He kept holding her tightly until she exhaled slowly and raised her head again.
‘I think I’m OK now,’ she said.
‘Sure?’
She nodded and grabbed some kitchen towel from the roll on the wall. She dabbed at her eyes, then blew her nose and disposed of the towel in the waste bin.
‘Sorry,’ she said again.
‘You’ve nothing to be sorry about,’ he told her. ‘It’s quite cool for me to have a girl weeping on my shoulder. It’s never happened before.’
‘Hopefully I won’t do it again,’ she said. She brushed her eyes with the backs of her fingers. ‘So, you know, I was going to make you some coffee. And I made this rash offer about something to eat too.’
‘It’s rash because?’
‘I’m guessing frozen crispy pancakes wouldn’t be one of your main food groups?’
‘Tell me you’re joking.’
She opened the freezer and took six boxes of pancakes out of the bottom drawer.
‘Oh my God,’ said Liam. ‘I don’t know how you’re still standing.’
She smiled slightly. ‘It’s awful, isn’t it. I have some frozen French bread pizza too.’
‘Steffie Sheehan! Have you bread? Or anything in the fridge?’
‘Friday’s bread. Some tired salad, tomatoes …’
‘Why don’t you let me look after the food and you can do the coffee?’
‘You’re my guest,’ she said.
‘I don’t want to be your food-poisoned guest.’
‘The pancakes and pizza won’t poison you,’ she pointed out.
‘They’ll poison my soul,’ he said. ‘Let me at your fridge.’
Her smile was a bit stronger this time.
‘OK,’ she said. ‘I’ll just go upstairs and splash my face with water.’
‘Fine.’ Liam’s attention had already turned from her and towards the fridge. He was standing pensively at the open door when she went upstairs.
She went into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror over the sink. Her face was blotchy, her eyes slightly pink. She splashed cold water on her cheeks, then used eyedrops on her eyes. After that, she went into her bedroom, slapped on some tinted moisturiser and changed from her dress into a plain white T-shirt and cropped jeans. She sat on the end of the bed for a few minutes, not thinking of anything, simply staring into space. And then the smell of bacon wafted towards her and her stomach rumbled. She hadn’t realised she was hungry. She stood up and brushed her hair before spraying herself with Clinique Happy and going downstairs again.
‘Hi,’ Liam greeted her. ‘You look good.’
‘And that smells good,’ she said.
‘I can’t honestly say I’m cooking up a storm here,’ he said. ‘You only had rashers, tomatoes and milk in your fridge.’
She looked shamefaced.
‘So it’s a tomato and bacon all-day breakfast,’ said Liam. ‘Fortunately you had bread and herbs, so we can make it something a little more appetising.’
‘Will I do the coffee?’ she asked.
‘Go ahead.’
She switched on the machine. By the time the coffee was ready, Liam had loaded up plates with toasted bread piled with fried tomatoes sprinkled with herbs, and topped with chopped bacon.
‘Funnily enough, my rasher and tomato sandwich doesn’t ever look like this,’ she said. ‘Or taste like it either. Jeez, Liam, what did you do to it?’
‘It’s the herbs and seasoning,’ he said.
‘Wow.’ She cut another piece and popped it in her mouth. ‘You’re a handy man to have around a kitchen.’
He laughed. ‘And you’re not bad with coffee,’ he said after tasting it. ‘It’s pretty good.’
‘Mum and Dad …’ She faltered slightly and then continued. ‘Well, they’re big into coffee. She says they got a taste for it in Italy.’ Thinking of her parents in Italy made Steffie grimace. ‘Anyhow, long before the whole coffee thing took off here, we were a family with a machine.’
‘A proper one,’ he said. ‘That grinds the beans and everything.’
She nodded. ‘We have one at Aranbeg too. Mum says the one thing she can’t compromise on is coffee. It’s a pity,’ she added, ‘that she seems to be able to compromise on pretty much everything else.’
Chapter 32
Back at Aranbeg, the power had been restored and Roisin had put the kettle on so that they could have tea and coffee before going home. She didn’t bother with the sandwiches but decided to cut Pascal and Jenny’s anniversary cake instead.
