Stand by Me (36 page)

Read Stand by Me Online

Authors: Sheila O'Flanagan

Tags: #Fiction, #General

BOOK: Stand by Me

5.6Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

Read Book Download Book

‘Oh, that’s all anyone wants to talk about really. The Domino and Brendan saga.’

‘I’ll talk about whatever you like,’ said Gabriel.

‘It’s not affecting us in the financial sense.’ Emma answered his question. ‘Greg never worked for Brendan, even though Brendan offered him jobs a number of times. He asked him if he wanted to be involved in the Barbados deal too, but Greg said no.’ She shrugged. ‘They quarrelled a bit over it, but I’m glad that Greg stuck to his guns. Everyone knows who we are around here, and although loads of people are being really nice about it - to our faces, anyway - they’re unbearably curious and totally convinced there’s more to things than we’re saying. There’s stories about Brendan having a secret life with dozens of women - they called their house in Merrion his love nest, which upset Kelly dreadfully, because she stays there any time she goes to Dublin. Then there’s a rumour that Domino is actually hiding Brendan in a secret room in the basement of Atlantic View and that they plan to skip the country when the heat dies down. Most people seem to think he’s left already, having robbed the company blind, and is now holed up in the Seychelles or somewhere. Opinion is divided on whether Domino and Kelly will disappear in the middle of the night to be with him.’

‘It’s tough,’ agreed Gabriel.

‘And people want to believe the worst. There are still those who think that Brendan was so ashamed of losing everything that he killed himself. Though I guess if he was going to do that he wouldn’t have cleared his wardrobe out first.’

‘I guess not,’ agreed Gabriel.

‘The thing is ...’ Emma looked at him uneasily and massaged her temples, ‘there’s a part of me that thinks it wouldn’t be a bad thing.’

Gabriel said nothing.

‘If he killed himself, there’d be an end to all this. People would be sympathetic. It would be horrible for Domino and Kelly, but they’d get over it and they could move on instead of clinging to a broken past.’

Gabriel looked at her from his dark eyes. ‘Emma ...’

‘None of us can go on like this, angry with each other and angry with Brendan and worried about what will happen,’ she said.

‘Who are you most angry with?’

Emma stared at him.

‘I don’t know,’ she said shortly. ‘Who should I be most angry with, Gabriel? Out of all the people in my life, who?’

‘You should try not to be angry at all,’ he said.

‘You’re the one who brought up the subject,’ she told him. ‘And yes, I’m angry with you, Gabriel.’

‘Why?’

‘You know damn well why! You’re not a priest any more. Now - when it’s too late. When it’s messed with your life.’

‘You shouldn’t be angry about that,’ said Gabriel. ‘Really, Emma. It’s not worth it.’

‘You think?’

‘I know it’s not,’ said Gabriel.

‘Easy for you to say.’ Emma snorted. ‘Easy for you to swan off to the Amazon or whatever and be your wonderful, caring layman self.’

‘Please, Emma.’

She looked at him unhappily. ‘You messed up your life and you sure as hell allowed me to mess up mine,’ she said. ‘Everyone else is going on and on about Brendan and what he’s done and how he’s ruined their lives, but it’s you that did it to me, Gabriel Brady, and you know it.’

‘I thought we’d dealt with all that a long time ago, Emma. I thought you were OK. I thought you and Greg were happy together. That’s what you told me—’

‘And that’s ironic, isn’t it?’ she interrupted him. ‘I bet you’ve ministered to loads and loads of people and they all said that you were great, but me . . . You thought I was OK just because I said so.’

She suddenly covered her eyes with her hands and her voice shook. ‘Why is it everyone always thinks that? When you’re pretty and popular as a kid, everyone expects you to be OK for ever. Everyone assumes your life is going to be great. But for someone like Domino, it’s different. Everyone always worried about Domino or talked about Domino. The teachers always give more attention to the quiet ones at school. And it’s been nothing but attention for her ever since, what with her getting pregnant and getting married and getting depressed and getting rich. And now getting - well, whatever. But nobody ever worries about me.’

Gabriel watched her as she cried. He swallowed hard and then took her hands in his. He was still holding them gently when the back door opened and Dominique stepped outside.

Gabriel didn’t let go of Emma’s hands as he smiled at his younger sister, who was staring at him and her sister-in-law with dismay in her eyes.

‘It’s just all become a bit much for Emma at the moment,’ Gabriel said. ‘It’s difficult for everyone, Domino. Not just you.’

‘Emma’s husband hasn’t disappeared,’ said Dominique shortly.

‘That’s not the point,’ said Gabriel.

‘No,’ said Dominique, her glance shifting between her brother and her sister-in-law. ‘It’s not.’

Emma slid her hands from Gabriel’s. ‘How were things at the solicitor’s?’ she asked.

‘As you’d expect. No money. No husband. No hope.’

‘Oh, Domino.’ Gabriel looked sympathetically at her. ‘I’m so sorry. But maybe it can still all work out.’

‘Yeah, right. I’ll pray for that, will I?’

Emma rubbed her temples again, and Gabriel looked at her. ‘You all right?’ he asked.

‘Headache. All day.’

‘I’ll go and see how Lily is getting on with the tea,’ he said. ‘You’ll feel better with a cup of tea.’

