Stand by Me (44 page)
‘Yesterday.’
‘At least you’re telling the truth about that,’ said Emma.
Dominique’s expression was wary.
‘I met Jennie Knight at the shops,’ said Emma. ‘She told me she’d seen the two of you in Cork together. Holding hands.’
‘That woman is as bad as June!’ Suddenly Dominique herself was angry. ‘Of course I held his hand. He’s very upset.’ She sighed. ‘I’ve known you for a long time, Emma. If I was having some kind of relationship with Greg, I’d be honest about it and tell you. But I’m not.’
‘I held hands with Gabriel and you practically accused me of having an affair with him,’ said Emma tightly.
Dominique didn’t know what to say. She knew that Emma was right.
‘Did you ever turn him down?’ asked Emma.
It was a question Dominique didn’t want to answer. It was too close to the truth, even though she was utterly certain that Greg didn’t really love her. He saw parts of himself in her; he wanted to fix her life because he thought that way he could fix his own. But he was wrong.
‘Or is the other story doing the rounds true instead - that you’ve heard from Brendan and you’re going to meet him in exile?’
‘Emma! This is all nonsense.’ Dominique was frustrated. ‘I don’t know where Brendan is, and if I did, I certainly wouldn’t be going to meet him.’
‘Liar! You’ve spent the last few weeks looking for him!’
‘That’s different.’
‘In the same way you and Greg are different?’
‘Make up your bloody mind!’ cried Dominique. ‘Either I’m rushing off to live a new life with my criminal husband or I’m having an affair with my brother-in-law. You can’t have it both ways, Emma.’
‘Can’t you?’
Dominique knew she was wasting her time. There was a gulf between herself and her sister-in-law that right now she simply couldn’t bridge.
‘When you want to talk seriously, you can give me a call,’ she said as she gathered up her things. ‘I can’t do this any more.’ She walked out of the conservatory, leaving her friend staring out over the garden.
She wasn’t expecting to hear from Emma any time soon.
She also called to see June, although it was the last thing she wanted to do. Her sister-in-law was scathing about Dominique’s reason for calling - to see that she was OK with Kelly and Alicia’s student accommodation plans. June said that at least it meant the two girls had a roof over their heads, which was more than she and Barry would have soon, because they were selling their house. They couldn’t afford to stay, June said, now that Barry didn’t have a job. In fact, she added, her whole marriage was under strain because of the situation Brendan’s actions had put them in. Dominique listened to her sister-in-law and then left without saying another word.
She was shattered by her visits to June and Emma. She was tired of feeling responsible for everything. And she was fed up that everyone was using her as a punchbag for their understandable rage at her husband.
Maeve met her at Heuston station. Her old school friend looked smart and cheerful, wearing a fitted red jacket and DKNY jeans, her dark hair cut into a flattering bob. Dominique felt a wave of relief when Maeve smiled at her and hurried towards her, flinging her arms around her and hugging her.
‘I’m so glad you came,’ said Maeve.
‘I’m so glad you asked me.’ Dominique was choking up again. She swallowed hard a few times before smiling at her friend.
‘Let’s go,’ said Maeve. ‘We’ve lots to catch up on.’
Maeve was living in an old Victorian house off the Howth Road. Five years ago, she told Dominique, she’d met Kevin Dalgleish, a physiotherapist, and they’d moved in together.
‘Getting married?’ asked Dominique.
‘When his divorce comes through.’ Maeve grinned. ‘He was broken in for me.’
‘Maeve!’
‘It’s true,’ said Maeve. ‘Sharon knocked all the hard edges off him.’
‘So why did they split up?’
‘They married young.’
Dominique sighed. ‘A hazard, I agree.’
‘He has two of the nicest kids you could ever meet,’ Maeve told her. ‘And the split with Sharon was relatively amicable. So it’s not pistols at dawn or anything.’
‘All the same,’ mused Dominique, ‘it’s getting harder and harder to find unattached men.’
‘Are you looking?’ asked Maeve.
‘God, no.’ Dominique laughed hollowly. ‘It’s just that every couple I know seem to be either on the verge of breaking up, broken up, or part of a new relationship. Emma and Greg. June - Brendan’s sister - and her husband.’
‘That’s life,’ said Maeve.
‘Yes.’ Dominique sighed. ‘I didn’t think it would be, though.’
‘So what do you plan to do, post-Brendan?’
Dominique had filled Maeve in on the entire story, although she’d left out the part about Greg saying that he was a little bit in love with her. No point in making herself sound like the chief marriage-wrecker herself.
‘I have to move out of Lily’s,’ she replied. ‘That’s always been the plan, but I’m not sure yet where to go. A city, I think. I need to get a job and I’ll never get one around Castlecannon. Besides, I don’t feel comfortable there any more.’
‘Move back to Dublin,’ said Maeve easily.
‘I’ve been thinking about it,’ admitted Dominique. ‘I like the thought of getting away from everyone. Especially the Delahayes. But that would mean leaving Kelly, and I don’t know if I could do that.’
‘She’s going to be in her flat, isn’t she?’
‘It’s not the same. Besides,’ added Dominique, ‘it’s probably more expensive to live here, and I need to be careful with money.’
