As she drove up the drive to the nursing home she noticed once again that they never let the garden get out of shape – even in the depths of winter when it must have been difficult to get a gardener to keep it up.She drew up to the door and when she rang it was answered almost immediately by a young nurse she didn’t recognise.
“I’m here to see Oliver Grey,” she said.
“Oh, yes.You must be Cassandra. Matron told me you were coming.I told him that you would be here soon and he was delighted. He is in the conservatory.He likes it there even in winter.”
Cassandra thanked the nurse and made her way to the conservatory.
“Hi, Dad,” she said as she spotted her father sitting in his favourite chair looking out on the grounds.
“Cassie, my darling,” the old man’s face lit up.“Where have you been all this time?Have you been shopping again?You’ll have me bankrupt.”
Cassandra took out the dressing gown she had bought.
“I bought you this, Dad,” she said.
“That’s lovely.I’ll forgive your extravagance,” he said, smiling broadly.
“How have you been?” Cassandra couldn’t help feeling sad.It was lovely her dad was glad to see her but he had absolutely no recollection of ever having a child.
“Grand,” he replied.“Why wouldn’t I be?You were ages away and you know how I miss you.”
It was clear that yet again he thought he was talking to his wife who had been dead ten years.Cassandra believed that the shock of losing his soul mate so suddenly had brought on the Alzheimer’s.He had been quite young, sixty, when the symptoms had started to show and his deterioration had been quite rapid.The doctors couldn’t explain it.They just said every case was different.
Luckily he’d had quite enough savings to be accommodated in this very nice nursing home and on the advice of his doctors she had arranged for him to be made a Ward of Court.That way she was able to look after his finances and pay for his care.She hadn’t had the heart to sell his house though she realised that she would have to do that sooner or later.It was deteriorating by the month and the insurance no longer covered an empty house.She hadn’t rented it out – she couldn’t bear the thought of strangers living in it, though inevitably that was going to happen in the not-too-distant future.
“Would you like a game of chess?” she asked him but he wasn’t interested.She wasn’t sure if he still had the capacity but the last time she had been there they’d had a few games of draughts.
“There you are, Cassandra.” The Matron had come back from her lunch.
“Hello, Matron.Dad looks well and happy.”
“He is grand or at least as well as can be expected.How was your trip?”
“Uneventful, thank goodness.”Cassandra replied.“How are things here?”
“Fine.We lost your friend Mrs Murphy since you were last here.It was sudden in the end.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.She used to love when I did her nails at Christmas before her family came to collect her.”
“That’s right. She hadn’t been feeling well and when we called the doctor he said she had pneumonia and gave her an antibiotic.When we went into her room to check on her a few hours later she had died.It gave us quite shock but that can happen with older people sometimes.”
“Her family must be devastated – so close to Christmas as well.”
“Nice woman, Mrs Murphy,” said Cassandra’s father. “She always read the paper to me.”
Cassandra was always astonished at her father’s rare moments of lucidity, which manifested themselves at the oddest of times.
“She was a nice woman,” she agreed.
She and the Matron chatted for a while.They arranged that as usual she would come down on Christmas Eve and help out at the nursing home.Her father was not well enough to be taken out to Galway so for a number of years Cassandra had been coming down, booking into a local hotel and coming to the nursing home on Christmas Eve to help with the decorations and to help with packing and general titivating for the people who were going to their families for the big day. She also helped enthusiastically with the preparations for those that would remain.She spent the night at the hotel and returned on Christmas morning to help with serving the meals and keeping the patients amused.
“Bye, Dad,” she said as she eventually got up to go.
“Bye, Cassie, love.Don’t be long now,” he replied, still thinking he was speaking to his wife though Cassandra made a point of calling him ‘Dad’.
Cassandra was always a bit down driving home from such visits but she was glad that she had found such a nice place for her father to spend his final days.
Eliza, Hugo and Lizzie spent the weekend making up for lost time.They talked and cried and reminisced and regretted lost opportunities and by the end of the weekend they had said everything there was to say.They had all said sorry so many times and they all knew at the end of it that they were together again as a family and there would never again be a rift.
Lizzie set up Skype for her parents and for the first time they spoke to and saw their grandsons.The boys were so excited.They had always wanted grandparents like their friends at school but never thought they would actually get to know theirs.Hugo and Eliza, who could just about do a set of accounts on an Excel sheet, write emails and book the odd flight if they followed the steps carefully, were not exactly computer whizzes so they hadn’t even been aware that you could speak to people and see them in real time.They were as excited as the children.
