Minding Frankie (45 page)

“And I’ll iron your good shirt—any money there is, spend it on shoes,” Lisa commanded.

“It’s a lot of fuss about nothing,” Noel grumbled.

“Nights of lectures, hours of study—and you call it nothing!” Lisa was outraged.

“And what about the photos to show Frankie?” Faith asked.

“I’ll get the damn shoes!” Noel promised.

The day of the graduation in September was very bright and sunny. That was a relief: there would be no umbrellas or people squinting into the rain. Frankie was excited to see them all dressing up.

She crawled around the floor, getting under everyone’s feet and mumbled a lot to herself about it—words that didn’t make much sense until they identified “Frankie too.”

“Of
course
you’re going too, darling.” Faith lifted her up in the air. “
And
I have a lovely little blue dress for you to wear. It will match your daddy’s tie and you’ll be the most beautiful little girl in the whole world!”

Noel looked very well. He was much admired by the women, who dusted flecks off his shoulders and examined his new shoes with cries of approval. Then Emily arrived to take Frankie in the buggy wearing her new dress, and they all set out for the college.

Frankie behaved perfectly during the ceremony. Better by far than other babies, who cried or struggled at crucial times during the graduation. Noel gazed at her with pride. She was indeed the most beautiful little girl in the whole world! He had done all this for her—yes, for himself too, but all this work had been worth it for the chance to make a life for her.

The new graduates filed onto the stage and the audience raked through the ranks until they found their own. The graduates also searched the audience. Noel saw Emily holding Frankie and he smiled with pleasure and pride.

Lisa saw her mother and sister both dressed up to honor the day; she saw Garry there and all their friends.

Then she saw Anton.

He looked lost, as if he didn’t belong there. She remembered
writing down this date in his diary months back. It didn’t mean anything to her that he was there and it had all been her own fault. Anton had never loved her. It had all been in her mind.

The president spoke warmly about the graduates.

“They had to give up a lot of social life to do this course. They missed television and cinemas and theaters. They want to thank you, their families and their friends, for supporting them on this undertaking. Each and every graduate here today has gone on a journey. They are different people to the people who started out with a leap of faith. They have much more than just mere letters after their names. They have the satisfaction of having set out to do something and seen it through.

“I salute them all on your behalf.”

There was tumultuous applause at this, and the new graduates all beamed from the stage. Then the presentation began …

They had planned a special lunch in Ennio’s together with Noel, his family, Emily and Hat, Declan, Fiona and the Carroll parents. Faith would bring her father and three of her five brothers. Lizzie was working there as a supervisor, and she had reserved a big table for them; Ennio would give them a special price; the twins and Marco would be serving. Lizzie would even sit down and join them for the meal.

Lizzie had found the job a great help. For whole sections of the day she didn’t stop and think of Muttie with that sad, empty look that broke her neighbors’ hearts. Here it was too busy, too frenetic. There was too much shouting to leave any time to go over all she had lost. Ennio was always there with a coffee or a word of encouragement. She met new people, people who had never known Muttie. It wasn’t really any easier, but it was less raw. Lizzie would admit that much, and the twins were there for her every step of the way. Lizzie was a religious person. She thanked God every morning and every night for having arranged things so that Maud and Simon came to live with them.

Ennio had said they should have a banner over the table—
FELICITAZIONI—TANTI AUGURI—FAITH LISA NOEL
:
that would be alphabetical order, so nobody could be offended.

“What does it mean?” Faith asked.

“Congratulations, best wishes,” Marco said excitedly.

They were a mixed group, including the two babies, but they all got along very well and there was no pause in the conversation. More and more food and wine kept coming to the table. And finally a great cake arrived, iced in the shape of a mortarboard and scroll.

People at other tables gathered round to see it.

“It was iced by Maud,” Marco said proudly.

“And everyone else.” Maud tried to shrug it off.

“But mainly by Maud,” Marco insisted.

And then there was sparkling wine for the toast and a glass of elderflower cordial for Noel. The health of the three successful scholars was drunk to and they were cheered to the echo.

To everyone’s surprise, Noel stood up.

“I think that, as the president said earlier, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to our families and friends and that we three should raise a toast to you also. Without you all, we wouldn’t have been able to do all this and have this great graduation day and feast. To our families and friends,” he said.

Lisa and Faith stood up and all three repeated the toast:

“To our families and friends.”

Ania’s baby was almost born in the heart clinic—not quite, but almost. It was too soon.

Her waters broke during one of the healthy cookery demonstrations and they got her into the maternity wing of St. Brigid’s in the shortest possible time. Later that night the news went around: a baby boy, born prematurely and taken into the special-care baby unit. Everyone was concerned for Carl and Ania: it was going to be a traumatic time for both parents. They had been so anxious throughout the pregnancy, and the worrying wasn’t over yet. They were staying with the tiny baby by his incubator; Carl would come down to the clinic later and tell them what was happening.

Clara Casey called her ex-husband and asked him to drop by her house.

“Don’t like the sound of this,” Alan said.

“Haven’t I done everything you ever asked me: had two babies for you, left you free to follow your heart? I gave you a divorce when you wanted it. I never asked you for a penny.”

“You got my house,” Alan said.

“No. If you remember, the house was paid for by a deposit from my mother and every month by a mortgage which
I
earned. It was always my house, so we won’t go down that road again.”

“What do you want to talk about if I come over?” He sounded sulky now.

“Various things … the future … the girls …”

“The girls!” Alan snorted. “Adi’s off in Peru doing God knows what …”

“Ecuador, as it happens.”

