Things We Never Say

by Sheila O'Flanagan

  Abbey shifted uncomfortably in her seat as the family’s eyes fixed on her.

  ‘“It’s only in recent times that I realise the consequences of those actions”,’ read Alex. ‘“A woman I cared about died in appalling circumstances. I deprived her daughter of her true family.”’

  ‘You know, I think my mom was happy,’ said Abbey tentatively. ‘Your dad was beating himself up for no reason, at least as far as she was concerned.’

  ‘“I was never punished for what I’d done”,’ continued Alex.

  ‘What the hell does he mean, “punished”?’ demanded Donald. ‘He fathered a child. So what? Loads of men have fathered children they’ve had nothing more to do with. Why should Dad be any different?’

  ‘When Mr Fitzpatrick came to me to talk about it, he was quite distressed,’ said Alex. ‘He’d seen programmes about the treatment of unmarried mothers on the TV. There was a particular programme on the Magdalene laundries that upset him considerably. He was very angry at the treatment meted out to the girls by the religious orders and upset about his former girlfriend who herself had been placed in an institution during her pregnancy.’

  Lisette wished Fred had never seen that damn TV programme and had stuck to the war movies and blockbusters he usually watched.

  ‘“Recently I discovered that I had not only a daughter I had never met but also a granddaughter.”’ Alex returned to reading the will. ‘“I want to compensate them for what happened to Ita Dillon and for not having bothered to find out anything about them before now.”’

  There was an audible intake of breath among the Fitzpatricks, triggered by the word ‘compensate’. Now their eyes turned to Alex, who looked up at them. ‘Mr Fitzpatrick wrote this will after Abbey Andersen had agreed to meet him but before she left the States,’ he said. ‘And so he has made a provision for her of five thousand euros, specifically for coming to Ireland without any knowledge of what lay ahead of her.’

  A relieved expression appeared on the faces of the Fitzpatrick brothers and their wives. Five grand to the long-lost relative wasn’t too bad after all.

  ‘That’s the last of Mr Fitzpatrick’s cash,’ Alex said. ‘Except for a small balance in his current account which doesn’t exceed a thousand euros.’

  So now to the meat of it, thought Donald. The house. What has Dad done? Shared it equally between me and Gar? Or has he cut Suzanne in too? But he’s already left her a quarter of a million. Why should she get anything more?

  ‘“It’s only in recent years that I realise the emotional and physical distress that the mother of my daughter went through. And I regret that I didn’t make an effort to help her, or to keep my daughter in the country.”’

  ‘It was more than fifty years ago!’ cried Donald. ‘He couldn’t have been expected to look after a baby on his own back then.’

  ‘“I want to make amends for what happened”,’ read Alex. ‘“Unfortunately, the only way I can do that is materially.”’

  Donald and Gareth shared a tense look.

  ‘“To Abbey Andersen and Ellen Connolly jointly, I leave my home, Furze Hill, and its contents except those already bequeathed”,’ finished Alex.

  For almost half a minute there was complete and utter silence in the room.

  Then the Fitzpatricks started to talk all at once. And none of them had anything good to say.

  Chapter 22

  Abbey was in complete shock. Her grandfather, a man she barely knew, had left his home to her and Ellen. And he’d done that before he’d even seen her or spoken to her. Why? She hadn’t told him anything about Ellen’s life. And she hadn’t had time to talk about herself either. What if they’d had a chance to discuss things? Would he have changed his mind again? She had no problem understanding why the family was stunned. She was stunned herself.

  ‘Surely you can see that this is insane?’ Donald’s voice rose above the others’ as he confronted Alex. ‘My father was clearly out of his mind.’

  ‘Mr Fitzpatrick seemed very lucid and clear when he came to see me,’ replied Alex.

  ‘He couldn’t have been!’ exclaimed Donald. ‘He’s given away our inheritance to complete strangers.’

  ‘Mr Fitzpatrick didn’t see it that way.’

  ‘It was up to you to make him see it that way!’ Donald’s face was red and veins stood out at his temple. ‘You’ve been his solicitor for years. You must have known this is nonsense.’

  ‘I advised your father that it could cause some concern,’ agreed Alex. ‘I urged him to think about it again. But he was insistent.’

