Finishing Touches

by Patricia Scanlan

  ‘That’s great, Barbara. I hope you’ll always be as happy,’ Cassie said warmly.

  ‘Well, congratulations, Barbara and Ian. I’m flabbergasted!’ laughed Nora, getting up to kiss her daughter. Ian stood, hands in his pockets, his face suffused with red.

  ‘Thanks, Mrs Jordan, I’ll look after her,’ he muttered in some embarrassment. Cassie caught John’s eye. Her brother threw his eyes up to heaven and grinned at Cassie. He was as impressed with their new in-law-to-be as she was.

  ‘When are you getting married?’ Nora asked.

  ‘June,’ Barbara replied airily, handing Ian the plate of scones.

  ‘Merciful hour!’ exclaimed her mother. ‘That’s only six months away! I’ll have a lot to do between now and then! Get me a page and pen until I write down my list. If I don’t write things down, I forget them.’

  Cassie got her mother the page and pen. She could see Nora was in her element. Planning a wedding was just the sort of thing she liked to get her teeth into. She had been cheated out of planning Cassie’s so she could only hope that nothing would go wrong between Barbara and Ian.

  Nothing went wrong between the engaged couple but Nora was not getting her own way as regards the planning of ‘The Wedding,’ as Cassie privately called it. When she was back in London, her mother often phoned her to moan about the way things were going.

  ‘Barbara wants to get married out of Ranelagh church and not in Port Mahon. Did you ever hear the like? What are the neighbours and relations going to say!’ Nora exclaimed in dismay one Saturday she phoned Cassie to pour out all her troubles. Knowing her sister so well, Cassie had already realized that she’d never settle for a Port Mahon wedding. Barbara would have to swank it in Dublin and besides, the aisle in Ranelagh church was much longer than in the church in Port Mahon.

  ‘Look, Mam, why don’t you just let her get on with it and don’t be worrying your head over it,’ Cassie advised.

  ‘But Cassie, it’s the first wedding out of the house and I wanted it to be just right. I wish your father were here to advise me,’ Nora said plaintively. Cassie’s heart went out to her mother. Whatever chance she would have had arranging Cassie’s wedding – and Cassie would have let her mother have her own way in a lot of things – with Barbara, Nora would have very little say.

  ‘I’ll tell you what, Mam,’ Cassie said reassuringly. ‘I’ll come home at Easter and you can tell me what you want done in the house and we can go shopping for your outfit and we’ll make the cake. How about that?’ As soon as she got off the phone to her mother she was going to ring Barbara and point a few things out to her.

  ‘Thank you, dear, that would be lovely. Do you think we should invite Judy O’Shaughnessy?’

  ‘Why shouldn’t we?’ Cassie asked, mystified.

  ‘Well, she’s gone off living out of wedlock with that Lawson fellow she’s been dating. It’s simply scandalous,’ exclaimed Nora, who was utterly shocked at the ways of the young girls now.

  ‘Now, Mam, that’s Judy’s business, and it’s not up to anyone to judge her. Of course you must invite her to the wedding. She’s Barbara’s best friend.’

  Nora was not to be mollified. ‘Some friend! Leaving Barbara to manage that flat on her own. I hope to God she won’t have the nerve to go to Communion and her in a state of sin. Goodbye, Cassie. Take care of yourself.’

  ‘You too!’ Cassie sighed in exasperation as she hung up the receiver. If only Nora knew that Judy had more or less had to leave the flat because Ian had taken up residence. It wasn’t only Judy who was living out of wedlock with a man. But, of course, Barbara was so cute Nora would never get wind of it.

  She dialled her sister’s number and heard the familiar voice with its recently acquired genteel accent.

  ‘Yaw? Barbara Jordan on the line.’

  Give me a break! thought Cassie. ‘Yaw’ indeed! No common or garden ‘yes’ for Barbara. No doubt Noreen Varling said ‘yaw’ as well. And why couldn’t she just say hello? Barbara Jordan on the line!

  ‘Hi, Barbara, it’s me. I’ve just been speaking to Mam and she’s not very happy about a few things. Maybe we could have a chat about them and try and come up with something that will suit everybody.’ Cassie was trying to be very diplomatic but wanted to get right to the point as well.

