A/N: Ongoing casting call posted in my profile for this story. The lullaby is a real Gaelic lullaby.

Chapter 2 – The Storm

September 20, 1883

"Mud!" Aidan screamed, bright eyes shimmering in the sun of the late afternoon sun. He looked at his mother, giggling.

"That's my boy." Dora called back from the opposite side of the garden. Partially shaded by the church that loomed over her, she looked tired, and ready to burst from the midsection, where her pregnant belly loomed. Her long blonde hair had been tied up, but sections of it were falling loose around her elegant face as she gathered the vegetables into the large basket at her side.

Aidan shaped the piles of mud around him into little balls, and watched as the moisture drained slowly until they looked like very burnt cookies. Then he called out to his mother, "All done!"

Dora looked up and over at her son again, and smiled. "What a good wee cook you are Aidan! And only just turned three."

Aidan glowed, and went to pick up one of his 'cookies' for her, but it merely crumbled in his hands. His grin disappeared, his lower lip quivered, and his eyes turned to her, desperate.

"Now don't fret over mud cookies. Will you help your Mam with baking real cookies when your little brother or sister joins us? You know, hopefully they will be here soon." She sat back on her haunches and rubbed the apron over her belly with her dirty hands.

Aidan smiled, "Yes Mam." He jumped to his feet and darted as quickly he could around the large garden plot. Farther down the hill from the church he could see his Grammy Clara and a few of the sisters working in the orchard. He dropped to his knees next to his mother, and looked at him for permission to touch her belly as well. She nodded, and he asked "Is it going to be a baby?" although he'd heard the answer many times.

She nodded, looking between her son and her belly as she spoke. "Yes, my bitty. A wee boy or girl for you to take care of and help grow to be big and strong like you." She tousled his hair as he rubbed her stomach delicately, and then moved to stand. Once she had, Dora dusted her hands off on her apron and bent down to pick up the basket of vegetables.

Halfway bent, she stopped, mouth half open, eyes wide, as a warm burst of liquid came out from between her legs.

It was as though the entire world was suddenly moving much faster than it was supposed to. Dora screamed, and Grammy Clara and the sisters came running. The sisters took Clara into the rectory while Grammy Clara picked him up and ran into the church to find Grandpa Clarence, who Grammy sent off in quite a hurry to find the midwife and Aidan's Dad.

Then Grammy Clara did something crazy, Aidan thought. Although he could hear the nuns calling for water outside as well as she must be able, she sat him down at the front of the church facing the big cross on the wall, and began to pray. After a very long time, Aidan was scooped back into her arms, and they ran towards the rectory as well, although upon entering, Aidan understood why Grammy Clara had taken so long to get there.

It was insanity. He could hear his Mam screaming and crying, though he could not see her in the front room, and the many ladies that were moving furniture and going in and out of his Grammy and Grandpa's room kept giving him such sad looks that he couldn't help but burst into tears with a wail.

"Mammy!" he sobbed, as Grammy Clara tried to rock him. "I want my Mammy."

The door was flung open, and Grandpa Clarence entered in his funny white collared shirt, wiping the sweat from his brow with a hanky, and then looking incredulously at the women. "All of you out!" He cried, and all the women froze.

Only Dora's screams from the room beyond were heard. "I want my Reece! Now!" she shrieked.

Grammy Clara turned to her husband, "But the baby..?"

"Oh Clara." He shook his head and stepped to the side to allow a plump woman with rosy cheeks to pass him. "I've brought the midwife."

Much of the chaos resumed for a few moments, as the frizzy plump lady pushed and shoved her way into the room, and Grandpa Clarence pushed and shoved all the nuns through the way he had just entered. He then resigned himself to sit on the couch, and looked at his wife. "I couldn't find him. But they said they'd send him when he came in from the field."

Dora gave a shrill scream from the other room, and Grammy Clara moved to hand Aidan over to his grandfather, which started his wailing again, and so she stopped, taking a seat. The midwife shut the door to the room, and the screams were muffled.

Aidan's cries did not cease. "Mammy…" He cried, his voice scratchy and fading with every repetition, until after an hour or so, he finally drifted to sleep, only to be woken once again by a scream much louder than the rest. "Mam!" He yelped, struggling to sit up.

There was silence, with the exception of his movements, and Grammy Clara shushed him. From behind the closed door, there was a cry, quieter though, than Dora had been, and Aidan's grandparents looked at one another.

"What?" Aidan asked. "What?" When he received no response still, fresh tears flooded his already drained eyes.

Grandpa Clarence just smiled and stood, moving into the bedroom. There was a few moments of silence, and then he returned, and silenced Aidan. "Shush boy. Here. Put your arms out."

Aidan wiggled around in his Grammy's lap, and looked up, confused. He wiped his nose on the back of his sleeve and sniffed before putting his arms out as instructed. Grandpa Clarence set the bundle into his arms, and Grammy helped Aidan support it as he brought it close to him and looked down.