  ‘Why didn’t you send him off to a shrink?’ demanded Deirdre. ‘How can he leave everything to this money-grabbing woman and her mother!’ She turned towards Abbey, her face almost as red as her ex-husband’s.

  ‘I advised Mr Fitzpatrick that he should wait until he met both Miss Andersen and Ellen Connolly before changing his will,’ said Alex. ‘I told him that at that stage he should come to me and I would draw up a document that would meet his desire to compensate his daughter and granddaughter. I pointed out that he’d written this will without even knowing them. He said that wasn’t their fault and that Ellen Connolly was his daughter and deserved something from him.’

  ‘Something maybe!’ cried Gareth. ‘But the house and everything in it? I don’t bloody think so. He should’ve left it to me and Don.’

  Suzanne opened her mouth, but closed it again without speaking.

  ‘I told Mr Fitzpatrick that he should reconsider,’ said Alex. ‘However, he was adamant that his wish was for cash bequests to his immediate family and the house and contents to Ellen Connolly and her daughter.’

  ‘It’s not only about the amount involved.’ Donald gritted his teeth. ‘It’s about – about implying that they have some right to be considered part of our family. They aren’t. They never have been and they never will be.’

  ‘Mr Fitzpatrick’s view was that he wanted to acknowledge his daughter,’ said Alex.

  ‘Acknowledge, fine,’ growled Gareth. ‘But turn over the family home – no way is that right.’

  ‘Did you plan this?’ Donald turned to Abbey, his voice laden with fury. ‘Did you? Did you contact him? Stalk him? Make him feel sorry for you?

  ‘Of course not!’ cried Abbey. ‘I didn’t even know he existed until a couple of weeks ago.’

  ‘You say that.’ Gareth was equally angry. ‘But how do we know?’

  ‘Because I was the one who found Miss Andersen,’ said Ryan. ‘She had no idea about Mr Fitzpatrick’s place in her life before then.’

  ‘He didn’t have a place in her life!’ cried Donald. ‘And she doesn’t have a place in his. Or ours. My father couldn’t have been more wrong about that. The truth is that she’s nothing but a money-grabbing gold-digger who hastened Dad’s death—’

  ‘Donald, I strongly advise you not to talk about Miss Andersen in those terms.’ Alex spoke slowly and steadily. ‘I understand you’re upset, but—’

  ‘Too right I’m upset,’ raged Donald. ‘Too bloody right I am.’ He glared at Alex. ‘You said that my father drew up this ridiculous will himself. Are you sure it’s properly done? After all, my father wasn’t a solicitor.’

  ‘You don’t need a solicitor to write a will,’ said Alex. ‘When he brought it to me, he confirmed that he wished me to be the executor and that he wanted to have his signature witnessed. I urged him to wait until he’d met Miss Andersen before signing it. He told me that if he disliked her on sight, he’d shred it. If not, then this was a valid will and he’d shred the previous one so that there wouldn’t be any doubt.’

  ‘And did he?’ asked Donald.

  ‘I don’t know,’ replied Alex. ‘However, as you can see, this one is dated a week ago, and certainly after the last one I prepared for him.’

  ‘Maybe he changed his mind. Maybe there’s another one.’ Gareth looked hopeful. ‘If he was going round drawing up wills himself, there could be more. Ones that leave things properly to the people who d
eserve them. To his real family.’

  ‘There must be something you can do,’ said Donald to Alex. ‘You advised him against it, after all.’

  ‘But he chose not to take my advice,’ Alex reminded him.

  ‘I’m very sorry.’ Abbey looked at them all in distress.

  ‘I doubt that,’ snapped Deirdre. ‘I’d say you can’t believe your luck. You walk in and take the lot from under our noses. Well done. You didn’t have to put up with the moody old tosser all these years and you’ve still hit the jackpot.’

  ‘Don’t talk about my father like that,’ said Donald.

  ‘Now you’re defending him?’ cried Deirdre. ‘You’re a fool, Donald Fitzpatrick. But then you always were. You were a fool over me and a fool over Miss Social Climber there too, because I’m sure your bottle-blond bombshell will have changed her tune about you now.’

  ‘Who the hell do you think you are?’ Zoey’s eyes flashed angrily. ‘Say one more word and I’ll see you outside.’

