‘Molly, I’m sorry. It’s over.’
With that, Molly broke free of his arms. ‘How dare you! How dare you do this to me hours before I’ve to cater for a massive function? How could you ruin this for me? You obviously planned this, wanted me to fail, how could you be so insensitive? A final act of revenge, was it?’ she screamed.
Luke looked at her, shocked. ‘Molly, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to tell you now. It just happened like this. I’m sorry. Let me help you prepare for the christening.’
‘As if,’ Molly cried, as she slammed the bedroom door and ran into the kitchen to check on the quiches.
After a few minutes Luke reappeared with his coat on. ‘I should leave you alone. I’ll be back later, we can talk more then.’
Molly looked at the face she knew so well, almost better than her own. Looked at the hands that had held her a million times. But the look in his eyes made her realize she didn’t know him at all. How could he do this to me? she thought. As he left, he held her one last time.
‘Sorry,’ he whispered, as he kissed her forehead. He walked out of the door.
Molly touched the spot he had just kissed. His last kiss, she thought, as she sat on the kitchen floor and wailed. She sat there until the door bell rang and Eve’s knocking made her sit up and try to wipe the tears from her swollen eyes. How can I go to work? she thought. How can I pretend nothing is wrong and cook my heart out when I know I’ve nothing and no one to come home to any more? She answered the door to her cousin, and began to cry again.
75
Sarah and her mum were running late for the christening.
‘Sarah, I’m not going to be late for my granddaughter’s christening,’ Catherine Ryan shouted. ‘I don’t care what you wear, just come down those stairs and let’s get going.’
Sarah cursed her mother as she looked under her bed for her shoes. Eventually she found them in her mother’s wardrobe. I’ve got to move out, she thought. If Mum is borrowing my clothes – to go on dates, no doubt – then times have really got tough. But as she walked down the stairs she regretted thinking bad thoughts about her mum, who was standing in the hall, wearing a beautiful Louise Kennedy cream dress and a green wrap with matching bag and shoes. Her mum looked upset.
‘Are you OK, Mum?’ Sarah asked, as she locked the front door and opened the car door.
‘It is just an emotional day, you know. I’m so happy for Mel and John’s little Fiona, but also sad that your father is not here. I miss him so much.’
‘I know, Mum, I know,’ said Sarah. She gave her mum a big hug. ‘You look great, Mum, and I’m sure after a glass of wine and some of Molly’s fine food you will feel better. But we’d better get going now before Tom goes mad. I promised I’d collect “The Godfather”, as he now refers to himself!’
Even though Sarah joked about Tom, she had really enjoying spending time with him this week, preparing for the christening and chatting about what kind of godparents they would be. (‘Very cool’ was their consensus.) Even though she was very happy with Hugh now, Sarah couldn’t forget all the years she had secretly fancied Tom, so spending all this time with him was fun. And when Hugh had said he wouldn’t be able to make it to the christening as he had to go home to Galway, Sarah had at first been disappointed, as she had been dying to introduce him to her family and friends. But later she felt almost glad; it meant she could immerse herself in her godmother role for the whole day, with Tom as her partner in crime beside her. I don’t fancy him any more, she thought, as she drove the car up towards Blackrock, it’s just fun! And to make herself feel less uneasy she texted Hugh and said she would ring him after the church service.
Her sister Mel looked beautiful outside the church, in a gorgeous Coast black and white flower-printed dress. But as Sarah approached her she realized things were not as rosy as they seemed.
‘Sarah, I’m furious with John,’ Mel said. ‘Fiona is after spitting up all over her robe, and I told John to bring the spare one, and he swore it was in the car, but it is not there. What are we to do? Present Fiona to God and the priest covered in sick? Help!’
Sarah looked at the ivory christening robe. It was stained, and looked a lot less attractive than it had when Mel had bought it the previous week.
‘OK, well we don’t have time to go home, so let’s try to gently wash the stain out, and maybe we could even turn it inside out, no one would notice. And then you can change her when we get back to the house and party.’
