Minding Frankie (46 page)

They stayed in farmhouses and walked along shell-covered shores with purple-blue mountains as a backdrop. And if you were to ask anyone who they were and what they were doing, a hundred guesses
would never have said that they were two middle-aged couples on honeymoon. They all seemed too settled and happy for that.

Two days after Emily’s wedding, Father Flynn heard from the nursing home in Rossmore that his mother was dying. He got down there quickly and held her hand. His mother’s mind was far from clear but he felt that by being there he might be of some comfort. When his mother spoke it was of people long dead, and of incidents in her childhood. Suddenly, however, she came back to the present day.

“Whatever happened to Brian?” she asked him.

“I’m right here.”

“I had a son called Brian,” she continued, as though she hadn’t heard him. “I don’t know what happened to him. I think he joined a circus. He left town and no one ever heard of him again.…”

When Mrs. Flynn died almost the whole of Rossmore turned out for the funeral. At the nursing home, the staff had gathered together the old lady’s belongings and gave them to the priest. They included some old diaries and a few pieces of jewelry no one had ever seen her wear.

Brian looked through them as he came back in the train. The jewelry had been given to her by her husband, the diary told, but they had not been given in love but out of guilt. Brian read with pain and embarrassment that his father had not been a faithful man and he had thought he could buy his wife’s forgiveness with a necklace and various brooches. Brian decided to give the jewelry to his sister Judy with no mention of its history.

He looked up the date of his own ordination to the priesthood in the battered diary. His mother had written:

It somehow made up for her thinking he had joined a circus.

·   ·   ·

Ania’s family were on their way from Poland to be with her as she and Carl watched over baby Robert. He was so tiny, they could have held him in the palms of their hands; instead he was lying in an incubator attached to monitors and with tubes in and out of his tiny body. Ania watched carefully as the breathing monitor showed how Robert was having difficulty breathing on his own and how the machine was breathing for him. She was able to hold his tiny hand through the holes in the incubator. He looked so small, so vulnerable, so unprepared for the world.

Back at home, they had a nursery prepared, waiting for them to come home as a new family. The room was full of gifts given to them by friends and well-wishers. There were baby clothes and toys and all the equipment for a newborn child. Carl silently wondered if baby Robert would ever get to use it.

On the third day, Ania was able to hold her baby in her arms. Unable to speak for the emotion, her face was wet with tears of hope and joy as she held him, so tiny, so fragile.

“
Mały cud
,” she whispered to him. “Little miracle.”

The honeymoon had been a resounding success. Emily and Betsy were like girls, chattering and laughing. Hat and Eric found a great common interest in bird-watching and wrote notes each evening. Dingo met a Galway girl with black hair and blue eyes and was very smitten. The sun shone on the newlyweds and the nights were full of stars.

It was over too soon for everyone.

“I wonder if there’s any news when we get back? I wonder how Ania’s baby is doing. I do hope he’s going to be all right,” Emily said as they drew closer to Dublin.

“You’re really part of the place now,” Betsy said.

“Yes, isn’t it odd? I never had a real conversation in my life with my father about Ireland or about anything else, but I do feel that I have come home.”

Hat heard her say this and smiled to himself. It was even more than he had hoped.

When they did get back they heard the astounding news that Frank Ennis had moved in with the elegant Clara Casey, who ran the heart clinic, and, wait for it … he had a son. Frank Ennis had a son called Des Raven, who lived in Australia and was coming to Ireland.

Fiona could talk of nothing else. It had completely wiped her own pregnancy off the list of topics. Clara
living with
Frank Ennis—didn’t people do extraordinary things. And Frank had a
son
she hadn’t met yet. Imagine.

Their first chance to celebrate properly as a family came when Adi came back from Ecuador with her boyfriend, Gerry. Des had wanted to go back to Anton’s. “It will be like starting over,” he had said. This time, there was no need to plead for a table, even though they were nine: Clara, Frank and Des; then Adi and Gerry; Linda came with Nick. Hilary from the clinic and Clara’s best friend, Dervla, made up the party.

