Donal who had the wrong foot forward laughed and asked if they could start over. They did so and he was no better the second time around which set Maureen off giggling. ‘I’m afraid you’re no Billy Ray.’
‘Two left feet.’ He grinned. ‘Go on you show me how it’s done.’
Maureen demonstrated the dance and he clapped along giving her a round of applause when she’d finished. She took a bow and announced it was time for dessert. She’d caught her breath by the time she placed the dishes of chocolate mousse down on the table. Donal topped their glasses up with the remains of the red.
‘This is going down a treat, Maureen,’ Donal said, in between spoonfuls of the mousse.
Maureen was pleased with how rich and creamy it had turned out and had to agree it was going down nicely.
They’d polished off the wine and Donal had all but licked his bowl when they decided it was time to get around to the business of rehearsing.
‘We need a microphone each if we’re to make it feel authentic,’ Maureen stated. She was in a giggly mood which was down to Donal and the wine. Her cheeks too were feeling a little hot as she disappeared into the kitchen, ignoring the detritus left behind from dinner as she retrieved a whisk and a wooden spoon. ‘Here we are, you can have the whisk. I’m quite at home with the wooden spoon.’ She’d chased her children around the kitchen often enough with it when they were younger. Donal had the music poised to go and he aimed the remote. The opening notes drifted into the room and Pooh gave a happy sigh as he settled down for some Kenny and a snooze.
Donal had a lovely voice; it was gruff and gravely and sounded very like the man himself, Maureen thought, as she did each time she heard him sing. She was so engrossed in listening to him she nearly missed her opening and came in a little wobbly but found her feet and sang her heart out, all the while losing herself in those grey twinkling eyes of Donal’s. They were serenading one another she realised and when the song finished, he took her in his arms kissing her slowly and what happened next was the most natural thing in the world.
Chapter 14
Moira and Aisling banged on the apartment door. They’d decided to surprise their mammy by taking her out for morning tea. It was a bright and sunny winter’s day, perfect for a spot of Howth people-watching over an oversized cookie and cup of coffee. Aisling was itching to tell her mammy all about her holiday, too.
‘Mammy,’ Moira put her mouth near the door and called out. Her dark hair fell across her face and she nearly toppled into her mammy as the door swung open. Maureen poked her head around it.
‘Would you stop your hollering, the neighbours will be after complaining.’
She was belting her dressing gown up, Moira’s eagle eye noticed and her hair was tousled.
‘You’re up late, Mammy. That’s not like you.’ Aisling leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. It was warm and soft and there was the faintest whiff of Arpège. ‘Moira and I thought we’d take you out for morning coffee. I’ve loads to tell you about Jukkasjarvi. But we can’t very well go out with you in your dressing gown.’ It was a puzzle. Mammy was usually up and dressed by sparrow’s fart.
‘Yuckisvari is the place where the Ice Hotel is and she hasn’t stopped going on about it since she got back,’ Moira explained. ‘And she’s doing my head in with her ‘my husband’ business. You want to hear her, Mammy. This morning she said to me, “pass me the milk because my husband likes his tea milky in the morning.”’ Moira made a gagging noise.
Aisling scowled at her sister. ‘Well, he is my husband.’
‘Yes, he is, Aisling, we’re all aware of that fact given we were there when you said your vows. It’s lovely of you girls to think of your mammy and come by too. Aisling, I have to say you’re looking very well on it given you’ve been in the Arctic. You’ve a rosy glow to your cheeks.’
‘That’s nothing to do with the Arctic, that’s the riding. Mammy, I can’t cope. I thought the headboard was going to come through the wall last night.’
Aisling shoved her elbow in her sister’s ribs and while Moira was doubled over, Maureen announced her plan. ‘Now then, here’s what we’ll do. How about you both head on down to that lovely coffee shop near the pier. The one that does the enormous cookies you’re both so fond of. I’ll make myself presentable and meet you there in fifteen minutes or so. You could take him with you if you like.’ Pooh had appeared at her side having heard the sisters’ voices. He was trying to push his way out the door so he could receive the attention he felt was his due having been ignored for the best part of the evening before.