Sarah looked for a bottle of water but found none in the car, or Mel’s baby bag. OK, there is no other option, she thought. She removed Fiona’s robe, and dipped it briefly in the holy font at the entrance of the church. She managed to rinse the stain off, but not before her mother saw.
‘Oh sweet Jesus, Sarah, what have you done? That is sacrilegious! God help us all. Fiona will go to hell for wearing that.’
Sarah ignored her mother and the stares of John’s family. She tried to wipe the robe dry with a tissue before turning it inside out. Mel seemed relieved to see her again. As Mel re-dressed the almost-naked Fiona, Tom came up.
‘Well done! Your first crisis as godmother was handled brilliantly, Sarah.’ He gave her a congratulatory hug.
Sarah blushed slightly, but then gathered herself. ‘We had better go into the church before Mum has a heart-attack.’
* * *
The christening was beautiful, and Sarah’s eyes welled up to see her big sister so proud and happy with Fiona. John by Mel’s side made them look the perfect family, off to an ideal start with beautiful baby Fiona. Sarah and Tom had to pose for what seemed like hundreds of photos with their goddaughter, but neither minded. The day was such a celebration of new life that Sarah felt almost light-headed with excitement, and in the car leaving the church really looked forward to the reception, and stuffing herself with Molly’s food.
The house and garden looked spotless, and the guests were all welcomed with glasses of champagne as they arrived. Sarah went to find Molly, who was in the kitchen. She ran up and gave her a hug. ‘Thanks so much for doing this, Molly, you are a star!’
Molly hugged her back, and then went back to slicing bread. She looked pale and tired.
‘Are you OK?’ Sarah asked her friend.
Molly looked like she was going to say something, then just smiled and said: ‘It is your big family day out, so enjoy it. I’m fine. Now get out of this kitchen and let me and Eve get back to work!’
Sarah didn’t need to be told twice, and was happy to leave the hot kitchen, and get back to the sunshine and more glasses of champagne.
Mel and John were as proud as punch of Fiona all day. She was in great form, and didn’t mind being handed from person to person, and photographed every two minutes. John’s mum seemed to be so much more relaxed, knowing her grandchild was safe in the eyes of God now. Mel was just glad they had managed to get it all organized in time; she often felt nowadays that with a baby everything took ten times as long to do and get ready. She was so happy to have Sarah and Tom as the godparents, and they both seemed delighted with their new jobs, and were fussing over Fiona all day. Molly’s food had been a huge hit – everyone wanted seconds and even thirds – and as Mel helped Molly pass out the desserts, coffees and teas she realized the day had been a great success. She decided to put on some music to make it last. Baby or no baby she was staying up late tonight.
Sarah and Mel were knocking back the wine, and singing along to Robbie Williams when Molly came to say goodbye.
‘Stay, have a drink,’ Sarah offered.
Molly looked tired, and kept quiet, and before she could speak Eve came up and grabbed her.
‘Molly is wrecked, Sarah, she just needs to relax and sleep, it has been a long day.’
Molly nodded her head.
‘OK, Molly, but let’s go for dinner some night this week, my treat,’ insisted Sarah.
Molly thanked her, walked back into the kitchen, and started packing up her dishes, plates and containers.
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‘Molly was very quiet all day, wasn’t she?’ Tom remarked as he sat down beside Sarah.
He had met Molly many times with Sarah, but never seen her that silent.
‘She was probably just tired. Anyway how are you, “Godfather”?’ Sarah laughed.
‘I would feel much better if I could have a dance with you, Sarah.’
And with that Sarah and Tom joined Mel and John in the middle of the garden, shoes kicked off, just swaying to the music and laughing. Tom had his strong bronzed arms firmly wrapped around Sarah, and it felt very comfortable. Sarah was used to crouching when she danced with men – even Hugh, as he was smaller than her – but Tom was as tall as she was, so they danced easily together. They danced to song after song, Tom swinging Sarah around Mel’s garden, his blue eyes staring right into hers. The intensity and closeness felt so right, and yet as Sarah danced, she suddenly felt guilty. She had done nothing, but her thoughts ran to Hugh, who was at home in Galway. And as if she was psychic she suddenly heard her phone ring, and knew it must be him.
‘Sorry, Tom, I had better get that.’
