Behind Every Cloud (66 page)

As they ate lunch Fiona
’
s phone rang three times and each time she cut it off.

“
Simon again, I suppose,
”
her mother commented, rolling
her eyes to heaven.

“
Who is this Simon fellow?
”
Ronan wanted to know.
“
Do you have a new beau?
”

Fiona blushed prettily
. “
Oh, just someone I met in the pub
.”

“
Oh, I see
.”

“
He rings her fifty times a day,
”
Doris exclaimed.
“
He
’
s obviously very keen
.”

“
Mum, stop!
”
Fiona cried.
“
You
’
re embarrassing me.
”

Her phone rang again. Excusing herself she went outsid
e to take the call.

“
Who is this guy? Does she fancy him?
”
Ronan asked Doris.

“
I don
’
t think so. He
’
s just some young fella she met in the Lakeside and he
’
s been calling her ever since. I
’
d really like her to meet someone nice
.”
She leaned forward to whisper.
“
I had high hopes that you and Fiona would get together
.
She
’
s very fond of you, you know.
”

“
Oh, I
’
m too old for her and besides I have much too much baggage. My divorce is not even through yet. No,
Fiona is much better off with a young fellow, like this Simon.
”

“
Is there any chance that you might get back with your wife?
”

“
Not a chance in hell!
”
Ronan laughed.
“
I
’
m very much enjoying single life at the moment.
”

He was more than enjoying life. He loved his job and Sam was turning into a good friend.
The Higher Cert wine course
would be starting the following week and he was really looking forward to it. Life was much better than he could ever have hoped.

Sandrine had been expecting to get an irate call from either Ellie or her mother but after a week . . . nothing. She realised that they were waiting for her to
make the first move and she was dreading it. She had no doubt that her mother would give her a bollocking and she was not looking forward to it. She was quite miffed when she heard that Ellie had said she and David deserved each other. She felt sure it wasn
’
t meant in a nice way. Well, tough shit! He
’
s mine now
,
Ellie!

She had hoped that David would ask her to marry him but he
’
d said it was much too soon to think about that. She knew he was feeling guilty about Ellie
,
which annoyed her. Her bloody younger sister seemed to spoil everything for her. However, she knew that once David got over his guilt everything would be okay. She had dropped hints about them both moving into the Sandymount house together but David had said,
“
Easy on there
,
let
’
s take things slowly. Let
’
s get to know each other better first.
”
David could never be accused of being impetuous, she thought to herself as she screwed up the courage to call her mother.

Ellie was sitting watching Downton Abbey with her mother when her sister walked defiantly through the door. To Sandrine
’
s annoyance they told her to sit down and be quiet while they watched the final minutes of their favourite programme.

As soon as it finished, Marie-Noelle turned to Sandrine
.

“
Well, Miss, what do you have to say for yourself?
”
she demanded archly, glaring at her older daughter.
“
You took your time coming to face the music.
”

Sandrine jutted her chin out.
“
It
’
s not me Ellie should be annoyed at, it
’
s David. He
’
s the one who left her.
”
She glared at them both.

“
I
’
m not annoyed at anyone,
”
Ellie said sweetly, smiling.

This completely took the wind out of Sandrine
’
s sails.
“
You
’
re not?
”
She was flabbergasted to hear this
.

“
No. In fact, I
’
m grateful to you. I
’
ve had a lucky escape.
”

“
You wh . . . what?
”
her sister gabbled, not believing what she was hearing.

“
Yes. It made me realise that I didn
’
t love David either
.”

“
You do-do-don
’
t love David?
”
Sandrine was now blabbering.

“
No, not at all. So thank you, dear sister, for your help.
”
This Ellie said with a malicious grin.

“
Well, I never
!”
Sandrine cried, trying to regain her composure.
“
And here was I
thinking I was the guilty one.
”

“
And so you were, Miss
!”
Marie-Noelle was unable to stay quiet any longer.
“
What you did to your sister was despicable but then you
’
ve always wanted whatever Ellie had. She may not be angry with you any
more but I certainly won
’
t forget your betrayal.
”

Sandrine quivered under her mother
’
s gaze and was even more upset when her usually quiet, gentle father cut her dead. She left the house in tears
,
feeling that somehow she
’
d lost again.

