July 1977

 

Peter was enjoying life sitting by the pool with Jack and Rip. The Florida sun was as hot as advertised and a warm breeze came across the marsh from the inland waterway. Peter liked marsh living much more that the noisy, salt-riven lots right on the ocean. He had a Boston Whaler in a boathouse at the end of a pier in the marsh. With its small electric trolling motor, it made the ideal fishing platform for a 115-pound Bouvier, an active, constantly questioning five-year-old who was almost ten. If only Sally Ann and Christina were here, life would be perfect.

Terry O’Brien, the only man he’d met he liked well enough to spend time with, had called earlier and asked if he could bring his niece, who was visiting from Ireland, for a swim. Jack and Rip adored Terry. Peter asked the Nguyens to make a picnic lunch.

Rip heard Terry’s car come in the driveway and raced around to the front of the house to escort them to the parking area. After receiving his greeting from Terry and meeting his companion, Rip ran back to Peter with his stubby tail wagging and waited for the humans to do their curious meeting ritual. Peter stared at Terry’s niece. This woman is gorgeous. Long black hair, great figure. She is nearly as tall as me. Her Irish accent has a beautiful lilt. By the time he had recovered, Terry was making introductions. He said, “Peter, this woman, Bernadette O’Brien, is my niece, maybe several times removed. Never mind the lineage. She has always been my niece.”

Peter said, “It is always a pleasure to welcome beautiful women to my house. You are the first. Now meet my son, Jack.”

Jack took her hand and said, “Now come swim with Rip and me.” Bernadette laughed and let Jack lead her away.

As Jack led Bernadette to the pool, Terry said, “She is here on more than a vacation. I’m trying to get her to break with the IRA before it’s too late. She is a highly trained IRA assassin, very skilled with knife and gun. I need your help. I don’t want her to end up in prison or constantly running for her life. She’s not married, has no attachments. I think many Irish lads are frightened being around her. She could take all of them, probably a couple at a time.”

“I’ll do what I can. Is she in danger now?”

“No. No one from her past knows she is here. According to her, her name is not on any wanted list. The danger will be from her friends if she tries to leave the IRA. I have to go away for a couple of months. Can you look in on her from time to time?”

“Sure. This may sound funny, but I need a governess for Jack. The Nguyens are good, but there is a lot they don’t understand about growing up in the western world. I’ll pay her a living wage so she will have more options about the future. You know, education, job skill training, or something more general. Whatever she may be looking for.”

“Peter, tell you what. Ask her. Whatever she decides is okay with me. She may be young in years but not in experience. She has seen too much and done too much. She’s smart and is painfully rethinking her past. I’ve heard her crying a couple of times. My job as a security consultant requires me to spend chunks of time in bad places. I need the money and I know about violence, security, and physical protection but not much else. Especially not how to comfort my young, troubled niece.”

“When Jack brings her back, give me some time and I’ll ask her. Okay?”

“You got it.”

When Jack came up holding Bernadette’s hand, Peter asked him to go help the Nguyens with the picnic lunch and told him he could have one coke. Jack and Rip ran off to the kitchen. Peter said, “Bernadette, please sit down over here. I need some help and Terry told me to ask you.”

Bernadette laughed. “Generally, men don’t start talking to me about helping them. It’s usually more specific but something tells me that if you wanted a woman for sex, you would have no trouble finding one.”

“Believe it or not, I haven’t even had a date for two years. Sex hasn’t been high on my priority list.”

Bernadette laughed again. “Now that you’ve explained yourself, let’s get to the point.”

“I need a governess for Jack. Like Terry, I travel a lot and can’t take Jack with me. With a governess he would be able to stay here or come with me. I’ll pay you well and give you free room and board in my house. It’s divided into a couple of guest suites. You can have your pick.”

“You mentioned pay.”

“How about five thousand a month to start?”

“Dollars!?”

“Yes. But I can do other currencies.”

“No. No. I accept,” she said and shook Peter’s hand.

“When can you start?”

“I already did.”

As they were shaking hands, Terry came up and said, “I hope that means you now have a job.”

“Yes. A great job and a place to stay. Maybe America is the ‘golden mountain’ the Chinese talk about. And I’m working right now so don’t distract me. Here comes my ward and his dog that weighs almost as much as I do.”