by Maeve Binchy
The lawyer was giving nothing away. He coughed over the little canapés and sipped his white wine slowly and nervously as if it were going to bring on a fit of binge drinking.
There had never been any mention of a Mrs Hayes and Amy wasn’t even going to broach the subject. ‘Do you like the countryside, Mr Hayes?’ she asked brightly.
‘Oh, yes of course. I mean, most admirable.’ He was afraid to cause offence.
‘I love it too, in fact, I wouldn’t mind if we never went back to the city. But it’s a bit too dull for Dan here.’
Mr Hayes looked around at the ten adults and two children. Food and drink were being passed around, the top of the range barbecue was leaping into life. There was a roar of conversation. Dull was what it did not look.
‘You don’t like city life, Mrs Moran?’ Mr Hayes reminded her of Dormouse at the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. Once he had woken up.
‘Oh I like it all right, Mr Hayes. It’s just that it’s exhausting. Dan likes us to go out a lot. He wants us to be at something about three nights a week and to host something another night. There’s no time to curl up and be grateful for all we have.’
‘Well, of course the world would come to a standstill if we were all to curl up and do nothing.’ Mr Hayes was uncharacteristically disapproving. Amy had read him wrong; she thought he would be all for caution when he actually sounded even more gung-ho than Dan did.
‘You’ve met Sally Anne, I think,’ Amy drew the two most unlikely people in the room together.
‘Yes, indeed,’ he added surprisingly. ‘I have handled some business for Miss Harris.’
Amy hadn’t even known Sally Anne’s second name.
‘Oh, good and this is . . . um . . . Kevin’s friend Silver.’
‘Ah I know Silver’s father well,’ Mr Hayes said.
Amy noted grimly that Silver was young enough for Mr Hayes not to call her Miss or Mrs.
She moved away and left them all to it.
Donal was looking at Sally Anne with unconcealed interest.
‘Well who does she belong to?’ he asked.
‘Nobody. I gather they all fancied her from afar when they were young. At school.’
‘Don’t tell me she’s the same age as Dan and Kevin and Martin?’
‘Yeah, triumph of the Art of Make-up as that spoonface Silver would say. Or maybe even the cosmetic surgeon’s knife as I darkly think.’
‘What is Silver O’Sullivan doing here?’ Donal asked.
‘She’s Kevin’s new interest. Do you know her?’
‘I know her old man Mouth O’Sullivan. Everyone does.’
‘I don’t. Who is he?’
‘A gangster, not to put too fine a point on it.’
‘God, this day is going from bad to worse,’ Amy said.
‘Are you okay, Amy?’
‘Of course I’m okay. Why shouldn’t I be? Haven’t I got everything in the world a woman could want?’
‘You sound a bit edgy. Aunt Norah thinks you should come and work here, in Knockglass.’
‘Yes, and she thinks that if you’re good you’ll be happy and if you eat your crusts you get curly hair.’
‘It must all be a bit stressful.’
‘What must?’
‘All the things that Dan’s into.’
‘He says there’s nothing to it, that it’s like taking candy from a baby. People are pushing their money at him. He hasn’t a worry in the world.’
‘Well maybe he should have,’ Donal said.
Amy felt a cold pool of water in her stomach.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Ah you know me, I’m Knockglass born and bred, and terrified of all these whizz-kids, wide boys and speculators.’ He shivered at the thought of them and all their antics.
Amy was troubled. ‘Dan’s not a wide boy, is he?’
‘No, no of course not, but he does dance with wolves.’
‘Will you stop that? You have me weak at the thought of it all. Sally Anne, did they introduce you to my cousin Donal?’
‘Not properly,’ she said with a marvellous throaty growl. Amy knew that she would never be able to do that. Even if she could manage the sound she wouldn’t be able to hold voice range.
She left them and moved further among the guests.
Kevin had been avoiding her eye but he couldn’t do that anymore as she was standing in front of him.
‘Bad business all this,’ he muttered.
