The Betrayed: A shocking, gritty thriller that will hook you from the first page

by Casey Kelleher

  ‘It’s a jumpsuit,’ Joanie said, tight-lipped, unable to keep the clearly taken offence from her tone, as she shot her husband a berating glare.

  ‘Jumpsuit, pyjamas, they all look the same to me, Joanie, but then what do I know about fashion huh?’ Edel waved her hand dismissively, winking at Michael then on the sly, knowing full well her sarcasm would be wasted on Joanie. The woman was so highly strung, Edel could have probably flipped her over and played a tune on her.

  Biting the inside of his cheek, Michael was trying his damnedest not to fall about laughing at Joanie getting a taste of her own medicine for once. He liked Colleen’s mother. Edel Walsh was a woman that didn’t stand for any shit from Joanie; the woman was giving back as good as she got and Michael admired that. Anyone that took on his Joanie deserved to be championed.

  ‘Yes, well, that statement speaks for itself, doesn’t it?’ Joanie pouted.

  ‘Can we get you a drink, Edel?’ Michael butted in; recognising the familiar patronising tone to his wife’s voice, he knew that this wouldn’t end well for Edel if she got the better of Joanie. The woman liked to hold a grudge.

  All joking aside, today was a big day for them all. A day that their two families became one. Only Edel and Colleen didn’t have a clue what they were up against when it came to Joanie making sure that she forever ruled the Byrne family roost. The woman was insatiable, stopping at nothing to make sure everything always went her way. ‘What would you like, Edel? Champagne? A glass of wine?’

  ‘Ohh, thanks, Michael, I’ll have a large Baileys with ice, ta darling. Make it a big one.’

  Leaning up against the bar, Edel slipped her aching foot out from her chunky black shoes, rubbing the throbbing arch, oblivious to the look of horror on Joanie’s face as she looked down at her neglected feet, taking in the disturbing sight of the long, jagged toenails, void of any polish. Though as bad as they looked, they had nothing on the hard skin on the back of Edel’s heels that broke off in small flakes as she brushed her hand over it, before sprinkling itself all over the floor.

  Joanie twisted her face in disgust.

  ‘My bleeding bunions are playing up again,’ Edel offered without any form of apology. ‘I don’t know how you totter about in those fancy-looking shoes, Joanie, really I don’t. These haven’t even got a heel on them and they kill my feet. I’ll take them off later for the dancing. Hopefully, by then, everyone will be half-cut and they won’t notice the whiff!’

  Cackling loudly, Edel slipped her shoe back on, before running her fingers through her hair.

  Which only caused Joanie to feel physically sick. Edel’s apparent lack of etiquette too much for Joanie, the woman was glad when the barman interrupted them.

  ‘Would Madam be wanting a double measure?’ he asked, holding up a tall glass tumbler.

  ‘Oh Madam! Get him!’ Edel chuckled, rolling her eyes at Joanie and Michael playfully. ‘Madam would not like a double measure, no! Madam would like you to fill it up to the brim!’ Edel insisted, then seeing the doubt on the barman’s face at her request she added seriously, ‘Go on, fill it up. Saves me having to keep getting up and coming to the bar every five minutes. Besides it’s not every day that I’m the mother-of-the-bride, is it? I’m celebrating.’

  The barman nodded obediently and poured half a pint of Baileys into the glass for the older woman. Then turning back to Michael and Joanie she added, ‘It is a free bar after all. It would be rude not to, wouldn’t it?’ Edel grinned, taking the glass from the barman and swallowing a huge gulp of her drink. A thin, milky residue lined her top lip when she’d finished.

  ‘Well not exactly free, is it, seeing as Jimmy’s footing the bill for it all.’ Joanie mumbled another dig about Edel and Colleen rinsing her son, unable to hide the clip to her tone as she stared at Edel’s milky moustache. Then again, the woman seemed good at fleecing Jimmy. What was another few drinks on top?

  ‘Ahh, well, the boy knows only too well. It’s not just happy wife, happy life. He needs to keep his old mother-in-law happy too. I told him that’s the key to a healthy marriage. Healthy as in allowing the man to stay alive. I warned him the other day, I said: “Jimmy, I have a real soft spot for you, lad”.’ Edel winked at Michael. ‘“It’s at my little allotment, behind my shed – and that’s where you’ll end up if you upset my Colleen”.’ She roared with laughter once more, snorting loudly at her own wit. Which only made Michael join in. Though the icy glare that Joanie threw at him quickly warned him to shut up as the disapproval radiated from his wife in waves.

