Tara Road

by Maeve Binchy

  'Of course.'

  They went to the Italian restaurant where they had gone that day with Danny last November—only a few months ago but imagine all that had happened since.

  Rosemary looked better than ever. How it was that no drop of oil or spill of sauce would ever land on her light grey cashmere sweater Ria would never know.

  'Well, tell me,' Rosemary said. 'Stop pretending to look at the menu.'

  'Danny and I are getting married, and we want you to be the bridesmaid.' Rosemary was speechless. 'Yes, isn't it wonderful! We own the house and we thought it silly to wait any longer.'

  'Married?' Rosemary said. 'Well, aren't you the dark horse. All I can say is well done, Ria. Well done!'

  Ria felt slightly that she would have preferred Rosemary to say that this was great; 'well done' sort of implied that she had won by trickery. 'Yes. Aren't you happy for us?'

  'Of course I am.' Rosemary hugged her. 'Stunned but very happy for you. You got the man of your dreams and a beautiful house as well.'

  Ria decided to play it down a little. 'There's years of work to get it right. No one else but us would be as mad as to take it on.'

  'Nonsense, it's worth a fortune; you and Danny know that. You certainly moved fast on that one, you got the bargain of the century.' She spoke with true praise.

  Ria felt a stab of guilt as if they had somehow conned poor Sean O'Brien and given him less than he deserved.

  'Nobody's seen the house yet but you. I'm almost afraid of what the families will say when they do.' Ria could see the jealousy in Hilary's face already.

  'Nonsense, they'll be dead impressed. What are they like, Danny's parents?'

  'I haven't met them yet, but I gather not at all like Danny,' Ria said.

  Rosemary made a face. 'Still, maybe the brothers are okay. Are they coming home from England ? I might make off with one of them. Bridesmaid's privilege, you know!'

  'No mention of them coming back.'

  'Never mind. I'll find something to entertain me. Now, down to serious things. What will we wear?'

  'Rosemary?'

  'What?'

  'You know I'm pregnant?'

  'I thought you might be. But that's good, isn't it? It's what you want?'

  'Yes, it is.'

  'So?'

  'So, we shouldn't really be thinking of big white weddings and veils and all that stuff. And anyway, his family is very quiet, low key. It wouldn't work.'

  'What would Danny like? Isn't that all that matters? Would he like the whole works or a few sandwiches in the pub?'

  Ria didn't even pause to think. 'He'd like the full works,' she said.

  'Then that is exactly what we'll have,' said Rosemary, getting out pen and paper and starting to make a list.

  She met Barney McCarthy before she met Danny's parents. She was invited to lunch. In fact it was a little like a royal command.

  Danny was excited. 'You'll like him, Ria, he's marvellous. And he'll love you, I know he will.'

  'I'm nervous of going to that restaurant, it will all be in French and we won't know what all the things are.'

  'Nonsense, just be yourself. And never apologise or write yourself down. We are as good as anyone else. Barney knows that, that's how he got on, by knowing it about himself.' She noticed with a little stab of worry that Danny seemed more anxious about her meeting with Barney than with his parents. 'Oh we'll go down to them any time,' he said.

  Nora Johnson was amazed at the news. 'You do surprise me,' she said twice.

  Ria was irritated by this response. 'Why do I surprise you, Mam? You know I love him, you know he loves me. What else would we do but get married?'

  'Oh certainly, certainly.'

  'What have you against him, Mam? You said you liked him, you admired the fact that he bought a big house and is planning to do it up. He's got good prospects, we won't be penniless. What objection do you have to him?'

  'He's too good-looking,' her mother said.

  Hilary was no more enthusiastic. 'You'd want to be careful of him, Ria.'

  'Thank you very much, Hilary. When you were marrying Martin I didn't say that to you. I said I was delighted for you and I was sure you were going to be very happy.'

  'But that was true.' Hilary was smug in her excellent choice of a mate.

  'It's true for me, too,' Ria cried.

  'Yes, Ria. But you'd have to watch him; he's a high-flyer. He's not going to be content with earning a living like normal people do; he'll want the moon. It's written all over him.'

