5 Peppermint Grove (9 page)

“I’m just perturbed that he is doing this now – now that I am so happy with Peter.”

“But if you are so happy with Peter maybe you shouldn’t mind being sent this . . . or do you still have feelings for Michael?”

“Of course I do but I’ve had to put them behind me – I’m just so confused. I don’t know how to reply.”

“Maybe see how you feel over the next few days. Call me if you need to talk about your reply. He’ll be coming home for Christmas now definitely – I’ll be picking him up on the twenty-third.”

Lydia
sighed. “Okay – I’ve a conference call coming through – I’ll ring you back.”

Julia got back to work but all the time she was trying to figure out just what was going through her friend’s head. She had a gut feeling that
Lydia was in love with Peter but still in love with Michael – torn between two lovers, she thought to herself with a little giggle. That was something she would never have to be concerned about – she would always maintain control in her personal life.

Julia dug her head into her paperwork for two hours and was pleased by a well-needed interruption from Ruth when she appeared at her desk unannounced.

“Hi there,” Julia smiled. “Boy, am I glad to see you! I’ve been having the busiest week ever!”

“I’m coming to take you to lunch – I can see that you need it.”

“Thanks, Ruth – you’re right – I could do with a break.” Julia grabbed her coat and followed her friend out onto College Green.

“Right, where to?”

“What about Milano’s – fancy a pizza?”

“Okay by me!” Julia walked along beside her friend and could see that she was bursting to tell her something. “So, any news?”

Ruth’s eyes danced as she spoke. “Well, maybe – there is a slight chance that Ian is looking for leave from Aer Lingus for a couple of years – he is considering doing some contract work and there’s a chance they may let him go.”

Julia didn’t like the direction this conversation was taking. It would completely defeat the purpose of Ruth’s relocation if Ian decided to follow her.

“Go on . . .”

“Well, Emirates are starting up a new route out of
Dublin and are offering one-year contracts.”

“So . . .”

“If Ian was flying for them he’d only be ten hours from Perth and he could come and stay with me for one weekend a month!”

Julia couldn’t believe her ears. She didn’t know which of them was more daft. “And what about his family? Surely he’d need to go home any chance he got to see his kids?”

“Well, he would spend the other weekends every month with them.”

Julia had to hold back – Ruth was losing all sense of what was right in the world.

She really wanted to shake her friend. This latest notion would cause nothing but heartbreak and be a complete debacle.

“Ruth, I thought your move to
Perth was going to be a fresh start.”

“It is but it doesn’t mean that I have to finish with Ian.”

Julia couldn’t listen to any more. She really had done her very best for Ruth – if Ian disrupted his family in this way she wouldn’t be able to take responsibility for her actions. She had always felt sorry for Ian’s wife Ciara but now more than ever.

Julia ate pizza with Ruth, all the time steering the conversation away from Ian.

“You must stay focused on this opportunity that is yours alone – okay, Ruth?”

Ruth nodded but her eyes were saying that she was still thinking of Ian in her heart.

Julia looked at her watch.

“I really have to go back to work now. Only another week and it will be Christmas.”

Ruth shook her head. “Mum wants me to go down with them to Kevin in Kerry but I really can’t stand the thought of being in the same house as Mum and Orla for an entire night.”

“I know what you mean – well, that offer to spend the day with us is still there. Mum and Granddad would love it. Actually, Mum has been a bit odd since she came back from
Cologne – I wonder what she got up to?”

Ruth laughed. “She was most likely playing bridge in her hotel room!”

Julia nodded. “You’re probably right.”

She kissed Ruth goodbye and set off down
Dawson Street on her way back to the office. Her head was full of all the tasks that she had to do when she got back. The Christmas season would soon be in full swing.

Chapter Eleven

Julia took the back roads to Dublin airport. It was almost balmy outside – untypical weather for Christmas. All the time Lydia’s words were ringing in her head. She wondered if Michael was being too optimistic. She had coaxed and nurtured him as best she could to say and do the right things where Lydia was concerned. She dearly hoped that she had done enough because, even though Lydia was smitten by her policeman, she had made it quite clear that she still had deep feelings for Michael. If Michael were to return to Dublin permanently it really would make a wonderful start to the New Year. She was secretly dreading the drive to Dublin airport that she would be making very soon with Ruth. Although Ruth’s circumstances for leaving the country were quite different to so many other emigrants who had to flee from poverty and unemployment, Julia wished there was some other way that Ruth could untangle herself from Ian.

She parked at Terminal Two which she thought resembled the
Starship Enterprise
. It was positioned exactly where the lake and sculpted snowmen used to be on the drive to Terminal One. So much had changed and yet now again people were coming to pick up loved ones who were making the journey home for Christmas like so many of the Irish Diaspora had done for decades.

The vast arrivals hall was airy, with glass up to the sky. Christmas trees and baubles lined the pillars. Behind the barriers anxious families and friends waited to see a glimpse of their loved ones pass through the sliding doors. One chap leaned against the pillar adorned with antlers and a large bunch of roses. Some families had made banners and had come en masse. Others were twitching nervously with one eye on the arrivals screen and another on their watch.

Julia could feel her own heart beat heavily in her chest as she saw that the flight from London Heathrow had landed. After almost two years she would see her brother again. His reasons for leaving Ireland had been for self-promotion and adventure, like so many that left in the mid-noughties. But there was a difference now as those who had left in the last two years were doing so because they felt they had no choice. Her eyes welled up as she saw a man greet his wife and three small children who were wearing Santa hats and making the most of the occasion. It must be so terrible to have to leave your home and family to make a living, she thought.

