*
Ella watched her dawdle up the avenue, dragging her feet and pulling on a cigarette. At the fountain she paused, puffing quickly before stubbing out the cigarette butt on the lichen-stained stone. A teacher waiting on tables in the Ballroom Café: that was something Muriel could put in her pipe and smoke. Curse the life she had been dealt, though. Ella snorted. Frustration rising inside her, she set to rearranging the tables at the window. Debbie lingered at the front door, idly scraping her shoes slowly along the steel of the foot scraper. Roberta, hovering at her bedroom window, watched as she stamped her feet on the top step.
Roberta had already slapped down two notes.
Never in all my life have I been so ashamed. How dare she talk about Roscarbury on the radio. Is this what you want: to be talked about on the national airwaves? R.
An hour later, another note in bigger writing was pushed on top.
She has showed us right up, telling the whole world her business and ours. If you don’t tell her to get on her bike, I will. R.
Ella did not bother to respond, but baked five extra cakes, because the whole of Rathsorney would surely come to the café that day. Lemon, chocolate, carrot, a light ginger cake, and a marble cake because it was easy and looked so complicated.
‘Just in time to grate the carrots. How are you, Debbie?’
‘You’re not cross, are you?’
‘Furious, more like, that you did not tell me these past weeks, and I working you to the bone. You poor thing, I even had you lifting heavy furniture and scrubbing floors. What must you think of me?’
‘I wanted to, but …’
Ella reached over and squeezed Debbie across the shoulders. ‘The whole world knows now. You don’t have to work. I remember I forced you in to it.’
Debbie pulled away, her face swelling with anxiety. ‘Ella, this place is like home to me.’
‘It will be harder on you now that the gossiping ninnies are on your case.’
‘I think I can handle Muriel and her bunch.’
‘If you are sure.’
‘I am.’
‘How did you swing it, getting on the radio?’
‘It was you, Ella: remember you introduced me to that local reporter? Next thing I got a call; he had contacts at the station.’
‘You could have told me. I would have come along, given a bit of support.’
Debbie reached over and gently rubbed Ella on the shoulder. ‘I was too afraid I would chicken out. I had to go on my own. If you’d been there, I’d have just ended up crying on your shoulder.’
‘There is nothing wrong with a bit of support. You are one for keeping things in, all right, but no matter: what’s done is done. It is all out there now.’
‘Ella, I’m sorry; I should have told you.’
Ella shook out a tea towel. ‘I just don’t like that you thought you were better on your own. Anyway, enough of that. After the carrots you can measure out a load of caster sugar, and the tables have to be laid.’ Ella clapped her hands in mock impatience.
Debbie did her best to smile as she tied her apron behind her back.
‘Have you heard the latest? It was on the news: there were so many people coming forward with the same story as you, there is going to be a full investigation; other convents might be involved.’
‘It’s not going to do me any good. I have to get back.’
‘Working here is not good enough for you.’ Ella pretended to throw her nose in the air.
‘You know it’s not like that,’ Debbie laughed.
The two of them set to laying the café tables.
‘I suppose I could stay a bit longer,’ Debbie said, folding napkins neatly on each table.
‘What have you to go back to?’ Once she said it, Ella regretted it. She saw Debbie’s shoulders shake. ‘I am so sorry. Curse the O’Callaghans; we were never known for our diplomacy.’ She stroked Debbie’s hair, like she would a child’s. ‘Stay longer, but leave that awful dive Muriel Hearty maintains is a studio apartment. You could move in here.’
‘But what will your sister say?’
Ella turned around. ‘Thankfully she won’t say anything, but she will of course be furious.’
They both giggled.
‘Oh my God.’ Ella had her hand to her mouth, staring out the window. ‘I think the whole town is coming in on top of us. Quick, put an extra setting on each table. Tell Iris to bring up some extra chairs.’
They rushed about with china cups and saucers, so that they were out of breath when Muriel Hearty led a very big posse up the stairs.
