Divided Loyalties (6 page)

‘Well, Della’s right, Shauna,’ Greg said exasperatedly the following evening, as he uncorked a bottle of red wine for them. ‘We’ll have to have a
going-away party. You didn’t think we were going to fly off and not say goodbye to people, did you?’

‘Of course not, Greg, but we’ve to get over Christmas first. I suppose I was just thinking of going out for a couple of drinks, maybe. I wasn’t planning a going-away party as
such,’ Shauna retorted as she served him up a plate of steaming carbonara.

‘We’ll get caterers in and do it properly,’ he suggested.

‘You want to have it here, at home?’ Shauna couldn’t hide her dismay.

‘Yeah, why not?’ Greg looked surprised, a forkful of pasta suspended halfway to his mouth.

‘What about Chloe, if she wakes up?’

‘Put her to sleep again,’ he said exasperatedly.

‘Well, that won’t be much fun for me,’ Shauna declared. ‘And there’ll be all the clearing up afterwards.’

‘Come on, lighten up, Shauna. We’ll be saying goodbye to our friends and family, so let’s enjoy it. We used to do great parties.’ He grinned at her, and her heart
softened. Greg was such a party animal. He had a great capacity for enjoying himself and he was a terrific host. It was one of the things that had drawn her to him. His ability to take pleasure in
things was infectious; he had been a breath of fresh air to her . . . so different from her father.

‘You’re right, hon. Let’s have a humdinger of a party.’ She leaned across and gave him a kiss. Greg
was
right. She needed to lighten up. The last few days had
been far too intense and serious and gloomy and doomy.

Carrie had phoned her earlier that morning to say that their father was being discharged from hospital with a clean bill of health, much to his disgust, she’d added wryly.

I could have told you that
, she was tempted to say, but she refrained, knowing that it wouldn’t be appreciated.

So that was one problem sorted. She’d spent a good three hours on the wedding jacket and the end was in sight for her last commission at home. She planned to drum up business abroad by
networking with all the women’s groups that were part and parcel of expat life. Shauna was glad she’d had the experience of living in the Gulf before. She knew what to expect. It
wouldn’t be such a culture shock this time.

She might as well enjoy the next few weeks at home and look forward to their going-away party and then, perhaps, when they were settled in the Emirates, she’d bring up the subject of
getting pregnant again. Her timing hadn’t been great, she conceded. They had enough on their plates emigrating, without her being in the throes of early pregnancy. No wonder Greg hadn’t
been too enthusiastic. In another six months’ time they would be well settled and it would be a much better time to consider another baby.

Feeling a lot happier, Shauna took a sip of her wine and listened to Greg as he began planning their party.

‘Surprise surprise! We’re on the way home after doing some Christmas shopping in the big smoke and we thought we’d call by and say hello.’ Della stood
grinning on Shauna’s doorstep a few weeks later. Her three-year-old daughter, Kathryn, kicked one of the big terracotta pots of polyanthus and pansies that stood beside the porch door.

‘Don’t want to go in there.’ She scowled.

‘Howaya, Shauna,’ Eddie muttered, standing behind his wife.

Oh, bloody hell
, cursed Shauna silently as she gave a frozen smile and stood aside to let her in-laws into the hall.

‘Hate this house,’ Kathryn announced loudly as she followed her parents.

‘Oh, darling, don’t be naughty,’ Della reproached. ‘Come in and say hello to your baby cousin.’

‘Don’t want to.’ Kathryn stuck out her tongue. She raced into the lounge and made a beeline for Chloe’s toys.

‘So how’s life? Any chance of a cup of tea? I’m gasping.’ Della plonked herself into an armchair and patted her bump. ‘Pregnancy and Christmas shopping are
definitely not compatible,’ she moaned. Eddie sprawled on the sofa and began flicking through the TV stations, ignoring the fact that Chloe had been watching a Disney video.
The cheek of
him
, Shauna thought indignantly as Chloe looked at Shauna, unsure about these strangers invading her little world, and hurried across the room to hide behind her.

‘Hasn’t she got so big! Come here, darling, and give Auntie Della a big kiss,’ Della invited. Chloe clung stubbornly to Shauna’s leg.

‘She’ll come out of herself if you just ignore her,’ Shauna advised, giving her daughter a sympathetic cuddle.

‘So! What’s new? All sorted for Christmas?’ Della settled back comfortably in her chair. ‘Are you going to Carrie’s?’

