The Heart of Winter

by Emma Hannigan

  ‘Why don’t you follow me?’ Lainey said, leaning against him. ‘Seeing as your father is in Wicklow for the day, I think we should see about making a little brother or sister for Ely.’

  Matt hesitated. It was only for a second, but Lainey clocked it.

  ‘Don’t you want to make love?’ she asked, making a bad job of hiding her hurt.

  ‘It’s not that,’ he said quickly. ‘I’m probably a step or two behind you with the family expansion idea, that’s all.’

  ‘Ely can’t be an only child, Matt. And I’m not getting any younger, so I don’t see what the problem is.’

  ‘Yeah . . .’

  ‘Matt, we’ve both said all along that we want a big brood. They’re not going to appear by magic now, are they?’

  She kissed Matt and ran her fingers through his hair. She giggled as he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the stairs.

  The landline started to ring, and she stopped.

  ‘Leave it,’ Matt said. ‘If it’s important, they can call back.’

  ‘There could be a problem with Ely,’ she said. ‘I’ll be really quick, I promise.’ Matt went on up to their bedroom and she grabbed the phone.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘Hey, Lainz! It’s me!’

  ‘Hi Jules,’ she said, grinning instantly at the sound of her best friend’s voice. ‘How’s it going?’

  ‘Not too brilliantly, actually,’ she said before bursting into tears.

  ‘What’s happened, sweetheart?’

  ‘The usual. Girl trouble.’ She sniffed. ‘You know I was seeing Sylvia for a while, yeah? Well it turns out she was only testing the water to see if she wanted to be lesbian. She just phoned to tell me that she’s grateful that I helped her dip her toe in gay waters, but she’s not in the vagina business any longer.’

  ‘She didn’t actually say that, did she?’ Lainey asked.

  ‘She might have thought it was all a gay lark,’ Jules said. ‘But, straight up, Lainz, she’s either an amazing actress or she’s gay and doesn’t want to admit it. But Christ, I liked her a lot.’

  ‘Oh that’s awful for you,’ Lainey said. ‘Why don’t you come down here for the rest of the weekend? You can stay at the farmhouse with us, or else Skye and Joey are next door. I reckon Pippa’s due down any minute too.’

  ‘I might just do that,’ Jules said, perking up. ‘I can’t face a weekend on my own. I’ll end up drinking too much, forcing myself to watch The Notebook and bawling until my eyes look as puffy as a cloud.’

  ‘Well, once you’re ready to paint some fences, there’s a place here for you,’ Lainey said. ‘And now, much as I love you, I have to run upstairs and shag my husband.’

  Jules burst out laughing. ‘Oh the empathy is overwhelming me, please stop.’

  ‘I’ll give you buckets of empathy when you get here,’ Lainey said, laughing. ‘And some gin, too, if it’ll help.’

  ‘It always helps,’ Jules said. ‘Now scoot, get going and do dreadful things to your man. I’ll see you soon.’

  Lainey put down the phone and raced up to Matt and they spent a delicious hour languishing in bed. It felt so bold to do this now they were parents – it made the sex even better.

  ‘I suppose I’d better get up and present myself next door,’ Matt said. ‘The men will think I’ve abandoned them.’

  ‘I’d better take Ely, too. Sadie will be busy cooking at this stage.’

  Lainey skipped across the grassy path, looking forward to hugging little Ely. Becoming a Mum was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Unlike Holly, who seemed to benchmark motherhood as a time when things began to fall apart for her, Lainey adored her newfound role in life.

  She hoped so much that their efforts in the bedroom would pay off and she’d become pregnant soon. She wasn’t going to harp on about it too much to Matt, but she’d decided five was her magic number. Imagine the picnics in the summer and bright expectant eyes around the tree at Christmas time with five children? The farmhouse only had three decent bedrooms and a box room as it stood, but there was oodles of space to build on. Lainey had been doing a bit of research on that score, and she was almost ready to share her plans with Matt and her family.

  She was truly excited about her secret five-year plan. Yes, it was going to involve quite a bit of birthing and hard work, but Lainey knew it was what would make her happy.

  The kitchen was a hub of activity as she opened the door. As soon as he saw her, Ely began to bounce up and down in the old high chair that Paddy had fished out of the attic.

  ‘Hello baba,’ she said stooping to kiss him.

