‘Maybe it was the snails that made Lola turn down his proposal,’ he suggested.
‘I’m glad if they did.’ Adele snorted. ‘Though she had a damn nerve saying no. So she was going to tell him about this child until you intervened, was she?’
‘Yes.’
‘Maybe it’s money well spent,’ said Adele. ‘Although it’s certainly far more than she deserves.’
‘But it’s kept her quiet for nine years,’ said Richard.
‘And you kept quiet about it for nine years too.’
‘I should have told you,’ Richard said. ‘But I didn’t want to stress you.’
Which was all very well, thought Adele that night as she lay in bed beside him. But they’d always shared everything in their lives, good and bad, stressful or not. He should have consulted her about paying off the gold-digging farmer’s daughter. He’d been far more generous to the young woman than he’d needed to be. Adele wanted to trust him, but she found it difficult to believe everything he’d said. It was plausible, of course, but men could always come up with plausible excuses when they needed to. Richard had liked Lola Fitzpatrick even though he’d agreed with her that she might not be a suitable wife for their son. But had her husband considered her suitable for an affair of his own? Was he covering up his own infidelity and not the unwanted outcome of Philip’s relationship with her? It wasn’t entirely an impossible scenario. And she hated Lola Fitzpatrick and her inconvenient child for making her think about it at all.
Chapter 12
Tiger’s Eye: a semi-precious quartz with a silky lustre and characteristic stripes
Bey spent the summer at the farm in Cloghdrom, happy to be running around the fields with her cousins, helping to bring the cows in for milking and hosing down the shed, as well as collecting eggs from the hens and learning the art of baking soda bread from her grandmother.
‘I don’t think I’ll ever be much of a cook,’ she told Eilis one evening. ‘And I’m not really cut out for farming either.’
Eilis grinned at her. Bey had promised to be up for the milking that morning but had slept through the alarm.
‘But . . .’ Bey held up an eggshell triumphantly. ‘If anyone needs decorated eggshells, I’m your girl!’
‘It’s very clever.’
Bey had copied the design from a picture of a Fabergé egg, and had painted it a delicate pink before using narrow gold braid and small coloured beads to decorate it.
‘It’s for you,’ she said. ‘To say thank you for having me.’
‘You know you’re always welcome here.’ Eilis hugged her.
‘Sometimes I wish me and Mum still lived here with you,’ said Bey. ‘It would be nice to see Uncle Milo and Auntie Claire and the boys every day. Auntie Gretta and Uncle Tony too. It’s a pity we’re so far away.’
‘Lola was always a city girl at heart,’ said Eilis. ‘I bet you are too really.’
‘I guess.’ Bey smiled at her. ‘I don’t really mind where I live, as long as I can do my stuff.’
Eilis looked at the egg again. It really was exquisite. If she hadn’t seen Bey working on it herself, she’d have thought it had been done by a professional.
‘I’m going to make a necklace next,’ Bey said. ‘I saw a lovely picture in Auntie Gretta’s magazine. It was a proper necklace with real gems in it, but I reckon I could do a nice one with coloured stones. I’ll show you.’
She got up from the table and returned with the magazine, which she opened at the advertisement. For the Tiger in your Life , it said. The Adele Tiger Lily. Only from Warren’s the Jewellers. Eilis stared at it.
‘What d’you think, Gran? Isn’t it pretty?’ asked Bey.
‘Lovely,’ said Eilis faintly.
‘I like the way they’ve set the stones,’ Bey said. ‘I don’t know if I could do it exactly the same myself, but I bet I could give it a try.’
‘I couldn’t believe it,’ Eilis said to Lola, who’d come up for the weekend as she always did during the summer. ‘There she was cooing over a piece of Adele jewellery, thinking she could do it too.’
‘Genes will out.’ Lola’s voice was as faint as Eilis’s had been earlier. ‘My God, Mum, it’s like . . . it’s like they have control over her even though they don’t know it.’
‘Ah, well, not quite.’ Eilis patted Lola on the arm. ‘I didn’t mean to make you think . . . It was just the matter-of-fact way she said it. And the egg she did for me – well, it’s just amazing.’
