‘It’s not, Gabriel.’ He didn’t have to lay it on quite so thick, did he?
Leo smiled approvingly and then clinked his glass to get their attention again. ‘The other reason I wanted you all here was something to do with Tessa. Gabriel and Maggie already know this, so I hope they won’t mind me repeating myself.’
They fell quiet. Maggie tensed, wondering whether he was going to surprise her too, announce that he hadn’t burnt the diaries all those years before. As he started to speak, she relaxed.
He put it beautifully, talking about his longing to have a collection of all the best memories of his life to look back on. He explained that his original plan had been to ask Maggie to compile a scrapbook, but after meeting Gabriel, he’d decided to be modern and film them instead.
They liked the idea very much. All of them except Miranda. She’d drunk a lot of wine and wasn’t letting anyone get away with anything.
‘Gabriel, this isn’t some clever ruse, is it? You’re not here in disguise, putting together one of those real-life freak-show independent film festival documentaries, are you?’
‘I wasn’t, no, but it’s looking more promising by the hour.’
That earned him a laugh from Miranda.
Leo gazed around the table again. ‘Don’t you think it would be something special? A record of all of us, for all of us.’
‘All of us except Sadie, you mean,’ Miranda said. ‘Gabriel, I don’t know if you know, but there is another sister —’
Juliet interrupted. ‘Miranda, please, you don’t need to —’
‘It’s fine, Juliet,’ Gabriel said. ‘Maggie’s already told me the whole story.’
She hadn’t, actually. She didn’t look at Gabriel or Leo. She was worried she might give something away.
‘Will we get started in the morning?’ Leo said eagerly. ‘Get it under way as quickly as we can? I don’t want Gabriel to spend his entire first visit to Ireland working. He and Maggie want to get away and soak up the music and pub atmosphere too.’
‘Get away and talk about us, more like it,’ Miranda said.
‘They probably want to go and talk about us right now,’ Juliet said, standing up and beginning to collect the dishes. ‘Off you go, you two. Maggie, go and show Gabriel the nice view from the top of the lane. You’re let off the dishes tonight.’
Maggie did as she was told, getting up from the table, kissing Leo and each of her aunts and giving her mother a special hug. She and Gabriel left through the kitchen door, across the yard and up to the back field. From there it was just a quick climb over the little stone stile to the top lane, which wound its way to the top of the hill. The view from there was a glorious one, especially at this time of evening. The sky was still bright in patches. The sea in the distance had a silvery sheen. There was the sound of the wind rustling through the gorse bushes, sheep bleating and the distant noise of a tractor across the valley.
As they walked side by side, Maggie looked up at him. ‘I can give you the car keys if you want to make a dash for it.’
‘A dash for it? Leave all this?’ Gabriel gave her a smile. ‘No way. Miranda’s right. I can already see myself accepting first prize at Sundance for this film. There are more secrets and dynamics flying around down there than I ever saw in the White House.’
‘They’re not that bad.’
‘They’re not bad at all. They’re great. Fascinating.’
‘Fascinating? Why?’
He was thoughtful for a moment. ‘It’s like a solar system. Leo is the sun and you all orbit around him.’
About to protest, Maggie pictured it. Gabriel was right.
They walked on a little while in silence. She spoke first. ‘Thanks for smoothing over that moment about Sadie, by the way.’
‘You’re welcome. Have you told me the whole story?’
‘Not exactly, no.’ She couldn’t give the old standard answer about Sadie being a hippy any more, she realised. Not if she was to be truthful about it. ‘It’s a long one. A complicated one too. You don’t have to hear it if you don’t want to.’
‘I want to.’
They walked as Maggie talked. It struck her that she and Leo had been walking in Central Park just two days ago when she had heard this story herself for the first time. Now here she was in Ireland, retelling it, to a man she barely knew.
It took her fifteen minutes. Gabriel asked her questions along the way. They were at the very top of the hillside by the time she finished. It was the strange in-between light of an Irish summer, the sea now a white mass, the mountains across the valley a brown–black and shadows and sounds around them. All the warmth had gone. She shivered. ‘We should start going back. They’ll get worried.’
