A Turn for the Bad by Sheila Connolly Read Free Book Online Page A

most of my life, but I’m not sure he’s full-grown yet. Not that he’s not a good man, but he may not be marriage material. Hold on, I have to stir something.” She turned and lifted a lid on a pot on the stove. It issued a cloud of fragrant steam, and Maura started drooling.
    â€œYou can’t tell me you made that out of what I had here,” Maura commented.
    â€œOf course not. You must eat like a mouse. I went to Fields in Skibbereen and stocked up.”
    â€œSo you’ll be around for a bit?”
    â€œIs that a problem? Even if you throw me out, at least I’ll know you won’t starve to death. But you might freeze first.”
    â€œSorry. I don’t understand the heating here. I asked Mick what to do, and he told me I needed to find an oil supplier or learn to build fires, except that I don’t have anything to burn. Then things . . . happened and I forgot. I’ll remind him to give me a name.”
    â€œMaura Donovan, you need a keeper. No food, no heat. I wouldn’t have pegged you as a helpless woman.”
    â€œI’m still learning my way around,” Maura said, feeling defensive. “And I notice you changed the subject pretty fast. So you don’t want to marry Harry—I get that. But you want the baby?”
    Gillian hesitated and looked away. “I do now. It’s not easy to . . . stop it in this country, but then I realized . . . Well, I’m older than you, and I don’t know how many chances I’ll have, and it’s not as awful a thing, to have a baby alone, as it once was. The whole Magdalene thing is behind us now, thank God.”
    â€œI have no idea what you’re talking about,” Maura told her. “What’s Magdalene?”
    â€œYou’d be happier not knowing, Maura.” Gillian shut her eyes and thought for a moment. “The Magdalene sisters ran laundries and took in children who were illegitimate or had committed minor crimes, or they might have been prostitutes. Sometimes families sent their children there if they couldn’t care for them. And there were those who were pregnant and had nowhere else to go. They were treated like slaves. At least now we fallen women have more choices.” Gillian made a grimace.
    â€œI’m not judging you, Gillian, just trying to find out what you’re thinking. Do you want to stay around here? Because if you do, Harry’s going to find out sooner or later.”
    â€œI haven’t decided. Now I’ve lost the place on Ballinlough where I’ve spent my summers—and how I’ll miss the light there!—but I’m not sure if that’s a sign that I should pack up and go somewhere else. What is there for me here? You know that when Harry’s Aunt Eveline passes, the whole estate reverts to the National Trust? So Harry will have to decide where he plans to go and most likely it’ll be Dublin, where his work is. No doubt he’ll be relieved that he’ll no longer have to support Eveline, though he doesn’t complain about it. He takes his responsibilities seriously, and I don’t want to add to those.”
    â€œWhat about your family?”
    â€œThey’ve no need to know—we don’t often speak,” Gillian replied with a tone that didn’t invite comment.
    â€œCan you afford it?”
    â€œDamned if I know.” She straightened her back andchanged the subject. “Let’s eat dinner now. I’m always more cheerful with a full stomach.”
    â€œSounds good to me.”
    *   *   *
    D inner lived up to its good smells, and Maura ate more than she usually did. They avoided talking about either Harry or the baby, which Gillian had more or less admitted was his. “I talked to this liquor distributor guy who stopped by this morning,” Maura said, just to make conversation. “He asked me something that I’d never really