Tara Road

'We're going to be meeting your relations out there, Gertie, Mam told us.' Annie was hoping to steer the conversation into safer channels.

But Gertie didn't seem all that pleased. 'Won't there be plenty of young American boys and girls for you in your own place without going all the way to Sheila's place or dragging them over to you?'

Annie shrugged. It was impossible to please people sometimes. 'Sure,' "she said.

'And will you be sure to tell your mother that everything's fine with me too, just fine, for weeks on end. She'll know what I mean.'

Annie agreed that she'd tell that to her mother. She knew what Gertie meant: Jack hadn't lifted a fist to her recently. Gertie was right, Mam would be pleased. Annie felt her eyes fill with tears. Mam was so kind in many ways, it was just that she didn't understand anything at all that was going on in the world. She knew nothing about clothes, and people's friendships, and how to keep Dad or get him back once he had gone away. And Mam didn't understand why she should put Brian down more and how awful Rosemary was. And she'd probably be terrific for the first ten minutes and then go back to being hopeless and understanding nothing. Annie sighed a deep sigh.

'Won't you have a great trip the pair of you?' Gertie said.

'We will. Finola gave us twenty dollars each to spend on the way,' Brian said cheerfully. Annie tried to stand on his foot but he was too far away.

'That was grand. Tell me, who is Finola?' Gertie asked.

'You know, Bernadette's mother,' Brian said. Annie rolled her eyes.

'That was kind of her, she must have plenty of money to give you all that.'

'No, she's broke, that's why she fought with Dad.'

'I don't think Brian quite understands the whole scene,' Annie began.

'But she told us, Annie, she told us, you're always saying I'm a moron and I'm brain-dead, but you must be deaf. She said she fought with Dad over money.'

'Brian, we'd better go now. Marilyn's expecting us, and we have to call in on Granny as well,' Annie pleaded.

'Well I hope she'll have more than those ginger-snaps,' he grumbled, red-faced and annoyed.

'No, don't worry, Colm's making your dinner,' Gertie said.

'Oh good.' Brian brightened up. Maybe he could talk to Colm about football and videos and not have to listen to Marilyn Vine and Annie talking about clothes.

'Listen, maybe I shouldn't have said that. If she doesn't tell you that he made it, don't say I told you. She might be passing it off as her own.' Gertie was contrite now.

'Oh, I'm sure Brian Lynch would be able to cope with that, Gertie—tactful, diplomatic, he'll handle it beautifully.'

'She's always picking on me, even before I do anything,' Brian said. 'Don't worry, Gertie, I'll say, "It's terrific, Marilyn, haven't you become a good cook!" That's what I'll say.'

Gertie put her hand into the pocket of the pink overall she wore in the launderette. 'Here's a pound each, I'd love to be able to give you more, but it'll get you an ice cream at the airport.'

'Thanks, Gertie, that's terrific,' said Brian. 'Hey, I wonder if Marilyn will give us anything.'

'Why don't we just stand at the gate of our house at Tara Road and shout out how much we want? Wouldn't that be a good idea?' Annie said with her face set in a fury as she marched her brother out of the launderette.

'Sheila, won't you come up this weekend?' Ria asked Gertie's sister on the phone.

'But you'll want to be alone with the children.'

'Don't believe it, they'll be bored with me in twenty minutes. I'd love you to bring your two over again.'

'They won't wait to be asked twice, they've never stopped talking about the pool,' Sheila said. 'So if you're sure?'

'I'm sure. Imagine, in only a few hours they'll be getting on the plane. I can't believe it.'

'You know I've been going over and over the conversation we had when you first came. I'm so sorry about thinking Danny was with you and asking about him. You must have thought I was so crass.'

'No, no.' Ria remembered her own conversation with Greg Vine. 'How could you expect to be inspired? If people aren't told things how would they know?'

'Gertie certainly keeps things very secretly to herself,' Sheila Maine said.

It was all quite clear now to Marilyn why Colm was so protective of his sister. The woman was hooked on drugs. Her husband, a coarse and flashily dressed man who had been present on the night of the restaurant debacle, did not look as if he would be any great help in such a situation. In fact he might well be part of it. Marilyn wished now that she had listened when Rosemary and Gertie had gone wittering on about Monto or whatever the man was called. She couldn't remember what he had done for a living or if it had been at all clear. Perhaps he might even have been involved in what his wife was addicted to.

What a truly extraordinary cast of people she had met since she had come to Ireland. Not for the first time she wished she were talking to Greg properly and could tell him about them. But at the moment she couldn't tell him anything.

'There's going to be a party in my house next weekend, Mrs. Lynch, if your daughter would like to come along.'

Ria bit her lip. Hubie had been so helpful and straight with her. Yet she didn't want to let Annie go to a party with a whole lot of young people that she didn't know. All she did know was that some of them had been involved in drinking and stealing motor bikes.

Hubie saw her reluctance. 'Hey, it's not going to be anything wild,' he said.

'No, of course not.' Suppose Annie got to know that her mother had refused a party for her before she even arrived, the summer would be off to a very poor start. And that appalling Kitty wouldn't be here to lead her astray. Ria forced a cheerful smile to her face. 'Hubie, that would be great, but we will have friends staying here that weekend and the boy Sean is about Annie's age… can he be included too?'

'Why not?' Hubie was easy.

Annie's social life was hotting up already. At least she would enjoy it more than the boat trip, Ria thought with some satisfaction.

'When we go in to Granny, if you ask for money I'll kill you there and then and let Pliers drag your body up and down the street before he devours it,' Annie said.

'I never ask anyone for money, they keep giving it to me,' Brian said. 'Howarya, Nora,' he said cheerfully as his grandmother opened the door. Annie still insisted on addressing her grandmother in a more traditional way.

'I'm fine,' Nora Johnson said. 'You don't have Kitty hidden in the hedge or anything?'

'No,' Annie sighed. 'I suppose Bernadette was on red alert about that. God, she missed her vocation, she shouldn't be teaching music, she should be running a prison.'

Nora Johnson smothered a laugh. She had been amused by the phone calls from that strange waif-like girl that Danny Lynch was shacked up with. Bernadette Dunne was no better herself than Kitty. What was she but a fast little piece making off with someone else's husband, proud as punch to be an unmarried mother?

Still, to give her her due, she did follow Ria's instructions, which was more than Danny did. Danny seemed to be on another planet, and everywhere Nora Johnson went heads were wagging over his future. She had even broken the habit of a lifetime and asked Lady Ryan if there was any truth in the rumours. Rosemary Ryan had bitten the head off her. 'There's nothing wrong with Danny and Barney's business except gossiping old biddies trying to spread scandal about him because he left Ria.' Nora hoped that she was right.

'Imagine, this time tomorrow night you'll be in America.'

'I wish Marilyn had children,' Brian grumbled.

'If she had she'd have brought them with her, you wouldn't have them to play with out there,' Nora said.

'Mam didn't take us with her,' Brian said unanswerably.

'She does have a child but he's with his father in Hawaii, Mam told us ages ago, you just didn't listen,' Annie put in.

'Well, he's no use to us in Hawaii,' Brian said. 'Were you about to make tea, Nora?'

'I thought the pair of you were going down home for your supper.'

'Yes, well…'

Nora got out orange squash and biscuits.

'Why did you never go to America, Granny?' Annie asked.

'In my day working-class people only went to America to emigrate, they didn't go on holidays.'

'Are we working class?' Brian asked with interest.

Nora Johnson looked at her two confident, bright grandchildren and wondered what class they might consider themselves at the end of the summer when, according to informed opinion, their beautiful home would be sold. But she said nothing of that.

'You're to have a great holiday and you're to send me four postcards, one a week, do you hear?'

'I think postcards are dear out there,' Brian said.

'You're as bad as your Aunty Hilary… I was going to give you a fiver anyway for spending money.'

At that time by chance Pliers gave a great wail.

'I didn't ask for the money,’ Brian cried out, remembering that Annie had threatened to feed his body to the dog.

'No, Brian, of course you didn't,' Annie said menacingly.

It was very odd to go into their own home as guests. And even more odd to find the place so quiet. When they had been here with Mam only a month ago there were always people coming in and out. It wasn't like that now.

'Where's Clement?' Annie asked. 'He's not in his chair.'

'He may be upstairs, I'm sure he'll come down when he smells the food.'

'Clement doesn't go upstairs,' Brian began, then catching Annie's eye he changed tack hastily. 'What I mean is… he used not to be much interested in going upstairs. But maybe he's changed now.'

Marilyn hid a smile. 'I've got a wonderful supper for us from Colm,' she said. 'I checked what you'd both like.'

They helped her set the table as the food was warming in the oven. It was so different to the time when they had come first and she had found them hard going.

'Have you packed everything?'

'I think so,' Annie said. 'Mam e-mailed a list of what we should take to Dad's office. Imagine her being able to use machines.'

'She uses all these machines here.' Marilyn waved around at the food processors and high-tech kitchen equipment. Recently she had felt a very strong protective sense about Ria. She wouldn't have anyone criticise her, enough bad luck had come into her life already.

'Oh that's just kitchen stuff,' Annie said loftily. 'Mam would learn anything if it had to do with the house.'

'Maybe she's broadening out.'

'Are you broadening out here?' Brian was interested.

'In a way yes, I'm doing things that I wouldn't normally do at home. It's probably the same for your mother.'

'What do you do that's so different?' Annie was interested. 'I mean you liked gardening and walking and reading at home, you said, and you're doing all that here.'

'That's true,' Marilyn said thoughtfully. 'But I feel different inside somehow. Maybe it's the same with your mother.'

'I hope she feels more cheerful about Dad and everything,' Brian said.

'Well, being away from the problem is a help certainly.'

'Did it help you feel better about your husband?' Brian wanted to know. He looked nervously at Annie, waiting for her to tell him to shut up and call him a thicko but she obviously wanted to know too, so for once she said nothing.

Marilyn shifted a little uncomfortably at the direct question. 'It's a bit complicated. You see I'm not separated from my husband. Well, I am of course, since he's in Hawaii and I'm here, but we didn't have an argument, a fight or anything.'

'Did you just go off him?' Brian was trying to be helpful.

'No, it wasn't that, and before you ask I don't think he went off me. It's just we needed some time to be alone and then perhaps it will be all right, maybe at the end of the summer.'

'Do you think Mam and Dad might be all right after the summer too?' Poor Brian's face was so eager that Marilyn felt a lump in her throat. She couldn't think of anything helpful to say.

'There's the little matter of Bernadette and the baby,' Annie said, but she spoke more gently than usual.

'And did your husband not have anyone young who was going to have a baby?' Brian was clutching at straws.

'No, that wasn't it at all.'

'Well then there's not much hope,' Brian said. He looked as if he was about to cry.

'Brian, can you do me a favour? I have a horrible feeling that Clement may have gone to sleep on my bed, on your mother's bed, and we don't want him to get into bad habits. Do you think you could go up and rescue him?'

'He's really Annie's cat.' Brian's lip was trembling but he knew too well Annie's territorial attitude to Clement and didn't want to risk being bawled out over it.

'It's okay, get him down,' Annie agreed. When he had gone upstairs Annie apologised for him. 'He's very dumb,' she said.

'And young,' Marilyn added.

'He still thinks it will end all right,' Annie sighed.

'And you, Annie, what do you think?'

'I think as long as Mam is able to keep this house, she'll survive somehow.'

Danny came home late. Bernadette sat curled in her armchair, the table was set for two. 'Where are the children?' he asked.

Bernadette raised her eyes slowly to him. 'I beg your pardon?' she said.

'Where are Annie and Brian?'

'Oh. I see. Not… hallo Bernadette, or I love you sweetheart, or it's good to be home. Well, since you ask where the children are, try to remember back as far as breakfast when they said they were going to make a series of calls saying goodbye to people like your mother-in-law, my mother, Marilyn, whoever, and you said they were to be home by ten at the latest.'

He was instantly contrite. 'Jesus, Bernadette, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry and crass and stupid and selfish. I had a day—boy, did I have a day, but that's not your fault. Forgive me.'

'Nothing to forgive,' she shrugged.

'But there is,' he cried. 'You've given up everything for me and I come in and behave like a boor.'

'I gave up nothing for you, it was you who gave up a lot for me.'

Her voice was calm and matter-of-fact as if she were explaining something to a child. 'Let me get you a drink, Danny.'

'It might make me worse.'

'Not a long, cool, very weak whiskey sour, it's mainly lemonade.' 'I'm no company for you, a grumpy old man harassed by work.' 'Shush.' She handed him the drink and raised the level on the player a little. 'Brahms, he works magic all the time.'

Danny was restless, he wanted to talk. But Brahms and the whiskey sour did their work. He felt his shoulders relaxing, the frown-lines going from between his eyes. In many ways there was nothing to talk about. What was the point of giving Bernadette a blow-by-blow account of the unpleasantness in the office today? How Larry their bank manager had been downright discourteous on the telephone. How a big businessman had pulled out of a consortium that was going to do a major development in Wicklow because he said Barney and Danny were unreliable, possibly tainted partners. How Polly had called to warn them that the word was out they were on the skids. How Barney had proved elusive and distant over all these matters as if it didn't really concern him.

And, worst of all, Danny's niggling fear that the personal guarantee he had given to Barney on Number 16 Tara Road would be called in and that he would lose the house. And not only would there be no home for Ria and the children but there would be nothing to sell. Some things were too huge to talk about, Bernadette was quite right not even to attempt it.

Clement sat in his chair but glanced wistfully at the door that would take him back to the big comfortable bed with its white counterpane where he had been sleeping happily for so long.

As she served Colm's food, Marilyn told them more about Westville. She explained the alumni weekend and how everyone would come back and tell each other how young they looked. 'My husband will be coming back from Hawaii so you'll meet him then.'

'Will he be staying in the house, your house?' Annie asked.

'Yes, apparently your mother very kindly said he could.'

'Will your son be coming back too?'

'I beg your pardon?'

'Your son? Isn't he in Hawaii with Mr Vine?'

'My son?'

Annie didn't like the look on Marilyn's face. 'Um yes.'

'Who told you that?'

'Mam did.'

'Your mother said that Dale was in Hawaii?'

'She didn't say his name but she said his room was all there ready for him to come back.'

Marilyn had gone very white.

Brian didn't notice. 'Will he be there when we're there? Maybe we could have competitions with the basketball?'

'Did your mother say anything more?' Marilyn's voice was scarcely above a whisper now.

Annie was very alarmed. 'I think she said she'd asked Mr Vine about him but she didn't get any details so she doesn't know if he's going to be coming back or not.'

'Oh my God,' Marilyn said.

'I'm very sorry… should I not have asked? Is anything… wrong?' Annie began.

'What is it?' Brian asked. 'Is he not in Hawaii? Did he run away?'

'I see now what he meant,' Marilyn said.

'What?'

'Greg said that your mother sounded very religious…'

'She's not a bit religious,' Brian said disapprovingly. 'Nora always says she's heading for the hob of hell.'

'Shut up, Brian,' Annie said automatically.

'What a stupid thing to do. I never stopped to think that of course that's what she would imagine.' Marilyn looked utterly anguished.

'So he's not in Hawaii?' Annie asked.

'No.'

'Where is he then?' Brian was getting tired of this.

'He's dead,' Marilyn Vine said. 'My son Dale is dead.'

Danny felt a lot calmer after an hour. Perhaps he was just exaggerating the situation. Bernadette drifted into the kitchen to prepare the smoked chicken salad. There was never any hiss of pots boiling, souffles rising, pastry-making covering the whole place with flour. He had never known how gentle and undemanding life could be, how free from frenzied activity. And there was more than enough of that in the office.

'Have I three minutes to make a call?' he asked.

'Of course.'

He dialled Finola. 'This is Danny Lynch. I wanted to apologise very sincerely for my bad temper with you.'

'I expect the children asked you to do this.'

'No, not at all, they're not here.'

'Or Bernadette?'

'You know your daughter better than that, she has never mentioned it. Not once. No, this is from me. I was out of order.'

'Well, Danny, what can I say?' She sounded totally nonplussed.

'The answer to your question is that our company is in financial trouble, but I am utterly certain we will get out of it. We have plenty of assets. Bernadette will not be left destitute, believe me.'

'I believe you, Danny, and thank you. Perhaps I should not have asked. It's just that you have so many other responsibilities as well as Bernadette.'

'They'll be looked after, Finola. Are we friends now?'

'We always were,' she said.

He hung up and saw Bernadette watching him from the doorway. 'You are a hero,' she said. 'It's just as simple as that.'

In the kitchen of Number 16 Tara Road a silence had fallen.

Eventually it was broken by Brian. 'Did he have an awful disease or something?' he asked.

'No, he was killed. A motor-cycle wreck.'

'What did he look like? Did he have red hair like you?' Annie asked.

'Yes. Even though we have no Irish blood at all, both Greg and I have reddish hair, so for poor Dale there was no escape. We're both tall, so he was tall too. And lean. And sporty. He had braces on his teeth, you know lots of the kids in the States do.'

'It's coming in here a bit too,' Brian said, not wanting Ireland to be left behind.

'Sure it is. He was one great kid. Every mother thinks her son is the best in the world, I was no different.'

'Have you a picture of him, a photograph?' Annie asked.

'No, none at all.'

'Why not?'

'I don't know. It would make me too sad, I suppose.'

'But you have pictures of him at home; Mam said he was very good-looking and he had a lovely smile. That's why I was sort of hoping he'd be there,' Annie said.

