‘I hope I’ll have the nerve to wear them,’ Rachel said.
‘You’ll wear them,’ Jennifer said with a glint in her eye.
‘She’s very bossy, isn’t she?’ Paula grinned. She’d met them for lunch. ‘Have you got everything?’
‘I think so. I think Jenny’s happy now that I’m practically penniless,’ Rachel teased.
‘I’m getting my hair done tomorrow and I’m having a leg wax. I think you should do the same,’ Jennifer retorted.
‘A leg wax!’ Rachel paled. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘It makes your legs very smooth, and when you’ve got a tan it looks great,’ Jennifer declared. ‘Go on. Be a devil!’ she dared.
‘Oh, all right,’ Rachel agreed. At this stage she was game for anything.
‘I’ll make an appointment for your hair with Nikki, my hairdresser, and one with Susan in the beauty salon in Kris Morton’s. It’s exactly what you need to finish up your spree,’ Jennifer assured her.
‘I can’t believe the difference,’ Ronan said the next evening as he saw the vision before him. Rachel had been persuaded to have her hair cropped short in an elegant sophisticated layered look. Nikki had put highlights in so that Rachel’s hair shone with blond glints. She’d stopped wearing glasses soon after she started working and wore contact lenses instead. When she looked at herself in the mirror in her bedroom, wearing a tight floral lycra mini and a white T-shirt, Rachel couldn’t believe it was her.
It was as if she was another person. The curly hair that had straggled to her shoulders was gone. The short sharp hairstyle made her look much younger and very contemporary. Rachel couldn’t believe how slim and nicely proportioned she was in her new clothes that fitted so snugly. Usually she wore loose-fitting cardigans and skirts and blouses. Really hickey clothes. When she looked at herself now Rachel had to admit that she’d been a Mary Hick. She’d never bothered much with her appearance. She’d never tried to make herself glamorous like Paula and Jennifer. From now on she would, she decided. It was fun buying clothes. She’d never looked as good. She was not going to slip back into her lazy couldn’t-care-less ways after her holidays. As Jennifer said, ‘Bugger saving.’ She’d more than enough for a deposit on a small house or apartment. In future she was going to look after her appearance and treat herself to new fashionable clothes every so often. Blouses and cardigans would be consigned to the bin.
‘What do you think?’ Rachel did a twirl for her brother as Jennifer looked on in satisfaction.
‘The men of Corfu will drool at the mouth when you three beauties arrive. Maybe I should go with you after all.’ Ronan pretended to scowl. Rachel giggled, she felt on top of the world. She might even have a holiday affair. She was so excited by her new looks and her new wardrobe, she might do anything.
‘Wasn’t it very kind of Kieran to give Jennifer a free holiday all the same?’ Kit remarked to Brenda as she finished washing up after the tea. Brenda had dropped the children in for her to mind for an hour at lunch-time, but as usual, Brenda had taken advantage and didn’t arrive to collect her offspring until after tea-time.
According to Brenda, there’d been some sort of protest march in town, and she’d got caught up in it and the traffic had been dire. Kit had to hand it to her daughter. Brenda never used the same excuse twice and was never stuck for one either. There was no point in getting annoyed, Brenda would never change. Kit knew, when she agreed to mind the kids, that she’d be landed with them. It was her own fault. All she had to do was say no. The next time she would.
‘Jenny’s going on holidays, the lucky sucker,’ Brenda said enviously. What she wouldn’t give to go on a holiday right now this minute. Still, after the accident and the miscarriage, Jennifer probably felt the need of a break. ‘Ronan’s lucky to work for a company. When Shay takes his holidays he loses two weeks’ work,’ Brenda grumbled, as she dried the knives and forks, a job she hated.
‘Oh, Ronan’s not going. It’s girls only.’ Kit squeezed out the dishcloth and wiped the taps and draining board.
‘What girls?’ Brenda asked sharply.
‘Paula and Rachel. It’s going to be Rachel’s first holiday abroad and she’s dying for it. They’re going to stay in a luxury villa in Corfu that has its own swimming-pool. I’m delighted for Jenny, the poor dote. It was awful her losing the baby like that.’
