Every Time We Say Goodbye (6 page)

‘Excuse me, I do not have
that
nose!’ Colm jabbed the air with his knife in his father’s direction.

‘What’s wrong with my nose?’ Johnny pretended to be upset.

‘What’s right with it?’

‘Eat up while it’s hot,’ Helen told him before looking across at her husband. ‘Are you going over to see Marianne after?’

‘I suppose.’

Helen sighed at the resigned look on his face. She hadn’t expected Dominic’s estate to be so complicated, nor had he. Now, when he wasn’t looking after his own business he seemed to be wading through the man’s papers. She felt guilty for asking him to help Marianne but someone had to. ‘I can’t believe he left her in such a mess.’

‘I don’t suppose he figured he was going to die at thirtyeight.’

‘How long do you think it will all take?’ she asked.

‘Honestly? It could go on for years.’

Helen put down her knife and fork and stared at him. ‘But how will she manage?’

‘She’ll have a good pension and she could always get a job.’

‘She used to work in a travel agency, didn’t she?’ Colm said.

‘Oh, yes, she practically ran the place, but she gave it up because she wanted to stay home with the children.’

‘Rubbish, she gave it up because Dominic told her to,’ Johnny butted in.

‘Why?’

‘He’d been made a junior partner and he wanted everyone to know that his wife didn’t need to work any more,’ Johnny sneered.

‘You don’t know that,’ Helen protested, frowning. Since she’d told him about Dominic’s behaviour he could barely mention the man’s name without anger creeping into his voice. She’d have to talk to him about that. Colm wasn’t stupid and it would be a crying shame if this got out after Dot and Marianne had worked so hard for so long to protect the children. ‘Marianne hated being away from the children so much,’ she insisted.

‘Perhaps, but she was well in with that firm; I’m sure they would have let her work part-time. It won’t be so easy for her to get a job now though.’

‘No,’ Helen sighed. The job market in Ireland at the moment was in a sorry state. Her heart ached for Marianne.

‘Don’t worry, love, I’m sure she’ll be fine.’

‘Yes, but there’s the children’s education and Dot’s not getting any younger . . .’

‘Dominic was a stockbroker; you can bet he’ll have set up trust funds for the children.’

‘Don’t you know?’

‘Not yet; Dominic didn’t talk to Marianne about money and I have a lot of papers to trawl through.’

‘I’m sorry to have landed you in this mess, love, but I’d hate it if she had to deal with all this alone.’

‘And she doesn’t so will you please stop worrying.’ He wiped his mouth on his napkin. ‘Now, are there any afters?’

‘Brill! Egg and chips!’ Andrew’s eyes lit up as he clambered into his chair.

Marianne smiled. At least her kids weren’t bothered by her economizing.

‘Lovely,’ Dot smiled, taking her seat beside him and squirting some ketchup on the side of his plate.

‘More, Granny,’ he demanded.

‘You’ve enough,’ she retorted.

Marianne poured milk for him and his sister. ‘What’s wrong, Kate?’

‘Nothing.’ The child sat motionless staring at her plate.

‘Aren’t you hungry, love?’ Dot asked.

‘I’m fine,’ she said, half-heartedly stabbing a chip with her fork and nibbling on it.

Marianne threw Dot a look of exasperation. She was at her wits’ end trying to tempt her daughter to eat. The child had always been thin but now she was skin and bone.

‘Let’s have chip butties,’ Dot suggested.

‘Oh, I’m sorry, there isn’t enough bread,’ Marianne groaned.

‘Ah, just as well, I’m getting too big an arse on me anyway,’ Dot said cheerfully.

Andrew spluttered out his milk. ‘Granny said a rude word!’ He grinned in delight at his mother.

Marianne pretended to look cross. What would she do without Dot? Even Kate was smirking. ‘I think you meant bottom, Granny.’

‘Whatever you call it, it’s too bloody big,’ Dot assured her.

Kate and Andrew giggled.

‘Did I tell you about the diet I went on before your mummy and daddy’s wedding?’

‘No.’ Kate shook her head and ate without thinking as Dot distracted her.

‘Well, I had bought this gorgeous suit – it was a lovely shade of green, wasn’t it, love?’

‘Beautiful,’ Marianne agreed.

‘I got it in a sale about six months before the wedding; oh, it was a great bargain, really great. But then I went to Tenerife with your granda, God rest his soul, on an all-inclusive holiday.’