  ‘It must be a sad day for you, Joanie?’ Edel said. ‘A boy’s best friend is his mother and there’s no tie stronger than her apron string. Until they get married that is. That’s why I was always glad I had a daughter. They always need their mum no matter what; boys tend to leave their mums behind, don’t you think?’

  Joanie bit her lip. Edel had just hit her where it hurt: picking up on her weakness as an overprotective interfering mother.

  The woman hadn’t had a single nice thing to say about Edel or Colleen since she’d met them, and yes, the wedding had been arranged rather quickly, but Edel could see that Jimmy and Colleen were genuinely happy. It was a shame that Joanie was too bitter and selfish to be pleased for them both.

  ‘I’m sure Jimmy won’t be forgetting me anytime soon,’ Joanie finally spoke up. ‘We’re very close. Married or not, nothing will change that.’

  Michael tried to hide the grin he was suppressing. He was actually enjoying himself for once. He was still trying to suss out if Edel was completely oblivious to Joanie’s obvious dislike of her, or she just didn’t give two shits, and judging by the gleam in the older lady’s eyes, Michael had an inkling that it was the latter. He reckoned that Edel was smarter than Joanie and gave the woman credit for it. More than that, Edel was real. Unlike Joanie who was as fake as they came, Edel made no airs and graces, pretending to be something that she wasn’t.

  It was only a shame that he was on such a tight leash these days, otherwise, given half the chance he would have joined the woman in drinking half pints of Baileys himself if he thought for a second he could get away with it. At least that would be fun. Only there was no such thing as fun these days: under both Joanie’s and Jimmy’s watchful eyes, he was on a final warning to remain on his best behaviour at all times.

  ‘This place is bloody gorgeous, isn’t it?’ Edel said, looking around in awe at the fancy venue. ‘I never in my wildest dreams thought that my Colleen would land on her feet like she has. This place must have cost an absolute bomb.’

  ‘You could say that!’ Joanie smiled smugly.

  Of course her son had gone all out. Why shouldn’t he? Jimmy was doing well for himself. He was a self-made businessman who had a lot to live up to. His guests here today weren’t just family and friends. There were business colleagues too. Associates, co-workers.

  The venue was exquisite. An old Edwardian manor house, filled with character and charm, from the glistening teardrop crystal chandeliers to the ornate spiral staircase that led down into the Orangery where the ceremony was soon to take place.

  ‘The flowers look a bit anaemic looking though,’ Edel said as she eyed the silver urns and vases full of beautiful cream roses, woven intricately between pillars of candles, still peeved that Joanie had refused to let her do the arrangements. She wanted Edel to ‘enjoy the day’ apparently: ‘not have to work’. Though Edel had a sneaky suspicion that Joanie just didn’t want her to have any part in the arrangements. Ever the control freak, the woman clearly wanted to do everything herself.

  Even poor Colleen had been sidelined in favour of some of Joanie’s inputs on the wedding.

  ‘Oh, who’s that ghastly looking woman?’ Joanie asked, staring down into the Orangery as a woman in one of the rows waved over at them. ‘I don’t recognise her, do you, Michael?’

  ‘I’m not sure who it is?’ Michael said, narrowing his eyes. ‘I can’t really see her from here.’

  ‘Can’t reall
y see her? You can’t bloody miss her, Michael, that one there in the middle of the row. Dressed like a banana,’ Joanie quipped, staring back at the woman, dressed from head-to-toe in yellow, frantically waving her arms about in their direction.

  ‘That’s my Nellie,’ Edel said protectively, catching Joanie’s stuck-up jibe at the woman’s choice of outfit as she spotted her friend. ‘She’s colour-blind as it happens,’ Edel lied waving back, her face beaming with pride as Nellie held her arms up, in awe of the place, clearly thinking how well Edel and Colleen had done for themselves.

