Free Shannon's Daughter by Karen Welch Page B

least
understood the demands of an immobile patient.  
    By
early afternoon, most of the women of the family, including Hannah bearing an
offering of freshly baked teacakes, had descended on the flat, or more
accurately, they had overrun it, in Kendall’s opinion.   He found himself skirting the walls, trying
to keep an eye on Peg as she reclined in silence on the couch.  
    Redundancy
seemed a real possibility.   His mother,
for one, seemed to be summing up his service to the cause, as though his
usefulness were at an end.   Catching him
alone in the kitchen, where he’d escaped to refill Peg’s ginger ale, she
indicated as much.
    “Now
that she’s all settled in, Kenny, you need to get yourself back out to the
farm.   There’ll hardly be need for you
here, with the nurse on hand.”
    “I
know, Mum.   I plan to go back out
tonight.   But Peg’s come to depend on
me.   She’s not so sure about a perfect
stranger, I’m afraid.   Poor kid, hasn’t
she been through enough?”
    Pinned
beneath one of his mother’s more penetrating gazes, he sensed a lecture
coming.   “Kendall, if the girl were
older, I’d think you’d developed feelings for her.   Since she’s just a child, I can’t understand
your devotion, unless you feel you’ll win Michael’s favor by coddling his
daughter.”
    He
clenched his jaw.   Too tired for patience,
he swallowed his initial terse response.   “Mother, don’t be ridiculous.   The
only feelings I have are guilt.   If I’d paid proper attention, Peg wouldn’t
have been hurt.   As soon as I can
gracefully do so, I’ll be more than happy to leave her in more capable hands.”
    “You are planning to attend the party
tomorrow night, I hope.   Maeve is quite
put out with you as it is.   She said something
to the effect that she feared you found the company here too
unsophisticated.   It won’t do to insult
them.   I have it on authority that
Adelaide and the girls will be relocating to London in the very near
future.   They may well look to you to
provide an escort, at least until they get to know the right people there.”
    He was
left feeling like a scolded schoolboy, his face burning with unspoken
irritation.   When he took Peg her drink,
she fixed him with another kind of gaze, her tired eyes signaling a silent plea.   “Do you need something else?”
    “No.   I just think I’d like to take a nap.   Would you mind helping me to my room?”  
    He cast
a puzzled glance around the room.   How
did one prompt a mass exit of females now settled in for a good gossip?   It was Peg who provided the solution.  
    “I’m
sorry, but I’m feeling a little queasy,” she announced to the room at large.   With a look of desperation and her teeth
clenched, she turned to him.   “Kendall,
would you mind?   I think I might. . .you know. . .again!”
    While
the ladies rose and expressed sympathetic dismay and a few half-hearted offers
of assistance, not one of them followed as Kendall hastily scooped up the
patient and made for the bathroom.   He
gave a bitter thought or two to the Shannons and their lack of nurturing
instincts as he hurried down the hallway.   When he reached the door, Peg pinched his ear and shook her head.   “Not really!   Just take me to my room, silly!” she hissed.
    With a
silent, “Ouch!” he continued down the hall, depositing her unceremoniously on
the bed.   “You didn’t have to pinch me!   But I must say you put on a very convincing
performance back there.”  
    “I told
you I could be an actress.   Are they
leaving?”
    He
peered down the hallway to see the ladies gathering their things.   “Yes.   Now you can have your nap and I can at least
have a few minutes peace and quiet.   Where did your father get off to?”
    “He
said he needed to get away for a bit, to let off some steam.   I expect that meant a stop at the nearest
pub.   Poor Dad, he never handles it well
if I’m sick or something.”   As