History's Pages: The Knocknashee Story - Book 3 by Jean Grainger

Author:Jean Grainger [Grainger, Jean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: GOLD HARP MEDIA
Published: 2025-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

The trip back to Knocknashee was blissful as they whispered about when they were going to be married.

Declan wanted it as soon as possible. ‘A Christmas wedding?’ he suggested.

‘We don’t have time to read the banns before Christmas – it’s less than three weeks away…’

‘I wish there was a way.’

She laughed softly at his impetuosity. ‘Yeah, and everyone watching my belly like a hawk then, thinking it was a rush job. No, we’re a respectable pair of teachers – we’ll have no whiff of gossip, thank you very much. We’re going to do this properly and wait a respectable amount of time, and besides, we need to study for our exams first and then see about the results. If we’ve passed, you will have a proper teacher’s wage fit for a married man and I’ll be on more money as well, and we’ll be able to save up for a couple of years so if I need to take time off…’

‘Time off for what?’ He looked genuinely puzzled.

She leant over and whispered in his ear, ‘Babies, Declan…’ and he went bright red and couldn’t stop beaming from ear to ear. ‘And I suppose another advantage of waiting is Canon Rafferty might be gone from the parish,’ she added hopefully.

‘Mm…’ He looked extremely doubtful, and she realised she hadn’t told him about Mrs McHale and her mission to dig up dirt on the canon and maybe liberate poor Father Dempsey. She opened her mouth to say it but then decided to leave it until later. Somehow she knew Richard Lewis’s name would make Declan go quiet and thoughtful. She suspected Richard was why Declan had referred to himself as second best earlier, and she didn’t want him feeling that way.

‘I always wanted it to be Father Iggy who married me if it ever happened,’ she said instead, smiling sadly.

‘Well then, that’s who will do it. We’ll go to him in Cork and arrange for him to marry us,’ said Declan, like that was settled.

Her heart lifted. ‘Is it possible to get married outside the parish, if we’re both from the same place?’ She wasn’t sure. She remembered what Tilly had said about the letter of freedom. Would that be necessary and who would grant it – the canon or the bishop? She would have to ask Nancy O’Flaherty, whose daughter had married a man from Annascaul before going off to live there. Had her husband needed to get a letter?

‘Will you write to Hugh and Lizzie Warrington soon?’ he asked as the bus passed a weathered milestone, carved with an arrow and the word CORK.

‘Yes, I was thinking of going to Cork once we break up for the Christmas holidays. I haven’t seen them for months, and I’ve promised them a visit anyway, and I know they’ll be delighted for me.’

After all those long years in hospital, when the polio consultant and his wife acted as her guardians, she had grown to love them dearly and thought of them almost as surrogate parents.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.