  Her friend had plonked herself in a row full of men. Most of them well-known faces. Friends of Jimmy’s no doubt. Nellie looked as if she was in her element, grinning widely as if she was at a celebrity wedding. Which, by all accounts, was exactly what it felt like, Edel had to admit. Everyone who was anyone was here today.

  In fact, the only person that Edel and Colleen had invited had been Nellie. Colleen didn’t really have any good friends that she ever spoke of, and they had no family on their side.

  ‘She’s a good girl is Nellie. She might not look all fancy as some, but Nellie has a heart of gold and you won’t find her making snippy remarks like some people here either,’ Edel lied again, knowing full well that Nellie Erikson was one of the biggest gossips she knew. Nellie could teach old hoity-toity bollocks here a thing or two when it came to bitching but she kept that comment to herself.

  Edel was just glad that Nellie had made it. She wasn’t sure she had the strength or the patience to endure the company of Joanie and her likes today. The woman drove her around the bend sometimes. The rest of the congregation were here to support the Byrne family. Besides, she wanted Nellie to see how well her Colleen had done for herself.

  How well Edel had done too.

  Their lives had changed so drastically in the past few months and it was all down to Jimmy Byrne. The man was a saint. Edel really couldn’t have asked for better for her daughter.

  Today was the start of new beginnings for them all. A new fruitful, happy life and there was no way that she could let her best and only friend miss it for anything.

  ‘Right, you’ll have to excuse me. I’m going to go and say hello to Nellie before I go and fetch Colleen.’ Downing her drink in record time, Edel wiped the milky residue from her top lip before plonking her glass down on the bar. ‘Oh, I needed that to calm my bleeding nerves. Not long now, eh and we’ll all be one big happy family.’

  Tipsy now and glad of it if she had to spend the day with the stuck-up old cow, Edel shot Joanie and Michael a parting smile before bidding them both goodbye and marching off to greet her friend.

  ‘What a vile woman,’ Joanie sneered, sipping her drink delicately as she watched Edel walk off, wobbling in her clumpy black shoes as she went; the drink had clearly already gone to the woman’s head.

  ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said Michael, trying his hardest not to chuckle to himself, glad that he’d been proved right all along. Edel didn’t care what anyone thought of her, least of all not someone like his stuffy-nosed Joanie. The two women’s exchange had been a pleasure to endure. ‘I thought she was rather nice actually. Quite refreshing.’

  ‘Refreshing?’ Joanie said, with a look of complete disbelief. She shook her head. Typical bloody Michael. The man couldn’t see the wood for the trees when it came to women. It was always the same. ‘They’d rinse Jimmy for all he was worth I reckon. What with Jimmy buying her that tacky little shop in Piccadilly Circus. Only he’s not stupid my boy. She might be living in it, but he’s kept it all in his name. He’s just letting her think that he’s done her a favour. I’d love to tell her; that would soon wipe the smug grin off the old cow’s face,’ she said spitefully, ignoring Michael’s comment. She knew her husband was only disagreeing with her to wind her up, and today of all days she wasn’t in the mood for his petty comments.

  As much as she hated to admit it, she was struggling, because ultimately this was her doing. She had been the one to push Jimmy into the idea of getting married. Encouraging him to find a nice girl and settle down. With all her son’s philandering over the years, the numerous tasteless girls that never lasted longer than a few dates, Joanie had honestly never thought this day would come. Though now that it had, she wasn’t so sure she was happy about it anymore.

  She’d seen a change in her son lately that she didn’t like.

  Getting close to that hideous Edel, and as for Colleen, the girl was wetter than a dishcloth. She had nothing about her. Joanie had hoped that her son would have had better taste than that. She had expected Jimmy to be attracted to someone more like her. Someone with opinions and something worthwhile to say for herself.

  It didn’t help that Edel and Colleen were somehow rinsing Jimmy dry. So far that awful woman had got a new flat and a florist by courtesy of her son’s generosity. Jimmy had sworn to her that it was nothing more than a loan, but Joanie wasn’t convinced. She was keeping a firm eye on the pair of them from now on. Married or not, no one was going to make a fool out of her son. Her only consolation was that she knew no matter how well her son pretended otherwise, Jimmy didn’t love the girl. He couldn’t. Colleen wasn’t his type.

  Not anything near.