Afterwards they made Lizzie agree to come for Christmas and of course to bring the boys and they were to have their first real family Christmas for more than ten years.
“Of course we’ll come.The boys will love it but I won’t tell them for a while because they would be so excited that by the time Christmas arrives we would all be exhausted.”
“That’s fine with us,” Hugo assured her.“So long as ye come!”
“We’ll come all right. I’m so glad Nicola and Cassandra found me,” Lizzie said again and again.
“Not half as glad as we are,” Hugo replied, being careful not to mention that he had any part in it.
Hugo and Eliza went with Lizzie to the airport and they thought their hearts would explode with joy as she said she was really looking forward to Christmas.They had a group hug in the tiny Departure area which lasted so long that Lizzie was called over the intercom and was last to get onto the small twin-prop plane.
When they were driving back to The Coven they realised that the cancer had been forgotten for the whole weekend.
Chapter 19
Something changed in Alice when Grace went missing.Overnight she became more grown-up, harder, more practical.Not that she had lost her lovely nature.She just concealed it a bit more.The day after Lizzie went back to London, Alice took the children to school and then asked Hugo and Eliza if she could talk to them in the large kitchen.
This was so unlike Alice that Hugo and Eliza were concerned.Was there something worrying her?Did she wish to leave The Coven?But it was nothing like that.She had a proposition for them.Two actually!
“You have been so kind to me,” she said when they were both sitting down.“I wouldn’t know how to start thanking you.”
“Don’t think of it,” Eliza said.“It’s something we wanted to do and having you and the girls has been such a joy.”
“Thank you,” replied Alice.“But I have had an idea, which I hope you will agree to. I want to do all of the cooking for you until after Eliza has finished her chemotherapy.”
“We can’t let you do that.You have your own family to look after and I can cook – a bit!”Hugo smiled.
“And I won’t be a complete invalid,” Eliza chimed in, though she was still quite sore following the surgery.“I know that the chemo is tiring in most cases but I hear that that it not necessarily always the case.I don’t want to feel sort of redundant.”
“You’ll never be redundant, Eliza,” Alice laughed.“Sure wouldn’t this p
lace grind to a halt without you? I have a selfish reason for asking this as well as a practical one.”
“What is that?” Hugo asked puzzled.
“I am considering setting up a catering business when all the legalities with Jack are over.That’s if it turns out that I own the apartment.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Hugo mused.
“I agree.” Eliza was very positive.
“I know that I’m a good cook but I’m a bit out of practice now – so I was thinking if I did all the cooking every day for five people – you two, my girls and myself – I could get back in practice. It would mean I would be experimenting a bit with recipes and proportions and probably doing slightly more exotic things than we would normally do for everyday but it would be a good way to get into the groove.”
“I think it’s a great idea,” Eliza said.“And I can help out.”
“That would be lovely if you feel up to it,” Alice replied, pleased.“But that is only part of my plan.”
“What other surprises have you in store?”Hugo asked.
“Well, over the last week, I have been making enquiries and the manager of that trendy new hotel on the Moycullen Road that is doing so well was very positive when I put my proposal to him.”
“What was the proposal?”
“I offered to provide home-made Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, Yule Log and mince pies in the run-up to Christmas and over the Christmas period.”Alice was very excited at the prospect.“It will mean a lot of hard work and I will need to use this kitchen, but cakes are my speciality and I think I could earn a nice little nest-egg between now and January.I could get some nice Christmas presents for the girls, seeing as it is highly unlikely that Uncle Jack will come up with the goods this year.”
“You’re an amazing young woman,” Eliza said, full of admiration.“Of course you can use this kitchen.”
“Of course, I will pay the extra electricity and any other costs incurred.”
“Don’t be silly,” Hugo smiled but he knew that Alice was determined.“We can let you have the start-up money as well.”
“No need,” Alice said proudly.“I negotiated an advance of a few hundred and with that I will be able to get started.They have also said that they will pay me on delivery so after the first week or two I should be up and running with my own money.Oh, but can I use the jeep for deliveries?”
“It will be our pleasure,” Hugo replied.“And seeing you will be doing all of the cooking here I will take the girls to school every day so you can get a head-start.”
“You could earn quite a bit,” Eliza said.
“Yes, if I can manage the volume it should be good. They are going to do a themed Christmas – ‘Christmas at Granny’s’. Hence the demand for home-made Christmas cakes.”
“Aren’t you clever?What gave you the idea?”