74

Carl was still reeling from the fallout of the Zita affair and was struggling to get his life back on track. He accepted now that Rachel was not going to have him back. In fact
,
she seemed to be almost enjoying life without him. He called to take the children out every Sunday and at least now she was talking civilly to him. She was doing it for the sake of the children, of course. Last Sunday she had actually told him that she had become much closer to them, now that she didn
’
t have to run around doing all that
‘
political wife
’
stuff. She was even considering letting Paloma go and taking care of them full
-
time herself. Whatever next!

He
,
meantime
,
was having to arse-lick everyone to try and make up for the ground he
’
d lost over the Zita affair. Not surprisingly, married women in particular were cool to him and they accounted for a large part of the voting public. Yes, he had a lot of humble pie to eat if he was to regain his position in the party. He still attracted the wild young ones who hoped they
’
d gain some media attention by going out with him. He wasn
’
t interested in them. He could not afford another scandal and besides he knew now that Rachel was the woman he loved.

He logged on daily to the Advertiser and the Australian and was up to date on what was happening in Adelaide. Zita had been charged and the judge had refused bail. She was now in prison awaiting trial. Carl hoped she
’
d rot in there. What an evil person she was and he had been unlucky enough to fall foul of her – though not as unlucky as the poor guy she
’
d murdered! He wondered how she was coping.

Zita was coping admirably well. She
’
d been allotted free legal aid but she didn
’
t think much of the lawyer who was handling her case. He was an idiot. She knew she didn
’
t stand a chance with him defending her. There was too much evidence stacked against her.

She had become very good friends with another
murderer, Martina, on her cell block. She was a woman who had also been abused by men all her life and she and Zita started a relationship. She convinced Zita to keep a
diary.

“
Who knows, one day you could write a book,
”
Martin
a had said, so Zita did as she suggested. She wondered what they
’
d done with the documentary they
’
d made on Rachel. Probably binned it by now, she guessed.

TV2 had done nothing of the sort. They realised the pulling power the programme would have due to the notoriety of Zita. They were waiting for her trial to start to spring it on an unsuspecting public and an even more unsuspecting Carl. The Director of Programmes had c
ontacted Rachel to see if she was okay with the programme
going out. Why not? Rachel thought. It showed her in a good light. It was the truth of what her life had been. Too
bad that Carl had seen fit to blow it all apart! This might be
her last small revenge against him. Then it would be over.

At last all was set for the opening of the shop in Naas. Sam and Ronan had been working day and night to get it ready and Ellie had been a great help, setting up the computer and getting the stock file up and running.
Fiona had rowed in too and they all agreed they couldn
’
t have done it without her help. Ronan had found tenants for his house in Dublin and they wanted to rent it furnished. In a way he was pleased as it removed all the last vestiges of Louise from his life.

Sam had also found tenants for Fiona
’
s old apartment in Dublin and asked her if she could take her furniture away. She offered it to Ronan
for his apartment in Naas
.

“
Oh, I couldn
’
t possibly accept. I
’
ll just buy some new stuff,
”
he assured her.

“
Please take it, you
’
ll be doing me a favour,
”
Fiona said firmly
. “
I have nowhere to store it.
”

“
Well, if you insist,
”
Ronan accepted graciously and arranged to have it brought down that very week. He was finishing work in Raheny on Saturday in order to set up the Naas shop with Sam.

He moved into the Naas apartment the following
Monday and
Rachel came down to help him. He introduced her to Fiona who had also offered to help. The
two women hit it off instantly.

“
I
’
ve heard a lot about you and Oisín,
”
Rachel told her.
“
I hear he
’
s real cute.
”

“
I think so
,
but then I
’
m prejudiced,
”
Fiona laughed.
“
Ronan
’
s told me a lot about you too. He
’
s very fond of you.
”

“
I love him. He
’
s a great friend.
”

Fiona nodded in agreement as they both looked fondly at the object of their conversation who was unaware that he was being discussed.

“
Hey, Ronan!
”
Rachel called.
“
I think you should throw
a house-warming party
.”

“
I don
’
t have time to organise a party,
”
Ronan said, laughing.

“
Don
’
t worry, we
’
ll do it all, won
’
t we, Fiona?
”
Rachel looked to the younger girl for confirmation.