  Danny, who never fussed about anything, went to great trouble discussing what Ria should wear when meeting Barney McCarthy.

  Eventually it made her impatient. 'Listen, you were the one who said I should be myself. I'll wear something nice and smart and I'll be myself. It's not a fashion parade or a beauty contest, it's a lunch.' Her eyes flashed with the kind of spirit she hadn't shown for a while.

  He looked at her admiringly. 'That's my girl, that's the way to go,' he said. She wore the scarlet coat she had bought for Hilary's wedding, and a new silk scarf that Rosemary had helped her to choose.

  Barney was a large square man of about forty-five in a very well-cut suit. He wore an expensive watch and he carried himself well and confidently. Slightly balding now, he had the face of a working man, someone who had been out in all weathers. He had an easy manner; he was neither impressed by the restaurant nor trying to put it down. They talked effortlessly all three of them.

  Still, despite the pleasant, inconsequential conversation, Ria couldn't avoid the feeling that she was being given an interview. And with a sense of satisfaction after the coffee she realised that she had done very well.

  Orla King was the one who told Ria that people in the office didn't really like her working there any more. Not now that she was engaged to marry Danny Lynch. People said that she would be telling him everything, giving him leads.

  'I had no idea.' Ria was shocked.

  'Well, I'm only telling you because you two were very nice to me when I was being an eejit last Christmas.' Orla was all right. She couldn't help looking so good. Ria wondered why she had felt so stupidly jealous of her.

  Danny told Barney McCarthy that Ria had decided to leave the company, to go before they asked her to.

  Barney was unexpectedly sympathetic 'That's very hard on her. She was in that firm long before you went in and rocked the boat.'

  'That's true,' Danny said, surprised. He hadn't thought of it that way.

  'So is she upset?'

  'A little, but you know Ria, she's out looking for another job already.' He was proud of her.

  'Maybe I'd have a job for her,' said Barney McCarthy.

  One of his business interests was a new dress-hire firm. A very classy outfit called Tolly's'. They took Ria immediately.

  'Should I not have a week's trial or something?' Ria asked Gertie, the tall pale manageress with her long dark hair tied in a simple ribbon behind her neck.

  'No need,' said Gertie with a grin. 'Instructions from Mr McCarthy to hire you, so you're hired.'

  I'm sorry. That's an awful way to come in anywhere,' Ria apologised.

  'Listen, it's fine, and you're fine and we'll get along great,' said Gertie. 'I'm only telling it to you the way it is.'

  They went to see Danny's parents. It was a three-hour journey by bus. Ria felt very sick but forced herself to be in good spirits. Danny's father waited in the square where the bus came in. He drove an old shabby van with a trailer attached to it.

  'This is my Ria, Dad.' Danny was proud and pleased to show her off.

  'You're very welcome.' The man looked old, stooped and shabby. He had worked all his life for his elder and brighter brother, the man who had given Danny a start in the business. Danny's father was involved in delivering canisters of bottled gas around the countryside. He was about the same age as Barney McCarthy but he looked a different generation.

  They drove the two miles through narrow roads with high hedges to where Danny
had been born. Ria looked around her, pleased to know his past and the place that had made him. But Danny hardly looked out at all.

  'Did you have friends living in these places we pass by?'

  'I knew them, yes,' Danny said. 'I went to school with them.'

  'And will we meet them?' she wanted to know.

  'They've all gone away, nearly everyone emigrated,' he said.

  His mother seemed old too, much older than Ria had expected. They had ham and tomatoes, shop bread and a packet of chocolate biscuits. They were not really sure if they could come to Dublin for the wedding, it was a long way and there might be work here that would be hard to get away from.

  It was obvious that this was not so. Ria protested, 'It would be wonderful to have you there for such a big day. We're going to have the reception in Tara Road and you'll see the new house.'

  'We're not great people for parties,' Danny's mother said.

  'But this is family,' Ria begged.

  'You know, it's a bit rattly in the bus and my back isn't what it was.'

