Never Broken by Kathleen Fuller Read Free Book Online Page B

spirits?”
    “You.”
    “Me?”
    “You may have missed your calling.”
    “Which would be?”
    “Instead of law you should have pursued medicine. You would make a wonderful physician.”
    Rory grinned. “Interesting you would say that. Can you keep a secret?”
    Sara leaned forward, her interest obviously piqued. “Aye.”
    He chuckled at her slip back into country cant as Lady Jane referred to the Irish tongue. “I always wanted to be a doctor. I even took a couple of medical courses at University.”
    Sara blinked several times. “Why on earth is that a secret? If you have a desire to be a physician, then you should do it.”
    Rory shook his head. “Uncle Edwin is set on me becoming a solicitor. He feels I have more of a future in law.”
    “But if it’s not something you want to do…”
    “It doesn’t matter what I want to do. What matters is that I choose a career that will keep me financially secure. Law is one of those professions. Medicine isn’t.”
    “That makes little sense.” Sara folded her arms across her chest. “You’d forgo your passion for the sake of money?”
    “Money brings security, lass.”
    Her face fell. “Yes, it does.” She glanced at the fire, her few moments of jollity gone. “But it can’t solve everything, can it?”
    He didn’t answer.
    After Sara had eaten a sufficient amount of supper to satisfy Rory, she retired for the night, leaving him to his thoughts. He stretched out his long legs in front of him and slumped in the chair, the soft crackle of the burning flames the only sound in the room.
    As he had so often in the past months, he thought of Shannon, the beautiful woman he’d met in the garden at William’s wedding party. He’d wondered about her, worried about her, even prayed for her. He had yet to see her here at the manor, which gave him hope that she was not suffering as many Irish were. Perhaps she had left the country, as others had done. While he wanted her safe and content, the thought of her gone filled him with regret. He should have sought her out, should have at least said goodbye. But he’d been in such a hurry to leave for Dublin, to put as many miles between him and his family as possible. As he thought about it now, his anger seemed foolish and selfish.
    He stood and moved to the window. A throng of people huddled near the gate, using each other’s body heat to keep warm. Per Edwin’s orders, Brigit instructed one of the footmen to build a fire nearby and distribute as many blankets as the Gormleys could spare.
    As he watched the tenants settle in for the night, he hoped with all his heart that wherever Shannon Cahill was, she was warm, well fed, and happy.

CHAPTER 7
     
    Ballyclough,
    December 1845
     
    Shannon sat next to the cot in the corner of the small hut where her mother lay, weak from lack of food and ill with the ague she’d contracted weeks before. She stroked Ma’s sunken cheek and held her frail hand.
    Nearby, Ainslee and their father argued. Shannon remained silent, leaving her sister to fight their father alone. She brushed away strands of Ma’s dark brown hair from her fevered brow.
    Ainslee crossed her arms as tears flowed down her cheeks. “Da, we will not be leavin’! You cannot make us!”
    “Aye, daughter, I can. There is no future here for you and Shannon. No future for any of the Cahills.”
    He’d broken the news to them after their sparse supper. They had shared one barely-full-grown pratie between them, and for the past two weeks, had been forced to eat the seed potatoes for next year’s crop. Now her father wanted them to leave—leave home—leave Ballyclough—leave Ireland. Shannon was as upset as Ainslee, but she knew her father was right.
    “How can you send us away?” Ainslee knelt before him. “Don’t… don’t you love us anymore?”
    From the corner of the room, Shannon watched Da’s gaze fall to his hands—hands as shaky as the wobbly table upon which they rested. “Of course your Ma and