‘Not this year, no—’

‘Really! I thought you would be; you usually do. That’s interesting.’ Della sat upright. ‘Well maybe we should sort something, seeing as it’s your last Christmas
for God knows how long. We could come down to you, you know the way we muck in anyway, and it wouldn’t be any hassle. Even better, we could let the two men do Christmas dinner and we could
totally flop. We deserve it,’ she added a tad caustically, glancing in her husband’s direction.

‘No problem,’ Eddie drawled, not even looking in their direction, pretending to be engrossed in a darts match on the sports channel.

Holy divinity!
Shauna thought in horror. What a nightmare scenario. It was time to nip that idea smartly in the bud. Thank God she had an excuse.

‘Well actually,
I’m
doing Christmas this year.’ She could barely hide her relief. ‘Carrie, Dan and the kids are coming and Dad and Bobby will—’

‘Hey, you guys?’ Greg walked in from the hall. Shauna hadn’t even heard his key in the lock.

‘Yo, bro!’ Della grinned at her brother. ‘Shauna and I were just making plans for Christmas. She tells me you’re having her gang, so how about we come too and all muck in
and have a real Christmas hooley, seeing as it might be your last one here for a while?’ she suggested enthusiastically.

‘Don’t worry about its being our last one. I’m hoping to get home for Christmases.’ Shauna shot a look of entreaty at her husband and tried to keep the panic out of her
voice.

‘Well we’ll hardly be home next year, seeing as we won’t even be a year there and you’ll be home for the whole summer,’ Greg pointed out unhelpfully. She could have
thumped him.

‘That’s settled then.’ Della rubbed her hands gleefully. ‘A big family get-together. It will be a blast.’

‘Sounds good to me.’ Greg grinned, planting a kiss on Shauna’s cheek. ‘Eddie, do you want to pop down to the pub for a beer and we’ll let the women make their
plans?’

‘You’re on.’ The other man unfurled himself from the sofa with alacrity and followed his brother-in-law into the hall.

‘What about your dinner?’ Shauna said tightly. Was she having a nightmare, she wondered distractedly, or had Della just inveigled an invite for the Keegan gang for Christmas, aided
and abetted by Greg? How could this be happening? She felt totally out of control. Greg was smiling at her as if everything was normal. Had he no idea of her dismay?

‘I’ll bung it in the microwave when I get home,’ he said offhandedly. ‘Right now a cool beer sounds good to me. Why don’t you call the babysitter and then you and
Della could come with us?’ he suggested, seeing that she wasn’t too impressed with him. ‘We could make a night out of it.’

‘Sounds like a terrific idea,’ Della approved. ‘I have pyjamas in the car for Kathryn, you could lend me a nightshirt tonight and we could stay and not worry about driving home
late.’

‘It’s a bit short notice for Gemma,’ Shauna protested, feeling totally manipulated by her sister-in-law. That fucking bitch Della had marched into her house, invited herself
and her family for Christmas, and was now all prepared for a sleepover. Shauna knew that she was in a really awkward position. And Della was playing on it.

She had offered to do Christmas this year out of a sense of guilt because she wasn’t sure when she’d be home for Christmas again, and she wanted to give Carrie a break. Greg had been
fine with it and had made no protest; he was very good that way. She could hardly turn round and say that she didn’t want
his
family.

It was just that Della was so slyly manipulative. She was
such
a cow. Shauna knew well that she’d sit on her ass like Lady Muck and expect to be waited on hand and foot. After
all, she was
pregnant
. Not that that made any difference: in all the time Shauna had known her, pregnant or not, she was a lazy wagon. It was going to be exhausting. Eight adults and four
children. Her heart sank at the prospect.

‘Give Gemma a call,’ Greg urged. ‘She could probably do with some extra spending money for Christmas.’

‘Look, it’s Friday night, it’s two weeks to Christmas, she’ll be out partying,’ Shauna retorted as she went to the phone to call her babysitter.

Gemma’s mother answered the phone and informed Shauna that Gemma was indeed out at a college party.

‘I guessed that. It was very short notice.’ Shauna wasn’t in the slightest bit surprised. She wished the woman a Happy Christmas and hung up. ‘Out partying,’ she
informed her husband shortly.

‘Would Carrie babysit?’ Della suggested brightly.

‘I’m not dragging Carrie all the way in from Whiteshells Bay,’ Shauna retorted curtly, unable to conceal her annoyance.

‘I suppose not,’ Della said disappointedly.

Shauna took a deep breath. It was obvious that they were here for the night and there was nothing she could do about it. ‘Why don’t you go with the lads and I’ll
babysit,’ she offered grudgingly. At least she wouldn’t have to sit listening to her sister-in-law jabbering on, because the way she was feeling about Della at the moment she could
cheerfully have knifed her.

