Chapter 39

The moon is lighting the tree tops when Arthur O'Meirgen takes Kip for a walk in the woods a few nights after his fancy foot showdown with Betty Breen at In the Bottle pub. Things have been quiet since then. Betty has kept her distance, which has Arthur worried. She's told everyone in that damn Church of hers that he's hired a witch to care for his children. A witch with a broom, even if said broom is a very peculiar umbrella. Again it isn't Betty Breen's complaining that has Arthur concerned. He's used to her needless beaking after so many years listening to it. It's the woman's silence that's frightening the Guinness out of him.

Josee is a funny one alright. Even with all her years of childminding, Arthur has never met a more useless nanny in all his life. She's nothing like she was in the movie - all prissy and perfect, dispensing regular doses of wisdom to the children that sets them right, no matter what the situation. The woman can't get out of bed in the morning to get the kids to school on time without that umbrella knocking her on the nob. And you can forget about eating a wholesome breakfast - the oatmeal is always burnt. Even worse, school lunches are the previous night's chips stuffed in a bap.

Josee hates the house, too, which annoys Arthur to no end. She jumps when the blasting starts, or even when it doesn't happen at all. Kip's barking is enough of a threat to jerk her up to the ceiling with that umbrella of hers. Up there she mumbles nonsensically about health and safety, to herself more than anyone else. Arthur doesn't know what she's saying. Terms like "incident investigation" and "risk assessment" are foreign to him, and he's been blasting rock since he was a teenager working for this dad.

Josee's also a skittish thing for a woman so used to adventure. Arthur can't decide if she has control over the umbrella or if it has control over her. More than once she and the children have gotten lost on the way to school, with either Arthur or Barnaby coming to the rescue in the company van. The school is a twenty minute walk from The Art House. Yet twice they've missed it in favour of Dublin and then Bruges when they took a ride over the Irish Sea and landed in Belgium. Barnaby found them sipping hot chocolate and eating croissant in a cafe, bedazzled.

"You sure she's the same woman?" Arthur's asked Barnaby more than once in his office at the quarry. He has a copy of Josee Tabor sitting on his desk. He can't believe the woman on the CD box is the one caring for his children.

"That's her," Barnaby assures him. "It must be the blasting, or Betty Breen calling her a witch. Best not to ask her about it. Josee Tabor never explains anything."

Since Arthur is living a life that defies explanation, he let it go. The children are happy with Josee Tabor, which is all that matters. Derek and Fin haven't been the same since their mother's death. They went from young to old the moment she died. Josee made them smile again. Darrick and Fin are laughing at her rather than with her, but they're laughing all the same. Only one other woman has made them laugh like that, and Arthur is off to see her now.

Arthur knows where to find her, and so does Kip. They've walked this trail in the woods many times before, no matter the weather or the storm greeting them at the end of it. Reaching the clearing, that hidden place where she practices her strange magic that Betty Breen and The Holy Rollers would attack her for if they knew about it, the storm is waiting. Arthur hides behind a tree, watching her, singing while waiting for the lightning to begin:

"Diamond Girl - you sure do shine

Glad I found you - glad you're mine

Oh my love you're like a precious stone

Part of earth where heaven has rained on

Makes no difference where you are

Day or nighttime you're like a shinin' star

And how could I shine without you

When it's about you that I am"

She can't hear him. It's a quiet night for the current that is Maggie Breen. She's sitting on a blanket, cross-legged, candle lit in a glass vase on one side of her, a bottle of something electric green on the other. A half-empty glass, too. Who knows how many times she's refilled it. Absinthe, Arthur knows. He knows because he made it for her. His mother's recipe, concocted by the woman when she was going through the menopause.

Maggie's hands are resting on her knees. She's serene, floating up high, at peace with herself. "Roamin' wild", Arthur finishes. That's what he thinks, until the moon brightens her face. Arthur sees then that Maggie isn't meditating at all. She's lost in thought, bad thoughts. He can tell by her frown and the wrinkles on her forehead.

Kip scratches the ground, alerting her. "Who's there?" she asks. Reaching behind her, she produces a knife.

"Only me, Pet," Arthur answers, stepping into the clearing.

"Have you come to commune with nature, Brother. Indeed it's a glorious night." Maggie sounds grim, despite the invitation.

"Indeed it is. But to answer your question, I'd rather commune with you," Arthur says.

Maggie bristles then gets to her feet. Her movements are brisk as she shakes the pine of her blanket. "You're a scoundrel, Arthur O'Meirgen. There will be no communing tonight or any other night, I can tell you that much."

"But you know I love you, Maggie Breen," Arthur says theatrically.

"Love? Is that what this is? Us sneaking around behind everyone's backs? Stolen moments in the wood once the sun has set? This isn't love, Arthur. It's temptation and us giving into it. I can't do it anymore. The stress is breaking me." Belongings in hand, Maggie brushes by him and marches down the path.

