Behind Every Cloud

by Lawless, Pauline

  “Yeah, that’ll be you in two years’ time!” Ronan punched him playfully.

  “Happy birthday, love!” Betty joined them in the hall, kissing her brother-in-law warmly. She was small and a little plump – unlike the tall, slim Louise– with a kind happy face that was always smiling. It was obvious Conor adored her.

  Their three children came bounding down the stairs. “Happy birthday, Uncle Ronan!” they chorused, almost strangling him with hugs.

  He laughed at their enthusiasm. “Mercy, mercy!” he cried, untangling himself. He proffered the bag of goodies that he always brought for them and they pounced on it greedily.

  “Now, kids, no chocolate before dinner,” Betty said sternly, whipping the bag away before they could protest.

  “Back upstairs while I give poor Uncle Ronan a drink to revive him,” Conor said, ruffling the hair of his youngest son, Myles.

  They scampered away and Ronan looked after them fondly. How he wished he’d had kids of his own.He envied Conor his lovely family more than anything. How different this house was to his own! He tried not to dwell on it too much.

  Conor opened a bottle of champagne and poured them each a glass.

  “Happy birthday again, big bro!” he said as they clinked glasses. “We’re sorry Louise couldn’t make it.What’s the matter with her?”

  Ronan pursed his lips. “Nothing physical. We’ve had a dreadful row. I’ll explain all after dinner. Let’s not spoil the evening so early on.”

  Conor and Betty glanced at each other knowingly and then at Ronan, sympathy in their eyes. They’d guessed it was something like that when Louise had cried off. They’d known for quite some time that things were not going well in that marriage. It made them appreciate all the more how very lucky they were. Conor patted Betty’s hand before getting up and taking an envelope off the mantelpiece.

  “Your birthday present,” he smiled, as he handed it to his older brother.

  Ronan opened it, wondering what it could be. He slid out a gilt-edged card, which read:

  CHTEAU WINES

  GIFT VOUCHER

  Eight-week Wine Course

  “Wow, that’s fantastic! Thank you both so much!” He beamed at them, kissing Betty and hugging Conor. “Something I’ve always wanted to do.” He read the rest of the details on the card.

  “You just have to ring them and they’ll tell you when and where,” Conor explained, pleased with Ronan’s reaction.

  “Just what I need right now,” Ronan said with a grimace. “Escapism!”

  Conor didn’t say more, knowing that Ronan would elaborate in his own good time.

  Betty went off to dish up the dinner, calling for the children to wash their hands and come down to the table.

  Betty was a good cook and the meal was delicious but it was the loving warmth around the table that pleasedRonan the most. Amid the banter he could feel the love that enveloped them all. When they’d finished, the three kids asked to be excused and the adults were left alone.

  “That was wonderful, thanks, Betty,” Ronan said as she cleared his dessert plate away.

  When she went to fetch the coffee Conor couldn’t contain his curiosity any longer. “Well, do you want to tell me what’s wrong with Louise now?” he asked gently.

  Ronan leaned back in his chair. “Same old problem – her shopping! She’s spending like there’s no tomorrow and if she doesn’t stop she’ll bankrupt me.”

  Betty came in with the coffee and caught the end of that remark.

  “Oh, dear! Is she still shopping as much as ever?” she asked. Then seeing Ronan’s expression, she blushed. “Sorry, but Conor did tell me last year about your problem.”

  “Sorry, Ronan,” Conor said, “you know I can’t keep anything from Betty. We have no secrets. I told her in confidence and she would never have repeated it, so no one else knows.”

  “It’s okay. I wanted to ask your advice anyway, Betty. Do you know if there’s a Shopaholics Anonymous anywhere here in Dublin. I tried to Google it but with no success.”

  He looked so downhearted that Betty wanted to take him in her arms. What a dreadful problem. That Louise was a silly thing. Betty had never had very much time for her.

  “I don’t know of any such thing myself but I’ll certainly make enquiries of my friends.” Then, seeing the look of panic on his face, she added, “Don’t worry. I won’t mention who it’s for.”

