‘No, I just don’t know how much money we will have to live on or for how long so I’m not taking any chances. I’m renting out the house, we’re moving into Dot’s and I’m taking the kids out of school; they’ll go to the local primary in Kilbarrack.’
‘Oh, Marianne, I’m so sorry.’ Jo looked at her, horrified. Other than something happening to the children or Greg, she could think of nothing worse than having to give up her home.
‘It’s fine, we’ll cope,’ her friend said with a shrug of resignation. ‘My biggest worry was how the kids would react to changing schools but they seem delighted. All that money wasted on private education. Ironic, isn’t it?’
‘You were just trying to give them a better start than we had. If you need any help, Marianne, just say so.’ She wasn’t much use at anything in particular but she could and would back up her friend. ‘School runs or babysitting, anything. All you have to do is ask.’
‘You are sweet, Jo, but you live in Shankill!’
‘Yes, but we’re only five minutes from the train station and isn’t Dot’s house only around the corner from Kilbarrack Station?’
‘Oh my God, I hadn’t thought of that. How brilliant, Jo. We’ll be able to meet up much more often.’
‘No, we won’t.’
Marianne frowned. ‘Why not?’
‘Because you’ll be off in a fancy office doing a high-powered job.’
‘Ha, I wish!’
‘But it does mean that I can come over and look after the kids or they can come to me; travelling on the DART is so much easier than dealing with traffic jams.’
‘That really cheers me up, Jo,’ Marianne said. ‘We don’t see nearly enough of each other.’
Jo smiled, warmed by the genuine pleasure on Marianne’s face. ‘Well, that’s all going to change.’
Chapter Sixteen
Dot sat in a deck chair, enjoying the feel of the sun on her face as she watched the children play. Kate sat at her feet, pulling grass; in fact the child had been stuck to her like glue since they got here. That chat with the doctor hadn’t seemed to make much difference, not that it surprised Dot.
‘Why don’t you go and play with the other kiddies, luvvie?’
Kate just shrugged.
‘You know, I miss your daddy a lot but when I get down I try to remember the happy times and there were so many.’ At least that was true, Dot comforted herself, a pity most of them were so long ago.
‘Tell me one, Granny.’
‘Well, let me think.’ Dot put a hand on her granddaughter’s silky head. ‘Did I tell you about the first time your daddy met your mummy?’
Kate looked up, a spark of interest in her eyes. ‘It was at a dance, wasn’t it?’
‘Not just any dance, it was called The Grove and the coolest place to go on the north side of Dublin. It started out in Belgrove School, oh, years ago, but there was a fire and they moved to St Paul’s School in Raheny, that’s a boys’ school next to St Anne’s Park; you’ve been there a few times, haven’t you?’
‘Yes, for walks and to play tennis.’
‘I must take you to the rose garden some time,’ Dot mused. ‘It’s very pretty.’
‘What about The Grove, Granny?’
‘Aren’t you impatient, missus?’ Dot teased. ‘Well, it was nothing special really, I’ve no idea why they were all so mad about the place; you’d want to ask your mother that. It was held in an ordinary hall every weekend, from nine at night until one in the morning. Your granda wasn’t at all impressed at your daddy staying out till that hour and only let him go a couple of times a month. You had to be sixteen to get in although I know lots of the younger kids managed to forge membership cards to get in; I know for a fact your daddy did.’ She laughed. ‘He’d say he was off out to play chess with some of the clever young fellas in his class and of course Granda swallowed that, but I knew very well what he was up to.’
‘How could Granda think he was staying out so late to play chess?’ Kate asked, frowning.
‘Ah, your daddy wasn’t stupid, he came home early on those nights; he loved the place. It ran for years and years and it always had the same DJ, now what was his name?’ She paused, frowning, racking her brains.
‘It doesn’t matter, Granny. Tell me about Daddy meeting Mum.’
‘That happened much later. Your dad was nineteen; he’d left school and had started university. He probably wouldn’t have been going there any more at all, only he was always broke and it was cheaper than the clubs and discos in town. It was only years later that he told me the full story of the night he met your mother. It was her first time there and the bouncer was giving her and her friend a rough time.’
