The Turtle Woman by Esther Murbach

Author:Esther Murbach [Murbach, Esther]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781467881852
Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
Published: 2012-01-13T00:00:00+00:00

The Magic Cave

Niall went silent for a while. I could see that telling me his tale had taken a toll on him. He was spent. There was pain in the lines of his face, and he kept his eyes shut. When he finally looked up and into my eyes, it really got to me. His pain and my pain were the same. He might have gotten rid of his shell, but not yet had he got rid of the misery he had lived in and dealt out to others for so many years. It still weighed on him. There was no need for words. From this moment on we both knew that our fates were connected, that we had to work through this together. I held out my hand to him, and he took it. Then and there he took my heart too.

There was a discreet knock on the door. Anna. I called her to come in. She looked from me to Niall and back and saw at once that something decisive had happened.

“Tea?” she asked.

“Yes, please!”

She went down again to get the tea.

“Come stay with me in my house in Kinvara,” Niall said. “I have a few days before my next tour. Kinvara is a small village with less than 1,200 residents, but it is a beautiful place on the Bay. It’s a good starting point for excursions into the Burren. I can show you the caves you want to see, and we’ll be able to find a way to deal with your problem. I want to do this. I want to help. But I have a feeling you will help me too. You’re a strong woman, even if you don’t know it yet. You will challenge me, and I need that. So, you see, I’m not just being altruistic. It’s going to be give and take for both of us; we need the exercise in this. We need to find out how to live a life worth living, not just functioning. Will you come?”

“Let me sleep on it,” I said. “Is it okay for you when I give you my answer in the morning? I have to talk to Anna.”

“Of course. I’ll be back.”

Anna came back with the tea. We drank it together, not talking much. Before Niall left, he took my hand and held it to his lips, and I felt another crack opening in my breastplate.

When Niall came back in the morning, I had sorted things out with Anna. She absolutely wanted to fly back home as scheduled. Her granddaughter had her birthday, and Anna had promised to be there.

Anna was all for my staying with Niall. “Do it! I think you need that now,” she said. “You need time to talk to him. He’s still waiting for your story. Obviously he hasn’t held anything back about himself. Now you should be equally open. And after all, you’ll have the caves close by that you want to see so desperately.”

So Niall made sure that Anna wouldn’t miss the bus to Dublin Airport.

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