Brenda frowned. No wonder Paula had men falling all over her. She’d looked stunning in the ice-pink bridesmaid’s dress. Her figure was perfect, her tan golden, her hair a shining silky blond bob. Brenda felt like an elephant beside her. She’d tried so hard to lose the weight she’d gained since Claudia was born. But it clung stubbornly. Her waist was thick, her stomach and thighs flabby and her bum was a disaster. It was her own fault, of course. Since she’d left work she was inclined to sit around a lot. And eat . . . Any excuse and she was nibbling, or having coffee and biscuits. Not to talk about bowls of Cornflakes and Weetabix together. She’d developed a real passion for them. Her good intention to lose weight after she left work had failed dismally. Being matron-of-honour had not been a strong enough incentive either. Brenda pinched her waist. She could definitely pinch an inch, she thought despondently. Now that the weather was starting to improve and the summer was coming, she’d start bringing Claudia out for walks in her buggy. She might join an aerobics class. Maybe she could persuade Kathy to come with her. She had to do something. She was turning into a flabby frump.
Brenda stared down at her now sleeping husband. She’d a good mind to wake him up and tell him she was going into town and that he was to look after Claudia for the day. That would fix him. Looking after a demanding one-year-old toddler was no joke.
Suddenly a dizzy faintness came over her. Brenda leaned back against the pillows waiting for it to pass. What the hell had caused that, she wondered in dismay. Holy God Almighty! Brenda had a terrifying thought. She’d felt like that once early in her pregnancy with Claudia. She couldn’t be! She couldn’t possibly be pregnant again so soon. She hadn’t gone back on the pill because she’d kept hoping she’d lose weight and she didn’t want the added half-stone that the pill always put on her. Shay had been using condoms because she hated using a diaphragm. Brenda groaned as another wave of dizziness assaulted her. Her period was a week late but she hadn’t given it any thought. Her cycle was still a bit irregular. Why had she been so stupid? She should have gone straight back on the pill and to hell with vanity. She hadn’t lost an ounce of weight and now, if her suspicions were correct, she’d be putting on a hell of a lot more.
Gingerly she got out of bed and walked into the bathroom. The toilet seat was up. Fury engulfed her. She slammed it down, hard, and didn’t care if it cracked. She was always telling Shay to put the toilet seat down after him. It irritated the hell out of her, as did his habit of squeezing the toothpaste from the middle. Brenda poured herself a glass of water and sipped it slowly.
Claudia was a handful. Adorable, but a handful nevertheless. How would she manage two of them? So much for her idea of a life of rest and relaxation.
She heard Shay’s rumbling snores. Her lips tightened in a thin line. He needn’t think he was going to sleep blissfully for the rest of the morning. She wasn’t going to suffer on her own.
‘Shay! Shay! Wake up. I have to talk to you.’ Brenda shook him vigorously.
‘Wha . . . what’s the matter?’ He sat up bleary-eyed.
‘I’ll tell you what’s the matter, Shay Hanley. I think I’m pregnant!’
‘Oh crikey!’ Shay turned a whiter shade of pale. ‘Are you sure?’
‘No, but I feel like I did when I started with Claudia.’ Brenda burst into tears.
‘Don’t cry, Bren. Maybe you’re imagining it.’ Shay got out of bed and put his arms around her.
‘My English teacher told me I had no imagination.’ Brenda wept.
‘Let’s hope she was wrong,’ Shay said fervently.
Brenda spent a tense weekend and was up at the doctor’s surgery first thing the following Monday morning.
‘Congratulations, Mrs Hanley,’ Brenda heard him say, as Claudia started to howl. She felt like howling herself.
‘I can’t believe it, Kathy,’ she cried on her best friend’s shoulder, later that morning.
‘It’s not as bad as you think,’ Kathy soothed. ‘It happened to me. But look at it like this, they’ll all be reared together and it will make life much easier when they go to school.’
‘I suppose you’re right,’ she sniffed. ‘But that’s it. Two’s enough.’
‘Famous last words,’ laughed Kathy. ‘Look, why don’t I take Claudia for the afternoon and you go and put your feet up, or go into town and treat yourself.’