‘What’s that, Granny?’ Andrew wrinkled up his nose.

‘It’s when you don’t have to pay any money once you get there. And they had all of these restaurants and a coffee shop and an ice-cream parlour and lots of lovely bars and so we did nothing but eat and drink for two weeks.’

‘And the suit didn’t fit when you got home?’ Kate guessed.

‘Wouldn’t go edgeways on me!’ Dot’s face twisted in disgust. ‘I couldn’t even get the skirt over my hips.’

‘Or your big arse!’ her grandson chortled delightedly.

‘Andrew!’

‘But Granny said it,’ Andrew protested.

‘I did, love, but your mother’s right; you wouldn’t want to let your teacher hear you talk like that, would you?’

‘Miss Maloney, now she really
does
have a fat arse,’ Kate said, deadpan.

‘Kate!’ Marianne exclaimed as Andrew collapsed into helpless laughter.

‘Sorry, Mum,’ Kate grinned, ‘but it’s true. So, did you go on a diet, Granny?’

‘What’s a diet?’ Andrew asked.

‘It’s when you stop eating too much to lose weight, numbskull.’

Marianne opened her mouth to tell Kate off again and then decided against it; at least she was talking.

‘I went on a few,’ Dot told them. ‘First there was this slimming drink that I got in the chemist.’

‘A drink that makes you thin?’ Kate asked.

‘That’s magic.’ Andrew’s eyes were round.

‘Ha! The only magic was it made my money disappear.’

‘So it didn’t work?’ Kate said.

‘I lost a little bit of weight but only because the drinks were so sickly they put me off food. I gave up on them after a couple of weeks. Then I tried the grapefruit diet.’

Marianne raised an eyebrow. ‘I don’t remember that. Please tell me that you weren’t living on just grapefruits.’

‘It would have been simpler if I was. ’Twas a terribly complicated business altogether, I couldn’t get the hang of it at all.’

‘So what did you do then, Granny?’ Kate asked before popping another chip into her mouth.

‘Well, then I tried the Atkins diet.’

‘Oh, I remember that one,’ Marianne said. ‘That’s the protein-only diet, isn’t it?’

‘That’s right.’

‘No carbohydrates?’ Kate frowned. ‘But that’s mad, everyone knows you need carbohydrates for energy.’

‘I’m very impressed,’ Marianne told her.

‘Mummy, what’s carbohiders?’

‘Carbohydrates, darling. They’re foods like potatoes, rice and pasta.’

‘So did that one work, Granny?’

‘Indeed it did not,’ Dot said in disgust. ‘I felt hungry all the time and I had no energy at all so you’re right about that, Kate. So then I went on the cabbage soup diet and, yes, that meant eating feckin’ cabbage soup morning noon and night.’

Andrew screwed up his face in disgust. ‘Ewwww!’

Dot threw back her head and laughed. ‘You’re right, love, it was awful but a lot more so for those around me; when I farted I could clear a room!’

‘What?’ Andrew was looking confused again.

‘She means they were smelly,’ Kate said, laughing.

‘Granny!’ Andrew splurted his milk everywhere.

‘But did it work?’ Kate asked, wiping her eyes.

‘Not at all.’

‘So did you go on another diet?’

‘No, I joined Unislim.’

‘You should have done that in the first place,’ Marianne said, mopping up Andrew’s milk and refilling his glass.

‘I should have, it certainly worked although it would have been even better if I hadn’t stopped off at the chippy on the way home.’ She winked at Kate.

‘But you were able to get into the suit in the end,’ Marianne pointed out.

‘I was, although I was wearing one of those awful girdle things that holds everything in. I remember I was afraid of my life to eat in case my jacket burst open and I took someone’s eye out with a button.’

‘Oh, Granny, you are funny,’ Andrew giggled.

‘Tell us about the wedding,’ Kate begged her mother.

‘Oh, darling, you’ve heard about it a million times—’ Marianne started, only to be interrupted by the doorbell. ‘That will be your uncle Johnny. I’ll leave your granny to tell you all about it – again.’ She hurried out to the door. ‘Johnny, hi, come on in.’

‘Hello, love, how are things?’

He kissed her cheek as always, but he seemed tense. ‘It’s not good news, is it?’ she said, leading him into the sitting room and closing the door firmly.

‘I have no news, really. I can find no policy documents, no records of funds, no details of the mortgage.’ He sighed. ‘Are you sure there aren’t any other files knocking around the house?’