‘Darling Debbie, what can we do to help?’ she said, her voice loud so that everybody could hear her.
Embarrassed, Debbie did not answer.
‘For God’s sake, Muriel, will you stop your fussing and leave the woman alone to do her day’s work,’ Ella said.
‘She should not even be working today, Ella.’
‘Mind your own business, Muriel. By the way, Debbie is moving in here.’
Muriel Hearty put her elbows on the table. ‘A bit of a comedown, I would have thought, Ella. You do know it is breach of contract, it is. I turned away very good offers on my apartment to let her have it.’
‘Muriel, you know that is not true. Is it the marble cake today? I put a light dusting of cinnamon on top, mixed with a little icing sugar.’
Muriel, afraid of the adverse attention of the room, let it go and ordered the marble cake.
By the time Debbie slipped the plate of cake onto the table at her elbow, Muriel had turned the whole episode to her advantage. She took Debbie by the hand and in a booming voice, pushing through everybody else’s conversation, she announced loudly, ‘Darling, you do what makes you happiest. You won’t get any trouble from me. We all want the best for you and to see you reunited with your mother. How are you, dear?’ Muriel sat back in her chair, waiting for a detailed account.
‘Just fine, thanks.’
‘You are not on your own.’
The other women pushed closer together, clucking in agreement. Debbie nodded, moving from one foot to another before bolting downstairs to clear the garden tables. She was carrying a tray stacked with crockery when Roberta approached.
‘On the radio, that was a sad story you told.’
Debbie balanced the tray on the corner of the table nearest the door.
Roberta motioned Debbie to sit down and arranged herself carefully into a garden chair opposite before she continued. ‘I want you to go away, leave my sister alone. She does not need you here; she can run this place on her own, for as long as it lasts, anyway.’
‘You should have more confidence in Ella.’
Roberta shifted in the chair and fixed her coat over her knees. ‘The gossips will keep the place busy, until the next alluring venue turns up. A few weeks and it will shut down.’
‘I think you’re wrong.’
‘Does it matter what you think?’
‘Ella is determined to make a success of it.’
‘You talk as if you know my sister very well.’ Roberta leaned across the table. ‘You don’t know her at all.’
Deep circles of red formed on Roberta’s cheeks as she spat out the words. ‘You have no business being here, stirring up trouble, dragging our good name into the mud, so that people propping up the counters in public houses are gossiping about us.’
Roberta pushed her face closer.
‘Don’t you ever think you are part of Roscarbury Hall.’
Iris came striding across the parkland. Roberta turned and walked inside the house, slapping a note on the kitchen table as she passed through, on the way to the back garden.
I have told that Yank to leave. She has three days, no more. She is not wanted here and neither is the riff raff this café of yours is attracting. Don’t I have a say in who tramps through our home? R.
‘See you met Roberta. Was she nasty?’
‘I’m afraid so.’
‘Don’t take it personally; she is nasty
and bitter to everyone, especially herself. There was a time Roberta was the same as the rest of us, but life has dealt her some blows and this is how it has left her.’ Iris shook herself. ‘I had better not say anything. It is up to Ella to tell you the family secrets.’
Debbie walked further on and leaned against the side wall of the house as she lit up. Her head was thumping and she had a queasy feeling that would not go away.
Dr Lohan told her she would be fine until she was not. Then she would have to fix up her financial affairs.
She must talk to Nancy. She had always told her smoking would kill her; well, it wasn’t going to now, that was for sure. She puffed out three rings of smoke and watched them glide past the rhododendron, losing shape and disappearing among the shiny, broad leaves.
*
Bowling Green, October 1968
Saturdays changed so much after Agnes left. Before, it was all about Mommy and her preparations; now it was about Rob and Debs making do.