‘No, it’s a lovely day. We’re just delighted to have so many old and, indeed, new friends here.’ She looked pointedly at Silver.
‘It’s not what you think, Amy,’ Kevin began.
‘What do I think?’ Amy smiled a very insincere smile.
‘Oh you know, a mid-life crisis, a girl the same age as my daughters, that sort of thing, but it’s not that.’
‘No, of course not.’
‘And when you get to know Silver as I hope you will . . . you’ll find that she’s just as, I don’t know, mature as the rest of us.’
‘Maybe even more mature?’ Amy offered.
‘Maybe.’ Kevin looked foolish and uneasy.
Standing beside Sally Anne, Dan and Martin were literally competing for her attention.
Dan was telling her about the plans his office had to sponsor a big horse race in the New Year, Sally Anne was giggling and saying that if there was anything she liked it was to be in an enclosure and Martin was boasting how well he looked in his chauffeuring outfit.
‘Ooh, I always loved a man in uniform. Does it for me every time.’
And on the fringes Donal was hovering, hoping to say something that would attract Sally Anne’s attention. Kevin looked put out. His beautiful nymphette Silver hadn’t caused a quarter of the stir that Sally Anne was creating. Also on the fringes was Declan, the young bank manager. He was eyeing Sally Anne appreciatively too. Could any one woman deserve the interest that she was getting from all quarters?
For a moment Amy wondered how and why Sally Anne had remained single all her life. Surely some man must have been able to convince her to join up with him. But from what she heard Sally Anne had been a flirt, a tease but no action. She had escorts but no lovers. She had friends but no husband.
Suppose Dan had succeeded in his early attempts to woo Sally Anne. What kind of a wife would she have made?
Sally Anne would have oohed and aahed over every new sign of wealth rather than looking grim faced and anxious as Amy did.
She would have had paid help to serve today’s lunch and floated around among the guests.
She would have found a wonderful caterer and two local girls from Knockglass to wash up and tidy.
And would Dan have liked it better? Probably.
Dan saw Amy standing there and came over to her. ‘How’s my beautiful wife?’ he said a little too loudly.
Amy did not feel beautiful, not in a garden that contained the languid Sally Anne, the sexy Silver and even crisp, elegant Joan. She felt wishy-washy and tired.
No amount of under-eye concealer could take away the dark circles. She would like Dan to have said she was his beautiful wife when they were alone. But that didn’t happen. It was always ‘Amy, don’t fuss’ or ‘Let’s make a baby boy’.
But here in front of people he stood, arm draped around her neck, picking delicately at the tray of quails’ eggs.
He stayed until he was certain everyone had seen him marking his territory then he announced that the event of the weekend was about to begin and they must all tell him how they liked their steaks.
He put on his chef’s hat and went to the barbecue.
Event of the weekend! He had done no shopping, preparation, no cooking. Those ten steaks and the sausages for the girls would have looked a poor lunch without all the trimmings that she had ordered, collected and assembled.
It was Sunday lunchtime. After seven they would begin the journey home. Those essays in her tote bag were still unmarked. Beds had to be stripped, laundry bags packed. There woul
d be no help from anyone.
Dan would take the children for an evening stroll to say goodbye to the riverbank.
Joan and Martin would help with the washing-up but would have gone back to town.
Kevin would have managed to get through the whole afternoon without mentioning his wife Geraldine, while Silver cooed at him and called him a poppet.
The men would regret their missed chances with Sally Anne. Donal would probably wish that he had the self-assurance of these guys, but he wouldn’t dare ask her out. Mr Hayes would eat a lot and drink little. He would see everything and see nothing.
Declan the bank manager would make jokes and keep his opinions to himself.
If only Amy knew what she was meant to be looking for among the guests.
Why had Dan asked her to suss out the situation and said it was a heavy lunch? She couldn’t think.
She noticed that Silver couldn’t hold her drink. Amy knew that she must focus, concentrate. She forced herself to talk to Mr Hayes.
‘Are you very positive about the way the country is going?’ she asked.
