The Gallaghers of Ardmore Trilogy

while what she hung billowed and flapped wetly in the breeze.
    Just another part of the painting, Jude decided. She would title this section Country Wife .
    When the basket was empty, the woman turned to the facing line and unhooked clothes already hanging and dry, folding them until her basket was piled high.
    She cocked the basket on her hip and walked back into the house, the dog prancing behind her.
    What a nice way to spend the morning, she thought.
    And that evening, when everyone came home, the house would smell of something wonderful simmering in the kitchen. Some sort of stew, Jude imagined, or a roast with potatoes browned from its juices. The family would all sit around the table, one crowded with bowls and plates wonderfully mismatched, and talk about their day and laugh and sneak scraps to the dog, who begged from under the table.
    Large families, she thought, must be a great comfort.
    Of course, there was nothing wrong with small ones, she added, immediately feeling guilty. Being an only child had its advantages. She’d gotten all her parents’ attention.
    Maybe too much of their attention, a little voice murmured in her ear.
    Considering that voice very rude, she blocked it out and turned to return to her cottage and do something practical with her time.
    Because she felt disloyal, she immediately phoned home. With the time difference she caught her parents before they left for work, and squashed her guilt by chatting happily, telling them she was rested, enjoying herself, and looking forward to this new experience.
    She was well aware that they both considered her impulsive trip to Ireland a kind of experiment, a quick forty-five-degree turn from the path she’d been so content to pursue for so long. They weren’t against it, which relievedher. They were just puzzled. She had no way to explain it to them, or to herself.
    With family on her mind, she placed another call. There was no need to explain anything to Granny Murray. She simply knew. Lighter of heart, Jude filled her grandmother in on every detail of the trip, her impressions, her delight with the cottage while she brewed a pot of tea and made a sandwich.
    “I just had a walk,” she continued, and with the phone braced on her shoulder, set her simple lunch on the table. “I saw the ruins and the tower from a distance. I’ll have a closer look later.”
    “It’s a fine spot,” Granny told her. “There’s a lot to feel there.”
    “Well, I’m very interested in seeing the carvings and the arcading, but I didn’t want to wander that far today. I saw the neighbor’s house. It must be the O’Tooles’.”
    “Ah, Michael O’Toole. I remember him when he was just a lad—a quick grin Mick had and a way of talking you out of tea and cakes. He married that pretty Logan girl, Mollie, and they had five girls. The one you met, Brenna, she’d be the oldest of the brood. How’s she faring, pretty Mollie?”
    “Well, I didn’t go over. She was busy with laundry.”
    “You’ll find no one’s too busy to take a moment, Jude Frances. Next time you’re roaming you stop in and pay your respects to Mollie O’Toole.”
    “I will. Oh, and Gran?” Amused, she smiled as she sipped her tea. “You didn’t tell me the cottage was haunted.”
    “Sure and I did, girl. Haven’t you listened to the tapes, or read the letters and such I gave you?”
    “No, not yet.”
    “And you’re thinking there goes Granny again, with hermake-believe. You just go through the things I sent along with you. The story’s there about Lady Gwen and her faerie lover.”
    “Faerie lover?”
    “So it was said. The cottage is built on a faerie hill with its raft, or palace, beneath, and she waits for him still, pining because she turned off happiness for sense, and he losing it for pride.”
    “That’s sad,” Jude murmured.
    “Well, it is. Still, it’s a good spot, the hill, for looking inside yourself to your heart’s desire. You look inside yours while you’re there.”
    “Right now I’m just looking for some quiet.”
    “Take as much of it as you need, there’s plenty to go around. But don’t stand back too long and watch the rest of the world. Life’s so much shorter than you think.”
    “Why don’t you come out, Gran, stay here with me?”
    “Oh, I’ll come back, but this is your time now. Pay attention to it. You’re a good girl, Jude, but you don’t have to be good all the time.”
    “So you’re always telling me. Maybe I’ll find