Double Wedding

by Patricia Scanlan

  Resolutely putting the events of the past few days out of her head, Jen strode out on court and prepared to play her best.

  * * *

  ‘This is my good friend Jessie and her fiancé, Mike, and this is Katie, Jessie’s cousin. Everyone, this is Sean Ryan,’ Carol said gaily, making introductions. They were all in The Gravediggers, where they’d arranged to meet after their matches. Katie had popped over from the house to join them.

  ‘Anyone for a drink?’ Sean asked politely after he’d shaken hands with them all.

  ‘We’re fine, thanks.’ Jessica smiled. ‘You go ahead.’

  ‘Let me guess, a double vodka on the rocks,’ he teased Carol, ‘or just your usual boring old Club?’

  ‘You know me so well,’ Carol laughed.

  ‘Won’t be a minute,’ he said before making his way to the bar.

  ‘He’s gorgeous,’ breathed Katie. ‘Has he got any friends?’

  ‘Of course. He’s very sociable,’ Carol drawled, gratified to see Miss Smart-Ass-Katie drooling at the mouth as she watched Sean lope up to the bar.

  ‘He’s nice,’ Jessica said politely. ‘I hope it goes well for you.’ She was still smarting from Carol’s barbs earlier.

  ‘Don’t see why it shouldn’t,’ the other girl said offhandedly. ‘How did your matches go?’

  Jessica relaxed a little now that they were on neutral territory, so to speak, and they all analysed their matches until Sean came back with his and Carol’s drinks.

  ‘Katie thinks you’re absolutely gorgeous and she was wondering if you’ve any friends,’ Carol announced blithely. ‘We’re always trying to find a man for her.’

  Katie blushed to the roots of her hair. Bitch! she swore silently. Mortified.

  ‘I bet she’s got no problems finding a man,’ Sean said gallantly, ignoring her blush. ‘But any time you feel like coming to the Garda Club, let me know and we can make a night of it.’

  ‘Sounds fun,’ Jessica said hastily, knowing how embarrassed Katie was and furious with Carol for being such a smug wagon. Who did she think she was, rubbing Katie’s nose in it for being temporarily manless?

  ‘Oh, look,’ Katie said airily, indicating the door. ‘There’s your ex-fiancé, Carol, it didn’t take him long to get over you.’

  It was Carol’s turn to blush as Sean looked over to the door and back at her in a very quizzical manner. She could see Gary and Jen Coughlan making their way to the bar. Gary had his arm protectively around the other woman.

  For a moment their eyes held and then he looked away disinterestedly.

  ‘You were engaged?’ Sean said conversationally. ‘You never mentioned it.’

  ‘Yes, until last week, believe it or not. Carol’s some woman to go.’ Katie beamed across the table at her arch-enemy.

  ‘Just as well I’d broken it off, or I wouldn’t be able to be here with you,’ Carol responded coyly, slanting a sideways glance at Sean to see how he was reacting.

  Privately she was fuming. Wait until she got her hands on that malicious cow, she’d have her guts for garters. How dare she discuss her private business in front of Sean?

  ‘He seems to have got over it quick enough then,’ Sean observed. ‘Tasty dame he’s with. Great chassis.’

  Mike laughed. ‘You’re not wrong there, for sure.’

  Jessica elbowed him in the ribs. ‘Stop drooling, you.’

  ‘He used to date her before he met me,’ Carol said flatly. She didn’t like Sean’s obvious appreciation of Jen. She was shocked at how deflated she felt seeing Gary with the other woman. Suddenly the game was no fun any more. For two pins she’d leave, but she wouldn’t give Gary the satisfaction of knowing he’d got to her. Drawing on all her inner resources, Carol did her best to sit with a smile on her face pretending that she hadn’t a care in the world.

  * * *

  Gary took advantage of the fact that Jen had gone to the loo to sneak a quick look over to where Carol and the gang were sitting. It felt strange to be apart from the group. They’d gone out together as a bunch for so long that he’d almost automatically turned to head in their direction until he’d seen Carol and the tall, rangy, brown-haired man and felt his stomach lurch.

