The Keeper of Secrets: A BRAND NEW completely gripping historical novel by Maria McDonald

Author:Maria McDonald [McDonald, Maria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloodhound Books - Historical Fiction
Published: 2024-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 29

Hurricane

The next few years were the happiest in my life. I don’t think I wore rose-tinted glasses. Having Michael in our lives changed everything for us. We had worries of course, but they were the normal ones everyone struggled with. Angela settled in and seemed quite content as a doting aunt. Florida boomed. There was massive construction, on the railways, buildings, hotels. Jimmy found work straight away, working his way up to foreman. At one stage Ed was tempted to quit the naval yard and take up work on the railroads. Thank God he didn’t. That would have been a disaster for us. As I’ve learned since, a boom is usually followed by a bust. Florida’s bust came earlier than the rest of the States. It started with a massive hurricane the autumn after Michael turned three.

Born in West Cork, the south-west of the island of Ireland, I was accustomed to strong winds and heavy rain, but nothing prepared me for the hurricane. It arrived in late September and nearly brought us to our knees. We had advance warning which Ed paid heed to, thankfully. Not everyone did pay attention to the weather warning and paid dearly for it. When Ed heard the warnings, he arrived home and started work securing our home. When he told me to move the furniture from the veranda inside the house, I told him he was overreacting. He wasn’t. Ed covered the windows with timber he had been saving to build a new shed. In the garden he tied down everything that moved. He instructed me to fill pots and kettles with water, cover them and leave them in the larder. When he told me to put the hens in the bathroom, I thought he was joking. He wasn’t. Finally, he pushed the kitchen table into the centre of the room and put blankets underneath it.

Ed insisted his parents and sisters stay with us until after the hurricane passed. While the weather seemed overcast, it certainly didn’t look any different to any other storm I had witnessed in the seven years I had lived in Florida. However, I had never seen Ed as worried. He worked continuously, prickly with nervous tension, barely stopping to eat or drink.

When the storm hit at first, I teased Ed. To me it felt like a winter storm in West Cork. Powerful gusts that could knock trees over and lift the odd roof tile. Then instead of lessening the winds got stronger. The wind howled and screamed, battering our house so hard I was sure it would pick us up by the foundations and carry us to the sea. A glimpse through the window between the planks of wood showed debris flying through the air. Several times the house shook as objects were fired against its walls by the force of the hurricane.

Rain lashed down, dancing on the roof so hard we could barely hear ourselves speak. Ed gathered us together and put us sitting underneath the kitchen table.

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