Two For Joy
Authors: Patricia Scanlan
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Contents
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Dear God, this one's for you.
Thanks for all your help.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
Psalm 18.
When I sit down to write I light a candle and ask for inspiration to write the words that I am meant to write. To Jesus, Our Lady, St Joseph, Mother Meera, St Anthony, St Michael, and all my Angels, Saints and Guides I thank you so much for never failing me.
To my family, Mam and Dad, the best in the world, Donald, Hugh, Paul, Dermot, and Mary, Yvonne, Lucy, Rose, Catherine and Henry and to my nieces and nephews, the joys of my life. Fiona, Caitriona, Patrick, Laura, Rebecca, Tara and Rachel, and to our two new blessings, Matthew and Maria. Thank you all, I am so lucky and blessed to have such a lovely family.
To my godmother Maureen. My aunts Ita and Flo and all the Rosslare gang.
To the friends old and new, who enrich my life in so many ways.
To Breda, Kieran, Alison and Gillian, as dear as family.
To Deirdre Purcell (wise, witty and encouraging), Sheila O'Flanagan (computer whiz, thanks a million for printing out my MS when I was stuck!), Cathy Kelly (for the hilarious lunches and lovely emails), Anita Notaro (who's going to give us all a run for our money and who never forgets!), Anne Schulman (who says the nicest things) and to all my other writer friends, too numerous to mention, thanks for everything.
To Annette Tallon, Anne Jensen, Debbie Sheehy, Margaret Neylon, Ann Wiley, Margaret Daly, my stalwarts. All the characters in
Two for Joy
are fictitious except for Anne Jensen, who appears as herself.
To the âhhhonourable' Anne Barry.
âHere we go again, happy as can be, all good friends and jolly good companyâ¦'
I've never laughed as much in my life!
To Olive and Christy Lonergan, great neighbours.
To Ciara, Ruth, Heidi, Jenny and Ella, my colleagues in HHI, I'm having a ball, hope you are too!
To Ger McPartlin who bosses me around like nobody's business. You're the best in the world!
To Alil O Shaughnessy and Tony Kavanagh, for all the love and laughs.
To Frank Hession, who has such a good heart.
To Peter Orford for the photo and the kind phone call.
To Ray, Frank, Margaret and Gerry, AIB Finglas, who take the greatest care of me, and to Sinead Burke and Mary Burke for sound advice.
To Sarah, Felicity and Susannah, not only the best agents, but the best friends.
To Nikki, Jean, Laura, Michelle (and Pauline on the high seas!) of Nikki's Hair Salon. They know I love the âthinning scissors' so they indulge me.
To Francesca, editor and dear friend, and to all in Transworld. This one's going to be such fun! And to Carmel Fitzgerald, my publicist (the best there is). I'm in training! And to beautiful Bob who collects me at Heathrow and drives me around London when I'm on my trips. You're the icing on the cake!
To Gill Hess and his gang ⦠Hang on to your hats ⦠here we go!!!!!
To all in New Island, here's to OPEN DOOR 4.
To John Carty (and Olive) of The Endorphin Release Clinic and Mr John Byrne (and Maria) of the Bons, who'll have my back sorted one of these days and who show me nothing but kindness.
To Doctors Nuala O'Farrell, Fiona Dennehy and Frankie Fine, the best and nicest you could ever meet. Thank you.
Two very helpful members of staff of the HARI Unit in the Rotunda patiently answered my queries. Thank you both.
And to all my precious readers whose encouragement and appreciation give me such a lift. May your lives be full of joy like this book was for me. Thank you all, you're the ones who make it all worthwhile. Hope you enjoy
Two for Joy
as much as I enjoyed writing it.
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One for Sorrow
Two for Joy
Three for a Girl, Four for a Boy
Five for Silver, Six for Gold
Seven for a Secret Never to be Told
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âThe fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose.'
Hada Bejar
1
âDon't you dare do it before I do, Heather Williams,' Lorna Morgan warned her cousin imperiously. âBesides, you don't know him well enough, yet.'
âRelax, Lorna, do you think I'm mad? I don't want to get preggers.' Heather took a sip of her white wine spritzer.
âYeah, well, is he
really
the one you want to lose it to? You could do much better, you know.' Lorna arched her eyebrows dismissively.
âNeil's very nice once you get to know him,' Heather said defensively. She scowled. She hated it when her cousin slagged off her new boyfriend.
âHeather,' Lorna shook her head sagely, âyou always settle for second best. What is he? A mechanic working in his daddy's shack of a garage, in this poky, one-street town in the sticks. He's going nowhere fast.'
âDon't talk like that, Lorna Morgan! Kilronan isn't the sticks and Neil's going to take over his father's garage. He's got plans. He's going to expand, start selling cars as well as fixing them,' Heather retorted hotly.
âBig wow!' Lorna was not impressed.