‘I suppose it would be surprising if she hadn’t inherited something from that side of the family,’ said Lola.
‘Disconcerting, though,’ said Eilis.
Lola didn’t say anything to Bey about jewellery or decorated eggs on the way back to Dublin. In fact they didn’t talk much at all, but listened to Bey’s LeAnn Rimes CD for most of the drive. It wasn’t until they were nearly home that Bey asked her mother whether she thought her interest in jewellery and decorating came from her father’s side of the family.
‘Perhaps,’ said Lola.
‘I think I need to meet him,’ said Bey. ‘Can I?’
‘Leave it with me,’ Lola told her. ‘I’ll do what I can.’
What she did was to ring Richard on his direct line at the shop.
‘We’ll talk,’ he said. ‘Clarke’s at twelve thirty.’
Clarke’s was a small coffee shop off Baggot Street, a fifteen-minute walk from both Warren’s and the property management office where Lola worked. It was out of the way enough for them not to have to worry about bumping into Philip or Peter. Richard was already sitting at one of the wooden tables when Lola arrived, a chicken sandwich and a black coffee in front of him. She ordered coffee and a doughnut.
‘You need to eat more than that,’ said Richard.
‘Not hungry.’ Lola shrugged.
‘Or watching the pennies,’ said Richard. ‘After all, if you go ahead with this insane plan, you know what will happen. Your golden goose will stop laying eggs.’
‘Richard, I really appreciate the support you’ve given Bey over the last nine years,’ said Lola. ‘It’s made a hell of a difference to our lives and I’d hate to lose it. But the truth is that I don’t consider you to be a golden goose and I can manage without your money. I’ve been doing well at work. I’ve been promoted a couple of times. I can support myself and my daughter.’
‘Not with the same sense of ease as before,’ said Richard.
‘I would always have managed without you,’ Lola told him. ‘I’d planned to.’
‘Then I dangled the money in front of you and you did a quick one-eighty-degree turn.’
‘I did what I thought was best. It wasn’t only about support for Bey. It was also about Philip’s life. His marriage, his family – just like you said. But everyone’s older and wiser now. And it’s time.’
‘Interesting timing,’ said Richard. ‘Because Adele recently found out about our little arrangement.’
‘Oh.’ Lola looked at him from her dark blue eyes. ‘What did she say?’
‘She thought I was having an affair with you.’
‘What!’ Lola was shocked, and then she laughed. ‘That would have been the biggest betrayal of all for her. She hates my guts.’
‘Not really,’ said Richard.
‘Oh come on.’ Lola shook her head. ‘You know she does.’
‘She didn’t trust you,’ he said. ‘And now . . . if you go through with this, she’ll know she was right.’
‘Richard, I made a decision based on what I thought was right back then. The decision I’m making now is based on what I think is right at this time. Who knows how it will work out? But it’s what Bey wants.’
‘And what she wants trumps everything else?’
‘She has a right to know,’ said Lola.
‘I wish I believed that,’ said Richard. ‘But I’d urge you to think about everyone – not just one little girl – before you put the cat among the pigeons.’
‘I will,’ said Lola.
>
But she already knew what she was going to do.
Philip was shocked to hear from her, but when she said she needed to see him, he told her that there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell, that she was a long-forgotten part of his past and that it wasn’t something he needed to revisit. He told her he was a happily married family man and that she’d done him a favour by turning down his proposal. She said he was right about that, but that she had something really important to discuss with him. When he eventually gave in and met her at the Shelbourne Hotel on St Stephen’s Green, he was totally unprepared for what she had to say.
‘I have a daughter!’ He stared at her. ‘A twelve-year-old daughter. And you never told me about her. How could you, Lola? How the hell could you?’
‘You were married with a family of your own,’ she said. ‘I couldn’t get in the way of that.’
‘But you kept secrets from me! You had no right to do that.’
‘I thought it was best.’
‘I never understood you,’ said Philip. ‘I never will.’
‘That’s why I knew we shouldn’t get married,’ said Lola.
