Redemption - Leon Uris [84]
In actual fact, as Mildred pointed out to her husband in the sanctity of their bed, Liam no longer needed Conor but Conor needed Liam now, sorely.
The same kind of lightness swept over Ballyutogue Station as had taken hold in the manor house. Of Hubble Manor…well, then…the restoration was a memorable time, but nothing was said of Caroline or the intrigue of Kevin O’Garvey and Andrew Ingram.
From initial apprehension, his throne intact, Liam’s tack now drifted toward keeping his brother in New Zealand. As the weeks passed, the idea evolved. Conor was so in place here that the opposite idea took hold—what would it be like when Conor left? What a void! What an utter void! See now, that aura of beauty that always surrounded Conor was theirs and everyone in the family felt it.
Loving Conor, Liam concluded, was not a danger. Liam was keen now and saw through his brother’s melancholy and mystery, a man who could give off sunshine but keep his darkness in himself.
Three hundred acres of the most magnificent, lush, deep soiled bottom land in the southern Alps came on the market and Liam and Mildred made quiet inquiries and placed a holding deposit, and waited for the right moment to offer it. As for a forge, Liam told his wife, they’d come from all over the country to him.
The ladies of the stations and villages clear down to Christchurch began to circle the campfire with Mildred Larkin brokering the plotters.
Now that he had made peace with himself, Liam had to admit to things he knew of his brother. Conor was a different breed, who had always aspired differently from other people. Wealth and stature meant nothing to him. Conor had always been after something Liam could not see or touch or describe.
This soured the milk a little. Was not Rory a lot like his brother? Yes, he and Conor were at peace for the moment, but what power did he hold over Rory? A wariness set in.
Conor and Rory teamed off naturally. Conor had worked with horses all his life, but none of the class that populated this station. Although but eleven years of age, Rory rode his stallion, RumRunner, with the skill of a man who had been in the saddle three times as long.
Liam fell into the ancient game. Rory adored his uncle and Liam feared his son would be itchy to follow if Conor left. Rory had never taken to anyone as he had to his uncle….
And Liam pondered. How much of Ireland would Conor fill Rory’s head with? Had Conor dinned his son with Irish martyrs and speeches from the dock?
Liam was convinced that Conor’s departure would guarantee Rory’s departure, in time. Liam had to have Rory, or Ballyutogue Station might vanish. Liam concocted a new plan—he would encourage the deepening relationship between uncle and nephew. If Conor came to love Rory and also understood Rory’s value to the station, then Conor might remain.
Jaysus, Liam thought. He and Conor and Rory together could build an estate the likes of which had never been seen on the South Island. He’d end up with more land than the Earl of Foyle! On the other hand, the Squire’s unspoken partners might not give a damn!
“Rest your head, Liam,” Mildred warned. “Your father made plans. My father made plans. We didn’t listen very much, luv.”
“What will I do now, Millie?”
They flirted with answers…all kinds of answers except the right one—to show Rory they loved him.
With Rory riding alongside, Conor lost much of his melancholy and felt for a moment he was at the forge, twisting iron and all joyous inside. How wonderful to ride the perimeters of his brother’s acres mustering the lambs and the beef.
When there was a fence to mend or an hour to spend, Rory and Conor drifted toward the shade and became pals in the utmost sense of the word. Conor was quizzed and was wondrously happy to open the boy’s mind.
Conor had a rover’s eye view of the entire world, a world unknown to Rory. When his uncle ventured beyond the horizon his words pulsated in the lad’s daydreams…
…of a ship around the Horn…
…of a cattle