“Hi, girls,” she smiled. “Did you have a good day?”
“That Tori Jones was pulling my hair in the playground again,” Rebecca moaned.
“I keep telling you to pull her hair back.” Taylor said scornfully to her little sister.
Annabel had to make a plan and quick to ensure the safety of her family. She had to do whatever was best for her children and put her own feelings aside.
“Fancy going to Tammy’s for some lunch girls?” Annabel dreaded the thought of going through the doors of her home and seeing Rosa. She hadn’t worked out what she was going to say to her.
“I want to go home and watch the Den,” Rebecca groaned, putting her thumb into her mouth at the same time.
If Rebecca was tired then she’d have to go home. The last week of school before the summer holidays was a dredge for students, teachers and parents alike.
Rosa was standing in the driveway when Annabel arrived.
“What’s Rosa doing with her bags packed?” Taylor asked.
“She’s got to go home,” Annabel said feeling a wave of relief sweep over her at the sight of the packed cases.
“Why?” asked Rebecca.
“Her mummy needs her at home.”
“Will she come back?” Rebecca asked innocently.
“I don’t think so, darling. Rosa is very busy.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Taylor complained. “She should have told us beforehand.”
“Believe me, Taylor. It’s for the best.”
Annabel and her daughters piled out of the jeep and the young girls ran to Rosa who held her arms out wide.
“Bye bye, Taylor and Rebecca, be good girls. I have to go back to Spain.”
“We’ll miss you,” they said together.
Annabel opened the front door and ushered her girls inside.
“I can’t say I feel the same way as my daughters,” Annabel said sarcastically. “Don’t dare try and contact anyone in my family ever again, you slut.”
Rosa smirked at Annabel. She had a cheque for five-thousand euros in her handbag. It wasn’t as much as she had hoped for but it was a good deal better than working in a restaurant for the summer. Annabel was a sad woman living a pathetic life with an even more pathetic husband in Rosa’s eyes. She was glad to be seeing the back of the lot of them. A taxi pulled up to where the two women were standing.
“It’s good of Colin to pay for my flight, and everything else,” she grinned at Annabel as the driver loaded her cases into the boot of his car and she took a seat in the back.
Annabel wasn’t waiting to see her off. She followed her daughters into the house and started to search for Colin. His car was still outside but then she remembered his appointment in the Golf Club. Maybe there never was one and it was all a ploy to be on his own with Rosa. Either way she wanted to speak to him and fast. He wasn’t getting away with this lightly.
She went straight into the kitchen and took out some wraps that she had prepared earlier for the girls.
“Here Taylor, will you bring these into the TV room,” she called to her eldest daughter.
She needed privacy to make this call. She thought about ringing Lily but then remembered she would still be at the funeral. There was no point in telling her anything until she had done something proactive. Lily would just tell her to forgive Colin and carry on as she had been.
Colin’s Blackberry rang out. It went to voicemail and she contemplated leaving a message. She didn’t know what to say so hung up. The only other person she could think of ringing was Moira. Moira Dunne was a family solicitor and personal friend of her mothers. She wasn’t in the league or style of Colin’s moronic friends but she was a formidable spinster who had wreaked havoc around the courts of Dublin putting divorce settlements together. She had to see her and fast. She flicked through the phone book and dialled her number with great speed.
Her call was answered by a receptionist at the other end of the line.
“Ms Dunne is with a client, can I get her to call you back?”
“Yes please, it is urgent,” Annabel said. She gave the receptionist her details then waited. She looked down at her hands and felt an urge to bite her nails. She would love to speak to Kate now more than anyone but what sympathy could she give. Annabel was on the verge of losing her husband but Kate had already lost two and her mother. Annabel couldn’t compete with that.
Chapter 16
A few days after the funeral, when the mourners had offered their condolences and eaten all that was left from the buffet at Contarf Castle, Kate was left with the unenviable job of going through her mother’s clothes and personal belongings. It was undoubtedly the job of the daughter of the house but one that Kate would have happily passed on. But she had promised her mother in her final days that she, and only she, would keep the more personal of Betty’s treasures for herself. This had seemed to calm her mother and lessen her anxiety towards the end.
Kate longed to get back to the Pyrènèes and some sort of normality but she wasn’t sure what that was anymore. Her ticket was booked for the day after tomorrow but she knew that she couldn’t possibly have everything done by then. She took a cloth to the drawer of the almost empty tallboy when Damien came into the room.
“I’m meeting Annabel for a cup of coffee,” he said casually.
“It didn’t take her long to make her move,” Kate sniped. “Mum’s not even ready to be picked up from the crematorium.”
“What are you talking about Kate, she’s miserable because you guys aren’t friends and I’m going to try and sort it out.”
“Don’t you think you’ve done enough Dad?” she asked sarcastically. “I mean there aren’t many fathers go to the trouble of bedding their daughter’s best friend.”
Damien was frozen to the spot.
“Yes I know,” she went on bitterly. “But I couldn’t say anything until Mum had died.”
