Free Across a Summer Sea by Lyn Andrews

decorations up. Did you see him, Mam?’ Katie asked, all agog.  
    Mary laughed. ‘Good heavens no! I was fast asleep too. Now, we’d better get ready for church.’  
    ‘What’s the matter with me da’s face?’ Tommy asked as Frank, looking very much the worse for wear, came into the kitchen. One side of his face was swollen and his eye was beginning to close, the flesh around it turning purple and blue.  
    ‘Your da slipped and fell in the jigger on the way home from the party,’ she whispered. ‘Happy Christmas, Frank,’ she continued in a louder, cheerful voice, determined not to dampen the festive spirit. ‘We’re about to get ready for church. Shall I make you a cup of tea and something to eat?’ she enquired of her husband, who had sat down in the armchair and had leaned his head back and closed his eyes.  
    ‘I’ll have the tea and then you get off to church. I’m not going.’  
    Katie glanced quickly at her father. It was unheard of, not going to Mass on Christmas morning, but, seeing the look on her mother’s face and her tightly compressed lips, she made no comment.  
    Lovely! Mary thought. How was this going to look? How was she going to explain this away to Father Heggarty without telling a pack of lies?
     
    They met Nellie and her family also on their way to church.  
    ‘Happy Christmas, Mary, luv! How’s he this morning?’ Nellie asked.  
    ‘Looks as though he’s had an argument with a horse and cart!’ Maggie muttered darkly. Frank McGann’s behaviour was getting beyond a joke, in her opinion, not that she would dream of saying anything to Mary.  
    ‘Not feeling up to Mass either,’ Mary added.  
    ‘Oh, there’s quite a few like that this mornin’,’ Nellie said, shooting an irate glance at Fred who looked decidedly hungover and had needed a gallon of tea and some very strong words on her part to make him accompany them.  
    ‘I’m really sorry about last night, Nellie.’  
    ‘Oh forget it, Mary. It’s all done and dusted now. Let’s enjoy the day. Our Violet’s having her dinner with the new family, thank God. She wanted to come home but I told her, “Violet, this isn’t your home now, girl. You’re a married woman, your place is with your husband. You can’t be running home to me after a few hours!” Girls these days, I ask you!’  
    Mary smiled. She knew that even if in time Violet discovered she’d made the wrong choice Nellie would send her back with the admonition ‘You’ve made your bed, now you’ve to lie in it!’ However, she sincerely hoped that Violet would be happy - although there was no guarantee of it. She’d thought she was happy, until last night. The thought depressed her so much that she quickly turned her mind to the preparation of the food that awaited her when she returned home.  
     
    She was annoyed when, after Mass, Frank had announced that he was going to the pub for ‘a hair of the dog’, but said nothing. She had set the table, the chickens were in the oven and she and Maggie were preparing the vegetables.  
    ‘Don’t let this dinner get ruined, Frank. It’s not often we have chicken!’ Maggie had called after him with false cheerfulness. There were many women who, after scrimping and saving and slaving to put a veritable feast on the table, saw all their efforts ruined when the men stayed too long in the pub and came home incapable of anything. Mary was doing her best to make it a special day and she wanted Frank to do his part.  
    Thankfully, he had returned home a couple of hours later, fairly sober but in not much better humour. However, despite his sullen manner, the meal had been great and they’d all eaten far too much. Tommy had gone out to play with his mates. Katie and Lizzie were playing quietly with their toys and Frank and Maggie were dozing by the fire as Mary quietly cleared the table. She would leave the dishes in the scullery until later: she didn’t want to disturb them. Glancing up, she saw