  He studied them discreetly. They all seemed to be having fun. There were lots of laughs coming from the table, although Katie looked a little uncomfortable. She and Carol had always sparked off each other. They couldn’t under any circumstances be called bosom buddies.

  Carol was sort of nestled in against the man, laughing up into his face, which was bent attentively towards her. Gary felt like smashing his fist into the other bloke’s perfect white teeth. He took a long gulp of his pint. As soon as he was finished his drink he and Jen were out of here. She’d hinted earlier about going back to her place. That was before he’d pulled up outside The Gravediggers. She hadn’t been impressed. He’d probably blown his chance of a shag, he thought glumly, wishing he was anywhere but where he was.

  * * *

  Jen touched up her lipstick and stared at her reflection in the mirror. She looked a million dollars, even if she said so herself. Fat lot of good it was doing her here, she thought angrily, as she gazed at her gleaming blonde tresses flowing down against the flimsy black lace of her top.

  She’d thought Gary was taking her somewhere classy. He’d soon put paid to that idea when he’d pulled up outside The Gravediggers pub in Glasnevin.

  ‘Dying for a decent pint,’ he’d explained when she’d looked at him in surprise. When she’d seen Carol Logan and her group over in the far corner she’d copped on. Carol was with another man and Gary obviously wanted his ex to know he was with someone too. She was only a pawn in his game and it infuriated her.

  Was it that he wanted Carol back and wanted to make her jealous? Or was it that he wanted his ex to see that she had no chance and that he was back with Jen? She couldn’t quite figure it out and it was doing her head in.

  He could get lost tonight, she decided. She wasn’t bringing him back to the apartment. She’d see how things were going before she let Gary Davis into her bed again.

  * * *

  ‘Were you using me to make your ex jealous?’ Sean looked Carol straight in the eye as they sat in his car outside her flat.

  ‘No, I wasn’t!’ she said heatedly, but couldn’t hide the blush that came to her cheeks. ‘I didn’t know he was going to come to The Gravediggers. I think he was trying to make me jealous by bringing her to the pub. Don’t forget we were there first. So he followed me, not the other way around,’ she added triumphantly.

  ‘True,’ he agreed easily. ‘Are you still in love with him?’

  ‘I ended it,’ she pointed out.

  ‘That wasn’t what I asked.’

  ‘I don’t know. I don’t think so,’ Carol said agitatedly.

  ‘Maybe you should take some time,’ he said diplomatically. Tension gripped her. Don’t say he was giving her the brush-off already.

  ‘I like being with you,’ she said frankly and couldn’t believe she’d said it. ‘I was looking forward to going swimming with you in the mornings.’

  ‘Fair enough, so, we’ll give it a shot and see how it goes.’ He leaned across and kissed her lightly on the lips. He had a nice firm mouth, she noted approvingly, and a good strong jawline. Sean was very clean-cut. Gary had a tendency to jowls, or would have by the time he was forty.

  ‘Off to bed with you, woman,’ Sean said firmly, clipping his seat belt on.

  ‘Would you like coffee?’ she asked, hoping he’d refuse the offer. It was a bit soon for him to see the kip upstairs. It might put him off.

  ‘I think you’ve had enough excitement for one night,’ he said drily, and she had the grace to laugh. ‘See you Friday. I’ll stay here until you’re inside.’

  ‘Sir Galahad,’ she joked. She let herself into the flat and blew him a kiss before closing the door. She was wrecked. She yawned exhaustedly. It sure as hell had been a roller-coaster of an evening. She’d been gutted when she�
��d seen Gary with Jen Coughlan. It hadn’t taken long for them to get together again. Anyone but her, she thought bitterly. Everyone would say he’d gone running back to her. It was galling.

  And then that . . . that spiteful little spinster Katie with her big mouth. She’d nearly died of embarrassment in front of Sean when the little bitch had deliberately told him about her broken engagement. She’d been planning on telling him that she’d been engaged further down the line. She was quite unprepared for little blabbermouth’s bombshell to Sean, who was clearly not impressed, she recalled. Although he’d handled it very well. And at least he wasn’t dropping her like a hot potato.

