Page 39 of The Trials of Alaric
She appeared to be half joking, but Alaric had dealt with drunkards before, and did not discount the risk. “If he is rude and belligerent, keep behind me, Miss Radcliffe.”
As they pulled up outside the cottage, they heard bellowing and things breaking. The groom turned to face them, frowning as he said, “Better we move on, Miss and Sir.”
“The children will need their basket,” Miss Radcliffe protested.
A woman’s scream from inside the house settled the matter as far as Alaric was concerned. “Look after Miss Radcliffe,” he ordered the groom as he leaped down from the carriage. He couldn’t stand by while a woman was being abused.
Inside the cottage, a red-faced man loomed over a little boy who was standing between him and the sobbing woman in the corner. As Alaric burst into the room, the man swept the boy to one side, throwing him into the wall. The boy let out a loud shriek, and the woman surged to her feet and took a step toward the child.
Gorry lurched toward her, his arm raised, and his fist clenched. Alaric caught his fist and twisted the arm up behind the man’s back. “Enough,” he said. He ignored the string of abuse coming from Gorry to watch Mrs. Gorry kneel beside the child.
She turned her head to glare at her husband. “Ye broke his arm, ye sodden devil.” She’d been hit in the face. Her nose was still bleeding, and both nose and one eye were already bruised and puffy.
“Little brat should’na have come ’tween a man an’ his wife,” grumbled Gorry. He tried to break away, and Alaric jerked his hand higher up his back, so he whimpered and stopped struggling.
Mrs. Gorry ignored them both, crooning to the boy, “Dinna try to move it, Padeen. Ochone, ochone.”
“We will fetch a doctor for Padeen,” said Miss Radcliffe from the doorway. “As for you, Eamon Gorry, what did the earl tell you about keeping your hands from your wife and children?”
“Besom,” Gorry hissed at her. “Ain’t no one got the right to come ’tween man and wife.”
“We’ll see about that,” said Miss Radcliffe, carefully skirting around the edge of the room to stay clear of the bully. She kneltbeside Mrs. Gorry and examined Padeen. “It is a bad break, Mr. Redhaven. Will you send the groom for Dr. Bryant?”
“And what do we pay with, Eamon?” Mrs. Gorry demanded, turning on her husband. “Ye’ve drunk the rent money. Aye, and the food money, too.”
“A man has a right—” began Gorry, but Alaric twisted his arm until he turned and then forced him, stumbling, from the cottage, so that Alaric could send the groom on his errand without releasing Gorry.
“And once you’ve sent Bryant,” he commanded, “see the magistrate, and tell him that Gorry has beaten his wife and broken his son Padeen’s arm.”
“A man has a right,” Gorry mumbled.
“Aye, Mr. Redhaven,” said the groom.
Chapter Sixteen
Once a coupleof constables had collected Gorry, Alaric held Padeen still while Dr. Bryant set his arm, and meanwhile Miss Radcliffe collected the four other children, a boy and three girls, all smaller than Padeen. The smallest could barely toddle after the others, and sometimes the biggest girl picked her up and carried her. They emerged from hiding around the cottage, and Miss Radcliffe coaxed them into helping her to take ingredients from the castle’s basket and turn them into supper.
By the time Dr. Bryant had seen to Padeen and inspected Mrs. Gorry’s injuries, a delicious smell was rising from the pot on the trivet near the fire.
“Earl will send him away, my Eamon,” Mrs. Gorry said, suddenly. “Off Claddach.”
“And he should,” said Dr. Bryant. “This is not the first time I’ve patched you up, Mrs. Gorry.”
“He were a good man once,” Mrs. Gorry insisted. “Afore he started with the drink.” She looked at her son and her eyes grew hard. “Last week, he slapped Cissolt so hard a tooth flew right out of her head, poorcailinveg. Aye, and it’s not the first time he has hit Padeen or punched him, and so it isn’t.”
“He hits our Mam,” said the smaller boy. “When I’m a wee bit bigger, me ’n Padeen are going to hit him so hard he’ll go away and ne’er come back.”
“Shush now, Dolen,” said his mother. “The earl will send Da away. And what will become of us, I dinna know.”
Padeen’s eyes were clouded by pain and the spot of laudanum the doctor had given him, but he piped up. “We’ll be right, Ma. You’ll see.”
They left the family eating the dinner Miss Radcliffe and the children had made. Miss Radcliffe had promised she and Lady Beatrice would call again the next day, to help Mrs. Gorry make a plan.
“Though as far as I can see, they will be better off with Gorry gone,” she told Alaric as they drove away. “Mrs. Gorry has a good job, but Gorry lost his as a fisherman because he could not be relied on. I believe Gorry spends Mrs. Gorry’s wages as fast as she can earn them. He is supposed to be supervising the children, but he ignores them. Padeen and Cissolt look after them when Mrs. Gorry is at work, while Gorry drinks. I would like to see them, all but the baby, in school. Perhaps now, Mrs. Gorry will agree.”
They were heading straight back to the castle, having sent the groom to deliver the last basket with their apologies. As it was, they would be late for dinner, but it could not be helped. And Alaric had given next to no thought to entertaining the ladies this evening. What on earth could he do?
*