The restaurant was half empty and there seemed to be an air of confusion about the place. The menu was more limited than before and Anton himself was working in and out of the kitchen. He said that his number one, Teddy, had gone, as he needed new pastures. No, he had no idea where he went. Des Raven was very courteous to his new almost-stepsisters. He talked to Adi about teaching; he spoke to Linda about some friends of his who had adopted a Chinese baby; he talked easily of his life in Australia.

Clara asked Anton’s advice about what they should eat.

“There’s a very good steak and kidney pie,” he suggested.

“That’s the men sorted, but what about the rest of us?” she asked. She noticed he was tired and strained. It couldn’t be easy running a restaurant that looked as though it might be on the way down.

“Small, elegant portions of steak and kidney pie?” he suggested with a winning smile.

Clara stopped feeling sorry for him. With a smile like that he would get by. He was a survivor.

Frank Ennis, in his new suit, was in charge of the table. He poured wine readily and urged people to have oysters as the optional extra.

“I talk about my son a lot,” he said proudly to Des.

“Good. Do you talk about Clara a lot?” he asked.

“With respect and awe,” Frank said.

“Good,” intervened Clara, “because she wants to tell you that her clinic needs some serious extra funding.…”

“Out of the question.”

“The blood tests take too long from the main hospital. We need our own lab.”

“I’ll get your blood tests fast-tracked,” Frank Ennis promised.

“You have six weeks for us to see a real difference; otherwise the fight is on,” Clara said. “He is amazingly generous in real life,” she whispered to Dervla. “It’s just in the hospital that his rotten-to-the-core meanness shows.”

“He’s delighted with you,” Dervla said. “He has said ‘My Clara’ thirty times during this meal alone.”

“Well, I’m keeping my name, my job, my clinic and my house, so I’m doing very well out of it,” Clara said.

“Go on out of that, playing the tough bird—you’re just as soppy as he is. You’re delighted at this playing-house thing. I’m happy for you, Clara, and I hope that you’ll be very happy together.”

“I will.” Clara had it all planned out. Minimal disturbance to their two lives. They were both people who were set in their ways.

Lisa was surprised when Kevin asked her out to lunch.

She was in a junior position in the studio. She didn’t expect her boss to single her out. In Quentins she was even more surprised that he ordered a bottle of wine. Kevin was usually a one-vodka person. This looked like something serious. She hoped he wasn’t going to sack her. But surely he wouldn’t take her out to lunch to give her the push?

“Stop frowning, Lisa. We’re going to have a long lunch,” Kevin said.

“What is it? Don’t keep me in suspense.”

“Two things, really. Did Anton pay you anything? Anything at all?”

“Oh, why are you dragging this up? I told you it was my fault. I went in there with my eyes open.”

“No, you didn’t. Your eyes were closed in mad, passionate love, and fair play to you, you’re not bitter, but I really need to know.”

“No, he paid me nothing, but I was part of the place, part of the dream. I was doing it for
us
, not for him. That’s what I thought, anyway. Don’t make me go on repeating all this. I
know
what I did for months … it doesn’t make it any easier having to talk about that.”

“It’s just that he’s going into receivership today and I wanted to make sure you got your claim in. You are a serious victim here. You worked for him without being paid, for God’s sake. You are a major creditor.”

“I haven’t a notion of asking him for anything. I’m sorry it didn’t work for him. I’m not going to add to his worries.”

“It’s just business, Lisa. He’ll understand. People have got to be paid. It will be automatic. They’ll sell his assets—I don’t know what he owns and what is mortgaged or leased, but people have to be paid, you amongst them.”

“No, Kevin, thanks all the same.”

“You love clothes, Lisa. You should get yourself a stunning wardrobe.”

“I’m not smart enough for your office? Is that it?” She was hurt, but she made it sound like a joke.

“No, you’re too smart. Much too smart. I can’t keep you. I have a friend in London. He’s looking for someone bright. I told him about you. He’ll pay your fare to London. Overnight in a fancy hotel, and you don’t want to know the salary he’s offering!”

“You really
are
getting rid of me and you’re pretending it’s a promotion,” she said bleakly.

