The Secrets Sisters Keep: A heartwarming, funny and emotional novel (The Devlin Sisters Book 2)

by Sinéad Moriarty

  Sophie and Jess arrived. Sophie was wearing a black fur coat.

  Dad stared at her with disapproval. ‘How many animals died for that?’

  ‘It’s faux-fur,’ Sophie replied.

  ‘It’s a bit much for a Sunday afternoon,’ Dad said.

  ‘No offence, Dad, but I’m hardly going to take fashion advice from a man wearing a brown jumper with a golf ball on it.’

  ‘What’s wrong with it?’

  ‘Everything,’ Sophie and I said, at the same time.

  ‘I’ve given him some cool stuff from the shop, but he won’t wear it,’ Gavin said.

  ‘For God’s sake, I’m not going around with a T-shirt that’s sprayed onto me or some stupid sweatshirt with a surfboard on it.’

  ‘To be fair, I don’t think Dad would do your brand any favours,’ Sophie said to Gavin.

  ‘We’re always looking to expand our market,’ he drawled.

  I laughed. ‘Seventy-five-year-old men might be a little off the mark.’

  Dad sat down beside Gavin to watch the football.

  ‘How’s Andrew?’ I whispered, making sure Jess couldn’t hear me. I needn’t have worried. Jess was, as usual, sitting in the corner with her headphones plugged in. I thought kids became antisocial in their teenage years, not at nine. I hoped Clara wouldn’t turn out like that in a few years’ time. Julie had told me all about meeting Andrew, and he sounded awful. I was worried about Sophie.

  ‘Brilliant.’ Sophie’s eyes sparkled at the mention of his name and she couldn’t stop smiling. ‘It’s the first sex I’ve had since Jack. Can you believe it? It’s been too long. God, it’s great.’

  ‘You certainly needed that!’

  ‘I really did. Honestly, Louise, I was like a lunatic. I couldn’t get enough. I hadn’t realized how much I missed it. I’d kind of forgotten about it. Isn’t that terrible?’

  ‘It’s like riding a bike, though – you never forget!’ I winked at her.

  ‘He’s just so … well … perfect.’

  Sophie was radiant. I hadn’t seen her so happy in years. Maybe Andrew was just like Jack. None of us had liked Jack all that much, but he had made Sophie happy. Until he’d messed up.

  I really hoped Andrew was keen on her – I could see she was besotted. If he wasn’t, the rejection would be unbearable for her.

  ‘It’s amazing, Louise. I don’t even care about Jack and Pippa and their baby any more. I’m just really happy for the first time in ages.’

  I hugged her. ‘You deserve it.’ I meant it, but from Julie’s awful description of him, I couldn’t help wishing she was with someone who deserved her more.

  There was the sound of shouting and thumping from outside. It was Julie, late as usual, with the boys. As she walked through the front door, Mum came in from the kitchen.

  ‘Hello, everyone.’ She kissed us all. She told me I looked tired; she told Sophie she was wearing too much makeup; she told Gavin to get his feet off the couch; she told Julie to send the boys straight out into the garden, then asked where Harry was.

  ‘Playing bloody golf,’ Julie muttered.

  ‘Again?’ Sophie said. ‘He’s always playing these days.’

  ‘He’s obsessed with it,’ Julie huffed.

  ‘Ah, well, now, to be fair, it is an addictive game when you first take it up,’ Dad pointed out.

  Julie’s phone beeped. She grabbed it from her jacket pocket and texted back. I was surprised as she usually ignored her phone or had it buried at the bottom of her bag.

  ‘So we have no men at all today, then?’ Mum said.

  ‘Don’t I count?’ Gavin waved his hand.

  ‘Sure you’re only a boy,’ Mum said.

  ‘No, Granny. Gavin is a man. He’s over eighteen, so he’s a grown-up,’ Clara corrected her.

  ‘Thank you, Clara,’ Gavin grinned. ‘It’s nice to have someone defend me in this house.’

  Ignoring them, Mum complained, ‘Three daughters and not a man in sight! You’d want to watch Harry,’ she warned Julie, who was still texting.

  ‘What?’ Julie looked up.

  ‘I said you’d need to be careful of Harry up in that golf club. He’s very eligible now. They’ll all know about his big windfall and, mark my words, the women will be all over him.’