  Ria looked at Danny. To her surprise he wasn't pushing and coaxing as much as she was. Surely he wanted them there? Didn't he? She waited for him to speak.

  'Ah, go on. Come on, can't you. It's only once in a lifetime.' They looked at each other doubtfully. 'Now, I know you didn't go to Rich's wedding because that was in London ,' Danny continued.

  'But London 's much further away than here, and that would have meant planes and boats,' Ria cried.

  But the Lynches had been thrown the lifebelt they needed, the excuse not to go to the wedding.

  'You see, child…' Danny's mother said, clutching Ria's arm. 'You see, if we didn't go to the one wedding it would look like favouring Danny more if we went to the other.'

  'And we'll come up and see the house another time,' Danny's father said.

  They looked at her hopefully and there was no more to be said.

  'Of course you will,' she said soothingly. And they all smiled, Danny as much as anyone.

  'Did you not want them to come?' she asked on the long bus journey home.

  'Sweetheart, you could see yourself they didn't want to come,' he said.

  She felt disappointed in him. He should have persuaded them. But then men were different, everyone knew this.

  After only a week at Polly's Gertie told her something most unexpected. She told her that as one of the perks of the job Ria could rent a wedding dress for herself free.

  'Are you serious?' Ria's face lit up with joy. She would never have been able to afford anything like this.

  'I tell you it straight up… Mr McCarthy's instructions,' said Gertie. 'The whole wedding party is to be kitted out, so choose what you like. Go on, Ria, it's what he wants. Take it.'

  Danny took a morning suit for himself and his best man. Rosemary chose a slinky silver dress with little pearl buttons. Ria had a few problems convincing her mother and sister that they should pick something for the day.

  'Come on, Mam, Hilary. It's free, for heaven's sake. We'll never get an opportunity like this again,' she pleaded. She was nearly there. 'And why doesn't Martin wear a morning suit?' Ria suggested. 'He'd look terrific in it. Go on, Hilary, you know he would.'

  That's what did it. Her mother wore a smart grey dress and jacket, with a black feathered hat, Hilary a wine-coloured suit with pale pink lapels and a huge pink hat.

  Since there was no outlay on wedding clothes, they paid for a tenor to sing Tanis Angelicus' and a soprano to sing 'Ave Maria'.

  It was a very mixed gathering. They invited Orla from the old office and Gertie from Polly's. One of Danny's brothers, Larry, came over from London and was best man. He looked like Danny, same fair hair and lopsided smile, only taller, and spoke now with a London accent.

  'Will you be going home to see your parents?' Ria asked.

  'Not this time,' Larry said. He hadn't been back to the place where he grew up to see his father and mother for four years.

  Ria knew this, but she knew not to comment even by a glance. 'There'll be plenty of other times,' she said.

  Larry looked at her with approval. 'That's it, Ria,' he said.

  To Ria's huge relief her sister and brother-in-law made no mention at all of anything being a waste of money. The smell of paint had well left Tara Road and the big trestle tables covered with long white tablecloths held chicken salads and ice cream as well as the big wedding cake.

  Barney McCarthy was there. He apologised that his wife Mona had not been able to come. She had gone to Lourdes with three friends, it had been long arranged. Gertie had giggled a bit at this information, but Ria had hushed her quickly. Barney had sent two cases of champagne in advance and he stood chatting easily among the forty people who toasted the bride and groom, handsome Danny Lynch and his beautiful bride,

  Ria had never thought she could look as well as this with her dark curls swept up into a head-dress and a long veil trailing behind her. The dress had never been worn before, thick embroidery and lace from head to toe, the richest fabric she had ever seen.

  Rosemary had been there to advise and suggest throughout. 'Stand very straight, Ria. Hold your shoulders right back. Don't scuttle up the church; when you get in there walk much more slowly.'

  'Look, it's not Westminster Abbey,' Ria protested.

  'It's your day, every eye in the place is on you, walk like you want to give them something to look at.'

  'That's easy if you look like you. With me it's different. They'd die if they thought I was taking myself seriously.' Ria felt nervous, as if she was going to look affected, as if she were playing a part. She was so afraid of having them all laugh at her.