“So that’s what the rift is about,” Damien said with a nod of his head. He should have known. “I’m not going to deny what happened, Kate, but it was a long time ago and Annabel’s a married woman now. There’s nothing like that going on.”
“I bet you still fancy her though, and Mum’s only dead a few days.”
Damien gulped. He didn’t want to admit that his daughter was right. When he saw Annabel at the funeral his initial instinct was to run over and hold her. But Betty was still more than a memory and Kate was being harsh. His intentions were honourable.
“When did she tell you about it?”
“Only a couple of months ago – when I met her in Biarritz. She had kept it a secret for all these years.”
Damien was stunned. If Annabel was going to tell Kate he was surprised that she left it until now. But why tell her at all? Surely Annabel knew Kate would react in this way.
“You have to remember that I love you Kate, and what happened with me and Annabel had nothing to do with you.”
“That’s not the way I see it. I’m sick of both of you. Just get out of my sight.”
Since telling Shane to stay away she hadn’t felt the sense of peace that she had hoped. She wanted to be left alone.
Damien turned and walked away. He didn’t know what he was going to say to Annabel but now that he knew what the rift was about, the reason behind a lot of Kate’s behaviour became clearer.
Kate opened the bottom drawer of the tallboy with a new zeal. She pulled out an array of scarves and shawls that her mother had kept tucked away since the seventies. She remembered one particular stripy scarf that her mother used to wrap around her head when she was trying to look Bohemian. At the back of the drawer was an old chocolate box. It even had a picture of the man in the corner with his arms folded after delivering the chocolates – and all because the lady loves Milk Tray. Kate hesitated for a moment, it felt strange to be routing through her mother’s personal belongings – an invasion of privacy. Nothing could have prepared her for what she found inside the box. Bundles of letters all tightly bound with ri
bbon. The handwriting was neat and scripted but most definitely belonged to a man. She opened the ribbon from the first bundle and flicked through at least twenty envelopes. The postmarks were Australian and dated from nineteen-eighty to nineteen-eighty-nine.
Kate didn’t remember her mother ever mentioning friends or family in Australia. Whoever sent these letters was obviously important in her life to have written so often. She opened the first letter nervously and cautiously.
Dear Beth
I’m so glad we’re back in touch. Your letters cheer me up no end. The working day in long over here but at least I see the reward in my pay cheque at the end of the week. Business is booming, Damien would love the work. It means a lot that you have forgiven me. I don’t think I deserve it but thanks….
Kate skipped down to the signature, All my love Liam. She opened the next one and it had the same signature…
Dear Beth
It was great to hear your voice last night. You sound exactly the same. Carrie has a strong Queensland accent. You two would get on like a house on fire…..
Kate flicked through the bundle until she came to a later dated letter.
Dear Beth
I’m still missing you. I can’t believe it’s only two weeks since we shared that special day in Dun Laoghaire. I can still clearly imagine the boats and the harbour through our hotel window. Four hours wasn’t enough but it was the best four hours I have spent in twenty years…
Kate looked at the date on the envelope September 7 1986. The thought of her mother leading a double life with a man from Australia didn’t add up with the image of the shy homemaker that Kate carried around. Every letter was signed in exactly the same way. All my love Liam.
Kate couldn’t bring herself to read anymore. Not only had her father had an affair but her mother had been carrying out a long distance romance for a good deal of her married life. Kate looked at the last bundle. The final letter was dated 1996 and it included a letter from her mother with ‘Return to Sender’ stamped all over the front.
Kate couldn’t bring herself to open it. This was too much information for one day. The week had been traumatic enough without something like this on top of everything else. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine Shane. No wonder her mother had told her to seize the day with him. She must have been in love with Liam for most of her married life. But why did the letters end in 1996? She wondered if her father had suspected any of it. Surely Betty wouldn’t have left the letters there for her to find if she hadn’t meant her to read them. She had plenty of time to destroy them. Unless she forgot about them, but that didn’t make sense either, Liam was obviously one of the most important people in Betty’s life. She shoved them into the plastic bag of scarves and started to dust the drawer. It was important that Damien never got to see them. She needed to find out who Liam was but couldn’t think of anyone that could fill in the gaps off hand except maybe her Auntie Dee.
She looked at her watch, eleven o’clock, only two more days and she would be home. Forty-eight hours and she and her boys would be back in the Pyrènees, they had been through a difficult time too. She needed to sort her life out once and for all and she had a pretty good idea where she needed to start.
* * *
Annabel stirred the spoon leisurely in her tall glass of latte and looked out through the window at the busy shoppers rushing in and out through the Supermarket entrance. Tammy’s wasn’t the most alluring of coffee shops but it was half way between Howth and Clontarf and that was why she had suggested it. She spied Damien parking up his car in the distance and felt a tingle through her body. This meeting was all she had to look forward to since the funeral.
