The Bright One Read Online Free Page B

Byrnes at all left in the county?
    â€˜Isn’t it the truth that the Byrnes have lived in this place as far back as anyone can remember?’ she asked – inconsequentially to Molly, but she was used to that from her mother.
    â€˜Indeed it is so,’ she agreed.
    They were there before the time when the sailors from the Spanish Armada had been washed ashore from the wreckage of their ships in the stormy seas. They were already there even farther back, when the Vikings had scaled the cliffs, or sailed up the estuary.
    â€˜I wonder what news Josephine has?’ Molly said.
    Her mother handed her the letter. It had been opened, but not read, for the simple reason that Peggy Byrne could not read.
    â€˜See for yourself. Read it out, and mind you speak up now! Will I not want to hear every word?’
    Molly read in a loud, clear voice. Josephine was well, her husband was well, the children were well. Maureen was now engaged to be married, to a teacher. Kate was expecting her first baby.
    â€˜So, I am to be a great-grandmother!’ Mrs Byrne said. ‘Will I ever be seeing the child?’
    â€˜Of course you will!’ Molly said. ‘You know you can visit Josephine any time you have a mind to. She’s invited you often enough!’
    â€˜I am seventy-five. I am too old to be travelling to the ends of the earth,’ Mrs Byrne objected.
    â€˜Akersfield is not the ends of the earth, Mammy,’ Molly said. ‘And perhaps one of them would come over and fetch you.’
    â€˜Get on with the letter,’ Mrs Byrne said. ‘What else does she say?’
    â€˜Not much more. “The mills are busy again,”’ she read, ‘“making cloth for uniforms. Everyone thinks there will be another war with Germany.”
    â€˜At least it will not be Ireland’s war,’ Molly said. ‘Ireland is neutral.’
    â€˜And so she was before,’ her mother reminded her. ‘What difference did it make to me?’
    â€˜I’m sorry, Mammy. Oh, there is a postscript. Josephine says she encloses a ten-shilling note! I don’t see it. She must have forgotten!’
    â€˜I have it,’ Mrs Byrne said, smiling a secret smile. ‘I have it in a safe place.’
    Ten shillings, Molly thought! What will she do with it? She never goes out, and she will not spend a penny unless she has to.
    She folded the letter and handed it back to her mother, who she knew would peruse it many times, trying to connect the squiggles on the paper with the news she had heard.
    â€˜Mrs Hanratty gave me a parcel,’ she said, changing the subject. ‘I’ll open it up, so, and if there is enough to divide I will give you some. If not, I will send you a dish.’
    â€˜Take it home,’ Mrs Byrne said. ‘It will save me the cooking of it.’
    That would be as well, Molly reckoned. She doubted her mother ever took the trouble to make a decent meal, not now when she had no-one else to cook for.
    â€˜Let Kieran bring it,’ Mrs Byrne said.
    â€˜If he can, Mammy,’ Molly said. ‘He is working for Luke O’Reilly in the shop. But one of us will bring it.’ She rose to leave.
    She had to hurry home. There was the midday dinner to prepare. Kieran would come home for that, with little time to spare, so it must be on the table, and it went without saying that the other children would be starving. Whether James would be home or not she had no idea. With part of her she longed, as she always did, to see him; with another part she dreaded it, for fear of the outcome.
    Breda was sitting on the doorstep, apparently doing nothing, though Molly guessed that she was looking for her father, whether to carry on the feud or to make it up, she couldn’t guess. Either way, it would be a positive action. Breda was never one for hiding her feelings, good or bad. Of the other children, there was no sign.
    â€˜Where is everyone?’ Molly enquired.
    â€˜The