Second Time Around (43 page)

Jess’s face lit up as she looked at Doug. ‘Was there a swing in your garden?’

His eyes widened in surprise. ‘There was! My back was broke from pushing you.’

‘So who’s the father?’ Mandy’s harsh question cut across Jess’s laughter.

Gina glared at her harsh tone and moved closer to Suzie, who shot an affectionate and grateful smile at her old friend.

‘A lovely handsome young man, Jess is the image of him,’ Suzie said while Jess scowled at her aunt.

‘But she has your lovely eyes.’ Gina smiled.

‘He didn’t want to be a dad, then?’ Mandy continued her interrogation.

Jess moved forward and stood eyeball to eyeball with her aunt. ‘He never knew Mum was pregnant, not that it’s any of your business. Mum has answered all of my questions, Sharon and
Noel’s too, and we’re happy. That’s all you need to know . . . Aunty.’

There was an uncomfortable silence that Gina jumped in to fill. ‘Time to show you Doug’s appalling taste in ties, Jess.’

‘What was wrong with my ties?’ Doug protested, turning his back on Mandy, effectively shutting her out.

‘They were enormous,’ Jack said, grinning as they crowded around Gina.

‘That was the fashion of the time.’

Jess looked over Gina’s shoulder, trying to get a better look and then gasped. ‘I do remember you,’ she said excitedly, and then pointed to another woman in the photo.
‘And that’s Pamela, isn’t it?’

Suzie watched Doug swallow hard and nod.

‘I remember her . . .’ – Jess looked to her mum for confirmation – ‘gardening?’

Suzie nodded. ‘Yes, Pamela loved her garden. To give me a break, she’d sit you on a rug with your toys next to her while she was weeding. But all you wanted to do was mess in the
dirt.’

‘And she’d sit me up on the draining board and wash my hands. I remember when she was lifting me down, she’d kiss my head and say, “All done.” ’

Suzie swallowed back tears and nodded.

‘Excuse me.’ Doug got up and strode from the room.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset him,’ Jess said, crestfallen.

‘You didn’t,’ Gina assured her. ‘You’re bringing back wonderful memories. But he loved her so much it’s bound to be emotional for him.’

Jess gave her a grateful nod and looked at Suzie. ‘I should really get going, Mum.’

‘You should indeed.’

‘It was wonderful to see you again.’ Gina stood and hugged her.

‘You too. And thank you for looking after Mum so well when she was having me.’

‘How touching. I think I’m going to be sick,’ Mandy drawled and, picking up her glass, left the room.

Suzie scowled. ‘Ignore her, Jess. Go and enjoy your evening.’

‘Will you say goodbye to Doug for me?’

‘Of course.’

When she was alone with her friends, Suzie sighed. ‘Sorry about the dramatics.’

Malcolm caught her hand. ‘You have nothing to apologise for.’

‘She’s jealous of you,’ Gina observed.

Suzie rolled her eyes. ‘That’s ridiculous. She’s beautiful, single and years younger.’

‘Let’s not talk about age.’ Jack pulled a face and put a hand to his receding hairline. ‘Now that your daughter is gone, you’re the youngest person in the
room.’

‘And you look it too,’ Mal said, gallantly. ‘Jess is a lovely young woman, Suzie. You did a good job there.’

‘Thank you,’ she said, and smiled at them all. ‘Now, I think there’s been quite enough talk about me and my family. Tell me all about yours.’

They were chatting happily when Suzie became conscious of raised voices in the hallway. ‘Excuse me.’ She grimaced and went out into the hall and was stunned to see her sister in
tears, Doug standing over her, ranting.

‘Doug!’

He whirled round and she could see that all the emotion of the evening coupled with the alcohol had sent him over the top. She put a hand on his arm. ‘Please, Doug. Go back
inside.’

‘But Suzie—’

‘You’re the host and I want a word with my sister.’

‘I’ve got a word for your sister. Leave.’ Doug glared at Mandy and went back into the lounge.

‘Don’t start,’ Mandy warned Suzie, wiping her eyes.

‘I’ve no intention of starting anything. I came out to see what all the racket was about.’

‘Of course you did. Saint Suzie, surrounded by her adoring disciples. But you weren’t always a saint, were you? I should have realised that Jess wasn’t John’s child. He
never talked about her the way he did about Sharon and Noel.’

Suzie froze. Was she really going ‘there’?