'Yes.'

'I'm sorry.'

'No, it's all right, he was good-looking.'

'Did he have any girlfriends?'

'No, Annie, I don't think so, but then what does a mother know?'

'Bet he did, you can see it in all the movies. They start very young over in America,' Brian said wisely.

And they sat and talked on about the dead Dale until Annie realised that Commanding Officer Bernadette would be on the warpath and they'd better go.

'I'll drive you,' Marilyn offered.

They saw Rosemary on the street. Marilyn looked at Annie as if asking whether she wanted to stop and say goodbye to her mother's friend. Imperceptibly Annie shook her head. Marilyn accelerated so they wouldn't be noticed. She was very relieved. She found it increasingly hard to give the barely civil greetings that were required between neighbours. Interesting that Annie seemed to feel the same way.

Marilyn left the children at the end of their road. She had no wish to engage in any kind of conversation with Danny Lynch or his new love. She drove back to Tara Road, her mind churning.

When she parked at Number 16 she realised with a sense of shock that she didn't really remember the journey. Yet she must have taken the correct turns and given the appropriate signals. Marilyn felt very ashamed. This was how accidents were caused, just as much as by speeding, people driving with their minds somewhere else. She was shaking as she parked Ria's car and let herself into the house. She went and sat down at the table. Ria had left three cut-crystal decanters on the sideboard. In her note she had said that they were mainly for show, since she and Danny had always drunk bottles of inexpensive wine. She hoped that the contents were still drinkable and if so Marilyn was to help herself. There was a little brandy in one, something that looked like port in another and sherry in the third. With a shaking hand Marilyn poured herself a brandy.

What had happened today? What had changed so that she could talk about Dale, tell strangers that he had freckles on his nose and braces on his teeth? Admit that she couldn't carry a picture of him in case she would convulse with grief just by looking at it? Why had the direct questions of two children whom she hardly knew released these responses that her husband, friends, colleagues could not make her give?

It was almost dark now but the reds and gold of the sunset had not disappeared totally from the sky. She was living in a house and a city that Dale had never seen. Nobody here had known her when she was a mother, a loving fulfilled mother with a future ahead of her. They only knew her as frosty, buttoned-up Marilyn Vine, and yet some of them still liked her. She had met people who had problems as bad as hers. For the very first time since the tragedy she now knew this was true.

People had told her to count her blessings but had not been able to think of one blessing that was worth mentioning in the context of her own great loss. And nothing Greg or anyone had said had helped at all.

It was stupid to think that she had turned a corner in one night. Marilyn was not a person who believed in miracle cures. It was an emotional occasion, that was all. These two living children were going to go to 1024 Tudor Drive where Dale Vine had played and slept and studied in his short life. They would make friends as he had done, and swim in the swimming pool where he had dived. They might even find the stopwatch and time each other and their mother as he had timed her when he was alive. 'Come on, Mom, you can do better than that,' he would shout. And she had done better.

She sipped her brandy and noticed that there were tears on her hand. She hadn't even realised she was crying. She had never let herself cry before and had dismissed as pop psychologists those who told her she must let go and give in to sorrow. Now she sat weeping in this darkening room with the sounds of a foreign city around her, the different traffic noises, the cries of children with Irish accents, and the birds with unfamiliar calls.

The great ginger cat sat looking at her on another chair. She was drinking brandy and crying. She had said his name aloud, and the world had not ended. Annie and Brian had asked questions about him. What would he have done as a career? Did he eat meat, which were his favourite film stars, what books did he read? They had even asked what kind of a motor bike he was riding when he was killed. She had answered all these questions and volunteered more information, told them stories about funny things that had happened at Thanksgiving, or Dale's school play or the time of the great snowstorms.

Dale. She tried again, fearfully, but no, it hadn't disappeared. She could say his name now. It was extraordinary. It must have been there the whole time and she hadn't known. And now that she knew, there was nobody she could tell. It would be cruel and unfair to telephone her husband, poor baffled hurt Greg wondering what he had done wrong and how he had failed her. It would be so wrong to call him in Hawaii, and say that something had happened to unlock her prison. It might just be because she was here in a place he had never known. But Marilyn believed that it was more than that. She needn't fear going to a place where Dale had been, somewhere where she had seen him smile and rush up with yet another new enthusiasm.

She always knew that Dale had loved her own spirit of adventure, her willingness to learn. She had followed his lead in everything, to be a stronger swimmer, a demon at computer games, Sumo wrestling fan, and gin rummy player. Only at motor bikes had she turned away from him. For month after weary month she had agonised in case it had all been her fault. Suppose she had promised him a bike when he was the age to drive one, then he might not have gone along with those wild boys and their dangerous drunken plans. But tonight somehow she felt a little differently.

Annie had said in a matter-of-fact way that of course you couldn't let him mess around with motor bikes, it would have been like letting him play with a gun. And Brian had said, 'I expect he's up in heaven and he's very sorry he caused you all this trouble.'

And nothing anyone had said before, since the moment she had been told the news about the accident, had made any sense at all until this. She put her head down on the table and cried all the tears that she knew she should have cried in the past year and a half. But they weren't ready then, they were now.

Ria drove to the next town and got the bus to Kennedy Airport. A month ago Marilyn had made this journey, a whole month. And in another thirty days Ria would be going home. She closed her eyes and wished hard that this would be a wonderful, unforgettable month for the children. It was no longer a matter of trying to outdo what Danny and Bernadette had given them. That seemed unimportant just now. They deserved a holiday, a good time, the feeling of hope, the prospect that the future might not be grim.

She would not lose her patience with Annie and boss her and tell her what to do. Annie was a young woman, she would let her find her own level in this quiet sheltered place. Much, much safer in many ways than a capital city like Dublin. And, mercifully, three thousand miles away from Kitty. She would not let Brian's gaffes irritate her. There was no way you could impress anyone with Brian, she must learn to stop trying. He would say the most insensitive things to everyone. He would ask John and Gerry why they weren't married, Heidi why she didn't have children, Carlotta why she spoke funny English. There were acres of minefields for Brian to plough through. At no stage would she be ashamed of him or urge him to be more thoughtful.

She ached to put her arms around him and for him not to pull away in embarrassment. She yearned for Annie to say, 'Mam, you look terrific you've got a suntan, I really missed you.' All the way to the airport Ria forced herself not to live in a world of dreams. It wasn't going to be perfect just because they hadn't seen her for thirty days.

Remember that, Ria, remember it. Grow up, grow up and live in the real world.

Danny rang the bell of Rosemary's flat. It was ten o'clock at night. Rosemary was working at her desk, she put away her papers. She looked at herself in the mirror, fluffed up her hair, sprayed on some expensive perfume and pressed the buzzer to let him come up.

'Why won't you take a key, Danny? I've asked you often enough.'

'You know why, it would be too much temptation, I'd be here all the time.' He gave her the lopsided smile that always turned her heart over.

'I wish.' Rosemary smiled at him.

'No, I suppose the truth is I'd be afraid I'd come in and find you in flagrante with someone else.'

'Unlikely.' She was crisp.

'Well, you have been known to indulge,' he accused.

'Unlike yourself,' Rosemary said. 'Drink?'

'Yes, and you'll need one too.'

Rosemary stood calm and elegant in her navy dress by the drinks trolley. She poured them two large Irish whiskeys then sat down on her white sofa, her back straight and ankles crossed like a model.

'You were born graceful,' he said.

'You should have married me,' she said.

'Our timing was wrong. You're a businesswoman—you know that the secret of the universe is timing.'

'All this philosophy didn't stop you leaving Ria for someone else, and not for me, but we've been through all that. What are we drinking to? A success or a disaster?'

'You never lose control, do you?' He seemed both admiring and annoyed at the same time.

'You know I do, Danny.'

'I'm finished…'

'You can't be. You've a lot of fire insurance.'

'We've called it all in.'

'What about the Lara development?' This was their flagship, the forty-unit apartment block with the leisure club. The publicity had been enormous, every unit had been sold and resold long before completion. It was what was going to make them turn the corner.

'We lost it today.'

'What in God's name is Barney at? He's meant to have these hotshot advisers.'

'Yes, but apparently they need collateral… that we're not so strong on.' He looked tired and a little rueful.

Rosemary could not accept the seriousness of what he was saying. Anyone else whose business had been wiped out would be hysterical, fuming with rage, or frightened. Danny looked like a small boy who had been caught in somebody's orchard. Regretful, that was how he appeared.

'What are you going to do? she asked.

'What can I do, Rosemary?'

'Well you can stop being so bloody defeatist, you can go out there and ask. Ask somebody for the support. Stop being so goddamn noble about it, it's only money when all's said and done.'

'Do you think so?' He looked unsure now, not the cocky Danny who could conquer the world.

'I know so. And you know it too. We are two of a kind, we didn't get where we are by bleating. We've all had to humble ourselves from time to time. By God I know I have, and you've had to too.’

'All right, I will,' he said suddenly. His voice was stronger than before.

'That's better,' she said.

'Lend me the money, Rosemary, lend it to me now. I'll double it as I did with everything.' She looked at him open-mouthed in shock. He went on. 'I won't let Barney near it, he's past it and I owe him nothing. This will be my investment, our investment. I'll tell you what we'll do. I have a complete business plan…' He took out two sheets of paper with columns of figures written on them.

She looked at him, aghast. 'You're serious?' Rosemary said. 'You really are.'

He appeared not to notice her shock. 'Nothing's typed up, I didn't want to use the machines in the office but it's all here…' He moved to sit beside her on the sofa to show her what he had written.

Rosemary leapt to her feet. 'Don't be ridiculous, Danny, you're embarrassing us both.'

'I don't understand…' He was bewildered.

'You're demeaning us, what we have, what we were to each other. I beg you don't ask again.'

'But you have money, Rosemary, property, a business…'

'Yes.' Her voice was cold.

'You have all that, I have nothing. You have no dependants, I have people hanging out of me at every turn.'

'That's your choice to have people hanging out of you.'

'If you were in trouble, Rosemary, I'd be in there helping you.'

'No you wouldn't. Don't give me that line, it's sentimental and it's not worthy of you.'

'But I would, you know I would,' he cried. 'You're my great friend, we all help friends.'

'Neither of us helped Colm Barry. He asked us both to invest and we wouldn't. You wouldn't even bring clients there until it was successful.'

'That's different.'

'It's not. It's exactly the same.'

'Colm was a loser, I'm not a loser.'

'He's not a loser now but by God you will be, Danny, if you go round asking your lovers for support to help you keep your wife and your pregnant mistress.'

'I don't have any lovers except you, I never did.'

'Of course. Perhaps Orla King has hit the big time now as an international singer and she might bankroll you. Grow up, Danny.'

'I love you, Rosemary. I always have loved you. Don't throw everything back in my face. I just made a mistake, that's all. Surely you've done that occasionally?'

'You made two mistakes, one called Ria and one called Bernadette.'

He smiled slowly. 'Yet you didn't leave me over either of them, now did you?'

'If that's your trump card, Danny, it's a poor one. I stayed with you for sex, from desire not love. We both know that.'

'Well even then, can't you see that this would work…?' He indicated the papers again, thinking even at this late stage that she might read them and reconsider. She put her glass down firmly, showing that it was time to go.

'Rosemary, don't be like this. Listen, we're friends as well as… as well as the passion and desire bit. Won't that make you think that you might be able… ?' His voice trailed away as he looked at her cold face. He made one last try. 'If I had my own business, sweetheart, and you were involved in it, we'd be able to see each other much more often.'

'I've never had to pay for sex in my life and I don't intend to start now.' She opened the door of the apartment that they had so long planned for. They had spent hours on their own, planning what they jokily called a love-nest, while in front of Barney it was a stylish investment property, and for Ria they had called it an elegant new home for Ria's friend.

'You're throwing me out,' he said, looking at her, head on one side.

'I think it's time you left, Danny.'

'You know how to kick someone so that it hurts.'

'You did that twice to me. You didn't know you were doing it when you married Ria, but you sure as hell knew it when you couldn't even tell me about Bernadette and I had to hear it from your wife.'

'I'm sorry,' he said. 'There are some things which are so difficult…'

'I know.' Her voice was momentarily softer. 'I do know. It's not that easy for me to let you go to the wall. But Danny, I will not even contemplate financing two different homes for you, while I sit here alone. If you can't understand that then you understand nothing and you deserve to go under.'

When he was gone she went out on her roof garden terrace. She needed the air to clear her head. There was almost too much to take in. The only man she had ever fancied in her whole life had grovelled to her. He had not been his old slick, confident self. He had really begged her to help him. It gave her no pleasure to remember how she had refused him. There was no sense of power in withholding money from him. But there would have been terrible weakness in giving it to him, in paying him for his mistakes.

It gave her no satisfaction to let him go under. What she wanted was for things to be different. For Danny to desire her so strongly and permanently that he would give up everything else for that alone. This, she realised, is what she must have wanted him to do all the time. Rosemary had always thought that she was so strong, she was a woman like Polly who could live her life and keep love in its place.

In so many ways Barney and Danny were alike, urgent and ambitious, men for whom one woman would never be enough. What they needed were tough strong partners, women who could provide them with passion without making irritating demands. Danny and Barney were so alike in their belief that they could conquer the world.

And suddenly she realised that they were alike in other ways too. They loved two kinds of women, the ones they married and those they kept on the side. They married Madonnas—the quiet, worthy Mona and the earnest, optimistic Ria. But to her great annoyance, Rosemary realised that Bernadette had been cast in the Madonna-role too. She hadn't realised how angry that made her feel. How had Bernadette sneaked in there somehow?

Was it possible that after all Rosemary did love Danny Lynch? She had told herself a million times that the words she would use were desire, appreciate and fancy. Love was never meant to be any part of it. Surely it couldn't be developing at this entirely inappropriate stage?

At times like these Ria wished she were taller. It was infuriating to have to jump up and down but unless she did she couldn't see the passengers coming through. And then she saw them. They wheeled a luggage trolley with their two suitcases on it, their eyes raking the crowds. They each carried a small grip bag. Those were new. Ria wondered with a pang who had bought those particular gifts. It was a good idea to have something that would hold sweaters, books, comics, games. Why had she not thought of that?

She forced herself not to shout out their names, neither of them would want the attention called to them. Instead she ran to a corner where she could reach out when they passed by. Don't hold them too long or too tight, she told herself. She waved with all the Irish Americans who waved for their families and friends. And they saw her. With a lump in her throat Ria saw their faces light up and they both broke into a run.

'Mam!' Brian cried, and ran towards her. It was he who hugged longer.

Ria had to release him to reach for Annie. She seemed taller, slimmer, but this couldn't be. Not in four weeks. 'You're beautiful, Annie,' Ria said.

'We missed you, Mam,' Annie said into her mother's hair.

It was as good a reunion as Ria could have wished for as she had sat on the bus impatient for their arrival. Ria had decided she would take them into Manhattan, show them the big sights, take them on the Circle Line tour, and behave like a native New Yorker pointing out everything from the Hudson and East Rivers. She had already done this tour herself, she knew what it could offer. But then she thought, they'll be tired, and everything in America will be new for them anyway, even being on a bus over here will be exciting. Take them home to Tudor Drive, let them swim, let them see their new home.

Back in Tara Road Ria would have had many people to discuss this with over the past few days. There would have been phone calls and cups of coffee and the whole thing would have been argued to the bone. Here there was nobody. It would seem feeble somehow to lay such issues in front of Carlotta, and Heidi, young Hubie Green, John and Gerry from the gourmet shop. Nowadays Ria Lynch made up her own mind about things, matters were no longer arranged by long committee discussions with coffee and shortbread.

'We're going straight back to Westville,' she said, an arm lightly round each of their shoulders. 'I want to show you your summer home.'

They seemed pleased, and with her heart light and happy Ria marched her little family to the bus.

Heidi was looking at her e-mail with amazement. There was a message from Marilyn in Dublin.

Heidi, I found a Cyber cafe and decided to seize the opportunity. Thank you so much for your air letters, you are good to keep in touch. I miss you and Henry. There are lots of things I imagine myself telling you about Dublin and the way people live. I've been through Trinity College which is quite beautiful, and absolutely in the centre of the city, it's as if Dublin was built all around it. I'm glad to hear that you have been socialising with Ria, she sounds a great cook and a wonderful homemaker. Her children are going over to Tudor Drive today, a very bright girl called Annie just a year younger than Dale, and Brian who should be the hero of some cartoon series and one day will be. I'll miss them. I wonder if you could possibly arrange some kind of treat for them? If there's anything like a circus or a pop star or Wild West Show coming to the area. It's just that I'm afraid they'll find Tudor Drive a bit dull after Dublin and I really do want them to have a good time. I'd so much appreciate it, Heidi. You can't mail me back here sadly but I'll be in touch again. Love Marilyn.

Heidi read the screen three times then she printed it out to take home and show to her husband. Marilyn Vine wanted people to get involved in her life. She thought Tudor Drive might be dull for two strange children. But most startling of all she had mentioned Dale.

She had actually used his name.

Polly Callaghan heard Barney's key in the lock. He looked a little tired but not as tired as he deserved to look with all that was happening to him.

'Come in, you poor divil,' she said with a big warm smile.

'It's not good news, Poll.'

'I know it's not,' she said. 'Look, I've got the evening paper, I've been looking through Accommodation to Let for places to stay.'

He put his hand on hers. 'I'm so ashamed. First your businesss now your apartment.'