  ‘Zoey!’ Donald caught her by the arm. ‘Please.’

  ‘She has no right to talk to me like that,’ said Zoey. ‘Disgruntled Deirdre, all high and mighty and pushing her weight about. Still thinking that she’s entitled to be part of this family when she was the one who had the affair, the slut!’

  There was a sudden silence and everyone looked at Deirdre.

  ‘This isn’t the time or the place.’ Donald looked pleadingly at both his wife and his ex-wife.

  ‘That was a complete misunderstanding,’ said Deirdre. ‘Which Donald already knows.’

  ‘My arse,’ retorted Zoey.

  ‘None of this matters,’ cried Lisette. ‘What’s important is what Fred has done. Everything else … is secondary.’

  ‘If we don’t discover another, later will we’re going to contest this travesty.’ Donald turned to his siblings for support. ‘I don’t care what ideas he had about acknowledging his … his … love child. There’s no way Dad would want to leave so much to Abbey Andersen and her mother when he knew that we were depending on him for financial help. I’m sorry, Abbey,’ he added, although there was no regret in his voice. ‘You may be an innocent party in all this, but you’re not a Fitzpatrick and you’ve no right to my father’s house. Of course we’ll pay you the five thousand for coming here – I can give that to you today if you like – but anything else just wouldn’t be fair.’

  ‘Seems to me that fairness and Dad have never gone hand in hand,’ remarked Suzanne. ‘But it only bothers you when you’re at the wrong end of it. You clearly didn’t kick up a fuss when I was left out before. You didn’t even bother to tell me about it.’

  ‘Those were entirely different circumstances,’ said Donald. ‘You were always going to get something sooner or later, and now you have. So there’s nothing for you to complain about. This involves almost everything Dad owned going to a complete stranger. We haven’t even had the opportunity to talk to her yet! There’s no way that can happen, and I won’t let it.’

  ‘Well, not everything,’ said Suzanne. ‘Like you said, I’m getting quite a bit of money. You, Gar, your children and your wives – current and previous – are getting a generous enough wedge between you all. It’s only the house that’s the problem.’

  Gareth stared at her. ‘Are you saying that this is OK by you?’ he asked. ‘That you’re all right about our family home being given to two people you’ve never heard of before? Because that’s what’s happening here. We’re being sold short.’

  ‘Going on past form, I’m lucky to have got anything,’ remarked Suzanne. ‘So I guess it’s no skin off my nose. Besides, it’s not the family home. None of us ever lived here. It was Dad’s home, not ours.’

  ‘Don’t be stupid,’ said Donald. ‘Nobody is getting any of Dad’s assets except his family. And we are his family, not some American blow-in. Alex, we’re contesting this will and I want you to set the wheels in motion straight away.’

  ‘I have to advise you that there are very limited circumstances under which you can contest a will.’ Alex had expected this kind of response from the family. He’d warned Fred about it, but Fred had said it was his money to leave as he chose. He’d done a lot for his children over the course of their lives. He’d fed them, clothed them, brought them on holidays and given them significant sums of money to ease them on their way. But he’d done nothing at all for Ellen Connolly or Abbey Andersen and that was why he wanted to fix things now. Despite all his powers of persuasion, Alex couldn’t change Fred’s mind. There was a part of him that wondered if Fred had wanted his children to flare up as they had, if the old man was enjoying the opportunity to cause trouble after his death. ‘Additionally, as I’m the executor, I can’t help you do it. It’s my job to ensure that Fred’s wishes are carried out,’ he added.

  ‘I think disgraceful advice from his solicitor is damn good grounds to contest this nonsense,’ said Donald. ‘Allied with the fact that Dad had clearly lost his marbles completely.’

  ‘What makes you think he lost his marbles?’ asked Suzanne. ‘OK, it was a weird decision, but it was his to make and he appears to have weighed up a lot of things.’

  ‘He was an old man and his mind was going,’ said Lisette. ‘He didn’t weigh up anything. There were days when he couldn’t remember his own name, for heaven’s sake.’

  ‘There are days when I can’t remember my own name,’ returned Suzanne, ‘and there’s nothing wrong with my mind.’

