Roisin was, naturally, not happy that her plan to get her daughter back had failed. Her next step, therefore, was to accost Calum the following day as he left his new accountant's office. "I will get my daughter back," she hissed, glaring at him with all the force she could muster. "You will not coerce her into staying with you when she clearly is not happy!"
"Jenny is her own woman," Calum said calmly. He wasn't about to let his mother-in-law try and provoke a response out of him so she could then claim he was a monster. "She married me of her own free will; had she not wished to do so, I would not have forced her hand."114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIpfjtX5j77
"You did force her hand," Roisin insisted. "She would never have married you had you not used your silver tongue and glib ways to lure her into your trap. And you won't even let me see my grandchild! What sort of a man are you who will keep a loving mother from her daughter's side when she needs me the most?"
"A man who knows your story," Calum said. "Jenny told me how you were put through the exact same hell by your mam-in-law. Given your history, how you can't have the good sense to realise you're doing the exact same thing to your daughter as was done to you is beyond my understanding. But I will not let history repeat itself; Jenny is happy now she is no longer under your control. If you force my hand, I will use all the legal avenues necessary to ensure you never come near Jenny or our baby."
Roisin's eyes narrowed. "You will not keep me away," she warned. "I have friends in very high places, and if I have to use them, you'll regret the day you interfered with my family."
"Try me," Calum said, finally losing his temper. "But you've caused enough stress to my wife and unborn child; I'm drawing a feckin' line in the sand. If my wife or child are hurt in any way, you'll be knowin' all about it. Now kindly step aside and leave me be."
To her credit, Roisin did move, but as Calum walked past, she fired one last shot. "You won't get away with this," she called after his retreating back. "I will find the hospital at which my daughter is giving birth, and that child will never know you for his or her father!"
Calum took a deep breath as he walked to the bus stop, refusing to let her bait him. Thank God we're home birthing, he thought, taking comfort in the fact Roisin would look like a right fool when she camped out at what she believed to be the right hospital, only to find out her daughter wasn't there. As he left, Calum made a mental note to mess with his mother-in-law even further; Belfast had a number of hospitals, and it would be a simple matter of filtering different dates to truly mess the Lady Roisin around. And Calum found himself suddenly looking forward to this new twist in the game very much. Jenny, he knew, as he got on the bus, would heartily approve, and he thanked God he had such a kind, level-headed, and utterly devilish woman for a wife. "Forgive me, Finn," he added. "I don't mean to tread on your toes. But your Jenny is an utterly fine woman, and it's sorry I am you could not be around to fight this fight with her." He sighed. Happy as he was - when Roisin wasn't kicking up a stink - he sometimes felt inadequate. He knew Jenny didn't think of him as such; never did a day pass when she didn't praise him for being so good. But there was still that niggle at the back of his mind that whispered, day and night, that he was only a caretaker for the young widow and the unborn son or daughter, that he had no right to refer to Jenny's baby as theirs, even though legally he would be the father when the wee one was born. Such thoughts were not pleasant, and many were the times Calum wished he could unburden himself to Jenny and confess how short he felt he was falling. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaHeb4bMsxS
I can't do that to her, he told himself angrily, as the bus made its slow crawl out of the city.. The poor dove is suffering enough because of her mother's continued nonsense. I can't be burdening her with this additional mess. He sighed. What would Finn have said, in his friend's place? He could almost picture his friend sitting opposite, shaking his head in that way he had whenever he felt Calum was being a right naff. You're a grand man, the black-eyed man's ghost seemed to say. And you're bein' a grand husband to me pear. Who else would've moved heaven and earth to look after her and her babe? I can think of no other more suited than you. So stop doubtin' yourself, you eejit. Jenny's heart is yours, and truth be told, my friend, I'm glad it's so. I knew she loved me as truly as a woman could ever love a man, but I knew I was the one fallin' short, not you. Her heart was yours the day you two met, and had I had it my way, I'd have been the one steppin' aside to let the two of you have your happy endin'. But here it is, and here we are. I'm not mad at you, and I want nothing but happiness for the pair of ye. Give the Lady Roisin my warmest regards when you crunch her smug face into the dirt like the slimly git she is.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ397qHub3lI
Calum snapped out of his reverie, suddenly aware he was drawing near his stop. He hit the bell and got off the bus slowly, coughing in the dust left behind as the bus pulled away. He shook his head, feeling a little dazed. Had Finn really appeared, or had it all been his imagination?
I'm getting daft in me old age, he chastised himself, as he started the one mile walk to home. He'd never gotten his license, and to be honest, he'd never felt the lack. Besides, walking was good, and it gave him time to think. Finn's long gone from this world; there's no way he could've sat and talked with me like that. Even so, as he rounded the corner and saw his house, waiting for him on its hill, welcoming him as it had done for the last several months, he felt lighter in heart than he had in a while, leaving aside Roisin's continued presence. Maybe I wasn't imagining it, he thought, and just for a moment, he almost believed he could hear Finn chuckling. Then the sensation was gone. But the sense of peace remained, and Calum smiled as he broke into a jog.
If Finn's ghost really had appeared, it was time to see if his friend had been right. And if so, Calum mused, it gives me even more reason to stand up to the Lady Roisin and put her in her place once and for bloody all!
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