“It says she was coming back home. But we’ve seen neither hide nor hair of her.” Ma pursed her lips. “Another lie! But more important, she says she’s been working for your man O’Hanlon.” She paused, a look of triumph in her eyes. “And here’s the best of it. The chit admits she pretended she was yourself—says she passed herself off as Nora! She even said she saw you drown. Well, what d’you think of all that?”

I put down the letter on the table and stood up. A strange feeling had come over me, and I shivered as if someone had just walked on my grave.

“Well, now we know what happened to her,” I said.

Ma exploded. “Is that all you have to say?” she screeched. “That slibhin dared pass herself off as you and lied about it into the bargain. She’s set her sights on O’Hanlon, mark my words.”

“But if she had, why did she say she was coming back home?”

Ma was getting more impatient. “She says it’s because O’Hanlon and the child are moving to Texas. Don’t you see, she only said that to throw us off the scent. Pure malarkey! I’d wager we won’t see hide nor hair of her in Donegal. I’d say she’s angling to traipse after him to Texas. I’d put nothing past her. It won’t be long before she lures him into marrying her! And after hearing all that, you don’t turn a hair? What in the name of God’s got into you?”

She finally paused for breath. I opened the back door and walked out. As the door banged shut, I could hear her crying after me like a banshee. I ran as fast as I could away from the cottage, past the stones and on up the hill until I could run no more. I sank down on the ground, my breath ragged, and lay staring up at the sky.

Ma’s outburst shouldn’t have surprised me. She’d always hated Delia, and now Delia had stolen the dream Ma had intended for me. She wanted me to be as angry as she was. She wanted to poison my mind the way she’d done my whole life, putting notions in my head that I thought she was doing out of love, but now I realized she wanted to live out her own dreams through me. Well, this time I wasn’t going to take her bait.

When the sun finally set I got up and walked back to the cottage. A window was open, and I could hear Ma shouting at Da.