Promised Land by Marita Conlon-Mckenna Page A

disappointment, about not getting this farm, but if that’s all you care about, you can shag off out of here!’
    ‘Ella stop! I love you, you know that,’ he said, trying to calm her down. ‘Maybe if I go away and work and save, eventually we’ll be able to …’
    ‘People who love each other get by Sean, they find a way to be together.’
    She stood there facing him. If he’d said to her, there and then, to come upstairs and lie down and let him prove his love for her, she’d have gone with him. If he’d asked her to walk out of the farm door and travel ten thousand miles to the furthest corner of the earth with him, she’d have done it. For she loved him.
    Instead he got up politely and began to tuck his shirt back into his trousers.
    ‘Get out!’ she shouted. ‘Get out of my house!’ She began to laugh almost hysterically. ‘I mean get out of my brother’s house, Sean Flanagan!’
    She banged the kitchen door closed after him and stood still, listening as a few minutes later he started up the tractor engine out in the yard, leaving her alone in the old farmhouse.
    It was almost nine o’clock that night when Monty lifted his head and began to bark as her brother’s car pulled up outside. Ella sighed to herself; she was still upset after her fight with Sean and their arrival seemed almost an intrusion. Carmel came in first with her parcels of groceries. Ella made no attempt to get up and help her, and pretended to be engrossed in the newspaper she was reading. Liam followed in a minute later. It only took a minute for her to get the strong smell of porter off her brother.
    ‘We stopped off for a pint,’ he said, slurring his words.
    Ella didn’t give a damn what he did.
    ‘Liam’s a bit upset,’ murmured Carmel, a worried expression making her frown.
    ‘The bloody bastards in the bank!’
    ‘They wouldn’t give him a loan today,’ added Carmel. ‘They told him to come back in a few months’ time.’
    ‘Bastards!’ shouted her brother. ‘Money men, my arse! Misers more like! I’ve got this place now but oh no, they wouldn’t listen to me. I’ll show those fellahs what I think of them, by God I will!’
    ‘Liam, I think it’s time you went to bed,’ suggested Carmel, putting away the few bits of groceries and heating a mug of warm milk for herself. ‘I’m away to bed anyways!’
    Ella waited for her brother to argue back, but instead he sat down in the chair and refused to budge.
    ‘I’ll stay up all bloody night if I want!’
    She sat quiet in the chair opposite, watching him. His eyes were staring into the firelight, when suddenly he sat up, running his fingers through his hair like he always did when he was nervous, and glanced in her direction.
    ‘Ella, you could give me a loan,’ he said.
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘I mean that you have hundreds of pounds just sitting in a bank account, money you’re not even using, and I need capital to run this farm.’
    ‘That’s my money, Liam. Daddy left it to me. It’s all I have, you know that! You’re the one got the house and the land.’
    ‘What good is the land if I don’t have the money to farm it and keep going? I’ll pay you the same interest as the bank gives.’
    Ella thought about it, knowing all the plans her brother was making. She wasn’t even sure if she’d consider him a good investment.
    ‘Liam, sell me some of the land, a few acres will do, and I’ll make over so much of the money to you.’
    ‘No!’ She could see his expression change to one of fury. ‘This farm’s mine now Ella and don’t you forget it!’ he shouted angrily. ‘I’ll not go fecking breaking it up or give a piece of it away, leastways to you! You can piss off with your money and keep it!’
    She could see there was absolutely no point arguing with him. Besides, he was drunk.
    ‘We’ll talk about this again,’ she ventured.
    Liam’s head dropped back against the chair and he began to snore heavily.
    Ella watched her brother, his