To Rise Above Read online

  “So I have your permission?”

  “You do indeed. Now, the downstairs? Shall we?”

  December 1830

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Rhiannon!”

  At the sound of Esther’s raised voice – a hitherto unknown occurrence – Katie unceremoniously dumped Moses back into his basket and ran down the stairs. At the door to the living room she stopped short. Esther was sprawled unladylike on the sofa one hand to her heart while nearby Rhiannon was standing – actually standing!

  Katie glanced from one to the other, at first not sure who required her attention most, before crossing to Esther and assisting her into a sitting position.

  “Rhiannon … she’s … standing,” Esther whispered.

  “Yes, I can see that,” Katie responded as she glanced back at Rhiannon who was surveying them with a huge grin on her face.

  Esther clutched at Katie’s hand. “Get … get … Renton. He’s in … in the surgery.”

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  Again Esther clutched Katie’s hand. “Don’t … tell … him. It’s a … surprise.”

  “Shock more like it,” Rhiannon announced cheerfully from her corner. “But Mother, I really need to sit down. I’ve only been practising for a few weeks and it tires me out. But Katie, when you return with Father make a noise or something so that I hear him and can be on my feet when he comes in.”

  Katie smiled at her friend. “You’re enjoying this.”

  Rhiannon winced as she lowered herself into her chair. “Immensely. Now run.”

  Rhiannon’s Journal

  December 8, 1830

  No one would believe the commotion that has been in our house today! Mother and Father were so excited when they learnt that I can stand that they insisted on throwing an impromptu party. Seamus did not understand what was happening but he certainly enjoyed the cake that Lola produced. I can’t remember the last time I saw Mother with tears of joy in her eyes. All the pain, all the hard work, has been worth it just to see that.

  When Father saw me standing he couldn’t refrain from examining my legs and after what seemed forever, finally announced that he believed the muscles weren’t as atrophied as he had originally thought. I explained that lately I’ve been experiencing more feeling in my legs – more tingling and burning pain – and I wondered if this was a good sign. But with all the heartache in our family recently I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure.

  Each morning when Lola has come to dress me – because Katie has been so busy with Moses and Seamus that Lola has taken over that task again – I’ve gotten her to help me stand. At first she was reluctant to help because she thought we would be going against Father, but eventually she agreed. Each day the time that I’ve been able to stand has grown longer and longer until a few days ago I discovered that I actually had the strength to pull myself up into a standing position without anyone’s assistance. I can’t stand for long but after months of either lying flat on my back or being forced to sit in a chair it feels like a huge achievement.

  Father now thinks that there’s a chance that I’ll walk. He warned me that I might need walking sticks – may always need a least one stick – but he does think that I won’t have to spend the rest of my life in a chair, never being able to get up. When he told me this I could see the tears in his eyes. I’m just so pleased that I can bring Father and Mother some measure of happiness in this way.

  And Father has news too! Our home in Wallis Plains is almost complete. We’ll move before Christmas!

  “Katie, come and look at this sight and tell me what you make of it.” With a smile tugging at her lips Esther stood away from the window as Rhiannon looked at her mother in surprise. For the last half hour her mother had been looking out the window, something she would have been told off for in times past.

  The next second there was the sound of running feet and the front door slamming shut. Once again Rhiannon looked at her mother in surprise.

  “What’s happening?”

  “I’d say from the family resemblance and the way that Katie is hugging and kissing the four persons that have just come up the path that Katie’s family has arrived.”

  “What are they like?”

  Esther turned toward her daughter. “It’s hard to say. I can’t see their faces.”

  “You knew they were coming.” It wasn’t a question.

  Esther gave a guilty smile. “A message came for your Father about an hour ago. I’ve been on tenterhooks ever since. They’re coming up now.”

  “Help me stand.”

  “There’s no need –”

  “I want to stand. I don’t want to meet Katie’s family sitting in a chair.” Rhiannon was firm.

  So it was that a few minutes later when Katie introduced her siblings to her adoptive family, Rhiannon was able to stand tall and erect and return the greetings.

  The new arrivals had entered the room as one, glancing shyly around the room and obviously overwhelmed by the opulent furnishings. Nor did their awkwardness disappear when Lola brought refreshments in on a silver tray that she set down in the centre of the room. Esther with all her hostess skills, and the doctor with his friendliness and skill for setting people at ease, could not disperse the tension that had accompanied the new arrivals into the room.

  It wasn’t until Katie loaded plates with food for her siblings and began to ply them with questions, that they noticeably relaxed. Katie might look and sound different to the sister they remembered, but she was still Katie. Still looking after them, still wanting to know what they had been doing, still directing them.

  As the younger children relaxed, Kieran followed their lead, and soon the new arrivals, while still obviously in awe of the surroundings and the inhabitants of such surroundings, were sharing stories of their journey and answering the questions directed their way.

  All except for Eleanor. She sat apart with a frown on her face, the food on her plate untouched, refusing to speak a word.