'They were never mine, Barney, they were yours.'

'They were ours,' he said.

'So what's the bottom line? What date do I leave?'

'By September the first.'

'And your own house?'

'It’s in Mona's name.'

'As this flat is in mine.'

'I know.' He looked wretched.

'And is she being as good a sport as I am? Giving it up without a murmur?'

'I don't know, she's not in possession of all the facts, if you understand.'

'Well, she will be this week, you'll be declared a bankrupt.'

'Yes. Yes. We'll get back, Poll, we always did before.'

'I think this may be a bit heavy,' she said.

'They tell us to take risks, they advise us to be adventurous, entrepreneurs even, and then when we do they bloody leave us in the gutter.' He sounded very bitter.

'Who do? Banks?'

'Yes, banks, big business consortiums, civil servants, architects, politicians…'

'Will you go to gaol?'

'No, not a possibility.'

'And you do have some money outside the country?'

'No, Poll, hardly anything. I was vain you know, I believed my own publicity. I brought it all back for schemes like Number 32 Tara Road, like the Lara development. And look where it got me.'

'Talking about Tara Road…' Polly Callaghan began.

'Don't remind me, Poll, telling them is as bad as telling Mona.'

They chattered all the time on the bus.

There had been a well-known singer on the plane, up in the front in first class, but Brian and Annie had seen him as they went to view the flight deck. They asked him to sign his menu. Annie had seen him first but he could see Brian's disappointment so he had signed another for him. The pilots did nothing on the plane at all except sit there apparently. The whole thing was done by radar and computers on the ground. You didn't have to pay for Coke or Pepsi or orange on the plane, it was free.

Granny was fine, they hadn't seen Hilary but apparently she and Martin were looking for a new house. Gertie had sent a message. What was it? Brian couldn't remember.

'She said to tell you Jack wasn't belting her,' Annie said. Ria was startled.

Brian looked up with interest. 'She didn't say that, I'd have remembered,' he said.

Ria intervened. 'That was just a joke,' she said.

Annie caught the tone. 'Of course it was a joke, Brian, you've no sense of humour,' she said. 'What Gertie said was to tell you that everything was going fine in the launderette and everywhere, and that you'd be glad to know that.'

Ria smiled at her daughter. Annie was growing up. 'And how's your dad?' She kept the question light.

'Fussed,' Annie said.

'Broke,' Brian said.

'I'm sorry to hear both of those things.' Ria knew this was a slippery slope and she must leave it as soon as possible. 'Look, I brought a map to show you where we're going.' She pointed out the route and told them about thruways and highways and turnpikes, but all the time her mind kept going back to these two words. Fussed and broke. Danny had been neither of those things when he lived with her. What a fool he was! What a stupid fool to leave her and his children, and to end up not blissfully happy as he had thought but broke and fussed.

They couldn't believe that Mam could drive on the wrong side of the road. 'It's sort of automatic unless you're coming out of a gas station, then it's dangerously easy to set off on the left instead of the right.'

'Coming out of a what?' Annie asked.

'Petrol station. Sorry, I'm picking up the language,' Ria said, laughing.

They loved the house. 'My God, that's like a film star's swimming pool,' Annie said.

'Will we have a swim now?' Brian wanted to know.

'Why not? I'll show you your rooms and we'll all change.'

'You're going to swim too?' Annie was surprised.

'Oh, I swim twice a day,' Ria said. With her first earnings from the delicatessen she had bought a smart new swimsuit. She was anxious to show it off to the children. 'Annie, this is your room, I put flowers in it, there's lots of closet space… lots of presses in it. And Brian you're over here.'

They flung their suitcases on their beds and began to throw the clothes out. Ria was touched to see the e-mail that she had sent to Danny's office telling them what to pack taped inside the lid of Annie's suitcase. 'Did Dad do that for you, help you pack?' she asked.

'No, Bernadette did. Mam, you wouldn't believe Dad these days… he honestly hardly noticed we were leaving.'

'And is he broke, do you think?'

'I don't know, Mam, there's a lot of chat about it certainly but if he were he'd tell you, wouldn't he?' Ria was silent. 'He'd have to, Mam.'

'Yes, of course he would. Let's all get changed and go swim.'

Brian, already in his bathing trunks, was investigating the house. He opened the door to Dale's room that Ria had meant to lock until she could explain. 'Hey, look at all this!' he said in amazement, looking at the posters on the wall, the books, the music centre, the clothes and the brightly coloured cushions and rug on the bed. 'This is a room.'

'Well I must explain…' Ria began.

Annie was in there too, she was running her hand across the photographs framed on the wall. 'He is good-looking, isn't he?'

'Look at all the pictures of wrestlers! Aren't they enormous!' Brian was examining pictures of giant Sumos.

'And this must have been his school play,' Annie said. 'Let me see, oh there he is.'

'I must tell you about this room,' Ria began.

'I know, it's Dale's room.' Annie was lofty, she knew everything.

'But what you don't understand is that he won't be coming back.'

'No, he's dead, he was killed on a motor bike,' Brian said.

'How do you know?'

'Marilyn told us all about it. Let's see, can you see the braces on his teeth? Look, they're only like little dots.' Annie was examining a close-up picture of Dale shovelling snow. 'That must have been when they had the snowstorm and Dale dug out a path for them in the middle of the night as a surprise.'

'She told you all this?' Ria was astounded.

'Yes, why did you tell us he was in Hawaii?' Annie wanted to know.

'Not to upset us maybe?' Brian suggested.

'I got it wrong,' Ria said humbly.

'Typical Mam,' said Annie as if this was no surprise to her but no big deal either. 'Come on, Mam, let's swim. Hey that's a nice swimming cozzy. And you're much browner than we are, but we'll catch up, won't we, Brian?'

'Sure we will.'

Gertie was walking past Number 32 Tara Road when Rosemary came out.

'You're the very person I wanted to meet,' Rosemary called.

Gertie was surprised. Rosemary rarely wanted to meet her and when she did she seemed very scornful of Gertie's lifestyle. Also, there was a telephone in the launderette if she needed her. But life was good these days. She had asked those children to tell Ria, it wasn't a thing you'd put in writing but Jack hadn't touched a drop for a week and he had even given the launderette a coat of paint. Her children were at home again, watchful and wary but at least they were home. 'So now you found me,' Gertie said brightly.

'Yes, I was wondering when Ria's children are off to the States. You see Ria sent me an e-mail no less, and she was talking about a big faculty picnic or some other college thing in the town she's living in. Anyway I thought I'd send her over a couple of dresses, you know, things I don't need any more. She might find them useful for socialising. She doesn't have anything particularly stylish herself.'

Rosemary's eye always seemed to go up and down you as she talked. It began at your feet and went as far as the crown of your head, as if she were a teacher inspecting pupils to see if they were suitable for a public parade. Gertie had known it for many years, and the eye always seemed to linger on the stained part of the pink nylon overall or the hair when it was uncombed and greasy. 'But they've gone already,' Gertie said. 'They went the day before yesterday, they'll be settled in now.'

Rosemary was irritated. 'I didn't know that.'

'It was always August the first that they were going out there, remember?'

'No I don't. How can I hold everything in my head? They never called to say goodbye.'

'They came to say goodbye to me,' Gertie said. She had very few satisfactions, she would savour this one.

'Maybe I was out,' Rosemary said.

'Could be.' Gertie put a lot of doubt in her voice.

'And where are you off to?' Rosemary wanted to change the subject.

'I have a busy morning.' Gertie sounded on top of the world. 'I've hired a girl to do ironing and I want to ask Colm if he'd give me a trial to do his tablecloths and napkins. We do his towels already.'

'Oh I think for a restaurant like that he'd need a proper laundry, and particularly for Horse Show week.' Rosemary poured cold water on the scheme.

'Colm will know, and then I go in to Marilyn, do her floors and ironing. And she's going to drive me to this place where they do cheap electrical signs, and we're going to have one put up over the launderette.'

Gertie looked so pleased with the modest plans for the day that Rosemary was touched. Gertie, who used to be so handsome when she worked in Polly's all those years ago with Ria, Gertie who had lost everything for loving that madman. 'And Jack. How is he these days?'

'He's fine, Rosemary, thank you. He gave up drink entirely and it suits him,' said Gertie with a big broad smile.

Hubie telephoned to know if he could call by the house and welcome Annie to Westville. Brian too, of course, he added as an afterthought.

'Please do, Hubie. They both love it here and they've been playing that game you set up every evening.'

'Great.'

The admiration in his eyes for shapely blonde Annie was obvious. 'You're even cuter than your picture,' he said.

'Thank you,' Annie said. 'That's very nice of you.'

Where had Annie, who was not quite fifteen, learned such composure? Ria wondered over and over. Certainly not from her mother who was still unable to accept a compliment. Possibly from Danny who had managed to appear calm no matter what was happening. She was very worried to hear the children say that he was broke and fussed.

As Hubie, Brian and Annie went up to the pool she decided she would call Rosemary about it. It would be nine o'clock at night at home. Rosemary would be in the cool elegant penthouse. At her desk maybe with papers. Watering the plants in her roof garden. Entertaining three people to one of her brilliant and apparently effortless meals? In bed with a lover?

Ria had realised this summer for the first time how lonely parts of Rosemary's seemingly perfect lifestyle must be. When you live by yourself your life is not dictated by others, you have to choose. And if you don't plan something you sit staring at the walls. No wonder Rosemary spent so much time with them in Number 16.

There was nobody at home. Rosemary might be out at Quentin's, or in Colm's? Possibly she was with Marilyn, they had become friendly and gone to a fashion show organised by Mona.

'Rosemary, it's Ria. Nothing really. Only a chat. The children have arrived and everything's just wonderful. I wanted to talk to you about whether Danny and Barney's business is in any trouble. I can't call Danny obviously, and I thought you might know. Don't call me back about it because the kids will be here and if there is anything to tell I don't want them to hear. But you can see how I'm a bit out on a limb here and you're the only one I can ask.'

Barney had asked Danny to meet him in Quentin's.

'We can't go there, Barney, we owe them, remember?'

'I remember. That's been settled, and I told Brenda it would be cash tonight.'

'With Bernadette or without?'

'Without. Nine o'clock okay?' He was gone.

Perhaps at the very last moment he had pulled something out of the fire. Barney was an old-time wheeler and dealer. He had come from working on building sites all over England to being the most-talked-of builder and property developer in Ireland. It was inconceivable that he would declare himself and the company bankrupt next week, which was now on the cards.

Danny wore his best jacket and his brightest tie. Whoever he was being brought to meet would need to see a buoyant Danny Lynch, nothing hangdog. He had been putting on an act for years, that's how you bought and sold houses for heaven's sake. Tonight would be the biggest act because so much depended on it.

'I might be late, sweetheart,' he said to Bernadette. 'Big Chiefs' meeting called by Barney, sounds like light at the end of the tunnel.'

'I knew there would be,' she said.

Brenda Brennan directed him towards the booth. Danny knew that this is where they would be. Whoever he was going to meet might not want to be seen supping publicly with McCarthy and Lynch. Their names were not so good at the moment. He was surprised to see only Barney there, the other person or people hadn't turned up yet. He was even more surprised to see that the table was only set for two.

'Sit down, Danny,' Barney said to him. 'This is the day we hoped never to have to see.'

'Everything?' Danny said.

'Everything, including Number 16 Tara Road,' said Barney McCarthy.

Rosemary was also having dinner in Quentin's. With her accountant, her manager and two men from a multinational printing company who wanted to buy her out. They had approached her, she had not gone to them. They were suggesting very attractive terms but were finding it difficult to persuade her how lucky she was to be approached in this way.

One man was American, one was English, but they knew that their nationality had nothing to do with their incomprehension about this beautiful blonde Irishwoman with her flawless make-up, shining hair and designer outfit.

'I don't think you'll ever be able to realise capital in this way again,' the Englishman said.

'No, that's true, nobody wants to take me over as much as you do,' she smiled.

'And there's nobody apart from us with the money to do so, as well as the will, so it's not as if you can play us off against anyone else,' said the American.

'Quite true,' she agreed.

Rosemary had seen Danny go into the booth with Barney McCarthy. Nobody had joined them. That was a bad sign. She knew that if she agreed to this deal, if she sold her business, she could save them. It was almost dizzying to think that she had that much power. She lost track of what the two men were saying.

'I beg your pardon?' She went back to the conversation.

'We were just saying that time is moving on and as you approach forty you may want to get a life for yourself, rest after all this hard work. Put your feet up, take a cruise, live a little.'

It had been the wrong thing to suggest to Rosemary Ryan. She didn't see herself as a person putting her feet up. She didn't like strangers telling her that she was approaching forty. She looked pleasantly from one to the other. 'Come back to me in about six years. You will of course have worked out that by then I'll be half of ninety. Ask me again then, won't you? Because it really has been such a pleasure talking to you.'

Her mind wasn't fully on what she was saying, she had just seen Barney McCarthy, white-faced, storming out of the restaurant. Danny was not with him. He must be still sitting in that booth where people went when they wanted really private conversations. Rosemary Ryan would not rescue him from bankruptcy but neither would she leave him on his own after a body-blow.

'Gentlemen, I'll let you finish your coffees and brandies on your own. I'm so grateful for your interest and enthusiasm, but as you said for me time is moving on and I can't afford to waste any of it. So I'll say goodnight.'

The men were only struggling to get to their feet when she was gone.

'Rosemary?'

'Brandy?'

'Why are you here?'

'Have you eaten?'

'No, no there wasn't time to eat.' She ordered a large brandy for him and a bowl of soup and some olive bread. A mineral water for herself. 'Stop playing nursemaid, I don't want to eat, I asked you what are you doing here?'

'You need to eat. You're in shock. I was at another table and saw Barney leaving… that's why I'm here.'

'My house is gone.'

'I'm so sorry.'

'You're not sorry, Rosemary, you're glad.'

'Shut the hell up… pitying yourself and attacking me. What did I ever do bad to you except betray your wife, my friend, by sleeping with you?'

'It's a bit late to be getting all remorseful about that, you knew what you were doing at the time.'

'Yes I did, and you knew what you were doing playing with Barney McCarthy.'

'Why are you here?'

'To get you home.'

'To your home or my home?'

'To your home. My car is outside, I'll drive you.'

'I don't want your pity or this soup,' he shouted as the waiter laid down a bowl of parsnip and apple soup.

'Eat it, Danny. You're not functioning properly.'

'What do you care?'

'I care because you are a friend, more than a friend.'

'I told Barney McCarthy I never wanted to lay eyes on him again. You're right, that wasn't functioning properly.'

'That's business talk, panicky business talk, that's all. It will sort itself out.'

'No, some things can never be forgotten.'

'Come on, you and I were bawling at each other the other night and here we are sitting talking as friends. It will happen with Barney too.'

'No it won't, he's very shabby, he told me he'd settled up the bill here and it turns out he hasn't.'

'Why did he want to tell you here?'

'He said he needed neutral ground. All he was doing was humiliating me here in front of the Brennans, people I know and like.'

'How much is the bill?'

'Over six hundred.'

'I'll pay that now on my card.'

'I don't want your charity. What I want is your investment, I told you.'

'I can't do it, Danny, it's not there. Everything's tied up.' Out of the corner of her eye she saw the group of four leaving, her own office manager, her accountant and two bewildered people who had come to offer her a huge sum of money, more than enough to bail Danny Lynch out and leave her plenty to live on. She caught Brenda Brennan's eye. They had known each other a long time.

'Brenda, there was a misunderstanding. An old bill. It was never settled. Here, can we do it now on my card? No receipt to be sent to Barney McCarthy, this is Danny paying if you get my drift.'

Brenda got Rosemary's drift. The table was booked in your name, Mr Lynch, otherwise Mr McCarthy would not have been able to get a reservation,' she said crisply. 'He said that he was your guest when he arrived.'

'Which, as it turned out, he was,' said Rosemary.

'Drive along Tara Road,' Danny asked her.

'Stop punishing yourself.'

'No, please, it's not taking us out of the way.'

They approached Tara Road from the top end, the corner near Gertie's launderette.

'Look, she's got a new sign up: GERTIE'S. What a stupid name,' Rosemary said.

'Well, it's better than calling it Gertie and Jack's, I suppose.' He managed a weak smile.

They passed Number 68, the old people's home. 'They're all asleep in St Rita's, and it's not even ten o'clock,' Rosemary said.

'They're all asleep there at seven. Imagine, I won't even be able to afford to go there when I'm old and mad.' They passed Nora Johnson's little house at Number 48A. 'It must be about time for Pliers to go out and foul the footpath,' Danny said. 'Pliers always likes to go where it will cause maximum discomfort to everyone.'

The little laugh they managed over that got them past Number 32, the elegant renovation with its beautiful penthouse where Danny and Rosemary had spent so many hours together. Frances and Jimmy Sullivan were putting out their dustbins at Number 26. 'Kitty is pregnant, did you know that?' Rosemary asked.

'No! She's only a kid, Annie's age.' He was shocked.

'There you go,' Rosemary said.

They were at Number 16. 'It was a beautiful house,' Danny said. 'It always will be. But I won't be living there any more.'

'You'd moved out already,' Rosemary reminded him.

'I don't like that woman Marilyn at all, I can't bear to think she's living there in the last few weeks that I own it,' he said.

'She's gone off me,' Rosemary said. 'I don't know why, she used to be perfectly pleasant, but she's curt to the point of rudeness now.'