Kate frowned. ‘What’s a bouncer?’
‘The person who decides who to let in. From what your daddy said, there was one man who was more interested in making the poor kids suffer than anything else. He’d question them, examine their membership cards while everyone queued up behind. Well, your mum was close to tears, terrified of the bully, she was, and didn’t your daddy step in to sort it out. He’d been going so long, the bouncer knew him well and as soon as your daddy said that she was a friend, he let her in straight away.’
‘But she wasn’t a friend?’
Dot shook her head and smiled. ‘No, but she was after that. Your daddy was smitten straight away although your mum refused to go on a date with him for a long time.’
Kate looked cross. ‘Why, didn’t she like him?’
‘She says she did but she was very young, had only just left the children’s home and the rules at the hostel were quite strict. She wasn’t supposed to go out in the evening without another girl, and when she did go out she had to be home before twelve. So, for a couple of months, Dominic would only see her there once a week and then she was gone by quarter to twelve. Finally he persuaded her to go out with him. They met up for a burger in town and walked around St Stephen’s Green. Well, the state of him before he went to meet her.’ Dot smiled at the memory. ‘He was as nervous and excited as a puppy! After that they met once or twice a week at The Grove or in Bewleys on Grafton Street and when I saw that it was serious, I told him to ask her to tea. Your granda and I loved her immediately.’
‘Here you go, Dot.’ A smiling Helen walked towards them with a plate.
‘Mother of God, girl, how can I possibly eat all that?’ Dot stared at the slice of cheesecake, chocolate cake and generous spoonful of ice cream.
‘I’m sure someone could help you.’
Kate bent her head and said nothing. Helen raised her eyebrows at Dot who gave a helpless shrug.
‘Di and Rachel are making some slush puppies, Kate, why don’t you go and help them.’
Kate hesitated for a moment and then stood up. ‘Okay. I won’t be long, Granny.’
‘You go ahead, darling, I’m grand.’
When the little girl had run off towards the house, Helen smoothed the skirt of her dress and sat down. ‘You’re not socializing much today, Dot. Is everything okay?’
‘Fine, love, I’m just trying to give Marianne a break by looking after the kiddies. Kate wants to be with her all the time yet doesn’t say much; it’s driving the poor girl mad.’
‘She has so much on her plate, you both have; I’m worried about you.’
‘There’s no need, we’ll be grand. The one thing she was worried most about was telling the kids that they had to leave school. She decided to leave it till the last moment so they wouldn’t have time to get anxious about it, but me and my big gob; I let it slip just as we were walking out the door today.’
‘Oh no, how did they react?’
‘Well, that’s just it; Marianne explained everything to them on the way over and they don’t seem in the least bit bothered. Andrew is delighted that he’ll be able to walk to school or go on his bike and the real shocker; it turns out that Kate was being bullied in that feckin’ posh school, can you believe that?’
‘That’s awful. What happened to her?�
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‘Some gang of kids were teasing her and making her miserable. We haven’t got to the bottom of it yet, but we will.’
‘If there’s anything I can do . . .’
‘You are doing more than enough, love, and that fella of yours is a diamond; you were lucky to get him.’
Helen looked around the garden until her eyes came to rest on her husband, who was now nodding gravely as Greg talked feverishly, hands waving. ‘I was, and I think I’d better go rescue him now; Greg’s on a tangent and Johnny looks like he might thump him.’
‘Ah, let him,’ Dot said. ‘Somebody should knock some sense into the misery guts.’
Helen laughed. ‘You may be right but I’m not having him ruin my party. Why don’t you go into the marquee and enjoy a glass of wine with Marianne and Jo? We’ll be cutting the cake soon, and no doubt my dear husband will have a few words to say.’
Dot looked around for Andrew and saw that he was having a ball playing chasing with some other children. ‘I will,’ she agreed.
Helen hurried towards her husband, easily the best-looking man there; Dot was right, she was lucky. As she neared, she could hear Greg holding forth and caught the word ‘development’. Oh great, that old hobby horse. He wasn’t the worst in the world but Dot was right, he never seemed to stop moaning and it was clear that he didn’t approve of Johnny and was jealous of his success.