  'Why shouldn't you take yourself seriously? You look gorgeous. You've got proper make-up on for once. You're a dream, go for it, Ria.' The bridesmaid's enthusiasm was infectious. Ria walked almost regally into the church on the arm of her brother-in-law who was giving her-away.

  Danny had actually gasped when she came up the aisle.

  'I love you so much,' he said as they posed by the wedding cake for pictures. And Ria suddenly felt sorry for whoever else was going to wear this dress when it was cleaned and back out in the agency.

  No other bride could ever look as well or be so happy.

  They had no honeymoon. Danny went back to looking for work and Ria went back to her job at Polly's. She enjoyed working there and the extraordinarily varied streams of customers they met. There were many more rich people in Dublin than she had known about, and also people who were not rich but who were prepared to spend huge amounts on a wedding day.

  Gertie was kind to the brides and didn't fuss them. She helped them choose but didn't steer them towards the most expensive outfits. She encouraged them to be more daring. A wedding was for dressing-up, she said, like a rainbow or fireworks.

  'Why is it called Polly's? It's a silly name,' a bride asked Ria one day.

  'I think it's to do with Pretty Polly… something like that,' Ria explained.

  'That was very diplomatic,' Gertie said admiringly afterwards.

  'What do you mean? I hadn't a clue why he called it Polly's. Do you know?'

  'After his fancy woman. It's hers; he bought it for her. You know that.'

  'I didn't, actually. I hardly know him at all. I thought he was a pillar of the Church and all that.'

  'Oh yes, he is when he's with the wife. But with Polly Callaghan… that's something else.'

  'Oh, that's why the cheques are all to P. Callaghan. I see.'

  'What did you think it was?'

  'I thought it might be a tax thing.'

  'But wasn't he at your wedding and all? I thought you were great pals with him.'

  'No, Danny sold his house for him, that's all.'

  'Well, he told me to give you the job and to organise all the gear for your wedding, so he must think very highly of your Danny.'

  'He's not the only one. Danny's out at lunch today with two fellows who are thinking of setting up their own firm. They want him
to join them.'

  'And will he?'

  'I hope not, Gertie, it would be too risky. He has no capital; he'd have to put the house up with a second mortgage as a security or something. It would be very dangerous. I'd love him to go somewhere where he'd be paid.'

  'Do you tell him this?' Gertie asked.

  'Not really. He's such a dreamer, and he thinks big, and he's been right so often. I stay out of it a lot of the time. I don't want to be the one who is holding him back.'

  'You have it all worked out,' Gertie said with admiration. Gertie had a boyfriend, Jack, who drank too much. She had tried to finish with him many times, but she always went back.

  'No, I don't really have it worked out,' Ria said. 'I look placid, you see, that's why people think I'm fine. Inside I worry a lot.'

  'Did you say yes to them?' Ria hoped that Danny couldn't hear the anxiety in her voice.

  'No, I didn't. Actually, I didn't say anything. I listened to them instead.'

  Danny was good at that. It looked as if he was talking but in fact he was nodding his head and listening.

  'And what did you hear?'

  'How much they wanted Barney's business and how seriously they thought I could deliver it. They know all about him, like what he eats for breakfast sort of thing. They told me about companies and businesses he has that I never knew about.'

  'And what are you going to do?'

  'I've done it,' Danny said

  'What on earth did you do?'

  'I went to Barney. I told him that anything I had was due to him and that I had this offer from fellows who knew a bit too much about him for his comfort.'

  'And what did he say?'

  'He thanked me and said he'd come back to me.'

  'Danny, aren't you amazing! And when will he come back to you?'

  'I don't know. I had to pretend not to mind. Maybe next week, maybe tomorrow. You see, he might advise me to take it or not to. I'll listen to him. He could ring tomorrow. I might be wrong but I feel he'll ring tomorrow.'

  Danny was wrong. Barney McCarthy called that night. He had been thinking of setting up a small estate agency business himself. All he really needed was to be prompted to do it. Now he had. Would Danny Lynch manage it for him? On a salary, of course, but part of the profits as well.