'Madwoman,’ Danny said. They were passing Colm's restaurant. 'Plenty of cars,' he said. 'We were mad not to give him a start. Look where I'd be tonight if I had a piece of that restaurant.'

'We weren't mad, we were careful.'

'You may have been. I was never careful, I was just wrong, that's all,' Danny Lynch said.

'I know. How did I fancy you so much?' Rosemary said wonderingly.

'Can you turn the car?'

'Why? This is the way.'

'I want to come home with you. Please.'

'No, Danny, it would be pointless.'

'Nothing between us was ever pointless. Please, Rosemary, I need you tonight. Don't make me beg.'

She looked at him. It had always been impossible to resist him. Rosemary had already been congratulating herself that her infatuation had not let her sell her company for this man. And he wanted her. As he had always wanted her more than his prattling little wife and the strange wan girl he lived with. She turned her car in the entrance of Colm's restaurant and drove back to Number 32.

Nora Johnson taking Pliers for his nightly walk saw Lady Ryan driving up the road with a man in the passenger seat. Nora squinted but couldn't see who it was. For a moment she thought it was Danny Lynch. Lots of people looked like that. She had liked Danny and loved him calling her Holly. And she had thought he was handsome when she met him first. But when all was said and done what Danny had was cheap good looks.

Danny started to caress Rosemary before she had even put the key into the front door of Number 32.

'Don't be idiotic,' she hissed. 'We've been so careful for so long, don't blow it now.'

'You understand me, Rosemary, you're the only one who does.'

They went upstairs in the lift and as soon as they were in the door he reached for her.

'Danny, stop.'

'You don't usually say that.' He was kissing her throat.

'I don't usually refuse to save your business either.'

'But you told me you couldn't, that your funds were all tied up.' He was trying to hold her and stop her slipping away.

'No, Danny, we have to talk.'

'We never had to talk before.'

She saw her message light winking on the answering machine but she would not press the button. It might be one of the men she had had dinner with increasing the offer, raising the stakes. Danny must never know what had been turned down only feet away from him in the restaurant.

'What about Bernadette?'

'It's early, she won't expect me for a long time.'

'It's foolish.'

'It was always foolish,' he said. 'Foolish, dangerous and wonderful.'

Afterwards they had a shower together.

'Won't Bernadette think it odd that you smell of sandalwood?' Rosemary asked.

'Whatever soap you get I get the same for our bathroom.' He wasn't being smug or proud of his cunning, just practical.

'I remember Ria always had the same soap as I did,' she said. 'I used to think that she was copying me but it was you all the time. My, my.'

Rosemary wore a white towelling robe. She glanced at herself in the bathroom mirror. She did not look like someone for whom time was marching on, nor a woman approaching forty. Those men would never get their hands on her company.

'I’ll call you a taxi,' she said.

'I needed you tonight,' he said.

'I suppose I need you too in ways otherwise you wouldn't have stayed. I don't do anything out of kindness.'

'So I notice,' he said drily.

She called a cab company, giving her own account number. 'Remember to get out at the end of your road, not your house, the less these drivers know the better.'

'Yes, boss.'

'You'll survive, Danny.'

'I wish I could see how.'

'Talk to Barney tomorrow. You're both up the same creek, there's nothing to be gained by fighting each other in it.'

'You're right as usual. I'll go down and wait for the cab.' He held her very close to him. Over her shoulder he saw the light on her machine. 'You have a message,' he said.

'I’ll listen to it later, probably my mother demanding that I find a suitable man and get married.'

He grinned at her, head on one side. 'I know I should hope you will, but I really hope you don't.'

'Don't worry, even if I did I expect we'd cheat on him as we have on everyone else.'

The honeymoon period was still on in Tudor Drive. Ria could hardly believe it though she walked on eggshells. Sean and Kelly Maine proved to be perfectly satisfactory friends for Annie and Brian.

'I wish Sean was younger,' Brian complained. 'It's the wrong way round. Kelly's okay but she is a girl.'

I'm glad Sean's not your age. I think he's fine the age he is,' Annie said with a little laugh.

Ria opened her mouth to say that Annie wouldn't want to do anything silly with both Hubie and Sean fighting for her attention but she closed it again. These weeks of having to think before she spoke were paying dividends. It had been no harm learning to live in entirely new and different surroundings where people might judge you by what you actually did and said here and now and not in the context of years of friendship. Ria felt she had grown up a lot in a way she had never had to at home. After all she had never lived alone, she had gone straight from her mother's house to Danny's. No years in between like girls who lived in flats might have known. Girls like Rosemary.

She had got an e-mail from Rosemary saying that Dublin was Rumour City and that it was impossible to separate the truth from the fiction but it had always been that way. Still if there was anything to tell, she would tell it, and of course Danny wouldn't keep her in the dark if there was anything serious. Rosemary wrote that the children had disappeared without saying goodbye which was a pity because she had intended to send out a couple of dresses for Ria to wear at the picnic.

'You didn't say goodbye to Rosemary?' Ria asked them before she headed out to the gourmet shop.

Annie shrugged.

Brian said, 'We forgot her, we called on everyone else.' He seemed to think that it was a source of income they had overlooked.

'Brian, she wouldn't have given you a penny,' Annie said.

'You don't like Rosemary, Annie, do you?' Ria was surprised.

'You don't like Kitty,' Annie countered.

'Ah, but that's different. Kitty's a bad influence.'

'So is Lady Ryan on you, Mam, giving you things, patting you on the head. You can earn money to buy your own dresses, not wear her cast-offs.'

'Thanks, Annie, that's true. Now will you two be all right, I'll only be gone three hours?'

'It's so funny to see you going out to work, Mam, you're like a normal person,' said Brian.

Ria drove Marilyn's car to John and Gerry's, her knuckles white with rage. This was the thanks she got for staying in Tara Road to make the place into a home for them all. Danny had left her saying she was as dull as ditchwater and they had nothing to talk about. Annie thought she was pathetic and Brian thought she was abnormal. Well, by God, she was going to make a success of business anyway.

She parked with a screech of brakes and marched into the kitchen.

'What thought have we given to making special alumni cakes?' she barked. The two men looked up, startled. 'None I see,' she said. 'Well I suggest we have two kinds, one with a mortar board and scroll of parchment, and one with hands of friendship entwined.'

'Special cakes for the weekend?' Gerry said slowly.

'Everyone will be entertaining, won't they need something festive? Something with a theme?'

'Yes but…?'

'So we'd better get started on them at once, hadn't we? Then I can get the graphics up and running and get young people at home to do work on the advertisements, posters for the window and leaflets.' They looked at her open-mouthed.

'Don't you think?' Ria said, wondering had she gone too far.

'We think,' said John and Gerry.

'I'm finding it real hard to see you alone,' Hubie said to Annie. 'Last weekend there was the party with all the other guys around, and then Sean Maine was everywhere like a shadow, next weekend is the alumni weekend and then you're going off to stay with the Maines.'

'There's plenty of time left.' They were lying by the pool sailing a paper boat from one side to the other by flapping the water with their hands.

Brian was practising his basketball at the net.

'Perhaps I could take you to New York City?' Hubie asked.

'I'd better not. Mam wants to show it to us herself, it's a big deal for her.'

'Do you never say no to her, Annie, and do what you want to do?' Hubie wanted to know.

'Yes I do, quite a lot. But not at the moment. Things are hard for her. My dad went off, you see, with someone not much older than me, it must make her feel a hundred.'

'Sure I know. But somewhere else then?' He was very eager that they should have a date.

'Look, Hubie, I'd love to but not at the moment, we've just got here, okay?'

'Okay.'

'And another thing, I was writing to Marilyn and Mam said I wasn't to say you come here.'

'Marilyn?'

'Mrs. Vine. This is her house, you know that.'

'You call her Marilyn?'

'That's what she wanted.'

'You like her?'

'Yes, she's terrific.'

'You're so wrong. You have no idea how wrong you are, she's horrible and she's mad.' Hubie got up and gathered his things. 'I have to go now,' he said.

'I'm sorry you're going. I like you being here but I have no idea what all this is about.'

'Think yourself lucky.'

'I know you were with Dale when the accident happened, my mother told me, but that's all. And I'm not going to say that Marilyn is horrible and mad just to please you, that would be weak and stupid.' Annie had stood up too, eyes flashing.

Hubie looked at her in admiration. 'You're really something,' he said. 'Do you know what I'd really like?'

Annie never discovered what Hubie would really have liked just then because at that moment Brian arrived on the scene. 'You were very quiet up here, I came to see were you necking,' he said.

'What?' Hubie looked at him, startled.

'Necking, snogging, you know, soul kissing. What do you call it here in America exactly?' He stood there, his shoulders and face red, his spiky hair sticking up and his round face as always interested in something entirely inappropriate.

'Hubie…' said Annie in a dangerously level voice '… is just leaving and the way things are he may never come back.'

'Oh, I most definitely will be back,' said Hubie Green. 'And as a matter of interest I would like you to know that the way things are is just fine with me.'

'Hubie fancies Annie,' Brian said at lunch.

'Of course he does. He fancied her before he met her, he was always looking at that photograph.'

'That's nonsense, Mam. Stop encouraging Brian.' Annie was pink with pleasure from it all.

'Well, we need Hubie here tonight, so you'll have to use all your powers of persuasion to get him to come over.'

'Sorry, Mam, impossible.'

'I need him, Annie. I want him to design a poster for my cakes on the computer.'

'No way, Mam, he'll think I put you up to it.'

'No, he won't. It will be a professional job, I'll pay him.'

'Mam, he'll think you're paying him to come and visit me. It would be terrible. It's not going to happen.'

'But it's my job, Annie, I need him here,' she stopped suddenly. 'I’ll tell you… suppose you go out somewhere then he can't think that you're after him, can he?'

Annie thought about it. 'No, that's true.'

'In fact it might be playing hard to get, he'd wonder where you might be.'

'And where would I be, Mam?'

Ria paused to think up a solution to this problem and then suddenly it came to her. 'You could go to work in Carlotta's salon for two or three hours, you know, folding towels, sterilising hairbrushes, sweeping up, making coffee… you know the kind of thing?'

'Would she let me?'

'She might if I asked her nicely, as a favour for tonight, since I know you want to be out of the house.'

'Please, Mam, would you? Please?'

Ria went to the telephone. Carlotta had suggested it days back, but Ria knew better nowadays than to tell her daughter straight out. She came back from the phone. 'Carlotta says yes.’

'Mam, I love you,' Annie cried.

Barney McCarthy said he would meet Danny any place and any time. How could there be hard feelings about what was said last night? By either of them. They had both been in shock, they knew each other far too well for mere words to create a barrier. They met in Stephen's Green and walked around the park where children were playing and lovers were dawdling. Two men walking, hands clasped behind their backs, talking about their futures and their past.

On the surface they were friends. Danny said that he would never have had the start in business without Barney McCarthy. Barney said he owed Danny a great deal for his insights and hard work, not to mention his quick thinking the night of the heart attack in Polly's flat.

'How's Polly taking it?' Danny asked.

'On the chin, you know Poll.' They both thought for a few moments about the elegant dark-haired woman who had let any chance of marriage pass her by just waiting in the background for Barney. 'Of course she's still young, Poll,' Barney said.

'And with no dependants,' Danny agreed. There was another silence. 'Have you told Mona?' Danny asked.

Barney shook his head. 'Not yet.'

He looked at Danny. 'And Ria?'

'Not yet.'

And then they walked in silence because there was nothing left to say.

'I think Sean is greatly taken with your Annie,' Sheila said on the telephone.

'I know, isn't it amazing?' Ria said. 'It only seems such a short time since they were both in prams, now they're talking romance.'

'I guess we'll have to keep an eye on them.'

'Much good it did anyone keeping an eye on us,' Ria laughed.

'But we weren't as young as they are,' Sheila said. 'I don't expect Annie's on the pill?'

Ria was shocked. 'Lord no, Sheila. For heaven's sake, she's not sixteen yet. I was only talking about kissing at the cinema and all that.'

'Let's hope that's all they're talking about too. Anyway you're coming to stay with us the weekend after next.'

'Indeed we are.'

Ria was troubled by this conversation, but she hadn't much time to think too deeply about it. The orders for her alumni cakes were unprecedented, they had to take on extra help in the shop, and she had to organise the house for her guests and prepare a huge buffet lunch for the friends of Greg and Andy Vine while trying to keep a low profile so that Marilyn's nose would not be put out of joint by it all. Apparently Marilyn had served olives and pretzels any time people came at alumni weekend.

And she had to make sure that the children had activities. Oddly, Annie and Brian were the least of her worries. Brian had found a new friend called Zach four houses away, and had taken to wearing a baseball cap backwards and using phrases he didn't understand at all. Hubie was always calling for Annie and taking her out to see cultural things, and since it was always in broad daylight Ria could not object. Every afternoon at four o'clock Annie went to Carlotta's salon, and came home with amazing stories about the clientele. Ria had rented a chest freezer for a week and she cooked, labelled and stored way into the night.

As she was going to bed at 2 a.m. on the Thursday before the big weekend she remembered suddenly that she hadn't thought about Danny all day. She wondered could it be that she was getting over him, but then when his face did come back to her, the whole bitter loss was as hurtful, lonely and sad as ever. She missed him as much as she always had, it was just that she had been too busy to think about it until now. Maybe this was as good as it was ever going to get.

Marilyn brought a cup of coffee out to Colm in the garden. 'What are you on today?' she asked.

'Sweet fennel,' he said. 'It's only to please myself, prove I can grow it. Nobody asks for it much in the restaurant.' He grinned ruefully.

Marilyn thought again what an attractive man he was and wondered why he hadn't married. She knew about his love affair with alcohol, but that never stopped people marrying. 'How long does it take?'

'About four months, or thereabouts. The books say fifteen weeks from sowing.'

'The books? You learned your gardening from books?'

'Where else?'

'I thought you came from a long line of committed gardeners, that you grew up with your hands in the soil.'

'Nothing as nice and normal as that, I'm afraid.'

Marilyn sighed. 'Well, which of us ever had the childhood we deserved?'

'It's true, sorry for the self-pity,'

'Hey, you don't have any of that.'

'Have you heard how they're all getting on, Annie and Brian?'

'Well just great, they seem to know half the neighbourhood, dozens of kids in our pool.'

'That doesn't bother you?'

'Why should it, it's their house for the summer.'

'But you're a very private person.'

'I have been since my son died last year.'

'That's a terrible tragedy for you. I'm very sorry. You didn't speak of it before, I didn't know.'

'No, I didn't speak of it at all.'

'Some things can be almost too hard to talk about, let's leave the subject if you prefer.' He was very easygoing, Marilyn knew that he would have left it.

'No, strangely. I find recently when I do talk about it now it becomes a little easier to bear.'

'Some people say that, they say let some light in on it, like plants your problems need light and air.'

'But you don't agree?'

'I'm not sure.'

'Which is why you don't talk about Caroline?'

'Caroline?'

'This country has unhinged me, Colm. In a million years I would never have interfered or intruded in anyone's life like this. But I'll be away from here in less than three weeks; I'll never see you again.

I think you should let a little light and air into what you're doing for your sister?'

'What am I doing for her?' His face was hard and cold.

'You're running a restaurant to feed her habit.’

There was a silence. 'No, Marilyn you've got it wrong, she works in my restaurant so that I can keep an eye on her. Her habit is paid for by somebody else entirely.' Marilyn stared at him. 'She is very well supplied by her husband Monto, a businessman—one of whose most thriving businesses is heroin.’

'Maria?'

'Hallo, Andy?'

'Just a quick question. When I come to stay next week are we meant to have met?'

'Oh I think so, don't you?'

'Certainly I do, but I was letting you call the shots.’

'It will be good to see you again, and have you meet my children.’

'Sure. Will we have any time alone together, do you think?'

'I feel that's going to be very unlikely, simply because I have so much to do.’

'I’ll keep hoping. See you Friday.’

'Zach says they're going to be very old and very boring,' Brian pronounced.

'Isn't it amazing the way Brian crosses the Atlantic Ocean and in minutes he finds a friend like Myles and Dekko!' Annie sighed.

Brian saw no insult in this, in fact he saw huge possibilities for the future. 'Can Zach come to stay in Tara Road?' he asked.

'Certainly, we'll discuss it next year,’ Ria said.

'Do you think we'll still be in Tara Road next year, Mam?' Annie was thoughtful.

'Why ever not? Did you have plans for moving anywhere?' Ria laughed.

'No, it's just… it's quite dear and everything… I was wondering would we all, Dad and everyone, be able to afford it?'

'Oh that will be fine, I'm going to work when we get back to Dublin,’ Ria said airily.

'Work, Mam… ? What on earth would you do?' Annie looked at her mother surrounded by food.

'Something a bit like this probably,' Ria said.

Greg Vine was tall, slightly stooped and gentle. He was courteous and formal to the children. He seemed overcome at the hospitality that Ria was providing for his friends. 'You must have been slaving for weeks,' he said as she took him on a tour of the freezers, and the rented trestle tables and linen.

'I didn't want to use Marilyn's cloths in case something happened to them.'

'No, I don't think she'd mind,' he said, unsure, uncertain.

'She has been meticulous about my home they all tell me, I don't want to be any less with hers.' She showed him all the replies to the guest-list he had sent out. 'I’ll leave you to settle in your own house,' she said. 'I didn't put anyone to sleep in Dale's room… and on that subject I must apologise.'

