Two Days in Biarritz (16 page)

* * *

Shane tiptoed quietly into his bedroom. Natasha was curled up under the bedcovers like a cat. She didn’t make a sound and Shane undressed silently – careful not to wake her. He shimmied under the covers and hit the switch on the bedside lamp. Through the curtains a sliver of moonlight shone in and he sighed. He wasn’t sure what he had expected to achieve by meeting Kate today. He needed to know what his true feelings for her were but now felt even more uncertain. He loved Natasha. He looked over as her body rose and fell gently with each breath. But there was no passion in their relationship. She didn’t look at him the way Kate did. She didn’t enthral him the way Kate did. There was only one Kate.

Shane pulled the covers up over his shoulders and turned his back to his wife. He didn’t want to feel the same way as he had after the last time he met Kate. He was a glutton for punishment. As thoughts of her slipped through his mind he realised he was back to square one – probably worse than the last time.

* * *

Annabel curled up in a tiny ball on the large empty bed. Thank God Colin’s away, she thought. She had been shaking since Damien rang. She could still see the look on
Rosa’s face as she entered the kitchen
. The girl must think I’m crazy.

He was the last person Annabel had expected to hear from and it was only after she put the phone down that she realised there was so much she wanted to ask him. He was kind but businesslike. Did he ever think about their time together the way she did?

She turned over, more restless than she had been any night since her fiasco in Biarritz. She could always try to ring him again! But Betty would be home tomorrow and anyway, it was already tomorrow. It was Kate’s birthday.

* * *

It hit him like a dart. He had forgotten all about her birthday. Then he gave a deep sigh. It was unlikely that was the reason behind Kate’s strange attitude towards him but he couldn’t think of anything else. Kate was never fussed about her birthday and he never remembered it. But wait, he thought, if he was forty years married this year – that would mean it was her fortieth. He had always relied on Betty to get a card for their daughter. She would even sign it on his behalf. That wasn’t all he would miss about Betty. They had muddled their way through the last forty years well considering the lack of ardour on both sides. There was no way they would have got married if she weren’t already three months pregnant.

But then if they hadn’t had Kate he would never have met Annabel. She was like a flame that sparkled briefly in his life. There had been plenty of other women who had helped him muddle through the years, some exciting, others exhausting, but none touching him enough to leave Betty. No one compared to Annabel. But he had to let her go – it was the right thing to do. Just like marrying Betty was the right thing to do at the time.

Chapter 10

Kate’s insides were rumbling and she wasn’t able to eat her breakfast for the third morning in a row. She brushed her teeth twice before she got rid of the nasty metal taste in her mouth.

She brushed the soft pillowcases down and straightened the bedclothes on her parents’ bed. Her father had moved most of his clothes to the spare room. Kate thought it was probably the best thing to do. Her mother would be tender after the operation and needed the space for comfort. In all her years it was the last thing she thought she would be doing on the morning of her fortieth birthday. The phone rang in the distance but she ignored it. It wasn’t her house.

“Kate!” Damien called up the stairs.

“Yes,” she replied.

“It’s the boys!”

Kate rushed to the small white ornate phone that rested on the bedside locker.

“Hello!” she answered impatiently. “Ciarán, David, it’s great to hear from you!”

She listened to them sing “Happy Birthday”. “You’re little pets to remember.”

They insisted that her present was in the post as they had to redirect it to
Dublin.

“Thank you, boys. How is school?”

She listened to them tell how well they were getting on in rugby and they were both top of the class in maths. “How’s your English?” she asked. The giddy twelve year old boys guffawed at the other end of the line – they were always getting into trouble for using colloquial phrases.

“Your gran is very sick and I’ll have to stay in
Dublin a bit longer than expected, so you may have to come here for the Easter holidays.”

The boys seemed pleased that they were going to
Dublin. There was no point in telling them how ill their gran really was, yet.

“Okay, calm down and I’ll see you soon. Your professor will give you your tickets. Bye, boys, and thanks for remembering!” She knew that it was their housekeeper who would have organised the call but it was lovely to hear her son’s chirpy little voices.
She longed to see them and hold them. Sometimes she questioned her decision to send them to boarding school. It was good that they were twins. At least they had each other.

“I’m on my way to get your mother!” Damien called up the stairs.

“I’ll be here!” she shouted back.

The day had been all worked out. She would cook a traditional roast and they would have family lunch like they used to. It would be like some sort of last supper as Philip was returning to
England in the evening. She felt poignant that all this should happen on her fortieth birthday. Philip would have Gloria at the table and she would be on her own. She felt a pang of need, wishing that Shane was available. She wished it was the day before when he sat by her side and massaged her ego. But she had to get through the day on her own. She wondered about Annabel. She certainly would have got the hint by now – especially as they hadn’t made peace before her birthday the previous Friday.

She patted the bedcovers one more time before leaving her mother’s bedroom.

* * *

When Betty appeared in the hall she looked better than before the operation but Kate suspected that the reason behind it was the drugs that she was taking.

“It’s so lovely to be home!” She turned to Damien. “Put my bag up to my room,” she ordered and he climbed the stairs without uttering a word.

“How have you been getting on?” she smiled at Kate.

Kate embraced her mother gently, careful not to bang into her tender torso. “It’s great to have you home.”