Saturday, early afternoon, Agnes, with Debbie by her side, would begin her elaborate preparations for her night out with her husband. Emerging from a hot shower, she smelled of steam and lavender soap, making Debbie’s nose twitch until she had to itch. In a big, blue towelling bathrobe, she sat at the dressing-table mirror and arranged all her bottles on one side, brushes and make-up the other. Not a word was spoken. If the young girl, unable to resist, wandered closer, Agnes put up her hand to keep her at a distance.
First Agnes plucked her eyebrows into a high arch and lathered her face and neck with moisturiser, massaging with elaborate, slow, deliberate movements. A special white square of cotton was used to wipe down the excess, before she patted her face hard. Finally, she moved to the thick brown foundation and the powder from a big glass jar with a red ribbon. The blusher was pink and discreet, the eye shadow blue and garish. Thick false lashes were glued to her eyes and painted deeper with a mascara stick. Only then did she let her hair fall around her shoulders and brush it until sparks flew, as it crackled and shone.
Sometimes, Debbie sidestepped closer, her hand twitching to touch the glossy golden locks. Her mother always spied her, snapping to get back. Deep-pink lipstick was the last to be applied, Agnes smacking her lips like a fish to make sure it would hold. Twirling off the dressing-table stool, she dropped her bathrobe like a film star before stepping into a new satin dress, ruched at the neckline and tight around the hips.
It was then that the palaver with the jewellery began. There was a drawer full of the stuff, sparkling necklaces mostly, which Rob Kading could ill afford but which his wife said she could not live without. When she pulled back the drawer and opened the velvet casings, the stones twinkled, enticing the little girl to come closer. Sometimes, if she was in a good mood, Agnes let her daughter choose for her, but more often than not, she tired of the child staring and told her to leave the room. Through the keyhole, Deborah kept watch as her mother tried out several necklaces, craning her neck, twisting from side to side in front of the mirror before deciding on one.
Flicking pieces of fluff from the satin, she stepped into her slingbacks before making her way downstairs, where her husband was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, ready to let out a low whistle of appreciation.
Now, Debs liked hanging out with Rob. As the leaves fell from the trees, they had a leaf-raking and diner routine every Saturday.
‘Gather them in to a heap, little one, and help Daddy.’
She knew she made the job slower. When the pile of leaves was high enough, Rob always gave the first kick, spreading the crinkly colours across the driveway. She threw bunches at him and he shouted and pleaded to her to stop, until she had him on the ground, covered and squealing for mercy. Later, he would send her inside to pour his coffee and heat a hot chocolate for herself. When she came back out on the porch, the leaves had been cleared up and he reached for his newspaper, which she knew signalled quiet time.
She sat on a small chair with a hard cushion and watched the neighbours go about their Saturday duties: washing cars, going to the mall, tending to gardens and repairs, and even sweeping up the autumn leaves. She watched her father methodically reading every page and she waited for the moment he would scan the front and back pages and say, ‘I’ll get to them later.’
It was the start of their time, when she would sit on his lap and they would chat before wandering to Ed’s Diner for dinner: a burger and fries for her and a large coffee and a cigarette for him. It was the only time of the week he seemed happy.
They sat in their usual spot beside the window, which overlooked the stacked flowerbeds. They shared a donut, he dunking his piece in the last of his coffee.
They fitted in well together.
‘We are doing all right, baby face?’ he said.
She grinned and tucked into her half of a vanilla-iced donut.
‘Your mom wouldn’t like us eating so many donuts. She always said no additives, no preservatives: just good fresh food.’
Debbie did not answer, but watched a boy across the road wash his father’s estate car, spraying the neighbour’s cat when he thought nobody was looking.
‘Do you miss Mommy?’
Rob Kading seemed surprised at the enquiry.
‘She is a gorgeous woman. I love every funny bit of her.’ Rob stopped, afraid of burdening his young daughter further. He put on a bright smile and dunked his donut.
‘Did you always love her?’
‘Yes, I did, even when she was throwing half the room at me. I loved her from that first day I saw her. She was walking along Broadway. She was so beautiful; women looked on with envy and men walking out with their wives sneaked backward glances. When she asked me a question, I was so shocked I nearly forgot to answer.’