‘He talked to me a lot,’ Mandy continued, unaware of the flames she was fanning. Or perhaps she was. It seemed her entire purpose these days was to provoke. ‘But then you know
that, don’t you, Suzie?’ she continued. ‘You’ve remembered everything. That’s why you haven’t been returning my calls.’

Suzie didn’t correct her. She realised she didn’t know everything, but she had a feeling that very soon she might, if she let Mandy keep talking. ‘I know that you came on to
him in Limerick, in my home.’

Mandy’s eyes widened and then she burst out laughing. ‘Is that what you think? I didn’t have to
come on
to your husband, Suzie, I assure you. He was a
more than willing participant. He couldn’t get enough of me.’

Suzie recoiled at her words, recognising the truth in them, another missing piece. This was the information her mind had refused to remember and acknowledge. She stared, mesmerised by
Mandy’s unashamed and triumphant expression. Struggling to hide her feelings, Suzie shook her head, pretending to be amused. ‘Believe me, you were one of many.’

‘No, I was the last!’ Mandy’s eyes flashed. ‘And you know why, Saint Suzie? Because, I was
the one
. He loved me.’

Suzie stared at her. Was that true? She searched her scrambled brain. The fact that she wasn’t shocked or upset suggested she’d heard this before. And she knew, in that moment,
she’d confronted John and, though he’d admitted his weakness, he’d regretted it and begged her forgiveness. The realisation gave her strength. She looked at Mandy, her own sister,
incredulous at the malicious pleasure she was taking in delivering this blow. There wasn’t a shred of regret, shame or pity in Mandy’s expression. In fact her face was twisted and ugly,
her true personality exposed.

‘You’re kidding yourself, Mandy. John didn’t love you. John loved sex and, I assume, got some perverse pleasure in screwing my sister.’

‘Is that what you told Doug? Your knight in shining armour?’ she spat.

‘Doug and I have more interesting things to talk about. John is dead and gone and I don’t talk about his bad habits. His children don’t need to know that he had a thing for
cheap tarts.’

Mandy bristled at that.

‘They’re not children any more. Maybe I’ll tell them,’ she taunted.

‘Don’t even think about it,’ Suzie warned her, losing all tolerance with this nasty, vindictive woman. ‘Why are you doing this? Aren’t you even remotely sorry for
what you’ve done? For the way you’ve treated me?’

‘No, not in the least! He loved me and I loved him. John was going to leave you and marry me.’

‘You’re delusional.’ Suzie laughed, shaking her head in disbelief. ‘Even if he did love you, John loved his children, his good name and his status in the community a lot
more. Why do you think he pretended Jess was his child? He loved me and wanted me to be his wife, but he couldn’t bear the stigma of having a cuckoo in his nest.’

‘He’d have left everything and everyone for me,’ Mandy insisted. ‘If it wasn’t for his accident, we’d be together now. I loved him more than you ever did but
I had to stand by, the sister-in-law, at his funeral while you got all the sympathy and support.’

Suzie remembered Nora saying how devastated Mandy had been at the funeral. Maybe in her own weird way Mandy really had loved John. She stared helplessly at her deranged sister, her anger
subsiding. ‘He’s dead, Mandy. There’s no point in resurrecting any of this now. Do what I do. Remember the good times.’

‘That’s easy for you. You have his name, his children and the status of being his widow. What do I have?’

Tears rolled down Mandy’s face unchecked. Suzie had never seen her so upset. She was almost hysterical.

‘You have your memories. You got the best of him, after all.’

Mandy frowned. ‘How do you make that out?’

‘I did his laundry, fed him when he bothered to come home and entertained his boring colleagues. I put up with his moods, his habits and looked after him when he was ill. But you? You got
John the charmer, the romantic. You got to spend time with him in fancy hotels, eating lovely food and indulging in illicit sex. And, be honest, the fact that he was my husband added spice to the
relationship, didn’t it?’

Mandy smirked but it soon turned back into a scowl. ‘Weren’t you jealous?’

‘Why, is that what you wanted? Is that what it was really about?’ Suzie countered and she realised that Gina was right. Mandy envied her, envied her life. ‘Did you really love
John or did you just want to take him away from me?’

Suzie gasped as another memory surfaced making her grasp the bannister to steady herself. It was how she had found out about John and Mandy. She’d received an anonymous note telling her
the hotel, and even the room number, where she could find her cheating husband. Suzie had gone along and sat in a corner of reception, hidden by a plant. Although she was used to his women, Suzie
had felt utterly shocked and betrayed when she saw that her sister was his latest conquest.