  ‘Hello Lainey,’ Sadie said smiling. ‘He’s just woken up and I thought he might need a bit of tea. He’s had toast and a boiled egg and he’s set a little trend!’

  ‘He’s a man after my own heart,’ Paddy boomed. ‘We’re all having dippy eggs now with toast soldiers!’

  ‘What about dinner?’ Lainey said.

  ‘Ah this is just a little sneaky snack,’ Paddy said cheerfully.

  Lainey laughed as she hugged and kissed Skye and Joey. Choosing to ignore her mother’s slightly grumpy expression, she kissed her too.

  Joey’s phone pinged and he read the text, then punched the air.

  ‘I think I’ve managed to buy an incredible marquee just now,’ Joey announced proudly. ‘It’s through a mate. He was in the party business, but since flamboyant do’s have gone with the recession, he’s trying to offload a pile of gear. The tent in question seats two hundred.’

  ‘Would we need something that big?’ Holly asked, looking shocked.

  ‘If we’re aiming to take weddings, we’d need to be able to seat that many at once, yes,’ Lainey said.

  ‘He has twenty round wooden tables and good quality fold-up chairs too,’ Joey said. ‘I’ve priced the whole lot if we were to buy it new and he’s cutting me a really good deal.’

  ‘Is the tent properly lined?’ Sadie asked, ever the practical mind.

  ‘Totally,’ Joey said. ‘With cream floaty stuff.’

  Skye laughed. ‘I presume you mean tulle!’

  ‘Yeah,’ he grinned. ‘Like net curtains, only floatier.’

  ‘That’s the stuff you want,’ Sadie said. ‘By the way, Lainey, those eggs are getting bigger and tastier by the week.’

  ‘Thanks, Sadie,’ Lainey said happily. ‘The girls are really coming on. They take a lot of work to get going, but I’m glad I stuck to my guns.’

  When she’d moved into the farmhouse, Lainey wanted to get hens again. Her late mother-in-law’s flock had produced prize-winning eggs in her day, but Cynthia’s illness and subsequent passing had meant all that had gone by the wayside. One by one the fox got the hens and the men hadn’t the interest or time to replace them.

  Then Lainey came along, with her big ideas and big energy. Jacob had been delighted to have a woman about the house again after his wife’s death, and over time she’d worked her way to having free rein. She’d overhauled the farmhouse entirely. Matt and his father were about as far away from their feminine sides as it was possible to be. Without wanting to offend Cynthia’s memory, she’d slowly redecorated the place, room by room.

  She loved the idea of providing free-range fresh eggs for her family and wanted to take the whole concept a step further, so she’d invested in a polytunnel. Her idea was that they’d eventually have predominantly home-grown produce to eat. With a brood of children, she couldn’t expect Matt to pay for everything after all. She didn’t want his reason for a smaller family to be financial.

  Jacob’s arrival stirred a new flurry of musical chairs as everyone made room for Matt’s father. He was an old-fashioned man of few words, but a total gentleman with it. Lainey had grown so fond of him since moving into the farmhouse. She’d been a little dubious at first, wondering how he might take to another woman muscling in on his turf. But he’d proven to be incredibly placid and so welcoming. He idolised baby Ely and never made Lainey feel as if she were intruding. The farm
house truly was their home – all four of them.

  As the lunch things were cleared away and Ely was released from his high chair, they began to plan the following day’s work.

  ‘Has anyone heard from Pippa?’ Holly asked. ‘I’ve called her mobile a few times and she’s not answering.’

  ‘She’s probably on the way down with music blaring. I assume she still hasn’t had a hands-free kit installed in her car. You know Pippa,’ Joey grinned. ‘She’ll turn up at some point with a bag of dirty washing, starving and looking for attention.’

  ‘Ah she’s a great girl,’ Sadie said. ‘She doesn’t take life too seriously, that’s all. And why should she? Isn’t she entitled to have a bit of fun while she’s young?’

  ‘She’s twenty-five, Sadie,’ Lainey said.

  ‘Precisely,’ Joey said. ‘She’d want to start copping on soon before she makes a total bags of her life.’

  ‘She’s doing very well,’ Holly said jumping to her defence, as usual. ‘She’s invaluable to that Brianna woman. And all she seems to do is get on Pippa’s case. From what she’s told me, she’s a total dragon.’