Colin was being a complete bastard and didn’t understand why Annabel couldn’t just let bygones be bygones. Nobody needed to know as far as he was concerned. A little part of her was happy with the circumstances. She couldn’t see any other way out of her marriage and even though it would be uncomfortable for a time, she firmly believed that she needed to break away from Colin and the shabby existence she had as his trophy wife. She was deeply concerned for her children though. A marriage break-up carried heavy scares and Sam would be seriously affected at the tender age that he was at. Colin had little time for his daughters. All family activities were co-ordinated by Annabel and nine times out of ten he was on the golf course. But nonetheless they needed their father too.
Moira had ensured her that she would get half of the family home, the apartment in Spain and the two town houses that they rented near the city centre. Moira said Colin would be quaking at the thought of her touching his pension and investment funds but she would be entitled to half of those as well. She would be well enough off to maintain a good lifestyle and her kids wouldn’t have to suffer.
The thought of having to make her own money excited Annabel. Her little enterprise in the market was a good earner. She could always look for the family home and leave Colin the two town houses. They were approximate in value. She was left with good options. All she had to do was convince Colin that their marriage was well and truly over. Moira said he could only live in denial for so long. She would have a settlement drawn up and sent to him sometime the following week.
“Always look for three times more than you’ll settle for,” the mature solicitor had said –leaning across her mahogany and leather covered desk. Her spectacles covered half of her face. Her hair looked like she hadn’t been to the hairdressers in years and had chopped it herself in front of the bathroom mirror whenever she found the time.
Annabel liked the sound of the settlement. All she really wanted was to be able to stay in the family home and an allowance to keep the kids in the luxuries to which they were accustomed.
Her thoughts were pleasantly interrupted by Damien’s arrival.
“Annabel, how are you?” he asked anxiously.
“Damien,” she replied, standing up and awkwardly leaning forward as he kissed her on the cheek.
“I started on a latte already,” Annabel said pointing to her empty cup. “What are you having?”
A middle-aged waitress briskly appeared at his side and was brushing her apron down. She was over the minute she spotted Damien walking through the door. His presence had this effect on most women over a certain age.
“A black coffee, please,” he ordered.
“And another latte for me, please,” Annabel smiled at the woman – who still hadn’t taken her eyes off Damien.
“It was good to see you at the funeral, Annabel. Betty would have liked it.”
“Thanks Damien, I had to go. She was like a mother to me.”
Damien moved around awkwardly on the small aluminium chair that was more used to holding the svelte housewives of the locality rather than a man with Damien’s figure.
“I was worried about you and Kate to be honest. I had hoped you would get a chance to speak to each other,” he said. His voice was soft and soothing. “But I’ve only just found out the whole story.”
“Damien, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have told her about us. I don’t know what came over me that evening. She was teasing me, the way she does, and I couldn’t help myself. I was full of wine and the words just fell out.”
“It’s okay, what’s done is done. Kate is a big girl now and she will have to learn to live with it like we have for all these years. You know Annabel there’s something else that I need to talk to you about and the whole lot is linked up in a way.”
“Sure, anything,” Annabel was curious.
“There’s something that Betty has taken to the grave with her and I had hoped that while she was with Kate that she would have told her the truth. It’s kind of delicate and I needed to know what was troubling Kate, I thought she might have suspected.”
“Suspected what Damien?”
“Kate’s not my daughter.”
Annabel’s mouth dropped. This was the last thing she expected to hear him say.
“But, if not…is she adopted?”
“No,” Dam
ien said shaking his head. “She is Betty’s daughter but she isn’t mine.”
“What about Philip?”
“He is my son,” he sighed before continuing. “Betty and I were in college together. I was studying engineering and she was doing arts. We palled around in a big gang. My best friend was from Athlone and he was studying engineering too. He was going out with Betty for over a year and they seemed very much in love. I was always very fond of her as a friend but that was all. Then one night after they had a blazing row she asked me to walk her home to her flat in Harold’s Cross. She invited me in and we ended up sleeping together. A couple of weeks later she still hadn’t made up with my friend and I didn’t see much of her until one night she came into the college canteen and announced that she needed to speak to me urgently. She said that she was pregnant and that the baby was mine.”
“Did you believe her?”
“Of course I did, it was a very different time in Holy Catholic Ireland and young men knew nothing of women’s biology. A few days later my friend ran off and Betty told everyone that I was the father of her child.”
“Did you stay on in college?”
“No, we couldn’t afford to, and neither of our parents were very happy with the arrangement. My parents blamed her and her parents blamed me.”
Annabel was shocked. The waitress left the two cups down in front of the couple who were now so engrossed in their conversation that they didn’t notice her.
“When did you discover that Kate wasn’t your child?”
“Shortly after she was born. My mother figured the maths out. Kate weighed eleven pounds when she was born and was meant to be a month premature,” Damien smiled at the thought of his own naivety. “But you know what Annabel, the moment I set eyes on Kate I knew that I loved her more than anyone else in the world. She was and always will be my daughter. I would hate her to think that I felt any different towards her than Philip. If anything I probably love her more but would never admit it to him.”
Two Days in Biarritz Page 20