Authors: Maeve Binchy
“But it's not at all certain that we really
want
to move. We might rent something.”
“Dad has bought it, Mother. And you can't go back to the old house. You couldn't manage the steps either.” He spoke as if her injuries were of no remote interest to him.
“Will you always hate me, Carl?” she asked.
“No, indeed, Mother. I don't hate you at all,” he said in a flat voice with no tone of reassurance in it.
Frank Ennis came to discuss the accident with Clara.
“Will we sue Mrs. Walsh?” he said.
“I think not, Frank. The woman could have broken every bone in her body. Her husband has serious heart failure. Hardly likely to be helpful to him.”
“But she did knock it down.”
“Oh, I know she did, but not deliberately.”
“That's not the point. They will have plenty of insurance.”
“So have we.”
“But we're blameless. There was even a sign warning people. I checked.”
“Leave it, Frank. We're well covered. I checked that too.”
“You don't know how to save a no-claims bonus,” Frank said, shaking his head.
“No, I'm glad to say I don't,” Clara agreed.
“What are you wearing to the wedding?” he asked suddenly.
“A moss-green dress with a black hat with ribbons of moss green around the hat.”
“Sounds lovely,” he said.
“It's not bad, certainly. And you, Frank, what will
you
wear?”
“Well, it does say Dress Smart Casual. I wish I knew what that means.”
“I think it means no jeans,” Clara said.
“That wouldn't be an option,” Frank said seriously. “But I was wondering about wearing a blazer.”
“A blazer? Like with brass buttons and everything?”
“No. It has ordinary cloth-covered buttons,” he said. He looked very unsure.
Clara was touched, despite herself, and decided to be kind. “And light-colored trousers?” she suggested.
“Exactly. I thought of pale gray and an open-necked shirt and a cravat.”
“God, Frank, you'll be beating them off you with a stick!” she said.
Vonni arrived three days before the wedding.
She looked older than Fiona had expected. Or maybe it was that this was Vonni in unfamiliar territory. If she had been back in Aghia Anna among all the people she knew, greeting everyone and busy about her work, it might have been different. Here, she was in a totally changed Ireland, in a capital city she hadn't seen for decades. Her only friends were Fiona, Maud and Simon. She looked bewildered, which was something Fiona had not seen before.
Fiona had arranged for Vonni to stay with Muttie and his wife, Lizzie, where the twins lived. It had been touching to see how eager
they were to see her again and show her their city. And proud that she would be at their first professional wedding engagement.
Maud and Simon had gone to the airport to meet her and chattered the whole way back to St. Jarlaths Crescent, where Vonni met Muttie and Lizzie, and then Declan and his parents, and finally Fiona. Fiona had arranged to take Vonni out for a meal to catch up.
They went to the Early Bird meal at Quentins, where Vonni almost fainted at the prices. It was all so expensive, this new Ireland, compared to the country she had left. They talked long and affectionately of Tom and Elsa and the new baby. Who could ever have foreseen any of this? And of David, who now got on well with his mother and was finally doing what he liked to do with his life. They were surprised that some woman hadn't pinned him down. He would be ideal husband material.
They talked of Andreas back in Aghia Anna, and his brother, Yorghis, and how Andreas's son, Adoni, had taken to the business so well. How he was going to marry Maria, and they were so good working together.
“The same Maria that David taught to drive!” Fiona cried.
“The very one,” Vonni agreed.
And Fiona touched lightly on the forbidden world of Vonni's son. A blank look came across Vonni's face. So no change there, then.
“I'm not trying to pry. I just wondered if there was anything at all?”
“Nothing of significance. No.”
So they left that and Vonni touched gently on the closed subject of Shane.
“Did he ever come back to Ireland?” she asked.
There was a silence.
“Sorry,” Vonni said, “I shouldn't have mentioned him.”
“No. No problem. He
did
come back to Ireland. To die.”
“Merciful God,” said Vonni.
“Yes. He died in a dirty bedroom from a drug overdose.”
“What a waste of a young life,” Vonni said.
“Yes, I suppose so.”
“You're not upset, then?”