Brenda stared out the window facing The Green. Jealousy, hurt and rage churned inside her. Paula and Rachel were going on holidays with Jennifer, and her sister hadn’t even bothered to ask whether Brenda would like to go with them. But then Brenda had always been second best to Paula in Jennifer’s eyes. And you’d think Miss Wishy-Washy Rachel was a saint the way Jennifer went on about her, just because she’d come from her sick-bed to Dublin to take care of Jennifer when she came out of hospital.
Brenda would have called in to make sure she was OK. It was no big deal, she thought grimly as she flung the knives and forks into the drawer. But Brenda didn’t count, she thought, feeling immensely sorry for herself. She went to the back door and called the children.
‘I don’t want to come home,’ whined Claudia. ‘We’re having races.’
‘I don’t want to come home either,’ Lauren said, copying her sister.
Brenda was in no mood to be trifled with. ‘Get out to the car, the pair of you, or I’ll get the wooden spoon.’ She scowled.
‘But Mammy, I don’t want to go.’ Claudia immediately burst into tears.
‘Get in the car,’ yelled Brenda.
‘It’s all right, there’s no need to cause a fuss,’ Kit said crossly.
‘That one is never satisfied. No matter what she gets she wants more. Well she can’t have what she wants all the time and the sooner she learns that, the better,’ Brenda snapped as she pulled Lauren’s coat on, and handed John his jacket. Claudia pulled away from her as she went to put her coat on. Brenda gave her a slap across the legs. Claudia’s put-on tears turned to howls of outrage.
‘Out the door, madam,’ Brenda ordered. Kit looked on in annoyance. It was rich to hear Brenda going on about Claudia never being satisfied with what she had. Because if there was one person who was never satisfied with her lot, it was Brenda. Kit knew exactly what was going on. Brenda was miffed because Jennifer was going on holiday with Paula and Rachel, and she was taking it out on the children. Did she expect Jennifer to ask her to go on holiday with them? Brenda had three children to take care of. Paula and Rachel had none. Brenda was never happy. She’d thought she’d never get married and have children and be able to give up work. Then when she had her children, she thought she’d never get back to work. She was always comparing her house to Jenny’s, and what she had and what Jenny had. It infuriated Jennifer, who didn’t give a fig about what anyone had.
‘Stop taking your bad humour out on the children, Brenda,’ Kit said quietly.
‘You did it often enough when Grandpa Myles was giving you a hard time,’ Brenda retorted.
Kit flushed. She couldn’t think of an answer. Because the remark was true. She felt like giving Brenda a clip on the ear. She’d had a hell of a lot more to put up with than her daughter ever would.
‘You’ve a sharp tongue, Brenda Myles,’ she said coldly and walked out of the kitchen.
‘It’s Brenda Hanley,’ Brenda muttered as she gathered up the various bits and pieces belonging to the children.
‘What’s all the yelling for?’ Grandpa Myles stuck his head out of his room. ‘How’s a man expected to read his paper?’
‘Mind your own business, you,’ Brenda snarled.
‘I can see where that young one of yours gets her impudence,’ Grandpa shot back. ‘God help her with the mother she’s got.’ He slammed his bedroom door.
‘Bloody old nuisance,’ Brenda fumed as she marched her offspring out the front door, without bothering to say thank you or goodbye to her mother.
‘Where’s the kids?’ Shay asked an hour later when he arrived home from work.
‘In bed, they were as bold as brass,’ Brenda snapped. Shay said nothing. But his heart sank. Brenda was in very bad form these days.
‘What’s for dinner?’
‘There’s a pizza in the oven. Do you want some chips?’ she said ungraciously.
‘I’ll make the chips,’ Shay offered. ‘Do you want some?’
‘No thanks,’ she said. ‘I don’t want any dinner. I’m not hungry. I’m going in to watch EastEnders.’ Shay prudently decided to remain in the kitchen, it was obviously going to be one of those evenings.
Brenda sat scowling at Sharon and Grant. Sharon had a great tan, she must have been abroad. She was a TV star, of course, she’d be well able to afford to go abroad on holiday. Brenda couldn’t concentrate on the soap, she was in such bad humour. It wouldn’t have killed Jennifer to ask her to go on holiday. Shay’s sister could surely be bribed to look after the kids. She was delighted with the money she’d made when they went away a couple of weeks ago for their anniversary.