He cut straight across her. 'No, it is we who must apologise, it was unpardonable for you to come here without being told the whole story. I'm very, very sorry. All I can say in explanation is that she doesn't talk about it to anyone, anyone at all.' His face was full of grief as he spoke. 'I think she genuinely believes that if you don't talk about a thing it hasn't happened… if you don't mention Dale at all then his horrific death didn't occur.'

'Everyone's different,' Ria said.

'But this has gone beyond reason, to let you into this house, to see that room without knowing what happened. It probably doesn't matter now what she and I have left to say to each other, but for Marilyn's own health she will have to acknowledge what has happened and talk about it. To someone.'

'She's talking about it now,' Ria said. 'She told my children all about him, everything. From when he got braces on his teeth to the time you all went to the Grand Canyon and he cried at the sunset.'

Greg's voice was a whisper. 'She said all this?'

'Yes.'

His eyes were full of tears. 'Maybe, maybe I should go to Ireland.'

Ria felt a pang of jealousy like she had never known before. Marilyn was going to be all right. Her husband still loved her and he was going to go over to Tara Road. Lucky, lucky Marilyn Vine.

'I can't ask anything at all about his business,' Finola Dunne said to her daughter.

'No, that's true.'

'I accepted his apology for sharp words and he gave it generously so now you see my hands are tied. But you can, and you must, ask him, Ber. It's only fair, on you and the baby. You have to know is he bankrupt.'

'He'll tell me, Mum, when he thinks I need to know.'

The alumni picnic party in Tudor Dive was long talked of as one of the events of Westville. Ria had asked Greg if Hubie Green could come to the house as a waiter, and young Zach as an assistant.

'Hubie?'

'Yes, he taught us the Internet, and has been most helpful.'

'He's a wild and irresponsible young man,' Greg said.

'I know that he was with Dale that day. He says it was the worst day of his life.'

'I have no objection to his being here, I never had. Those were all Marilyn's… I suppose in a way I'm advising you to keep him away from your daughter.' Ria felt a shiver of anxiety but she couldn't allow it to develop, there was too much to do.

When Hubie arrived he went straight to Greg. 'Mr Vine, if my presence here is unwelcome I quite understand.'

'No, son, I'm glad to see you in our home again,' said Greg.

Ria let out a slow sigh of relief. That was one hurdle safely crossed. And then, surrounded by friendly faces and food, Ria felt very much at home. She made sure that Marilyn's name was constantly mentioned. She said that she had been speaking to her the previous evening and she had sent her love to everyone.

'I think Greg's brother sort of fancies you, Mam,' Annie said after the party.

Annie and Hubie had been a delightful double-act filling the wineglasses and serving huge slices of the mouth-watering cake that had been such a success.

'Nonsense, we're geriatric people. There's no fancying at our age.' Ria laughed, admiring the sharp young eyes of her daughter.

'Dad was able to find someone else—why wouldn't you?'

'What a matchmaker you are. Now don't go encouraging me or I might stay over here cooking and fancying old men. What would you do then?'

'I suppose I could stay here studying and fancying young men,' Annie said.

There was no time for Andy to meet Ria properly on her own. 'I could come back another weekend?' he said.

'It wouldn't be fair to ask you, Andy. I'll be up to my elbows in cooking and children and I couldn't concentrate on you.'

'You didn't, even when you could.' He was reproachful.

'I was very flattered to be invited to concentrate.'

'I'm not giving up, I'll think of something.'

'Thank you, Andy.' She looked around to make sure there was nobody in sight and kissed him playfully on the nose.

'I wish you weren't going off to that hicksville town to see the Maines,' Hubie said to Annie.

'No, it will be fun, they're nice people.'

'And Sean's a good-looking guy,' Hubie said gloomily.

'Is he?' Annie pretended to be surprised.

'Remember… I'm in Westville, he's in the boondocks,' Hubie said.

'I'll remember,' Annie promised. Kitty wouldn't believe all this. Two men fighting over her. But then Kitty would ask, 'Which of them did you sleep with?' And Annie wasn't going to sleep with either of them.

'What did Mona say?' Danny asked.

'Nothing at all.'

'Nothing?'

'Total silence,' Barney said. 'It was much worse than any words. And Ria?'

'I haven't told her yet.'

'But Danny, you'll have to tell her. She'll hear.'

'I must tell her face to face, I owe her that much.'

'You're going to get her home?'

'No, I'm going out there.'

'On whose money, might I ask?'

'On your money, Barney. You've got my house, for Christ's sake. You can give me a lousy air ticket.'

They were sitting by the pool planning what to pack to go to the Maines.

'Are you still into lists, Mam?'

'I think so,' Ria said. 'It makes life easier.' The telephone rang, Ria went to get it.

'Sweetheart, it's Danny.'

'I did ask you not to call me that.'

'Sorry. Force of habit.'

'I’ll get the children.'

'No, it's you I want to talk to. I'm coming out there tomorrow.'

'You're what?'

'I'm coming out to see you all for the weekend.'

'Why?'

'Why not?'

'And is Bernadette coming too?'

'Of course not.' He sounded irritated.

'Forgive me, Danny, but you do live with each other…'

'No, I mean, I'm coming to talk to you and Annie and Brian. Is that all right or has America been put off-limits?'

He sounded very edgy. Something in her throat began to constrict. Was it over with Bernadette? Was he coming to ask her forgiveness? A new start. 'When do you arrive? Do you know how to get here?'

'I have all the details you gave the children about the buses and everything. I'll call from Kennedy.'

'Yes but Danny we were going away for the weekend… up to Gertie's sister.'

'Gertie's sister! That can be changed surely.' He was very impatient.

'Yes,' she said.

'See you tomorrow,' he said.

Ria went slowly back to the pool. This was too big to blurt out. The new Ria nowadays thought before she spoke. She wouldn't tell them until she had thought about it. She wouldn't cancel Sheila Maine either. Perhaps the children could go for one night. And leave her alone with Danny.

It was her that he was coming to see. That's what he had said on the phone. 'It's you I want to talk to.' He was coming back to her.

CHAPTER EIGHT

The doorbell rang in Number 16 Tara Road. It was Danny Lynch. The smile was very warm. 'I hope I'm not disturbing you, Marilyn?'

'Not at all, won't you come in?'

'Thank you.'

They went into the front room where Marilyn had been sitting reading. Her book and glasses were on the table.

'You like this room,' he said.

'Very much, it's so peaceful.'

'I liked it too. We didn't live here enough, it was always down in the kitchen. I'd like to have sat here of an evening reading too.'

'Yes, well of course it's easy for me, I'm on my own. When there's a family it's different.'

True,' he said. She looked at him enquiringly. 'I'm flying to New York tomorrow, I'll be staying in Tudor Drive. I thought I'd pay you the courtesy of telling you.'

'That's very kind of you, but not at all necessary. Ria's free to have whoever she likes, but thank you anyway.'

'And I need some documents to take with me.'

'Documents?'

'Yes, they're upstairs. I wonder if I can go and collect them?'

'Ria didn't say anything about…'

'Look, I appreciate your caution, but pick up the phone now and call her. This is kosher, Marilyn, she knows I'm coming.'

'I don't doubt it for a moment.'

'You do. Call her.'

'Please, Danny, please don't speak like that. Why shouldn't I believe you? You've given me no reason to think you might be deceiving Ria in any way.' Her voice was cold and her eyes were hard.

He seemed to flinch a little. 'You can come with me, I know where they are.'

'Thank you.'

They walked up the stairs in silence to the bedroom. Clement lay asleep on the bed. 'Hey, how did you get up here, fellow?' Danny said, tickling the cat under the chin. Then he went to the chest of drawers, and opened the bottom one. There was a plastic envelope called House Documents. He picked out four sheets of paper and returned the rest.

Marilyn watched him wordlessly. 'And if I'm talking to Ria tonight what shall I say you took?'

'Some correspondence about the ownership of this house… she and I need to discuss it.'

'She'll be home in under three weeks.'

'We need to discuss it now,' he said. He looked around the big airy bedroom with its high ceiling and long window. Marilyn wondered what he was thinking about. Did he remember fifteen years spent here with Ria or was he in fact working out what price the house would go for?

Marilyn hoped that in this complicated network of friends Ria had a good lawyer. She was going to need one. It was only too clear why Danny was going out to Westville to ruin the rest of Ria's visit. He was going to tell her that they had to sell Tara Road.

Ria was singing as she made breakfast.

'You never sing, Mam,' Brian said.

'She is now.' Annie defended her mother's right to croon tunelessly.

'Bernadette sings a lot,' Brian said.

'That's so interesting, Brian, thank you for sharing that with us,' Annie said.

'What kind of things does she sing?'

'I don't know. Foreign things.' Brian was vague.

'She only hums, Mam,' Annie said. 'Not real singing.'

Ria poured another cup of coffee and sat down with them.

'You'll be late for work,' Brian said disapprovingly.

'Well, at least Mam and I do go out to work,' Annie said. 'Unlike some people who throw a ball with Zach all day.'

'I'd go out to work if there was a job,' Brian said earnestly. 'Honest I would.'

'I think you're safe enough for the next twenty years, Brian. I mean who'd want to close down their business by employing you?' Annie consoled him.

'I have something marvellous to tell you,' Ria said. 'Something you'll be very pleased to hear.'

'What is it?' Brian asked.

'You have a boyfriend?' Annie suggested.

Brian looked appalled. 'Don't be disgusting,' he said to Annie. 'Mam wouldn't do anything like that.' He felt that somehow he had said the wrong thing as he looked at their faces. Slowly to his mind came the notion that his father after all had a new girlfriend and everyone was going along with that. Perhaps he shouldn't have said it was disgusting. 'Without telling us, I mean,' he said lamely.

'Your dad is coming to stay for the weekend,' she said.

Their mouths were open with shock.

'Here, here in Westville?' Annie said.

'But he said goodbye to us and he didn't say,' Brian said. 'Isn't that fantastic? When does he get here? Where will they sleep?'

'They?' Annie said.

'Well, isn't Bernadette coming too?'

'No, of course she's not, eejit,' Annie said.

'Does that mean he's left her and he's coming back to us?' Brian wanted to be clear about what was happening.

'Oh Brian, we've been through this a thousand times. Your dad didn't leave you, he went to live in another place, he'll always be your dad.'

'But has he given her up?' Brian insisted on knowing.

'No, of course not. He wanted to come out and see you both and he got a chance… through work.'

'So they can't be broke after all,' Annie said with relief.

'He'll be here about five o'clock. He didn't want us to go and meet him, he said he'd take a taxi from the bus station.'

'But we're going to the Maines this weekend,' Annie remembered in horror.

'I've spoken to Sheila. You're going up on the bus tomorrow just for one night then come back on Sunday and we'll all have a big goodbye dinner for your dad.'

'I can't believe it. Dad coming here. He'll even meet Zach.'

'Well worth flying thousands of miles for,' Annie said.

'Dad could well put a stop to you and Hubie and your goings-on when he comes,' cried Brian, stung by the attack on his friend.

'Mam, there are no goings-on,' Annie appealed.

But Ria didn't seem interested in whether there were or there weren't. 'Let's think what we'll do tonight when your dad comes. Will we drive him around Westville and show him the sights? Would he like a barbecue here by the pool? What do you think?'

'Dad's got much quieter, you know,' Annie said thoughtfully. 'He sits and does nothing a lot nowadays.'

For some reason that made Ria feel uneasy. The picture of Danny sitting still wasn't an easy one to create. Danny who never sat down, who was always on the go. What was making him quiet these days? Annie was observant, she wouldn't have imagined that. And from what Ria had heard, Bernadette was no ball of fun at keeping the conversation going. It seemed to be a silent house just as it had been an eventless holiday on the boat. So different to what the energetic quick-moving Danny Lynch had wanted all his life.

But she gave no hint of her anxiety. 'Well, if your dad would like to be quiet… then hasn't he picked a great place for it? Now I'm out of here, as they say at the shop, while I still have a job to go to. See you lunch-time.'

When she had gone the children looked at each other across the table.

'You're a little thug, a combination of a rat and a thug and that's saying something.'

Brian looked at her mutinously. 'And you're nothing but a jeer, a horrible old scornful jeer. What has Zach done to annoy you? Nothing at all, and you're always making fun of him.' His face was red and upset.

'Okay, peace?'

'No, not peace. It's only peace until you see Zach again and start groaning.'

'Okay, not peace, but it's going to be great to have us fighting when Dad arrives.'

'Why do you think he's coming?' Brian asked.

'I have no idea. But I don't think it could be anything bad,' Annie said reflectively.

'No, like he's given all the bad news already. It might be something good though, mightn't it?'

'Like what?' Annie wondered.

'Like he's leaving Bernadette?' Brian sounded hopeful.

'Didn't look much like it, did it though?' Annie said. 'They're very lovey-dovey.'

'Do you think Dad will sleep with Mam when he's here?' Brian asked suddenly.

'I don't know, Brian, but can I beg you on bended knees not to ask them if they're going to? Either of them.'

'What do you think I am?' Brian asked indignantly.

Ria came home from the gourmet shop with two big brown paper bags. 'Now we've lots of work to do, will I make a list?' she asked them.

They exchanged glances. 'What needs to be done?' Annie asked.

'We want to clean the place up and show Dad what a great house this is, scoop the leaves off the pool, make a super meal, and make up the bed…'

'Will he not be sleeping with you, Mam, in the same bed?' Brian asked. There was a pause. 'Sorry,' he said. 'I didn't mean to say that.'

Danny was packing his things in the office when the phone rang.

'Rosemary Ryan?' The girl raised her eyebrows questioningly.

'Put her through,' Danny said.

'I hear that you're going out to America,' she said.

'You could hear the grass grow, sweetheart.'

'I didn't hear it from you,' she said crisply, 'when we were last talking. In bed.'

'I gather you're not in the office,' he said.

'You gather right, I'm on my mobile in my car very near your office. I'll drive you to the airport.'

'There's no need, honestly.'

'Every need,' she said. 'Ten minutes' time I'll be parked outside.'

He came out of the building where he would probably never work again. The offices would be repossessed on Monday. Danny carried the grip bag he was taking to Westville, and two large carrier-bags, the contents of his desk. 'Do you know what would be wonderful? If you could keep these for me until I come back, save me going out to Bernadette and dropping them at home. And I can't leave them in Tara Road; that Kamp Kommandant will hardly let me past the door.'

'It was actually she who told me you were going to America,' Rosemary said as she negotiated the traffic along the canal.

'Did she now?' He wasn't pleased.

'Yes, I met her this morning in Tara Road and she asked me whether I had heard anything of your plans. I told her she could call Ria to check. She said she didn't want to make waves. That was her expression.'

'Was it?' he grunted.

'You don't think she could know about us do you, Danny?'

'I certainly didn't tell her.'

'No, it's just that she looks at me coldly and says things like "your good friend Ria"… with what sounds like heavy sarcasm. Did she say anything to you?'

'She said something about… you've never done anything that would make me think you weren't trustworthy, have you? It seemed a bit odd at the time, I'm trying to remember the words. But… no, I think we're only imagining things.'

'Why are you going, Danny?'

'You know why I'm going. I have to tell Ria face to face.'

'It won't make it any better for either of you, it's a wasted journey.'

'Why do you say that?'

'Even if you do tell her she still won't believe that it's going to happen. Ria doesn't believe unpleasant things. She's going to say "Never mind, it will all turn out fine".' Rosemary put on a childish voice to imitate the way Ria might speak.

Danny looked at her. 'What did Ria ever do to you to make you despise her so much? She never says anything except good things about you.'

'I suppose she let me walk off with her husband under her nose and didn't notice. That's not a clever way to be.'

'Most people don't have to be so watchful of people that they think are their friends.' Rosemary said nothing. 'I'm sorry, that was smug and hypocritical.'

'I never loved you for your fine spirit, Danny.'

'It's not easy, what I'm going to do, but fine spirit or no fine spirit, I think she deserves to hear it from me straight out.'

'Did you tell her what you were coming out for?'

'No.'

'She probably thinks you're going back to her,' Rosemary said.

'Why on earth would she think that? She knows it's over.'

'Ria doesn't know it's over. In twenty years she still won't believe it's over,' said Rosemary.

At the airport Danny met Polly Callaghan.

'Fleeing the country?' she asked him.

'No, going out to discuss the whole sad tale with Ria. And you? Deserting the sinking ship?'

'No, Danny.' Her eyes were cold. 'You know better than that. I'm giving Barney a little space with Mona for the weekend, he needs it. You're not the only one with a long sad tale to discuss.'

'Polly, I have spent the morning apologising to people for things. I'm upset, I lash out. Forgive me.'

'People will always forgive you, Danny. You're young and charming and you have a whole life still ahead of you. You'll be forgiven and you'll start again. Barney may not be so lucky.'

And she was gone before he could say any more.

The taxi drew up outside the carport. Danny stared up at the house where his family was spending the summer. It was much more splendid than he had imagined. He wondered would he have liked Marilyn Vine under more normal circumstances. Possibly. After all, she had remembered him from a chance meeting half a lifetime ago. They might well have been friends, business associates. And now he was walking into her home.

He could hear Brian shouting: 'He's here!' and his son hurtled down the slope to meet him and hug him.

A boy with a ball and a baseball cap on backwards stood watching closely. Brian's new friend no doubt. Annie, slim and tanned in her pink jeans, was right behind him. The hug was as warm as when she was four years of age. At least he hadn't lost them.

