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children.
    “We could send her to London, I have a friend there who is looking for a housekeeper,” the old woman said, “that way Jennifer could have the baby and come back when it i s all over.”
    “Yes mom, London is big, and Mrs. Crow tells me her friend has a really big house, I could clean and cook and in the evenings I could go to night school…”
    Her mother got up and took Jennifer into her arms, “why didn’t you tell me about the baby earlier?” She said realizing all this had been discussed before, “oh, my baby, why didn’t you come to me first?”
    Jennifer hadn’t even realized her condition until Mrs. Crow had pointed it out, let alone thought of telling someone about it.
    “Now Esther, you know I’ve been around for a long time, these kinds of things can’t exactly be hidden from me. Of course Jennifer was going to tell you, she’s your daughter, it’s just better this way, better to have someone who can look at things from the outside,” Mrs. Crow said to comfort the grandmother to be.
    Esther’s mind changed gear, it was the twenty first century, and her daughter didn’t have to suffer this fate, not these days.
    “What about that ship that takes the girls out to international waters?” she said.
    “An abortion?” Asked Jennifer.
    She had thought of it, she had planned it when she found first found out, when she was angry and upset at Sean for not saying goodbye, for not saying anything, for stealing her ring.
    “I can’t have an abortion mom, I love… I love this baby,” she said. She loved the baby, Sean’s and her baby.
    “Oh, my poor baby, he really got to you didn’t he. The bastard. He has to answer for this, we’ll get the Garda to trace him, no one can vanish into thin air these days , and they have all those computers. T hey can trace anyone.”
    But Mrs. Crow had already gone to the police, filed a missing persons report.
    The old woman led Esther back to the sofa and insisted she take the cup of tea this time.
    “So, no abortion, you will sacrifice your life for a silly mistake,” she said sipping her tea, “oh Jennifer, why didn’t you take precautions? You are an educated girl, I always told you what to do in those circumstances, a condom, go on the pill. Why didn’t you protect yourself?”
    Jennifer felt embarrasse d. She had done the right thing. I t wasn’t her fault.
    She remembered that weekend, she remembered Sean walking to the chemist and tears welled in her eyes. She walked toward the window and pretended to look outside. She hated it wh en tears betrayed her composure. S he hated crying in front of others.
    The rain was falling heavily against the glass pane making a thunderous noise, the sky was dark and forbidding, she pulled the net curtain to the side and leaned against the cold glass, it was all so d ark, so many rain drops falling. I t felt like nothing would survive it. She looked at her mother’s cherry tree, the last of the leaves fell to the ground under the pressure.
    She heard little bells. I t was as though among the drops there were tiny lit tle bells that lifted her heart. S he lea ned her ear closer to the glass. I t was coming from the garden.
    “Sean!” she shouted and ran out into the rain, she closed her eyes and faced the sky, cold rain, she heard th e tinkering of tiny bells again. I t was to her left. She walked slowly so as not to lose the sound, they got stronger. It was by her corner, it was where she used to plant her favorite flowers when she was a little child.
    “Oh, God,” she said and she fell to her knees. In front of her there was the heather bush she’d planted for the fairies when she was eight, its tiny blue bells moving in the rain, and she could hear them singing.
    “Oh dear God, I’m going mad,” she said reaching toward one of the little bells and seeing it shine silver on her fingertips.
    She felt Mrs. Crow’s hand on her shoulder. She’d brought an umbrella.
    “The heart has many ways of