“
Never
have I been so misjudged! I’d prefer you to stay and in a year or two I could promote you, but this job is too good to ignore and I thought that anyway it might be easier for you.”

“Easier?”

“Well, you know, there’ll be a lot of talk about Anton’s. Speculation, newspaper stuff.”

“Yes, I suppose there will. Poor Anton.”

“Oh, God, don’t tell me you’re going back to him.”

“No, there’s nothing to go back to. There never was.”

“Ah, now, Lisa, I’m sure he
did
love you in his own way.”

She shook her head. “But in ways you’re right. I couldn’t bear to be in Dublin while all the vultures were picking over the place.”

“You’ll go for the interview?” He was pleased.

“I’ll go,” Lisa promised.

Simon said it was time they talked about New Jersey. The amazing inheritance they had got from Muttie meant that Maud and Marco could put a deposit on their own restaurant and Simon could go to New Jersey and eventually have a place of his own.

“I’ll miss you,” Maud said.

“You won’t notice I’m gone,” he assured her.

“Who’ll finish my sentences?”

“You’ll have Marco trained in no time.”

“You’ll fall in love and live out there.”

“I doubt it, but I’ll be home often to see Lizzie and you and Marco.” Maud noticed he didn’t include their parents. Father was on his travels and Mother had only the vaguest idea of who they were.

As if he read her mind, Simon said, “Weren’t we so lucky that Muttie and Lizzie took us in? We could have ended up anywhere.”

Maud gave him a hug. “Those American girls don’t know what’s coming their way,” she said.

·   ·   ·

It was a day of many changes.

Declan and Fiona and Johnny moved house. It was only next door but it was still a huge move. They arranged that Paddy and Molly Carroll should be part of it all so that they would realize how nothing had really changed. They would be next door; when Johnny was old enough to walk he would know two homes as his own. And as for the new baby? That would be born into a two-house family.

The house had been painted in a cheery primrose color that brought sunshine into every room. They would think about proper color schemes later, but the most important thing was to make it bright and welcoming. Johnny’s room was ready and waiting for his crib. Declan and Fiona would have room for their books and music.

They would have their own kitchen at last.

The time with Molly and Paddy Carroll had been happy, but it couldn’t go on forever. They had both looked forward to and dreaded the day when they would have to move to somewhere with more space: this had been an ideal solution.

They walked the few steps between the houses carrying possessions and stopping for a pot of tea in one house or the other so that it underlined how much together they were still going to be. Dimples came in and walked around the new house and seemed to approve. Emily had brought window boxes already planted as a housewarming gift.

Dr. Hat and Emily decided to open a garden store. There was still plenty of room beside the thrift shop. Now that so many residents of St. Jarlath’s Crescent had begun to take an interest in beautifying their gardens, there was no end of demand for bedding plants and ornamental shrubs. They went up and measured it. It was now no longer a wish, but a reality; they would do it together, and it would be yet one more thing they could share.

·   ·   ·

In the disturbed world of Anton’s restaurant the staff were making their plans. They would not open next week. Everyone knew this. April sat around the place with her notebook, suggesting places for Anton to do interviews on the difficulties of running a business during a recession. Anton felt unsettled. He wasn’t listening. He wondered what Lisa would be saying.

It was the day that Linda and Nick decided to stop talking about adopting a baby and do something about it.

For Noel it was a good day also.

Mr. Hall had said that there was a more senior position in the company that had been vacant for some time. He now wanted to offer it to Noel.

“I have been impressed by you, Noel. I don’t mind saying that you did much better than I would have thought at one stage. I always hoped you’d have it in you to make something of yourself, though I confess I had my doubts about you for a while.”

“I had my doubts about myself,” Noel had said with a smile.

“There’s always some turning point for a man. What do you think yours was?” Mr. Hall had seemed genuinely interested.

“Becoming a father,” Noel had said without having to stop and think for a second.

And now he was at home with Frankie helping her take her first independent steps. There were just the two of them. She still liked the comfort of something to hold on to, and every now and then she suddenly sat down with a surprised look on her face. She had been making great efforts to tear up the cloth books that Faith had given her, but they were proving very resistant. She was frowning with concentration.