‘You really are something, Ro.’ Davey gave his sister a hug. ‘Out of nowhere we’re having a family coffee morning.’
‘Ha ha.’ She made a face at him.
‘Seriously,’ he said. ‘You’re amazing. Thank you.’
To her horror, Roisin felt her eyes well up at the fact that at least one member of her family appreciated her efforts.
‘Fabulous cake,’ said Alivia, who was comfort-eating after the text from Sophie Fisher.
‘It’s pretty good all right,’ mumbled Colette as she crammed the last of her slice into her mouth. ‘But I’d best be off now.’
‘I’d like to go too,’ said Sarah. ‘But we can’t leave yet, Carl, can we? We’re still waiting for Summer to make an appearance.’
‘Where on earth is she?’ asked Roisin.
‘Asleep in the living room,’ replied Carl.
‘What?’ Colette looked at her brother in astonishment. ‘How can she possibly have slept through a champagne cork popping and all of us congratulating Davey and Camilla?’
‘She sleeps well,’ said Carl.
‘I’ll bet,’ muttered Bernice.
‘Go and wake her,’ commanded Sarah.
‘I tried,’ admitted Carl, ‘but she’s out for the count. The thing is,’ he added, ‘she’s really used to staying up late and then getting up late the next day.’
Colette laughed. ‘She was asleep before me last night. Although maybe she’d just passed out from all her home-made cocktails.’
‘There’s no need to be like that.’ Carl gave her an irritated look.
‘No, indeed,’ said Bernice calmly. ‘She’s a young girl and she needs her rest. Jenny, Pascal, I’m away now. Thank you for all your hospitality.’
‘Thank you, Bernice,’ said Jenny, ‘for looking after Poppy and being so capable in a crisis.’
Poppy herself, who’d been methodically demolishing her slice of cake, got up from the table and hugged Bernice with her good arm.
‘You were brilliant,’ she said. ‘I love you.’
Bernice smiled at her.
‘We owe you one. Or two. Or three,’ said Roisin. ‘Poppy’s right. You were more than brilliant. Give me a shout sometime you’re free and we’ll meet up.’
‘Will do,’ said Bernice. She picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. ‘Bye, everyone.’
They all chorused their goodbyes and watched her drive away.
‘You can come home with me if you like, Mum,’ said Colette. ‘Save you waiting until Summer decides to wake up.’
‘That would be nice,’ said Sarah.
‘She’ll be up soon.’ As far as Carl was concerned, all the attention that had been lavished on Bernice before she left was calculated to insult him and Summer. And now his sister was adding to it by offering to drive their mother home.
‘But Colette is awake and ready to go now,’ said Sarah. ‘I’m fairly certain that even when she does wake, it’ll take Summer a significant amount of time to get herself together.’
‘There’s no need—’
‘We’ll go now,’ said Colette firmly.
‘And so will we,’ said Lucinda. ‘OK with you, Alivia?’
Alivia agreed and went to collect the car from the GAA car park. Lucinda was at the front door, saying goodbye to Jenny, when she returned.
‘Great party,’ she told her sister. ‘Best fun I’ve had in years.’
‘And now us.’ Dav
ey turned to his mother. ‘We have to be at the airport in a couple of hours.’
‘It was so lovely to have you here,’ said Jenny. ‘And I couldn’t be happier about your news.’ She hugged Davey and then Camilla. The Danish girl returned the hug and said that she’d had a wonderful time and that she hoped to see them all again very soon.
‘Who knows,’ she quipped. ‘We might even get married here.’
Davey looked at her in astonishment and she winked at him. Then the two of them left.
‘Only Carl and Summer to go now,’ said Roisin.
‘I’ll get her up,’ said Carl.
‘Don’t worry on my account,’ said Jenny. ‘Let the girl sleep if she wants.’
But Carl was feeling ever more pressured by his sleeping girlfriend. He went into the living room and shook her hard. Summer rolled over, pulling the light blanket more closely around her shoulders.
‘For crying out loud, Summer,’ hissed Carl. ‘Open your feckin’ eyes, would you?’
Eventually she blinked a few times and looked sleepily at him.
‘What time is it?’
‘Nearly twelve,’ he told her. ‘Everyone’s gone except us.’
‘I’m exhausted,’ she said.