Aidan looked for a few moments and the pink lump in the blanket. It looked like a piglet, but with a whole bunch of dark curly things on the top of what appeared to be it's head. Aidan tilted his head slightly to the right and then looked at his Grammy. "What is it?"

She laughed, the same tinkling laugh that Dora had. "It's a baby. Your new little baby brother."

He looked at it again, studying it. It had a nose, and a little bit of a mouth. And eyes, although it wasn't looking at him. It was quite ugly, and Aidan wasn't sure if he wanted a little baby brother if it was going to look so scary.

"It's so small, isn't it?" asked Grammy Clara, with a smile. "It's hard to believe you were that size once, isn't it?"

"Did I look like that?" Aidan asked, worried.

"No." she laughed, and he sighed with relief. "You were bald."

Aidan's eyes went wide as he stared at the baby. He almost didn't hear what she'd said, as he now couldn't help but be in awe. This was what had been in his Mammy's tummy. This was his, personal, private, own, new little brother. He smiled, and put his finger on the baby's nose.

"Hello little baby."

August 1884

The choir was singing. In the same church that they'd met in years prior, the sounds of joyous overtones echoed beneath the domed roof, filtering unseen through the rays of colored light from the stained windows. Dora and Reece were both assembled with the mass of men and women at the front of the church for the choir rehearsal. Dora, on the farthest right with the women, and Reece, positioned at the back of the left side, as he was too tall to be in front of anybody.

"Go labor on, spend and be spent –

Thy joy to do the Father's will:

It is the way the Master went;

Should not the servant tread it still?"

Cheeks flushed at the memory that accompanied the song, Dora subtly strained her head to try to make eye contact with Reece. He would laugh, she was sure, when he remembered what this song had been to their relationship. Reece, however, seemed not to notice her attempts, and stared resolutely at Clara, Dora's mother, while she conducted the choir.

"Toil on and in thy toil rejoice;

For toil comes rest: for exile, home;

Soon shalt thou hear the Bridgegroom's voice,

The midnight peal, "Behold, I come!" Amen."

Unable to control herself at the memory of his winking, Dora laughed, unable to hear Clara dismissing everybody from the practice.

"Dora!" Reece snapped sharply.

She looked up at him with dancing eyes, trying to be solemn, but still giggling as the choir dispersed. She moved to him, cheeks flushed, and whispered, "I'm so wicked. Will I go to hell, do you think?"

Reece looked at her incredulously, "Don't be silly." He began to walk down the aisle to leave the church.

Dora moved to follow him. "Oh, Reece—" she began, and was quickly cut off.

"Only old fools like your father think that way any-more." He said stiffly, and opened the door outside.

The natural light from outside flooded in, and beyond one could see the size of Kilkenny in all its little glory. Rows of small cottages and little buildings all spread out from the main street, getting more destitute looking as they went to the east, and more grand and beautiful as the roads traveled west.

Atop a small curve of hill sat the church, the graveyard to the right, and a small beaten road to the left that led out into the country. On the other side of the graveyard, swinging on a rope suspended by a large tree, several children were playing. They all appeared to be between the ages of four and six, and were screaming and laughing with delight.

In the distance, thunder rumbled, and dark clouds seemed to be moving in quickly with the help of the gusting wind. "It feels like rain." Dora glanced at Reece and then the sky. "We should go and collect –"

"They're just playing, they're fine." Reece mumbled, digging for his pipe. He found it and set it between his lips, searching now for the little tin of tobacco he kept.

"But…" Dora stopped, uncertainly staring at one of the boys in the distance.

"Dora." Reece stopped looking through his pockets to stare at her. "Dear.."

After a moment of silent eye contact, she meagerly asked, "But if it rains?"

"He's not sugar. He won't melt."

"But he could catch his death!" she exclaimed, and started down the stairs.

"Don't be so silly!" Hands in the air, Reece's green eyes were wild with frustration. "You mustn't coddle him." He ordered, looking down at her sternly.

Dora flushed and looked away, only to spot one of the children. "Look, they see us!"

A young boy, his blonde hair a tangled mess, came running towards them. One of his suspenders had come loose, and his flat cap was lopsided. He did not slow down as he reached them, instead gave a yell of "Mammy! Dad!" and launched himself into the air at his father.

Reece, not missing a beat, caught the boy mid air and spun him around. Smiling, he tossed his son into the air.

"Careful!" Dora started. "Don't—"

"He won't break." Reece silenced her with a frown, and then turned his attention back to Aidan. "How's my little man?"

Dora smiled weakly at her son as Reece set him down. "Are you being a good boy?"

"We found a robin's egg!" Aidan exclaimed, triumphant.

Reece leaned down a bit. "Was it red?" he teased, his hands on his thighs.

"No!" Aidan laughed. "Blue!"