Philip and Gloria appeared from behind the kitchen door and welcomed Betty warmly.

“I’ll have a cup of tea first before I take a little rest,” she beamed.

Kate knew the next few weeks were going to be unbearable. Her mother liked to be the one rushing around doing all the household chores for everybody. What was she going to be like when she was unable to do anything herself?

* *  *

Even though it was
Rosa’s day off, she accompanied Annabel and her children down the twisting pathway that lead to the fisherman’s harbour. The brightly coloured marquees attracted visitors and locals alike.

“What do you buy here?”
Rosa asked.

“Homemade breads, jams, patés, cakes and so on . . . some stalls do speciality coffees and you can even get handmade jewellery.”

“Can I have a chocolate bunny?” Rebecca begged.

“We’ll see,” Annabel replied, knowing full well that her daughter would get one as always on a Sunday morning.

Although Annabel had taken the short walk many times to the market she felt an air of anticipation about this trip. She had to find out who organised it and how to get a stall. This was the start of a new and exciting venture that would give her life a sense of identity and achievement. She fancied herself as providing the stall that sold the best humus and people travelling from all over Dublin to buy her wares. It was only the start, something small, but something for herself, where she wasn’t known as Colin’s wife or the children’s mother.

Rebecca and Taylor were already at the counter where the delicate chocolate animals on a stick were sold. The Frenchman on the other side of the stand recognised Annabel as a frequent customer.

“
Bonjour, Madame,”
he smiled. His dark moustache widened as he took her money.

“Good morning,” she greeted him. “How are you today?”

“It is not raining so we are good,” he replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

“I was wondering if you could help me? I need to know who organises this market.”

“That is Sean Doonan – he will be here at half past three to collect money from traders who are in arrears.”

“You wouldn’t have a number for him, would you?”

The Frenchman shrugged again. He took his mobile phone out of his breast pocket and read out a phone number.

Annabel was quick to take the details down and was careful to thank him. After all, she could be working alongside him in a couple of weeks.

“Annabel, Annabel!” a voice called in the distance. The shrill singing quality in the voice meant it could only belong to Melissa.

Annabel turned around and caught a glimpse of the glamorous mum with her scrubbed and polished eight-year-old daughter and five-year-old son.

“Hi, Melissa, thanks again for the other night,” she said once Melissa was within earshot.

“That was my pleasure – wasn’t it a fabulous night!” Melissa sang.

Annabel nodded.

“I’m very pleased about getting Louise Kane to attend – I’m only sorry I couldn’t get
Image Magazine
.”

Annabel was appalled. Not because of what Melissa was saying but because
Image Magazine
had actually mattered to her a few short weeks ago – how could she have been so shallow? Louise Kane’s presence at her fortieth celebrations had only served to highlight Kate’s absence.

“You did way too much,” Annabel insisted. Way too much!

“Have you bought anything nice?” Melissa asked in her subtle enquiring tone.

“I’m actually doing a bit of research, Melissa,” she said reluctantly. “I’m thinking of setting up a stall.”

“Really?” Melissa was agog. “Doing what?”

“Making humus and salads to start, then maybe quiches.”

Melissa let out a little squeal. “Now you are teasing me!”

“No, honestly,” Annabel replied earnestly. “I want to start a stall with my own produce.”

“But why on earth would you do that?” Melissa asked, shaking her head in amazement.

Annabel had her answer ready. “A hobbie.”

“But you already play tennis!” Melissa gasped, showing how truly flummoxed she was by the revelation.

Annabel grinned internally, careful not to give any more away.

* * *

Shane straightened the lapels on his crisp white shirt.

“Where are you off to today?” Natasha asked, pulling herself up in the bed.

“Double
Paris, I’ll be back about eight o’clock,” he said as he knotted his tie in the dressing-table mirror.

“I’m going to Avoca for the day with
Trudy.”

“Have a good one,” he said, leaning over the bed to kiss her goodbye.

He had hopped out of their bed anxiously a good ten minutes earlier, on seeing that she was still asleep. She had opened her eyes as he shook the last drops of water from his body after his shower. He didn’t want to be in a position where she expected them to make love. Her demands were getting more and more frequent in her anxiety to get pregnant and he was beginning to feel like a stud stallion every time she suggested making love.

He grabbed his wallet from the bedside locker and put it into his back pocket as was his habit.

“See you later,” he smiled at his wife.

“Have a good day, and be careful!” she called, combing her long golden hair back with both her hands as she lay splayed out on the bed. She smiled smugly to herself. She loved being a pilot’s wife. She loved it even more than Shane if she were being honest. Shane had been dating her friend Maria when she spotted him on a flight to
Rome and she carefully had changed around her timetable for the following week to ensure that she was on all his flights. She cornered him on an overnight and told him about Maria’s little exploits with the other captains on the fleet. He was putty in her hands. Natasha was always good at manipulating people and getting what she wanted and now that she had the house and sports car of her dreams she was bored. A baby was the next accessory that she desired and as her sister had given birth only two months before she was losing patience with the whole pregnancy process. She ruffled down lower in the bed. Yes she was a lucky girl. Shane could afford to get a full-time nanny to help her after the baby was born so that her lifestyle wouldn’t be too impinged upon. Natasha had it all worked out.