by Maeve Binchy
Their faces lit up. 'We shouldn't really take it.' Annie sounded doubtful.
'Why not, we're friends aren't we?'
'Yes but if you and Dad…'
'That will be blown over by the time you come back, believe me.' They believed her at once and pocketed the money with big smiles. 'And… I do hope it's all nice for you out there, the holiday with your mother.' Finola meant it.
'It will be,’ Brian said. 'I mean she's quite old, Finola, like you are, there won't be any soppiness going on out there.'
'Brian!' Annie said.
'I’ll see you both in September.' Finola had never thought she would like Danny Lynch's children and be sorry to see them leave Ireland for a whole month.
Greg Vine telephoned to say that he would like to stay in Tudor Drive for the alumni weekend in August. 'Normally I would leave you the house to yourself and stay in a motel, but there won't be a bed for miles around. Even Heidi and Henry won't have any room.'
'Heavens, no, you must stay here. And Andy too.'
'We can't all descend on you surely?'
'Why not? Annie and I can sleep in one room. You have two guest rooms, you and Andy have one each. Brian would sleep standing up, he doesn't have to be taken into consideration. And anyway there's a canvas bed that we can put anywhere for him.'
'That's very good of you, it will only be for two nights.'
'No, please, it's your house, stay as long as you like.'
'And when do your children arrive?'
'Tomorrow, I can hardly wait.'
When he had replaced the receiver Greg realised that she hadn't suggested that Brian sleep in Dale's room. It would have been perfectly acceptable. To him anyway. But not to Marilyn. Ria Lynch must have worked that out. She had been so odd the first time, talking about Dale's spirit being in Hawaii and the dead boy missing his mother. But maybe he had misunderstood her. This time she seemed highly practical and down-to-earth.
Marilyn went to Colm's to collect the food.
'I'd have brought it down to you,' he said.
'Nonsense, I'm grateful enough to you already. What have I got here?'
'A light vegetable korma for Annie, with some brown rice. Just sausage, peas and chips for Brian, I'm afraid. I did nothing special for you, I presumed you'd eat from both not to show favouritism.'
Marilyn said that seemed an excellent scheme. 'Let me get my billfold.'
'Please, Marilyn.'
There was something in his face that stopped her. 'Well, thank you so much, Colm, truly.'
'Let me get you a basket to carry them.' He called out to Caroline, and his pale, dark-haired sister whom Marilyn had only seen in the distance before came in carrying the ideal container, with a couple of check dinner napkins. 'You have met Caroline, haven't you?'
'I don't think so, not properly anyway. How do you do, I'm Marilyn Vine.'
Caroline put out her hand hesitantly. Marilyn glanced at her face and realised that she was looking straight into the eyes of someone with a problem. She didn't consider herself an expert but as a young graduate she had worked for three years on a rehab project. She had not a shadow of doubt that she was being introduced to a heroin addict.
'Do you think Dad has lost all his money?' Brian asked on the bus from Finola's house.
'No, don't be an eejit,' Annie said.
'But why does Finola think he has?'
'She doesn't know. Anyway, all old people like Finola and Gran ever think about is money.'
'We could ask Rosemary, she'd know,' Brian suggested. 'We'll be passing her house anyway.'
'If you so much as open your mouth to Rosemary about it I'll take your tonsils out with an ice-cream scoop, and no anaesthetic,' Annie said.
'All right, all right.' Brian wasn't going to risk it.
'But if we are going to Tara Road we might as well call in on Gertie,' Annie suggested.
'Would she know about Dad's money?'
'Not about Dad's money, you moron, to say goodbye, like we did to Finola.'
'Oh, do you think she'd give us anything too?' Brian was interested.
'Of course she wouldn't, Brian, you are a clown. You get worse all the time.' Annie was exasperated with him.
'No, well, I don't suppose she'd be cleaning the house for Mam if she had any money herself.' Brian had worked it out.
'I think Mam would like it if we called on her,' Annie said.
Gertie was very pleased to see them. 'You tell your Mam that the house is fine, won't you?' Gertie said.