“Same difference. And as for Linda, she won’t speak to me if I do get in touch.”

“That’s because when she told you that she and Nick were going to adopt, you said that you personally would never raise another man’s son yourself. That was helpful.…”

“You’re hard to please, Clara. If I
am
honest it’s wrong, if I’m not honest, it’s wrong.”

“See you tomorrow,” Clara said and hung up.

He looked older and shabbier than before. A succession of new ladies later, he was now temporarily without a partner. Alan, who always prided himself on having women iron his shirts, looked vaguely down at heel.

“You look wonderful,” he said, as he said to almost every woman almost all the time. Clara ignored him.

“Coffee?” she suggested.

“Or something stronger even?” he asked.

“No, you can’t handle drink like you used to. You start crawling over me when you’ve had a couple of glasses of wine, and I certainly don’t want that.”

“You liked it well enough once,” he muttered.

“Yes, that’s true, but in those days I believed everything you said.”

“Don’t nag, Clara.”

“No, of course not. I’m just showing you some courtesy here. Frank is going to be moving in here next week.”

“But you can’t let him!” He was shocked.

“Well, I have every intention of doing so. I just thought you should hear it from me, that’s all.”

“But, Clara, you’re much too old for this,” he said.

“Imagine, you were once considered quite charming and dashing,” Clara said.

Emily had the spare room in Dr. Hat’s house beautifully decorated, and she planned a series of outings to entertain Betsy and Eric. She had this ludicrous wish that they should love Ireland like she did. She hoped that it wouldn’t rain, that the streets would be free of litter, that the price of everything would not be too high.

Emily and Hat were at the airport long before the plane arrived.

“It only seems the other day since you came out to meet
me
here,” Emily said, “and you brought me a picnic in the car.”

“I had begun to fancy you seriously then, but I was terrified you’d say it was all nonsense.”

“I’d never have said that.” She looked at him very fondly.

“I hope your friend won’t think I’m too old and dull for you,” he said anxiously.

“You’re my Hat. My choice. The only person I ever even contemplated marrying,” she said firmly. And that was that.

Betsy was bemused by the size of the airport and the frantic activity all around. She had thought the plane would land in a field of cows or sheep. This was a huge, sprawling place like an airport back home. She couldn’t believe the traffic, the highways and the huge buildings.

“You never told me how developed it all is. I thought it was a succession of little cottages where you knew everyone who moves,” she said, laughing. In minutes it was as if they had never been parted.

Eric and Dr. Hat exchanged relieved glances. It was all going to be fine.

Emily was going to be given away by her uncle Charles.

Charles and Josie had finally come to the conclusion that a children’s
playground and a
small
statue of St. Jarlath would fit the bill. They had been to see a lawyer and settled a sum for Noel and one for Frankie. They had even arranged for Emily to have a substantial sum as a wedding gift so that she wouldn’t start her married life with no money of her own. It wasn’t a dowry, of course, and Charles said that so often that Emily began to wonder.

Noel knew nothing about his inheritance. Charles and Josie had been waiting to talk to him on his own. There was always someone with him—Lisa or Faith or Declan Carroll. They could hardly remember the days before Frankie was born, when Noel was a man always by himself. Now the two of them were always the center of a group of people.

Finally they found him alone.

“Will you sit down, Noel? We have something to tell you,” Charles said.

“I don’t like the sound of this.” Noel looked from one to the other anxiously.

“No, you are going to like what your father has to say,” Josie said with a rare smile.

Noel hoped they hadn’t seen a vision or anything, that St. Jarlath hadn’t appeared in the kitchen asking them to build a cathedral. They had seemed so normal recently, it would be a pity if they had had a setback.

“It’s about your future, Noel. You know that Mrs. Monty, may God be good to her, has left us a sum of money. We want to share this with you.”

“Ah, no, Dad, thank you but that’s for you and Mam. You did the dog minding—I wouldn’t want to take any of it.”

“But you don’t know how much she left,” Charles said.

“Is there enough to take you to Rome? Or even Jerusalem? That’s wonderful news!”

“There’s much more than that—you wouldn’t believe it.”

“But it’s yours, Dad.”

“We’ve made arrangements for an educational policy for Frankie, so that she’ll never lack for a good school. And there’ll be a lump sum for yourself, maybe the deposit on a house so you’d have your own place and not have to rent.”

“But this is ridiculous, Dad. It would cost a fortune.”

“She left us a fortune. And after a lot of thought we are spending it on a children’s garden with a small statue, and on our own flesh and blood.”

Noel looked at them wordlessly. They had sorted out everything that was worrying him. He would be able to have a proper home for Frankie and maybe, if she’d have him, for Faith. Frankie would get a top-class education. Noel would have his rainy-day security.

All because his father had been kind to Caesar, a little King Charles spaniel with soppy brown eyes.

Wasn’t life totally extraordinary?

On the morning of the wedding, before they set out for the church, Charles made a little speech to Emily.

“By rights it should have been my brother doing this but I hope I’ll do you credit.”

“Charles, if it were up to my father, he wouldn’t have turned up, or if he had, he would have been drunk. I much prefer having you.”

Father Flynn married them. Emily could have filled the church five times over, but they wanted only a small gathering, so twenty of them stood in the sunlight as they made their vows. Then they went to Holly’s Hotel in County Wicklow and back home to St. Jarlath’s Crescent. Then the honeymoon continued for the two couples; Dingo Duggan got new tires to make sure that they got to the west and back.