‘Thanks, Kathy. You’re a pal.’ Brenda gave a watery smile. ‘I’ll tell you one thing. This time I’m telling them to knock me out. I’m taking anything that’s going.’
‘You’ll be fine,’ Kathy assured her. ‘It’s never as bad the second time.’
‘Don’t tell fibs, you told me Andrew’s birth was ten times harder than Anita’s.’
‘No I didn’t. I’m sure I didn’t.’
‘Yes you did,’ Brenda said glumly. There was no point in fooling herself.
She had resigned herself to her pregnancy and was finding it much easier the second time round when she went for her first scan. She lay trying to make out the black and white images on the monitor showing her baby. The doctor took her hand and smiled down at her. ‘Is everything all right? Is the baby OK?’ Brenda asked anxiously.
‘Everything’s fine,’ he assured her. ‘Only it’s not one baby, Mrs Hanley,’ she heard him say. ‘Congratulations, you’re expecting twins.’
Chapter Seventy-Four
‘This time last week Grandpa Myles was giving that poor manager hell,’ Ronan reflected as he swung lazily in a hammock by their private villa.
‘Poor manager my foot!’ Jennifer scoffed from the hammock she was lying in sipping Malibu and pineapple. ‘He deserved everything he got, the little rat. He ruined my wedding day.’
‘Ah, it wasn’t that bad,’ Ronan soothed. ‘The free bar was all everyone could talk about. Poor Shay was well on.’
‘I know, I could hear Brenda telling him not to make a show of her and him telling her to stop bossing him around. They weren’t exactly whispering.’ Jennifer grimaced.
‘And did you hear Dad getting on to Rachel about how she was too fond of the booze. She’d only had two glasses of white wine!’
‘You know Rachel should get her own place. She should never have taken that job in Bray,’ Jennifer reflected. ‘She’ll never do anything as long as she’s living at home.’
‘Jenny, you’re preaching to the converted.’ Ronan took a slug of ice-cold Coke.
‘Let’s go for a walk on the beach before dinner,’ she suggested.
‘A walk!’ Ronan exclaimed in mock horror. ‘I couldn’t possibly do anything that energetic. I’m on my honeymoon in the Cayman Islands. And she wants me to go walking! What kind of a wife did I get?’
Jennifer eased herself out of her hammock and stood looking down at him.
‘Get up, you lazy lump,’ she laughed, tipping him out.
Ronan laughed. ‘Be on your guard for that!’ he warned.
Jennifer tied her sarong around her waist and placed a big white hat on her head. It was late afternoon and the intense heat of the day had eased but she wore her hat anyway. She walked down the tiled steps of the terrace where they had been relaxing. Ronan watched her admiringly. She was golden brown. Her long dark hair was plaited and entwined with flowers and it followed the curve of her slender sexy back. He was the luckiest man in the world, he thought happily as he sprinted down the steps to join her.
‘This is really a paradise, isn’t it?’ Jennifer took his hand as they walked down the winding flower-edged path to the magnificent swathe of white-gold beach. The sand was like silk beneath their feet. The sea was a clear aquamarine. They walked to the water’s edge and paddled along in the rippling surf.
‘It’s handy having a wife in the travel business.’
‘Yeah, it’s going to be a real perk when we’re taking our holidays. It was a great brainwave of Paula’s to get us to check out the scene here.’
‘Oh they can use us as guinea pigs anytime.’ Ronan laughed.
‘She�
�s started to make a go of that new project, I can tell you,’ Jennifer said admiringly.
‘Knowing Paula, I wouldn’t doubt it. What will your report say?’
‘Oh . . . it will say that it’s the ideal honeymoon spot, and if you’ve got the right husband . . . heaven on earth!’ Jennifer turned to Ronan and kissed him long and lingeringly. They drew apart and smiled at each other.
‘I think we should call and say that two weeks isn’t half long enough to make such important decisions as to whether TransCon would find Grand Cayman a suitable location for its holiday programme. I’d suggest six months on expenses.’
‘Absolutely,’ Jennifer agreed.