'I think she's forgotten all about the house,' Brian said philosophically.
'She remembered that you told her the whole garden was cut down,' Gertie said.
Brian felt there was some criticism implied here but was not sure why. 'I was going to tell her that Myles and Dekko got into an over-eighteen film because they said they were dwarves, but I thought she might prefer to hear about the garden,' he said by way of explanation.
'We're going to be meeting your relations out there, Gertie, Mam told us.' Annie was hoping to steer the conversation into safer channels.
But Gertie didn't seem all that pleased. 'Won't there be plenty of young American boys and girls for you in your own place without going all the way to Sheila's place or dragging them over to you?'
Annie shrugged. It was impossible to please people sometimes. 'Sure,' "she said.
'And will you be sure to tell your mother that everything's fine with me too, just fine, for weeks on end. She'll know what I mean.'
Annie agreed that she'd tell that to her mother. She knew what Gertie meant: Jack hadn't lifted a fist to her recently. Gertie was right, Mam would be pleased. Annie felt her eyes fill with tears. Mam was so kind in many ways, it was just that she didn't understand anything at all that was going on in the world. She knew nothing about clothes, and people's friendships, and how to keep Dad or get him back once he had gone away. And Mam didn't understand why she should put Brian down more and how awful Rosemary was. And she'd probably be terrific for the first ten minutes and then go back to being hopeless and understanding nothing. Annie sighed a deep sigh.
'Won't you have a great trip the pair of you?' Gertie said.
'We will. Finola gave us twenty dollars each to spend on the way,' Brian said cheerfully. Annie tried to stand on his foot but he was too far away.
'That was grand. Tell me, who is Finola?' Gertie asked.
'You know, Bernadette's mother,' Brian said. Annie rolled her eyes.
'That was kind of her, she must have plenty of money to give you all that.'
'No, she's broke, that's why she fought with Dad.'
'I don't think Brian quite understands the whole scene,' Annie began.
'But she told us, Annie, she told us, you're always saying I'm a moron and I'm brain-dead, but you must be deaf. She said she fought with Dad over money.'
'Brian, we'd better go now. Marilyn's expecting us, and we have to call in on Granny as well,' Annie pleaded.
'Well I hope she'll have more than those ginger-snaps,' he grumbled, red-faced and annoyed.
'No, don't worry, Colm's making your dinner,' Gertie said.
'Oh good.' Brian brightened up. Maybe he could talk to Colm about football and videos and not have to listen to Marilyn Vine and Annie talking about clothes.
'Listen, maybe I shouldn't have said that. If she doesn't tell you that he made it, don't say I told you. She might be passing it off as her own.' Gertie was contrite now.
'Oh, I'm sure Brian Lynch would be able to cope with that, Gertie—tactful, diplomatic, he'll handle it beautifully.'
'She's always picking on me, even before I do anything,' Brian said. 'Don't worry, Gertie, I'll say, "It's terrific, Marilyn, haven't you become a good cook!" That's what I'll say.'
Gertie put her hand into the pocket of the pink overall she wore in the launderette. 'Here's a pound each, I'd love to be able to give you more, but it'll get you an ice cream at the airport.'
'Thanks, Gertie, that's terrific,
' said Brian. 'Hey, I wonder if Marilyn will give us anything.'
'Why don't we just stand at the gate of our house at Tara Road and shout out how much we want? Wouldn't that be a good idea?' Annie said with her face set in a fury as she marched her brother out of the launderette.
'Sheila, won't you come up this weekend?' Ria asked Gertie's sister on the phone.
'But you'll want to be alone with the children.'
'Don't believe it, they'll be bored with me in twenty minutes. I'd love you to bring your two over again.'
'They won't wait to be asked twice, they've never stopped talking about the pool,' Sheila said. 'So if you're sure?'
'I'm sure. Imagine, in only a few hours they'll be getting on the plane. I can't believe it.'
'You know I've been going over and over the conversation we had when you first came. I'm so sorry about thinking Danny was with you and asking about him. You must have thought I was so crass.'