Tom looked disappointed; the moment and mood had gone. He shrugged, ran his fingers through his sandy hair and then turned to start dancing with Sarah’s mum. Sarah felt a pang of regret for ruining his mood, but then answered her phone and started telling Hugh all about the church and day.
76
Ali was at work, trying to type up a wedding booklet without her boss noticing. Every time Mary even looked her way Ali would quickly pull up some boring work document instead. Ali was trying to get organized, and the wedding booklet was one thing she knew she could get done ahead of time, although trying to pick the church songs, readings and prayers of the faithful was harder than she had thought. Robin had no interest, and just said she could pick whatever she wanted, even though she kept reminding him that the marriage guidance course had said it was important that both of the couple got involved in the wedding preparations.
‘But let’s be honest, Ali, once the man proposes with the ring he is out of the picture, it’s the girl, her mum and sisters that seem to run the show,’ Robin had said in the car the previous night. They’d been on their way to the cinema, and Ali had been trying to listen to a CD of church music.
Now Ali switched to studying the cover of her wedding CD, and trying to decide which song would be nice to light the candles to. It reminded her that she still hadn’t chosen the prayer her sisters would read out. Mary, her boss, hadn’t referred to Ali’s wedding once since Ali had told her what days she needed to take off for the wedding and the as-yet-unbooked honeymoon.
‘She must be jealous of you, Ali,’ Ali sisters had said. ‘Just ignore her. Either that or try to set her up with someone! Maybe if she had her own boyfriend she wouldn’t be as mean!’ Ali was seriously considering it, but she didn’t know who to choose as Mary’s date. Suddenly Mary walked to her desk; Ali just managed to hide the CD cover in time. Mary threw down the last contract Ali had worked on.
‘Ali, I’m sure you can’t think of anything but weddings nowadays, but you must remember to be professional. This contract went out unsigned, don’t let it happen again.’ And with that Mary turned on her heels and headed out of the door.
Ali looked at the document, and wanted to scream. Work is ruining this wedding, she thought tearfully. But then she looked at the clock. It was almost time for lunch, and she was meeting Molly today for a sandwich. At least that would be fun, Ali comforted herself as she retrieved the contract.
Molly had said she would bring food from the café, and as Ali waited in Merrion Square she couldn’t wait to see what it would be. Everything from Heavenly was yum! Molly arrived with two tartlets – one mushroom, one feta cheese – and two chocolate cupcakes.
‘Oh my God, they look divine, Molly. Did you make them yourself?’ Ali stared at the heavily iced cupcakes, which had Smarties hidden throughout the bun and icing.
‘Yeah, I made about forty today! I’ve single-handedly eaten about a hundred Smarties, too.’
Ali started tucking into the mushroom tartlet.
‘How did that marriage course go? Was Robin bored out of his brain?’ Molly asked.
‘At first he hated being there, but then by the second day he seemed to enjoy it, and found it interesting to talk about children and in-laws and all.’ Ali laughed. ‘But it was serious, the talk about kids. I mean, Robin and I have discussed them before, but never in such detail, but you could tell some of the other couples hadn’t broached that subject before. It was weird: at one stage you had to turn to your partner and ask them if they would be prepared to adopt or do IVF if you couldn’t have kids naturally. It was all very serious. Of course Robin said yes, but I heard one guy say: “I’d never want to bring up a child that wasn’t my flesh and blood.” How backward is that? It was awful for his poor fiancée. I thought everyone nowadays was up for adoption. Luke wouldn’t mind if you guys had to, would he?’
Molly tried to pull herself together as she put down her chocolate cupcake. ‘Luke and I have broken up, Ali. It’s over.’
Ali looked shocked, but Molly was determined not to cry any more. She had spent the last few days in floods, and was desperately trying to maintain some composure.
‘What? I don’t believe you, Molly. You just had a bad fight or something,’ Ali said as she gave her friend a hug.
‘Yes, a fight we have had over and over again. We have been arguing for ages. I don’t really know what happened, Ali. He just couldn’t understand my new work commitments, and we fought about them more and more. I didn’t think it would end like this, but Luke is gone.’
