“
You look beautiful, my darling,
”
he said, as he raised his glass to hers.
“
Every man in the place will be madly jealous of me.
”
She smiled, looking into his eyes.
“
You look pretty gorgeous yourself. I
’
ll have to keep my eye on you tonight with all the beautiful women around.
”
She said it half-jokingly.
“
None will be a patch on you, my dear,
”
he murmured
, taking her hand and kissing it.
They heard the doorbell ring. The first guests had arrived. She gave the string quartet the signal to start playing.
Ellie and David didn
’
t want to be the first to arrive so they came about twenty minutes late.
The taxi was stopped
at the gate where a man with a clipboard checked them off the guest list and opened the security gates to let them through. They drove down the steep drive to the house where the taxi deposited them at large entrance doors which stood open
.
They passed through these and entered through huge glass double doors into a large
spacious foyer where they
were greeted warmly by Rachel and Carl.
“
You look sensational,
”
Ellie exclaimed, admiring Rachel
’
s exotic outfit.
“
Thank you, you look very pretty too
,”
Rachel replied, kissing her on both cheeks.
“
This is my husband Carl. Carl, this is Ellie from my wine course and her fiancé . . . eh . . .
”
“
David,
”
Ellie introduced him.
“
Nice to meet you both
.”
Carl took Ellie
’
s hand to his lips and kissed it.
She blushed. What a charmer! And even better
-
looking than his photos!
“
Beautiful and a wine expert
,”
Carl said, making her blush further.
“
Oh, I wouldn
’
t quite say that,
”
Ellie giggled.
As they were chatting Ronan arrived with Louise and
Rachel made the introductions once again
.
Carl went through the same routine with Louise who was obviously flattered by his attention and flirted right back at him.
Rachel took an instant dislike to her although she was awfully pretty with that gorgeous red hair and green eyes.
“
Quite a house you have here,
”
Ronan remarked
,
looking up at the glass dome which was reflecting the evening sun and filling the space with light.
“
Thank you, we love it,
”
Carl replied.
“
Ronan works for a firm of architects
,”
Rachel explained.
“
Oh well
,
you
’
ll be interested in the design of the house so. I
’
ll show you round later.
”
“
Thanks. I
’
d appreciate that. I did read about it in the Plan Architectural Review
.”
“
Yes, that was a good article,
”
Carl replied, pleased with his interest.
“
Are your children here?
”
Ellie asked
. “
I
’
d love to me
et them.
”
“
Good heavens, no!
”
Rachel cried, throwing her hands
up in mock horror
. “
They
’
re spending the night with my parents. I
’
d never get them to sleep with all this going on.
”
“
That
’
s a pity. I
’
d love to have met them but I can see your point.
”
“
You
’
ll meet them another time,
”
Rachel promised.
“
They
’
re wonderful kids,
”
Carl smiled at Ellie.
“
I
’
m sure they are,
”
she smiled back, unable to resist his charm.
They chatted some more and sipped on the champagne offered to them by a passing waiter
.
Then, when Rachel and Carl went to greet some newcomers, the two couples moved out onto a terrace at the back. Below
,
an uninterrupt
ed view of Dublin Bay stretched out before them.
It was stunning. They went down a long flight of steps to a lower terrace just above the garden.
“
Wow!
”
Ellie exclaimed as she turned and gazed up at the amazing house which was set into the hillside. She saw it was built on three levels and it appeared to be made almost entirely of glass.
“
What an amazing house!
”
“
Holy moly!
”
David exclaimed, looking up at the
fabulous structure.
“
That is a house and a half. Like something out of the future.
”
“
Wow, this is something else, isn
’
t it
?”
Louise remark
ed breathlessly
.
“
It sure is
,”
Ellie replied
. “
This is how the other half lives
.”
There was awe in her voice.
David and Ronan smiled at each other as if to say
‘
hope this doesn
’
t give them any ideas
’.
“
What a house
!”
Louise said, waving her hand around
.
