Clara's Story, Part I

Boarding the ship bound for America was perhaps the greatest adventure of Clara's life. She could hardly believe she and Ted would be married that very night by the ship's captain! Ted, who had first been her friend, then her employer, and then some while after the tragic death of his wife and son due to complications in childbirth, had eventually become her lover. And he did love her, and she him. Ted was determined to be with Clara even if that meant running away to America because a member of the landed gentry couldn't marry so "beneath them" as Ted's friends and relatives thought of his bride to be. So they cast out on their own, to make a life for themselves, leaving their families and their beloved homeland forever, truly forsaking all else in order to be together.

Clara grew up the youngest of five children. Johanna, the eldest, was twelve years her senior and almost more a second mother to Clara than an older sister. Then came Thomas, ten years her senior and the oldest boy, who would inherit the farm their father, Thom Senior, had poured his life into. Then Patrick, the second son who even though eight years her senior was Clara's favorite, and who left home at age seventeen bound for the priesthood. Then Bridget, who was only five years older than Clara, to whom Clara was truly closest, but also fought with the most, given they shared a bed in the same room with Johanna. There had been another brother, too, who would have been four years older, but Collin had died just days after being born, which had made Clara's life that much more of a surprise, and a joy, to her parents.

Growing up on the farm had certainly not been an easy life, but it had at least always been a stable. While they might have been poor, Clara never *felt* poor - there was the warm bed she shared with Bridget, always food enough to eat, and more than enough work to keep a body busy and out of trouble. Dinner - the large meal eaten at mid-day - was always a family affair, with everyone including Grammy, Grandad, and Nana, Thomas Senior's mother, gathered around the table and plenty of joyous conversation after grace was said the food passed around. On Saturdays after the meal was finished there would often be singing, too, when the Thomases Senior and Junior would take out their fiddles and and Johanna might play the piano forte.

Thomas Junior was married almost two years after Patrick left, so Patrick's place at the table was filled by Molly, and soon enough Junior and Molly would welcome little Francis into the family as well, and then Emily two years after that, which was when they also brought in Molly's sister, Abigail, to live with them and help care for the children, displacing the role Clara had taken on. With the house growing so crowded, althogh it was still filled mostly with love, Clara realized shortly after her fifteenth birthday that it was time to look for work, and a place to live, elsewhere, so that is exactly what she set out to do. As the youngest child on a farm, she certainly had spent plenty of time cooking, cleaning, and otherwise helping her mother with the general care of a household. So it was, Clara decided to apply for a maid's position at a wealthy home in the town.

Ninety-nine percent of Clara's clothing was hand-me-downs from her sisters along with the occaisional shirt from one of her brothers that her mother had re-purposed as a blouse for Clara, adding a bit of embroidery to liven it up. She did have her Sunday outfit that was just hers and that was what she wore to her interview. The senior housekeeper was brusk, but kind, and despite Clara having no prior experience working for anyone else and no letter of recommendation, Mrs. Boyle liked the fact that the girl had dressed in her Sunday best, had good manners, and was genuinely enthusiastic about how hard she would work if given the chance. Mrs. Boyle offered Clara a two week trial period, certain in her own mind that this young woman was a find indeed and with a little training would be an excellent addition to the household staff. Clara was told she could start immediately, given an outfit to change into, and shown to the maid's room - what would be *her* room, so she could change in private.

The maid's room was small, with barely room for the bed, a nightstand, and a thin chest with two drawers, but to Clara who had always shared a bed, to say nothing of the room, it seemed impossibly large. She carefully folded her clothes and put them into the dresser, then donned the outfit she had been given, which fit surprisingly well - even better than many of the hand-me-downs she owned. Another servent was sent out to the farm to retrieve Clara's meager wardrobe and her few other belongings, including a hair brush with a pearl-inlaid handle, and a silver hand mirror. Clara threw herself into her work as she had promised she would, meeting the rest of the staff, but not yet meeting the homeowners, and at the end of what was a very full day found herself tired from honest work, yet wide awake with the newness of it all. Sleeping in her "own" bed for the first time in her life was both luxurious and frightening. She lay in the dark, staring at the wood-beamed ceiling. She tried listening to the soft wind blowing through the trees outside the window. She tried counting sheep. She tried praying. Nothing seemed to help, so she quietly eased herself out of bed, donning her robe, and left her room to look around the house a bit more and marvel at her good fortune.

As Clara opened the door to the library, she was shocked to find a young man standing just inside the doorway in his pajamas. He, too, was taken aback, not expecting anyone else to be up in the dead of night, let alone this unfamiliar, though very pretty, girl. "Who are you?" Clara asked before she could stop herself. "I'm Edward O'Brien," he said with an air of self confidence, "But my friends call me Ted. And what brings such a lovely creature as yourself to my library at this time of night, Miss...?" "Um. Your library. Uh..." Clara swallowed hard, realizing this must be the family heir,"Erm..It's Walsh...Clara Walsh. But that's just Clara to you, sir. I'm the new maid, sir. I'm so sorry for intruding," Clara stammered as she started to back out of the room, kicking herself for her impertinence of roaming the halls in the dark. "Now wait just a minute, just Clara" said Ted, knowing he was in a position of power and not wanting to abuse it, but also truly interested in the girl in front of him and not wanting her to go, he continued, "You didn't answer my question. What brings you to my library?"

"Well, sir, it's the books you see, sir" Clara said, clearly flustered. She had just landed this job; she couldn't go back home in disgrace so quickly! "Oh", said Ted. "So a maid who likes to read? That's marvelous!" "But that's just it, sir" said Clara. "What?" Asked Ted. "What?" repeated Clara. "What's just it?" asked Ted, his eyes dancing. Clara noticed he had kind eyes, not at all haughty or imperious, maybe a little mischievous, and a beautiful shade of gray-green. "And please, call me Ted. You can 'sir' my father all you want, but I can't be more than what, a year or two older than you?" Was he flirting with her? "Well, sir...er...Ted?" Clara was finding herself nervous again, but in a different way. Butterflies rather than knots in the stomach kind of nervous. "I've never seen so many books all in one place before, is all. It seems...I don't know, peaceful somehow? But I..." Best to just be honest and spit it out, "I don't know how to read, sir...erm Ted." "Well," said Ted, gently tapping his finger aside his temple as he did habitually when an idea occurred to him, "Well...We'll just have to do something about that then, won't we, Ms. Clara Walsh.

— Zachary