‘You mean the countryside or the nation?’ he asked. He had ordered his steak well done.
‘Oh the nation, I think. Are we heading over the cliff, do you think?’
‘Your husband certainly doesn’t think so,’ Mr Hayes looked around admiringly. ‘With the way he’s spending it anyway.’
‘Yes, but sometimes I worry in case . . .’
‘In case what, Mrs Moran?’
‘In case he is too enthusiastic, you know. I’m glad that you are there to keep an eye on him as it were.’
‘Oh no, I don’t do that at all. That’s not my role. I mean if he and those young tigers want to go into something, in they go.’
‘But as their lawyer?’
‘Not every investment needs a legal contract, Mrs Moran.’
‘No, no, of course not.’ Amy could hear Silver’s laugh very loud from under the trees.
‘How exactly do you know Silver’s father, Mr Hayes?’ she asked.
‘Who said I knew him?’
‘You did when I tried to introduce you to Kevin’s new friend.’
‘Oh yes, of course. Well, you know, I’ve met him through this and that. You know the way it is.’ Amy didn’t know the way it was but she had little time to speculate.
Kevin was helping Silver towards the house. Please may she not be sick before he got her to the bathroom.
Declan had collected his rare steak and was busy filling up his plate with extra salads.
‘This is really superb, Amy,’ he said. ‘Dan’s a lucky man.’
‘Do you have a wife, Declan?’
‘Yep, sort of.’
‘Oh, a partner? Well that’s just as good, isn’t it.’
‘No she’s a fully blown wife but she’s not around at the moment.
She’s gone on a rather long holiday, in fact.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry but it will blow over won’t it? These things do.’
‘Not this one, I fear.’
‘Do you have children?’
‘One daughter. Aged four.’
‘That’s hard, Declan. Is she with your wife?’
‘Yeah. It is hard.’
‘And without being too personal, what was it all about?’
‘Without being too personal, Amy, it was about fellows like your husband here. Barbara thinks I’m way out of my depth, in over my head and a hundred other phrases.’
‘She left you over Dan’s business?’ Amy felt weak.
‘Not only Dan, loads of people like him and Kevin who are lashing into it.’
‘But it will all work out, won’t it?’
‘I sure hope so, in fact I thought we might start sorting it out today. I understood he had invited me here on my own to discuss it all and to talk repayments.’
‘Sorry for repeating everything you say but there are repayments to be made?’ Amy’s voice was a whisper now.
‘Well there were huge debts. I was actually getting edgy. But then only yesterday he made a big lodgement that covered everything.’
‘Yes, he said he took out a mortgage on this place here. That must have been it.’
‘No, that’s wrong. He told me that this place is absolutely in the clear.’
‘I thought he did it through you, yesterday. That’s what he said,’ Amy said, anxious again.
‘No way,’ Declan was even more anxious.
‘Listen, take no notice of me, I get everything wrong,’ she begged. ‘Don’t say a thing to him, please.’
‘But I may have misunderstood.’
‘Declan, you’re a bank manager. You don’t misunderstand things. Let it be sorted out next week please.’
He looked at her for a moment and nodded.
Dan came over to them, all orders now completed.
‘Well, that’s the main work of the day over. Where’s Kevin?’
‘No idea, love.’ Amy didn’t want to speak of Silver being taken unwell. Not in front of Declan, who already had his doubts about Dan, Kevin, everyone.
‘Okay I’ll just get myself a sticking plaster. I burned my thumb.’ Dan headed for the bathroom. Amy let him go, let him find whatever he found.
She listened from the kitchen door to find out how bad it was. Maybe they needed more towels.
Damn that child to the pit of hell for taking Geraldine’s husband and then vomiting all over their bathroom. But to her amazement she just heard laughter from the direction of the bathroom, and Dan’s voice urging discretion.
They couldn’t have!
Amy was shocked. Kevin their best man, successful estate agent, much-respected businessman, married to Geraldine for nearly twenty years. No, he couldn’t have taken that brassy girl to the bathroom to make love or whatever he might call it. Amy crept closer. It didn’t sound as if Dan had walked in on anything sexual. It sounded different.