  ‘Listen, Cassie, don’t you start interfering,’ Barbara retorted angrily. ‘It’s my wedding and I’m going to organize it exactly the way I want it. If Mam doesn’t like it, that’s just too bad.’

  ‘I’m not interfering; I’m just trying to help,’ Cassie said, controlling her temper with some difficulty.

  ‘Cassie, I’m not getting married in Port Mahon. I don’t live there any longer and I want a hotel in the city centre so all my colleagues and friends will be able to come without having to go to the trouble of travelling.’

  ‘And what about putting Mam to the trouble of travelling, not to talk about the relations?’ Cassie said tightly.

  ‘Well, that’s just tough!’ Barbara replied sulkily.

  Diplomacy flew out the window! ‘Now you listen to me, lady!’ Cassie exploded. ‘If you were paying for this wedding yourself, I couldn’t care less if you had it on the moon, but you’re not! Mam’s paying for it and that means, whether you like it or not, she has some say in where it’s going to be held and you’d better remember that. For once in your life don’t be so bloody selfish!’

  Barbara was sizzling at the other end of the phone. ‘Fuck off, Cassie Jordan. It’s just sour grapes because I’m getting married and you’re not. I suppose you’d have paid for your own wedding, you’re such a great one. Well, Mam insisted on paying for the wedding, so don’t expect me to feel guilty.’

  ‘I bet you put up such an argument against it too,’ Cassie snapped. ‘You’re dead right, Barbara. I would have paid for my own wedding and I’d have listened to what Mam wants. She deserves that much at least—’

  ‘Oh, miss Goody bloody Two-Shoes. You’re such a pain, Cassie, always doing the right thing. Well, I’m me and I’m going to do things my way!’ Barbara declared. ‘And if that doesn’t suit you, go sit on a nettle!’ The click at the other end of the line told Cassie that her sister had hung up.

  Cassie was still furious when she met Aileen for lunch a few hours later. ‘God Almighty, but that one would put years on you! It’s easy for her to call me Goody Two-Shoes. Does she have any idea how hard it is doing, as she calls it, “the right thing?” Someone’s got to do it! Mam did her best for us and I know she has her faults but she’s still our mother and she deserves a bit of consideration,’ Cassie fumed. ‘God, it’s such a pain being the eldest sometimes, I get all the moans. Irene is over there sitting on her arse, out sick from work again. Some help to Mam she is! Oh I could scream!’

  ‘Wait until we get to the park, dear. It might not go down too well right here in the restaurant,’ advised Aileen soothingly.

  Cassie laughed in spite of herself. ‘Families!’ she exclaimed.

  ‘Don’t talk!’ Aileen said wryly. ‘Mother’s convinced she’s on the verge of a nervous breakdown after she read an article in Woman’s Way that described perfectly what she imagines her symptoms to be. She’s gone into hospital for a rest.’

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,’ Cassie said sympathetically.

  Aileen laughed. ‘Don’t be a bit sorry. She’s having a ball in there, being waited on hand and foot, doctors and nurses dancing attendance and the VHI paying for it. Mother is enjoying herself immensely, according to Judy, who will have a genuine nervous breakdown from traipsing halfway across the city every night to go and visit her! And she’s coming over to me to recuperate. Oh don’t talk to me about families – I know all about them. Did you hear about Laura’s brother?’

  Cassie shook her head. ‘I haven’t got a letter from her for a while.’

  ‘No wonder. Judy told me about him when she phoned last night to warn me about Mother coming for a visit. Seemingly he owes a moneylender a large sum of money. You k
now he was always a gambler as well as a drinker?’

  Cassie nodded.

  Aileen nibbled an asparagus tip. ‘Some heavy gang beat him up and broke his arm because he hadn’t paid what he owes. He asked Laura at the weekend if she could give him the money. She’s going mad about it all!’

  ‘I wouldn’t blame her!’ sighed Cassie. ‘We all have our troubles, don’t we?’

  ‘Yeah, well, let’s forget ours for a while. Pierre is over and he wants to go to the racing at Cheltenham. Are you on?’

  ‘You bet,’ laughed Cassie, banishing the thought of Barbara and ‘The Wedding’ to the deepest recesses of her mind.

