Finishing Touches (34 page)

‘No, it’s not a bit daft. There’s no shame in wanting to get married, for heaven’s sake, no matter what the feminists say,’ Cassie retorted.

‘You’re right! Rod Taylor, I’m heading your way,’ chuckled the redhead as she made room for Laura, who had arrived back with another round of drinks.

‘Or Richard Burton, or Peter Finch, or Burt Lancaster,’ Cassie mused, thinking of manly men of the Fifties.

‘What are you on about?’ enquired Laura curiously.

‘We’re selecting a manly man for Aileen,’ Cassie giggled lightheartedly.

‘Oooh! How about Sean Connery?’ Laura suggested.

Aileen rolled her eyes and crossed her long shapely legs. ‘Stop it, you’re making me randy,’ she breathed.

‘Well, I don’t know about you pair but I’m starving, so drink up and let’s hit the Sunflower,’ Laura instructed crisply. She’d been looking forward to their
Chinese meal since Cassie had suggested it a couple of weeks back.

A few hours later they were seated at a window table in the Sunflower Chinese restaurant on O’Connell Street. The lights of the capital’s main thoroughfare below them were reflected
in the polished curved glass of the window. It was early evening and there were only a few other diners besides themselves. In the background soft music played as the waiters murmured in Chinese
among themselves. Cassie was secretly pleased to see that Laura was much more relaxed as she tucked into her pork chow mein.

They had planned how they would spend this last evening together, and both girls were going to stay the night in their old flat in Ranelagh with Cassie. They lingered over their meal, catching
up on all their affairs, and then they drove back to the flat to change for a night out on the town.

They were dancing on a crowded dance-floor in Sachs nightclub a couple of hours later, thoroughly enjoying themselves. They couldn’t remember the last time the three of them had been out
together with no boyfriends or fiancés to cramp their style.

‘
He
looks quite manly,’ Cassie giggled, nudging Aileen and indicating a suave man standing at the bar.

‘Hmmmm,’ approved Aileen. ‘Excuse me while I go flirt.’

Ten minutes later she was back, wide-eyed. ‘You’ll never guess who that was!’ she exclaimed.

‘Who?’ Laura and Cassie were agog.

‘That was Father Paul!’

The girls stared at her blankly.

‘Remember! Father Paul whom we all fell in love with at the retreat years ago at school. And guess what?’

‘What!’ The other pair was astounded.

‘He wants to see me home! He’s left the priesthood!’

‘Oh Aileen!’ they shrieked with laughter. Trust her!

‘He’s gone to the loo. Come on, let’s get the hell out of here. I don’t think I could cope! I’m getting too old for this!’

Snorting with laughter they made their way out of the nightclub in double-quick time and hailed a taxi. They piled in and laughed the whole way home.

Cassie and Aileen had gone to bed but Laura, who was sharing her old room with Barbara, found herself unable to sleep. She had really enjoyed the day with the girls and she
still had tomorrow morning, the eve of the wedding, with them, while they waited for Robbie to arrive with the wedding cake. Then she would head home to Port Mahon for the wedding that was costing
a fortune. It really galled Laura to have to spend her hard-earned money on things like the organist’s fee and flowers for the church, when she hadn’t wanted this church wedding or all
the palaver. Thank God for Robbie’s friend who was a chef and was making the wedding cake for half-nothing.

She slipped out of bed and went down to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. It was strange being back in the flat with the girls. She had got used to living in the apartment in Donnybrook
with Doug. She wished he were here with her now to tell her to stop worrying about this blasted wedding. Doug never let trivialities like weddings bother him. He was too busy plotting and planning
his next deal. Laura smiled. Doug was consumed by his business deals. He was the hardest grafter she had ever met. He had been making a deal the first time they had met. She threw a piece of
cardboard box into the still-red fire and watched it blaze with a little smile on her face.