“
It
’
s fabulous. They must be filthy rich. Lucky buggers!
”
Ronan squirmed at the inappropriate nature of her remark.
“
And just look at this garden,
”
Louise continued, unaware of his discomfort.
“
God, it
’
s gigantic! We could fit our garden into it twenty times over.
”
Ellie heard the envy in her voice as they surveyed the scene.
“
It is stunning,
”
she agreed.
Beneath the huge terrace where they were standing was a formal garden with a fountain beside which a string-quartet was playing. There was a sun-deck to the side of th
e house with luxurious white leather sun
-
loungers
dotted around it and a hot-tub. To the other side of the house there was a state-of-the-art children
’
s playground
.
“
So you
’
re an architect
?”
David remarked, turning to Ronan
.
“
No, I
’
m a draughtsman.
Not a very good profession
to be in, in this economic climate,
”
Ronan replied ruefully.
“
I can imagine. I play golf with an architect and he
’
s always moaning about how bad it is.
”
“
Where do you play?
”
Ronan asked, wishing to change
the subject
.
A conversation about golf ensued and Ellie was pleased to see that they were hitting it off really well. Well, it would have been impossible not to like Ronan. He was such a sweetie. Ellie wasn
’
t so sure about his wife who she didn
’
t much care for.
“
I can
’
t even imagine what it must be like, living in a place like this,
”
she observed, turning to Louise
.
“
Some people have all the luck,
”
Louise replied sulkily
.
Ellie decided to steer the conversation away from the Dunnes
’
good fortune.
“
What do you work at
,
Louise?
”
she asked as she sipped her champagne.
“
I don
’
t. I did work in a boutique near us but it closed down last year. It
’
s impossible to get any kind of job nowadays with all those Eastern Europeans taking them.
”
Ellie heard the bitterness in her voice.
“
Do you have children?
”
she tried again.
“
No. We
can
’
t have them.
”
Louise pressed her lips togeth
e
r in a firm line.
“
Oh, I
’
m sorry,
”
Ellie said sympathetically
,
waiting for Louise to say more, but nothing more was forthcoming
.
Ellie was at a loss for words. Every time she opened her mouth she seemed to put her foot in it. She decided to try
another tack.
“
I really like your shoes. They
’
re Louboutin
s, aren
’
t they?
”
Louise brightened up visibly as she lifted her shapely
leg and twirled her foot around.
“
Yes, aren
’
t they gorgeous?
”
She was smiling again now.
“
I
’
d love a pair but they
’
re dreadfully expensive, aren
’
t they?
”
Ronan happened to catch that last remark and eavesdropped on their chat.
“
Yes, they are, but I know a site online where you can buy the most fabulous shoes and pay by instalments.
”
Ronan winced. What was she up to now? This was the first he
’
d heard of her shopping online. He groaned. God knows how much interest they were charging her. He
’
d have to tackle her about it as soon as they got home.
He turned back to David who was saying something to him.
“
Sorry
,
David, what was that?
”
“
I was just observing how amazing it is that Northern Ireland has produced such terrific golfers.
”
Ronan agreed and they debated the merits of Rory McElroy and Graeme McDowell and what the future held for them as the two girls continued talking about fashion. Ellie was relieved that she
’
d found something in common with Louise
.
Just then Rachel came out onto the terrace leading Zita by the hand. Zita was dressed in a fitted black tuxedo suit over a white shirt
which was open low enough to show off the contours of her breasts.
She also wore a loose black tie, strategically low, which drew attention to them,
and topping it all off was a
black fedora hat. Her Doc Martens were abandoned in favour of a vertiginous pair of black patent boots
.
She was accompanied by a very colourful guy who had a long ponytail and was dressed very dramaticall
y
in a purple velvet suit.
All conversation stopped.
“
Oh, my God! Look at that woman with Rachel
!”
Louise whispered.
“
She
’
s weird.
”
“
That
’
s Zita. She
’
s on our course
,”
Ellie told her.