  Thirty-One

  Barbara Jordan Murray (how she loved her just hours-old newly acquired double-barrel surname) sat at the top table, a faint frown furrowing her made-up brow. There were gales of laughter emanating from Cassie, Aileen and Laura, who were seated at a table in the centre of the plush room where her wedding reception was being held, and these were causing her annoyance.

  It was a bit much, really. She should have been the centre of attention, not that lot. She hadn’t particularly wanted to invite Laura and Aileen but Nora had expected her to, and besides, she couldn’t resist having them present to show off to them her exquisite Pronuptia gown and glamorous friends. Noreen Varling was looking a million dollars in a creation by Marc Bohan of the House of Dior that she had actually bought in Paris. Barbara was deeply impressed! She watched in annoyance as Cassie laughed heartily at something that Aileen was telling her. Her sister looked really stunning and she had seen Ian’s detective friends eyeing her appreciatively. Honestly, she would have thought that Cassie would have kept a fairly low profile considering her broken engagement and the fact that she had no prospects. But no, her sister had arrived at the wedding in a royal-blue silk dress that made her look unmistakably sexy. Andrew Lawson, Judy’s boyfriend, couldn’t take his eyes off her.

  Aileen was wearing an exotic sarong-type dress with a little black jacket. Trust her to wear something outrageous – although Barbara had to admit the oranges and yellows really suited her colouring.

  Laura, as usual looking like a model, wore a stylish pink-and-navy suit and a navy hat with matching pink trim. She was always the same, of course, the height of elegance, and Barbara was sorry she had invited her. Ian’s friends were paying more attention to the three of them than they were to her. Another shriek of laughter erupted at the table. Just what the hell were they laughing at? They were always the same when they got together! And Laura the only one among them who had a man by her side! Neither Cassie nor Aileen had bothered to bring a companion. Despite her view of herself as a liberated woman of the Eighties, Barbara wouldn’t dream of attending a wedding without a man at her side. What was more, you would think that Cassie would at least have had the decency to be annoyed at not being asked to be bridesmaid. Barbara had been so furious with her older sister for poking her nose in where it wasn’t wanted and trying to tell her how to organize her wedding, that she had decided there and then to have Irene as bridesmaid. Irene was thoroughly enjoying herself in her full-skirted aquamarine dress. And Cassie? She hadn’t been one bit annoyed that she wasn’t given the honour of being bridesmaid. In fact, Barbara felt she was quite relieved!

  Well, at least Barbara had got her way about the church and the hotel. She had got around the problem of the family travelling back to Port Mahon from the Dublin hotel after the reception by hiring a minibus. Barbara knew that if her newspaper and society friends had had to travel out to Port Mahon for the wedding, they probably wouldn’t have come.

  The hotel she had booked was as posh as they come and the Anna Livia Suite with its views over the city was perfect for the reception. No hick country wedding for her. Barbara Jordan Murray had an image to maintain. She and Ian had bought an apartment in Mount Merrion. Ian hadn’t been too happy about it (he had wanted somewhere on the northside near his work), but Barbara had insisted on living on the southside. If one wanted to be taken seriously and maintain an upwardly mobile image it would be disastrous to live north of the Liffey Anyone who was anybody in Dublin lived on the southside, at least in Barbara’s book. Northside was ‘non-U,’ according to ‘Barbara’s Brief,’ so how would it look if she ended up living there? It was unthinkable and she had put her foot down, ignoring Ian’s moans. Fortunately her husband was on a good salary and with his practically permanent overtime and the rent from his flats he was well able to afford the mortgage. She needed most of her salary to buy clothes and the like. After all, a certain standard was expected from such a highly respected columnist. She was trying to wangle a bigger allowance from her editor, but so far to no avail. He told her she was lucky to have the expense-account she had for her modest entertaining. And modest was the word, compared to some of the gossip columnists she knew. Well, she’d keep after him. After all, since ‘Barbara’s Brief’ had started being a talking-point, the newspaper’s circulation had increased dramatically. By the time she was finished, The Irish Mail would be the biggest-selling paper in the country.

  She saw two of Ian’s friends make a move towards the girls’ table. Honest to God, she might as well be a ghost at her own wedding for all the notice anyone was taking of her. Barbara turned to her husband.

  ‘Ian, I think we should get on the floor because no-one else can dance until we start.’

  ‘Oh, Bar, do we have to? You know I hate dancing and this get-up is too tight on me,’ Ian said glumly. He was quite happy to sit there sipping his pint and watching everyone else get on with it.