Philip said nothing.
‘She wants to meet you,’ Lola said.
‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’
‘Please.’
He looked at her. She was still beautiful, he thought, but in a different way to before. The carefree look had gone from her face, replaced by a quiet determination. Nevertheless, her eyes were still that amazing blue and her hair was as dark and luxuriant as ever. She was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever met, but he’d never forgive her for humiliating him over the proposal. Nor would he forgive her for not telling him about her pregnancy. He didn’t want to give in to her demand about his daughter. But he knew he was going to. Because there was something about Lola Fitzpatrick that made you want to make her happy whether it was the right thing for you or not.
Although Bey wasn’t a girl who cared very much about her appearance, she wore her best jeans and jumper to meet her father for the first time. She’d already used an enormous quantity of Lola’s hair mousse to tame her wild red curls, and spent at least ten minutes appraising herself from every angle before coming downstairs to wait for him.
‘You look lovely,’ Lola reassured her as Bey examined her face in the hall mirror.
‘I wish I looked like you,’ Bey said.
‘The Warrens are a good-looking family and you take after them,’ Lola told her.
‘Do I? Really?’
Lola nodded. And then Philip pulled up in his BMW and she went to open the door.
He was complaining about the traffic when he walked into the living room, but stopped talking the moment he saw Bey. He turned to Lola.
‘This is my daughter?’ There was surprise in his voice.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Bey. Short for Beibhinn. It was my grandmother’s name. It means “fair lady”.’
‘Hardly fair, with that ginger mop.’
Philip had spoken in a cheery tone, but Bey bristled. Although Lola insisted they were pure Titian, she put up with a lot of teasing in school about her flame-coloured locks. She hated being called ginger, even though she secretly admitted that it was probably justified.
‘You’re blond and I’m dark, so I suppose it was always a possibility,’ said Lola. She turned to Bey. ‘Say hello to your dad.’
‘Hello,’ said Bey.
‘It’s good to finally meet you,’ said Philip when she didn’t say anything else.
‘You too.’
Bey didn’t understand why she couldn’t find anything to say to him. Everyone knew that she was chatty; Lola often had to tell her to shut up and let someone else get a word in. But meeting Philip Warren had silenced her. She looked at his handsome face and saw traces of her own, just as Lola had said. It was more disconcerting than she’d expected.
‘I guess we’d better go,’ said Philip.
‘Where?’ Bey asked.
‘I haven’t decided yet.’
Bey was silent again. The scene was very different to the one she’d played out in her mind. The one in which her father rushed into the house and said that he’d always wanted to meet her. The one in which he put his arms around Lola and said that they should be together. She’d thought they’d suddenly turn into a family. She couldn’t believe how silly she’d been.
His choice was eventually the zoo, which, as Bey said to her mother afterwards, was the lamest thing ever. Áine’s father had taken her to the zoo twice since he’d left her mother. Was it the only place that dads could think of? she demanded.
‘Men can sometimes lack imagination when it comes to children’s outings,’ said Lola. ‘But aside from that, did you have a good day?’
Bey considered the question carefully. None of it, from Philip’s arrival at the house to him dropping her off outside, had been the way she’d wanted it to be. She hadn’t felt connected to him. She didn’t think he’d felt connected either.
‘It takes time,’ Lola told her. ‘I’m sure after a few visits you’ll get on like a house on fire.’
But Bey wasn’t as certain. And as she curled up in bed that night, she couldn’t help wondering if Philip really was her father after all. Because he hadn’t treated her like a daughter. If she had to put a word to it, she would’ve said ‘nuisance’.
Nobody had ever treated her like a nuisance before. It was a very unsettling feeling.
When Lola didn’t hear anything from Philip about meeting Bey again, she called him at the shop. It was Richard who answered.
‘You do know that I’ve stopped the payment, don’t you?’ he said. ‘You broke your word.’
‘I did what Bey wanted.’
‘I hope you think it was worth it,’ he said. ‘You could always try to get maintenance from Philip. But it would be a tad cheeky under the circumstances.’