Danny had tears in his eyes when he saw Ria. She had come out too to meet him but she didn't run to him as she would have done in times gone by. She stood there serene, pleased to see him, a big smile all over her face. This was the Ria who hadn't realised that the marriage was over, the Ria who had lost all dignity and control the night before she left for America and who had begged him to leave Bernadette. But she was a different woman now surely. Confident and aware of the real world for the first time.

'Ria,' he said and stretched out his arms to her. He knew the children were watching.

She hugged him as she would have hugged a woman friend, and her cheek was against his. 'Welcome to Westville,' she said.

Danny let his breath out slowly. Thank God Rosemary had been wrong. All during the flight he had been wondering had he given the wrong message to Ria on the phone. But no, he knew that she saw him coming just as a friend. What a tragedy that he would have to change this mood entirely when he told her about Tara Road.

There was no opportunity to tell her the first night. Too much, far too much happening. There was a swim in the pool, a couple of neighbours or friends dropping in. Trust Ria to have got to know everyone. Admittedly these people didn't stay long, they were introduced, Heidi, Carlotta, two cultured gay men who ran a business in the town, a student who obviously had great designs on Annie. They had all dropped by, they said, to say Hi to Annie and Brian's father. He wasn't being presented in some cosy way as a current husband, Danny noted with relief. A glass of wine and club sodas in the garden and a platter of smoked salmon, then they were gone and there was a family barbecue beside the pool.

Danny learned that the children were going to stay with the Maines the following night. Ria must have realised that they needed to talk alone and she was packing them off there on a bus. He looked at her with admiration. She was handling it all so much better than he could ever have hoped. All he had to do now was to give her some realistic options about the very bleak financial future that lay ahead of them, something that wouldn't make her believe that her whole world was ending.

'It's eleven o'clock for us but four a.m. for your dad, I think we should let him go to bed,' Ria said, and they all carried the dishes back down to the house.

'Thank you for making it so easy, Ria,' he said as she showed him into the guest room.

'It is easy,' she smiled. 'I've always been delighted to see you, so why not now and in this lovely place?'

'It's worked well for you then?'

'Oh very much so.' She kissed his cheek. 'See you in the morning,' she said and left. He was asleep in under a minute.

Ria spent much of the night in her chair staring out into the garden. She saw a little chipmunk run across the grass. Amazing that she had never seen an animal like this before she came to America. There were squirrels in the trees, and Carlotta had a racoon which she was trying not to feed because you shouldn't encourage them, yet he had a lovely face. Brian was going to smuggle one home, he said, and start a chipmunk shop in Dublin.

'You'd need two if you were going to breed them,' Annie had said. 'Even you should know that.'

'I'm going to bring a pregnant one,' Brian said.

Ria forced herself to think about things like this rather than about the man who was sleeping in the room next door. Several times during the evening she had had to shake herself to remember the events of the past few months. They had seemed such a normal happy family, the four of them. It was almost impossible to believe that he had left them.

Surely he realised that it had all been a terrible mistake. That was the only reason he could be here. Ria wondered why he hadn't said it straight out. Asked her to forgive him and take him home. He had already thanked her for making things easy for him. She must continue in the same manner, rather than throw herself into his arms and tell him that nothing mattered any more. It was like some kind of game, you had to play it by the rules. Danny was coming back to her and this time she was going to keep him.

Mona McCarthy listened to the story without interrupting. Her face was impassive as she heard the events unfolding.

'Say something, Mona,' he said eventually.

She shrugged her shoulders slightly. 'What is there to say, Barney? I'm sorry, that's all. You put so much into it I'm sorry that in the end you won't be able to sit back and enjoy it.'

'I was never one for sitting back,' he said. 'You haven't asked how bad it is.'

'You'll tell me.'

'This house is in your name, that's one thing anyway.'

'But we can't keep it surely?'

'It's all we have, Mona.'

'You're going to let all those people lose their jobs, all those suppliers go without payment and Ria Lynch lose her home and expect me to live in this mansion?'

'That's not the way it is.'

'What way is it then?' she asked.

He couldn't answer. 'I'm sorry, Mona,' he said.

'I don't mind being poor, we've been poor before, but I won't be dishonest.'

'It's business. You don't understand, you're not a businesswoman.'

'You'd be surprised,' said Mona. 'Very surprised.'

Early next morning Ria took Danny a cup of coffee to his room.

'We usually have a swim before breakfast, will you join us?'

'I didn't bring any swimming trunks.'

'Now that was bad, if you'd only made one of my lists…' she mocked herself. 'I’ll get you something from Dale's room.'

'Dale?'

'Their son.'

'Will he mind?'

'No, he's dead.' Ria went off and found him a pair of swimming shorts.

'Dead?' Danny said.

'Killed. That's why Marilyn wanted to get away from here.'

'I thought her marriage broke up,' Danny said.

'No, I think her marriage is fine actually.'

'But isn't he in Hawaii? That doesn't look very fine to me.'

'I think he's on the way to Ireland this weekend,' Ria said.

'Can't you stay longer, Dad?' Brian asked.

'No, I have to go on Monday night, but I have three full days here,' Danny said as they came down from the pool to the omelettes that Ria had made for breakfast.

'What did you come for really?' Brian asked.

'To see you all. I told you that.'

'It's a long way,' Brian said thoughtfully.

'True. But you're worth it.'

'Mam said your visit had to do with your work.'

'In a way yes.'

'So when will you do it? The work part?'

'Oh it will get done, don't worry.' Danny ruffled his son's hair affectionately.

'Dad, what would you like me to be when I grow up?'

'I don't mind. What would you like?'

'I don't really know. Mam says I might be a journalist or a lawyer because I have an enquiring mind. Annie says I should be bouncer in a casino. Would you like me to be an auctioneer and work in your office with you?'

'Not really, Brian. I think people should choose their own line of work, follow their own star.'

'What did your parents want you to do?'

'I think they hoped I'd marry a rich farmer's daughter and get my hands on some land.'

'I'm glad you didn't. But suppose I did want to be an auctioneer I could, couldn't I? Then I could see you every day in the office, even if you didn't come home to live again.'

'Sure, Brian, I'd love to see you every day, we'll work something out.’

'And even when Bernadette's baby comes you'll still have time for us?' Brian's face was anxious.

Danny couldn't find the words to speak. He gripped Brian's shoulder very hard. When he did speak his voice was choked. 'I’ll always have time for you and Annie, Brian, believe me. Always.'

'I knew you would, I was just checking,' said Brian.

They took Danny on a tour, pointing out all the sights of Westville and ending up at the burger bar beside the bus station where Annie and Brian were catching the bus to the Maines.

Zach and Hubie turned up to say goodbye. 'It's going to be real dull with you gone,' Zach said.

'It's going to be fairly dull with Kelly, she's a girl, you know,' Brian said. Zach nodded sympathetically.

'If that guy Sean Maine puts a hand on you, I'll know and I'll be up there so quick…' Hubie said.

'Will you stop talking about people putting hands on me? My parents are listening to you,’ hissed Annie.

Danny and Ria got into the car and drove back to Tudor Drive.

'You were right to bring them out here, it's a great holiday for them.'

'Well, you paid their fares.' She was giving credit where it was due. In her list she had written down: Make it easy for him. Be cool and calm rather than eager. Don't let him think he is a villain. Don't gush. Don't say that you knew he'd come back. Make no plans for Bernadette's future, that's up to him. Ria smiled to herself. They might laugh at her lists, but they had their uses.

'You're happy here?' Danny said.

I'm fine,' she agreed.

'What's that place over there?' He pointed to a cluster of trees in the distance.

'That's Memorial Park, they keep it beautifully.'

'Could we go and walk there, sit there for a bit?'

'Sure, but would you not prefer to go home? The garden in Tudor Drive is as good as it gets.'

'I'd prefer somewhere… I don't know… somewhere a bit separate from things.'

'Right, Memorial Park it is. There's car parking around this way.'

They walked together and looked at the names of the men from Westville who had died in the World Wars, in Korea and Vietnam.

'What a waste war is. Look, that boy was only four years older than Annie,' Ria said.

'I know, he could have been one of those old men playing chess there instead of a name on a piece of stone,' Danny said.

She longed to touch him but she remembered her advice to herself. They sat down on a wooden seat and he reached out to hold her hand in his.

'You probably know what I have to say,' he said.

She worried slightly, just a little. Surely he should say what he wanted to say not what he had to say. Still it was only words. 'Say it, Danny.'

'I admire you so much, I really do… and I hate to have to tell you bad news. I can't tell you how much I hate it. The only one thing you'll have to give me some little credit for is that I came out to tell you myself.'

She felt a big heavy stone suddenly develop below her throat, under the jaunty scarf that she had tied so cheerfully that morning.

'So?' she said, not trusting herself to say anything more.

'It's very bad, Ria.'

'No, it can't be all that bad.' Ria realised that he was not coming back to her. This was not what this was all about. Her list hadn't been necessary at all. It didn't matter now whether she was calm or cool or gushy, he wasn't coming back.

She heard herself speaking. 'Danny, I've already had the worst news, nothing will ever be as bad as that. There can't be anything else you have to tell me.'

'There is,' he said.

And on a wooden seat in Memorial Park, Westville, he told Ria that her home was gone. Part of the assets in the estate of Barney McCarthy, which would be put into the hands of the receiver very shortly.

'There's a party tonight, we can go to it,' Sean Maine said the moment Annie arrived.

'Do we have to take Brian and Kelly?’

'No way. My mom got them a video to watch.' 'I don't have any party clothes,' Annie said sadly. 'You look just great.' The admiration in Sean's eyes was plain. Kitty wouldn't believe it. What a pity she wasn't here to watch this triumph! But of course Kitty would have the jeans off him by this stage, Annie thought disapprovingly. There would be none of that sort of thing as far as Annie was concerned; she must make that very clear from the start. Hubie had said it was totally unfair to look as good as she did and then not play. It was like putting delicious food on the table and then taking it away before people could eat it, he said. Really it was all very complicated.

'All right, Hilary, what is it? What are you trying to tell me?'

'And how did you know that I wanted to tell you anything, Mam?' Hilary asked.

'You're like Pliers. He goes round in a circle when he's trying to let you know he wants to go for a walk, you're doing the same.'

'Nothing's written in stone, Mam.'

'Tell me.'

'I mean if Ria were only here I'd sound her out before telling you anything at all…'

'Do I have to beat it out of you, Hilary?'

'Martin and I were wondering would you mind if we went to live in the country?'

'The country?

'I knew you'd mind. Martin said you wouldn't.'

'Whereabouts in the country?' Nora Johnson was astounded.

'Well, Martin's old home. You know, none of his brothers want to live there and the house is falling down and there's a teacher's job in the local school, and I'd be able to get a job there as well.'

'You'd live in the west?' Nora Johnson as a Dubliner regarded the country as a place you went for holidays.

'If you wouldn't be upset by it, Mam, yes we would.'

'I wouldn't be upset by anything. But Hilary, child, in the name of God what would possess you to go over there?' She should have known.

'It's going to be much cheaper, Mam. We've done our sums, the cost of living is much lower there, less petrol on commuting, and of course we'll get a little nest egg from selling our own house.'

'And what will you do with the little nest egg?'

'We'll just hold on to it, Mam, it would be a great comfort to us as we grow older.'

Nora nodded her head. For Martin and Hilary it might be the only comfort. 'And what made you make up your mind?'

'When we were there last I looked up and wasn't the place all surrounded by trees,' Hilary said. 'I knew then it was right for us.'

'I suppose you have sex with the customers?' Jack roared at Gertie.

'Ah, Jack, will you give over.' Gertie struggled to get herself free of his grip. 'What are you talking about?'

'You're my woman and you're not going out like any old cheap tart just to have a tenner in your handbag.'

'Let me go. You're hurting me, Jack, I beg you.'

'Where do you do it? Up against the wall, is it?'

'You know this is only madness.' She was terrified now; she hadn't seen him like this for a long time. She knew that Ria and the children were up visiting the Maines this weekend. What a different story Ria would tell. Suppose Sheila could see her now.

'You knew I'd discover, didn't you?'

'Jack, there's nothing to discover.'

'Why did you send the kids to your mother's last night then? Answer me that.'

'Because I could see you are a bit… under the weather. I didn't want anyone getting upset.'

'You didn't want them hearing that their mother did it for a tenner with anyone who came in.' He hit her.

'Jack.'

'I'm a normal man, this is what a normal man would feel about a wife who couldn't explain ten-pound notes in her handbag.'

'I scrub floors for them, Jack.'

'Where? Where do you do that?'

'In Marilyn Vine's house where Ria lives, for Polly Callaghan sometimes, for Frances Sullivan…'

He laughed. 'You don't expect me to believe that.'

Gertie wept with her head in her arms. 'Well if you don't believe me, Jack, then kill me now, because there's not much point in going on,' she said through her tears.

'I've never had a real girlfriend before,' said Sean Maine to Annie. They sat on a window seat at the party. There was dancing in the room and they were building the barbecue in the garden. Sean had his arm around her shoulder proudly, protectively almost. Annie smiled at him, remembering that she must not encourage him to think she was going to go any great distance. 'It's just my luck that the girl I like is going back to Ireland in a short time.'

'We can write to each other,' she said.

'Or maybe I could come over to Ireland, stay with my Aunt Gertie and Uncle Jack, go to school and be near you.'

'Yes, I suppose.' Annie sounded doubtful.

'Would you not like that?'

'Oh I would, it's just… it's just…' She wasn't sure how to finish. Mam had told her not to go into details about Gertie's life, it wasn't necessarily known over here. She knew that somehow it was important. 'It's just that I think Gertie's pretty busy,' she said lamely.

'She'd find room for family.' He was confident.

'Sure.'

'It was a big surprise your dad coming back?' Sean knew the story.

'I'm not sure he is actually back.'

'But Brian said…'

'Oh Sean, what does Brian know? It's just that Dad looked a bit sad. And he was very taken with Bernadette. I can't see he's given her up already, with the baby and everything.'

'Still he's at home there in Westville with your mom, that can't be bad.'

'No,' Annie agreed. 'That can't be bad at all.'

The shadows of the trees in Memorial Park grew longer as Danny and Ria sat on the wooden bench. They held hands, not like they used to do when they were young. Not even like friends, but like people in a shipwreck, holding on for fear of letting go and being totally alone. Sometimes they sat and said nothing at all. Other times Ria asked questions in a flat voice and Danny answered. At no stage did he call her sweetheart, and he offered no false hopes and glib reassurances that they would be all right.

'Why did you come over to America to tell us?' she asked. 'Couldn't it have waited until we came home?'

'I didn't want you to hear from anyone else.'

They were still holding hands, and she squeezed his as thanks. There were no recriminations. They had both known that the personal guarantee was there. It was just something that neither of them ever thought would be called in.

'Was he very sorry about us and Tara Road?' Ria asked.

Danny struggled to be truthful. 'He's so shell-shocked about himself, to be honest, that it's only one part of it.'

'Still he sent you out here to tell me, he must care a bit?'

'No, I insisted on coming out.'

'And Mona?'

'Barney said Mona said nothing. Nothing at all.’.

'She must have said something.'

'If she did, he didn't tell me.' This was a very different Danny. No longer certain of anyone, anything. Even the great Barney McCarthy was no longer a fixed point in his life.

They spoke idly of what Danny would do now. There were other estate agencies where he might get a job. But he would go in on a very low rung of the ladder.

'What about Polly?'

'She's giving up her flat, getting a job, Barney says she's a brick or a sport, I can't remember which.'

Ria nodded. 'Yes, it would be one or the other.'

'And the staff, that's another very hard bit,' he said.

'Who told them?'

'I did as it happens.'

'You've had a lot of the telling to do.'

'Yes, well, I rode high and had a lot of the good times when they were there too.'

'I know you did, we both did.'

The silences that fell were not anxious or uneasy. It was as if they were both trying to take it all in.

'And what does Bernadette say about it all?'

'She doesn't know.'

'Danny?'

'No, she doesn't, truly, I'll tell her when I get back. She'll be calm. Her mother won't, but she will.'

A wind blew, lifting some of the leaves and blossoms up from their feet.

'Let's go back to the house, Danny.'

'Thank you so much.'

'For what?'

'For not screaming at me. I've had to give you the worst news anyone could ever give anyone.'

'Oh no,' she said.

'What do you mean?'

'You gave me much worse news than that before.'

He said nothing. They walked together across Memorial Park back to Marilyn Vine's car.

Colm Barry called at Number 16 Tara Road.

'You really did work on a rehab programme?'

'Oh yes, certainly.'

'So can you help?'

'You know I can't. Caroline will have to want to do it herself, then I can help.'

'But we can't drag her there.' He sounded very lost.

'There is a place, a centre?'

Colm nodded. 'Yes, a fine place. But what use is it?'

'You could go there, check out the programme, meet some of the people. Tell her about it.'

'She'd only close her ears.'

'She doesn't love that guy Monto?'

'No, but she loves what he provides for her, and now he's doing deals in my restaurant.'

'You're not serious.'

'Last night, I know that's what they were doing, I know it.'

'You can't have this, Colm. He'll get the place closed down, what hope for you or Caroline then?'

'What can I do? I can shop him, but that would be to destroy her.'

'You and Caroline have shared enough and have had enough history for you to be able to talk to her. Tell her that you may lose your restaurant, beg her to give this centre a try. Tell her I'll go with her and sit through the assessment with her if she likes.'