  Joanie knew Jimmy better than anyone. Better than himself it seemed. This was all just a massive mistake that somewhere along the line would all go terribly wrong. Until then Joanie was just going to have to bide her time. At least one or two good things might come from this farce of a wedding, she thought to herself.

  Grandkids.

  That’s what Joanie had to keep thinking about every time she felt that her son was being snatched away from her today. That was what this was really about. And Joanie couldn’t wait. After today, when all the fuss died down, she’d have her Jimmy back again, she knew that. No one would drive a wedge between her and her son, she’d make sure of that.

  Watching Edel walk unsteadily in her clumpy shoes, the half pint of Baileys clearly gone to her head already, Joanie screwed her nose up to show her distaste.

  ‘There’s clearly no accounting for taste with some people,’ she said, walking away from the bar, determined not to allow her husband to piss her off today of all days.

  ‘Clearly,’ Michael said to himself, his voice full of regret.

  He was guilty of having bad taste himself as it happened. Especially when it came to meeting Joanie. He’d been so blinded by his wife’s beauty, so captivated by the act that she put on that he’d been sucked right in; only discovering what an ugly person Joanie could really be when it was already too late. It had been a small oversight at the time, but a mistake that Michael had spent the rest of his life paying dearly for, he thought begrudgingly as he downed his glass of champagne.

  He hated weddings with a vengeance. All this money. All this fuss just for one ‘so-called’ special day. It made him laugh how people always referred to it as the happiest day of their lives. Why did so many grooms get so pissed at their weddings? Because after this they knew that it would all go downhill.

  Michael knew that personally from experience.

  The day he’d married Joanie had been a celebration indeed; he hadn’t known it at the time but he’d unwittingly celebrated his own funeral, with his delightful wife Joanie doing her damnedest to bury him ever since.

  If only he’d known back then what he knew now.

  Instead he’d spent the past thirty years tied miserably to the woman. Michael couldn’t even fart these days without Joanie breathing down his neck, lecturing him on his manners and hygiene. The woman was like a tyrant. Her only purpose in life seemed to be to make Michael as miserable as possible, and she was exceedingly good at it.

  Picking up his wife’s unfinished champagne that she’d discarded on the bar, Michael downed that too for good measure. Though the way the day had gone so far, he had a feeling he was going to need a lot more than a couple of drinks to get through today.

  Eighteen

  ‘Knock, knock.’ Tapping on the b
ridal suite door with anticipation, Edel was glad that she’d had that large glass of Baileys now.

  She suddenly felt nervous. Nervous of seeing my own child: who’d have thought it, she thought to herself with a grin. She was though. She was bubbling. The excitement and suspense building in the pit of her stomach. This was the moment that Edel had been both dreaming about and dreading all of her life: the day that her little girl got married.

  ‘Are you ready for me?’ Edel called through the door, desperate to get a glimpse of her daughter in her wedding dress.

  ‘Just a minute,’ Colleen called back.

  Edel smiled. Things would change after today, she knew that. She’d been winding Joanie up earlier, but the truth was, things were going to change for them both.

  Marriage always did that.

  Colleen would be starting her new life with her husband. Kids one day too, please God, Edel thought. Her little girl would be a woman, with her own family to take care of. It was bittersweet. Edel just hoped that she’d done well in bringing Colleen up so that she’d know never to forget about her dear old mum along the way.

  ‘Ok, you can come in now!’ Colleen called, interrupting her mother’s thoughts. Glancing at herself in the mirror once more, she straightened up her veil, before picking up the bouquet of purple lilies that Joanie had picked out for her. She stood in the centre of the room, awaiting her mother’s entrance and, more importantly, her reaction to how she looked.

  No one had seen her dress yet. Not a single soul.

  Throughout all the wedding planning, all the decisions that had been made by Joanie without her, Colleen hadn’t made a single demand. She didn’t care about the seating plan or the table decorations. Joanie had already had enough involvement in Colleen and Jimmy’s big day. The woman had firmly planted herself in the middle of the wedding plans, submerging herself with all the details of the venue, flowers and invites: at one point Colleen had actually questioned Jimmy on who he was actually marrying. Jimmy had laughed, explaining that was just how his mother was. She took over, liked everything done just so. She didn’t mean any harm by it, she just wanted the day to be perfect for them. Never one to cause a fuss, Colleen had let her get on with it.