Doug Donnelly! He was something else. He walked into her life while she was waiting tables in Capri. He was so intent on his conversation with his companion as they were leaving their table,
that he bumped right into Laura and caused her to spill half the scalding contents of a coffee-pot all over her left hand and arm. It had been so painful that she cried aloud as blisters formed on
her skin. Doug was horrified. She sustained quite a bad burn and he insisted on taking her to a hospital casualty department. They were there for hours. It being late on a Friday night, the place
was packed with brawlers and boozers and accident victims and, although Laura was in pain, she had to wait until the worst cases were treated before she was finally taken care of.

Her escort introduced himself to her as Doug Donnelly and, in spite of her discomfort, she took note of the concerned eyes ringed by a sweep of long black lashes. She had seen him wining and
dining various people in the restaurant. He was obviously a businessman, she decided, after she had seen him in a few times. Tall and well-built, he had a strong handsome face, and Laura found
herself giving him several covert admiring glances. But that was all she was ever able to do because she was kept so busy.

Sitting beside him in the casualty department, her arm and hand throbbing painfully, her black-and-white uniform stained with coffee, Laura had felt pretty miserable. She had urged him to go
away, saying that she would get a taxi home, but he wouldn’t hear of it. They didn’t get out of the hospital until after 3 a.m. and when she asked him in for coffee, to her surprise he
agreed.

Oh lordy, I hope the place is tidy, she thought in panic as she struggled to get her key in the door. Her left hand was bandaged and useless.

‘Let me,’ Doug offered kindly, taking the key from her and inserting it in the lock. The first thing Laura saw as she entered the sitting-room was Aileen’s supper dishes.
She’d kill Aileen in the morning. She was always leaving dirty dishes about, despite Cassie’s and Laura’s protestations. ‘Sit down,’ she invited the man at her side,
while she discreetly edged the dishes under the armchair with her foot.

‘Don’t you think
I
should make the coffee?’ Doug suggested, indicating her bandaged hand.

‘Oh sure!’ Laura had forgotten her infirmity. While he made the coffee, she slipped into the bathroom for a quick check. Just as well she did, she decided, as she observed the wooden
clothes-horse in the bath, festooned with a variety of bras, pants and tights. It was hard to get clothes dry these days and the girls had to resort to the clothes-horse. Laura pulled the shower
curtain. Some things were best kept unseen when a girl was trying to make an impression.

The dawn was breaking and the milkman had left his milk bottles on the doorstep before Doug finally left. He and Laura had started to talk and completely forgotten about the time. Exchanging
life stories, they had found they had a lot in common. Doug had as much ambition as Laura and was currently in the process of setting up his own video production and facilities company. Hence all
the business meetings in Capri. These meetings he was having would decide whether or not he was going to have his own company and it was an incredibly important time for him. Laura was fascinated
by the complexity of his plans, particularly the legal aspects. Having done a little company law, she was able to ask some very pertinent questions. It was a stimulating, lively conversation and
when he asked her out for a meal she accepted with pleasure. ‘As long as it isn’t Capri,’ she said jokingly.

They started seeing each other and before long Laura knew without the shadow of a doubt that Doug Donnelly was the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. This had come as rather a
shock to her. It certainly wasn’t what she had planned. Falling in love had not figured in her plans at all but until then she had never met a man like Doug. For the first few months of their
relationship, she told him she could meet him just once a week. Her finals were coming up and she was working like a Trojan at her revision. Doug accepted her decision with no argument. He quite
understood how important it was for her to get a first in her exams. He knew what it was like to want to be the best at something even though it might cause blood, sweat and tears. He could
understand Laura’s ambition; it wasn’t so different from his own. It was this empathy that really drew her to him and the night her results came out and her dream of a first-class
honours law degree came true, he bought a bottle of champagne and later in his apartment they made love for the first time.

Doug was a tender, passionate lover but Laura’s deep-seated desire to be in control, as a result of her hostility towards her father, caused her immense problems with her sexuality. She
could never let herself go completely and enjoy their lovemaking. That would be giving too much control to Doug.

