5 Peppermint Grove (37 page)

She called to tell Odette that she would be there soon and to ask if she would like her to bring anything. Odette fancied some crispy duck pancakes from the Chinese takeaway and Julia picked some up along with a bottle of red wine from the off-licence. She had bought enough for three just in case Dylan was joining them. Secretly she hoped that he would be there – Gillian had been so secretive in work and she wanted to ask him about her and see what was going on.

When his Mercedes came into view, she smiled. Then a terrible thought came into her head – maybe his concern for Odette was too great and he was in love with her. Could he be seeing Gillian in case Odette or anyone would suspect his true feelings? That would explain why he wanted to go out for drinks as a foursome when she was in
Australia. Could that be why Craig did what he did? Julia’s mind was playing tricks and she felt guilty for having such awful thoughts.

She lifted the brown package with the duck and slid the bottle of wine under her arm. She would get her overnight bag later – she might not need it after all!

Dylan answered the door and Charlotte stood like a little fairy at his side.

Julia groaned inside – she bent down to kiss her niece and Dylan took her bags from her so that she could sweep
Charlotte into her arms.

“Are you staying for a sleepover, Aunty Julia?” the little girl pleaded.

“Maybe – if your mummy wants me to.”

“I want you to and Uncle Dylan can stay too – it’s lonely ’cos Daddy’s not here.”

Dylan looked at Julia and both were unable to answer, their hearts heavy in their chests at the little girl’s words. She was too young to understand that she would never see her father again.

“Let’s go in and see what Mummy is doing.”

Julia bounced her niece on her hip and went into the lounge where Odette was sitting on the couch, looking listless and depressed.

“I’ve got the pancakes and duck,” said Julia. “How about I take
Charlotte to bed and you two get started?”

“Thanks, Ju,” Odette said, glancing up at her sister but making no move to greet her.

“Where’s Jamie?”

“He’s in the playroom
on the computer game,” said Dylan. “I’ll take him up to bed too and afterwards we can get going on the food.”

Julia and Dylan gave each other a knowing look that spoke a multitude. Odette had fallen into the abyss again as they had both seen on several occasions since Craig’s death. Julia was pleased now that Michael wasn’t seeing his sister tonight.

She went into the kitchen and put the food into the oven to keep it warm, then went upstairs to help Dylan put the children to bed.

Ten minutes later she and Dylan were in the kitchen making preparations for the meal.

“Is she still taking those tablets?” Julia whispered to him as he took out the dinner plates.

“I think so – they make her go like this – I think she’d be better off with a glass of wine and a good cry,” Dylan said.

“So do I!” Julia agreed as she struggled with the unfamiliar corkscrew.

“Here, let me help you with that cork,” Dylan said, taking the bottle from her.

Julia put knives and forks on the table, then went into the lounge where Odette still sat immobile.

“Will we all eat together in the kitchen?” she suggested to her sister.

Odette nodded and stood up trancelike as if she was sleepwalking.

Dylan started the conversation off lightly, discussing the upcoming St Patrick’s Day festivities and announcing that he had bought tickets for himself and the kids to see the parade from the grandstand.

“They’ll enjoy that,” Odette said gratefully.

“I got one for you too, Odette,” he said.

Odette put plum sauce on her duck and started to wrap the pancake around the meat. “Why don’t you go, Julia – I don’t think I’ll be up to the parade this year.”

Dylan looked at Julia. “It might be nice for the kids to have their aunt and uncle take them out – what do you think?”

Julia nodded. For a terrible minute she had been picturing Gillian next to Dylan in the stands with her niece and nephew.

“Yes – that would be great – lovely!” she said vehemently. Oh God, she thought,
I’m getting crazy like Gillian. What the hell has come over me!

Dylan was bowled over by her reaction and just tucked into the pancake he had assembled. He wondered how a woman who couldn’t stand the sight of him a couple of months ago now was really keen to go to the St Patrick’s Day Parade with him. Yet he wasn’t complaining – maybe she was learning a little compassion. The entire family on both sides had been through so much since Craig’s death that he should not be surprised by the change.

The Abbey Tavern’s stone-clad walls had housed many great evenings of drinking and chat. Michael and Horatio sat up at the solid mahogany bar – an open turf fire blazed in the hearth.

“I dreamt of this place while I was in Singapore. There’s nowhere like it!” Michael said, lifting a creamy pint of Guinness to his lips.

“Ah, it’s great to have you back, son. But don’t regret the adventure – never ever regret time spent having an adventure.”

Michael laughed and licked his Guinness moustache from his lips. “I wouldn’t call my five years an adventure but I certainly had a chance to think about life and what I wanted. It’s funny how you need to go away sometimes to sort out your perspective on home.”

“Ah, I’m glad you decided to come home – and it’s only a pity you didn’t bring a lovely girl back with you!”

Michael took another slug from his pint. “The girl that I want to settle down with is here but it looks like she’s going steady with that policeman who handled Craig’s case.”

“Really? Who would that be?”

“Do you remember Lydia?”

“Julia’s friend – of course I do. You courted her for some time, didn’t you?”

“Yes, many years ago.”

Horation nodded his head. “It’s a terrible thing to let a woman slip away from you like that – I always say women are a bit like the Number 31 – you’d be waiting for ages and then three come along together.”

“Well, when you get on a bit it’s harder to get one that likes you at all!”

Horatio threw his head back and cackled. “Wait till you get to my age – you might as well be waiting for the Hill of Howth tram to come back into service – unless you take up bridge by the looks of things.”

“What do you make of this Gerry fella that Mum has hooked up with?”