When he left, Marilyn looked at herself in the mirror. She still had the same auburn hair, slightly longer now than when she arrived. Her eyes were still watchful, her jaw firm. Yet she was totally different inside. How could she possibly have changed so much in these few short weeks? Getting involved with strangers and trying to alter the course of their lives. Greg wouldn't believe it was possible.

Greg. She decided to telephone him, but to her surprise they told her that he was taking some reading days. That wasn't like Greg, but she called him at home. His machine said that he would be away for a week.

For the first time in their married lives he had not told her where he was going or what he was doing.

Suddenly she felt very lonely indeed.

When they got back to Tudor Drive, Ria suggested they have tea.

'No, Ria, sit down, talk to me… try to talk, don't bustle about doing things like you used to do at home.'

'Is that what I did at home?' She felt very hurt, annoyed.

'Well, you know whenever I came in and wanted to talk there was this in the oven and that on the burner and something else coming out of the deep-freeze and people coming and going.'

'Only the family, our children if I remember.'

'And half the neighbourhood. You were never there to talk to me.'

'Is that what a lot of this was about?'

'I suppose it was to cover what wasn't there,' he said sadly.

'Do you really believe that?'

'Yes I do.'

'Well, of course, I won't get tea, I'll sit down and talk to you now.'

That didn't please him either. 'Now I do feel a shit,’ he said. 'Come on, let's have tea.'

'You make it,' she said. 'I’ll sit here.'

He put on the kettle and took out the tea bags. Maybe she should have let him do this kind of thing more.

'You have a message on the machine,' he said.

'Take it for us, Danny, will you?' The old Ria would have leapt up with a pencil and paper.

'It's Hubie Green, Mrs. Lynch. I didn't catch Annie's telephone number and I thought it would be good to give her a call during her weekend away. I did leave you an e-mail about it but I guess you don't have time to look at your messages now with all the action going on. Say Hi to Mr Lynch for me.'

'Do you want to call him with her number?' Danny asked.

'No. If Annie had wanted him to have it then she'd have given it to him,' Ria said.

Danny looked at her admiringly. 'You're right. Shall we check your e-mail in case there are any more messages?'

'I thought you wanted to talk, now who is putting it off?'

'We have the evening, the night to ourselves.'

The old Ria would have started to fuss about what they would eat for supper and whether it should be earlier or later. But now she just shrugged. 'Right, come into Greg's study and see how good I am at it.'

Expertly she went for her Mailbox and saw three messages. One from Hubie, one from Danny's office, and one from Rosemary Ryan.

'Do you want the office?' she asked.

'No, who needs any more grief?'

'Well, will I see what Rosemary says?'

'More bad news surely,' he said.

'She knows? Rosemary knows?' Ria was startled.

'She had heard already from her own sources, then I met her yesterday just as I was leaving. She drove me to the airport.'

Ria brought Rosemary's message up on the screen. Ria read the message over several times, as if trying to read between the lines. She didn't want to raise their hopes unnecessarily.

Ria, Danny, you should access the Irish Times this morning.

There's an item about Barney that would interest you. All may not be lost after all. Enjoy New England.

'She says we should look up the Irish Times, the business gossip column,' she finally said.

'Can you do that?' he asked, impressed.

'Yes, hold on a minute.'

Very shortly they had the website and got the item. The paragraph said that rumours around the city seemed to suggest that Barney McCarthy's financial death might be like that of Mark Twain, somewhat premature. The word was that there had been a rescue package from sources outside his company. Things didn't look as dire as had been thought. Ria read it aloud, her voice getting lighter all the time.

'Danny, isn't that magic?'

'Yes.'

'Why aren't you more pleased?'

'If there was anything, Barney would have phoned me here; he has the number. This is just him doing the PR job.'

'Well, let's see what your office says on this. He might have sent you an e-mail.'

'I doubt it, but let's call it up anyway.'

'Message for Danny Lynch could he please phone Mrs. Finola Dunne at her home number urgently.'

'I told you it would be grief,' Danny said.

'Do you want to call her?'

'No, I can get the earful about how irresponsible I am when I get back,' he said.

'You'll probably get a similar earful from my mother too,' Ria said ruefully.

'No, to give poor old Holly her due, she'd put it all down to That Adulterer, as she calls him. Though these days it's hard to know who she'd describe as that.'

They had gone back into the kitchen and picked up their mugs of tea. The garden lights went on automatically, lighting up the place. Ria sat down and waited. She ached to speak, to reassure him about that paragraph in the newspaper, to encourage him to ring Barney and Mona at home. But she would do none of these things, she would wait. As, apparently, she should have waited in the past.

Eventually he spoke. 'What are you saddest about?' he asked.

She would not say that she was most sad because she thought he had been coming back to her. That would be the end of any meaningful conversation between them again. She tried to think what was the next most awful thing on the list.

'I suppose I'm sad that your dreams and hopes are ended. You wanted so much for the children and indeed for us all. It will be different now.'

'Will we tell them together tomorrow, do you think?' he asked.

'Yes, I suppose so. I was wondering if we should let them have their holiday in peace but that would be lying to them.'

'And I don't want you to have to do it on your own, make excuses for me as I know you would,' he said.

'There are no excuses to make. Everything you did, you did for us all,' she said. Danny looked quite wretched. She was determined to cheer him up. 'Right, they'll be home tomorrow, let's try and guess what horrific thing Brian will say.' He forced a smile and Ria went on determinedly. 'Whatever we guess it won't be quite as bad as what he'll come up with.'

'Poor Brian, he's such an innocent,' Danny said.

Ria looked at him, calmer than she had been for a long time. He really did love his family, and this was Danny without any disguises. Why did she not know what to do to help him or make things better? She just knew what not to do. Almost everything that her instinct told her would be right would only annoy him.

Tears fell down her face and splashed off the table. She didn't lift her hand to wipe them away, half hoping that in the fading light he would not see. But he came up to her and gently took her tea mug out of her hand and placed it on the table, then he pulled her up from the chair, held her close to him and stroked her hair.

'Poor Ria, dear, dear Ria,' he said. She could feel his heart beating as she lay against him. 'Ria, don't cry.' He kissed the tears from her cheeks. But more came in their place.

'I'm sorry,' she said into his chest. 'I don't mean to.'

'I know, I know. The shock, the terrible awful shock.' He still stroked her and held her away from him, smiling at her to cheer her up.

'I think I am a bit shocked, Danny, maybe I should lie down for a bit.'

They went to the bedroom where she had been hoping he might join her tonight. He sat down and gently he took off her lilac-and-cream-coloured blouse, which he hung carefully on the back of the chair. Then she stepped out of her silk skirt and he folded that too. She stood in a white slip like a child being put to bed with a fever, and he turned back the sheet and counterpane for her.

'I don't want to miss your visit. I want to get value out of your being here,' she said.

'Shush, shush, I'll stay here beside you until you get a little sleep,' he said.

He brought a face flannel from the bathroom wrung out with water and wiped her face. Then he stroked her hand as he sat beside her in the chair. 'Try to sleep, dear Ria, and to know how fond of you I am, how very fond of you.’

'I know that, Danny.'

'That never changed, you do know that?'

'Yes I do.' Her eyelids were heavy. He looked so tired as he sat there minding her, his face half in the light that came in from the garden. She sat up on her elbow and said, 'It will be sort of all right, won't it?'

He put his arms around her and held her again. 'Yes, Ria, it will be sort of all right.' His voice was weary.

'Danny, lie down on the bed and sleep too, just close your eyes. It's been worse for you.' She didn't mean any more than that, lie down in his clothes on top of the bedspread and sleep beside her for a couple of hours.

But he clung to her and she realised that he wasn't going to leave her go. Ria didn't allow herself to think about what might be happening. She lay back in Marilyn Vine's bed and closed her eyes while the only man she had ever loved gently removed the rest of her clothes and made love to her again.

Greg decided to tell Ria that he was going to Ireland but the answering machine was on. He debated whether to leave a message and decided against it. He stood in the phone booth at Kennedy Airport and considered calling Marilyn. But suppose she told him not to come? Then they would be worse than they had ever been. His only hope was to call her and say he was in Dublin. Which he would be very soon.

He heard his flight being called. It was now too late to call his wife even if it were a good idea.

There had been no reply from Danny. Rosemary was very annoyed. She had driven him to the airport, he was in a house with an e-mail facility, a telephone. He would have known what to make of that cryptic piece in the paper. He would be tired of playing Happy Families and trying to bolster up Ria. Why didn't he call her? Rosemary told herself, as she had told herself many times before, this was not going to continue.

What she felt for Danny Lynch was neither sensible nor in any game plan. It was in fact the most basic urge imaginable. No other man would do. She had put up with sharing him with Ria for years, and with others like that disgusting Orla King. She had even put up with the infatuation for the wraith-like Bernadette. But he had always been civil and courteous before. He wasn't even that these days.

She was glad that she had not rescued him; she was just quivering with curiosity to know who had. The woman who wrote this column in the Irish Times was very informed. It would not be a flyer, something deliberately planted. Rosemary believed that Danny Lynch and Barney McCarthy were genuinely going to be pulled out of the fire. All she needed to know was by whom.

'Frances, you know the way I told you never to tell Jack I did a bit of cleaning for you?' Gertie said.

'And I never have,' Frances Sullivan said.

'No, but things have changed now. Now I do need him to know I come here, you see he thinks I get the money somewhere else.'

'Yes, but surely he won't come and ask me?' Frances looked fearful.

'No, but suppose he does, it's all right now, I'd prefer him to think that this is where I get the money.'

'Yes, Gertie.' Like a lot of people Frances was becoming increasingly wearied by the menacing presence of Gertie's Jack Brennan in her life.

'Thanks, Frances, I'll just go and tell Marilyn and then Polly and it will all be out of the way.'

Marilyn was in the front garden in jeans and T-shirt. She looked very young and fit for her years, Gertie thought.

'I hate having to burden you with my problems.'

'Sure, what is it, Gertie?' Marilyn listened and with great difficulty controlled her impatience. In her newly directive mood, she could easily have urged Gertie not to be so foolish, such a hapless victim encouraging more senseless violence and even neglecting her own children in the process. But one look at that haunted face made Marilyn retreat from any such action. 'Right,' she sighed. 'It's okay this week to tell him, let me know if it changes next week.'

'You're lucky and strong, Marilyn, I'm neither, but thank you.' She left to go to the bus stop across the road. Polly Callaghan was the third person she must warn.

Rosemary drew up her car. 'Can I drive you anywhere, Gertie?'

'I was going over to Polly, I wanted to give her a message.'

'She's in London, back after the weekend.'

'Well I am glad I met you. Thanks, Rosemary, you saved me a trip, I'll just walk up home then.'

'They did invent a telephone system, you know, you could have called her,' Rosemary said. It sounded somehow very dismissive and cruel.

'Are you cross with me about something, Rosemary?'

'No, I'm in a bad mood. Sorry, I didn't mean to bark.'

'That's all right.' Gertie never held a grudge for long. 'Man trouble is it?'

'What kind of man trouble do you think I might have?' Rosemary asked with some interest.

'I don't know, choosing between them I imagine,' Gertie shrugged.

'No, it's not that. I'm sort of restless, I don't know why, and people are being difficult. Your woman in there hasn't spoken to me for ages. What did I do to get up her nose?'

'I don't know. I thought you were great friends, going to fashion shows and all together.'

'Yes we were, that was the last time she spoke to me,' Rosemary said in wonder.

'So was there any coldness?'

'None at all. She drove me home… I didn't ask her in.'

'Well, she'd not be sulking about that.'

Rosemary remembered back to the night, and Danny coming to the summerhouse. But there was no way, no possible way that Marilyn could have… She pulled herself together. 'You're absolutely right, Gertie, I'm imagining it. All well at home?'

'Oh fine, thank you, just fine,' said Gertie who was relieved that Rosemary wasn't really interested anyway.

They slept wrapped up together as they had done for years in Tara Road. When Ria woke she knew she must not stir. So she lay there going back over all the events of the day and evening. She could see the time; it was eleven o'clock at night. She would like to get up, have a shower, and make them both an omelette. Together they would sit and talk about what was to be done. They would make their plans as they had long ago. And it was all going to be all right. Money wasn't important. Even the house they had built up together could be replaced. They could get another one, a smaller one. But she would take no initiative, she would lie there until he moved.

She pretended to be asleep when he got out of bed, picked up his clothes and went to the bathroom. When she heard the shower being turned on she joined him there with a towel wrapped around her. She sat down on one of Marilyn's cork-and-wrought-iron bathroom chairs. She would let him speak first.

'You're very quiet, Ria,' he said.

'How are you? she said. There would be no more taking the initiative. The wrong initiative.

'Where do we go now?' he asked.

'A shower, a little supper?'

He seemed relieved. 'Sandalwood?' he said of the soap.

'You like it, don't you?'

'Yes I do.' He seemed sad about something, she didn't know what. He went to his own room to get clothes. She followed him into the shower, then put on yellow trousers and a black sweater.

'Very smart,' he said as they met in the kitchen.

'Annie says I look like a wasp in this outfit.'

'Annie! What does she know?'

They were walking on eggshells. Not a mention of what had happened. Or of what might happen next. Nor did they talk of Barney McCarthy or Bernadette, or the future or the past. But somehow they filled the time quite easily. Together they made a herb omelette and a salad; they each drank a glass of wine from the fridge. They ignored the message light winking on the answering machine. Whoever it was could be dealt with tomorrow.

And when it was half past midnight, they went back to bed. In the big double bed that belonged to Greg and Marilyn Vine.

The phone kept ringing, as if someone was refusing to accept that there was nobody going to take the call.

'Technology,' yawned Danny.

'Hubie Green, desperate for our daughter's telephone number,' giggled Ria.

T'll get coffee for us. Will I put whoever it is out of their misery?' Danny suggested.

'Do, of course.' Ria was chirpy and cheerful as she heard the message tape winding backwards. Anything at all he did was all right with her today. She was just pulling on her swimsuit, ready to go to the pool, when she heard the fevered voice on the answering machine. 'Danny, I don't care what time it is, or Ria or whoever is there, you've got to pick up, you have to. This is an emergency. Please pick up, Danny. It's Finola here. Bernadette's been taken to hospital, Danny, she's had a haemorrhage. She's calling out for you. You've got to talk to me, you've got to come home.'

Ria put a dress on over her swimsuit and went quietly out to the kitchen. She filled the percolator and switched it on. Then she took out a directory with the numbers of airlines in it and passed it to Danny without comment. He would go home today, and she must do absolutely nothing to stop him.

She caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. She had a half-smile on her face. She must lose this immediately. She must not let a hint of what she was feeling escape. If Bernadette was losing the baby then their problems might be over.

Danny looked at her with anguished eyes.

'Get dressed,' she said. 'We'll get you on a plane.'

He came over to her and held her very tight. 'There never was and never will be anyone like you, Ria,' he said in a broken voice.

'I'll always be here for you, you know that,' she said into his hair.

Marilyn had seen Rosemary stop and talk to Gertie at the bus stop. She was relieved that she hadn't used the opportunity to come and call. It was getting harder to disguise her resentment of such a betrayal. She dug on furiously, wondering whether in this Catholic country they would think she was breaking the Sabbath by working in the garden. But Colm Barry had reassured her, it would be regarded as purely recreational, and weren't all the shops open on Sundays now, football games played.

She heard another car draw up outside. Surely not a caller, she didn't want to talk to anyone now. She wanted to lose herself in this work. There were so many things she did not want to think about. Strange that. Once there had only been one topic that had to be forced away. But today, as well as banishing Dale from her mind, she did not want to think about Gertie's violent husband, Colm's addicted sister, or Rosemary the faithless friend.

She heard voices outside the gate of Number 16. And as she knelt, trowel in hand, Marilyn Vine saw the slightly stooped figure of her husband come into the drive and look up at the house. She dropped the trowel and ran to him, crying out, 'Greg… Greg!'

He pulled back from her first. Months of rejection had taken their toll. 'I hope it's all right…' he began apologetically.

'Greg?'

'I did plan to call you from the airport. I sat there until it was a civilised time,' he explained.

'It's all right.'

'I didn't want to disturb you, or invade your time, your space. It's just… it's just… well it's only for two or three days.'

She looked at him in wonder. He was apologising for being there, how terrible must have been the coldness she had shown to him. 'Greg, I'm delighted you're here,' she said.

'You are?'

'Of course I am. I don't suppose you'd think of giving me a hug?'

Hardly able to believe it, Greg Vine embraced his wife.

There were bus timetables there too, so Ria looked up an earlier bus back for the children, then she called Sheila. 'Could you be very tactful and get them on it for me? I'll explain everything tomorrow.'

Sheila knew an emergency when she heard one. 'No bad news?' she asked.

'Not really, very complicated. But Danny has to leave tonight and I want him to be able to say goodbye to the children himself.'

'How much will I tell them?'

'Just that plans have changed.'

'I'll do it, of course, but I want you to know the courage it will take to tell that to Sean Maine and Annie Lynch.'

'Dad, it's Annie. I can't believe what Mrs. Maine has told me, she says you're going back tonight.'

'That's right, Princess, I'd love it if you could get back.'

'But why, Dad, why?’

'I’ll explain everything when I see you, Princess.'

'We were going to go to have a picnic and then come back this evening and we were all going to go to Manhattan tomorrow for the day. Now it's all changed.'

'I'm afraid so, my love.'

