The Woman on the Bridge by Sheila O'Flanagan

Author:Sheila O'Flanagan [O'Flanagan, Sheila]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Dublin, spring/summer 1921

Dr Desmond had arranged for Katy to be brought to hospital, where they diagnosed concussion, a cracked rib, severe bruising and soft tissue damage, as well as the loss of her baby.

‘My beautiful daughter,’ wailed Annie after they’d told her they were keeping Katy in for a while. ‘That man has destroyed her.’

‘Katy’s strong,’ said Winnie. ‘She’ll recover.’

‘She can’t have children,’ Annie said. ‘Not now.’

‘I should hope not!’ exclaimed Winnie. ‘She’s never going back to him.’

‘Even if she did,’ said Annie, ‘and not that I’d let her, the doctor at the hospital said that her injuries mean that she won’t be able to.’

‘Oh,’ said Winnie.

‘And there was a bleed on her brain.’ Annie’s voice shook as she said the words. ‘That’s why she’s struggling to speak.’

‘Will she recover from that?’

‘Maybe. Over time.’

‘I hope that shitehawk rots in hell,’ said Winnie.

And Annie agreed.

Thomas O’Leary arranged transport for himself to Katy’s home the following day. Despite Annie urging him not to go, saying that Reid would be just as violent towards him and that he wasn’t in a fit state to defend himself, her husband was adamant.

‘I’m not going alone,’ he said. ‘Paddy Dwyer is coming with me.’

Paddy, who had worked with him at the docks, was an enormous bull of a man.

‘Don’t kill him, so,’ said Annie. ‘I’d love it if you did, but you’d be the one who’d end up in gaol. Be careful.’

Thomas kissed her and then Katy, and made his way to the quays, where Paddy was waiting with the car his brother-in-law had lent him.

They drove in silence out of the city and then along the quiet country roads that led to Kells. It was peaceful, and Thomas was enjoying the smell of the unfurling spring flowers and the fresh water of the rivers instead of the stench of the Liffey and the unrelenting Dublin smoke.

But beautiful and all though it was, he thought, bad things still happened. And he wanted his son-in-law to pay for what he’d done to Katy.

When they got to the small cottage, though, there was nobody there. A few hens scratched around at the side of the building, but they were the only signs of life. Thomas pushed open the door and saw dirty crockery piled in the Belfast sink beneath the window. In the single bedroom, the bed was stripped back to the horsehair mattress.

‘Has he done a runner?’ asked Paddy.

‘I don’t know. Maybe he’s out in the fields.’

But the only person they met was Noel Mulvanney from the adjoining farm, whose wife had been the one to let them know what had happened to Katy.

‘He left this morning,’ Noel told them. ‘Before it was light. I was out myself and I saw the trap outside his door and him clambering onto it.’

‘Where did he go?’ asked Thomas.

‘I don’t know,’ replied Noel. ‘I’ll ask around, but he wasn’t a popular man in these parts. Your girl is well shot of him.’

‘I know,’ said Thomas. ‘But I wanted to let him know what I thought.

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