He walked into the house and Emma laughed shortly. ‘A cup of tea! I need max-strength paracetamol,’ she said. ‘And probably Xanax too.’

Dominique was silent.

‘What?’ Emma looked at her with eyes that were too bright.

‘What is it with you and Gabriel?’ Dominique asked. ‘Even now? Why were you holding hands?’

‘Oh for heaven’s sake,’ said Emma. ‘You’ve spent the last few weeks holding hands with everyone who comes into your house. There’s nothing wrong with me and Gabe holding hands.’

Dominique thought there was everything wrong with it. But she didn’t know how to say that to her sister-in-law without sounding paranoid.

‘I’d better go,’ she said abruptly.

‘Why?’

‘I just ...’ She shook her head. ‘I’ve things to do.’

She turned away from Emma and walked back towards the house.

Chapter 19

Gabriel and Lily were setting a tray with tea things. Dominique said that she couldn’t stay, that she needed to get home. She told Lily that she’d see her again soon and bring her up to date on any new developments.

‘I can’t stay either.’ Emma had followed Dominique to the house. ‘I have a rotten headache, Lily, and I really need to get home.’

‘But . . . what about your tea?’ Lily looked after the two of them as they strode through the house, and then back at Gabriel.

‘Emotions are running high,’ he said as he poured boiling water into the teapot.

‘They never did before,’ Lily told him. ‘We were always relaxed before. We always had time for a cup of tea and a laugh together.’

Neither Dominique nor Emma spoke until Dominique unlocked her car door.

‘What’s the matter with you?’ asked Emma.

‘What’s the matter with me!’ Dominique laughed shortly. ‘My life is in ruins and you . . . Emma, I think you’re playing some kind of dangerous game with Gabriel. You always fancied him, and—’

‘And what?’ Emma interrupted her. ‘He didn’t fancy me, did he? Wasn’t that always the point? Didn’t he head off and become a priest?’

‘But now he’s not,’ said Dominique cautiously.

‘And you think that I’m going to leave Greg for him, is that it? Just because you caught us holding hands? Grow up, Domino.’

‘He’s not the right person to be offering you comfort,’ said Dominique.

‘Why shouldn’t he?’ asked Emma. ‘Anyway, you’re one to talk. You’re perfectly prepared for Greg to hold your hand and give you comfort!’ There was an edge to her voice.

Dominique stared at her. ‘What are you saying?’

‘You have a relationship with Greg that I don’t,’ said Emma. ‘You always did and you always will. You wrap him around your little finger and you don’t care how it makes me feel. You always want to be number one. In his affections and everyone else’s too.’

‘That’s complete nonsense!’ cried Dominique.

‘It’s always about you, Domino,’ Emma continued. ‘It always will be. Your problems are always bigger than everyone else’s. Just like everything in your life!’

‘That’s not true. How can you possibly think that way?’

‘You don’t know what anyone else is thinking or feeling!’ said Emma. ‘All cocooned in your Dazzling Domino world. You didn’t know your husband was a crook. And that he was going to leave you.’

Dominique was unable to speak.

‘I didn’t want it all to go wrong for you,’ said Emma. ‘But maybe now you know what it’s like.’

She got into her car and slammed the door shut. Then she drove off.

Dominique realised that she was shaking. She opened her own car door and slid into the driver’s seat. It was a few minutes before she felt able to start the engine and move off.

She clipped the gate on the way out of the driveway.

There was a single red car parked on the verge outside the gates. Dominique knew that it belonged to one of the reporters covering Brendan’s disappearance. She knew that the paper he worked for was the one running with the story that Brendan was actually back in Atlantic View and that she was hiding him from the public. She wondered if the reporter really believed this, or whether he was bored out of his mind fruitlessly staking out their house.

As she zapped the gates open, he got out of his car and took her photograph. Dominique eased up the driveway and into the house. When she got out of the car, she looked at the long scrape on the driver’s door, courtesy of her brush with Lily’s gate. A few weeks ago she would have been horrified by it. Now, she didn’t care. She went into the kitchen, opened the fridge, took out a carton of fruit juice and a disposable glass and walked back down the driveway. She waved at the reporter, who was watching her with interest.

‘Here,’ she said, handing him the juice. ‘It’s a hot day and you must be dying of thirst.’

‘I’m OK,’ he told her. ‘I have a supply.’

‘Whatever,’ she said. ‘You can take it anyway.’

‘Doesn’t your husband need it?’

She smiled faintly. ‘I don’t know. You are, honestly, wasting your time. He’s not here.’

‘He might come back.’

‘And who says I’ll let him in if he does?’

The reporter’s eyes narrowed. ‘Are you divorcing him?’

‘I don’t think you realise my situation. I don’t know where he is. I don’t know if he’s dead or alive.’ She sighed. ‘My whole life is a mess and I can’t tell you what I’d do if he turned up. But what I can tell you is that he’s not here now.’

‘Well, my job is to stay here until he shows up one way or the other,’ said the reporter.

‘You’ll be spending a lot of time in the car, so,’ Dominique told him. ‘And you’ll miss a lot of other good stories in the meantime.’

‘You know, I can’t make up my mind about you,’ said the reporter.

‘Oh?’

‘You’re either terribly smart or terribly unlucky.’

‘Brendan used to say I was his lucky charm,’ she said. ‘But I guess I wasn’t so lucky after all.’