  Some day she was going to let Katie Johnson have it right between the eyes, Carol vowed, as she undressed in the moonlight and dived into bed without even bothering to put on the light. She lay tossing and turning, trying not to imagine what Jen and Gary were doing together in his bed or hers. Heartache swamped her, raking her heart with pain. If she’d had any sense she’d forget about Gary and concentrate on the lovely man who’d been sent to her. But where did sense come into it? Love and sense were diametrically opposed, certainly as far as she and Gary were concerned.

  * * *

  ‘You certainly got your own back on Carol tonight,’ Jessica grinned, as she sat with her flatmate drinking hot chocolate and dunking gingernut biscuits.

  ‘Oh, she’s such a cow!’ Katie scowled. ‘Did you hear her in front of that guy making a holy show of me? I was mortified. “We’ re always trying to find a man for her,” ’ she mimicked. ‘I hate her guts. Smug wagon! How does she do it? She’s engaged on Friday, ditches him on Saturday and is going out with a hunk by Tuesday. And he is a hunk.’ Katie sighed longingly. ‘And he’s a gentleman too. Far too nice for the likes of her. I just couldn’t believe it when she told him that I thought he was gorgeous. I wanted to crawl under the table. He was very nice about it. He knew I was mortified.’

  ‘I know.’ Jessica stretched and yawned. ‘I wonder will they still be together for the wedding? He’d be a guest then.’ She smiled ruefully. ‘At least it won’t be a doubler.’

  ‘It will be interesting to see if they last, but I’ll tell you one thing, I was watching her when Gary walked in with that other one. She was far from happy and she’s far from over him. That’s definitely not finished yet, you mark my words,’ she added darkly.

  ‘I think it is,’ Jessica disagreed.

  ‘You mean you’re hoping it is at least until your wedding is over,’ her cousin observed perceptively.

  ‘Let’s not even go there,’ Jessica groaned, dipping another gingernut into her hot chocolate. She wished Katie hadn’t said what she’d said. There was still a long time to go until September.

  19

  ‘Phone call, Carol.’ Imelda Kelly waved the receiver at Carol as she strolled back to her desk after her tea break.

  ‘Ta, Mel.’ Carol took the phone from the other girl and perched on the side of her desk. ‘Hello?’

  ‘Carol, hi, it’s Dad,’ said a disembodied male voice at the other end of the phone.

  ‘What do you want?’ Carol’s voice turned surly.

  ‘Please don’t be like that, Carol. I heard you were getting married. Your mother phoned me. I wanted to talk to you about it. I want to help pay for it. I want to be with you on the day.’ Her father spoke quickly, anxious that she heard what he had to say.

  ‘I don’t need your help now or ever, thank you very much, and don’t ever ring me at work again. Goodbye,’ she said curtly, her heart hammering in her chest. She hung up the phone, raging with herself. Why did she still react the way she did when her father spoke to her? Why did her throat tighten and her stomach clench? It was more than ten years since he’d left, she was an adult now and she certainly didn’t need him. Why was she still so affected by even a phone call, unwanted though it was?

  Ire took over. He had such a cheek, she fumed, doodling so viciously on her pad that she broke the top of her pen. Did he think that all he had to do was say he’d contribute to her wedding and she’d fall into his arms and say, ‘Thanks very much, Daddy, let’s forget the past, it’s all wiped clean because you’ve pulled out your chequebook.’ Anybody could write a cheque, it only took a minute. If he thought that’d impress her, he was sadly mistaken. And how dare he think he had any rights at all to be with her on her wedding day. He’d forfeited those rights ten long years ago. He had some nerve though. And he was totally selfish. He wanted to be part of her wedding day – what about Nancy’s feelings? Had he considered them? Hardly. He must know her mother would freak if she thought he was going to waltz into their lives for a day, do his so-called caring father bit, and waltz off again. The more she thought about it the more enraged she got.

  What was it about men? Often when she’d been with Gary she’d been convinced that he had his life divided into various compartments in his head. She’d been in one of them, the smallest one, she thought wryly. As soon as he was gone from her, the drawer was closed and she didn’t figure until he saw her again. Was that what it was like with her father? she wondered unhappily. Now and again he opened the drawer filed ‘Daughters’, but closed it pretty quickly and eased his conscience by increasing his direct debit to the bank for their upkeep. Did he think that money made everything all right? Was he that much of an idiot? He was no better than Judas was, she thought bitterly as she bent her head and applied herself to her work.

