Chapter Nine
'Ned and Farley'
The weekend of Farley's visit passed too quickly. On the morning of his departure, Liam took him to the train station while Trish stayed back at the cottage. Ned had cried off saying his farewells to Farley, but had earlier given Liam a letter for Farley that he'd written when he was on the train.
"Now don't forget, lad, only give Farley my letter after he's on the train and not before. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Ned," Liam replied, "but God only knows what you can say in a letter that couldn't have been better said face to face, if you ask me!"
Trish also declined to go to the railway station to see off Farley. As Farley left the cottage he caressed Trish and kissed her tenderly saying, "Look after yourself girl and look after that bairn you're carrying. He's a very lucky man that chap of yours, and don't you ever let him forget it!"
Trish broke into tears and ran back inside the cottage. Liam simply put it down to a sudden rush of hormones to the head of a pregnant woman.
"Now don't forget, lad, only give Farley my letter after he's on the train and not before. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Ned," Liam replied, "but God only knows what you can say in a letter that couldn't have been better said face to face, if you ask me!"
Trish also declined to go to the railway station to see off Farley. As Farley left the cottage he caressed Trish and kissed her tenderly saying, "Look after yourself girl and look after that bairn you're carrying. He's a very lucky man that chap of yours, and don't you ever let him forget it!"
Trish broke into tears and ran back inside the cottage. Liam simply put it down to a sudden rush of hormones to the head of a pregnant woman.
As the train pulled out of the station, Liam shoved the letter that Ned had given him to deliver into the hands of its intended recipient. "See you soon, mate," Farley said with a smile.
"See you soon, mate" Liam replied. "Come back for the Christening now, won't you?"
"I will. You just try and stop me," Farley yelled as the smoke from the engine blew down the station and partially obscured their vision of each other as the train pulled out.
"See you soon, mate" Liam replied. "Come back for the Christening now, won't you?"
"I will. You just try and stop me," Farley yelled as the smoke from the engine blew down the station and partially obscured their vision of each other as the train pulled out.
Farley had been travelling forty minutes before he remembered the letter he'd had thrust into his hands as the train had pulled out of the station. Farley opened the letter; read it once, twice and then a further twice. Throughout his reading of the letter, he appeared stunned to learn of its explosive contents. The letter read as follows:
"My Dear Boy,
Forgive me for not calling you by your name, but given what I now tell you, I'm not sure that you'd feel I have the right to. There is no easy way to say this that will soften the shock, but...you are my boy, born to my dear Molly all those years ago. I'm so sorry that your grandparents told you that I was dead. They had no right to deny you the knowledge of my presence. I suppose that under the circumstances they thought that they were acting for the best by giving you a completely new start in life."
"Suffice it to say that I am your blood father and I did not die at sea. Indeed, apart from a boat ride across the Irish Sea to England once as a youngster, that was the only time my feet never touched land."
"I don't know precisely what you were told about your mother's death, but suffice it to say that she died mere minutes before you were born. It is important for you to know that pregnant or otherwise, your birth did not cause her death and that given the circumstances, had you never been born, she would have died anyway."
"I would also like you to know that though I but saw you on one occasion shortly after your birth, it was not of my choosing never to see you again. Your grandparents would only allow me to see you the once if I agreed to sign away any parental rights I had. They knew that me and my family were travellers of the road and frowned upon our lifestyle and the life I offered your mother. They did everything in their power to stop me and your mother being together."
"While me and your mother lived together for a brief period before you were born and had planned to marry, she..........sadly died before we could be wed. I loved her dearly and have never felt comfortable in offering my heart or myself to another since her passing. That is why I told you that night when I arranged for my friend Milly to cook a meal for the four of us, 'Though Milly be on the market of the marriage stakes, that I wasn't!"
"I know how much of a shock these revelations will be to you and will understand if you never want to have contact with me again, but if you did agree to see me again, it would make your old da the happiest man in the world. I love you, lad. I really do, and I would dearly love to keep in touch with you if you could ever find yourself of like mind, and if you could find it in your heart to allow me back into your life."
God Bless you,Son.
Ned Connor.
"My Dear Boy,
Forgive me for not calling you by your name, but given what I now tell you, I'm not sure that you'd feel I have the right to. There is no easy way to say this that will soften the shock, but...you are my boy, born to my dear Molly all those years ago. I'm so sorry that your grandparents told you that I was dead. They had no right to deny you the knowledge of my presence. I suppose that under the circumstances they thought that they were acting for the best by giving you a completely new start in life."
