“But he’s always at business meetings,” I said. “He must have some money.”

“His da cut him off, but I’d say his ma left him some. He invested it all in the oil. I think now he’s out trying to raise more money so he can go back to Texas.”

I was intrigued. “And what did Mary think of all that?”

Mrs. Donahue smiled, a faraway look in her eyes.

“Mary could be as stubborn as her da when pressed. She told him she loved Mr. Aidan and would go with him to the ends of the earth.”

She stirred the tea absently, then made the sign of the cross. “God rest her soul, when he asked her to go clear across the country with him, she went despite her da’s threats to disown her. Ah, she was a great girl, so she was.”

She swallowed the rest of her tea and banged down the cup on the saucer.

“To Texas of all places! May as well have been to the moon. He was going to drill for oil, he said, and it turned out he made a fortune. But poor Mary took sick with the fever. While he was caring for her, he took his eye off the business and lost a lot of his money. When she seemed on the mend, Mr. Aidan brought her and Lily back from Texas and they moved into this house. But she had a relapse. . . .”

She sighed and looked toward the ceiling. “And now that poor Mary’s gone, I know Mr. Aidan is itching to go back to Texas to build things back up. Sullivan is dead set against it. He blames Mr. Aidan for Mary’s death and he doesn’t want the same thing to happen to Lily. Mr. Aidan doesn’t want to uproot Lily either, given the state she’s in. He’s torn.”

She stood up and brought the cups over to the sink. “That’s what they argue about all the time,” she said over her shoulder.

That night I lay sleepless. I had never seen Aidan so angry, although I had long suspected he had a temper. It had alarmed me, but not as much as his father-in-law’s behavior. I cringed when I thought about how he had stared at me. When he said I was good-looking he leered like a hungry wolf. Still, his words had shocked me. No one back home had ever suggested such a thing—quite the opposite, in fact. Then I remembered Dom’s words a few weeks ago—“You’re a good-looking girl, Delia. ’Tis time you saw yourself for what you’re worth.” They’re seeing things, the two of them, I said to myself. I’m plain and I’ll always be plain, and that’s the size of it!