Moira eyed her mammy; she was behaving oddly. Something was up.
Aisling stared at her mammy. She was being furtive. Something wasn’t right.
‘No, you’re grand, Mammy. We don’t mind waiting here while you get dressed.’ Moira had decided enough was enough, she’d find out first-hand what was going on and she made to bypass Maureen. Her mammy moved with lightning speed for someone of her age, Moira thought as she blocked the entrance. Oh yes, something was definitely up. She had a nose for knowing when things weren’t right. ‘Mammy, what are you doing? Let me in.’
‘Ah no, Moira, the place is a mess. You don’t need to be coming in. Sure, head on down to the café like I said. I’ll be there soon.’ She tried to shut the door, wincing as a cough sounded from somewhere inside and both Moira and Aisling’s eyes bugged as the realisation their mammy was not alone dawned.
Moira stuck her foot in the door and her voice came out in a strangled whisper. ‘I knew you were up to something. Have you your man friend in there?’
Maureen bit her bottom lip.
‘You have too,’ Aisling said. ‘I know that look. It’s the same one you get when you don’t want to own up to eating the last snowball.’
‘Or, when you steal my clothes,’ Moira muttered.
‘Come on now, girls, we’re all adults here, let’s be reasonable.’
‘I’m not. I’m the baby of the family,’ Moira said, bottom lip firmly out as her voice ramped up several notches.
‘Moira, you’re twenty-six.’
‘And you’re my mammy and mammies don’t go riding their man friends on a Friday night!’
Aisling put her hands over her ears. She felt like sitting down on the floor and rocking back and forth. She was the one who’d just been on her honeymoon. She was the newlywed; as such it should be her and her husband getting up to shenanigans. Not Mammy!
‘Moira, would you keep it down. I’ve an elderly woman across the way who doesn’t need to be hearing you giving out about my private business.’
‘So, you’re not denying it then. You’ve done the deed,’ Moira stated, not in the least contrite as she peered past her mammy trying to catch a glimpse of this Donal fella.
Maureen danced about like Rocky Balboa, trying to block her view.
‘Mammy, you can’t blame Moira for being upset. It’s hard getting used to the idea of you with someone who isn’t Daddy,’ Aisling said, mercifully keeping her voice down.
‘How do you think I’m finding it?’ Maureen hissed back, feeling close to tears. This was not how she’d thought her morning would go. She’d envisaged a cooked breakfast then her and Donal would read the papers and after that perhaps take Pooh for a walk along the pier. No, being shouted at by her youngest child and stared at by her middle daughter as though she’d committed a heinous crime hadn’t been on her agenda when she’d opened her eyes and seen Donal smiling at her. ‘You’re being very selfish the pair of you. Off you go now. I’ll see you in the café shortly.’ She hauled Pooh in by the collar and shut the door in their surprised faces.
Donal was dressed and sitting on the end of the bed, bent over as he put his shoes on, when she went back into the bedroom.
‘Did you hear all that?’
He straightened and nodded as he looked at her. ‘I did, and I’m sorry I’ve put you in an awkward position with your girls. I’ll head off home and let you sort things out with them.’
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‘I don’t want you to go and it’s not your fault, Donal. It’s those two behaving like children but I should go and talk to them.’ They’d both be getting a flea in their ear when she joined them. ‘I said I’d meet them down the road at a café there but can I at least make you a cup of tea and some toast before you go.’
He stood up and wrapped her in an embrace, planting a kiss on top of her head. ‘You go and talk to your girls. I’ll get on home and call you later to see how it went. Our children are always our children, Maureen, and they need to know you’re still their mammy no matter what else is going on in your life.’
Maureen decided she was definitely falling in love with Donal McArthy because, unlike her offspring, he was a kind and tolerant man. She saw him to the door and then spent a rushed ten minutes showering and tidying herself up before rounding up Pooh and heading down to meet Aisling and Moira.