"Suffice it to say that I am your blood father and I did not die at sea. Indeed, apart from a boat ride across the Irish Sea to England once as a youngster, that was the only time my feet never touched land."
"I don't know precisely what you were told about your mother's death, but suffice it to say that she died mere minutes before you were born. It is important for you to know that pregnant or otherwise, your birth did not cause her death and that given the circumstances, had you never been born, she would have died anyway."
"I would also like you to know that though I but saw you on one occasion shortly after your birth, it was not of my choosing never to see you again. Your grandparents would only allow me to see you the once if I agreed to sign away any parental rights I had. They knew that me and my family were travellers of the road and frowned upon our lifestyle and the life I offered your mother. They did everything in their power to stop me and your mother being together."
"While me and your mother lived together for a brief period before you were born and had planned to marry, she..........sadly died before we could be wed. I loved her dearly and have never felt comfortable in offering my heart or myself to another since her passing. That is why I told you that night when I arranged for my friend Milly to cook a meal for the four of us, 'Though Milly be on the market of the marriage stakes, that I wasn't!"
"I know how much of a shock these revelations will be to you and will understand if you never want to have contact with me again, but if you did agree to see me again, it would make your old da the happiest man in the world. I love you, lad. I really do, and I would dearly love to keep in touch with you if you could ever find yourself of like mind, and if you could find it in your heart to allow me back into your life."
God Bless you,Son.
Ned Connor.
During the following three months, though Liam and Trish wrote to Farley, they received no reply from him. Both newly weds wondered what had gone wrong as they'd parted in such good spirits.
One evening while Trish sewed and Liam read his newspaper, Trish surprisingly said, "It might be me...... what I said!"
"About what?" Liam asked in a puzzled voice.
"The night before Farley returned to Donegal, well........what I mean to say is that I might be responsible for having given him the wrong message," Trish said in a highly embarrassed tone of voice. "It was while we were out walking along the lane to get some fresh air as you made out your list for the week's coal deliveries."
By now Liam was both intrigued and worried simultaneously by what Trish was in the process of revealing to him.
Trish continued with her explanation. "During our walk along the lane we held hands; more in the manner of comforting friendship I imagined than.....well...Anyway, Farley suddenly turned towards me, he kissed me gently and smiled as he warmly told me that he 'loved me'. I naively replied that 'I loved him too'. It was at that precise moment when he sought to kiss me proper when I stopped him and hurried back home. Nothing was said about the incident again. That was why I felt it better not to accompany you both to the railway station on the day of Farley's departure. I neither wanted Farley nor me to be unnecessarily embarrassed by what was probably an unwise, but harmless remark and action in the heat of the moment. I didn't wish to spoil the wonderful weekend we had all spent together and I didn't want to risk inciting your anger or the good relationship we both share with Farley by making an issue out of it."
One evening while Trish sewed and Liam read his newspaper, Trish surprisingly said, "It might be me...... what I said!"
"About what?" Liam asked in a puzzled voice.
"The night before Farley returned to Donegal, well........what I mean to say is that I might be responsible for having given him the wrong message," Trish said in a highly embarrassed tone of voice. "It was while we were out walking along the lane to get some fresh air as you made out your list for the week's coal deliveries."
By now Liam was both intrigued and worried simultaneously by what Trish was in the process of revealing to him.
Trish continued with her explanation. "During our walk along the lane we held hands; more in the manner of comforting friendship I imagined than.....well...Anyway, Farley suddenly turned towards me, he kissed me gently and smiled as he warmly told me that he 'loved me'. I naively replied that 'I loved him too'. It was at that precise moment when he sought to kiss me proper when I stopped him and hurried back home. Nothing was said about the incident again. That was why I felt it better not to accompany you both to the railway station on the day of Farley's departure. I neither wanted Farley nor me to be unnecessarily embarrassed by what was probably an unwise, but harmless remark and action in the heat of the moment. I didn't wish to spoil the wonderful weekend we had all spent together and I didn't want to risk inciting your anger or the good relationship we both share with Farley by making an issue out of it."
Liam didn't know what to think. He didn't know whether the incident was one that could be laughed off and forgotten by them in the future or whether it would always be lurking there in the background. Perhaps it would disappear for this moment in time; only to re-emerge like a festering sore in years to come when they occasioned to have a marital tiff.