  ‘I’d say there are two sides to that story,’ Lainey remarked.

  ‘I’m sure she’ll be here soon enough,’ Sadie said happily.

  ‘Oh I almost forgot, Jules is on the way, too,’ Lainey said. ‘Hope that’s OK with everyone?’

  ‘The more the merrier,’ Paddy said. ‘She always cheers me up.’

  ‘That’s because she wears incredibly short skirts, low-cut tops and gazes at you as if you’re an oracle when you speak,’ Holly said. ‘The poor girl hasn’t a breeze how to act around men after growing up without a father.’

  ‘I don’t mind her latching on to me,’ Paddy said. ‘And I take exception to you suggesting I’m being a lecherous old buzzard. She’s the same age as my own daughter. I don’t think that way,’ he harrumphed.

  ‘Really? I reckon you’re the only straight man with a pulse who thinks that so,’ Joey joked. ‘She’s all the more attractive because she bats for the other team. Just knowing I never have a snowball’s chance in hell with her is wildly attractive,’ he grinned.

  ‘So I should resist your advances and bat my eyes at other women?’ Skye joked. ‘Now I know the way to your heart.’

  ‘Dear Lord, what are you all like?’ Sadie said. ‘If I’d even thought half the things you lot talk about, I’d have been skinned alive as a young one.’

  ‘Times have changed, Sadie,’ Holly said. ‘But I agree with you. There’s too much baseline chat around here. We’re all delighted Jules is coming down, Lainey, and nobody should be discussing her private life as if it’s fair game.’

  ‘We didn’t mean any harm,’ Joey said. ‘Jules knows we all love her. Besides, she’s hardly backwards about coming forwards. Remember the last time she was here? She sat and told Dad all about the fact she needed someone who loved her for her brains, not her body. She kept complaining about all the ladies who adore her body.’

  ‘Poor Dad didn’t know where to look!’ Lainey burst into giggles.

  ‘I only wish I’d had that problem myself as a young fella,’ Paddy said with a grin.

  ‘Enough,’ said Holly, clapping her hands together. ‘Or Sadie and I will have to wash your mouths out with carbolic soap. Now, Joey, you go through the list and start handing out the jobs. There’s still lots to be done. And will one of you please try Pippa again. I’m starting to feel worried about her.’

  Lainey took her phone from her back pocket and tapped quickly: Hey Pip, where are you? Mum getting frantic! And we need more help. Hurry up! xx

  Pippa

  PIPPA HAD NEVER FELT SO INSTANTLY DRAWN TO a man. He was probably the coolest guy she’d ever set eyes on. In general, red-heads weren’t her thing. In fact, they’d been a no-no, until now.

  The cold had encouraged them to move from the beer garden they’d all frequented that summer to a pub with a back bar where music was pumping through the rafters. She was with the gang from work again.

  Zach had been hounding her all week about buying the site and she knew she needed to sign it over to him soon or he’d lose interest. They’d had lunch together most days this week and she’d gotten to know him better. She had a lot of time for him and honestly didn’t want to rip him off, but a few extra euros in her back pocket wouldn’t go astray.

  She’d been staring at this guy since they arrived. As she drank more, she became less discreet about eyeing him up.

  She was meant to be listening to Molly from knitwear, who was rattling on with some tale of woe about some random guy she’d been dating. Pippa had never seen herself as a counsellor. She couldn’t deal with sob stories and wasn’t great at doling out advice. That was more Lainey’s department. But this delicious man on the horizon meant she was done even feigning interest in Molly’s romance problems. She could feel her pulse quicken as he grabbed his drink, held her gaze and walked straight up to her.

  ‘Why don’t you take a photo of me so you can stare at that instead?’ he said. ‘It would save you straining your eyes and craning your neck.’

  ‘I beg your pardon?’ she said haughtily.

  He wasn’t backing down. He gave her a wide smile and raised an eyebrow. ‘Do you normally stare your victims down before you pounce?’

  ‘I wasn’t looking at you,’ she said recovering swiftly and attempting to save face. Looking through him, she waved at nobody in particular. ‘You got me all wrong, cowboy,’ she said shaking her head slowly. ‘I had my eye on a total dish who was standing by the bar and you’ve just blown it for me.’ She sighed dramatically and flicked her hair, pretending to be furious. ‘Nice one, now he thinks I’m with you and he’s just left.’ Planting one hand on her hip, she pouted and slowly raised her eyes to stare into his.

