Page 11 of The Last Love Song
‘Of course you will. You know where I live?’ She nodded. ‘Then I’ll expect you. Now, come here and kiss me.’
He pulled her gently towards him and planted a small kisson her lips. Then he took her lightly by the shoulders and stared down at her.
‘Sorcha-porcha.’ He winked. ‘I’ll be waiting for you.’
Sorcha watched as he made his way inside. She leant against a wall, breathing heavily. Her legs felt like cotton wool and her head was spinning.
Con Daly was no better than a tinker living in his shack on the beach. Before tonight she would have probably crossed the street to avoid him, and never would have dreamt that she’d accept his physical affection...
Sorcha blessed herself and asked God to forgive her – not only for the kiss, but because she had enjoyed every moment of it.
Would she go to see him next week?
Sorcha pushed herself away from the wall as the band began to play.
Walking inside, she observed Angus dancing with Maureen, Katherine smooching Johnny and Mairead being held very close by a boy she’d never seen before.
Then she looked up to the stage.
He smiled at her.
She knew something had begun tonight that could change her life completely.
3
Helen McCarthy saddled up her horse, Davy, checked the girth, then swung herself onto his back. She turned him out of the stable yard, trotted along the winding drive, out of the gate, and pointed Davy in the direction of the beach.
On her own two feet, Helen was ungainly. Yet from a distance, sitting comfortably on the tall stallion, her seat so assured...girl and horse made a perfectly elegant picture.
It was the only time Helen felt in control.
Three minutes later, they’d reached the long stretch of white sand.
‘Giddy-up!’ Helen tapped Davy’s bottom and the horse began to canter. The wind whipped around her face, the crash of the waves deafening her. As was often the case, Helen began to sob loudly, her wails matching those of the seagulls up above her.
She rode until she reached the far end of the beach. She slowed Davy to a trot, and they carefully picked their way through the rocky outcrop onto the sheltered sandy cove Helen had come to regard as her own private haven. She came here when things were bad. Consequently, it was where she spent most of her time.
Dismounting Davy, she tethered him to a rock that stuck out of the sand, then walked slowly towards the waves.
For a few moments, and not for the first time, Helen contemplated continuing to venture right out until the waves brushed her thighs, her stomach, her neck, then eventually closed over her head, bringing peace and silence.
Tears began to trickle out of her eyes once more, stinging her salty cheeks. She shook her head. She was too scared of water to drown herself.
Helen turned and walked back, climbing onto the rock that gave the best view of the coast. As she surveyed the scene, her eyes fixed on the blinking of the Galley Head Lighthouse, shrouded in mist.
School had been more miserable than usual, if that was possible. She had heard Sorcha and her cronies giggling about the fun they’d had at the concert at the GAA hall last Saturday night. Helen was filled with hurt at the way they stopped talking immediately when they noticed she was behind them.
The rejection of Sorcha O’Donovan was particularly painful. The girl was very pretty, bright and popular, with a mother and father who loved her. In short, Sorcha had everything Helen herself longed for.
She looked up to the sky. In forty minutes or so the day would end and blackness would descend. After a night of respite, the sun would rise and Helen would have to endure the humiliation of rejection once again.
‘Oh, Mother, why did you and Daddy leave me?!’ she wailed. How many other children in the village had lacked a comforting arm around their shoulder when they’d tripped and fallen? How many had missed their bedtime story, or the kiss with a rough male cheek that spoke silently of love and security as the light was switched off?
‘I have nothing, nothing!’
Helen knew her last statement was dramatic and far fromtrue. There was one thing she was going to have very soon, and lots of it.
She wiped her eyes with a none-too-clean hanky and tried to order things in her mind.