“No, in fact I'm shocked at how un-upset I am.”
“That part of your life is over. That's why it hasn't any power to hurt you anymore.”
“I believe that now. Declan convinced me.”
“You told him about Shane?”
“Yes. Declan is remarkable.”
“You're very lucky, Fiona. He
is
special, just like you wrote to me when you met him first. You'll be very happy.”
“I don't deserve it.”
“Yes, you do. You had guts when you needed them. You are kind to people. Don't be so quick to put yourself down. That was one of my faults too.”
“Are you better now?”
“I think so, yes. I've stopped blaming myself that my sister doesn't like me. It's not
my
fault anymore.”
“You're not going to see her while you're here?”
“No. I don't think we'd have anything to say to each other.”
“I could go with you on the train tomorrow if you like?” Fiona offered.
“Two days before your wedding! You have a million things to do, Fiona.”
“I don't, as it happens. We could have lunch with her and come back that evening.”
“No, Fiona, honestly. It's a long way to travel to have two old ladies sit and look at each other with disapproval. No, we'll give it a miss. I'll just continue with the Christmas and birthday cards.”
“And does she …?”
“Not anymore. She used to send postcards from places, just showing off that she visited Rome or New York. But she doesn't even bother now.”
Vonni was resigned so Fiona changed the subject.
“Right, we'll take you on a tour of Dublin instead. There's a get-on, get-off bus we could try.”
“Correct me if I'm wrong, Fiona, but isn't that what
all
buses are? You get on them, you get off them?”
“No. This is a
tour
bus. We can stay on it all day if we want or get off and explore something and get back on another. It's a great way of seeing Dublin. I'm going to suggest David does it too. Maybe we could go together, the three of us, and the twins, if they're ever going to take any time off again.”
“Fiona, what do people
earn
in this country to be able to pay prices like this? Look at what they charge for coffee!”
“Why do you think we're all racing out to Aghia Anna?” Fiona laughed and patted the old, lined hand on the table.
When David arrived the next day, Fiona met him and took him to his lodgings in Barbara's flat.
“She won't mind?”
“No, this is my room when I stay here. I've been wandering around for the last few weeks: Declan's house, my parents’ house and here. She'll be glad of the company.”
David gave her another hug.
“I'm so pleased to see you so happy after …after everything.”
“And you too, David. I'm taking you off on a bus tour of Dublin right now. We're meeting Vonni at the start point. And the twins. But I won't even begin to explain who they are exactly.”
“It's all like a dream, Fiona. And the sun is still shining, like when we waved good-bye to the others at the Café Midnight in Aghia Anna,” he said, taking out his notebook and pencil for the journey.
She had forgotten just how much she liked David. Wasn't he just great to have come over for her wedding?
The two days before the wedding were busy for everyone. Vonni had been invited with Paddy Carroll and Muttie Scarlet and their associates to have a drink in their pub. She explained that she didn't drink herself due to early excesses, and they all nodded gravely as if that could have been their own problem had things not been different.
Barbara had taken David to a pottery exhibition, where he met a lot of craftsmen and -women who invited him to different parts of Ireland.
Claras daughter Adi had left for South America with Gerry to save some forest. Linda, on the other hand, had got a major arts program on television to cover Nick Hickey playing alto sax at a jazz evening in the record shop. Clara and Hilary had been in the audience, bursting with pride over the two of them.
Peter Barry and his new lady friend, Claire Cotter, had sent a wedding gift of half a dozen linen table napkins and had already taken two dancing lessons so that they wouldn't look foolish on the floor.
Father Brian Flynn had invited his Polish priest friend Father Tomasz from Rossmore to attend the wedding in the hope that he might send more weddings their way and that it might also distract him from St. Ann's Well, which he had become altogether too fond of.
The twins had practiced so well that they were sure everything would work perfectly. Their nerves had calmed down.
Lavender had seen the wedding menu and told her patients that if they stayed with the smoked salmon and salads they couldn't go far wrong.
Johnny had said there was no better exercise than dancing and had shown some of his stiffer patients how to look and feel more limber. He had to borrow a tie for his role as best man.