  “Please don’t. I don’t want everyone in Raheny to know and be talking about it.”

  “Don’t worry, dear, I’m the soul of discretion.” She patted his hand.He relaxed, knowing that he could trust her to keep her word.

  “How bad is the problem? I’ve never come across it myself but I have read about it,” Betty said sympathetically. “It’s an addiction, I think, a bit like gambling.”

  “Yes, once she starts she can’t seem to stop. She buys things that she never even wears. It’s the act of buying that she craves.” Ronan ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t understand it at all but then I don’t understand gamblers either. All I know is that it has to stop before she ruins us financially.” He shook his head in bewilderment.

  “Oh dear! How often does she go on a spree and how much does she spend at a time?”

  “It’s been escalating. It can be as often as every week and can be as much as €500.”

  “Holy God!” Betty exclaimed in a shocked voice, putting her hand to her chest. “That’s dreadful!”

  “You can’t sustain that,” Conor chipped in angrily.

  “Don’t I know it! I’m really at the end of my tether.”

  “Have you actually sat down and talked to her about it?” Betty asked.

  “In the beginning, I did, and she promised she’d try and curb it but she can’t help herself. Now she won’t discuss it at all and we end up arguing all the time.”

  “You poor thing,” Betty commiserated. “Leave it with me. I’ll try and find out if there’s any help out there. There must be.”

  “I’d appreciate that. And please, not a word to Louise. She’d be mortified if she thought I’d told you.” Ronan smiled wanly.

  “Of course not.” Poor man, Betty thought, looking at him closely. He’s aged a lot in the past two years. I’m not surprised. She looked at her husband. They no longer looked like there was only a year between them. Conor now looked five or six years younger than Ronan – and he had three growing boys to contend with. She smiled fondly at him, thinking as she always did, how very lucky she was.

  4

  Ellie’s new fiancé had recently been head-hunted by the most important accountancy firm in Dublin and he was over the moon about it. But he was quite nervous when, after their engagement, he and Ellie were invited to dinner at his new boss’s house.

  As she got ready for the dinner Ellie was excited but also a little apprehensive. She didn’t want to let David down. She cast a critical eye over her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing her new hyacinth-blue Karen Millen lace dress which she had bought the previous Sunday, especially for the occasion, and she prayed that it would pass muster. It matched her blue eyes perfectly, making them look almost violet.

  Ellie was a fashionista of the highest order but most of her clothes would have been too short, too revealing or just too trendy for the evening ahead. She did a last-minute check. Her teeth were a dazzling white thanks to the whitening treatment they’d undergone the previous Monday. She hoped her fake tan was not too much. Her friend and colleague, Chloe, had stayed back late last night to do it, and had been given dire warnings not to make it too bronze. Chloe was great and had understood exactly how important this night was for Ellie. She’d also applied fabulous gel nails with tiny diamond stars painted on them. They complemented her engagement ring which she now waved in front of her for the umpteenth time, admiring the way the large diamond caught the light. David had really chosen well. He had such good taste. The ring was perfection and she loved it.

  Ready at last, she exited the me
ssy room, her sleekdark hair swinging behind her. It had been carefully blow-dried to look like silk, during her lunch-hour, by her friend Keisha who worked two doors up from the beauty salon. Keisha wasn’t her real name – it was Marian – but she’d decided that Keisha sounded so much more glamorous and Ellie agreed with her absolutely.

  “Do I look okay?” she asked her mother nervously as she came into the kitchen.

  “You look lovely, dear. That dress really suits you.”

  “You don’t think it’s too short?” Ellie asked, tugging it down at the hem.

  “No, it’s fine,” her mother replied, thinking that it was longer than what her daughter usually wore.

  Her father whistled in appreciation as he came into the kitchen to say that David had arrived to pick her up. “You look gorgeous, sweetheart. I’m sure you’ll be the prettiest girl there.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” she said, giving him a hug and feeling a bit more confident.

  “Just relax and be yourself,” her mother advised as she kissed her goodnight.