They walked slowly, utterly content in each other’s company. The sun was beginning to set when they turned to walk back to their villa. Great slashes of pink and purple and gold streaked the sky. The sun was a molten red orb suspended over the horizon. Slowly it began to dip, turning the waters to flame. Ronan and Jennifer stood watching as it sank lower and lower until just the tiniest arc remained, then it too disappeared. High in the sky, a pale crescent moon, almost transparent, waited for darkness and its hour of glory.
‘That was beautiful,’ Jennifer breathed. Watching the sunset was one of the highlights of their day. As was watching the moonrise and the sunrise. They’d gone shopping and explored the island, of course. They spent a day in George Town, the capital. But mostly they were content to be in each other’s company, relaxing and making love and enjoying their new togetherness. It more than made up for the hassles of the wedding day. Ronan’s throat was fine again and there was nothing to mar their pleasure.
Ronan had his arm around her waist as they walked back up the steps onto the terrace. They walked past the rippling turquoise pool and suddenly he gave her a little push and she went flying in.
‘You swine!’ she protested, gasping for breath when she surfaced.
‘I told you to be on your guard,’ Ronan said smugly as she swam over to the edge where he was standing laughing his head off. Jennifer reached up and made to grab him by the ankles but he was too quick for her and stepped back.
‘I’m no fool,’ he joked.
‘It’s lovely anyway,’ Jennifer declared as she began to swim around lazily.
Ronan dived in. ‘So are you, or have I told you that already today?’
‘A thousand times,’ Jennifer giggled as she swam over to him. They kissed, softly at first and then with a passion that left them breathless. Ronan reached down beneath the water and eased her bikini bottom off. She helped him remove his shorts. They stood entwined in the undulating waters and slowly began to make love, kissing and caressing and giving each other uninhibited pleasure as the skies darkened around them and the stars twinkled in the firmament.
Chapter Seventy-Five
If she’d been exhausted during her pregnancy – it was nothing to what she felt now. Brenda yawned.
‘Claudia, I’m trying to feed John, please be a good girl,’ she said crossly as she tried to prevent her daughter from swiping the baby’s bottle. Poor Claudia’s nose was terribly out of joint with the arrival of two little strangers who were taking up so much of her mother’s attention.
Claudia started to scream. Her screeches added to the cacophony of wails. Lauren was yelling in her cot, waiting to be fed. John was red in the face, seeking the teat of his bottle. Claudia stamped her feet and slapped Brenda.
‘Into the playpen with you, you bold girl,’ Brenda snapped, laying John on the sofa, where he rent the air with his wails, his little fists flailing the air. She lifted a kicking, struggling Claudia in her arms and put her in the playpen. Claudia howled in fury. Brenda felt like howling herself. She knew she should reassure her eldest daughter and lavish attention on her but it was impossible with two small babies to look after.
She picked up John, settled him in her arms and put the bottle back in his mouth. He stopped crying and sucked greedily. Brenda looked at the downy little head nestled in the crook of her arm. He was a placid little fellow except when he was hungry. His twin, Lauren, was much more lively and demanding.
She’d known having twins was going to be hectic but nothing had prepared her for the constant feeding, changing, bathing and dressing that was her lot these days. So much for the life of leisure she’d envisaged on leaving work. She’d never worked so hard in her life and she was always exhausted.
It wouldn’t be so bad if she got a decent night’s sleep, Brenda thought dispiritedly, giving a huge yawn. But Claudia was teething and having a hard time of it. Lauren never slept through the night and John always woke at six for his happy hour of gooing and gaaing. Brenda couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a full night’s sleep. She craved sleep more than anything. Brenda was always promising herself little naps in the day but it never worked out. She could rarely get her three children to sleep at the same time during the day.
The house was a shambles. There were toys all over the floor. Wads of nappies, tubs of Sudocrem and Vaseline spilled out of a baby bag that was stuck behind one of the armchairs. Baby clothes covered the radiator. Brenda glanced out the window. There was a good breeze out today, although it was cloudy. As soon as she’d bathed the babies and Claudia, she’d hang out the wash-load that was in the washing-machine. Or maybe she should do it before she gave them their baths. Rain was forecast for the early afternoon and she was running low on clean vests.