‘Give me a break, Kevin, not in the house, not in Golden Willow. My girls are here. We can’t have any of this stuff in the house, not in front of the girls.’
And, instantly, Amy knew it was cocaine. A great anger welled up in her.
Her Dan was obviously well acquainted with drugs and his only concern was that his children, his children would not know.
She had never been so angry.
She went back to the garden, sat under the apple tree and tried to hide her shaking hands.
‘Where’s Dad?’ Sasha asked. There was a question of flying a kite.
‘No idea, darling, he’ll be back.’ Amy’s voice sounded far away in her own head.
‘Are you all right?’ Joan noticed everything.
‘Not really. Tell you later.’
‘Well at least your husband isn’t here pawing bloody Sally Anne like mine is.’ Joan sounded bitter.
‘Oh she’s harmless that one, all talk, no action,’ Amy said.
‘Lots of eyelashes, though, and pouting. I think your cousin is smitten too, not to mention the bank manager, except that he’d be too cautious to get involved with her.’
‘He’s not as cautious as you think. In fact, he’s been quite reckless, and his wife left home over it.’
‘Inspector Clouseau!’ Joan laughed ‘No, more like Miss Marple, I think.’
‘At least you’re smiling. You looked a bit shocked there.’ Joan was relieved.
‘Will they ever go home, do you think? Not you and Martin but the rest of them.’
‘Mr Hayes told me that he is going to America on business tomorrow morning. Maybe he might want an early start.’
‘Mr Hayes is a load of surprises, isn’t he?’ Amy saw out of the corner of her eye Kevin and Silver slink back to join the group. They looked a lot more subdued. Dan had obviously been much more stern than they had expected.
There was no sign of Dan.
Making heavy weather of the blister on his thumb or searching the bathroom for traces of white powder?
She didn’t know which and she didn’t c
are.
Silver seemed to have recovered her senses. She approached Amy and Joan.
‘You know, I realise I may have been a little insensitive suggesting that you both need a huge makeover,’ Silver began.
‘I didn’t think you said huge makeover,’ Joan said.
‘More a little trimming here and there,’ Amy agreed.
‘Well, just as long as I didn’t say anything to offend.’ Silver looked from one to the other.
‘Nothing at all,’ Joan reassured her.
‘You couldn’t offend anyone, Silver.’ Amy’s voice was tinny. Just then she heard her name being called from inside the house.
‘Sorry, there seems to be a crisis in the bathroom, man in hunt of a sticking plaster,’ she said and escaped.
Dan was sitting on the edge of the bath. Amy’s sponge bag was in one hand, in the other was her packet of contraceptive pills. He was almost beyond speech.
‘That’s my bag,’ Amy said defensively. Foolishly.
‘Indeed it is, Amy, your bag, your pills, your decision.’
‘You never listen,’ she began.
‘I’m listening now,’ he said. She had never seen him like this.
‘You were dead set on it, another child, a boy this time. I don’t want another baby, Dan. I want to get on with my career.’
‘Career!’ he sneered.
‘Yes it is a career. It’s a good career. And I’m doing well at it and I like it, I have a post of special responsibility this year and I’m well in line to be Assistant Principal in a couple of years.’
Dan had put the red and white plastic bag on the floor. He clapped his hands slowly.
‘Well now, Assistant Principal no less, now we are really talking. That wouldn’t even pay the mortgage on this place, let alone anything else. Oh we’ll be in the big time when you make Assistant Principal all right.’
‘Don’t mock me, Dan. A lot of families are glad to live on that salary.’
‘But not us, Amy, you fool. We’ve made it, have you never understood that? We’ve got there, we have the dream we talked about.’
‘No, we haven’t.’
‘Well, certainly I thought we had, until a few minutes ago. But now I can’t trust you any more ever again about anything.’
‘And I can’t trust you either!’
‘What did I do? Tell me what did I do except run myself ragged for you and the girls.’