‘Hey, you always were in the past. Like me. Did we ever own anything that didn’t come from Dunnes or Penneys back in those days?’
‘True.’ Dominique grinned suddenly. ‘But I’ve become accustomed to my glittering life and choosing designer over high street.’
Maeve laughed, then looked at her friend quizzically.
‘If you’re truly interested in coming back to Dublin, I know somewhere you could stay,’ she said.
‘Oh?’
‘I have a house in Fairview,’ said Maeve. ‘I rent it out. The tenants are leaving next month.’
‘A house?’ asked Dominique in surprise. ‘I didn’t realise you were into property.’
‘I bought it a few years ago,’ said Maeve. ‘But then I moved in with Kevin. So we rent it out.’
Dominique nodded.
‘I’d love to rent it to you,’ said Maeve. ‘I know you’d be a good tenant.’
‘This isn’t some kind of charity offer, is it?’
‘Of course not,’ said Maeve. ‘I’d be charging you the proper rent.’
‘Let me think about it,’ said Dominique. ‘I need to talk to Kelly, too.’
‘Sure,’ said Maeve easily. ‘Let me know.’
She went to see her parents while she was in Dublin. She walked up the garden path of the house in Drimnagh, realising that the last time she’d been there, everything in her life had seemed perfect. She’d even felt a bit condescending, visiting her parents in their small terraced house. Pride well and truly had come before a fall, she thought as she rang the bell. Just like her mother so often said.
When she and Brendan had first started making big money, she’d offered to help her parents move to a bigger house in a better neighbourhood, but Seamus had looked at her in astonishment and asked her why on earth they’d want to uproot themselves from the place they’d lived in all their lives. Evelyn had told her that they were happy in their home and happy with their lot. As you should be, she’d said, which had annoyed Dominique at the time.
The small garden was, as always, perfectly maintained, the grass carefully cut, the borders weeded and the flowers at exact intervals. The house, when Evelyn opened the door, smelled, as always, of Pledge furniture polish and roses. Dominique noticed that her parents had recently replaced the downstairs carpets with a wooden floor.
‘Easier to keep,’ Evelyn said.
Dominique had offered to get Brendan to do the floor for them years ago, but they’d refused. Back then, Evelyn had wanted to stick with her Axminster.
‘So how are things?’ Evelyn asked when they sat down in the kitchen. ‘Any news on him?’
Dominique shook her head.
‘I still can’t believe it,’ said Evelyn. ‘I know he wouldn’t have been my choice, but he worked hard and I thought things would work out.’
It wasn’t right, thought Dominique. It wasn’t right that her parents were worrying about her. She knew they were worried by the way Evelyn was polishing her varifocal glasses, not looking at her but instead concentrating on ensuring that the lenses were smudge-free before putting the glasses back on her nose.
She hadn’t changed much, thought Dominique. In her seventies, she was greyer, of course, than she’d been. But her clothes were the same style as she’d always worn (today she had on a tweed skirt and yellow cardigan), and she hadn’t changed her hair either - the colour was silver-grey, but Dominique knew that she was still going for her weekly wash and set at the salon in the village. I thought she was old at forty, Dominique remembered. I was right then. But it suits her now.
‘I’m doing a novena,’ Evelyn told her.
‘Thanks.’
‘Father Moran said a Mass for you last Sunday, too,’ added Seamus.
‘Thanks,’ said Dominique again.
She didn’t think the novenas and Masses would make any difference. But if they made her parents feel better, then that was a good thing.
‘How’s Kelly?’ Seamus asked.
‘In great form,’ said Dominique. ‘Living with Alicia and two friends and very happy.’
‘Hardly happy,’ said Evelyn. ‘Her father’s missing.’
‘As happy as she can be.’
‘And Lily?’ asked Evelyn. ‘I spoke to that poor woman on the phone a couple of weeks ago. She’s having to carry a terrible cross.’
‘Obviously it’s a difficult time for her,’ Dominique said. ‘But she’s doing her best.’
‘And you?’ asked Seamus gently. ‘How are you?’
‘I’ll be all right,’ replied Dominique.
‘It’s nice to see you,’ said Seamus.
‘You too.’ Dominique realised that she meant what she was saying.
There was a silence around the table, and then Evelyn stood up.
‘Tea and cake,’ she said as she put her arm around Dominique’s shoulders and squeezed them. ‘I made an apple tart.’
‘Lovely,’ said Dominique, and she meant that too.
‘Of course you should go and live in Dublin,’ said Kelly when Dominique got home again and told her about Maeve’s proposal. ‘I’m fine here, Mum. I don’t need you hanging around.’
‘Great,’ said Dominique drily.
‘That didn’t come out quite the way I meant.’ Kelly looked apologetically at her mother. ‘What I wanted to say was that I’m doing my own thing and I’m OK with that.’
‘How’s Alicia?’
‘Upset,’ said Kelly. ‘There are some terrible rows going on at home, so she’s glad to be out of it. She’s terribly afraid that her parents will split up.’
All the Delahaye marriages down the tubes, thought Dominique, even though she’d find it hard to blame Barry for leaving June.
‘I hope they don’t,’ she told Kelly.
‘Would you take Dad back if he turned up now?’
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