“I saw the ‘Christmas at Granny’s’ theme on their website and I guessed that they were going to use commercial products so I just went in and said that no self-respecting granny ever produced a bought cake for their grandchildren and that I could provide home-made fare and I quoted them a price. ‘Home-made Christmas cake and pudding!That would give us the edge alright!’ The whizz-kid manager was mightily impressed.He nearly creased his pinstriped suit as he hunched over his calculator doing the sums.Dead serious!Not a smile out of him!”
“Sweet little Alice has suddenly become an entrepreneur,” Hugo laughed.
“I have, and I also suggested that they should carry the theme to their afternoon teas so that for the whole of the month of December they will be serving Christmas Cake and Yule log in the bar and tea room along with tea, coffee and Irish coffee.”Alice sounded almost smug but not quite.
“You have thought of everything.” Eliza’s admiration was plain to be seen.
“I hope so. But I had better check with Nicola how that type of income would affect my One Parent Family Payment and Rent Allowance.”
“Good idea,”Hugo said. “You’ll probably need to keep accounts but I can help you with that and we can run it by our accountant if needs be.”
“That would be great,”Alice replied.“Now, can I start my new job by making us a fresh cup of coffee?”
Chapter 20
December was always a busy month for Cassandra. There were corporate events and out-of-town businessmen who wanted to have a pretty woman on their arm when they attended Christmas parties. This year was no exception. Cassandra examined her vast wardrobe at the beginning of the month.She was saving harder than she had been.The glamour of the job was beginning to pall and she just hoped that she could get out sooner rather than later.Her wardrobe was very varied but some of her clothes needed to be cleaned or perked up in advance of their next outing.
She had a number of events already in her diary but the most intriguing by far was a meeting with a man from Dublin who ran a stud farm in Kildare and a Wine Merchant’s in Exchequer Street. He said he had a proposition for her. Don’t they all, she thought resignedly.She hoped that this one wouldn’t be too weird. She wondered why he had not contacted someone closer to home as her website made it clear that she was based in Galway and that she charged by the hour and that included travel and overnight.
She phoned him when she received his email.She always liked to hear the sound of their voices because it gave her some indication of what type of a person they were and she felt that sometimes but not always she could detect if the assignation might be dangerous.She also preferred to meet them on neutral ground and then decide whether she would take them back to her apartment.She had a lone-worker phone-security system.She logged in with the service and informed them when she expected the assignment to be finished and if she did not log out the company would phone her. If she didn’t reply they would call the police and ask them to investigate.She didn’t know if it was usual for a lady of the night to have such a service and she didn’t tell them her profession.They presumed that she was a counsellor and she did not disabuse them of the notion.
The client had emailed her a photograph so she recognised him instantly when she arrived at the lobby of the Westbury.Her image was on her website.
“Cassandra!” His voice was strong and distinguished.He had a lovely accent.
She felt immediately at ease.
He shook her hand firmly and immediately handed her an envelope.She knew instinctively that it included a cash payment for a full day and she didn’t check it.
He ordered a sparkling water for himself and a dry white wine for Cassandra. He was in no way familiar though several people in the hotel saluted him in passing.Clearly he was well-known on the Dublin scene.She was interested.She knew that this was going to be different and hoped it wouldn’t be ‘weird different’.
“I’m not often summoned across the country by strange men saying that they have a proposition for me,” she smiled as she sipped her wine.
“I thought it would be good to have someone who didn’t know my friends and that my friends and business associates wouldn’t know either.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong but I imagine even if you had gone for a woman from Dublin not many in your social circle would admit to knowing a call girl.”
“Touché,” he grinned.
“What’s this proposition?”She was curious now but he seemed in no hurry to tell her what he was proposing.
“Have you ever been to Paris?”
“Of course I have.I’m thirty-eight and this is the noughties. Cheap travel and no great moral code!”
“Of course!Stupid question!Are you free to spend a few days with me there this month?”
“That depends on which few days, how much you are willing to pay and what exactly you want.”
“The 11th to the 15th December and I will pay you by the hour – and all of your expenses of course.”
“That sounds okay but why would you want to bring a companion from Ireland when surely there is a plentiful supply of women of my profession in Paris. An hourly rate will
cost you an arm and a leg.”
“I can afford it. And, yes, there are plenty of Frenchwomen available but I have a reason for wanting an Irishwoman with me on this occasion.”
“Why?”
“You’re very curious.”
“It’s a security thing.I want to know what exactly I’m letting myself in for before I commit myself to spending a week with anyone anywhere – let alone spending a week in a foreign city with a man I have only just met for whom money seems to be no object.”
“Of course!How crass of me.”
Who is Alice? Page 17