‘What did she ask?’
‘I don’t know exactly, but I remember the sparkle in her eyes, her golden hair in a neat bun. She was lovely, and when we started to talk, it turned out she was from Ohio.’
Debbie began to fiddle with her napkin.
‘She loves you, sweetheart. She prayed for a daughter and then you came along. She loved dressing you up and taking you for walks when you were a baby. From when you were three, you went to the hairdresser with her every Saturday morning.’
‘I remember it; Edna gave me candy.’
‘Remember the good times, darling; that’s what I do. It’s what Mommy would want as well.’
She nodded and asked if they could go, running ahead to the machine for a jawbreaker.
Twelve
That woman is bad news, but she will have to leave if the health inspector closes down the café. R.
Ella ignored the note, pretending she had not seen it, but slipped a note of her own beside it.
You say one thing and I will make sure everybody knows what a lying, cheating bitch you really are. E.
Enraged, Roberta marched into the kitchen and propped a further note by Ella’s teapot.
You are no saint either, Ella O’Callaghan. If you had looked after your husband, he would have been happy at Roscarbury. R.
Ella bided her time, until her sister was sitting at the kitchen table the next morning, fiddling with the spoon beside her mug. She placed a long, handwritten note in front of her.
Dear Roberta,
It may not have come to your notice, but we don’t have any money. The bank is insisting we repay the loan granted for the costly necessary repair of the back roof. If we cannot meet our obligations, then we will have to sell Roscarbury Hall.
I trust you realise the seriousness of the situation: even through your sherry-soaked ether, you must know this is a crisis. The only way out I can see is to attempt to bring some money into the house, something you stopped doing a long time ago. Even if you could forego one of your numerous bottles of sherry a week, it would help.
The Ballroom Café stays open and long may it remain that way, because without it, we would both be out on the streets. Debbie Kading is a very important part of the popularity of the caf�
� and I will not have you insult her.
You might as well know, she is moving in today. I am warning you, I will not have rudeness or bad manners towards our guest and my friend.
As for the other matter mentioned in your communication, can I remind you of your own role in all of this? I hope the flush of shame and guilt is coursing through you, as it should be.
Your sister,
Ella.
Roberta folded the note in four and slowly pinched it to shreds, until there was a heap of paper beside her mug of tea. Ignoring the paper mound, she moved to her cupboard and took down a small crystal glass.
She poured a sherry from the hip flask in her handbag, before taking a long and extravagant sip. Smiling at the loud sighing of her sister, Roberta topped up her glass. Exasperated, Ella bustled out of the kitchen to answer a knock on the front door.
Debbie had only one pull-along case.
‘Debbie, welcome. Do you mind if I show you the room later? Muriel Hearty rang and said there was going to be a huge crowd this morning. The Women’s Guild has decided to meet at the café.’
‘Did you bake extra?’
‘I did, and I also found time to tell my sister to behave herself, so you need not worry on that score. When we close up shop tonight, we must have a Baileys to celebrate your moving in. Come on upstairs; there is work to be done.’
‘I’d like that, but I think we’d better set some extra tables; otherwise Muriel will create a fuss.’
‘She will create a fuss anyway, but let’s hope it is not about that,’ Ella said, as she spooned the coffee into the machine. ‘Any developments on the other thing?’ Ella said, her voice slow and vague, as if she had more important things to think about.
Debbie knew what she was doing: tiptoeing for fear of causing upset. ‘A guy from a government department rang me and said the Minister has asked the nuns to account for themselves. A judge is to look into it.’
Ella stopped, the coffee scoop in mid-air. ‘And it took you until now to tell me.’
Debbie began to stutter. ‘I suppose it’s a step forward.’
Ella grabbed her hand and squeezed it. ‘Have patience.’
The Secrets of Roscarbury Hall Page 8