too. He has a way of dealing with Bertram,” Erin commented.

  “Little Beaver has, too. He wanted to let him loose in the forest for a while to teach him a lesson, but the weather is too cold for that now.” Mrs. Grey added, the look on her face suggesting it was never too cold.

  “I don't know. I think it might be a good thing but only if you put Staunton, Mrs. Shaw and Ma Kelley with him.”

  Everyone laughed at Erin's comment.

  “It’s not just the Clover Springs people behaving badly,” Zack added. Wilma glared at him despite acknowledging to Erin before that her grandbabies were partly to blame.

  “Don’t you go looking at me like that, Wilma. You know the truth. Those girls, well they have been through a lot. Heard things, seen things, no child should ever see. Their experiences have left them scarred. It may not be obvious for us to see but they is there all the same. We need to help them to trust themselves, each other and other people.”

  “You are right as usual, Zack. Being cast out of their family and them losing their ma will have left them feeling insecure,” Father Molloy added. “Wilma, don’t give me your dirty looks. You can help them heal. We all can. There isn’t any point in worrying about what happened and what we could have done differently. We have to move forward. You, the girls and the town.”

  Wilma sat back down. Erin took her hand and squeezed it trying to show her solidarity.

  “It’s hard, Doc. I know they is my flesh and blood but some days I want to thrash them. They can be really hurtful, too.”

  “That’s because they are hurting inside. You can do this, Wilma. Look how many of us you have helped to deal with things we had to overcome. You can do it and we will help. Now, what else have I missed? Any more weddings in the pipeline?”

  “Don’t start looking at me, Doc. You are barking up the wrong tree. I’ve been married. That was enough for me,” Mrs. Grey responded sharply.

  Erin giggled.

  “She won’t even consider it for me, Erin. She knows how much I love conducting a marriage ceremony.” Father Molloy pretended to look upset as he teased Mrs. Grey.

  “Don’t worry, Father. We brought you some presents from New York. Some packages won’t arrive for a few weeks, but we have at least three new couples coming to live in Clover Springs. They all want you to lead the service.”

  “Three new couples. How exciting,” Mrs. Grey exclaimed.

  “Yes, and Carmel Doherty and her son and his wife are coming, too. They are just waiting until Joe finishes treatment for his eyes. He went blind in an explosion on the railroad but hopefully, he may regain some sight. Nora will wait until they arrive before she will marry Robbie. Actually, Father if you have time, I should introduce you to Nora and Robbie as soon as possible. Robbie wants to speak to you about converting.”

  Father Molloy stood up, his face glowing.

  “I love being so busy. Let’s go meet these new friends of yours, Erin. Wilma and Zack, I need you to let me know what type of ceremony you want.”

  “They can’t get married in the church as Zack has an ex-wife, but Father Molloy said he would do a blessing over them,” Lorena Grey explained to Erin.

  “He will do anything to get me into his church,” joked Wilma.

  Erin left the others behind her. She was thrilled to be home but she was feeling tired. The combination of the drama in New York and the long train journey was catching up with her.

  Chapter 5

  Catherine Johnston spotted the priest as he walked down the street chatting amicably to a woman. They seemed like good friends. Father Molloy hadn’t changed much. Sure, he had grown older but he was still smiling.

  She waited, holding her breath, as he walked by. He didn’t seem to recognize her, simply nodded in greeting. She had just breathed a sigh of relief when he was back.

  “Excuse me, Ma’am, but you are new to town. Can I be of assistance?”

  She tried desperately not to look at his face as she mumbled, “No, thank you, Father.”

  “Don’t I know you? You seem very familiar.”

  Catherine panicked. “I don’t think so, Father. If you’ll excuse me…”

  She picked up her bag and started walking as if she knew where she was going. Just ask for him help, the little voice in her head kept saying. But she couldn't. Mary didn’t want to know, she hadn't answered one of her letters. She hadn't given much thought to her sister in later years, thinking she had disowned her. She should have known better. If she closed her eyes, she could see her face at the window as Catherine drove away. Still, family was family, wasn’t it?

  “I didn’t mean to intrude, young lady, but I can't help feeling we have met before. The fact you won’t meet my eyes tells me I may be right?”

  “Is there something wrong, Father?”

  Catherine darted a glance at the other woman. She looked about Mary's age. Maybe she knew her. What harm would it do to ask? But then Father Molloy would recognize her and she wasn’t sure she could deal with his disfavor now.

  “Cathy Ryan. It is you, isn't it?”

  Now she understood the expression her stomach landed at her feet, only hers returned to its rightful place. She thought she would vomit. The street started spinning. She swayed. The woman grabbed her arm.

  “Quickly. Father, take her bag. She looks about to faint.” The woman took her arm and led her to the boardwalk outside a store, where she forced her to sit down and put her head lower than her body. It was rather undignified, but Cathy couldn’t think about that now. Father Molloy had recognized her. There was no escape. She couldn’t get back on the train now and disappear. She closed her eyes.