‘
You
sent me that note.’ Suzie marvelled at the lengths Mandy had gone to in order to hurt her.

Mandy’s face lit up. ‘Of course I did! John wanted to be with me but he didn’t have the guts to tell you. So I decided to help things along. You were supposed to throw him out,
but no’ – Mandy gave a bitter laugh – ‘Saint Suzie did nothing. Such a good little wife, turning the other cheek and carrying on with your sham of a marriage. Now he’s
gone, and look at you.’ Suzie shrank from the venom in Mandy’s eyes. ‘Look at you! The life and soul of the party, flirting with everyone and carrying on as if he never
existed.’

‘Oh my God,’ Suzie whispered, as it dawned on her what all of this was about. Why Mandy was so bitter and why she’d come back into her life to torment her.

‘What?’ Mandy was eyeing her warily.

‘Nora was remarking how upset you were at the funeral.’

‘Of course I was: I loved him.’

‘No.’ Suzie shook her head. ‘You saw all his family and friends and heard people stand up and talk about him as a husband, a father and a member of the community and you knew
that he’d lied. You knew then that he’d taken you for a ride, literally. That he would never have left me.’

‘That’s bullshit, all bullshit,’ Mandy practically screamed and, standing up, went in search of her coat. ‘I wish you’d never woken up,’ she spat as she
pulled it on, a wild look in her eyes. ‘You deserve nothing! You were in the way, always in the way. You didn’t even have the decency to die when you should have.’

Suzie was still trying to process the last comment as Mandy headed for the door. ‘Where are you going?’

‘What the hell do you care?’ her sister said, and left, slamming the door behind her.

Feeling stunned and drained by the confrontation, Suzie went in search of the others and found them sipping brandy and liqueurs in Doug’s study. Gina had taken off her
shoes and was curled up on the small sofa and, when she saw Suzie, she shifted up and patted the space beside her.

‘Is everything okay?’

Suzie nodded, but in truth, felt dazed and shell-shocked, her mind still struggling to make sense of everything.

Doug met her eyes. ‘Sorry, but that’s been building for a while.’

It took her a moment to react but then she nodded, vaguely, and reached out to squeeze his hand. ‘I know.’

Mal looked at her. ‘What is it, Suzie? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’

‘In a way I have.’ Suzie thought of the memory that had bubbled to the surface as her sister ran from the house. A gym and lots of giggling, her sister encouraging her to try out the
equipment. And then a hand on her shoulder pushing her . . .

‘Where is she?’ Gina whispered, looking nervously at the door.

‘Gone.’

Doug’s eyes narrowed. ‘Where?’

‘I’ve no idea,’ Suzie said, ‘but I don’t think she’ll be back.’

‘Going on her behaviour tonight, I’d say you’re well shot of her.’ Gina patted her knee.

Suzie nodded slowly. ‘Yes. I think I am.’

For years she had turned a blind eye to John’s womanising, and then came the ultimate humiliation: his eighteen-month affair with her sister. Eighteen months! And now she knew that Mandy
had staged Suzie’s discovery of their affair, in the hotel where she and John had held their wedding reception. What kind of sicko would do something so cruel? Again it struck Suzie that this
wasn’t about John or love but Mandy simply wanting her life. The woman needed help. Her behaviour was bordering on psychotic.

‘We were deciding on a venue for our next get-together,’ Jack said gently, bringing her back to the present. ‘Would you come out to our place? We live in Enniskerry but we have
plenty of room if you wanted to spend the night.’

‘Yes, sure, that would be fine,’ Suzie said, still distracted.

‘And if you want to bring along a friend,’ Gina said with a wink, ‘that would be fine too. You too, gentlemen.’

Suzie chuckled. ‘There’s only Percy, my dog.’

‘Likewise,’ Malcolm smiled at her, ‘except, no dog.’

‘Old and free and single,’ Doug confirmed.

Gina laughed. ‘Well, I’ll be in touch after I’ve checked the family calendar and we’ll set it up.’

‘Lovely. I’ll look forward to that, Gina.’ She sighed, feeling suddenly exhausted. ‘I’m afraid I need to go home, but it’s been great to see you
all.’

‘We’re going in the same direction. We can share a taxi,’ Mal said immediately.

‘You’re not annoyed with me for having a go at Mandy, are you?’ Doug asked when they were out in the hall and he was helping Suzie into her coat.

‘No.’ She hugged him. ‘It needed to come out in the open. But I think that there’s something seriously wrong with Mandy, Doug.’