‘No, they won’t. They’d be more worried if we came back too soon.’ He turned nevertheless, putting out a hand and steadying her when she stumbled on a rock in the dim light. He returned to the subject of Sadie.
‘What if the private detective finds her? If she is in Dublin? What then?’
Maggie hadn’t thought about that yet. She didn’t know if Leo had either. There had been other things on their minds. ‘I guess he’ll go and see her. As soon as I’ve read Tessa’s diaries and can tell him what I think it was Sadie read.’
‘There are a lot of ghosts flying around your family, aren’t there?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Sadie. Tessa. Maybe I had it wrong that it’s Leo who’s the sun. Maybe you’ve all been orbiting around them instead. Around their memories, at least.’
‘But they’re not here.’
‘Leo seems to think they are.’
‘I think you’re wrong.’
‘I can’t see you clearly in this Celtic mist, Maggie, but I’d swear I just heard your hackles unfurling.’
He was right. She didn’t like hearing any criticism of her family. ‘It’s jet lag. I’m oversensitive. They’re my family and I love them. And I want you to like them too.’ She did, she realised. It felt important that he liked them.
‘And I do. But I’m an only child, remember. I’m not used to crowds like this. It’s like, I don’t know, Tom Thumb suddenly finding himself staying with the Old Woman Who Lived in the Shoe. People everywhere. A serious danger of being squashed.’
She smiled, glad of the change in mood. ‘I meant it about the car keys. You make a run for it whenever you want.’
‘You don’t get rid of me that easily.’
The smile was back in his voice again too. It reminded her of the first time she’d heard it on her answering machine in Greenwich Village.
‘I hope Sadie does come back,’ he said. ‘For extra dramatic tension, I’d like it to happen just in the middle of filming. Can you imagine the scene, Maggie? One of your aunts recalling her, we hear a noise outside, I pan to the front door, which opens, and there —’
‘Dressed in a batik dress, with her hair in dreadlocks, is Sadie? I’m sorry, Gabriel, but I really don’t think it’s going to happen like that.’
‘She’ll drive up in a Rover, dressed in a pinstripe suit?’
‘Maybe.’ He was trying to cheer her up, she knew. ‘We’re just sport to you, aren’t we? And there I was feeling guilty that my scheming grandfather has dragged you across to Ireland to pretend to be in love with me.’ She was fishing for compliments, she knew. He disappointed her.
‘Maggie, don’t worry about it, please. It’s just a week out of my life, playing make-believe. I promise you I’m enjoying myself. Even if your aunt Miranda is watching me like a hawk. I don’t think she completely trusts me.’
‘She’s just protective. She was there in London with me when it all finished with Angus.’
‘Ah, yes, Angus. Angus of the tweed pants and running nose.’
Angus had had a perpetual cold. ‘Did I tell you that?’
‘No, Miranda did. In between Clementine telling me about the way you used to count all the time as a child, Eliza telling me about your dress-ups and Juliet telling me abou
t your university results.’
‘It’s just as well this is all make-believe or you would be completely overwhelmed.’
‘Just as well,’ he said.
They reached the stile, the lights of the house warm and inviting over the rise of the hill. He helped her across, taking her hand as she climbed up the stone steps, holding it until she was safely on the other side. His skin felt warm, his hold strong. She was glad it was almost dark. She wouldn’t have liked him to see the colour that had come into her cheeks.
Maggie woke late the next morning. She could hear noises from downstairs, music playing in the kitchen, a chatter of conversation, then something more than that. Furniture being moved and someone hushing, saying, ‘Maggie’s still asleep,’ followed by Miranda, or perhaps it was Eliza, replying, ‘Then it’s time she was up.’