“He seems like a nice little chap. Very different to your father, mind, but that’s no harm. Carol is more independent now than she ever was in her life – I mean, she went straight from our house after marriage to her own with her husband. It was different years ago – none of this living together. You don’t know how lucky you young folk are!”

“Granddad, you never cease to amaze me!”

“I amaze myself – all I need now is your mother to go up to the North for good and Julia to go and get herself a fella and then I could get myself a lovely Brazilian girl – one of about forty-six, let’s say – what do ya think, Michael?” He gave his grandson a naughty wink.

“Horatio Daly, I don’t know where we got you from at all!”

“But I’ll tell you this: if you like a young one then you have to go after her – get her any way that you can. I had to follow your grandmother to
Dun Laoghaire and drag her back on the 46A. It was very romantic and it was the best day’s work that I ever did. Ah now, drink up, lad – there’s a hole in this glass – I need a refill!”

Michael was elated to be home. He would take his grandfather’s advice on board – he was a wise old coot. It was precious moments like this that he had missed while he was living away – there was nowhere like home and nowhere like
Ireland.

Julia got up and looked at her watch. It was two o’clock in the morning. After Odette had gone to bed Dylan decided that he would too and he took the spare room. Charlotte had been sleeping with her mother since her father’s death so that meant that Julia was sleeping in a haven of pink with a white net canopy above her bed and a wooden crown headrest against the wall. It was an awkward sleep and she had forgotten to bring a glass of water to bed.

The bathroom light was left on for the children in case they needed to go to the toilet in the middle of the night. It was things like that Julia never thought about – having children was a fulltime occupation and it would be extra difficult for Odette now with the full burden of responsibility as mother and father.

It was kind of Dylan to be so hands-on – of course, if he had a family of his own he wouldn’t be in this position to help. Julia stepped into the hall and tiptoed into the kitchen. She was startled when she opened the door and saw a large figure beside the fridge.

Dylan was drinking the end of a carton of orange juice by the neck. The old Julia would have chastised him but in light of all that had happened in this house over the past few days, Julia’s perspective on what did and didn’t matter had changed utterly.

“Can’t sleep either?” Dylan asked.

Julia shook her head.

“I could make some tea if you fancy a mug?”

“If you are having one, then yeah, thanks.”

Dylan hit the switch on the kettle and went to take out the milk from the fridge.

“I lie awake at night and wonder why – why the hell did he do such a thing?” he said. “It gets under my skin and crawls around like an alien. Can you figure it out?”

Julia shrugged. “I can’t. I guess he could have been clinically depressed but never told anyone and couldn’t get out of it.”

“I thought that he was having an affair at first. I spoke to one of his colleagues though after the funeral and he was shocked when I said it – he said that Craig wouldn’t have had the time – he was always working. He took responsibility seriously and longed for more security. It was difficult for those who had been in the company so long to cope with the changes. I know he was jealous of my situation and I didn’t blame him. It’s good to be out of the shackles of a permanent pensionable job. I’ll start my own business up when I get back.”

Julia turned her head in surprise. “‘Get back’? Where are you going?”

“Well, I was offered a job in London that I was going to take until this happened but now I’m going to do something that I have been thinking about for years – I’m going to do a round-the-world trip.”

“Wow – for how long?” Julia was taken aback by the disappointment she felt at this revelation.

“A year at least. I’ve seen a lot of the States already so I’m starting off in
South America and going around to Australia the long way. Then I’m going to do Asia, India, Africa and any part of Europe that I haven’t seen.”

“Sounds like it will be quite an experience.”

Dylan nodded. “I hope so. That’s why I want to spend as much time as I can with the kids now.”

“When are you planning on going?”

“In about a month.”

This was a good opportunity for her to quiz him about Gillian.

“And what about your girlfriend? She hasn’t put in for any extra leave so she won’t be going, will she? Unless of course she’s going to resign.”

“My girlfriend?” Dylan seemed amused. “If I have a girlfriend that’s news to me!”

“Gillian,” Julia said. “You’ve been seeing a lot of each other – according to a little bird?”

Dylan shook his head. “Gillian is a lovely girl but we never dated. I asked her to come out with me one night with Craig and Odette because I was trying to suss them out – I knew something was up with Craig but couldn’t figure it out. I should have just asked him, huh?”

“Don’t blame yourself – I’m sure there was nothing any of us could have done – Craig was on the edge and that is the unfortunate thing about suicide – sometimes family are last to know.”

Dylan nodded and put on his stiff upper lip. “But as regards Gillian there was nothing romantic between us ever.”

“Oh I see!” that was definitely news for Julia. She wondered then why he had been out with her the night before but didn’t dare to ask.

Chapter Fifty

Ruth had received eleven text messages and three voicemails from Brian since the night they had spent in Coco’s. She hadn’t answered any of them. She was relieved that he hadn’t called around to her house again and was scared at night in case he did. She was feeling weak and lonely and would be tempted to let him in. His messages said that he and his wife were in the process of separating. But she didn’t care. The fact that he hadn’t come clean with her at the beginning was enough to blight the relationship for good. She couldn’t bear the thought of a long discussion over his marital status – it would bring back too many bad memories. She wanted to cry often and hard and, only for her mother’s impending visit, she would be considering chucking in her Australian adventure and returning home to Julia and her family. But it would be a shame – work had settled down well and she loved the banter in the office with the gang – she had become very friendly with Helenka and had been out with her to a sophisticated bar in the city the night before. She tried to be pleasant and fun but every so often needed to go to the bathroom to pull herself together and drag her thoughts away from Brian.