The Last Goodbye (42 page)

We chitchatted awkwardly for a while longer before Geoff said that he had better start making tracks back to Surrey before Edwina sent a search party out for him. I stood up straight away as soon as he went to leave. I was eager to have him gone and have the atmosphere returned back to normal again. I wasn’t into Feng Shui or any of that kind of hocus-pocus stuff but I was pretty sure that if there was such a thing, then Geoff’s visit had knocked it completely off balance. We kissed goodbye and Ben saw him out into the hall.

Eva was just starting to stir, her tiny mouth making little sucking motions, so I took her up to feed her. I could hear Ben and Geoff talking in the hallway.

“Look, before I go . . .” Geoff cleared his throat nosily in a way that made me want to get sick, “I think I owe you an apology – my behaviour on your last trip home was out of order. Your mother is still very angry with me . . . and rightly so.”

“It’s okay,” I could hear Ben mumbling.

“I can see you’re clearly very happy and why wouldn’t you be? Don’t you have a beautiful girlfriend and a darling baby daughter? To be honest, Ben, I’ve probably always been a bit jealous of your courage to go and follow your dreams.”

“But why would you be jealous of me?”

“Well, believe it or not, I always wanted to play rugby – I was good at it too. Who knows, maybe if I had committed to it, I could have gone all the way . . . but it didn’t go down too well arriving into a courtroom with a black eye or bandaged hand so my father said that I had to give it up altogether. I was upset at the time but he had my best interests at heart, I suppose . . .”

“I never knew that.”

“That’s life, son.”

“Well, thank you, Dad . . . it really means a lot to hear you say that.”

“Well, I’m sorry it has taken me this long to say it. Don’t make the same mistakes I did, Ben – if anything good is to come out of this, learn from my mistakes. Be there to enjoy your children when they are small – it goes by in the blink of an eye. I was always working when you and Laura were little and I wish I had kicked back a little more – the world wouldn’t have ended if I had taken a half-day to watch you in the school play or gone to your school sports day. Let little Eva do whatever makes her happy.” Then he laughed. “And, of course, if she wants to follow in the family tradition of law then I will welcome her with open arms!”

Ben chuckled. “Well, we’ll just have to wait and see . . .”

There was a small pause. “Look, I don’t want to speak out of turn and please tell me if I am, but well . . . I can’t help but notice how tight for space you are here.”

“We manage,” Ben said tersely.

I felt myself tense up again. I really hoped Geoff wasn’t just about to undo his apology with another below-the-belt dig at Ben.

“Of course you do. You mother said that you and Kate are saving to buy your own place. I promise I’m not trying to stick my nose into your affairs but as you know I have a rather large property portfolio around the city and most of it is mortgage-free at this stage. I can talk to my agent and see if any of the leases are due to expire soon. You wouldn’t have to pay any rent and it would help you save faster to buy your own place. If you like . . . I mean there’s no pressure . . . I know I can never undo the past but it would be my way of attempting to make a proper go of it this time for little Eva’s sake.”

I was stunned.

“Well, thanks, Dad, I’ll talk to Kate.”

They said goodbye then and I heard Ben shut the front door.

“Wow!” I said when he came back in. “Did I just hear what I think I heard?”

“The man apologised, he actually apologised. I’m glad you heard it too or no one would ever believe me. Did you hear him offer us one of his houses too?”

I nodded.

“What do you think?”

“Well, if he’s offering then why not? It makes sense. I mean, we’re cramped here and it would mean we’re not wasting any more money on rent.”

“Okay, well, I’ll talk to him and see what he has.”

“Do you reckon Laura had a word with him?”

“Maybe. But I think becoming a grandfather has made him see what really matters.”

“Well, I’m glad, Ben, I’m really glad for both you and for Eva.”

Ben lifted Eva out of my arms. “Do you hear that, little one? You’re only two weeks old and you have already managed to thaw your old grandfather’s heart! You see, you already have the men in your life wrapped around your little finger!”

Two Months Later

“Have you packed the nappies?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And the baby wipes?”

“Yes.”

“I need them back here a minute,” I said. “She’s done a right messy one.”

I stood looking around Eva’s nursery, which we had just finished decorating. We had moved into a three-bedroom house with a little garden in Hampstead, belonging to Geoff, just two weeks before. We didn’t know ourselves with the extra space and we were still so central to everything. We had set about decorating Eva’s nursery first. Ben had ripped up the old carpet and sanded down the floorboards. We painted the walls a lovely biscuit colour and Ben had stencilled a clown print all along the top border of the room. A polished mahogany cot stood in the centre of the room with a mobile of colourful circus animals hanging above it. I was really happy with how it had turned out.

I changed Eva again and bundled her into her snowsuit before handing her to Ben. He strapped her into her car seat while I ran around checking and double-checking that we hadn’t forgotten anything.
Nappies, wipes, clothes, cream, cloths . . .

“Come on, we don’t want to be late,” Ben pressed.

“Right, okay,” I sighed. It still amazed me how long it took to leave the house with Eva in tow. “I think that’s everything. Oh crap, did you put the buggy in – it’s in the utility room?”

“Don’t worry, it’s in the boot.”

“Right,” I said, “we’d better go.” I grabbed my down jacket off the coat-stand and put my arms into it. I wrapped my lambswool scarf double around my neck.

We went outside and Ben clicked Eva’s car seat into the back and I got into the front seat. It was a cold November morning and I could see my breath on the air in front of me. Ben had had to de-ice the windscreen and the puddles were covered with a lid of ice begging to be jumped on. He started the car and we set off.

We hit the rush-hour gridlock and, as we sat there, my eyes kept checking the clock in case we were going to be late. Finally, the traffic moved on and we reached the airport. We parked the car and hurried in to the Arrivals hall to wait for them.

