Ann-Marie had seen the car lights sweep into the driveway and realized that her date with Seamus was at an end. They were hidden by a small clump of trees near the gatehouse. It was dark and spooky but the night was warm despite the bright clear sky and the almost full moon.
After they had left the chaperoning presence of Nana, Seamus had taken the motorbike to a fish and chip shop while Ann-Marie had waited in the trees for his return.
Then Ann-Marie had invented a game called Strip or ‘guess what I see with my little eye.’
There was not a lot to see other than the motorbike and each other in the dark. Ann-Marie was winning, mainly by cheating. Seamus was down to his underpants and his leather boots, while so far she had only lost her top and her bra. Her soft rounded breasts shimmered in the moonlight and Seamus was hopelessly in love.
“I see with my little eye something beginning with P,” she said as the car lights flashed and a car came to stop at the gate. Seamus grabbed her and they ducked behind the bike.
Ann-Marie said, “I have to go.”
“P for pillion,” Seamus guessed.
“No ejit. Help me dress.”
Seamus grabbed her. Ann-Marie pretended to struggle and then kissed him enthusiastically. Finally she pushed him away.
“Ann-Marie, please. I want to make love to you.”
Ann-Marie licked his chest. “I know you do,” she giggled. “I can tell, but don’t you dare try or I will scream for Nana.”
Seamus groaned and went to pull at her trouser belt.
“No,” she slapped his hand firmly.
“Get me a comfortable bed. Then I’ll do it.”
“First you say a condom, now a bed.”
“Look Seamus,” she said earnestly. “It’s your first time. It has to be done in the proper romantic setting or you could be ruined for life.”
“Are you teasing me?”
“Cross my heart no,” she said drawing a cross with her finger on her chest.
With a cry he reached for her. Ann-Marie dodged, grabbed her top and bra from the seat of the bike, gave him a quick kiss and said, “I’m off” and ran into the woods, towards the driveway and the house.
Seamus hesitated, wondering should he follow her, and then shouted “tomorrow” after her.
“Yes” she shouted back and was gone.
Ann-Marie put on her bra and top as she ran. She skipped in through the back door, which she had left unlocked and went into the billiards room. She switched on the lights and began to play. She was into the game, when her father, attracted by the noise, stuck his head in.
“Ann-Marie, we wondered where you were. Have you been playing billiards all evening?”
“No, I came down from the TV. I was bored.”
“Mother said your TV was on but there was no sign of you.”
“Well here I am.”
Michael smiled at his favourite daughter.
“Any word of Peter? I rang his flat and no answer. He was invited a party in the Shelbourne.”
“No Dad, not a sausage. But Peter wouldn’t tell me of his movements.”
“By the way” Michael added, coming further into the room.
“Guess what happened tonight.”
“What?”
“Dorothy got engaged.”
“NO!” Ann-Marie was astounded.
“Yes,” Michael smiled.
“No, I don’t believe it!” she said, her voice rising in wonder and pleasure.
“Ask her. She’s here,” Michael suggested.
With a shriek Ann-Marie sought Dorothy out. She was in her bedroom.
“Dorothy is it true?” Ann-Marie asked wide-eyed.
“Yes,” Dorothy said with simple pleasure.
“Who!”
“Jeremy, you met him at the cinema.”
“Really!” The really was said with amazed surprise.
“Show me the ring,” Ann-Marie demanded.
“Have none yet,” Dorothy said abashed.
“Never mind, but you did announce the engagement?”
“He did. In the middle of the party tonight. It was so embarrassing.”
“Fab - u - lous” Ann-Marie bounced on the bed and clapped her hands.
“Come on Dorothy, tell me all about him.”
For once Dorothy was happy she had a sister and while Ann-Marie listened, beside herself with excitement, Dorothy told her all the nice things she knew about Jeremy.
Back at the party Jeremy’s jaw was getting tired from being nice. It was the early hours as the last stragglers left the party.
“I think that is it for the night. Time for your public relations team to go home” Elaine said, having sought him out again.
Jeremy gave her a hug with one arm. He could see she was exhausted after a long day.
“You did a great job,” he said appreciatively.
She smiled, “all a part of the service.”
“I’m not saying it to be polite,” Jeremy said, “You really are a good professional at what you do. The whole event was a great success.”
He kissed her nose. “Now run along Elaine, your husband will be waiting for you at home. I will be in touch.”
“Good night Sir.” And she was gone. She skipped his reference to the husband bit as she was separated for a number of years now.
Jeremy wandered through the remains of the party. They were all gone and the staff was clearing up.
“Another drink sir?” a waiter asked.
“No thanks.”
“Good night sir. Ring at the bar if you need a drink. We are clearing up inside.”
Then it struck him. He had not bought her a ring. He asked the waiter for the nearest phone and the waiter brought him to it. Reception got the number.
Ann-Marie, who was still up, got the phone and then tore back up to Dorothy.
“It’s the Shelbourne, a call for you.”