  Rhiannon’s Journal

  December 13, 1830

  Katie’s family have arrived. And just in time too. We are to leave at the end of the week. The younger ones seem so shy. Not just around us but around Katie too. I guess it’s been so long since they last saw her. Kieran is certainly handsome. No wonder Katie is so proud of him. And he’s so gentle with the younger children. They are so eager to please except for Eleanor. There seems to be some tension there that I don’t understand.

  Lola is not going to leave us after all. Some arrangement that I don’t understand has been made with her husband’s owner and the two of them will be coming with us to Wallis Plains. It will be good to have another familiar face – or should I say faces? – with us.

  “History repeats itself,” Kieran stated as he and Katie walked along the beach, referring to a time long gone when the two had walked along the edge of the sea near their home in Ireland. It was early evening and the younger children – apart from Eleanor – were tucked into their makeshift beds in Katie’s room in the Sanford home.

  “It does indeed.”

  “Although it does not have the rugged beauty of our fair isle,” Kieran teased.

  “No,” Katie admitted. “But it’s beautiful in its own way.”

  “Perhaps.”

  “I can’t believe ye’re all here. It seems like a dream.”

  “A good dream I hope.”

  Katie smiled at her brother, but the smile quickly faded. “Tell me about Da.”

  Kieran sighed as if he’d been expecting this question and at the same time dreading it. He indicated a small outcropping of rock and led Katie to it. When she was seated, he remained standing, his hands in his pockets, and his back to her.

  “The doctor said it was a fever but perhaps because of his age or because of his drinking in the past, his heart was weak and he couldn’t fight it. He died peacefully. He was awake almost to the end and he spoke of ye often. He told us to come here – not to let his death stop
us and he told us to tell his Katie-girl that he loved her.”

  The tears spilled down Katie’s cheeks. “I miss him. I’ve missed ye all so much but I miss him.”

  “I know. We buried him beside Ma. He would’ve wanted that.”

  “Yes,” Katie agreed. She gazed out to sea where seagulls were diving for fish in the waves.

  “How was yer passage?”

  Kieran turned and looked at his sister. “If I never have to get on a ship again ye will not hear me complaining.”

  “I’m afraid ye’re going to have to get on a boat again soon. We’re going up river in just a few days. All of us. The family is moving and we’re going too.”

  Kieran removed his hands from his pockets and studied them for a long moment before answering. “Why do ye want to go with this family? Could we not make it on our own here? I heard them say that ye are free – let them go their way and we’ll stay here.”

  “The Sanfords are my family now. They adopted me.”

  “What?” Kieran looked at his sister, his face pale. “Why did they do that? Ye have a family already.”

  Katie sighed and indicated that Kieran sit next to her but he shook his head. Haltingly she tried to find the right words. “They offered to adopt me afore I knew ye were all coming. … They arranged me pardon. … They love me like their own daughter. … I agreed. Then we learnt that ye all were coming but … well I decided that I still wanted them to adopt me. … They’re me family just as much as ye and the others are. Kieran,” she reached out and touched his arm. “Please try and understand. For the past three years I’ve felt as if I’ve had no family. These people love me.”

  “But to allow them to adopt ye!”

  “I knew ye’d find it hard to understand. But I felt it was right. In here,” she raised a hand to her heart. “I prayed about it and I still felt it was right.”

  Kieran thrust his hands back into his pockets and stood staring out to sea for a long moment. Katie could tell that he was struggling with his thoughts and feelings and for several long minutes allowed the silence to linger.

  “They’ve promised to look after all of us.”

  “I don’t need their help.”

  “Well I do. It’s no easier for us here without a da than it was in Ireland. We need them and they need us. Don’t be so stubborn about it Kieran.”

  Again there was silence and Katie worried that she’d offended her brother. What a great way to start their first day together by arguing.

  “Tell me about Eleanor.”

  “What do ye want to know?” Kieran sounded defensive.

  “Something’s happened. She’s not the sister I left. She’s … different. And the two of ye don’t get on.”

  Kieran exhaled loudly then sat beside Katie. “I don’t know what it is. Whether it’s just her being a girl – though ye were not like that,” he hastened to add. “When Da was alive she would obey him – grudgingly – but once Da died she became – what is the word? – rebellious. Da said it was because she’d not grown up with a mother or sister to soften her hard edges. I don’t know if he understood any more than I do. But I have to tell ye, I had to drag her onto the ship to get her here and I’m not sure how much longer I can force her to do what I want her to.”

  “What does Eleanor want?”

  “What do ye mean?”

  “What are her dreams for her future? Have ye asked her?”

  “Why would I?”

  “Oh Kieran, and ye who had a young lady. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to drag up painful memories. But think about it. Eleanor is almost fourteen. Some days she feels so grown up and other days she feels like a child. She has the hopes and dreams of a woman but also the fears and doubts of a child. Ye have to go carefully with her.”