Chapter 15
The day was indeed glorious, Maureen thought, wishing her mood matched the bright weather as she weaved her way down the busy main street. You’d almost get away with no coat if you stayed on the sunny side of the road. She said hello to a man whose name eluded her but whom she knew through the yacht club before settling Pooh down outside the café. ‘We’ll go for a lovely walk along the pier once I’ve sorted those two eejits sitting inside there out. You be a good boy, now.’ She handed him a treat and once satisfied he was happy to sit observing the foot traffic, giving the odd conversational yap, she gave him a final pat and pushed the door open.
The coffee shop was buzzing with chatter and the clatter of cups and saucers. The air thick with ground beans and cinnamon. Aisling and Moira were sitting at a table dappled with sunshine, in the corner of the nautical-themed space. Her eyes narrowed seeing Aisling was talking to someone on her mobile. She’d put money on it being Roisin. They’d already ordered, she also saw, noticing Moira was nursing a cup of coffee. There was an oversized chocolate chip cookie in front of her. The telltale crumbs on the plate in front of Aisling told her it would take more than her mammy having her man friend stay overnight to put her off her food. She joined the short line waiting to be served.
MOIRA HAD TELEPHONED Roisin as soon as she’d gotten her backside down on a seat inside the café, her hot chocolate and cookie untouched as she hit speed dial for her sister. It would give her something to do while they waited for Mammy to put in an appearance. Her head was not in a good space because she’d almost told the chap with the bandana tied around his head, pirate style, who’d taken her order, to feck off away with himself when he’d greeted her with an ‘ahoy there, me hearty, and what can I get for you today?’ She could not find a correlation between cappuccino and pirates nor was she in the mood to.
When Roisin heard the breaking news coming out of Howth, she’d been taken aback. This was not a conversation she’d been expecting to have as she enjoyed a lazy Saturday morning eating her cornflakes and glancing over the paper. ‘Are you sure? How do you know, anyway? Noah stop running that car up and down the mat for one minute, please! I can’t hear myself think.’
‘I’m positive and Aisling can confirm it.’ Moira held the phone out and Aisling leaned in and said, ‘Affirmative.’
Moira carried on, ‘See. Aisling and I dropped in on Mammy unexpectedly this morning because we were going to take her out for morning coffee and when she opened the door, she wasn’t dressed.’
‘Jaysus feck! Are you telling me she was naked when she opened the door?’
‘Rosi! Is Noah in the room with you?’
‘No, he’s gone into his bedroom but I thought you just said Mammy was naked when she opened the door this morning?’
‘No, Rosi, you eejit. You’re as sharp as a beach ball sometimes. She had her dressing gown on but she was more than likely naked under that.’
Roisin dropped the spoon back in her bowl. She’d lost her appetite.
‘She was acting awfully cagey, you know the way she does when she’s up to something and then we heard a cough and we knew.’
‘Who coughed?’
‘Rosi, keep up! Her man friend of course. He was in the apartment and our mammy was naked under her dressing gown which means they weren’t playing fecking Monopoly.’
An older woman looked over the rim of her cup at them, eyes popping, as did several other diners, their ears burning.
Aisling held her finger up to her mouth to shush her sister, thinking for all they knew they may well have been playing the game. She and Quinn had a game of strip Monopoly one evening and very good fun it had been, too.
‘Where are you now?’ Roisin asked.
‘At the café waiting for Mammy to show herself.’
Roisin frowned. She sounded as if she expected her to appear wearing a scarlet letter A. ‘Don’t be giving out to her, Moira. I know it’s hard to get used to the idea of her being with anyone else.’
‘Wrong is what it is,’ Moira butted in.
‘No, you’re being over the top. It’s hard alright, Moira, but she’s entitled to a life and we have to accept that.’
‘Easy for you to say over in London. It wasn’t you confronted with a naked Mammy.’
‘She was in her dressing gown.’ Roisin tried to calm her sister. ‘She loved Daddy. You know that.’
Moira scuffed at the vinyl flooring with the toe of her trainer. ‘Yes but—’
‘There isn’t a but. She did and we know he’s not here anymore so we’re all going to have to accept Mammy has a boyfriend.’
‘Man friend,’ Moira corrected, sniffing.
‘Put Aisling on, would you?’