‘Get up,’ he told her. ‘We’re leaving.’
Summer yawned widely and finally sat up. Her golden hair tumbled messily around her face but her make-up, which she hadn’t bothered to remove before going to sleep, was still flawless. She looked around for her high-heeled sandals and put them on before smiling widely at Carl and saying that she desperately needed coffee. They went into the kitchen where Jenny, Pascal and Roisin’s family were sitting around the table.
‘I’m up!’ Summer gave them a cheery smile as she plopped down on a seat beside Daisy. ‘How are you, sweetie?’
‘I’m OK. You look fabulous,’ said Daisy.
‘Thank you. Oh, and thank you too,’ she said to Roisin, who offered her a cup of coffee. ‘Carl told me everyone was gone.’
‘Except us,’ said Poppy. ‘We’re always last. Mum has to make sure everyone has gone before us.’
‘Poppy!’ Roisin gave her an irritated look.
‘Well, you do,’ said Poppy. ‘And everyone is gone, except Carl and Summer.’
‘It’s my fault,’ Summer said. ‘I was so sleepy, Carl couldn’t wake me.’
‘That’s OK,’ said Jenny. ‘It was a long day yesterday.’
‘I’m used to long nights,’ Summer said. ‘It’s long days and long nights together that are the trouble.’
Jenny laughed.
‘I know it’s very naughty of me, but I’ll just have a quick smoke in the garden before I go,’ said Summer. ‘I treat myself to one cigarette a day, in the morning. It helps me to motivate myself.’
Roisin frowned as Daisy said she’d go outside with her. Poppy and Dougie, who’d been eating cereal, said they were going out too. They wanted to look at the stream, said Poppy, to see if there were any fish.
‘Please don’t get wet,’ said Roisin as they trooped out. She wasn’t at all happy at the idea of Summer smoking in front of Daisy, but there was nothing she could do about it now without appearing like a total killjoy and control freak. But she was going to remind Daisy about the evils of cigarettes on the way home. And she’d warn her that Summer’s beauty would be ruined by her smoking habit.
‘I’m sorry, Aunt Jenny.’ Carl looked at her sheepishly. ‘I guess Summer might not have been the best person to bring along.’
‘Why on earth did you?’ asked Roisin before her mother could speak.
‘Oh, look, it was a party,’ said Jenny. ‘It doesn’t matter who you brought.’
‘Except that he was supposed to be on a break from Bernice,’ Roisin said.
‘I like Summer,’ Jenny said. ‘She’s fun and uncomplicated and from what I can gather she makes a damn good cocktail.’
‘Mum!’ Roisin glared at her. ‘Bernice practically saved Poppy’s life!’
‘There’s a time for life-saving and a time for cocktail-shaking,’ said Jenny. ‘Of course you have to decide which works best for you, Carl. But it’s your life and your choice.’
‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘You might not be married for forty years but you certainly sound like someone who is.’
‘What happened between you and Ber?’ asked Roisin. ‘Why did you need the break in the first place?’
Carl sighed. ‘We want different things,’ he said.
‘Will you always want different things?’ asked Jenny. ‘Or is this a temporary situation?’
‘I don’t know.’ Carl glanced through the patio doors to where Summer was chatting with Daisy. ‘I really don’t know.’
When Summer had finished her cigarette, the two of them left. Before they went, Summer kissed Daisy on the cheek and promised to send her a goody bag of make-up she’d got for free. Roisin was afraid she might choke with the effort of saying silent. But finally they were gone and she and her family were the only ones left at Aranbeg with Pascal and Jenny.
‘I suppose we should hit the road too, and leave you in peace,’ she said.
‘I’ll get the car,’ said Paul. ‘Roisin, are you going to leave with us or stay a little longer?’
Roisin had almost forgotten that she’d driven down separately. Being able to go home later would give her more time to talk to her parents, she thought, which would be a good thing. But then Poppy said that she wanted to come home with her and so they decided to leave at the same time.
‘Thank you for everything,’ Jenny said as she hugged her daughter.
‘You’re probably fuming with me,’ said Roisin. ‘If I hadn’t wanted to surprise you …’
‘You had the best of intentions,’ said her mother. ‘I should’ve kept my mouth shut yesterday, then told you all properly afterwards.’