  ‘I think I’m safe enough. The only person he seems to be smitten with is Donald McGreegan. He’s in awe of him. Honestly, it’s like a teenage crush.’

  ‘Donald is a good businessman, but he has a huge ego,’ I said. I’d met him once at a business lunch and he was an insufferable bore. But he certainly knew how to make money. He was one of the only businessmen who hadn’t been stung by the recession. He’d seen the property slump coming and sold everything.

  ‘Well, Harry thinks he’s God,’ Julie said, with a hint of anger in her voice, which wasn’t like her.

  Julie’s phone beeped again and she started texting.

  Mum frowned. ‘That’s enough of that, Julie. Lunch is ready. Phones off.’

  Julie finished her text, then put her phone on silent and placed it beside her on the table.

  I sat Clara beside me and put her food on her plate the way she liked it. No food touching and the chicken cut up into very small pieces.

  ‘No, Mummy, no chicken. It’s too chewy.’

  ‘Just a few very small bits,’ I said. ‘Look, I cut it up really small.’

  ‘No, Mummy. I don’t want it.’

  ‘All right. Eat some peas and your mashed potato, then.’

  Mum clicked her tongue. ‘It’s ridiculous, Louise. You indulge Clara too much. She only ever picks at her food. You need to stop pandering to her and let her get on with it. If you don’t nip that in the bud now, you’ll have trouble later.’ Turning to Clara, she said, ‘Come on now, eat up. Chicken is good for you.’

  Clara shook her head. I could see she was clenching her fists under the table and I was worried that she might have a tantrum.

  ‘Mum, drop it. She’s getting upset,’ I said firmly.

  Mum raised her hands. ‘Fine, she’s your child, but I think you need to be a bit firmer with her.’

  I needed to change the subject. ‘Gavin said Shania is working with you now, Sophie. How is she getting on?’

  ‘Really great. I must say, she’s a very sweet girl, Gavin. You did well there. I’d hang onto her. She’s a natural on the catwalk, too. We did a big show for Style Central last night and she really stood out. All of the Style Central team commented on how good she was.’

  ‘I knew she’d rock it,’ Gavin said, through a mouthful of food.

  The triplets, followed by a frozen-looking Tom, tumbled into the room. Leo – well, actually, I’m not sure which of them it was: I can never tell them apart – complained to Julie, ‘Mum, it’s freezing out there. We’ve been out for ages. We’re starving.’

  ‘Sorry. Here, sit down and I’ll get you some plates.’

  Julie went into the kitchen and Mum called after her, ‘Not my good ones, Julie. Anything chipped or old will do.’

  The boys squashed in at the end of the table and noisily hoovered up the food Julie handed them.

  ‘Slowly, boys, you’ll give yourselves indigestion,’ Mum said.

  Ignoring her, they continued to shovel large forkfuls of food into their mouths. Julie glanced at her phone and smiled. She texted back under the table so Mum couldn’t see her.

  ‘How’s school, Jess?’ Dad asked.

  ‘Boring as usual,’ she replied.

  ‘Jess!’ Sophie frowned at her.

  ‘“Boring” is a silly word,’ Mum said. ‘You need to participate more and then you’ll enjoy school.’

  ‘I love school,’ one of the triplets said.

  ‘Me too. It’s deadly. We get to play rugby every day,’ another added.

  ‘I like school too,’ Tom said. ‘And when I’m a big boy, I’m going to school with my brothers and I’m gonna play rugby too.’

  ‘No, you won’t. You’re a midget,’ his bro
ther said.

  ‘Yeah, no one’s going to pick you for their team. You’re too small and skinny,’ said another.

  Julie put her phone down. ‘Leave Tom alone. He’s a perfect size.’

  The triplets laughed.

  ‘Poor Tom,’ Sophie said, patting his head. ‘Ignore your mean brothers.’

  Gavin put his fork down with a bang. ‘Well, now you see what it was like for me with you three witches picking on me all the time. I was the Tom in our family.’

  ‘No, you weren’t,’ I said. ‘You’re always coming out with this rubbish. The truth is you were spoilt rotten.’