'No, no.' Ria remembered her own conversation with Greg Vine. 'How could you expect to be inspired? If people aren't told things how would they know?'
'Gertie certainly keeps things very secretly to herself,' Sheila Maine said.
It was all quite clear now to Marilyn why Colm was so protective of his sister. The woman was hooked on drugs. Her husband, a coarse and flashily dressed man who had been present on the night of the restaurant debacle, did not look as if he would be any great help in such a situation. In fact he might well be part of it. Marilyn wished now that she had listened when Rosemary and Gertie had gone wittering on about Monto or whatever the man was called. She couldn't remember what he had done for a living or if it had been at all clear. Perhaps he might even have been involved in what his wife was addicted to.
What a truly extraordinary cast of people she had met since she had come to Ireland. Not for the first time she wished she were talking to Greg properly and could tell him about them. But at the moment she couldn't tell him anything.
'There's going to be a party in my house next weekend, Mrs Lynch, if your daughter would like to come along.'
Ria bit her lip. Hubie had been so helpful and straight with her. Yet she didn't want to let Annie go to a party with a whole lot of young people that she didn't know. All she did know was that some of them had been involved in drinking and stealing motor bikes.
Hubie saw her reluctance. 'Hey, it's not going to be anything wild,' he said.
'No, of course not.' Suppose Annie got to know that her mother had refused a party for her before she even arrived, the summer would be off to a very poor start. And that appalling Kitty wouldn't be here to lead her astray. Ria forced a cheerful smile to her face. 'Hubie, that would be great, but we will have friends staying here that weekend and the boy Sean is about Annie's age… can he be included too?'
'Why not?' Hubie was easy.
Annie's social life was hotting up already. At least she would enjoy it more than the boat trip, Ria thought with some satisfaction.
'When we go in to Granny, if you ask for money I'll kill you there and then and let Pliers drag your body up and down the street before he devours it,' Annie said.
'I never ask anyone for money, they keep giving it to me,' Brian said. 'Howarya, Nora,' he said cheerfully as his grandmother opened the door. Annie still insisted on addressing her grandmother in a more traditional way.
'I'm fine,' Nora Johnson said. 'You don't have Kitty hidden in the hedge or anything?'
'No,' Annie sighed. 'I suppose Bernadette was on red alert about that. God, she missed her vocation, she shouldn't be teaching music, she should be running a prison.'
Nora Johnson smothered a laugh. She had been amused by the phone calls from that strange waif-like girl that Danny Lynch was shacked up with. Bernadette Dunne was no better herself than Kitty. What was she but a fast little piece making off with someone else's husband, proud as punch to be an unmarried mother?
Still, to give her her due, she did follow Ria's instructions, which was more than Danny did. Danny seemed to be on another planet, and everywhere Nora Johnson went heads were wagging over his future. She had even broken the habit of a lifetime and asked Lady Ryan if there was any truth in the rumours. Rosemary Ryan had bitten the head off her. 'There's nothing wrong with Danny and Barney's business except gossiping old biddies trying to spread scandal about him because he left Ria.' Nora hoped that she was right.
'Imagine, this time tomorrow night you'll be in America.'
'I wish Marilyn had children,' Brian grumbled.
'If she had she'd have brought them with her, you wouldn't have them to play with out there,' Nora said.
'Mam didn't take us with her,' Brian said unanswerably.
'She does have a child but he's with his father in Hawaii, Mam told us ages ago, you just didn't listen,' Annie put in.
'Well, he's no use to us in Hawaii,' Brian said. 'Were you about to make tea, Nora?'
'I thought the pair of you were going down home for your supper.'
'Yes, well…'
Nora got out orange squash and biscuits.
'Why did you never go to America, Granny?' Annie asked.
'In my day working-class people only went to America to emigrate, they didn't go on holidays.'
'Are we working class?' Brian asked with interest.
Nora Johnson looked at her two confident, bright grandchildren and wondered what class they might consider themselves at the end of the summer when, according to informed opinion, their beautiful home would be sold. But she said nothing of that.
'You're to have a great holiday and you're to send me four postcards, one a week, do you hear?'
