Molly Gallagher let her head fall on her father's shoulders and felt him softly kiss the top of her head. She was exhausted after almost a week of traveling. The first part of the journey on the train wasn't so bad, it was this part on the stagecoach with the never ending jarring that was getting nearly impossible to stand for much longer. Her father seemed to sense her restlessness.
"We're almost there, Mollybon," he said, resting his head on top of hers and taking her hand in his. His daughter was all he really had now. Losing his wife, Kathleen two years prior had been nearly impossible to bear, but he knew that Molly was affected more than he. Molly sighed at her father's words, he had said that before and to her it seemed as though they would never get there. She hadn't seen Colum, her father's brother, since she was a girl. He worked as a ranch hand at a horse ranch just outside of a town called Four Corners. She hadn't arrived yet and already didn't like it. All she had seen for two days now was flat, dry land. She missed the rolling, green hills of her island. She missed walking to the edge of the ocean and feeling total peace. The flatness of this land made her nervous and melancholy. 'Why of all places to go did her uncle have to come out here?' she wondered to herself. It was only for a visit she tried to remind herself. In a couple of weeks, they'd be heading for New York and then Galway, Ireland. She let her eyes close to picture the rolling hills of her homeland that her father said was like the island, only more beautiful. Molly was just a small girl when they left for Canada, her memories were fuzzy at best. She couldn't imagine a place more beautiful then the island. The images relaxed her mind and she fell asleep.
The sudden stopping of the coach caused Molly to wake up with a start. She tried to get her barrings and realized that they had reached their destination. The door opened and Molly blinked at the sudden brightness. Her father got out of the coach first then helped her down. A man standing on the walk near where the coach had stopped caught her eye. He was leaning on the post, staring intently at the passengers that got off the coach. Something about him made Molly uneasy.
"Molly?" a voice she didn't recognize called to her. She turned around to see a man that looked much like her father standing near her. She smiled then, realizing this was her uncle. "Glory be to God," he said, sounding astonished. "You look every bit like your mother."
"Oh, Uncle Colum," Molly said walking up to him and embracing him.
"Your girl's all grown up then," Colum said to his brother who was getting the bags from the driver.
"I needn't be reminded of that to often," her father replied looking right at Molly. Molly made a move to pick up one of the bags that had been brought down, but her uncle got to it before she could.
"I'll not have any niece of mine moving her own luggage," he said, picking up the bag and offering her his arm. "Come my darlin' to my carriage, finest in all the land, fit for a lady such as yourself," he said leading her over to a wagon near by. Molly tipped her head back and laughed, taking his arm. Bryan
looked over at his brother and daughter and smiled. It was the first time in a long time he'd heard the girl laugh. Colum took the bags to the back of the wagon and placed them inside. Molly stood by the side of the wagon and turned around to get a better look at the town. What she saw made her want to cry. Dust covered everything. The buildings were all clapboard, not like the brick and stone of the buildings in Charlottetown. She felt a hand on the small of her back and turned to face her uncle. "Not much to look at, is it?" She only nodded, afraid if she spoke she'd cry. Her uncle came in front of her. "No matter, the mer presents of a lady such as yourself gracing the lowly town of Four Corners would make any unsuspecting person think they were in the courts of the castles of Dublin," he said, bowing and offering her his hand to help her into the seat of the wagon. In spite of herself, Molly burst into giggles and
took the hand her uncle offered her and climbed into the wagon.
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