  ‘I was tormented by you. Remember when you all told me I was adopted, and that if I looked closely at the milkman, I’d see he was my dad? Or the time you babysat me, put the clock forward three hours and made me go to bed at five o’clock? You also told me that when the microwave pinged we had ten seconds to get out of the house before it exploded. You told me I was lazy –’

  ‘Poor Gavin,’ I interrupted. ‘Having the run of the house when we all left home. Having your choice of bedroom, the TV all to yourself, the fridge full of your favourite food. You had Mum fussing over you, washing, ironing and cooking for you. Dad giving you pocket money even when you were finished college and should have been working. Poor you.’

  ‘Not to mention the money I gave you in the good times,’ Sophie said.

  ‘And all the times you cried on my shoulder and I comforted you when your mad ventures didn’t work out,’ Julie reminded him.

  ‘And all the jobs I helped you get,’ I added.

  ‘OK, OK!’ He put his hands up. ‘Maybe it wasn’t quite so bad. But you three were no picnic.’

  ‘I want money from Granddad and Sophie,’ a triplet said.

  ‘I want a TV all to myself,’ said another.

  ‘I want a fridge full of my favourite food,’ the third added.

  ‘I wish I was Uncle Gavin,’ Tom said.

  Sophie, Julie and I smirked at Gavin. He shrugged. ‘I guess there were times when it was worse than others.’

  The lunch went well until one of the triplets pushed another off his chair. He fell against the sideboard and smashed Dad’s golf trophy.

  Dad was livid, so we all left shortly after. Julie promised to replace it, but Dad told her it was irreplaceable and that her children were like wild animals. Julie was in tears leaving.

  I followed her outside to her car. ‘Don’t mind Dad. He’s just upset.’

  ‘I’m sick of people saying my kids are animals.’ She wiped away a tear. ‘They’re my children, for God’s sake. How would you like it if they said Clara was a nightmare all the time? I know they’re a handful, I live with them every day, but I love them and I’m fed up with people giving out about them.’

  I felt bad. I thought the triplets were a nightmare too, but Julie was right: they were her kids and she adored them. It wasn’t fair that everyone gave out about them. I hated anyone criticizing Clara in any way. I’d have to have a word with Mum and Dad about their attitude to the boys. They were tough going and they had broken a lot of things in Mum and Dad’s house so I did understand their frustration, but I felt bad for Julie.

  Later that evening, when I was putting Clara to bed, she asked me, ‘Mummy, if cutting onions makes you cry, are there any vegetables that make you happy when you cut them?’

  I bent down and kissed her nose. ‘No, but you’re very clever to think of that. Honestly, you amaze me.’

  She smiled and rolled over, falling asleep almost immediately.

  I went into the lounge and sat at the table to catch up on some work. I opened my briefcase to take out some files and caught sight of the envelope Clara’s teacher had given me. I’d forgotten about it. Christelle had been taking Clara to school and collecting her all week, so I hadn’t seen Helen.

  I pulled out a sheet of paper from the brown envelope. It was headed, Children with Asperger’s Syndrome: symptoms and the importance of early diagnosis.

  What the hell?

  18

  Sophie

  Andrew handed me a box. It had a big red bow on it. I wanted to cry. It had been so long since a man had given me anything. I opened it and inside was a black lace bra, thong, suspender belt and fishnet stockings. I giggled.

  ‘I want you to put those on when we get back to your place,’ Andrew said.

  ‘My pleasure.’ I kissed him. Jess was with Jack, so we had the apartment to ourselves. Andrew was so wonderful. He made me laugh and he treated me like a princess. I felt absolutely like the old Sophie, the one before everything went wrong. ‘Actually,’ I said, leaning over and whispering into his ear, ‘I’m not that hungry. Let’s get out of here and try these out.

  ‘God, you are so hot.’

  We laughed all the way home. I never got to wear the new lingerie. We ended up having sex on the hall floor. Later that night, when we were lying in bed and Andrew was asleep, I cuddled into him and told him I loved him. I knew it was too soon to say it to his face, but I did love him. I really, truly did.

  I floated into my morning meeting with Quentin.

  ‘Wow, someone looks happy,’ he said. ‘I take it things are going well with Andrew?’

  I nodded. ‘Wonderful, actually.’

  ‘Good. Long may it last.’

  ‘It will. He’s the one, Quentin, I’m sure of it. He’s my second chance.’

  Quentin turned his silver letter-opener around in his hand. ‘OK, Sophie. As your friend I’m going to tell you to take it slowly, and as your partner in the firm I’m going to tell you that, whatever happens between you guys, we need the Style Central account. Losing the Harmann account was a big blow.’