‘They destroyed the city and ruined our heritage; it was a bloody travesty that the Woodquay Viking site wasn’t preserved,’ she heard him say as she arrived at their side.
My God, thirty years later and he was still going on about that, despite the fact that they were all children at the time. Johnny’s eyes were glazed as he stared into the middle distance. Thank God he wasn’t taking the bait today, she thought, and smiled when she saw that he was sipping water.
‘Everything okay, Greg? Did you get enough to eat?’
He turned, a flash of irritation crossing his face at the interruption, before he remembered his manners and nodded politely. ‘A feast fit for a king as always, Helen. Thank you.’
From anyone else that would be a compliment but from Greg it sounded like a criticism. ‘How can you be spending money on fancy parties at a time like this?’ was the underlying message. Helen chose to ignore it and slipped her arm through his.
‘Let’s go inside and join the others. We have a cake to cut. Darling, organize the champagne, would you?’
‘Yes, ma’am!’ Johnny saluted and mouthed a thank-you behind Greg’s back.
‘Di and Rachel are being a great help today, Greg; they’re lovely girls,’ Helen said.
‘Rachel is a good girl, but Di has a bit of a wild streak.’
‘She didn’t get that from her mother,’ Helen retorted.
‘No, of course not, but Joanna’s parents were nutters.’
Helen resisted the urge to punch him and pointed him towards his wife. ‘Jo and Marianne are sitting over there, Greg. Why don’t you grab a couple of chairs for you and Dot?’
Marianne laughed and applauded along with the others as Johnny spoke, regaling them with stories of his courtship with Helen. She was enjoying the party, glad now that the children knew about the move. She still wanted to get to the root of Kate’s problems at school but the little girl seemed content for the moment, sitting next to her and playing games on Marianne’s phone. Andrew was on her other side, half-asleep after all the action outside. Johnny was just finishing off and had called Helen to join him for the toast when Marianne’s phone beeped loudly.
‘Sorry!’ she exclaimed, snatching it from her daughter and switching it off.
‘But Mum—’ Kate protested.
‘Shush,’ Marianne hissed and turned her attention back to Johnny.
‘So, everyone, please join me in drinking to the health of my lovely wife,’ he was saying. ‘Thank you, my darling, for tolerating me for twenty years. I hope you’ll be able to live with me for another twenty as I get old and cranky.’
‘Crankier,’ Helen joked, turning her face up for his kiss.
After that toast, Johnny’s friend, Christy, voice slightly slurred, proposed another toast to the happy couple.
When they had taken their seats once more, the catering staff started to cut up the cake and the band turned up the volume and started to play jazz numbers.
‘He spoke well,’ Dot said.
Joanna smiled. ‘He always tells such great stories.’
‘Telling tales comes with the job,’ Greg muttered.
Marianne saw Jo shoot him an angry look and turned away, loathe to let her friend see that she had noticed. Taking a sip from her champagne flute, she switched her phone back on to make sure that Kate hadn’t left a game running. She really shouldn’t let the children play with it; the games always seemed to eat up her battery. But there was no game running, just a text message. A text message from Dominic. She knew it couldn’t be from him and yet she felt her heart leap in her chest. She hesitated for a moment and then pressed enter to read it.
STOP THIS. PLEASE STOP.
She frowned. What the hell? And then as she ran her eye up the screen and read the messages that had preceded it, the text made sense.
‘DADDY, ITS KATE. ARE YOU THERE, DADDY?’
‘ARE YOU IN HEAVEN?’
‘DADDY, PLEAS ANSER ME AND LET ME NO UR OK.’
‘I MISS YOU DADDY.’
Marianne’s glass slipped silently from her fingers, soaking the skirt of her dress.
‘Butterfingers,’ Dot laughed. ‘Good job it’s champers; it shouldn’t leave a stain.’
Marianne continued to stare in horror at her phone.
‘What is it, Marianne? What’s wrong?’ Jo asked.