  ‘Well sorry to wreck your buzz,’ he said, looking obviously flustered.

  ‘So, what are you going to do to redeem yourself?’ she asked, twisting from side to side coyly.

  He turned on his heel and marched away with such speed, Pippa almost shouted to him to wait. Expertly elbowing his way through the throng at the bar, he held up his hand and got immediate attention from one of the bar staff.

  Within minutes he returned with a bottle of Moët and two champagne flutes.

  ‘Is this good enough?’ he asked as he popped the cork and poured.

  ‘It’s a start,’ she said, raising an eyebrow. Her heart was thudding so loudly she feared her hand might shake as she lifted the glass to her lips. They sank the entire contents of their glasses in two large gulps.

  ‘Jeez, you drink like you’ve just escaped from a week in the Sahara,’ she said.

  ‘I didn’t see you lagging too far behind me, little lady.’ He leaned in cheekily to kiss her. ‘You taste great. I’m Danny.’

  ‘Ditto, Danny, I’m Pippa.’

  Within twenty minutes the bottle was empty and Pippa felt as if her belly would explode with fizz. She giggled and swayed slightly as the alcohol and bubbles had an almost instant effect on her.

  ‘Let’s get out of here,’ Danny said as he pulled Pippa by the hand toward the side door.

  ‘Hey, where are we going?’ she said, suddenly nervous. She didn’t know this guy.

  ‘Somewhere fun!’ he said, grabbing her hand again.

  ‘Wait a second,’ she said, releasing her hand from his grasp. ‘I need to say ciao to my mates and for the record, I am going to take a photo of you and send it to Zach, so he’ll know who you are, just in case.’

  Danny cocked his head to one side and looked at her. ‘OK,’ he said slowly. ‘If you need to do that, no problem.’

  Pippa snapped a quick pic of him and texted it to Zach. Then she went over to her friends and told them she was heading off.

  ‘You sure he’s cool?’ Zach asked craning his neck to look at him. ‘Although what I saw of him while you two were sculling champers looks rather delicious.’

  ‘He is, isn’t he?’ Pippa giggled. �
��I’ll call you. We need to talk business, yeah?’

  ‘Sure thing. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,’ Zach said kissing her on the cheek. ‘God I’m jealous, he’s divine.’

  ‘And check your phone,’ Pippa said, looking her friend in the eye. ‘I’ve sent you a pic, OK.’

  Zach frowned and looked down at his phone, then back at Pippa.

  ‘Oh, I get it,’ he said. ‘I don’t blame you after what happened . . . the assault.’

  ‘A girl just has to be careful,’ Pippa said quickly.

  Zach squeezed her hand quickly. ‘If you need me, ring my number. But he looks alright, I think.’

  ‘Catch you later,’ she said with a wink.

  ‘Let’s meet tomorrow and we’ll try and get this transaction sorted with the website, yeah?’

  ‘Totally,’ Pippa said. She went to find Danny, who had already found a taxi.

  ‘Come on, you’re wasting precious time.’

  ‘Where are we going?’ she slurred as she fell into the back seat. ‘Ugh, I feel kind of woozy.’

  ‘Not for long,’ he said winking. As they pulled up outside Dublin’s exclusive Sumatra Hotel, she grinned.

  ‘We’ll never get into Fire and Rain nightclub at this hour. You have to queue for hours and even then they look at you as if you’re scum.’

  Danny paid the taxi driver and held the car door open, reaching in to help her to her feet.

  ‘Evening J,’ he said to the bouncer.

  ‘Danny. Madam,’ he answered as he stood to the side and unclipped the red rope. The club was heaving as they were sucked into the heat. The dull thud of the bass beat made Pippa’s stomach lurch. Her eyes watered as she clamped her hand over her mouth, praying she wasn’t going to spew all over Danny’s back.

  Mercifully, she managed not to vomit as they were thrust into a Perspex elevator she’d never even noticed before.

  ‘Where are we going now?’ she slurred as her head became too heavy for her neck. ‘Sorry, I’m plastered.’

  ‘Poor pretty Pippa,’ he said, leaning down to kiss her on the mouth. ‘Come with me and I’ll sort you.’

  ‘I’d like a pint of iced water,’ she said as the elevator lurched to a stop.