The Irish Bride Read Free

dark now but for the firelight. “They’ll tear this place
down, too, if they find us here, and then none of us will have
shelter.” He fixed Farrell with a hard look. “D’ye want to be
responsible for that?”
    “ No,
but . . . saints preserve us, you’re serious!
I’m not going anywhere with you. I am to marry Liam.”
    Aidan’s exasperation was vivid on his
face, and made even more so by the cuts and bruises it bore,
obvious souvenirs from the afternoon’s events. “Aye, in prison with
rats for witnesses?”
    Farrell’s chest tightened and she
pressed her clenched fist to her mouth. “No—”
    Tommy put a hand up. “Hold a minute
now, Farrell. Maybe Aidan has the right idea.”
    “ He might at that,” old Sean
put in from his pallet, rubbing his bristled chin thoughtfully.
“Ye’ll have to take Michael away from here, Tommy. Down the road a
far distance. Make it look as if he took a spill from his horse so
no one suspects foul doings. Praise God we’re well thought of in
the clachan . The
neighbors won’t breathe a word of what happened.”
    “ No,” Aidan interjected. He
met Tommy’s gaze. “Ye’ll take him back to our cottage. Lay him
where he fell, with his head against the rocks. And ask the
neighbors to tell the authorities exactly what happened.” He
glanced apologetically at Sean. “I know ye mean well, Da, that ye
wish only to spare me the blame. But it’s too risky by half. The
constabulary might hear of the fight from Michael’s thugs. They’ll
know I had a hand in his death. If you try to protect me, they’ll
only suspect you of wrongdoing, too.”
    “ But, Aidan,” Tommy said.
“We’re talkin’ of a murder charge. Think, man! ‘Tis no matter that
he pushed ye beyond limits or that any man would’ve done the same.
Let us do as Da says and take Michael down the road. Otherwise,
they’ll charge you with murder and you’ll dance at the end of a
rope of they when catch you.”
    “ That’s why they can’t catch
me,” Aidan replied, his eyes narrowed with purpose. “I’ll be long
gone. Far away from here, and easy in my heart, knowing my family
won’t suffer for the accidental wrong I’ve done. It’s better this
way, Tommy, much as I appreciate your loyalty to me. Better for all
of you, and since you’re the ones who’ll be left behind, that’s the
way it must be.”
    “ Where will ye go, do ye
think?” Clare asked, absently smoothing the baby’s silky head. “You
can’t stay in Cork, but maybe in Dublin or another city, you might
have some luck findin’ work and be able to dodge the
authorities.”
    Aidan’s expression grew bleak. “No. We
have to leave Ireland. I’m thinking America is the only
place—that’s where we have to go.”
    America! Farrell couldn’t believe her
ears. “And how will ye pay for the passage? I’ve heard talk that it
costs three or four pounds each for fare to New York.”
    Aidan glanced away, and then returned
his gaze to her. “Michael had money in his pockets. A lot of
money.”
    “ You stole Michael’s money?” she gasped,
her hand cold at her throat.
    “ And who should we be givin’
it to? Cardwell?” Tommy asked with a lash of sarcasm. “Or maybe we
should let him be buried with it? Aidan’s right. It will serve us
all best if the two of you use the money to leave here and draw the
trouble away from us.”
    “ But—” Desperate for a
champion, Farrell turned to her cousin. “Clare, do you actually
mean to go along with this crack-brained idea?”
    Clare’s voice was as strained as her
own. “I’m sorry, Farrell. Ye know I am. But we’ve the children to
think of. We’ll have trouble enough with the police sniffing around
our feet about Michael’s death, and who will see after the little
ones if we’re taken? Aidan is right. At least if you go, the blame
and guilt by association won’t be so likely to rain on us. The
Cardwells will get tired of searching for ye eventually and leave
us in peace. And