‘I
could
do with a night out.’ Della beamed. ‘Are you sure? Thanks a million. I’ll just go and get Kathryn’s jimjams. She might be a little bit hungry; we
had a meal in town around four. She likes brown bread and tuna, or fruit salad and yoghurt, for tea.’ Della hauled herself out of the chair and went out to the car. Shauna stood speechless at
her cheek.

Greg avoided her glare. He knew that she was hopping mad now.

‘Don’t want Mommy to go out,’ Kathryn screeched, throwing a Care Bear at Eddie.

‘Stop that, Kathryn,’ her father growled.

‘Won’t!’ Kathryn yelled, throwing a dolly.

Chloe watched, thumb in her mouth . . . fascinated.

Shauna marched out to the kitchen. She was damned if she was going to deal with it. Let Eddie and Della sort out their brat!

‘She’ll get over it.’ Della ignored her daughter’s tantrum, dumping pyjamas and a bottle onto the island in the kitchen. ‘I’ll just go and have a pee and
we’ll be off. I’m really looking forward to this. I haven’t been out in ages.’ She headed for the downstairs loo.

‘Is there anyone else you could try? How about that girl Noeleen we used a couple of times? We could have a good night out, Shauna. We could do with it.’ Greg appeared at the door
pretending nothing was amiss.

‘Noeleen doesn’t know Kathryn. I’m not going to inflict that little brat on a babysitter,’ Shauna retorted.

‘It’s not
my
fault,’ Greg muttered.

‘Nothing’s ever your fault,’ Shauna hissed. ‘You suggested going to the pub, you didn’t mind leaving me here on my own with bloody Della.’

‘Oh, for God’s sake!’ He scowled exasperatedly as Della clattered back into the kitchen.

‘Ready?’ she enquired, squirting some perfume onto her wrist.

‘Mommy, Mommy, Mommy,’ squealed Kathryn, grabbing her arm.

‘Stop that nonsense, Kathryn.’ Della shook her off irritably. ‘Look, Auntie Shauna has something nice for you, haven’t you, Auntie Shauna?’ She winked at
Shauna.

‘Me, me,’ Chloe demanded, determined not to be left out.

Shauna stared at her sister-in-law. ‘Are you talking about biscuits?’ She couldn’t hide her surprise. Della was generally very strict about what Kathryn ate. Sweets and
biscuits were a rare treat.

‘Whatever. Or ice pops, if you have them. Just this one time,’ Della said magnanimously.

‘Pops, pops.’ Chloe got in on the act.

‘We’ll leave you to it, Shauna.’ Eddie grinned at her, knowing she was annoyed. Shauna didn’t like Eddie Keegan. He was a sneery, jeery, spineless freeloader who
hadn’t an ounce of sensitivity, she fumed silently.

‘Biscuits, biscuits,’ Kathryn demanded. Raging, Shauna opened the biscuit jar and handed her niece a Jaffa cake.

‘Me, me,’ demanded Chloe, little hand out.

‘Say please,’ Shauna snapped.

‘That’s right, teach them their manners,’ Eddie jibed as he followed Della and Greg to the door.

Kathryn stuffed the biscuit into her mouth and held out her hand for another. ‘More.’

‘Say please, Kathryn,’ Shauna said sharply, as the front door closed behind the others.

‘No!’ Kathryn said rudely.

‘Fine, no more biscuits then.’ Shauna put the biscuit jar back in the press.

‘Want more,’ Kathryn screeched.

‘Tough,’ Shauna retorted as her niece threw herself on the floor and howled.

‘Nautee.’ Chloe looked at Shauna, her big blue eyes like saucers at this display.

‘Very. Let’s go and watch Winnie-the-Pooh,’ she suggested, lifting her daughter in her arms and kissing her as she walked into the sitting room.

Kathryn continued to screech, but as far as Shauna was concerned she could get on with it. She’d had more than enough for one day.

Chloe settled down to watch her favourite Winnie-the-Pooh, and laughed delightedly as Piglet went sailing and bailing during a very blustery day. Kathryn, hearing her cousin’s giggles,
edged her way into the room, thumb in her mouth. In spite of herself Shauna felt sorry for her. Della had brushed her off and made no effort to comfort her. She
was
only three, after
all.

‘Come in and sit down and watch the video,’ she invited kindly.

‘Want Mommy.’

‘Mommy will be home later. Come and sit down and relax. Are you tired?’