John’s eyes drooped and he stopped sucking. Brenda gave him a little nudge. John liked to linger over his bottle. He’d go for a little snooze if she let him but Lauren was yelling for hers and Claudia hadn’t had her breakfast yet.
She took the bottle from him and sat him on her knee and winded him. He gave a loud burp. ‘Good boy,’ Brenda said, pleased. John was a topper for getting his wind up. Lauren had difficulties and was inclined towards colic.
She fed her son the rest of his bottle, winded him again, and placed him in his carrycot. He smiled contentedly at her, and she bent and kissed him on the forehead. It was a pity her other two children couldn’t be as placid as their brother. John definitely had Shay’s temperament.
She went out to the kitchen and got Lauren’s bottle and scowled when she saw the state of the kitchen table. Shay could have washed up after his breakfast. A sticky marmalade knife was thrown in the sink with his plate and cup. That was Shay’s idea of clearing up. She knew he was busy these days and she should be grateful for all the extra business, but he left the house at the crack of dawn and often wasn’t home until late in the evening. It was sometimes after nine when he got home, so he wasn’t around to help out. Not like Kathy’s husband, Kenny, who was a dab hand at changing nappies, hanging out clothes, hoovering and the rest of it. Kathy had it far easier than she did, Brenda thought, self-pityingly.
They all had it far easier than she did. Jennifer and Ronan were just back from yet another foreign holiday. One of the perks of her job. Jennifer’s house was immaculate. You could walk in at any time of the night or day and there was never so much as a cushion out of place. She didn’t have to dry clothes on radiators, she could afford a dryer.
And as for Paula Matthews, her life was a permanent holiday. She swanned around in designer clothes looking like a model out of Vogue, with her permanent suntan. If a baby puked on her she’d probably faint, Brenda scowled as she tested Lauren’s bottle.
Life had not turned out as Brenda had planned. The twins’ arrival had changed her life completely. After Claudia was born she’d been able to get out and about, have coffee mornings with Kathy and go into town and window-shop occasionally. But the twins had put a halt to her gallop. Brenda couldn’t ever imagine herself having a life of her own again. She fed Lauren and put her back in her cot and took Claudia out of the playpen. She gave the little girl a kiss. Claudia was having none of it. She pouted and sulked and turned her head away. Brenda sighed. Claudia reminded her of herself sometimes.
‘Come on, and I’ll get you some lovely Liga for breakfast,’ Bren
da entreated.
‘No.’ Claudia glowered. No was her favourite word.
‘Come on, you have your breakfast with me because you’re a big girl, you’re not a baby any more. You’re my best helper.’
‘Want my bawbaw.’
‘I’ll give you a bottle,’ Brenda said patiently. Claudia kept insisting on having bottles now, because of the twins. Brenda had successfully weaned her off them before the twins’ arrival. She crumbled up the Liga fine, heated the milk and poured it all into the bottle. She went to lift Claudia into her high chair.
‘Feeg me,’ Claudia demanded.
Brenda swallowed her irritation. At this rate she’d be here all day. She lifted the little girl into her arms and Claudia cuddled in close and popped her bottle into her mouth. Content now that she was the centre of her mother’s attention the toddler sucked on the bottle with gusto.
Half an hour later, Brenda stood at the line hanging out the clothes. She hadn’t even had her breakfast yet and she was starving. But she wanted to get the clothes out first.
The garden was like a wilderness, she noted. Shay must do a job on it at the weekend. If she had time she’d give him a hand. She felt a certain satisfaction as she saw her line of clothes fluttering in the breeze. She wasn’t too far behind schedule. It was just gone nine. Maybe after the baths, when she put the babies down for a sleep, she might get the house tidied up and the clothes on the radiator sorted. If she was lucky she might get forty winks herself after the lunch-time feeds when the twins were sleeping and Claudia was dozing in her playpen. The sky was very grey. A good hour would get the clothes dry and it could rain then for the afternoon for all she cared. She’d light a fire and pull the sofa over in front of it and have a lazy afternoon. She wouldn’t bother cooking a dinner today, she decided. She’d get Shay to go for burgers and chips.
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