Chapter Thirty Four

“Come on baby, you need to get some sleep.” Jon murmured softly into Jenn’s ear as he felt her sway in the seat beside him. It was just after midnight and the house was quiet again for the most part.

Family friends and neighbours were taking it in turns to sit with her parents throughout the night and Mark had just taken Karen home for the night despite her protestations. “But what if she needs me?” she had worriedly whispered to him when he had announced it was time to go. Mark had simply smiled and nudged her to look at the corner where Jenn sat with her head resting against Jon’s shoulder, his arm wrapped firmly around her. “I think she’s in safe hands for tonight honey.”

Karen had worried whether she had done the right thing in calling Jon, but her fears had been put firmly to rest once she saw how Jenn had melted against him outside in the rain. If Mark hadn’t have showed up with him when he did, she didn’t know what she would have done. Jon hadn’t left her side since, supporting her as she made small talk with the neighbours and most importantly when she had finally gone back to the room where her parents were laid out, simply holding her tight as she had released her pent up sorrow.

Jenn eventually let him lead her to bed, exhaustion finally overcoming her after he had helped her undress. Sliding between the blankets, her eyes closed as he lay down beside her softly stroking her hair. Feeling his heart beat soundly beneath her ear as she curled into his chest, soothed her beyond comprehension. A million questions had swirled in her head when he arrived but right now those answers could wait, all that mattered was that he was here, right when she’d needed him the most without even realising it.

A little while later, when he was quite sure she was sound asleep, Jon quietly eased himself off the bed and wandered to the kitchen in search of a drink. It had been a hell of a day since Mark had picked him up from the airport. He had wrestled with nerves throughout the nearly two hour drive it took to get down to Jenn’s childhood home. Mark had stayed quiet once he had brought him up to date on the funeral plans and they had travelled down in silence, apart from the odd comment on the passing countryside. He’d had no idea what to expect, but the antiquated yet solid stone bungalow that greeted them as they pulled into the driveway had instantly charmed him. Even in the driving wind and rain, the simplicity of the home warmed his heart. He could already envision a young Jenn growing up here amongst the crumbling stone walls and climbing roses. Mark had sworn quietly when they had passed the empty funeral hearses on the road up to the house. When he told Jon this meant Jenn’s parents had arrived at the house, his stomach lurched a little. He was lucky he knew, in that both of his parents were alive and well and he couldn’t fathom how it must feel to see both your parents coming home in caskets.

When they had gotten inside, Karen had been standing in the little hallway, pale and panic-stricken. Upon setting eyes on Jon she had frantically pointed out the window to the back, rushing into Mark’s arms at the same time. He was full sure a little piece of his heart had broken when he first saw her out in the rain, gasping for air. Without a moments hesitation he had yanked open the back door and was by her side in less than three strides. She had felt like a little rag doll in his arms, weak and shaking like a sick kitten, soaked to the bone by the incessant waves of rain.

Making his way to the kitchen, he paused at the door of the room where the coffins were. The candle light flickered softly on the walls and the air was still heavy with the musky smell of incense from the earlier prayers. Two elderly ladies sat along the back wall, eyes closed and hands clasped in silent prayer. Moving quietly into the kitchen, the sound of murmured conversation turned his attention to the large fireplace where two men sat hunched beside the embers of a small fire. Jon at a guess reckoned them both to be in their early seventies, the grey mop of hair on one and the shiny bald patch on the other giving their ages away. As he entered their chat ceased and they acknowledged him with smiles and nods.

“How’re ye…?” The man sitting to the right of the fireplace, raised a glass to him, the instantly recognisable copper liquid glinting from the glow of the fire. “Will ye join us, young fella?”

Jon grinned, anybody who called him a ‘young fella’ these days was alright by him! Pulling up a small stool, he gratefully accepted the whiskey that was passed to him.

“You’ll be the American then is it?” Feeling the liquid slowly burn down the back of his throat, Jon nodded and extended his hand. “That’s me - Jon - nice to meet you both.”

The two men shook gnarled hands with him in turn and introduced themselves as Jimmy and Séan from ‘down the road’ as they put it.

 “Tis a bad business alright, God rest their souls”, Jimmy shook his head sadly into his glass. “Decent folk were Mary and Paddy.”

“Aye, that they surely were…”, Sean nodded at Jon “Did ye get to meet them ever Jon?”

Jon shook his head grimly, his fingers cradling the heavy crystal glass. “No, I’m sorry to say I didn’t.” He took another sip of the liquid fire, feeling it’s warmth seep down to his toes. “Jenn told me great things about them though.”

Both men nodded their heads in approval as Jimmy tutted under his breath, “Ah sure poor Jennifer, a grand girl. She’ll be lost without them now.”

The three of them sat in easy silence, gazing at the small flames flickering every now and then from the few remaining coals in the hearth. Séan started to chuckle quietly and nudged Jon’s foot with his own.

“Sure I remember when Jennifer was only a young one, I had a cow calving late one evening and she was mad to stay and see the calf come out, do ye see?”, he hunched forward in his chair smiling at the memory, “Well sure it was nearly ten o clock at night be now, and there was no sign of this feckin calf coming and Paddy turned up lookin for Jennifer, cause it was a school night you know?” He looked questionably at Jon to make sure he was following his story.

When Jon smiled to indicate he was still listening, the older man licked his lips and carried on, “Sure she begged silly to stay but Paddy wasn’t havin’ any of it, said Mary’d have his guts for garters if he didn’t bring the child home, so….off they went,” he threw his arm up in the air, enjoying telling his story now he had such an avid audience in Jon.

“Young Jennifer was feckin raging, like a bull she was, but sure she had to go along with him. So anyways I carried on a bit more with the auld cow and no! - nothing was stirring in her.” Taking a long sip from his whiskey, he winked at Jon, “So I said to meself - ‘I’ll go in and get a sup of tea sure and I’ll look in on her in a bit’, but sure honest to God!” he slapped his hand down on his leg, making both Jon and Jimmy jump, “Didn’t I only go and fall asleep be the fire, must have been snoring me head off for a few hours anyway - thought to meself that the feckin cow was surely dead by now!”

Pausing for dramatic effect he lowered his voice to almost a whisper, “And do ye know what I found back out in that shed? Sure only herself, young Jennifer out there rubbing down a grand bull calf, and she only delighted with herself! The wee scallywag had snuck out of the bed and come down across the fields to me!”

He looked at Jon and Jimmy incredulously and exclaimed, “And in the middle of the night no less! Sure I had to get her back up home before Mary and Paddy - God rest them, found out - they’d have skinned her alive no doubt…..and me too I daresay!”

Jon smiled widely and laughed along with the two of them, imagining Jenn sneaking out to help a cow give birth. He had no doubt about the story at all, it sounded like her all over. He sat for a while longer with them, enjoying listening to them regale more stories of Jenn’s parents and of her growing up. Eventually his eyes grew heavy with tiredness and he thanked the two men for their company. Leaving them by the fireplace, he slipped quietly back to Jenn’s bedroom relieved to see she was still fast asleep. Peeling off his clothes in the semi-darkness, he eased himself back in beside her, grimacing as the mattress squeaked noisily. Jenn merely rolled towards him and nestled her head back against his chest, folding her body like a child around him. Sighing softly, he burrowed further down between the heavy blankets, grateful for the extra warmth of her skin. Just before he drifted off he stared up at the ceiling and offered up a quick prayer of his own. If God wasn’t with the people in this house tonight, then he sure as hell wasn’t anywhere.