Chapter 2

Fear filled Eibhlin when the door finally opened.

Soon after trading the hammer, weariness had sent her to bed, but when she woke that morning to everyday sounds and a sunlit house, dread invaded her mind. She knew that when her father returned she would need to tell him what she had done. Hiding a bag of infinite gold couldn’t last long. How to tell him, though, that was hard. As she cleaned the previous night’s wreckage and returned the spilt gold to the purse, she formed and reformed her explanation, but no matter how she reasoned it, something pricked at her mind. When her father entered that afternoon, a broad smile on his face, a chill settled in her chest and fingertips.

“Good day, Eibhlin, dear!” said Lochlann, kissing her forehead. “You weren’t worried last night, I hope.”

“Good afternoon, Papa,” she managed.

Her father went on. “Whew! I tell you, Eve, that rain yesterday nearly got us. We were in the middle of putting down the thatch, three men on each side, when we suddenly started hearing thunder. I don’t think I’ve seen men work so hard or so fast these past months to get that thatching and everything under cover. The wonders of men’s combined strength. That’s what it was. And you know, Eve, we did it. Just barely made it, but we did. Then the rain came, and by the time we got to the pub to celebrate, we were soaked. I was so cold and wet, I must have spent an hour by the fire. But we beat the rain. Ha!”

“Um… Papa, um… there’s something I need to—”

“And then this morning, we got up and went straight to work, and now the weavers’ roof is half done! You should’ve seen everyone’s faces. And then- oh! What am I doing? I got mud all over the floor. Sorry about that. I just came to check on you and to grab a quick change of clothes, but I’ll clean that up before I head back.”

As her father approached the bedroom, Eibhlin said, “Papa, I have something I need to—”

“Just a moment, Eibhlin. I’ll be right out.”

“Oh… okay,” said Eibhlin. She watched the door groan shut.

From the room, she heard the chest hinges creak. Less than a minute later, Lochlann nearly tripped out of the room, his face tight. He opened the dish chest and looked in every pot and under every mouse-nibbled blanket. After a couple minutes of watching his frantic search, Eibhlin asked, “What is it, Papa?”

“You probably wouldn’t know it,” said Lochlann, motioning with his hands even as his eyes continued searching around the room, “but I have a thing, a silver hammer. Usually, I keep it buried in my trunk, but I can’t find it. I can’t find it, Eve! It’s gone. I don’t know where—”

“I know about it,” said Eibhlin.

“Really?” said Lochlann. “It’s been years, hasn’t it, since I last showed it to you? Before your mother, well, but I suppose you could remember it, couldn’t you? No, I shouldn’t be surprised. Have you seen it recently? I mean, since a couple days ago? I can’t—”

“I sold it.”

Lochlann stared at his daughter. “You… what? What? I-I don’t….”

Struggling to keep her voice level, Eibhlin said, “I sold the hammer, Father. I found it last night and sold it.”

“You… do you know what you’ve done?” said Lochlann, his voice tightening with each word.

Eibhlin held up the purse. “I didn’t sell it for nothing. Look. Gold comes out. It’s magic. We can even use it to help everyone in town. Isn’t it amazing? Besides, isn’t this much more useful than some wall decoration?”

“Decor… You thought the hammer was….” Lochlann collapsed into the chair.

“Papa?”

The man didn’t shout, but Eibhlin felt his words weigh down her stomach like wet sand in a sack. “That hammer, that ‘decoration,’ was your mother’s,” he said. “It was a gift from your grandfather, a family heirloom. It was the only thing besides the clothes on her back that she brought with her, the only connection she had to her family, and the only thing of hers left to me when she died. And you sold it? How could you do that? Now, the last thing I had left of hers is gone! And all because you wanted money?”

Heat burst to Eibhlin’s face.

Grabbing the purse from her, Lochlann slammed it onto the table. “All for money. You sold your mother’s heirloom, and all for this bag and some gold coins!”

“I didn’t know,” she said.

“What?” said Lochlann.

“I. Didn’t. Know,” she said. “I didn’t know it was Mama’s, and how could I? You never told me. You never tell me anything about her. What she looked like. What kind of person she was. Nothing. Ever. You never talk about anything besides your work. That’s everything to you, isn’t it? Why should you care about some hammer? You don’t care about anything besides working.”

“Now hold on, Eibhlin, you know that’s not true,” Lochlann said, his voice bordering on disbelief at the accusation.

Eibhlin scoffed. “Isn’t it? Ha! That’s right. It’s not about work. Then you might actually show some care for our home. No. It’s all about helping someone else. It’s all about working for nothing while your own house falls apart. I can’t fix this place by myself, but you’re always too busy helping someone else to bother helping me. Someone else is always more important to you. You leave your own house crumbling, but when it’s someone else’s, you’ll do whatever it takes, even race a storm.”

“Eibhlin—”

“And then there’re your ‘promises’,” said Eibhlin, feeling her stomach knot as she spoke but driven onward by the anger heating her cheeks. “They’re a joke! Just once, couldn’t you actually mean it?”

“Eibhlin, I’m not a liar. You know I’m a man of my word,” he said.

“For other people!” Eibhlin screamed. “Yesterday, your birthday, you said you’d be back early, and like an idiot, I believed you. Really, I’m such an idiot. But, no, never again. I’m never going to fall for it again. I know that compared to anyone and anything else, I don’t matter to you. No matter what I do, I’m just your daughter. Well I wish I wasn’t. That way, you’d treat me just like everyone else. I wish I had never been born your daughter!”