They’d all gone to bed early the night before, the five new arrivals suffering various degrees of jet lag. Juliet showed them to their rooms, giving Maggie a little smile as she pointed out that Gabriel was just down the corridor. Maggie had calmed down by then, talking herself out of her crush on him as best she could. She’d obviously imagined any attraction between them. If Gabriel had wanted to kiss her, then he’d just had the perfect opportunity, out walking in the twilight together. Yet he’d passed on it. She had to realise that as much as she liked him, this was just a job in his eyes. A slightly unusual job, granted, but that was all.
She checked her watch. Nearly ten. She’d slept for more than twelve hours. She reached up and pulled back the curtains. Half the sky was blue, the other half was cloudy. She came downstairs in her dressing-gown and stopped at the doorway to the living room. It was transformed. All the furniture had been shifted. Mini sets had been arranged in three corners: a backdrop of the nicest painting, a watercolour of a local beach scene, with one of the elegant armchairs in front; in another corner, a side table, a vase of flowers and a straight-backed chair; in the third, the sofa, roomy enough to hold three or four people.
Gabriel was in the middle of the room, the camera equipment on a tripod beside him and cables snaking on the floor at his feet. He was dressed in black jeans and a white T-shirt. His hair was still damp from the shower, the grey almost black in the morning light.
He turned and smiled. ‘Good morning.’
‘Good morning. You’ve been busy.’
‘We want to get started. Leo wants to get started, at least. Miranda says she won’t possibly be camera-ready before noon and insists I have to hire a make-up artist, but we’ll try and work around that.’
‘Vaseline on the lens at the very least, darling, all right?’ Miranda came in behind Maggie and kissed her on the cheek. ‘How nice of you to drop in, sleepyhead. Coffee? A shot of something stronger to get your memories flowing?’
‘I don’t have any memories of Tessa.’
‘I’m not talking about Tessa. I want you to sit in front of the camera for half an hour and wax lyrical about me.’
The others came in then too, all fully dressed and made-up, carrying cups of coffee. The mood was bright. Clementine handed Maggie a cup and the two of them sat down on the sofa together.
Gabriel looked up from the camera. ‘I’m sure you’ve heard this a thousand times already, but you two could be sisters.’
‘That’s because Clementine was a teenager of loose morals and had Maggie when she was only thirteen years old. Or was it twelve, Clementine?’
Clementine refused to take Miranda’s bait. ‘I was seventeen, Gabriel. My sisters were at a loose end so I decided to give them a niece to play with.’
‘And Maggie’s the only one of the next generation?’
‘She’s all we ever needed,’ Miranda said. ‘If you get it perfect the first time, why try for another?’
They all laughed. All except Juliet, Maggie noticed.
‘Very unfair on Maggie,’ Gabriel said. ‘That’s a lot of pressure to be under.’
‘Pressure? The little pet has been showered with love, attention and unwanted gifts all her life, not pressure. Isn’t that right, Maggie?’ Miranda said. ‘We like to think of Maggie as our own little creation, Gabriel. A sort of Frankenstein’s monster, all of us having a hand in her make-up.’
‘Well, everyone? What do you think? The perfect look for a director?’ It was Leo, standing in the doorway, dressed in a long grey coat, a white scarf and a baseball cap turned backwards, all obviously gathered from the cloakroom under the stairs. Some of it belonged to the Faradays. Other items had been left by holiday tenants over the years.
‘I think you’ve got more of a raggy old farmer look going on, Leo,’ Miranda said. She went over and adjusted his cap. ‘You’re not the director, anyway. Gabriel’s in charge. Our hot-shot American filmmaker, direct from New York.’
‘Absolutely.’ Gabriel checked his watch. ‘So, who’s first? I want to do some test shots.’
Maggie realised they were quite serious about this. She was tempted to stay and watch, but this was her best opportunity to read the diaries. She waited until the others were occupied with Gabriel and went across to Leo.
‘Any word?’ She knew he would know she was talking about Sadie.
‘Nothing yet.’ He took out his mobile. ‘I keep checking the signal is okay, but it’s so unreliable here. I didn’t want to give him the landline number in case one of the others answered.’
‘I’ll go upstairs and get on with the diaries then.’