Dorothy’s heart hit her boots. Had something gone wrong? Jeremy, don’t let me down, she pleaded inwardly.
“Dorothy.”
“Yes dear,” she said softly.
“Dorothy I never got the ring. You never mentioned it.”
“It’s up to the man Jeremy.”
“I suppose so.”
“Look, come up to Dublin,” he added.
“Now?”
“No tomorrow morning. I’ll meet you in Bewley’s Cafe at half ten. We’ll go and select a ring. I believe Weirs in Grafton Street is not bad.”
“You select the ring Jeremy. I’ll trust your good taste. Bring it down for me tomorrow.”
“You sure?”
“Jeremy, we have our business meeting tomorrow. I can’t let dad down. I have too much to do. I can’t come up to town to meet you.”
“O.K. Sweet, see you tomorrow. I’ll bring the ring and propose again.”
Dorothy went off to bed, her happiness complete. Ann-Marie fussed around in excitement.
Jeremy made a mental note. He would make a few early phone calls to check out discounts and wholesale at Weirs. After all he was a retailer in the same street.
Tired, Jeremy made his way back to bed. David was in deep sleep.
Jeremy regarded him for a minute and then went and brushed his teeth. Then he stripped off and got in beside David.
David shifted a bit but did not change his breathing. Slowly Jeremy drifted off to sleep.
David lay still with Jeremy’s arm across his chest. He felt he should get up and leave. But Jeremy’s arm, although it lay lightly across his chest, held him like a chain.
David had left the party in stunned surprise when Jeremy announced his engagement. Of course they had previously discussed Dorothy.
Jeremy had laid out his plans to have an heir to the business and Dorothy was to be the provider.
David ran the conversation over in his mind. Instinctively he’d known there was more. Jeremy’s explanation had been too cold. Jeremy had somehow fallen in love with Dorothy but had not fallen out of love with him.
David felt he knew Jeremy. He knew that the big announcement was Jeremy’s way to overcome all opposition, regardless of the consequences.
Jeremy would disregard the consequences and who was hurt, in the hope of picking up the pieces later.
David knew he should get up and go.
But Jeremy had come to his bed.
They could work it out.
Without Jeremy he would be dead.
Jeremy gave direction to things.
David stared at the ceiling and listened in wonder to Jeremy’s untroubled breathing as he slept soundly.
And he remembered that Jeremy expected him to attend for the weekend at Dorothy’s parents house.
Jeremy shifted his steeping position and held David close.
David decided. The weekend, this was the time to confront Dorothy. He’d take a closer look at her and see how she handled.
He couldn’t sleep, but he relaxed, tomorrow was another day. For the moment at least, he and Jeremy were still together.
Chapter thirty-nine
Peter awoke with a start to dawn’s early light. He was not clear whether it was the smell or the snuffling sound that awoke him.
Peter came to with a shock. His hands felt dead. He realized they were still tied behind his back and his fingers were numb. The snuffling came closer up against the stainless steel bars he could see at his feet. He pulled back sharply. He could just see movement in the semi gloom.
It was a large pig, trying to get in at him. Peter could see its beady eye through the shining bars. The smell. Suddenly he realized where he was. He was in a pen in a pigsty. Now the background noises filled in and made sense, the shuffling, snuffling noise of large hungry pigs. He jumped as there was a loud squeal and a fight broke out somewhere in the pigsty.
Peter suddenly found his voice and began to scream and then to shout. The pig snuffling at the steel bar gate to his pen seemed to be pushing at the gate and it was slowly moving. Panic hit him. He’d be eaten by pigs. He had to get out.
Suddenly there was a bright light. Someone had lifted off the cover of his pen and the dawn light streamed in.
“Help!” Peter shouted, “Help me!”
A smiling face appeared.
The face of a farmer, unshaven, shifty eyed, but apparently friendly. Then Peter had a shock of panic as he recognized the face. It was Jenny’s father. The father of the Kildare girl he had made pregnant.
The pig was pushing at his feet now and the farmer seemed only mildly interested, even amused as he leaned on the pen and watched the proceedings.
“Pleeeaasse!!!!!” Peter begged.
“Hup, out of that!” The farmer hit the pig with his stick and it backed off with a squeal.
“You’re in its favourite pen,” The farmer explained pleasantly.
“You may not realize it but my pigs are a bit crowded these days. But I’m getting a new piggery soon, you’ll see.”
The thick midlands Irish country accent was hard for Peter to follow in his current state of panic.
“Stop telling me about new pig sty’s and let me out!” he screamed.
“Ahh now boy, that’s what I am here to talk to you about,” the farmer said.
“By the way,” he added, introducing two new faces which suddenly appeared in Peter’s line of vision.
“Do you know Jenny’s brothers, Peader and Aloysius and you can call me Jimmy.”
“Yes, yes, we’ve met, at a country dance wasn’t it?”
“Aye,” the two nodded as they replied in unison.