“Can you see them?” I asked Ben as I scanned the crowd of people. He was taller than me so had the advantage when it came to things like this.

“No sign of them yet anyway – they’re probably stuck in baggage reclaim – you know how slow it can be.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I said nervously.

“Kate – just relax. It’s all going to be fine.” He put his arm around my shoulder. He had Eva in her sling and her little head was cuddled in against his chest as she dozed. It was at times like this when I looked at the two of them together, the two people that I loved most in the whole world, that I felt my heart surge with happiness. I leant over and kissed her downy hair. I would lay my life on the line for her.

Finally I spotted them coming through the crowd, wheeling their cases behind them.

“
Dad, Aoife
,
over here!
”

They were coming to meet Baby Eva for the first time. Gran was going to stay with Patrick and Luisa for the weekend. They picked us out amongst the sea of faces and waved. I ran over towards them, ready to start this new chapter with my family.

Look at you there, doing great – you’re a natural at it, Kate. You’ve taken to motherhood like a duck to water. I knew you would though. Yourself and Ben are doing a great job. Sure you don’t need me at all – I would only be in your way. You got a good one there, Kate, let me tell you – she’s a dream baby. And, my goodness, she’s a little beauty, isn’t she? She looks just like you at that age. Oh, and I love the name! Enjoy those newborn cuddles, there is nothing quite like them. They don’t be long growing up and, before you know it, you’ll have a head-banging two-year-old on your hands. I’m glad you’ve made up with your dad and you’re working on getting to know Aoife too – you don’t know how happy this makes me. You of all people know that sometimes life can be unfair, Kate, but you’ve picked yourself up and I’m so proud of the way you’ve turned out and the woman that you’ve grown into today.

THE END

If you enjoyed

The Last Goodbye
by Caroline Finnerty

why not try

In a Moment
also published

by Poolbeg?

Here’s a sneak preview of the prologue

and chapters one and two.

In a Moment
Prologue

She felt her knees buckle beneath her and she reached out to grab onto the post of the staircase. She used it to guide herself downwards so that she was sitting on the bottom step. Just as she thought she might be starting to heal, taking tentative steps forward, this had come and knocked her off balance again. She wasn’t expecting it – it was like a below-the-belt punch coming at her, leaving her reeling in its wake. She needed to see his face, as if somehow by looking at him it would confirm that he had been a real person. She ran upstairs and into her bedroom. Pulling out the drawer of her bedside table, she reached for his photo.

In a Moment
Chapter 1

Winter, 2010

The lift doors separated and Adam White stepped out into the bright reception of Parker & Associates. As he walked across the high-glaze cream travertine tiles he was almost overpowered by the scent emanating from the two extravagant conical vases standing on either side of the reception desk. They were brimming with fresh metre-high arrangements of snapdragons, burnt-orange birds of paradise and fuchsia-toned orchids. The area was minimally furnished with only a simple Scandinavian-style bench, which was more for show than functionality.

Parker & Associates was a young firm of business analysts located just off the Grand Canal on the south side of Dublin City. Their ultra-modern headquarters took over the entire topfloor of the building and consisted of floor-to-ceiling glazed offices surrounding a central roof garden. Depending on which end of the office you went to, the view extended all the way up to Howth Head on the northside of the city or down to Killiney Hill on the southside.

By the time Adam had grabbed himself a coffee, sat at his desk and switched on his PC, his rising in the small hours of the morning seemed like eons ago. He rubbed his eyes for the umpteenth time. He felt fuzzy with tiredness, he found it hard even to think straight, his reactions were slow and his whole body felt heavy as if he was lugging two huge suitcases on either side of him whenever he walked. As he tried to concentrate on a spreadsheet on the screen in front of him, the rows seemed to merge together.

Although it was eight thirty, it was very early by Parker’s standards and the office was still largely empty. On any given day the majority of people wouldn’t arrive in until nine at the earliest but normally on Friday people didn’t show their faces until much later after the ritual of Thursday-night drinks. Fridays were a write-off as far as work was concerned; it was generally accepted that you did only the bare minimum to get by and then spent Monday to Thursday making up for it. The company prided itself on its ‘relaxed and casual’ culture. The open-plan office was decorated with leafy, tropical foliage and beanbags were interspersed randomly to help soften the corporate feel. Croissants and pastries were delivered fresh from the local bakery every morning and there were always baskets scattered arbitrarily around the place, brimming with sweets and chocolate. Employees were also welcome to help themselves to the fully stocked fridge which was laden with ice-cream and softdrinks. It was lamented by all who worked there that once you joined Parker & Associates, there was no avoiding gaining the ‘Parker-stone’.

A while laterAdam’s colleagues started arriving in. He greeted them and watched as one by one they dropped their bags at their desks before heading straight to the staff room for a pecan-nut pie, the only pastry deemed suitable for the hangover of Fridays.

Emma made her way with slow footsteps down the grey vinyled corridor. As she walked, she couldn’t help but think what a contagious shade of grey it was; it wasn’t the soft dove-grey of a cashmere sweater or the inky grey of a stormcloud before it burst – it was that awful shade of grey that sucked the life out of you just from merely looking at it. As she rounded the corner, she could hear the high-pitched screeches coming from behind the canteen door. Well, ‘canteen’ was probably stretching it – it was a room barely six metres square. The floor was covered with worn lino and it was sparsely furnished with a Formica table, six red shiny plastic-backed chairs, a cork noticeboard and a dire fridge where, no matter how many group emails were sent warning users to discard their foods after their best-before date, noone ever seemed to lay claim to the mouldy ham.