He clasped her hand. ‘Thank you, Miss Maggie. Some lovely reading there, I’m sure.’ He lowered his voice. ‘Nothing, yet?’
She shook her head. No, Tadpole, nothing yet to prove that your wife was having an affair with your brother.
‘What are you two whispering about?’ It was Miranda, from across the room.
‘I’ve just told Maggie that I’ve decided to change my will and leave everything to her,’ Leo replied.
Eliza looked up. ‘I hope you’re joking. The only reason I’ve turned up here year after year is to stay in your good books.’
‘Of course he’s joking,’ Juliet said. ‘He decided years ago to leave it all to me. I’m the one who’s kept this show on the road all these years, after all.’
‘You’re wrong there,’ Miranda replied. ‘It’s easy to hire a caterer and party planner. It’s much harder to hire someone with my wit and humour to keep things lively. Isn’t that right, Leo?’
Juliet’s face hardened. Clementine didn’t say anything, but Maggie saw her gently touch Juliet on the arm and whisper something to her. She saw that Gabriel had noticed too.
Maggie wasn’t imagining it. There were tensions in the room that she had never picked up on before. Why now? What was so different? She remembered Gabriel’s comment the night before, talking about the ghosts of Tessa and Sadie filling the air. She’d denied it last night. Today she wasn’t so sure. Something was different. Or perhaps the difference was she was seeing it for the first time.
It was definitely time to leave. Maggie went into the kitchen, made herself a pot of coffee and a plate of raisin toast and slipped back upstairs to the diaries.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
It was nearly five by the time Maggie finished reading through another two diaries. She’d had to battle interruptions all day, quickly hiding the notebooks any time she heard one of the others come up the stairs. She’d set herself up in a corner of her bedroom, curled up in the comfortable armchair by the window, the diaries tucked in beside her, decoy books on the table in front of her. They’d all visited. Clementine to make sure she was all right and have a proper catch-up chat. Juliet to ask her did she want lunch. Eliza to say how impressed she was with Gabriel’s work ethic.
Miranda called in to ask advice on which outfit she should wear for her solo interview. One was a bright-red silk kimono-style dress, the other a suit made from a soft cream material with leopard-skin collar and cuffs. Maggie thought both of them looked glamorous, expensive and completely out of place in a Donegal farmhouse. When she�
��d gently pointed that out, Miranda just raised an eyebrow. ‘Of course they do. I am completely out of place in a Donegal farmhouse.’
Maggie called down to the living room twice. Eliza was right. Gabriel was extremely professional. He was still relaxed, joking with everyone, but he was getting it done, keeping them moving and asking enough questions to get the memories flowing. Maggie heard him explain to Leo that he would edit it afterwards so it was only their voices on the soundtrack, not his. ‘That’s what will give it the intimate feel,’ he explained. ‘It will seem as though they are just remembering details without being prompted.’
Leo thought that sounded perfect.
Beside Maggie, Clementine whispered, ‘He even knows how to control Leo, Maggie. You definitely need to hang on to him. He’s just what we need in the family.’
She was glad to go back to her room. The pretend romance had seemed a playful joke in New York. Here in Donegal it just felt like lies. One on top of the other.
They all asked her what she was doing upstairs. ‘Catching up on some reading,’ she said.
‘She’s being kind,’ Gabriel said. ‘She knows I get all clumsy when she’s around.’
During a break for lunch, Maggie managed a moment alone with him. They walked outside to the courtyard and leaned against the wall, looking over the valley towards the sea.
‘I think you may have got yourself the job as official filmmaker to the Faraday family,’ she said. ‘Leo’s so excited about all of this. He wants a documentary crew to follow him for the rest of his days.’
‘If he can find one to keep up with him. Has he always been this energetic?’
‘Always,’ Maggie said.
‘And the others? Have they always been this tense with each other?’
‘Tense?
‘I asked them to do a scene, all four of them sitting on the couch together. Talking to each other, ignoring the camera. They could have been four strangers.’
Those Faraday Girls Page 43
