Jan Karon - In the Company of Others

He was breaking a sweat. Marriage was serious business, and Pete had taken him by surprise. He’d actually trained for marriage counseling-not because he wanted to, but because he needed to. During his first couple of years in Mitford, marriages were breaking apart like ice caps-mother, father, children, floating off on solitary floes into the ether, and he with nothing much to offer but unctuous prayer for reconciliation.

He’d worried that his counsel wouldn’t be taken seriously, anyway-what did a bachelor priest know of such desperate matters?

The more he observed the wreckage, the more anxious he became to effect genuine healing-most anybody could do a Band-Aid, he was in for stanching the hemorrhage. How did the dynamics of marriage differ from other relationships, anyway? What did God want for marriage in the first place? He prayed about it as if his life depended on it, searched the scriptures, attended a series of weekend seminars in Asheville. He received a certificate to hang on the wall, some assurance, perhaps, to the wretched souls who sat on the bench in the church office and spilled their guts.

Over time, he counseled quite a few couples in mild distress, and a total of eight in desperate straits. Ten years later, he’d done a discreet check on the eight. Two were lost on the floes; six were hanging in there, which was way above the national average. When he rejoiced over the results of this survey, however unscientific, Emma had raised an eyebrow and pointed up. It’s not like it was all you, she said, which went without saying.

‘If I can’t say or do anything I can’t live up to,’ said Pete, ‘what am I gonna say an’ do? I was thinkin’ maybe a great dinner in th’ kind of place that fries your Amex; I could live up to that when the economy takes a little uptick. An’ maybe a nice bottle of champagne, a little foie gras…’

‘Fish and chips,’ he said.

‘Come on.’

‘Don’t show off, don’t flash anything around. Go easy. Besides, you probably did all that the last time she left you and came back for a trial run.’

‘You’re right.’ Pete sounded depressed.

‘Forget what it does to your Amex, it takes a lot of energy to go out for fancy dinners and be the hale-fellow-well-met and keep flowers rolling in. For now, how about spending that energy on her, focus it all on her? Just love her, and let her know it. Hold her hand, tell her how much she means to you, and here’s a big one-listen to what she has to say, Pete. If you let her talk, and if you really listen, she’ll tell you everything you need to know.’

A stricken silence in Dublin.

‘Have you tried any of this stuff?’ asked Pete.

‘Pretty much all of it. But hey, no guarantee on anything. Just my two cents’ worth.’

‘I don’t know. The big dinner an’ th’ flowers-that was goin’ to be my best shot. But I could prob’ly do a bracelet if I have to.’

‘Maybe you need to fork over a few euros to a professional.’

‘No way. I’m lookin’ for a freebie here.’

‘Okay, all the strategies I just suggested-that’s the small stuff. Here’s the big one.’

‘Shoot.’ Pete heaved a sigh that cleaned out the phone line.

‘Ask God every day to give you the wisdom and courage to be all he made you to be-for your wife, for yourself, for him. If you give God a chance in this and do the best you can, he’ll help you do the rest. When you were here, you said it would take a miracle to save your marriage. Unless there’s something you haven’t told me, you don’t do miracles.’

The dishwashers beeped-cycles ended.

‘And, Pete…’

‘Yeah?’

‘While you’re at it, please pray for your wife-she needs wisdom and courage, too. You’re a team-think like a team.’

‘You’re askin’ a lot, Tim.’

‘I won’t kid you-it’s going to take a lot.’

‘If you would say a, you know, prayer.’

‘Consider it done, call me anytime. And regards to Roscoe.’

He drew out his handkerchief, wiped his face. He’d just been through the scrub cycle. ‘A desperate man,’ he said to Liam.

Liam was amused. ‘While at it, he asked my opinion.’

‘What was your opinion?’

‘A couple weeks in Ibiza.’

‘That, too,’ he said.

‘Great plug for fish an’ chips, Rev’rend.’

In the library, the laurel wreath had fallen to Seamus.

‘Th’ man of th’ hour,’ said William, poking up the fire. ‘Says ’t was like makin’ hay on a soft day.’

‘Aye, but tomorrow, Willie, you’ll be makin’ hay of your own.’ Seamus held up his comb-‘Th’ oul’ flea rake,’ he said-gave his mustache a drubbing. ‘Well, gentlemen, I vowed I’d unload th’ dishwashers before goin’ up th’ hill.’

‘I’ll come along and have a visit with Liam,’ said Feeney. ‘I’ll give you a lift.’

‘Ever th’ comin’ an’ goin’,’ said William.

He would stir his bones and run along the lake tomorrow; he’d go farther this time, and definitely to the Mass rock. He sat in a favorite wing chair, checked his watch, wondered at Bella’s long stay.

William lowered himself into an adjoining chair, the usual light gone from him.

‘Could I have your ear, Rev’rend?’

‘With pleasure.’

‘Ye heard tonight what’s come to th’ lass from Collooney-ould an’ ruined by th’ drink. She needed me in a desperate way with somethin’ that happened to her mother an’ sisters, but I let her down. I was on th’ pig’s back in those days, I wanted th’ whole world for myself. Do ye understand?’

‘I do.’

‘I was th’ young buck beatin’ men to bloody pulp and livin’ to boast of it. As you might imagine, I found th’ girls numerous as fairies in Mayo. I thought any woman would wait for William Donavan ’til he got his name in lights.’

William bowed his head, examined his palms as if seeing some truth there.

‘And so I married Roisin, Anna’s mum, while I still had feelin’s for Evelyn McGuiness. Roisin was pretty as a speckled pup; worked like a man at th’ turf field, yet gentle as a lamb in her ways. A lovely woman-an’ could play th’ oul’ tunes on th’ fiddle.’

‘Bella gets it from both sides, then.’

‘A double dose, as ye heard th’ other evenin’. When Koife plays, Roisin comes back to me, but I don’t deserve her company.’ William looked up, his blue eyes gray. ‘In th’ end, I was faithless to two women.

‘’t was a hard thing to reckon what my selfish pleasures laid waste. Th’ regret is like a cancer still growin’, an’ no way to cure it.’

The fire smoldered; Pud snored at his feet.

‘I hope this is not considered a confession, Rev’rend, for I can’t take pardon from a Protestant. ’

‘I’m just hearing you,’ he said.

‘I thank ye for that.’ William sat back in the chair, stared at the fire. ‘I made a right hames of it all. An’ now I’m an oul’ man with all my fortunes spent an’ gone, an’ nothin’ left of th’ fled days but regret.’ William withdrew his handkerchief and did what he had to do, which seemed to cheer him in a small way.

‘Regret an’ gratitude, I have to say. Gratitude for my Anna an’ her lovin’ ways; Anna, who’s made us a comfortable livin’ out of this place. Gratitude for Koife, who herself has felt th’ blade twisted deep. Aye, an’ for Liam, who’s put th’ stamp of success on deer farmin’ an’ sheep raisin’ like you never saw. They’re eatin’ our lamb an’ venison all th’ way to Belfast an’ callin’ for more.

‘We always got on famous, Liam an’ me, but th’ last couple of years…’ William shrugged. ‘In th’ end, I regret th’ bit about me livin’ here ’til I’m carried out in a box. It’s made Liam th’ bosun in what was to be his own ship.’