Immaculate Heart by Camille Deangelis Page B

“He’s lucky to be alive, that one,” she said to me out of the corner of her mouth.
    â€œYou’ve been a busy man, I hear,” Leo said blithely, ignoring what was perfectly audible to all. “Spoke to Father Jack, did you?”
    â€œI didn’t realize we’re allowed to call him Father Jack.”
    â€œNot to his face.” Leo laughed. “He’s a clever one, that Father Jack. No time for nicknames when you’ve an eye on the bishop’s chair.”
    Paudie turned to me and patted an old black shoebox on the seat beside him. “I’ve a package for you, lad.”
    â€œThanks for bringing it over. And for setting it up so Tess and I could talk.”
    Paudie fiddled with his beer mat. “She rang me after you left today.”
    I braced myself. “Oh?”
    The old folks traded a three-way look. “I’m beginning to think you’ve a certain effect on people,” Paudie ventured. “She was livelier than I’ve heard her in a long while.”
    â€œWhat do you mean by ‘lively’?”
    â€œShe isn’t the sort to open up to strangers, Tess.” Paudie sighed. “She never has been.”
    I’d found a fossil on the beach, and we’d pretended to examine it, but it was just an excuse to come closer. Like a ghost trapped in stone, she’d said, and that was when I’d kissed her.
    â€œBut she spoke to you today?” Brona asked.
    â€œShe started to. I’m hoping she’ll let me interview her again at some point before I leave.”
    â€œAh, she will,” Leo replied. “Twenty years is a long time to be keepin’ your own counsel.”
    â€œDoes she have friends?” I asked. “Maybe that’s a weird question, but I don’t know if lay nuns are supposed to refrain from, you know, ‘earthly attachments’ or whatever.”
    â€œI don’t know that there’s a rule about that, as such,” Paudie mused. “Tess is well loved. She’s a friend to everyone, if you know what I mean.”
    â€œSo there’s no one she’d confide in,” I said.
    â€œNot really, no.”
    â€œAnd did you get up to see Síle?” Leo asked teasingly.
    â€œI didn’t think I’d have time,” I said. “I’ll go tomorrow. I’d like to talk to Orla, too.”
    â€œShe’s only up the road,” Brona said.
    â€œGood luck gettin’ Orla to speak wit’cha,” Leo retorted.
    â€œWhy don’t you think she’d talk to me?”
    â€œIf Tess wants to forget, Orla’s already forgotten,” Paudie replied. “She’s changed.”
    â€œSure, we’re none of us the people we used to be,” Brona said sagely.
    Leo lifted his fingers to what little remained of his hair. “And more’s the pity.” The others smiled ruefully into their drinking glasses. “They say Madden is a shadow man,” Leo went on under his breath. “That Orla made him up. Would lead you to wonder where the babbies came from, if it were true!” Leo threw back his head and laughed uproariously.
    â€œAnyhow,” Brona continued, “that’s how seldom anyone sees him. Must be quite an important job he’s got up in Dublin, to be gone so much of the week.”
    I’d see about Orla in the morning, but in the meantime, I wanted to talk about her sister. “I put in a call to Ardmeen House after I talked to Father Lynch,” I said. “I’m waiting for the director to call me back.”
    â€œAnd you’ll go on waiting,” Leo replied. “It’s up to yourself, but if I were you, I’d go on and make the drive up there.”
    â€œI don’t know,” I said, though I’d be taking his advice no matter what happened tomorrow. “I don’t want to presume they’ll let me in and not be able to see her because they think I’m too pushy. I