"A blue robin's egg?" Reece pretended to ponder and scratched his head. "That some rare, that's special!"

Catching onto the joke, Aidan shook his head with a wide grin. "Silly."

After a moment of silence, Dora stepped closer to her son. "Do you know why this is a special day?"

Aidan thought long and hard for a moment. "A birthday..?" he offered, careful.

Dora laughed. "It's your great-grandmother's birthday, that's right! So your Grammy Clara's Mammy. Her name was Dora too, just like me, and she was born a century ago."

"That's a hundred?"

Reece interjected with a grin. "Yes, it's a hundred years."

There was a shout from one of the boys over by the tree. A young boy, slightly taller and stronger looking than Aidan was calling his name.

"Can I go Dad?" Aidan asked hopefully. "Frankie –"

Reece nodded and waved him on, but Dora's eyes grew wide with worry. "Aidan, stop!"

Aidan stopped, silent as he looked back and forth between his mother and his father, not knowing which of his parents to obey. Dora continued, "Come back now, it's going to rain."

Reece silenced her with a look, and turned to his son. "Go on and play with Frankie now, son, you'll be fine."

After a moment of continuing to look back and forth between his parents, Aidan turned slowly, and when he was not stopped again, began to run back to the boys playing with the rope in the tree. The pair at the base of the steps stood in an uncomfortable silence for a moment.

"Reece." Dora began, tentative.

"You don't need to pamper him so."

"There's thunder in the air." As though on cue, there was a crash of thunder, louder now and closer, though unseen. She pulled her shawl tight and wrapped her arms around her. "I want to take him home."

"Let the poor boy be." Reece said, turning to her. "He hardly gets to spend time with any one his own age, the way you coddle him."

A bolt of lightning flashed nearby, and the thunder followed almost instantaneously. After a few seconds more and small droplets of water, hardly noticeable had begun to fall sparsely from the sky. But it was all Dora needed. "Look, see?" she held out her wet hand. "We should go. We still need to pick wee Micah up from Missus O'Grady, and have to walk back home. It's dangerous!"

"Dangerous?" he cried, exasperated. "Don't be such an old woman."

"But it's going to storm!"

"And what of it?" Reece motioned to the playing children. "They are all just having fun. Must you always ruin it?"

As if on cue, the pack of boys beneath the tree began to disperse. Several women, either their mothers or nannies, had called, and as his playmates were summoned, Aidan was hurrying their way, playing with a stick. Taking his hand, Reece looked pointedly at Dora. "We love a good storm, don't we son." And turned away from her.

Dora stood at the base steps, watching as her husband and oldest son walked away from her down the hill. Rain began to fall more steadily, and as her hair began to cling to her face and shoulders, Dora finally began to follow.

They walked in front of her the whole way, pausing only when she stopped at the O'Grady household. As they all stood beneath the shelter of the porch overhang, Aidan was oblivious to the tension between his parents, and once Mrs. O'Grady had handed out baby Micah to his mother, the silent party began down the street again.

Later that night, the storm crashed about the small farmhouse with a fury. Dora stood, wrapped in her shawl at the front window, her silhouette illuminated by the roaring fire in the grate behind her. Yet she still felt cold inside. Reece had left several hours earlier, claiming to need to gather more firewood, though the stack against the wall was enough to burn for days.

There was a cry from the small of the bedrooms, and with one last furtive glance out the window, Dora turned her back on the rain and went to her boys room.

Aidan standing next to the small cradle that was Micah's bed. The toddler was screaming, face red from lack of air, and eyes squinted from sobbing. Aidan was trying to shush him. Patting his back and making faces, but the good try was to no avail. "Thank you Aidan." Dora said, moving him gently aside and picking up the wailing babe. She motioned for Aidan to get back into bed, and with one hand, covered him up when he did, then sat down next to him.

Rocking Micah in her arms, she looked down at the little halo of dark curls around his face, and saw her husband. "Tut tut tut, my wee bitty." She whispered to him, and looked at Aidan. "Are you scared too?" Aidan shook his head, chin jutted defiantly, but when a sudden crash of lightening brightened the room, his eyes grew wide and he tensed. She laughed.

"Close your eyes." Dora watched him close his eyes slowly, and then began to sing.

"O ba ba mo leanabh

Ba mo leanabh, ba

O ba ba mo leanabh

Ni mo leanabhs' an ba ba

Dhìrich mi bheinn mhòr gun anal

Dhìrich agus thearn

Chuirinn falt mo chinn fo d' chasan

Agus craicionn mo dhà làimh

Oh hush-a-bye, my little baby

Hush, my little baby, hush

Oh hush-a-bye my little baby

My own little baby will go to sleep

I breathlessly climbed the great mountain

I climbed and I descended

I would put the hair of my head under your feet

And the skin of my two hands.."

Her babe and her boy were silent.