‘It would’ve been easier,’ Roisin said. ‘But it’s good to have it all out in the open, even if it’s going to take us a bit of time to come to terms with everything.’
‘And as far as you and Pascal are concerned, Jenny, it’s really not such a big deal.’ Paul, who was eager to leave, didn’t want his wife and her mother to get into another discussion about the non-marriage. ‘It’s a matter of formalising things, that’s all.’
‘Which is how I always looked at it,’ agreed Jenny.
Roisin said nothing.
‘I know it bothers you, darling,’ Jenny said to her. ‘But please believe me when I tell you that your dad and I were all set to tie the knot in Rome, for your sake as much as ours.’
‘It’s OK.’
Jenny’s expression, as she looked at her elder daughter, was regretful. She knew that Roisin was burying her hurt by being busy and practical, but she didn’t know what to say to make things better. So in the end she simply wished them a safe drive home and said she hoped to see them again soon.
‘Are you still angry with Granny?’ asked Poppy as they turned on to the main road.
‘Of course not,’ replied Roisin.
‘You sound it,’ Poppy said. ‘You sound like you do when you’re angry with me. Like when I fell out of the tree.’
‘I’m not angry with Granny and I’m not angry with you either,’ said Roisin. ‘Although I expect you to listen to me in future and do what you’re told.’
‘I expect you want Granny to do what she’s told too,’ said Poppy, before taking a book out of her rucksack and settling back in the passenger seat to read it.
‘I’m glad we have the house to ourselves again.’ Jenny sank into the sofa in the living room and pulled her legs up beneath her.
‘Me too,’ agreed Pascal. ‘I thought they were never going to go.’
‘I guess we shouldn’t think like that about the girl who only wanted to provide us with a memorable day,’ said Jenny. ‘Which she did, of course, but not the way she intended. Poor Roisin. I’ll bet she had it planned to precision.’
‘Of course she had.’
Jenny sighed
. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said.
‘You’ve said that about a million times.’
‘To Roisin. To Davey. To Steffie. And to all our guests. But not to you.’
‘Oh, you must have included me in an apology at some point.’
‘Perhaps. But I truly am sorry, Pascal. Sorry that I got pregnant when I was twenty-one. Sorry I kind of forced the whole getting married thing on you. Sorry I haven’t been a better … well, not wife, but a better person to live with. So, so sorry about Gregory. And about not telling Steffie when you told me I should. I’m sorry for being weak and foolish and always putting myself before others.’
‘And are you sorry for being hard on yourself too?’ he asked.
‘I’m not being hard on myself,’ she said. ‘I’ve often allowed myself to feel that life’s been hard on me. But it hasn’t. I have you and the children and I’m luckier than most of the women I know. Sarah and Lucinda are sort of right about me. I’m nothing but trouble yet I always land on my feet.’
Pascal gazed past his wife and out over the garden. The flood water had receded and the grass was visible again. The sun, emerging from behind the clouds, lit up the still damp leaves and flowers, so that they dazzled beneath its rays. It was serene and, despite the black stump of the tree that had been struck by lightning, very beautiful. Jenny had helped to make it that way, just as she’d turned Aranbeg into an oasis for him.
When he’d first told her about the money he’d won on the prize bonds, she’d talked about how many things it would help them with. Putting proper central heating in at home had been high on her list. The houses had been built with warm air heating that had never worked properly, and Jenny had always wanted radiators. Yet when he’d told her of his desire to have a bolt-hole in Wexford, she’d immediately abandoned all notions of an upgraded central heating system and told him that it was a wonderful idea. She’d been thinking of a small cottage. Or even a mobile home. She’d never expected a place like Aranbeg, which had inevitably been a money pit in the early years. Yet she’d never complained, even when he disappeared at weekends without her to do some extra job on the house, leaving her in town with the children. She’d never questioned him or nagged at him or told him that she was fed up having to cut back when the white elephant of Aranbeg was eating lumps out of their available funds. She had always said that one day the house would be perfect, and when all the structural work had been completed, she’d turned her talents to the interior design and to the gardens. She was the one, Pascal knew, who’d made his dream a real home.
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