  “At thirteen ye were running a household. Then ye were convicted of a crime ye hadn’t done and sent half way around the world.”

  “I had to grow up quickly. But that doesn’t mean it was any different. I just couldn’t show it as easily.”

  Kieran picked up a shell and tossed it into the water. “I’m so glad we’re here now. Ye’ll know how to handle her.”

  Katie reached over and hugged her brother. “I’m so glad ye’re all here too. I’ve missed ye something awful.”

  “And ye want to go upriver with this family?”

  “I do.”

  Kieran seemed to reach a decision. “All right then. We’ll go. All of us. But if it doesn’t work out, we all leave.”

  Katie hugged him again. “Agreed. And thank ye.”

  “Just one thing: do we really have to go by boat?”

  Katie laughed at the look on Kieran’s face. “Where’s yer courage?”

  “I’m afraid that right now it’s at the bottom of the ocean.”

  “It shouldn’t be too bad. It’s only a river. No big waves or storms to upset the boat.”

  “I just hope ye’re right. I really do.”

  A breeze ruffled the curls around Rhiannon’s face as she sighed and bent to the journal on her lap. She had been watching Katie’s brother out of the corner of her eye as he and her father had supervised the transfer of all their household goods from the wharf to the boat. That he was not afraid to work hard was evident. He had been the first of any of them to rise that morning and had already secured one load to be transported to the wharf by the time her father rose. Now as others gave directions on loading the boat, he cheerfully lifted the heavy boxes and carried them on board.

  Rhiannon’s eyes dropped to the words she had written on the page.

  We are leaving. In less than an hour we will leave this place that has been our first real home in this distant land. Father says that our new home is larger and even more attractive than the one we’re leaving behind but I’m finding it hard to imagine. No one but Father has seen this new home. No one but Father has seen this new town. I wonder how different it will be to here and whether we’ll like it?

  There will not be the sea and I will miss that of course. But I have lived most of my life without the sea close by and I’m sure I can again. Father has promised that there will be excursions downriver to shop in Newcastle so there will be opportunities to see the sea again. Until Katie came the sea was often my only companion apart from Mother.

  But that changed with Katie. And it’s changed again.

  For now Katie’s brothers and sisters are here and I think she has hardly slept since they arrived, so busy has she been catching up on all the news of Ireland and soaking up the sight of her family. Sometimes she just sits and stares at them until the younger ones start to squirm under her gaze. I love to watch her watching them. One can almost reach out and touch the love that exists.

  Although Katie’s siblings have only been with us for a few days it feels as if they have always been here. Already we feel like family. A big family. If Father has had any concerns at all about the increase in souls he is now responsible for he has not shown it. That Mother and Father should now have eight children in their care is something I think they consider a miracle. Mother seems happy to be so busy and to always have some child to attend to and Father’s laugh is to be heard so often these days. For far too long Father didn’t laugh and Mother didn’t smile. There was nothing to make them smile – leaving England, Grandfather, Lily’s death, this harsh new land, Seamus’s father, my illness – it’s all behind us now and we can all smile and laugh. Life can go on.

  Rhiannon raised her eyes from the page but then dropped them quickly when she saw Kieran looking her way. She felt the heat rising in her neck and face and not knowing what she did she closed the journal and waved it in front of her face until she felt the heat subsiding.

  Opening the journal once more she was dismayed to see some of the letters had smeared. She had to lift the page close to her eyes to make out some of the words.

  Kieran has already made it clear to Father that he will not accept charity without working in return. Father argued and said that it’s not charity where fam
ily is concerned and that he considers Kieran and the others to be family but secretly I think Father was pleased. Father has always said that a man must do his work and his duty.

  There’s only one cloud. Eleanor. She is Katie’s sister but I find it very hard to like her. I want to like her – I really do – in fact, I want to love her just as I love Katie, but so far I can’t. Eleanor is sulky and spoilt and ill mannered. Katie excuses Eleanor’s behaviour on the basis that she’s lost both her ma and da but I can see that neither Kieran nor my parents agree. I just hope that she’s not going to spoil it for the rest of us.

  “Ready?”

  Rhiannon shut the journal in surprise at the voice at her back, and then winced when she realised that it would probably mean more smeared ink. Glancing behind her shoulder she smiled at her father who now held her chair.

  “Yes, I’m ready.”

  “Good. Let’s get you on board.”

  Rhiannon saw the others already embarking and suddenly laughed, despite the much-hated chair. “Wallis Plains, here we come!”

  Kieran wasn’t sure how he had come to be standing next to Rhiannon’s chair especially when there was work to be done, but surely it wouldn’t hurt to take a few moments rest from all the commotion. After all, he had been up since before dawn and as his stomach was now reminding him, he hadn’t eaten all day. As he watched, the doctor gave orders for the unloading of boxes and the rooms they were to be placed in, while Esther flitted from one box to another correcting her husband’s directions.