  ‘Naturally you don’t want to lose your money, Suzanne. I understand that,’ said Zoey. ‘Donald and I will guarantee that when this will is overturned, you’ll get what’s due to you, won’t we, Don?’

  ‘It’s not about my share of the money,’ said Suzanne.

  ‘Don’t make me laugh.’ Zoey was scornful. ‘It’s always about the money.’

  ‘All Abbey has to do is say that she and her mum will give up their rights to Dad’s property.’ It was Gareth who stood up and faced the rest of them. ‘Then we can avoid all this hassle.’

  ‘I have to advise you not to do that, Abbey,’ said Ryan.

  ‘Why?’ Abbey looked hunted.

  ‘This is a pressurised environment,’ said Ryan. ‘You can’t make decisions under duress. Nor can you make decisions on behalf of your mother.’

  ‘Hey, lawyer man, you’re working for us, not her,’ said Donald.

  ‘I was working for your father,’ said Ryan.

  ‘Well you can consider that particular job at an end,’ Gareth told him.

  ‘It ended when I brought Miss Andersen back here,’ said Ryan.

  ‘But Ryan is right,’ said Abbey. ‘It’s not just up to me, is it? It’s up to my mother too. I’ll have to talk to her.’

  ‘I thought you couldn’t talk to her,’ said Gareth. ‘I thought she was uncontactable. Which in itself is bloody suspicious. Nobody is uncontactable these days.’

  ‘I always intended to contact her when I returned to the States,’ said Abbey. ‘Even if it took some time.’

  ‘Oh, so now you’re changing your tune?’ Donald looked at Abbey accusingly. ‘Previously she was holed up somewhere incommunicado. Was that so my father couldn’t see that she was a totally unsuitable person? A crackhead pole-dancer maybe? There’s no way our inheritance is going to some madwoman in the States. No way at all.’

  Ryan was looking at Abbey intently. ‘How long before you can talk to her?’ he asked.’

  ‘I have to make specific arrangements,’ said Abbey. ‘A week, maybe two.’

  ‘Is she in prison or something?’ asked Zoey. ‘I doubt Fred would want his house to go to a convicted criminal.’

  ‘Of course she’s not a criminal,’ said Abbey. She looked apologetically at Ryan. ‘My mother lives in a monastery. She’s a Benedictine nun.’

  Chapter 23

  There was another stunned silence, this time eventually broken by Lisette.

  ‘A nun? A Catholic nun? That can’t be possible. She’s your mother! She’s had a child!’
>
  ‘My mom is a widow,’ Abbey said. ‘And there’s no problem with a widowed woman who’s had a child becoming a nun, as long as the child isn’t dependent. In any event, the monastery she’s a part of isn’t exclusively Catholic. It’s Christian.’

  ‘Monastery? You mean convent,’ said Suzanne.

  ‘No. Benedictines live a monastic life.’

  ‘Holy Mother of God,’ cried Deirdre. ‘He’s left his house to the Moonies.’

  ‘No,’ said Abbey steadily. ‘This is a proper Christian community of sisters.’

  ‘You have got to be kidding me.’ Donald’s face was like thunder. ‘You’re saying that Dad’s house, the house he’s always loved and worked so hard to get, is now half owned by a gang of lunatic lesbian nuns?’

  ‘They’re not lesbians!’ cried Abbey. ‘Although even if they were, there’s no need for you to be so insulting.’

  ‘There’s something very weird about a gang of women holing themselves up together behind high walls,’ said Donald. ‘I think I’m perfectly entitled to call them whatever I like.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me about this when I first met you and asked about your mother?’ asked Ryan, who’d been listening in total astonishment.

  ‘People can be very judgemental about religion. They can be equally judgemental about choices,’ said Abbey. ‘Especially when they concern someone who had a late vocation, like Mom. I wanted to protect her.’

  ‘I wouldn’t have been judgemental,’ said Ryan. ‘I’m a solicitor. I don’t get to be judgemental.’

  ‘But my father bloody well would have been!’ Gareth cried. ‘After all, he decided to leave you all this because he wanted to compensate your mother for what allegedly happened to her own mother in those damn Magdalene laundries. Which were run by nuns. So you can’t tell me that he would’ve left her anything if he’d known she was a nun herself.’