After meeting her father and seeing at first hand the destructive anger of their relationship, Doug understood what the problem was. He knew that he had a very difficult task ahead, one that
required a lot of tact, sensitivity and patience. All he could do was his best.

It had been a revelation to Laura that a man could show such tenderness to a woman. It was the first time she had ever experienced it in her own life. She had watched the way her father treated
her mother and until she started growing up had thought it was the norm. Her relationship with her father had made her cynical about men, apart from Cassie’s father, Jack, whom she had
adored. She associated men with power and by not getting involved with them she felt she was keeping control of her own life. Watching Cassie and Aileen enjoying the company of their lovers had
sometimes left Laura feeling empty and unfulfilled but she had buried these feelings and concentrated on achieving her ambitions. Only once, the time they had been on holidays in Rhodes and Aileen
had touched a sensitive nerve during their row, had those feelings erupted and got the better of her. Those awful unbearable feelings of inadequacy, those feelings that somehow she was different to
other women. Was she, Laura Quinn, held in high esteem by her peers, afraid of sex?

To prove that she wasn’t, she had slept with Costas, the Greek waiter. But really it hadn’t proved anything. It was just a two-night fling, something that
she
initiated, and
then she had never seen him again. She remembered now that she had even risked getting pregnant. She must have been crazy!

When Doug asked to see her again, she was scared, really scared. Not only was she afraid of sex, she was afraid of getting involved in a relationship with a man in case it threatened her most
prized possession, her control. But being the gutsy pragmatist that she was, Laura sat herself down and gave herself a good talking-to. Was she content to lead half a life? Miss out on all the joys
a good relationship could bring? She had seen how happy Robbie and Cassie were. She had also seen how unhappy Cassie was when Robbie went on his benders. But that was part of it all, the swings and
roundabouts. After her first meeting with Doug, Laura had known instinctively that he could end up playing a major role in her life if she were prepared to take the risk. Never one to back down on
a challenge, Laura had taken a deep breath and got on with it.

Not for a minute had she regretted getting involved with Doug. He had encouraged her as she set out on the trail of a job, had listened as she moaned how hard it was to be taken on as an
apprentice by a good firm. She suspected also, although nothing was ever said directly, that her being a woman was no advantage to her. Doug just nodded and agreed and then made her type out a
brand new CV, got twenty photocopies made and instructed her to get going to deliver them to all the major practices in the city. Laura had got a copy of the Law Directory, which contained the
names and addresses of the practices, from the Incorporated Law Society in Blackhall Place.

She secured an apprenticeship in William Bennett Solicitors, one of the most prestigious offices in the country, and Doug told her firmly, ‘It’s no less than you deserve.’

When Doug asked her to move into his Donnybrook apartment Laura had at first refused. Leave the girls, give up her independence? No! It was unthinkable. But as their relationship deepened and as
she gradually began to enjoy the physical side of it, Doug dominated her thoughts more and more. Sitting in Blackhall Place where she was attending lectures towards the end of her apprenticeship,
her mind would drift away from the droning of her lecturer to think of Doug. She would wonder how he was getting on with the search for the new premises for the video production company, which he
had finally set up. He was operating from rented premises that had already proved too small, as new business was generated by word of mouth from more than satisfied customers. Being with Doug was
so stimulating. They were always bouncing ideas off one another and she had to admit he was terribly sexy and the more he made love to her the more she was liking it. He asked her again to move in
with him and this time Laura agreed.

Needless to say, she hadn’t announced the news at home and as far as the family were concerned she was still living in the flat with the girls. It had worked out well, living with Doug. He
was quite content to share the household chores. He didn’t expect her to look after him and often, if he were home first, he would have the dinner ready and a fire lighting. To him, her
career was just as important as his and she knew she was exceptionally lucky to have found a man who felt like that. When he asked her to marry him Laura said yes, without a qualm. Doug was her
soulmate, her first and only love.

A registry office wedding would have suited her fine as Doug wasn’t pushed one way or another, but Anne Quinn had been devastated when she heard of her daughter’s plans and begged
Laura not to make a disgrace of her.