‘Hello,’ Aisling said a second later.
‘Will you not talk some sense into her?’
‘I’m trying to but you know what Moira’s like. She can be a right gobshite sometimes.’
Moira pulled a face at her sister.
‘But I won’t give Mammy a hard time and neither will she.’ She glared at Moira. ‘Or, I’ll put the boot in under the table. She’s here!’ Aisling spotted her in the queue. ‘Got to go.’ She ended the call and handed the phone back to Moira before pushing her chair back and standing up. ‘We said we’d treat her.’
‘Well don’t look at me. I’m the poor student, remember,’ Moira said, not budging.
‘Sure, you’re tighter than a camel’s hole in a sandstorm these days.’
‘I’m not tight, Aisling. I don’t have money to be throwing around is all.’
Aisling shook her head; she couldn’t be bothered arguing. She went to stand alongside her mammy. ‘What are you wanting, Mammy? I’ll order it for you if you like. You go and sit down.’
‘No, I’ll not be beholden to you, Aisling O’Mara,’ Maureen said with a wounded air before inching forward in the line.
Aisling knew there was no placating her when she was in wronged mammy mode so she left her to it.
Five minutes later Maureen, carrying her still warm, double chocolate cookie over to the table along with the number for her drink order, sat down. It was a funny thing. She’d noticed several of the patrons glance at her as she passed by their tables and fancied it was admiration she was seeing on their faces. She’d have wondered if she’d managed to get her skirt caught up in her knickers again if she hadn’t of been wearing her yoga pants. She fixed her youngest child with a stare that would bring a grown man to his knees. ‘Moira O’Mara, I’d like you to apologise to me for your earlier rant. I was scarlet so I was. Sure, half of Howth would have heard you giving out.’
Moira refused to meet her mammy’s gaze as she squirmed uncomfortably in her seat.
‘Do ya hear me?’
‘Yes. I’m sorry, Mammy,’ she mumbled, her dark hair hiding her face.
‘What was that, I can’t hear you?’
‘I’m sorry.’ She looked up, her eyes a little too bright, ‘It was a shock was all.’
‘And you, what have you to say for yourself?’ She turned her attention to Aisling.
‘I’m sorry
too, Mammy, but Moira’s right, it was the shock.’
‘Oh, the shock was it?’ Maureen hit the high notes. ‘And how do you think I felt when you announced you were wanting to marry that Jackeen Marcus, or you,’ she pointed to Moira. ‘Fraternising with a married man. The shame of it.’
There was steam coming out of the ears of the diners at the surrounding tables. You couldn’t pay for entertainment this good!
‘Mammy, lower your voice, you’re getting hysterical,’ Aisling whispered, her face puce as she saw people staring over.
‘I miss Daddy, Mammy.’ Moira sniffed not caring who saw as a tear streaked down her cheek.
The wind went out of Maureen’s sails. ‘I know you do. We all do.’
Aisling dropped an arm around her sister and Moira leaned into her.
‘Can you not try and understand. I’ve been lonely and what a tonic it’s been for me meeting Donal?’
‘I do understand.’ Moira’s voice wobbled. She was tired of being angry and knew what lay at the root of it all. ‘I’m sorry, Mammy. I know I’m being selfish. I can’t help it but I feel like I’m being disloyal to Daddy if I pretend I’m happy about you and this Donal fella.’
‘It’s Donal not this Donal fella, Moira, as I keep telling you and I know you do.’ Maureen reached across the table and patted her daughter’s hand. ‘Because I struggled with those feeling myself but your daddy wouldn’t want me to be lonely, Moira. He was a kind man and he didn’t have a selfish bone in his body. Do you remember what he told us about how he wanted us to look after one another when he was gone and how we needed to find our way without him the best we could, which is what I’m trying to do.’
Moira looked at her mammy, tears clinging to her lashes.
‘All I’m asking, Moira, is for you to keep an open mind where Donal’s concerned.’
‘I’ll try,’ Moira said, taking the serviette from Maureen and dabbing her eyes.
The Guesthouse on the Green Series Box Set 2 Page 49