  “Doc Erin, you’re back. Thought I saw you. Oh, dear, is she alright?”

  “Katie, could you get her a glass of water, please. I think she is weak from hunger or maybe she got a fright. She isn't ill. Not from what I can see. No fever, no cough and she doesn’t appear to have any spots.”

  “I am not ill. I just came over funny. I will be all right in a minute or two.” Katie? It couldn’t be Katie O’Callaghan. At this rate, she would meet everyone before Mary.

  She struggled to sit up, reassuring the doctor she was fine. Katie returned with the glass.

  “Thank you, Katie.”

  “You’re wel…. How did you know my name?” Katie asked, looking at her. “Cathy? Cathy Ryan. Oh, thank God you‘re alive. We thought you were dead. Wait until Mary sees you. She will be so happy.”

  Cathy looked at her sister’s best friend and started to cry. She couldn’t help it. The guilt was eating her up inside.

  “I am so sorry. Tell her I am sorry.” And then she passed out in the blackness.

  Chapter 6

  Abe O’Malley walked down the street from the saloon. Gary Barrett had kindly give
n him a job. It was thanks to Cookie. He’d been lucky Cookie was able to give him a roof over his head for the first few days. He had tried to get him work, too, but although Davy Sullivan and his wife Mary, were very kind, they didn’t need any more hands at the time. Luckily, the position at the saloon had come up or he would have had more problems.

  He hadn't anticipated Mick not being in Clover Springs when he got here. Especially as he had telegraphed Doc Deane to say he’d got married to some doctor and planned on staying in Clover Springs full time. He’d even sold his farm out in Virginia, something they thought he’d never do. Cookie had left for Noelle the day after he arrived.

  He had locked the saloon after cleaning it thoroughly. Gary was busy working on his new house on a plot beside the school. He had asked Abe to help him with the building work, but first to close up the saloon and drop by the mercantile to buy some of Mrs. Higgins’s fine cookies. She had started supplying the store fairly regularly, given the high demand by the men for some home cooked foods. As he turned the corner, he saw the woman stretched out on the boardwalk, a priest and two women fussing over her. He moved to help.

  “Can I do anything to help, ma’am? Abe O’Malley is my name. I help Gary out at the saloon.”

  “Thank you, Abe. Could you carry her to my office. I am Doc Erin. I need to examine her properly.” Abe was about to say he knew her husband but the other woman spoke first.

  “Father Molloy, can you mind the store until Daniel gets back? He will only be a few minutes. I want to go and find Mary. She needs to come to town.”

  “Be happy to, Katie. Be gentle telling Mary.”

  Abe picked up the young woman. She was feather light, as if she hadn't eaten for some time. She was very pale. He cradled her close like you would a child. Only she didn’t smell like a child. She smelled of lavender and freshness as well as a scent that was unmistakably hers.

  Looking at her, he didn’t see her face but that of another woman. He followed the doctor to her office. It wasn’t far—not that it mattered. He was used to carrying heavier loads than this lady.

  He lay the woman out on the table the doc indicated and withdrew from the room to give them some privacy. He figured he’d better wait a few minutes in case the lady doc needed him to go for anyone else. He wondered where Mick was. On one hand, he couldn’t wait to see him, but on the other, he knew his news was upsetting. He frowned, his mind on the past year.

  Chapter 7

  The door behind him opened. Doc Erin came out, drying her hands with a cloth. “Thank you so much, Abe. We are lucky you came along when you did. Father Molloy is too old to be carrying anyone, only don’t tell him I said that.”

  Abe nodded. “Will the woman be all right?”

  Doc Erin’s face creased up slightly. She looked not worried but perplexed. “I believe so. I will know more when I find out her story. Some of the residents recognized her, but I haven't been living here all that long. I don’t know her, although she looks a little familiar. “

  “Do you need anything else, Doc? Can I get anyone for you?”

  “No, thank you, Abe. Emer Shipley, the town nurse, will be back any minute. I think Doc may be out on a tour of some of the outlying ranches, although given our recent weather, I hope he didn’t go too far. Anyway, I best let you get back. I hope I didn’t delay you too much.”

  “No, you didn’t. I was just going to buy Gary some cookies from the mercantile. I will see you around, Mrs. Quinn.”

  Abe was gone before he realized what he had called her. Maybe she hadn't picked up on it. He should have said he was looking for Mick. He walked back to the store, wondering if the priest was still there. He was, sitting behind the counter, munching and enjoying a cookie. His face flushed as Abe opened the door. He looked like a child caught doing something he shouldn’t.

  “Ah, you’re the fine young man who came to our aid earlier. I was worried you were Katie.”

  “Why?”

  “She wouldn’t be happy with me.”

  “Eating her profits?” Abe asked, thinking that was a little mean especially as he was minding the store.

  “No, son. Katie O’Sullivan wouldn't mind. She’d give you the shirt off her back.”

  The confusion must have shown on his face as the priest laughed and tapped his belly.