  “I’ll try. Thanks, Mum,” she replied, throwing her cream leather jacket over her shoulders as shesashayed out the door on her five-inch nude-patent platform pumps.

  “Hey, you look great!” were David’s confidence-boosting words as Ellie slid into the passenger seat of the BMW. “You look different.”

  Poor David! He hadn’t a clue how women ticked and she wasn’t about to enlighten him about all the effort she’d put into looking ‘different’. She was even surprised that he’d noticed. Honestly, for a man of thirty-three he was very naïve about the female species.

  “Thank you,” she smiled, reaching over and pecking him on the cheek, as the luxurious car purred into action.

  As they drove across the Liffey on their way to Killiney, David was warning her yet again that she had to be on her best behaviour tonight.He’d already told her this about ten times. She wasn’t stupid!

  “What exactly are you trying to say, darling?”

  “Just that this is a very important dinner for me,” he stressed yet again, “so please go easy on the wine.”

  She was about to make an angry retort but changed her mind. She could see from the way he was clenching the steering wheel, his knuckles white, that he was even more nervous than she was. He would be starting his new job the following Monday and this dinner party was being hosted by his new boss so that David could meet the other directors and some of his new colleagues. She reached over and patted his knee, feeling sorry for him all of a sudden.

  “I promise,” she relented.

  She could see where he was coming from. She did get awfully tipsy on wine, although strangely she could drink beer and cider all night without falling down. However, she doubted there would be either of those on offer tonight as David had said it would be a very up-market do. More likely it would be fancy cocktails or champagne – both of which were lethal for her – and no doubt there would be fabulous wine on offer too. She liked wine but she normally slugged it back like it was orange juice which was why it made her so drunk. Yeah, she’d have to be very, very careful about what she drank tonight.

  Her friends always said she was hilarious when she got drunk but somehow she didn’t think that David’s new boss and his wife would find her quite so funny. For starters, they lived on the southside of Dublin and Ellie always felt intimidated as soon as she crossed the Liffey from her home ground on the northside. She knew it was stupid but she couldn’t help it. It was well known that south-siders looked down on those who hailed from north of the river. Those awful jokes that were always going around didn’t help either.The latest one doing the rounds was: ‘Why do birds fly upside down when they fly over the northside?’ ‘Because it’s not worth shitting on.’ Ellie snorted. Was it any wonder that she was suspicious of south-siders when they coined cruel jokes like that?

  She was gobsmacked when they arrived at the gates of a house that would not have been out of place in Beverly Hills.

  “Wow!” she exclaimed as David pressed the bell on the gate.

  “Yes, sir?” a stiff voice came over the intercom.

  “It’s David Murphy,” David replied, a slight shake in his voice.

  “Good evening, Mr Murphy. Please drive right on in.”

  The gates opened slowly as a myriad of security cameras watched their every move. They drove slowly up the long drive which was lit with lanterns all the way up to the house. There, a uniformed man came out and offered to take the car and park it. David handed over the keys of his precious BMW without as much as a murmur – something he’d never done for her, Ellie couldn’t help thinking.

  Entering through the large marble columns into a sumptuous foyer, Ellie’s eyes were out on sticks. Imagine that such houses existed in Dublin and less than ten miles from the city centre! She knew of course that Bono and some other stars had mansions in this area, but she’d never imagined that she’d ever be actually standing in one of them. A butler took her jacket as an attractive grey-haired man came forward to greet them.

  “David, so glad you could make it,” he said, pumping David’s hand.

  “Thank you for inviting us, Mr –” David started, a slight quiver in his voice but the man cut him short.

  “Please, call me Frank. We’re all on first-name termsin this company.” He winked at them. “And this is . . .?” He looked towards Ellie with a glint in his eye.

  “Sorry, Mr – er – Frank, this is my – eh – fiancée, Ellie.”

  Ellie blushed prettily. David still hadn’t got used to calling her his fiancée.Well, it was only natural, wasn’t it? They’d been engaged such a short time. She, on the other hand had said the words, ‘my fiancé, David,’ a dozen times a day – if only to herself – as she flashed her hand with its large diamond ring in front of her. She still marvelled at the fact that she was actually engaged to be married.