"Do you love him?" Liam ventured to ask his pregnant wife. He knew the pain that such a question would be capable of causing, yet needed to nevertheless ask it, in the full certainty that Trish was not the type of person ever to deceive him.
After a few moments of uncomfortable silence between the two of them, Trish replied," In truth, I'd have to say I do love Farley, but not like I love you, Liam. You're my husband and I would never be unfaithful to our sacred vows."
"Never mind the so-called 'sacred vows', what about me? What about your husband? Will you always be faithful to me?" he asked uncharacteristically.
"You hurt me more than you can ever know with that question of marital doubt, Liam. It's true that in so short a space of time of knowing Farley that I have come to love his warmth as an individual, along with the sheer zest he has of wanting to live life to the full. But that is Farley. That is what attracted us both to instantly like him. Farley is not you, Liam. I love you. I married you and you're my husband and soul mate, and soon to be father of our children. I won't deny that there might have been another place in my heart and thoughts for Farley had I never met, fell in love and married you, but I did. I love you, husband."
"Do you love him?" Liam ventured to ask his pregnant wife. He knew the pain that such a question would be capable of causing, yet needed to nevertheless ask it, in the full certainty that Trish was not the type of person ever to deceive him.
After a few moments of uncomfortable silence between the two of them, Trish replied," In truth, I'd have to say I do love Farley, but not like I love you, Liam. You're my husband and I would never be unfaithful to our sacred vows."
"Never mind the so-called 'sacred vows', what about me? What about your husband? Will you always be faithful to me?" he asked uncharacteristically.
"You hurt me more than you can ever know with that question of marital doubt, Liam. It's true that in so short a space of time of knowing Farley that I have come to love his warmth as an individual, along with the sheer zest he has of wanting to live life to the full. But that is Farley. That is what attracted us both to instantly like him. Farley is not you, Liam. I love you. I married you and you're my husband and soul mate, and soon to be father of our children. I won't deny that there might have been another place in my heart and thoughts for Farley had I never met, fell in love and married you, but I did. I love you, husband."
That was the only occasion that the issue about Trish's feelings for Farley was ever raised between the couple again until their fourteenth year of marriage. On October 7th, Trish gave birth to girl twins. Both children were in good health and after some deliberation, the two girls were named Lucy and Patricia.
On the day of the twin's baptism, Farley duly performed the role as being Godfather to Lucy and Patricia. The occasion went off without a hitch and after the church ceremony, a grand spread was put on at the home of Trish and Liam. It was during this weekend that Ned and Farley was to come face-to-face again for the first time since Farley had read Ned's letter informing him that he was Ned's son.
Surprisingly, Ned had not told Liam and Trish about his blood connection to their friend Farley as he felt that the information was for Farley to disclose if he wanted to and at a time of his own choosing. Likewise, Farley had said nothing about this connection either.
Surprisingly, Ned had not told Liam and Trish about his blood connection to their friend Farley as he felt that the information was for Farley to disclose if he wanted to and at a time of his own choosing. Likewise, Farley had said nothing about this connection either.
Farley stayed at the home of Ned's during the weekend of the twin's baptism and as this seemed to be the most natural thing for him to have done, neither Liam nor Trish gave the matter a second thought.
It was the day after the Christening whilst eating an evening meal at Liam's and Trish's cottage that Farley and Ned informed present company that they were in fact father and son. Liam was so pleased that this was so, especially as it now released himself from acting out the role of Ned's son and instead, leaving him to concentrate upon being a good father, husband, business partner, son-in-law and friend to all the important people in his life now.
Farley and Ned hardly left each other's presence that weekend and when Farley returned to Donegal, it was Ned who accompanied him to the railway station to see him off with a tear of joy in his eye.
It was the day after the Christening whilst eating an evening meal at Liam's and Trish's cottage that Farley and Ned informed present company that they were in fact father and son. Liam was so pleased that this was so, especially as it now released himself from acting out the role of Ned's son and instead, leaving him to concentrate upon being a good father, husband, business partner, son-in-law and friend to all the important people in his life now.
Farley and Ned hardly left each other's presence that weekend and when Farley returned to Donegal, it was Ned who accompanied him to the railway station to see him off with a tear of joy in his eye.
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