‘You’re far more obsessed about the money than I am,’ said Lola.
Richard snorted.
‘And you of all people should know that it was never about money,’ Lola told him. ‘We’ve met. We’ve talked. You know me.’
‘True,’ said Richard. ‘By the way, although I told you that Adele now knows about our little arrangement, Philip doesn’t. I’d rather keep it that way. And neither of them knows about the sweetener.’
‘Fine by me,’ said Lola.
‘Did you tell Bey?’ asked Richard.
‘About your support up till now? No.’
‘I’d rather keep that quiet too. I don’t want her knowing that I was a soft-hearted old fool.’
‘Soft hearted!’ Lola sounded amused. ‘As if. Now can I speak to Philip?’
Richard put the call through and Philip told Lola that he’d been too busy to think about Bey, but that if she liked, he’d take her out the following week.
‘Not the zoo,’ said Lola. ‘She’s outgrown the zoo.’
‘I’ll pick somewhere appropriately glamorous.’ His tone was laced with sarcasm. ‘I’ve done what you wanted. I’ve met her. But I don’t want it to be a regular thing. I’m living a different life, Lola. I don’t need complications.’
‘That’s fine.’ Lola kept her voice steady. ‘I’m sure she’ll be delighted to see you again. Especially as you’re going to so much trouble.’
Bey wasn’t delighted. In fact she was distinctly lukewarm when Lola told her when her father would be picking her up.
‘I was planning to go to Áine’s,’ she said. ‘We were going to put sparkles on our trainers.’
‘You can do that another time,’ Lola said. ‘And your dad said he was taking you somewhere nice.’
Bey made a face. She wore her older, less fashionable jeans for the outing and didn’t bother with the hair mousse. But when Philip brought her to an upmarket burger restaurant, she wished she had made an effort, because waiting for them at the table were Donna, Anthony and Astrid. And they were looking at her with undisguised interest.
Although Donna
wasn’t a beauty like Lola, she was an attractive woman with pale blond hair and wide grey-blue eyes. Anthony and Astrid, the twins, were fair haired too. Astrid was a mini-Donna, and had clearly dressed in her best for the day. Bey couldn’t help thinking that although she was almost four years older than Astrid, the younger girl was far more sophisticated than she was. Both of the twins were. They ordered their meals with a confidence and authority that Bey herself lacked, and instead of being simply grateful for being out to dinner, they criticised the chips (not crispy enough) and the salad (too boring) and were only happy when the desserts were brought out.
Bey didn’t have a sweet tooth and opted out of dessert, causing Astrid to ask her if she was on a diet. Before she had the chance to reply, the younger girl murmured that it probably wasn’t a bad idea, as Bey seemed rather big for her age.
When the meal was finally over and they were saying goodbye – the twins and Donna were going home while Philip dropped Bey back to Ringsend – Astrid leaned towards her and whispered that their dad loved them more than her and she shouldn’t ever forget that. Bey was too shocked to reply.
That night, she told Lola that it might be a good idea to leave meeting with Philip for a while. After all, she said, she was very busy with school and her art project, so she didn’t really have time for socialising.
‘Hardly socialising,’ Lola said.
But Bey was adamant. She’d had enough of the Warrens for a while. And so there were no more visits.
Until the Christmas invitation arrived.
Chapter 13
Ruby: a rich, red, extremely hard gemstone
Philip had phoned Lola with the suggestion that Bey come to his home, Cleevaun House, for a Warren family Christmas. It had been his father’s idea, he admitted. Richard had felt that it was important to welcome Bey into the fold.
‘Really?’ Lola was surprised. She’d thought that Richard would still be too angry at her failure to keep her word to want to have Bey anywhere around. Maybe, she thought, with a pang of contrition, he was soft hearted after all.
‘I have to be honest, I’m not convinced about it,’ said Philip. ‘She’s hardly what you’d call an easy child to get on with – though that’s not entirely surprising given that she’s lived with you all her life – but I’m prepared to give it a shot.’
What Happened That Night: The page-turning holiday read by the No. 1 bestselling author Page 11