‘Maybe he’ll change his mind,’ Ali said, trying to be supportive.
‘I don’t think so. He collected all his clothes from the apartment the other day, and we are meeting up at the weekend to discuss larger items like the furniture we bought over the years. I hate it, Ali, but what can I do?’
Ali didn’t know what to say, Molly and Luke had seemed such a perfect couple. She had never imagined them breaking up. She spent the remainder of their lunch trying to console her friend. When she got back into her office and saw all the wedding magazines and booklets on her desk, she just pushed them aside. She wasn’t in the mood to think about her own wedding and happiness today, when one of her best friends was suddenly single, and so heart-broken. God, Ali thought, I totally forgot Molly was doing the catering for the wedding. How painful it will be for her to see a loving couple and hear everyone talking about happily ever afters! I hope she will still be able to cope, though, because the date is so close now, that if she can’t do it I’ll have to cook the food myself. Ali almost laughed, picturing herself trying to make her own wedding cake the night before she had to walk up the aisle!
77
The next day Ali’s parents were coming up to Dublin to help her make a final decision about her wedding dress. She just could not decide between two options. One was from a small boutique run by a Frenchwoman, in Sandymount. It was detailed, lacy and very slimming. The shop-owner had picked out some beautiful ivory shoes and beaded jewellery to go with it, and she really did have a good eye; everything she had chosen was perfect. Ali loved that dress, it was very elegant and the whole outfit was ideal, but she still couldn’t stop thinking about the first dress she had tried on, the two-piece from The Wedding Boutique. It was cream, and had a fitted bodice that laced up at the back, and a beautiful full-bodied skirt. The dress was very simple, but it was the fit and cut that Ali had fallen in love with. It was like something you might see in an American bridal magazine. She had already found some jewellery in Brown Thomas that would go with it perfectly. How hard it was to choose the right dress!
Ali’s parents wanted to talk to Robin and Ali about some final booking details for the marquee, so it was decided to combine this with a final trip to the bridal shops. Ali had agreed to meet her mum and dad after work in the shop in Sandymount. Ali had been held up in work, so she started to get anxi
ous at the bus stop, waiting for a bus to arrive. Finally one did, but as usual the queue was held up by people searching for change. How could people wait for a bus for half an hour, and then be taken aback by having to pay? Ali thought. Why couldn’t they be ready, instead of waiting until they were at the head of the queue before taking off their backpack, searching for their wallet, and slowly counting out their change in pennies? It was ridiculous. Ali sighed with exasperation as she finally got a seat, and rang her mum to warn her she would be late.
Ali arrived a little hot and bothered, but as soon as she entered the bridal boutique was calmed by its atmosphere and by its owner, Madeline. The shop was small, yet filled with beautiful paintings, photos and bridal accessories. It was all cream, and smelled of perfumed candles. The Frenchwoman took one look at Ali and offered her a chair, to ‘catch your breath’, before continuing to make tea and coffee for Ali’s parents. After a drink of water, Ali slipped into the lace wedding dress and fixed her hair. Then she stepped out of the changing room.
She saw a teardrop roll down her father’s cheek. ‘Oh Ali, your mother told me you looked gorgeous in all the dresses you tried on,’ he said proudly. ‘But Ali, pet, you look like an angel, an absolute angel. You are beautiful.’
Tears welled into Ali’s eyes as she pictured the day her dad would walk her up the aisle. They all admired the dress, yet Ali still couldn’t decide. It was a bit awkward telling Madeline that once again they need to ‘think about it’ as they left the little boutique.
‘I don’t know what to do, Mum, I love it, but I love the next dress, too.’
‘Ali, they are all gorgeous on you. Let’s just try this second one on, and get some dinner, and then we can decide.’
At The Wedding Boutique there was no coffee, tea or water, but Ali didn’t mind. She made sure her parents were comfortable, before letting the sales assistant help her into the two-piece dress. The skirt had three layers, so she needed help. After slipping into some slingback heels and letting the assistant place a veil on her hair, she stepped out of the dressing room and walked over to her parents. This time they were both speechless. They gasped.
Are You Ready? Page 15