  * * *

  ‘She hung up on me,’ Bill said sorrowfully to Brona that evening as he sat dangling his three-year-old son on his knee. ‘She was so cold, it was like talking to a stranger. My child detests me so much she can’t even bear to talk to me.’ Tears trickled down his cheeks.

  Brona was horrified. ‘Oh darling, don’t cry.’ She took the toddler from him and sat him in front of a video before sitting down beside Bill and putting her arms around him.

  ‘I’ve made sure they never wanted financially. I worked morning, noon and night to provide for them and I’ve never had a word of thanks.’

  ‘I know you have, love. Who knows that better than I?’ Brona soothed. ‘She’s being thoroughly ungrateful. I mean, let’s face it, Ben is their half-brother, it’s not his fault the way things turned out. You’d think they would have made a bit of an effort to get to know him.’ She couldn’t hide her disdain.

  ‘It’s all such a mess.’ Bill rubbed his eyes. ‘Was I so wrong to try and make a new life for myself? Am I to be punished because I walked away from hell?’ He turned to Brona. ‘It was a nightmare, you know. She was drunk so often. Or else hysterical, wanting to know did I love her. She accused me of having affairs and I swear to God, Brona, I wasn’t. You were the first woman I got to know and I’d made the decision to leave by then.’

  ‘I know, I know. Look, forget it. You did your best, but it’s her loss.’ Brona kissed the top of his head, noting how grey he’d gone. That Carol Logan was a hard-hearted bitch; had she no feelings at all for her father? They weren’t so particular about taking his money, though. They’d no qualms at all there, she thought bitterly. Perhaps it was time that Miss Carol Logan was told a few home truths about her treatment of her father.

  * * *

  ‘So it’s just Mike and me and family and friends,’ Jessica informed her mother, as they walked along the beach enjoying the sunset. It was Friday evening and she and Mike had travelled down to Wicklow to sort out his accommodation. He was starting work the following Monday.

  ‘Well, thank God for that.’ Liz couldn’t hide her relief. ‘You know I met Nancy on the street a week ago and she was in a sad way. It was obvious that she knew nothing about the wedding and she was very angry that I seemed to know more about Carol’s goings-on than she did. You should have seen the face of her when I told her that you were all on the Shannon. Do they talk at all or have they any sort of a relationship? They’re a very peculiar family. That Nadine one spends half her time in the pub at night from what I’ve heard, and she’s only fifteen.’ Liz sh
ook her head at the idea.

  ‘I know, it’s terrible,’ Jessica sighed. ‘If I had a younger sister going wild like that, I’d be dead worried about her. It doesn’t seem to bother Carol at all. She never comes home.’

  ‘I suppose it’s understandable the way Nancy carries on. It’s a terrible shame, though. She was a gorgeous-looking girl, and full of life when we were younger. I think she got postnatal depression after Nadine was born and she wasn’t treated for it. It was after that that everything went downhill and she started drinking. Bill had an awful life with her, I can’t say otherwise, but I did feel very sorry for those two girls when he left.’

  ‘Some of that probably explains why Carol stuck with Gary for so long. She probably didn’t want to admit to herself that the relationship was a disaster. He’s a very selfish bloke. I wouldn’t have put up with him for as long as she did, but I’m glad she’s not going to marry him,’ Jessica confessed.

  ‘So what happened? Why is it all off?’ Liz tucked her arm companionably into her daughter’s as they strolled at the water’s edge.

  Jessica shrugged. ‘Basically I don’t think he wants to get married. Certainly not in September. Mike said we needed to know so we could start making plans, and Gary said he thought they should postpone. I did feel very sorry for her because she thought it was going to happen. It’s all she wants, to be married to him. Anyway she decided enough was enough and gave him back his ring.’

  ‘Good girl, Carol,’ Liz commended. ‘I’m delighted she didn’t let him walk all over her.’