“It’s the state of Jenny,” the farmer continued unconcerned. “You know don’t you.”
Peter concentrated on kicking the steel bars. The pig was back and jostling with an even bigger pig to get in at him.
“Did you hear me boy?” the farmer asked, annoyed.
“Yes, yes, the fucking pigs get them away.”
“Ara, I’ll feed them soon, don’t worry.”
“They might eat me.”
“Aye, they’d do that,” one of the brothers offered.
“Great way to kill a man,” the other offered. “Feed him to the pigs, sure there’d be nothing left.”
“Kill a man?” Peter said becoming more frightened as he realized he was at their mercy.
“Those that brought you,” the farmer continued amiably. “They said no one would be able to trace you to here. You are ours to do with what we will.”
“Those that took me?”
“Aye, the men who brought you here. Do you remember them?”
Peter sat up with a start. What had happened? They had grabbed him as he’d got into his car. Then the injection into his arm. God, his hands were numb.
“Please untie me,” he begged.
“Hold on now boy. We have a bit of talking to do. You know it.”
“About what?”
The farmers face reddened and he looked aghast at his two leering sons and then red with anger back at Peter.
“About me daughter, do you not listen?”
The two sons adopted expressions of endless patience.
“Your daughter. We are not seeing each other any more. I’ve moved to Dublin.”
“You left a bit of you behind,” Aloysius said dryly.
Peter looked at them dumbly.
“She’s pregnant, you fool. She told you.”
“Yes. I said I was sorry. Accident.”
“Accident my arse. You sowed your seed in my daughter and now you will harvest it.”
Peter could discern the farmer’s anger. He looked helplessly at the shuffling pigs now being held in restraint by Aloysius’s stick, which he had lodged against the gate.
“You may be a townie but you must know that it is a big disgrace to get pregnant outside marriage in rural Ireland,” the farmer explained.
“Unless she married the man,” Peader threw in.
“Or the man died in an accident before he did the decent thing,” Aloysius added.
“You.... you think I should marry her?”
“Aye lad.”
Peter looked at the three amiable uncompromising ruthless faces.
“Will you now lad?” the farmer asked quietly.
“Let me out, let me out and I will,” Peter shouted.
He could see Aloysius was guiding the pig around the gate with his stick.
“Aye, wise move,” Peader said, and both sons lifted Peter up.
“We’d just beat you to a pulp.”
“And cook you and feed you to the pigs,” Aloysius added, assisting Peader as they brushed down Peters crumpled suit.
“We might have done it anyway,” the farmer explained, “but she is set on marrying you.”
“Please don’t harm me, I’ll marry her,” Peter begged. “Just release my arms, my hands are numb.”
The farmer produced a large penknife from his pocket and exposed the blade. With a deft cut Peter was free. The pain ran down his arms and they began to come back to life.
“Come on, have a cup of tea,” the farmer said, taking him by the elbow.
“You never met my wife. She’d love to see you. And Jenny is in the house waiting to hear what you have to say. We’ll just hose you down to get the smell off. Peader has a pair of trousers and a jumper that might fit you. We’ll lend you a pair of wellies and when you are freshened you can ask Jenny to marry you proper. O.K?”
Peter nodded. He was looking around for an escape route. He let the farmer lead him towards the house.
“This is Monsey, me wife” the farmer said as a grey haired woman appeared at the door of the farmhouse.
“We were going to hose him down Monsey dear, don’t be worrying about the lino in the hall.”
“Divil a bit of it. I’ll not hear of it. Bring in the gentleman and we’ll give him a proper bath in the kitchen.”
“Fair enough. In you go lad. Wipe your feet.”
Peter had never been in the house. He had always picked up Jenny in his car at the end of the lane. The
kitchen was warm. There was a large Aga solid fuel cooker in one corner and a turf fire in the grate.
“Get those smelly clothes off and throw them in the yard,” Monsey instructed.
Peter’s arms were still alternately sore and numb and the two sons pulled his clothes off.
Monsey produced a large tub from a cupboard and began to fill it from a standpipe in the corner. From the Aga cooker she took a large pot of boiling water and added this to the tub. Then she took a black kettle off the hook over the turf fire and added some more hot water to the tub.
During this procedure Peter stood with his hands in front of his privates watched closely by the farmer and his two sons. The farmer still had his large penknife in his hand and was cleaning his fingernails with the sharp end. Peter swallowed hard as he remembered Dermot’s remark about Jimmy being the best pig gelder in the county.
“Jenny,” Monsey called down a hall. “Come and help me with the bath.”
“Maybe we should geld him?” Aloysius threw out. “He looks just a bag of bones.”
“Ah no,” the farmer objected mildly. “Jenny has her heart set on him.”
“Jenny,” Monsey called, “your young man is in the bath.”
Peter stepped into the tub and sat down. The water was luke-warm. “I’ll have a second kettle in a minute,” Monsey fussed, “and then we’ll get you a nice breakfast.”
Twisted Love and Money Page 27