Marianne looked up, suddenly conscious of her wet skirt clinging to her legs and Jo, Dot and Greg watching her curiously from the other side of the table.
‘Oh, it’s nothing. Just a member of the PTA committee giving out to me for not attending a meeting.’ She summoned up a smile and shoved the phone into her bag. ‘I’d better go and use Helen’s hairdryer on this, I’m a mess.’
‘I’ll come with you.’ Dot stood up. ‘I need to powder my nose.’
After Colm had shown them up to Helen’s room and fetched a hairdryer, Dot perched on the edge of the bed and looked expectantly at her daughter-in-law.
‘So what was all that about?’
Marianne sank onto the bed with a sigh. ‘Kate has been sending text messages to Dominic’s phone asking him is he okay and if he’s in heaven.’
‘Oh, holy mother of God, the poor love.’
‘And,’ Marianne pulled out the phone, ‘during Johnny’s speech, she got an answer.’
Dot blinked. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Whoever has the phone seems to have a conscience.’ Marianne read out the message. ‘“Stop this. Please stop.” I know it’s stupid, but for a second I thought it really was from him.’
‘Poor Kate.’
Marianne’s eyes widened. She had been so caught up in wondering who the text was from that she had completely forgotten her daughter. ‘I must talk to her.’
Dot stood up and hugged her. ‘Dry that dress and I’ll keep an eye on her till you get down. What will you tell her?’
‘That her daddy isn’t talking to her from the grave.’
‘Oh, bless us and save us,’ Dot said angrily, and crossed herself. ‘Are you going to reply to the message?’
Marianne stared at the phone and shook her head. ‘It can wait.’
When Marianne returned to the marquee, the tables had been cleared from the centre of the room and Johnny was waltzing Helen around the dance floor to one of her favourite Cole Porter songs: ‘Every Time We Say Goodbye’.
Jo was alone at the table.
‘Are you okay?’ she asked as Marianne took her seat. ‘That text seemed to really upset you.’
‘I was just trying to delete it and let the glass fall. Stupid of me; I should have put the bloody th
ing down first. Isn’t it a wonderful party?’ She smiled at her friend, knowing she would swallow her story; Helen wouldn’t be taken in so easily.
‘Lovely,’ Jo said, sounding wistful.
‘Where are the kids?’ Marianne looked around anxiously.
‘They’re outside having ice cream and Slush Puppies. Colm and Di are looking after them.’
‘I should go and check—’
‘Marianne, relax, they’re fine.’
‘I’m worried about Kate.’
‘Do you remember the day I first came to St Anne’s?’
Marianne nodded. ‘How can I forget it? You looked like a terrified little mouse.’
‘I was scared stiff. Between the nuns, the teachers, the kids and the noise, I was completely overwhelmed. I was more petrified that day than on my worst with Mam and Dad and I’d have given anything to go home.’
‘Those first few weeks you hardly opened your mouth; getting you to speak was like pulling teeth.’
‘I know. I was sure it was only a matter of time before you hurt me too. Sorry,’ Jo added.
Marianne stared at her. ‘You’re saying Kate’s afraid of getting hurt again.’
‘Maybe.’
Marianne stood up. ‘Thanks, Jo. I think I’ll go talk to her.’
‘Good luck.’
Marianne could see Kate shrink into her chair, her face frightened when she saw her mother coming, and her stomach clenched. Why couldn’t she reach her daughter?
‘Hi guys.’ She smiled at the children and pulled up a chair.
‘Hiya.’ Colm grinned. ‘Want a drink?’
‘Ugh, no, they look radioactive!’
She nodded at the blue concoction that Kate was drinking. ‘You realize that you’ll probably go blue now, don’t you?’
‘Don’t be silly,’ Kate said, but she smiled.
‘Look at mine!’ Rachel held up a fluorescent pink mixture.
‘At least it goes with your jeans,’ Marianne laughed.
‘I’m making a multi-coloured one,’ Andrew announced.
‘Does that mean you’ll have multi-coloured sheets tonight?’ Marianne shuddered.
Every Time We Say Goodbye Page 15