But her spirits lifted as her brother’s tall frame came into view. His hairline had receded a little but his face was fresh and he was fitter than the last time she had seen him. He wrapped his arms around her warmly and kissed her on the cheek. Julia held him close and for a moment felt her father’s presence. Michael was becoming more like him with the years and somehow it was a source of comfort now for Julia.

“Hey, sis, thanks for coming to take me home,” he grinned.

“I wouldn’t expect you to get a taxi!” She smiled back at him. “But depending on what you’ve bought me you might be getting one back here next week.”

Michael ran his fingers through her hair playfully.

“I’ve missed you and your wit – sounding more like Dad every day!”

“I was just thinking how much you’re getting to look like him.”

“I’m not sure whether to take that as a compliment or not,” he laughed.

They loaded up his bags into the car and waited in line behind dozens of cars anxious to take their cargo of loved ones home for Christmas.

“How’s Mum?”

“Probably playing bridge or talking to one of her bridge friends. But there is a slim chance she is cooking the dinner that she said she was preparing for you!”

“What’s with all this bridge? She was only learning that a couple of years ago.”

“Well, it’s taken over her life!” Julia said with a sigh. “In some way it’s the best thing ever because it’s given her a wonderful lease of life. She’s going off to Warwickshire in the New Year to play in some bridge festival and she was in Cologne as you know a couple of weeks ago.”

Michael shook his head. “Who ever would have thought? I’m sure Dad must be laughing on the other side!”

“It’s such a pity that she wouldn’t ever travel with him but then he got to do all his travelling before he met her so maybe they’ve done it the right way round after all.”

“Have you heard from
Lydia?”

“Not since I emailed you – did she agree to meet you while you are home?”

Michael shrugged. “I haven’t heard from her.”

Julia said nothing. She worried that her brother was the one who was in for a surprise.
Lydia had changed in the last few weeks and was oozing with a confidence that her new boyfriend had instilled in her. But still Julia wanted her brother home and was going to do everything in her power to bring the two together. If she left it to him, he would make a mess of it and, well, Lydia didn’t really know what was best for her either. She would be doing them both a great favour.

Chapter Twelve

It was Christmas Eve. Ruth looked down at the text on her phone.

Flight delayed kitten c u aft xmas xx
Ian

Ruth had thought that seeing him would help her get through the next day but it proved too much to take now.

Thank God for Julia, she thought – she was the one constant in her life.

“Ruth, are you sure you won’t come down with us to Kerry?” Angela called up the stairs. “You won’t see Kevin and the kids before he goes at all now!”

Ruth sighed. She had been through this so many times with her mother. Her main reason for staying had been to see Ian but still she would rather spend the day with her best friend.

“Honestly, Mum, I’m fine!” She called back down. “Are you staying Stephen’s Day too?”

“That depends on how we all get on, I suppose – you know how Orla can be!”

Ruth knew how Angela and her daughter-in-law could be together and that the Christmas festivities could go either way!

But she also knew that if Ian managed to pop out of his house on Stephen’s Day, she would want to be in Dublin to see him. Since moving back in with her parents it had been difficult to see him but he had been making less effort too. Maybe going to Australia would help her gain a proper perspective on her life.

It was to be the warmest Christmas for thirty years according to the weatherman on the
Nine O’Clock News
. Julia heard the door slam followed by Michael’s heavy footsteps on the wooden floor.

“You’re home early!” Julia said.

“Yeah, there weren’t that many in the summit. Actually, change that, it was packed – but there weren’t that many over twenty-five.”

“I thought you’d have liked that!”

“Ha ha, no need to be so sarky, sis. That was in the past – I’ve changed!”

Julia wondered if a leopard ever did change his spots but Michael was definitely different to the brother that was home two years ago. She wondered what had brought about this epiphany. She would have to find out over the next few days. After all, he wasn’t going to be home very long.

“Any word from Lydia?” he asked.

“I told you that she was going down to
Waterford to be with Peter’s family before Christmas.”

“But it’s Christmas tomorrow.”

“Yes, and she’s driving up in the morning to spend the day with her parents.”

“Then I suppose Peter will be coming up too?”

“I didn’t want to ask. Look, Michael, I told you I would do everything I could – I’ll ring her tomorrow like I always do on Christmas Day and maybe even invite her out. So we’ll know then, okay?”

Michael sat down in the chair that their father used to always sit in.

Julia could see vulnerability in him that wasn’t there before.

“I always feel like I’m doing something I shouldn’t when I sit in Dad’s chair!”

Julia knew what her brother meant. “Are you okay?”

Michael shook his head. “All of my mates are married and they can’t even go out for a pint without their wives’ permission.” He sighed. “I heard in the summit that Barry Horgan has moved to
Sydney.”

“Isn’t he married?”

“Yep, and he has twin baby girls. Moved lock, stock and barrel last October.”

“Yeah, well, a lot of people have moved away – if it keeps going this way I’d be better off starting an emigration service instead of a travel company.”

Just then the front door opened again and Carol walked in, laden with bags and gifts from her bridge friends.

“Well, that’s the end of bridge now until January!” Carol chirped.

Michael and Julia looked at each other and smiled.