  “This is the reason she would be mad. Doc Erin told me off for eating too many cakes and she told the women of the town not to feed me. Katie and some of the other ladies took her too literally. She didn’t mean me to never eat another cookie. Life is too short not to have a little fun, don’t you think?”

  Life was way too short. Shorter than you ever imagined. He turned on his heel and left as the walls of the store started to move in on top of him. His breathing got ragged and his hands started sweating. He tried to breathe just as Doc Deane had shown him. Slowly. Breathe in, breathe out slowly. Count to ten. Do it again. Gradually his heart stopped racing. The blackness around his eyes receded to find the priest staring at him, a glass of water in his hand. “Not sure what is wrong with the air in Clover Springs today but it seems to be badly affecting you young’uns. Anything I can do to help, son?”

  “No, Father. Sorry about before. I didn’t mean to be rude. I get these funny turns. Have to get outdoors.”

  “No offense taken, lad. I am always around if you need to talk. With a name like O'Malley, you have to be from the same place I am.”

  The store bell tinkled, making the priest stand straighter. “I best get back. Don’t want to be caught slacking in my new position.”

  Abe grinned as the priest walked smartly back into the store. He was a nice man. Pity he couldn't do anything to help him. Abe wasn’t interested in God or religion. He used to believe, and look where that had got him. No, from now it was just him. And that’s the way it was going to stay.

  Chapter 8

  An unfamiliar smell wafting under her nose, turning her stomach, woke Catherine up. Where was she? In some sort of doctor’s office, judging by the cabinets on the walls. She moved to get off the bed when a wave of dizziness hit her again.

  “Move slowly...that’s better. Now you won’t get as lightheaded. When did you last eat?”

  The woman in front of her wasn’t the same woman who had been with the priest. Panic gripped her. Was it true? Was she mad? Had they locked her up?

  “Where am I?”

  “In the doctor’s office. Doc Erin brought you in. You’ve been asleep for a while. My name is Emer. I am one of the nurses here.”

  “Is it a lunatic asylum?”

  The woman called Emer gave her a funny look. “No. Cathy, isn't that your name?”

  “Catherine. Catherine Johnston.”

  The woman looked confused. “I thought Doc Erin said you were Cathy Ryan. She must be exhausted from her trip.”

  “My sister always called me Cathy. Mama didn’t like it. But I do.”

  The lady smiled. “Cathy, this is the doctor’s office. There are no asylums here. You are safe.”

  She was wrong. She was never going to safe. Not again. They would come for her. They had promised. She’d been lucky, but luck always ran out. Her ma hadn't been lucky coming over from Ireland. Ironic, really, her adoptive parents suffering the same fate. Yet she’d escaped, both times. Was it true? Was she cursed?

  “Cathy, can you eat something for me? Doc thinks you are getting lightheaded due to hunger.”

  She was starving but she couldn’t eat. What if it was poisoned? Then she would have those dreams again where she couldn’t move her arms, her legs.

  She shook her head. She didn’t want food but she was thirsty. “I’d like some water please.”

  The door opened. Cathy shrunk back on the bed but it was only Doc Erin. She looked back at Emer, who was staring at her in concern. She grasped the glass of water and drank it greedily.

  “Cathy, drink slowly or you will be sick. That’s it. Smaller sips. Good girl.”

  Cathy kept taking small sips as the two w
omen moved into the other room. She could barely hear their conversation, but she heard the word asylum and concern. She closed her eyes. Where was Mary? Was she not coming? Could she blame her if she didn’t? It was a bit much to walk back into someone’s life all these years later.

  She heard the commotion outside the door. A woman was crying. She let the glass fall. It couldn’t be happening again. No. No.

  “Cathy, shush, love. Nothing is going to happen to you, nothing will hurt you. You are safe here. Listen to me. I won’t let anyone near you, I promise.” Doc Erin was almost cuddling her. She wished she could stop shaking.

  “You swear?” Her voice was as shaky as the rest of her. She was holding the doctor too tightly. She’d leave marks on her wrist. But her hands wouldn't respond to her command to loosen. What was wrong with her? Was she losing her mind after all? Archibald was right. She was cursed.

  “Cathy—or would you prefer Catherine—I promise you as your doctor you are safe. I won't let anyone see you unless you want to see them. Now, can you loosen your grip or I will have to ask Emer to strap up my broken wrist.”

  She stared into the doctor’s face—she was smiling, her expression reassuring. She lessened her hold. “Cathy. That’s what my sister called me.”

  “Cathy it is, then. Now, please lie back on the pillow. I am going to give you something to help you relax.”

  She shook her head. She didn’t want anything. That was what had got her into this mess in the first place. Archibald had promised it would help stop the nightmares and it had at first, but then they had come back worse than ever.

  She shook her head violently. She had given in on the train but she had to stop taking it.

  “Okay, Cathy. I won't give you anything but you need to lie back and try to relax. I am going out to tell Katie and the rest to go away. I will be back in to see you then.”