Tim, who was coming to the wedding with Lidia, thought privately that the place was a fire hazard and that those twins would probably burn it down on the day. So he quietly installed more fire extinguishers and fire blankets just in case.
Ania had delivered the wedding dress to Fiona's parents, the waistcoat to Declan and the wall hangings to Father Flynn.
She had made a moss-green silk flower for Clara, arranged flowers for the two mothers and done boutonnieres for Johnny and Carl.
“What are you wearing yourself?” Carl asked.
“I haven't thought,” Ania said.
“You know the dress you wore to my parents’ party?”
“Ye-es.” She spoke doubtfully.
“I never saw it properly.”
“It isn't much to look at now. The sleeves had to be removed. It looks a bit sad now.”
“Could you make new sleeves?” he wondered.
“I'd need to get lace,” she said.
“Let's go and buy some lace.”
“You mean new lace in a shop?” She was overwhelmed by such extravagance.
“That's what I mean,” Carl said affectionately.
Frank Ennis tried on his outfit. He was afraid he looked like a mad old sailor. Maybe the blazer wasn't a good idea. He wished he'd said no to the invitation, saying that sadly he would be elsewhere. He would be hopelessly awkward and out of place.
Lar and Judy and Mrs. Kitty Reilly were all gearing up for it. Kitty Reilly had now discovered St. Ann's Well in Rossmore and was praying that the place be made the new Lourdes or Fatima. Her children were very impressed that she had been invited to the wedding of a young doctor. That was class. They were less impressed by the venue. An immigrants’ church in the backstreets of Dublin. A hall where these people ate their foreign food.
The Walsh family were going together. Carl was going to push his mother in her wheelchair and Ania was going to wheel Bobby. Ania knew the church and the hall. She knew exactly where they would be settled.
The house move had taken place. Rosemary would be coming to live in the new apartment in a couple of weeks’ time. She was only on day-release for the wedding. And she was trying very hard to be nice. She was grateful for suggestions, instead of scorning them.
Ania had said that Rosemary might want to wear something smart for the wedding and that Bobby should ask her to choose from her outfits. Rosemary said that this was very thoughtful of Bobby and she would like a long cream skirt and a brown velvet top. She fussed about what gift they should send until Carl begged Ania
to ask Fiona what they wanted and to tell them quickly before everyone went insane.
Fiona said that she and Declan would just love a picnic basket so that they could go up the Head of Howth or out to sit in Killiney Strand. Rosemary rang the top stores and ordered the last word in picnic baskets.
Fiona and Declan had stared at it dumbfounded when it arrived. They had only meant an insulated bag that would keep beer cool. This was a huge basket with leather straps and brass buckles and proper cutlery
and
plates
and
glasses and even napkins. They could hardly wait to take it on its first outing.
By the wedding morning, Barbara and David had become great friends. They had been to the theater together. They had walked by the Liffey and they had taken the DART out to the seaside, where Barbara pointed out the houses of pop singers and actors.
He was interested in everything—including Barbara.
She told him about the dress and the fear the zip might split.
“Why don't I sew you into the dress?” David suggested.
“Are you serious?”
“Totally. I can make big loopy stitches, give you room to breathe. Dance even?”
“Dance?
David, if I get down that aisle, I won't move again for the rest of the day.”
“Wait till you see the stitching job I'll do,” David promised. “You'll be dancing until dawn.”
The two mothers were congratulating each other on getting this far.
“I think it was your talking to Declan that did the trick,” Maureen said.
“No. You knocked some sense into Fiona.” Molly was anxious to give equal praise.
“I don't think I did that much, Molly. We've always been terrified of Fiona.”
“She's the sweetest, gentlest girl I ever met,” Molly Carroll said, and not for the first time Fiona's mother wondered at the different faces of ourselves that we showed to different people.
Fiona woke on the day to find her sisters standing by the bed.
“We brought you scrambled eggs and toast,” said Ciara.
“And fresh orange juice,” said Sinead.
“Thank you so much. I'm going to miss you,” Fiona said.