Shay could bloody well fork out some money for her holiday. She’d given him half her gratuity for the mortgage and the central heating as well as paying for her own car, she thought, feeling very sorry for herself. She could just imagine the fun the three girls would have. Paula, no doubt, would be out discoing every night. She was a real party animal. It would all be new to Rachel. The first foreign holiday was always the best, she thought nostalgically, remembering her own, all those years ago. She wondered what had ever happened to Raul. One of her biggest regrets was that she hadn’t slept with him. Raul would have been a hell of a lot sexier than Shay, she thought crankily as she folded a pair of her husband’s Y-fronts that had a hole in the arse and put them in the clothes basket beside her.
Imagine lying in the sun, with no kids demanding attention, she thought wistfully. It was pelting rain outside. It had been a desperate winter of gales and storms. Imagine blue skies and the heat of the sun on your limbs. Imagine swimming in your own pool! Brenda could take no more. She jumped to her feet, grabbed her bag and rooted her coat out of the pile under the stairs.
‘I’m going down to Jenny’s,’ she called out to Shay, who gave a sigh of relief. There was a football match on but the humour Brenda was in, he’d hesitated to ask if he could watch it after EastEnders. It would mean she’d miss The Bill, one of her favourite programmes.
‘Tell her I was asking for her,’ Shay called, emptying the chip basket onto his pizza. ‘Don’t rush back, I’ll look after the kids, you deserve a night out!’ He took a can of beer out of the fridge. The evening was turning out better than he’d hoped, he thought as he heard the front door close. He put his dinner on a tray and headed for the sitting-room. He threw a log on the fire, switched channels and stretched out on the sofa. Shay could hear the kids out of bed upstairs. They could play away, he decided, as long as they didn’t disturb him or his match.
‘Ya bloody idiot,’ he swore happily as the Spurs goalkeeper let a goal through. Brenda and her bad humour already a distant memory.
Brenda sat tight-lipped at the traffic lights opposite St Michael’s. There was no point in barging in on Jennifer and demanding to be allowed to go on holiday. That would get her sister’s back up immediately. She’d have to be much more subtle than that. Impulsively she pulled into the parking space in front of the shops and got out of the car and went into the Winkel. Jennifer was mad about chocolate oranges, so she bought her one, and a couple of magazines for good measure. She paid for her purchases and sat back in the car. She’d have a quick flick through Hello!, she decided, before she gave it to Jenny. She sighed enviously at the sight of a suntanned Princess Caroline, and her children. And then turned the page to see Princess Diana in a backless gown attending some gala, also tanned and glowing. She was going on holidays with the girls Brenda vowed, and that was it.
‘Hi, Jenny,’ she beamed about fifteen minutes later as she handed her sister the magazines and chocolate orange. ‘Are you feeling any better? I just told Shay I was coming down to see you, to ask if I can do anything for you. I know Rachel’s here with you, but if there’s anything at all I can do let me know,’ Brenda said sweetly, stepping in to the hall.
‘Thanks very much, Brenda,’ Jennifer said, surprised. ‘I feel better than I did. The bruising’s not as bad and my ribs are healing. Physically I’m on the mend.’
‘I know,’ Brenda murmured, and this time she did feel sorry for her sister. ‘You’re young, Jenny, you’ll get pregnant again. I know that doesn’t seem a very helpful thing to say now but I don’t know what else to say.’
‘It’s all right, Bren, I know what you mean. Will you have a cup of tea?’ Jennifer asked.
‘I’ll make it,’ Brenda offered. ‘Where’s Ronan and Rachel?’
‘Ronan’s at the gym and Rachel’s upstairs writing a letter to a friend of hers in Singapore.’ Jennifer led the way out to the kitchen. It was a beautiful kitchen, despite its small size, Brenda thought, looking at the immaculate grey and white presses and worktops. One of these days she was going to get Shay to order a fitted kitchen for her.
‘When are you thinking of going back to work?’ Brenda asked casually, wishing she could lead up to the subject of the holiday.
‘Sometime after Easter,’ Jennifer said. ‘Kieran’s very good, he’s not putting any pressure on me at all.’ It was on the tip of Brenda’s tongue to say, maybe you should go on a little holiday, but it seemed a little ham-fisted. Have patience, Brenda told herself sternly. She didn’t want to blow it.
Just then Rachel popped her head around the kitchen door to announce that she was going to post her letter, did Jennifer want anything from the shops? Brenda stared at her in amazement. She hardly recognized her.