  Ellie smiled at the older man, her dimples enhancing her attractive, pretty features. “Pleased to meet you, Frank,” she said breathlessly, offering her hand.

  He took it and put it to his lips. “Well, David, you certainly know how to pick them,” he said, his eyes never leaving Ellie’s.

  I don’t believe it! This old geezer is flirting with me.She couldn’t help herself and pealed with laughter. Frank laughed tooand winked at her lasciviously. David joined in although he didn’t have any idea what he was laughing at. He guessed he’d missed something, somewhere.

  “Frank, darling,” a plummy posh voice rang out and Ellie turned to see a woman teetering towards them on five-inch heels. Ellie reckoned that she was in her mid-fifties although she could have passed for forty-five. Ellie’s eagle eye, honed from five years of working in a beauty salon, appraised the woman’s face and in a jiffy pinpointed the botox, cheek fillersand without doubt a face-lift too. The boobs certainly defied gravity and were unnaturally high and firm for a woman her age – and what about those lips? She’d obviously asked for the Angelina Special!

  Ellie baulked at the thought of anyone filling their face and body with toxic chemicals. She was of the ‘less-is-more’ school of thought which was losing out to the ‘more-is-still-not-enough’ practices of today’s plastic surgeons. For the life of her she could never understand why women continued to do this to themselves. There was enough help out there now, such as was offered in the beauty salon, without the need for all these invasive practices. She swore that she would never do anything like that to her face. Never!

  “Darling, I’ve been searching for you,” the woman said haughtily to Frank, irritation in her voice and eyes. Even though she was obviously angry, not a facial muscle moved.

  “Judith, darling, do come and meet the newest addition to Buckley Steadman. This is David Murphy and his gorgeous fiancée, Ellie.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Judith remarked coldly. She looked Ellie over from head to toe in a patronising manner. David was rewarded with a smile which never quite reached her eyes.

  Thank God I bought this
new Karen Millen dress, Ellie thought. She could just imagine the older woman’s sneer if she’d turned up in something from Penneys! Judith was wearing a beautiful emerald-green dress which screamed ‘money’ and ‘designer’, although Ellie had no idea which designer it might be. Emeralds flashed from her neck and ears – genuine, no doubt.

  “Can we get you something to drink?” Frank asked, beckoning a passing waiter.

  “A white wine would be lovely,” Ellie murmured.

  “What kind?” Judith asked archly.

  “Chardonnay would be fine,” Ellie said, smiling, in the hope of melting this ice queen.

  “Sorry, we don’t dochardonnay,” Judith snapped. “We can offer you Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer or Riesling.”

  “Oh, any will be fine,” Ellie replied, not knowing what any of them tasted like. Although her mother was French, she was a teetotaller, and her father was a beer man so there never was wine at home. She sometimes drank white wine at parties and it was mostly chardonnay, though to be honest it could have been anything.

  “A whiskey for me, please,” David said, seeing that that was what Frank was drinking.

  “A man after my own heart,” Frank said, clapping him on the back.

  Judith gave the order to a passing waiter and moved off to speak to some other guests.

  “Don’t mind her,” Frank winked at Ellie. “Chardonnay seems to be out of fashion at the moment and my wife is nothing if not fashionable.”

  Ellie thought she detected a harsh note in his voice.

  The waiter returned with their drinks and Frank took her elbow. “Come, you lovely young people, let me introduce you to some of our other guests.”

  Ellie was trying not to gape but she couldn’t help it. He led them into a magnificent room where about twenty people were gathered. The women were all beautifully groomed and expensively dressed. They were also all a good bit older than Ellie. Even older than her parents, she thought, looking around. She felt completely out of place and intimidated as Frank introduced them to everyone. She held onto David’s hand for dear life as she plastered a smile on her face. The women were appraising her silently while their husbands were ogling her appreciatively. The men all had a prosperous air about them. Some of them were handsome and fit while others had definite paunches and less hair on their heads.