  ‘You look dishy in your tails,’ Barbara assured her husband, leaning over and giving him a peck on the cheek.

  ‘Barbara! Not in front of the lads,’ Ian muttered in horror. He’d be the laughing-stock of the station.

  ‘If you don’t get up and dance, I’ll kiss you again,’ Barbara warned tartly. Deciding on the lesser of two evils, Ian Murray walked reluctantly to the dance-floor and took his wife in his arms. The guests cheered loudly as the band swung into action and began to play ‘When I Fall in Love.’ The cameras clicked as people took photos of them and Barbara felt like a film star! Encircled in her husband’s arms, knowing she was a vision in white and the centre of attention at last, Barbara smiled happily, even when Ian, who was no Fred Astaire, stood on her toe. It didn’t matter; today she was the happiest woman in the world. Her wedding had been everything she had wanted, although a few well-known people she had invited to the afters had not yet turned up. But the night was young and besides, if they didn’t turn up they might get a nasty surprise some time when they read her column. Nobody snubbed Barbara Jordan Murray and got away with it! Barbara smiled to herself as she planned a few nasty little items about the unsuspecting non-arrivals!

  She would be glad when it was all over, Nora thought a little wearily as, beside her, her sister Elsie sermonized about the amount of money being wasted on Barbara’s reception. Privately, Nora agreed. It was outrageous the amount of money it cost to get married in Dublin and of course it didn’t help that Barbara had wanted as grand a wedding as possible, white Rolls-Royce, red carpet, the lot. Not that she minded paying for the wedding. Jack, God bless him, had left her comfortable and the income she got from renting the farm supported the family. A wedding in Port Mahon would have been well within her means, but this shindig had cost an awful lot more than Nora had anticipated. As well as which, when Irene and Cassie decided to get married, they would be perfectly entitled to have as big and grand a wedding as their sister. Nora knew that Cassie would never allow her mother to be put to the expense that Barbara had put her to. Nevertheless, it didn’t do to make fish of one and flesh of another!

  She’d have to get used to the idea of weddings, she supposed. John had told her quietly that he and Karen were going to get married but they weren’t saying anything for the time being so as not to encroach on Barbara’s limelight. John said that it would be a fairly small wedding and that he and Karen would be paying for it. Nora was
delighted for John all the same. He couldn’t have picked a nicer girl than Karen. She was very fond of her daughter-in-law-to-be; there were no airs and graces or nonsense about her, unlike the girl her younger son was seeing.

  Martin’s girlfriend was called Jean Allen and Nora felt her son was getting too serious about her. To be honest, she found it hard to take to her. Maybe she was being unfair to the girl, maybe she was shy rather than stand-offish but Nora had the sneaking suspicion that little Miss Jean Allen was looking down her aquiline nose at them, sitting there when she visited with Martin, saying very little, but taking it all in.

  It was strange to think that all her children were adults now. It seemed like only yesterday that she had had a houseful of children who looked to her for the final word on everything. Well, she had done her best to rear them well. She had put her trust in God; it was all she could do. And it was all she could do now. All in all, today had gone well enough except for that awful moment she forgot Ian’s surname when she met his parents at the church. It was mortifying. She was standing at the entrance to the church when they arrived and held out her hand to greet Ian’s mother. ‘Hello, Mrs . . .’ But it had just gone; for the life of her she could not remember her future son-in-law’s surname. Fortunately, Cassie had covered it up very quickly by saying, ‘Welcome, Mr and Mrs Murray.’ Just thinking about it gave Nora a hot flush of embarrassment. Her memory wasn’t at all as good as it used to be. It was probably the stress of the wedding. She was going back to London with Cassie for a few days to have a little break after all the excitement and she was really looking forward to it.

  Cassie was very good to her; indeed all her children were. John had been so kind to her today, making sure that everything was running smoothly. He had given a lovely speech on behalf of the family, seeing as Jack, God rest him, was not there to do it, and she was very proud of him. And they all looked so well. Even Martin had made the effort to please his mother and had got a suit and cut his hair and Irene, her baby, oh she looked lovely, a vision in her bridesmaid’s dress. Nora smiled as she watched Irene dancing with the best man. Just then, John came and held out his hand.