Arthur is on her heels, Kip a close distance behind. "Then marry me, Maggie, like I've asked you a hundred times before."

Maggie stops to glare at him. "Marry you? And give my mother a stroke? She's already lost one daughter to that house of yours. She'd rather see you hang in the town square than lose another."

"Come on, Maggie. The house isn't the problem and you know it. Has old Betty Breen gotten to you? Has the bitch convinced you that I'm the devil because her blessed Angel Shrine lost a toe last week?"

Maggie smirks before setting on her way. "Mam is worried about more than The Angel Shrine's feet, Arthur. She's concerned about Darrick and Fin, as am I. How dare you bring that woman into our life. Josee Tabor, of all things. Celebrity nanny. She's a witch, you know - flying all over the place with that umbrella of hers, while the children hang on for dear life. They're enjoying themselves, I'm sure, but I wasn't pleased to hear they visited the monkeys on Madagascar yesterday. Aren't you worried about it, Arthur?"

"I don't need to be with you worried enough for the both of us. You're not jealous of Josee Tabor, are you, Maggie?" Arthur smiles.

Maggie stops again. "Jealous? No, of course I'm not jealous. Even if she is young and pretty and living under the roof of the man I love, caring for my sister's children like they were her own. Why would that make me jealous, Arthur?"

"Then you do love me, Maggie! Ah, come on, you've said it then. You've got to marry me now." Arthur falls on bended knee.

Maggies sticks her nose in the air. "I most certainly do not, and I won't, so long as she's there."

"She's gone tomorrow," Arthur announces quickly.

Maggie's eyes widen. That was too easy. "No, that's too much to ask. Besides, she's not the only reason I can't marry you." She resumes her march down the path.

"And we're back to Betty Breen again." Arthur sighs and follows her. "For Christ's sake, Maggie. You're a grown woman. Are you really going to let your mammy tell you how to live your life?"

"She's got influence in these parts, Arthur. If she finds out we're together, she'll ruin you," Maggie claims.

"Yet it's okay for me to watch her ruin you. You've got to get out of that house, Maggie. Betty Breen is holding you back. She's the Saturn on your shine," Arthurs states.

"She's going to be the boot on your backside if you don't stop blasting rock at the quarry," Maggie returns.

"A fight she's been having with the O'Meirgen family for almost forty years. One that'll go on for forty years more, if any of us live that long. It doesn't matter if we're married or not. Come home with me, Maggie. Tonight. Darrick and Fin love you as much as I do. We'll send Josee Tabor packing and get on with our lives. Betty Breen can stand at her pulpit and wish bad-tidings upon me until she doesn't have a breath left in her. It won't affect us." Arthur sounds desperate. Maggie has never sounded so determined about ending things.

They're at the road now. Maggie starts her car remotely. Its headlights shine on both of them. "But it will affect us, Arthur. It'll affect you. Mam's been talking to a fella - a nasty toad of a man with a slippery smile and a wallet bursting with ill-intentions. I don't know who he is, but they're out to do you no good. I saw them whispering in the kitchen last week. Mam's been on the phone with him since, planning something, something against you. She wants the quarry shut down, Arthur, now more than ever, before The Angel Shrine loses an arm, God forbid. She wants Darrick and Fin, too. She thinks they're in danger living in that house of yours. She wants to save them."

"Along with their immortal souls, I'm sure," Arthur quips. "Betty's set the dogs on me before. I'm not afraid of the she-devil and her schemes. If it gives her pleasure to be so miserable, that's her problem, not mine. How it affects you, though, and us, is my problem. Don't give up on us, baby. Don't make the wrong seem right," he sings, reaching for Maggie.

His fingertips graze her wrist, wakening Maggie's senses. What's she doing? She loves this man, Arthur O'Meirgen, despite the rocks in his head and the ones holding up his roof. But spying on him while lying with him is tearing her apart. Betty Breen is keeping her in the dark about the toad, for now. But it won't be long before she tries to include her in her scheme. If Arthur were to learn that the only reason Maggie took the job at the quarry was to get information for her mother, it would tear him apart. Maggie thought it would be easy. Her sister died because of this man. She never expected to love him.

"I'll think about it. I have to go," she answers before hopping in his car and driving off.

"Don't give up on us baby. We're still worth one more try," Arthur sings, watching her go.

Maggie can't hear him. She's put the music on and another song is filling her head. It's telling her the awful truth. She sings along, wiping the tears from her eyes, her heart cleaving in two.

"Be with you, be with you

Be with you, be with you

Be with you, be with you

Baby, I can't be with you"

(With credit to Seals & Crofts, David Soul, and The Cranberries)