  He was right, it had been terrible. Harmann had accounted for a tenth of our annual revenue. ‘Don’t worry, Quentin, we’ve got the Style Central account in the bag. They were really happy with the fashion show we did last week. Andrew said he’s running it by head office and hopes to have the go-ahead to sign us exclusively next week.’

  Quentin looked relieved. ‘Thank God for that. Well, whatever happens, don’t break up with him until the contract is signed.’

  I leant over the desk and patted his hand. ‘I’m not letting this one go. He’s a keeper. I know it sounds ridiculous after only five weeks but I’m forty-two and I know this is the guy for me.’

  ‘Darling, you’ve never looked better. He’s the tonic you needed. I just don’t want you to rush into anything. You’ve got all the time in the world.’

  I smiled. I knew Quentin was just looking out for me. Louise had called me during the week to say the same thing. But I wasn’t some innocent, naïve twenty-year-old. I’d been around the block. I had a broken marriage, for God’s sake. I knew what I was doing.

  I got home before Jess came back from dinner with Jack so I had time to call Andrew for a quick chat. He was going to the UK for a week, so we wouldn’t see each other. He got a bit saucy on the phone and told me how much he was looking forward to sex next Friday night after work. Style Central was hosting a charity fashion show for which we were providing the models, and we had arranged to go for dinner afterwards.

  ‘Wear that lingerie I bought you,’ Andrew said, ‘and really high heels.’

  The doorbell rang.

  ‘Sorry!’ I said. ‘That’s Jess. I have to go. But I promise I’ll be so hot you won’t know what hit you.’

  I was still giggling as I answered the door. Jack was with Jess. ‘Hi, Jack, great to see you.’ I leant over to kiss his cheek.

  He was startled: he wasn’t used to me being so enthusiastic. I was usually so tired after work that I could barely hold a conversation.

  ‘Do you want to come in for a glass of wine?’ I asked him.

  ‘Uhm, yeah, OK,’ he said, staring at me with curiosity.

  Jess turned to him, hands on hips. ‘She has a boyfriend. That’s why she’s acting all hyper.’

  I hadn’t told Jess anything about Andrew. ‘How do you know?’ I asked her
.

  She rolled her eyes. ‘Please, Mum, it’s so obvious. You’ve gone from grumpy to all happy and bouncy. And you keep going into your room and whispering into your phone. It’s so lame.’

  ‘Don’t speak to your mother like that. You’re being rude.’ Jess was clearly surprised that Jack had scolded her – I was a bit surprised myself. She slunk off to her room and slammed the door.

  I poured Jack a glass of wine. He sank into the couch and sipped it. ‘So,’ he grinned at me, ‘who’s this guy?’

  ‘Someone I met through work.’ I grinned back.

  Jack studied my face. ‘You look great, Sophie. Really happy and … well, like the old Sophie.’

  ‘Thanks. I feel about ten years younger. I hadn’t realized how lonely I was until I met Andrew. It’s not easy being a single mother.’

  ‘I know.’ Jack nodded. ‘I’m glad you’ve met someone. You deserve it. I just hope he’s a good guy and that he looks after you.’

  ‘He’s amazing.’ I noticed Jack flinch slightly. Ha! Now he knew how I felt when he went on about Pippa. It wasn’t easy to hear your ex waxing lyrical about their new love. I knew it was mean, but I decided to elaborate. ‘He’s really successful and treats me so well.’

  ‘Great,’ Jack said unenthusiastically.

  I decided to stop being mean. I was happy so I should be nice. ‘Anyway, how are you? How’s Pippa’s pregnancy?’

  ‘Pippa’s fantastic. She literally hasn’t skipped a beat. She hasn’t that long to go but she’s still working and looking fantastic and she never complains.’

  Normally a comment like that would have put me into a rage, but now I didn’t care about Pippa, her fabulous body and her joyful pregnancy. ‘Long may that last,’ I said, and had a glug of wine.

  ‘So, how long have you been seeing this guy?’ Jack asked.

  ‘A while.’ I was deliberately vague.

  ‘Is it serious?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Well, you look great.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Jack had always wanted me to be thin and beautiful when we were married, which was why I’d spent so much time at the gym, the beauty salon and the dermatologist’s surgery. It felt nice to have him look at me and see the old Sophie.