‘Rachel!’ she exclaimed. ‘Your hair is gorgeous. It’s changed you completely. You look terrific,’ Brenda admired, noting Rachel’s slenderness in a new pair of jeans and a sweatshirt.
‘It’s all Jenny’s fault.’ Rachel beamed. ‘She made me go on a spending spree to buy a whole load of new clothes and then she brought me to get my hair done and have a leg wax. So I got the hair chopped. It will be handy on holiday anyway.’
Brenda’s heart raced. ‘You’re going on holiday?’ she asked lightly. ‘Lucky you. Where are you off to?’
‘She’s coming to Corfu with Paula and me. Kieran’s offered us a villa, so we’re going next Thursday,’ Jennifer said over her shoulder as she made a pot of tea. That soon, thought Brenda in dismay. Well she’d have to get organized fast and that was all there was about it. She was due holidays, she’d add them on to her Easter ones. If Shay’s sister wasn’t free, Kit would surely look after the kids, she thought, conveniently forgetting that she’d been very narky with her mother earlier that day.
‘A villa in Corfu,’ Brenda breathed. ‘It sounds divine.’
‘It’s a lovely one all right. We’re taking it for ten days,’ Jennifer agreed, pouring the tea. Ten days, that was perfect, Brenda thought excitedly. It was much less outrageous to take off for only ten days instead of the usual fourteen.
‘I wish I was able to go,’ she said wistfully and then paused, pretending to be thinking.
‘Actually,’ she remarked casually. ‘I’m due holidays and with Easter added on, I’d have ten days.’ She smiled at Jennifer and Rachel as if she’d just had a brilliant brainwave.
‘Girls, I think I’ll come with you,’ Brenda announced.
Chapter Eighty-Nine
‘Are you sure you don’t mind, Paula? I still can’t believe that she only found out about the holiday on Tuesday and she’s organized to come with us tonight. I suppose I could have said there wasn’t a seat. But I’d have felt really guilty then.’ Jennifer sat twiddling the telephone cord. Her suitcase was packed and standing in the hall. She was all ready to go and it was only nine a.m.
‘Look, you and I’ll share the room with twin beds, Brenda can have one on her own, and Rachel the other, so stop worrying,’ Paula said calmly.
‘Yeah, bu
t I know Brenda’s not one of your favourite people.’ Jennifer sighed. ‘After all, it is your holiday too and I’ve already asked if I could bring Rachel. And now Brenda’s tagging along. It’s a bit much.’
‘Forget it, will you. What could you do? She practically invited herself. Beth roared laughing when I told her, and said only that she’s met the man of her dreams and is going to Kinsale with him, she’d have gatecrashed as well.’
Jennifer laughed. ‘I know this is an awful thing to say about your own sister, but I’d much prefer if Beth was gatecrashing and not Brenda.’
‘I’ll tell you one thing,’ Paula declared, ‘Shay’s a right softie.’
‘He’s probably looking forward to ten days of peace and quiet,’ Jennifer said drily.
‘How’s Rachel?’ Paula asked.
‘Jumping around like a Mexican bean.’ Jennifer smiled. ‘You’d think we were going on a world cruise.’
‘I hope she enjoys herself,’ Paula said. ‘Listen, I’d better go. I want to go in to the office for a couple of hours and then I suppose I ought to go and say goodbye to Helen.’
‘Do that,’ Jennifer said firmly. ‘You’ve got to act as if everything’s normal.’ She heard Paula’s sigh.
‘I know,’ her friend replied.
‘And say goodbye to Kieran too,’ Jennifer ordered.
‘Kieran’s right. You are a dictator.’ Paula chuckled. ‘See you later.’
Jennifer hung up and walked into the sitting-room. The day ahead seemed endless. She wished she was on the plane now, she hated hanging around. She dreaded saying goodbye to Ronan.
‘It’s only for ten days, you idiot,’ she muttered. She’d be fine once she was there. She picked up the Hello! Brenda had brought a few days ago and began to flick through it. She couldn’t concentrate. Brenda’s surprise suggestion had taken the wind out of her sails. She had to admire her sister though. Brenda had organized her sister-in-law to mind the kids. She’d got her traveller’s cheques, bought new clothes, had her hair done and her legs waxed and was raring to go. Brenda was something else.
Foreign Affairs Page 68
