Page 21 of The Last Love Song
Sorcha’s defiance left her and she began to sob. Con stirred beneath her and put an arm out to comfort her.
‘Sorcha, I will ask you one more time. Admit he gave you no choice, and we can go home. If you refuse, then I will denounce you as my daughter. I will never allow you in my house again. In my eyes you will be dead.’
‘Oh, Daddy! Oh, Daddy,please, I can’t. I love him.’
Seamus stared at his daughter for a few seconds.
‘Goodbye, Sorcha. May you and this tinker you profess to love rot in hell!’
The door slammed and Seamus was gone.
On the way home, Seamus stopped at a bar in the town. He knocked back four whiskeys in ten minutes. Fellow drinkers stared at him in amazement. No one could ever remember seeing Seamus O’Donovan taking a sniff of alcohol in a bar before.
‘Where in God’s name have you been? I’ve been frantic with worry!’
A pale Mary greeted her husband at the front door. Immediately she smelt the whiskey on his breath.
‘Where’s Sorcha, Seamus?’
Seamus hiccupped. ‘Your darling daughter is at present sittingin a hut on the beach with the tinker Con Daly. Probably they are both naked.’
‘Seamus!’ Mary blessed herself. ‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph, it’s a sin to say such a thing!’
‘It’s also a sin to lie, Mary, isn’t it?’ Seamus hung his coat on the peg and swayed towards the stairs. ‘I’m going to bed. Sorcha is banned from this house. She will never come home again. And if I hear you have been anywhere near her, you too will be out on the streets. Do you understand?’
‘I...Seamus, the least you could do is explain. Please, I–—’
‘Shut up, woman!’ he roared. ‘I’ve had enough of pleading females today. I’ve told you as much as you need to know. Now, goodnight!’
Sorcha held a bloodstained rag to Con’s eyebrow. He flinched as she pressed it.
‘I’m sorry, but we must stop the bleeding.’
‘For a solicitor, your daddy knows how to punch. Oh, Sorcha-porcha, what a terrible thing.’
Sorcha did not reply. She was trying hard not to think, just to get on with the practical business of tending to Con’s wounds.
‘How did your daddy know where to find you?’ Con mused. ‘Is there anyone else you told of us? Friends at school?’
Sorcha blushed. ‘Helen McCarthy. She was the only one that knew. She can see the beach from her house. I’d bet she saw me coming and telephoned my daddy.’
‘Helen McCarthy? Why would she be doing such a thing?’
‘She’s an evil, malevolent witch. She’s always hated me. And she’s had a fierce crush on you for ages.’
Con looked nonchalant. ‘Has she?’
‘Oh yes. She probably couldn’t stand the thought of us together. Well, she’s gone and done it now. There, you lookbetter. You’re going to have a shiner by tomorrow. Your eye is fierce swollen.’
‘Pass the whiskey from the cupboard over there. I think we could both do with a drink.’
Sorcha fetched the bottle of whiskey, sat down next to Con and handed it to him. He undid the top and swigged straight from it.
‘Want some?’
Sorcha took a slug.
‘So, Sorcha-porcha, where do we go from here?’