‘I gave you everything,’ Marianne assured him.

‘Perhaps he had a safety deposit box where he kept these things.’

‘Certainly not at our bank, I’ve checked. The funds were so low in the deposit and current accounts I thought there must be a third one in just his name but there isn’t, at least not in that bank.’

Johnny frowned. ‘You never told me that.’

Marianne gave a shrug of embarrassment.

‘Don’t worry about it. You can bet Dominic has accounts in different banks or building societies; he wouldn’t have kept all his eggs in one basket.’

‘But we’ve found no details of any other accounts,’ she reminded him, conscious of the nagging pain in her stomach; an almost constant companion these days.

‘Perhaps he kept his papers at work.’

‘Well, I’ll find out soon enough; Dominic’s boss asked me to come in and see him next week.’

‘About time too,’ he retorted. ‘In the meantime, Marianne, if you need money, just say the word.’

‘No it’s fine, there’s enough to see us through for a couple of months.’

‘We’ll get it sorted, love, try not to worry. Would you like me to come along to that meeting with you?’

Marianne shook her head. ‘Dominic’s boss is rather old-fashioned; I think I’d better see him alone. I’ll call you afterwards.’

‘Make sure you do, I’ll be dying to hear all the news.’

Chapter Five

Jo looked at the invitation in her hand and sighed; she really didn’t want to go. An evening at Helen’s meant enough food to feed an army, all mouth-watering delicacies that she would find hard – no, impossible – to resist. Helen would look regal in one of her expensive dresses while Marianne, tall and slender with her golden limbs and long dark hair, would look fabulous no matter what she wore. Jo couldn’t compete; nothing looked good on her flabby body. She’d have to wear the green dress again. They had all seen it a million times before but Greg would be furious if she bought something new; he was always going on these days about the need to save money but then he had never been the extravagant sort.

He had embarrassed her so many times when they’d gone out with her friends and their husbands. Dominic and Johnny were both generous, Dominic in a rather flashy way, but Greg was always the last to put his hand in his pocket. She was sure that Helen noticed; nothing got past her sharp eyes. It made Jo cringe and she found herself looking for excuses to refuse invitations. But this was Helen and Johnny’s twentieth wedding anniversary and short of being at death’s door, there was no excuse that would get her off the hook.

At least Dominic wouldn’t be there. Jo felt guilty for thinking ill of a dead man but he’d made Marianne so miserable. He had been fun in the past, although Greg never really liked him but hid his feelings because Dominic had contacts. He got on better with Johnny but once he had a few drinks inside him, the snide comments would start to slip into the conversation; when had he developed this nasty, sneering streak? Was it marriage to her that had changed him? Perhaps she had turned out to be a disappointment; that wouldn’t surprise her. She’d never been sure what he’d seen in her.

She had been an average student growing up. At sixteen the nuns told her she was best suited to factory work or stacking shelves. When she moved to the boarding house the manager, a kindly, maternal soul, set Jo up with a job in a small supermarket owned by her cousin. It wasn’t the most exciting job in the world but Jo was quite content. Her happiness was complete when she met Greg there. The shop was only around the corner from his flat in Ranelagh and he was a regular customer. She had noticed him a few times and, since she wasn’t yet trained to work the till, she hadn’t spoken to him but she liked his serious face and shy smile.

Then, one day, she’d knocked over a tower of tinned beans. The manager had yelled at her and she was tearfully trying to rebuild it when Greg came to her rescue.

There had been several short, awkward exchanges over the following weeks before he finally worked up the courage to invite her out and they had been together ever since. Jo was so happy and even happier when they married and moved into their tiny home. She’d enjoyed being a housewife and although she wasn’t a natural homemaker – her mother hadn’t exactly set an example – she’d loved taking care of Greg. When she found out she was pregnant, she was over the moon. The prospect of having her own precious baby to mind and cherish was thrilling.

But it all went downhill from there. She’d piled on the weight, suffered terrible back problems and couldn’t sleep. Greg grew less and less sympathetic as the ironing piled up in a corner and dinner was often out of a tin or a carton. It didn’t help that Helen had an immaculate house, was an excellent cook and proved quite capable of managing a lively toddler while helping Johnny start up his business. Jo felt completely useless and things didn’t improve when Di was born; the responsibility overwhelming her. Sometimes she would catch Greg looking at her, disappointment in his eyes, and she could just imagine the poison his mother poured into his ear.