'I think postcards are dear out there,' Brian said.
'You're as bad as your Aunty Hilary… I was going to give you a fiver anyway for spending money.'
At that time by chance Pliers gave a great wail.
'I didn't ask for the money,’ Brian cried out, remembering that Annie had threatened to feed his body to the dog.
'No, Brian, of course you didn't,' Annie said menacingly.
It was very odd to go into their own home as guests. And even more odd to find the place so quiet. When they had been here with Mam only a month ago there were always people coming in and out. It wasn't like that now.
'Where's Clement?' Annie asked. 'He's not in his chair.'
'He may be upstairs, I'm sure he'll come down when he smells the food.'
'Clement doesn't go upstairs,' Brian began, then catching Annie's eye he changed tack hastily. 'What I mean is… he used not to be much interested in going upstairs. But maybe he's changed now.'
Marilyn hid a smile. 'I've got a wonderful supper for us from Colm,' she said. 'I checked what you'd both like.'
They helped her set the table as the food was warming in the oven. It was so different to the time when they had come first and she had found them hard going.
'Have you packed everything?'
'I think so,' Annie said. 'Mam e-mailed a list of what we should take to Dad's office. Imagine her being able to use machines.'
'She uses all these machines here.' Marilyn waved around at the food processors and high-tech kitchen equipment. Recently she had felt a very strong protective sense about Ria. She wouldn't have anyone criticise her, enough bad luck had come into her life already.
'Oh that's just kitchen stuff,' Annie said loftily. 'Mam would learn anything if it had to do with the house.'
'Maybe she's broadening out.'
'Are you broadening out here?' Brian was interested.
'In a way yes, I'm doing things that I wouldn't normally do at home. It's probably the same for your mother.'
'What do you do that's so different?' Annie was interested. 'I mean you liked gardening and walking and reading at home, you said, and you're doing all that here.'
'That's true,' Marilyn said thoughtfully. 'But I feel different inside somehow. Maybe it's the same with your mother.'
'I hope she feels more cheerful about Dad and everything,' Brian said.<
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'Well, being away from the problem is a help certainly.'
'Did it help you feel better about your husband?' Brian wanted to know. He looked nervously at Annie, waiting for her to tell him to shut up and call him a thicko but she obviously wanted to know too, so for once she said nothing.
Marilyn shifted a little uncomfortably at the direct question. 'It's a bit complicated. You see I'm not separated from my husband. Well, I am of course, since he's in Hawaii and I'm here, but we didn't have an argument, a fight or anything.'
'Did you just go off him?' Brian was trying to be helpful.
'No, it wasn't that, and before you ask I don't think he went off me. It's just we needed some time to be alone and then perhaps it will be all right, maybe at the end of the summer.'
'Do you think Mam and Dad might be all right after the summer too?' Poor Brian's face was so eager that Marilyn felt a lump in her throat. She couldn't think of anything helpful to say.
'There's the little matter of Bernadette and the baby,' Annie said, but she spoke more gently than usual.
'And did your husband not have anyone young who was going to have a baby?' Brian was clutching at straws.
'No, that wasn't it at all.'
'Well then there's not much hope,' Brian said. He looked as if he was about to cry.
'Brian, can you do me a favour? I have a horrible feeling that Clement may have gone to sleep on my bed, on your mother's bed, and we don't want him to get into bad habits. Do you think you could go up and rescue him?'
'He's really Annie's cat.' Brian's lip was trembling but he knew too well Annie's territorial attitude to Clement and didn't want to risk being bawled out over it.
'It's okay, get him down,' Annie agreed. When he had gone upstairs Annie apologised for him. 'He's very dumb,' she said.
'And young,' Marilyn added.
'He still thinks it will end all right,' Annie sighed.
'And you, Annie, what do you think?'
'I think as long as Mam is able to keep this house, she'll survive somehow.'
Danny came home late. Bernadette sat curled in her armchair, the table was set for two. 'Where are the children?' he asked.
Bernadette raised her eyes slowly to him. 'I beg your pardon?' she said.