âWell, we can't all date doctors' sons,' Heather snapped back sarcastically. âDerek Kennedy no doubt is going to be a consultant.'
âActually I'm thinking of ending it. He bores me.' Lorna sighed, a frown creasing her smooth forehead.
âFor God's sake, who are you looking for? Einstein? Would you give the bloke a chance.' Heather nibbled on a handful of peanuts. She shouldn't be eating them. She'd put on two pounds last week, but she had terrible PMT and she craved salt.
âWhy won't you move into a flat with me in Dublin? Then we could have a ball. We could socialize in Temple Bar, go night-clubbing, eat in fancy restaurants,' Lorna urged eagerly. âYou know it's a great place, the pubs and clubs are mega. We'd meet
real
men, Heather, not the clodhoppers we have to put up with in this place.'
Her cousin pouted sulkily as she took her hand mirror out of her bag and studied her reflection in it.
âCome on, Kilronan isn't that bad. And there's plenty of men here,' Heather argued. âLook at all the tourists we meet. You might meet a millionaire on one of the cruisers out on the lake one of these days.'
âOh for God's sake, stop talking nonsense. It's the back of beyonds and I'm sick of it. I'm not going to stay mouldering here for the rest of my life,' Lorna exclaimed tetchily.
âWell I like Kilronan. I like working in Mangan'sâ'
âDon't you want something more out of life? You'll be nineteen soon. I mean how old is that? Don't you
want
to go to clubs and drink champagne and be wined and dined in swanky restaurants? You're such a stick-in-the-mud, Heather. Sometimes you drive me mad!' Lorna glared at her cousin. âAt least bossy old Ruth has some get up and go.'
âDon't be such a wagon, and don't talk about my twin like that to me.' Heather flushed. âI'm going home. I've had enough of this crap for one night. See you at Oliver Flynn's wedding reception tomorrow night.' She drained her glass, picked up her bag and stalked out of Nolan's pub in high dudgeon. Just who did Lorna Morgan think she was? She was so superior. Let her go to Dublin and find Mister Wonderful and go clubbing and drink champagne if she wanted to, Heather was happy just where she was. She'd visited Ruth in Dublin often enough in the past year since her twin sister had moved to the city and she'd enjoyed herself, but she was always glad to get back to Kilronan. Heather frowned. Maybe she was dull and boring, she thought glumly. Lorna could always make her feel so inadequate. Lots of her friends had left home as soon as they were able to. Ruth certainly hadn't wasted any time, much to their parents' dismay.
She sighed as she pulled her scarf tighter around her neck and pulled up her hood. Grey damp swirls of mist rolled in off the lake. Heather shivered at the unseasonably cold weather. Two days ago they'd been enjoying an Indian summer. She was hungry. She and Lorna had planned to go for a pizza after their drink but that was knocked on the head now. She'd told her mother not to keep dinner for her, so she'd have to get a chippie. She hurried along North Road, past the hardware shop and the estate agent's and the small side road that led to the marina, and stepped into the welcoming warmth of Fred's Fast Food Emporium.
âSnack box and a portion of garlic mushrooms, please.' She gave her order to the girl behind the counter and went to sit at a table by the window. She wouldn't be seeing Neil tonight, he was in Dublin doing a business start-up course so it was OK to eat garlic mushrooms without worrying about having to kiss him, reeking of garlic. There were only a few people ahead of her. She'd missed the worst of the Friday evening rush.
The mist had turned into heavy rain that battered against the big plate-glass windows that faced on to the street. She saw Lorna's red Honda Civic scorch past and scowled. It hurt being called a stick-in-the-mud. OK, so she didn't have her cousin's glitz and glamour, but she was sociable and outgoing and she enjoyed life in her bustling, lakeside home town. She was a member of the drama society, the basketball team, the tennis club, as of course was Lorna, but Lorna considered it all far too parochial, instead of enjoying it all.
Lorna could always make her feel inferior and had done so since they'd been children. Ruth was always telling her to tell Lorna to go take a hike but somehow Heather could never bring herself to. Ruth and Lorna didn't get on. Ruth had no time for her prima-donna cousin and Lorna was jealous of the sisters' strong friendship. Thinking of some of the sizzling rows the pair had had over the years, Heather smiled in spite of herself.
âShe's just a stuck-up, spoilt little cow with notions, she always has to be the main course. Well, one day she'll find that she's just the leftovers,' Ruth fumed after a spat at a disco one night when Lorna had flirted with a fella that Ruth had her eye on. Ruth had been furious at her cousin's flighty behaviour as she watched the pair snog during a slow set, but Lorna didn't give a hoot and had ignored her cousin's frosty glower. Ruth had called her a tarty slut the next day and they hadn't spoken for weeks. Ruth was great at holding a grudge and keeping a fight going, but Heather always caved in after a day or two. She had no staying power when it came to rows. She hated falling out with people. If only she could be a bit more like her sister and her cousin, she reflected despondently.