'Did you have some awful row with Mam? Did she send you home, is that it?'

'Absolutely not, Annie. Your mother and I have had a wonderful time here together and we both want to talk to the two of you this evening, that's all.'

'Okay then.'

'Sorry to upset all the romance,' he said.

'What romance, Dad? Don't be old-fashioned.'

'Sorry,' he said and hung up.

On the bus Annie and Brian tried to work it out.

'He's coming back to live at home?' Brian was hopeful.

'They wouldn't bring us back to tell us that,' Annie grumbled. She had missed a marvellous picnic by a lake. Sean had been very sulky about her departure. Even suggested she wanted to go back to Westville to meet Hubie Green.

'Well, what then?' Brian asked.

'He's broke, I think that's it.'

'I always said that.' Brian was triumphant.

'No you didn't, you kept bleating that Finola was saying it.'

'We'll know soon.' Brian was philosophical. 'We're on the edge of Westville now.'

When they got off the bus Hubie Green was waiting. 'Your mom asked me to pick you up and drive you back to Tudor Drive,' he said.

'Are you sure, you're not just kidnapping us?' Annie asked.

'No. I was glad of the chance to see you again, but truly she did ask me.' They climbed into Hubie's car. 'Did you have a good time?'

'It was all right…' Annie began with a careless shrug.

Brian decided that more information should be given. 'She and Sean Maine were disgusting, almost as bad as the two of you. I can't understand it myself, I think it would choke you and I honestly don't know how you'd breathe while you're doing it.'

Bernadette's face was very white. 'Tell me again, Mum, what did he say?'

'He said I was to listen carefully and repeat these words: "He was flying home tonight, he'd be here tomorrow and nothing had changed".'

'Did he say he loved me?' Her voice was very weak.

'He said "Nothing has changed". He said it three times.'

'Why do you think he said that instead of that he loved me?'

'Because his ex-wife may have been there, and because he wanted to tell you that if you did lose the baby, which you won't, Ber, it would still be the same.'

'Do you believe that, Mum?'

'Yes. I listened to him say it three times and I believe him,' said Finola Dunne.

'Sit down, Barney, we have to talk,' Mona McCarthy said.

'But you wouldn't talk at all when I was trying to,' he complained.

'I didn't want to then, but we have to talk now. A lot of things have changed.'

'Like what?'

'Like that paragraph in the newspaper.'

'Well, you said that you had something put by over the years and you were prepared to rescue things.'

'We haven't yet discussed in what way. And I certainly didn't expect you to start telling the newspapers.' She was calm and confident as always, but this time with a steely hint that he didn't like.

'Mona, you know just as well as I do the need to build up confidence at a time like this,' he began.

'You'd be most unwise to build up anyone's confidence until we have discussed the terms.'

'Look, love, stop talking in mysteries. What do you mean terms'? You told me you'd put something away, something that would rescue us.'

'No, that's not what I said.' She was placid. She could have been talking about a knitting pattern or a charity fashion show.

'What did you say then, Mona?'

'I said I had something, a way which could rescue you, that's a very different thing.'

'Don't play word games, this isn't the time.' There was a tic in his forehead. She couldn't have been fooling him, leading him along. It wasn't her style.

'No games, I assure you.' She was very cold.

'I'm listening, Mona.'

'I hope you are,' she said. Then in very level tones she told him that she had enough money saved over the years in reputable pension funds and insurance policies which, when cashed in, would bale him out. But they were all in her name and they would only be cashed if Barney agreed to pay his debtors. And to sell this mansion they lived in and buy a much smaller and less pretentious house. And to return the personal guarantee on Number 16 Tara Road to the Lynches. And that Miss Callaghan be assured that any relationship with her, financial, sexual or social, was at an end.

Barney listened open-mouthed. 'You can't make these demands,’ he said eventually.

'You don't have to accept them,' she countered.

He looked at her for a long time. 'You hold all the cards,' he said.

'People can always get up and leave the card table, they don't have to play.'

'Why are you doing this, you don't need me, Mona? You don't have to have me hanging around the place as some kind of an accessory.'

'You have no idea what I need and what I don't need, Barney.'

'Have some dignity, woman, for God's sake. At this stage everyone knows about me and Polly, we're not hushing anything up that isn't widely known already.'

'And they'll know when it's over too,' she said.

'This will give you pleasure?'

'These are my terms.'

'Do we have lawyers to fix it up?' He was scathing.

'No, but we do have the newspapers. You've used them already, I can do the same.'

If anyone had ever suggested to Barney McCarthy that his quiet compliant wife would have spoken like this to him Barney would have laughed aloud.

'What's brought this on, the thought of being poor?' His lip was twisted as he spoke.

'I pity you if you really think that. I never wanted to be rich. Never. It always sat uneasily on me. But anyway as it happens I am rich, and I'll be richer if I don't help you out of the hole that you are in.'

'So why then?'

'Partly from a sense of fairness. You did work hard for what you got, very hard, and I enjoyed a comfortable life as a result. But mainly because I would like us to move with some grace into this period of our lives.'

He looked at her with tears in his eyes. 'It will be done,' he said.

'As you choose, Barney.'

Hubie left them at the carport.

'Nothing is ever the way Brian says it is,' Annie said to him sadly.

'I know.'

'So will I see you again?'

'Of course. Anyway neither Sean bloody Maine nor I will ever see you again after this summer, so what the hell?'

'I'd hate to think that,' she said.

'About which of us?'

'About both of you,' she said.

And they ran inside. They saw Danny's grip bag packed.

'You really are going then?' Annie said.

'Did you think I was making it up?'

'I thought you might want to get us back from the Maines,' Annie said.

'You'd want to have seen Annie and Sean Maine…' Brian began.

'No we wouldn't,' Ria said. 'We wouldn't have wanted to at all, any more than we'd want to have seen the way you left your bedroom here, Brian. But let's not waste time, we only have an hour before I take your dad to the bus station. There are a lot of things to be said so we must all talk now.'

'Zach might have seen me coming home, he could call in,' Brian began.

'Well, he'll just be asked to call out again,' Annie said.

Danny took control. 'I came over here to tell you that there are going to be a lot of changes, not all for the better.'

'Are any of them for the better?' Brian asked.

'No, as a matter of fact,' his father said. 'They're not.'

They sat silent, waiting. Danny's voice seemed to have failed him. They looked at their mother, but Ria said nothing, she just smiled encouragingly at Danny. At least she wasn't fighting with him and it reassured them. A little.

He cleared his throat and found the words. He told them the story. The debts, the gambles that hadn't worked, the lack of confidence, the end result. Number 16 Tara Road would have to be sold.

'Will you and Bernadette sell the new house too?' Brian asked.

'Yes, yes of course.'

'But Barney doesn't own that one?' Annie asked.

'No.'

'Well, maybe we could all live there, couldn't we?' Brian enclosed the whole room in his expansive gesture. 'Or maybe not,' he said, remembering.

'And I would have told you all this tonight, with more time for us to discuss what was best and to tell you how sorry I am, but I have to go home.'

'Is Mr McCarthy in gaol?' Brian asked.

'No, no it's not that at all, it's something else.' There was a silence. They looked at Ria again; again she offered nothing but a look of encouragement for Danny to speak. 'Bernadette isn't well. We've had a message from Finola. She's had a lot of bleeding and she may be losing the baby, she's in hospital. So that's why I'm going home early.'

'Like it's not going to be born after all, is that it?' Brian wanted to make sure he had it straight.

'It's not totally formed yet so it would be very weak and might not live if it were born now,' Danny explained.

Annie looked at her mother as she listened to this explanation, and bit her lip. Never had things been so raw and honest before. And Dad had been telling the truth on the phone, they were not rowing and fighting.

Brian let out a great sigh. 'Well, wouldn't that solve everything if Bernadette's baby wasn't born at all?' he said. 'Then we could all go back to being like we were.'

Danny gave the taxi-driver the address of the maternity hospital. 'As quick as you can, and I have to pay you in US dollars, I don't have any real money.'

'Dollars are real enough for me,' said the taxi-driver, pulling out in the early-morning sunshine and putting his foot down on the empty road.

'Is this the first baby?' the driver asked.

'No.' Danny was curt.

'Still it's always the same excitement, isn't it? And every one of them different. We have five ourselves, but that's it. Tie a knot in it, they told me.' He laughed happily at the pleasantry and caught Danny's eye in the mirror. 'Maybe you're a bit tired and want to have a bit of a rest after the flight.'

'Something like that,' Danny said with relief, and closed his eyes.

'Well, make the most of it, you'll have plenty of broken sleep for the next bit, there's a promise,' said the driver, a man of experience.

Orla King was having a routine check-up at the hospital. Something had shown up on a smear test but it had proved to be benign. Her blood tests had also showed much improved liver function. Apart from the catastrophic lapse at Colm's restaurant she was keeping off alcohol.

'Good girl,' said the kindly woman specialist. 'It's not easy but you're in there winning.’

'It's a funny old world. I stay off the booze and God says: okay, Orla, you don't have cancer this time.' Orla was cynical.

'Some people find that kind of attitude helps.' The doctor had seen it all and heard it all.

'Fantasists.' Orla dismissed them.

'What would help you?'

'I don't know. A singing career, the one fellow I fancied to fancy me…'

'There are other fellows.'

'So they say.' Orla went out into the corridor and walked straight into Danny Lynch. 'We do meet in the strangest places,' she said.

'Not now, Orla.' His voice was hard.

'It can't be baby time yet surely?'

'Please, excuse me.' He was trying to step past her.

'Come and have a coffee in the canteen and tell me all about it,' she pleaded.

'No. I'm meeting someone, I'm waiting.'

'Go on, Danny. I'm sober, that's one bit of good news, and a better one I don't have cancer.'

'I'm very pleased for you,' he said, still trying to escape.

'Look, I behaved badly some time back. I didn't ring or write or anything, but you know I didn't mean it, it's not the real me when the drink takes over.’

Across the corridor was a men's toilet. 'I'm sorry, Orla,' he said and went in the door. When he was inside he just leaned over the hand-basin and looked at his haggard face, sunken eyes from a sleepless night on the plane, crumpled shirt.

He had been told she was still in Intensive Care, and he could see her in an hour or two. Her mother would be back shortly, she had been there most of the night. Oh yes, she had lost the baby; there had been no possibility of anything else. Bernadette would tell him everything herself, it wasn't hospital policy to tell him whether it had been a boy or a girl, the woman would do all that. In time. Go and have a coffee, they had urged him, and then he had met Orla King of all people in the universe.

His shoulders began to heave and the tears wouldn't stop. Another man, a big burly young fellow, came in and saw him.

'Were you there for it?' he asked. Danny couldn't speak and the proud young father thought he had nodded agreement. 'I was too. Jesus, it blew my mind. I couldn't believe it. I had to come in here to get over it. My son, and I saw him coming into the world.' He put an awkward arm around Danny's shoulder and gave him a squeeze of solidarity. 'And they say it's the women who go through it all,' he said.

Polly Callaghan came back from London early on Monday morning. Barney was waiting in his car outside her flat.

Polly was thrilled to see him. 'I didn't call you or anything, I wanted to leave you a bit of space. Aren't you good to come and meet me?'

'No, no not at all.' He seemed very down.

Polly wasn't going to allow that. 'Hey, I bought the Irish Times at Victoria Station in London and I saw that piece about you, it's wonderful.'

'Yes,' he said.

'Well, isn't it?'

'In a way.'

'Well, get out of that car, come in and I'll make us coffee.'

'No, Poll, we must talk here.'

'In your car, don't be ridiculous.'

'Please. Humour me this once.'

'Haven't I spent a lifetime humouring you? Tell me before I burst. Is it true, are you being rescued?' 'Yes, Poll, I am.'

'So why haven't we the champagne out?'

'But at a price. A terrible price.'

'Polly, it's Gertie here. Is this a good time to talk? I have a bit of a favour to ask you.'

'No, Gertie, it's not a good time to talk.'

'Sorry. Is Barney there?'

'No, and he's never going to be here again.'

'I don't believe it! I knew he was in a bit of trouble but…'

'He's in no trouble now, it's all been smoothed out for him, but he's not ever going to be here again, that's part of the deal. Actually I'm not going to be here much longer, that's part of the deal too.'

'But how?'

'His wife. Wives always win in the end.'

'No they don't. Ria didn't win, did she?'

'Ah shit, Gertie. Who cares?'

'I do, I'm very sorry. Maybe he doesn't mean it.'

'He means it. It was either or. What was your problem by the way?'

'Just… it doesn't matter, it's not big compared to yours.'

'What was it, Gertie?'

'It's just that Jack got some silly notion in his head that I was earning the extra money, well you won't believe how he thought I was earning it, so I had to tell him I was working for you. He might come round to check so can you say yes?'

'Is that all? Is that the big problem?'

'It was quite big at the time, and might be again if he's still brooding about it.'

'Were there any stitches this time?'

'No, no.'

'Gertie you're such a fool, such a mad fool. I'd love to come over and shake every remaining tooth out of your head.'

'That wouldn't help me. Not a bit.'

'No, I know that.'

'It's only because he loves me you see, he gets notions.'

'I see.'

'And you know that Barney loves you, Polly, he'll be back.'

'Of course he will,' said Polly Callaghan and hung up.

Marilyn Vine said to Greg that they were going to drive out to Wicklow for the day on Monday. It was less than an hour's journey, and very beautiful. She was going to make what would pass for a picnic.

'Here, I'll show you a map, you love maps,' she said as she got out Ria's picnic basket. 'Now, you can see where we're going and navigate if I take the wrong turning.'

He looked at her in amazement. The transformation was extraordinary. The old enthusiasms were back. 'We can go to the country in one hour?' he said, surprised.

'This is an extraordinary city, it's got sea and mountains right on the doorstep,' she said. 'And I want to take you to this place I found. You can park the car and walk over the hills for miles and meet no one, see no one. You can't even see any dwelling places. It's like Arizona without the desert.'

'Why are we going there?' he asked gently.

'So that nobody can interrupt us. If we stay here in Number 16 Tara Road we might as well be in Grand Central Station,' said Marilyn, with the easy laugh that Greg Vine had thought he would never hear again.

Bernadette looked very white. His stomach nearly turned over when he saw her. 'Go on, talk to her. She's been counting the moments till you got here,' the nurse said.

'She's asleep,’ he said, almost afraid to approach the bed.

'Is that you, Danny?'

'I'm here beside you, darling, don't speak. You're tired and weak. You've lost a lot of blood, but you're going to be fine.'

'Kiss me,' she said. He kissed her thin white face. 'Properly.' He kissed her on the lips. 'Do you still love me, Danny?'

'Darling Bernadette, of course I do.'

'You know about the baby?'

'I'm sad we've lost our baby, very sad,' he said, eyes full of tears.

'And, God, I'm sad I wasn't here to be with you when it happened. But you are all right and I'm here for you and that's what's going to make us strong for ever and ever.'

'You're not glad or anything, you don't think it sort of solves things just now?'

'Jesus, Bernadette, how could you even think that?' His face was anguished.

'Well… you know…'

'No, I don't know. Our baby is dead, the baby we were building a home for, and you're so weak and hurt. How could I be glad about anything like that?'

'It's just that I was afraid, you being out in America…' her voice trailed away.

'You know I had to go out to America to tell them face to face about the business. And that's done and I'm home now, home with you.'

'And did it go all right?' Bernadette asked.

'Yes, it went all right,' said Danny Lynch.

Ria rang Rosemary. 'You haven't set out for work yet?'

'No. Hey, what time is it out there? It must be the middle of the night.'

'It is, I couldn't sleep.' Ria sounded flat.

'Is anything wrong?'

'Well, yes and no.'

And Ria confided to her good friend Rosemary that Danny had gone home early because of Bernadette's miscarriage. She had nobody in Dublin to keep her informed of what was going on, could Rosemary keep an ear to the ground ? Nobody else would tell her what was happening, but Rosemary saw Danny from time to time and she would be in a position to know.

Ria also told her how she hoped to get into some kind of catering job when she got home. Everyone here had been pleased with her work, she would try to get commissions from Colm for desserts and from the big delicatessen to do specialist work. She said she thought that everything was going to be all right again.

'And how was Danny when he was out there?'

'He was fine, it was a bit like the old days,' Ria said. She didn't go into details but Rosemary got the distinct feeling that more had happened than was being said. But even Danny Lynch wouldn't be so foolish as to sleep with his ex-wife under such circumstances. Surely?

When Rosemary went out to get into her car, still concerned about it, she met Jack Brennan. He did not smell of drink—but he wasn't sober. 'Just quick question, Rosemary. Do you pay my wife to clean your house?'

'Certainly not, Jack. Gertie is my friend not my cleaner. I have cleaners who come from an agency twice a week.'

'And do other people pay her? Ria and that one staying in Ria's house, Polly, Frances?'

'Don't be ridiculous, Jack, of course they don't,' said Rosemary as she slammed her car door and drove to work.

Finola Dunne drove Danny to his office.

'I have to talk to Barney about what this rescue business is all about. It may be nothing, only puff, but it just might be something we can cling on to. I'll be back to Bernadette before lunch.'

'You'll need some sleep, you look terrible,' Finola said.

'I can't sleep, not at a time like this,'

'Ber losing the baby… at this time…?' Finola was tentative.

'Makes me love her still more and want to look after her even more desperately than I did before…' Danny finished the sentence for her.

'But there must be ways…?'

'Surely you know, Finola, that I adore her, that I wouldn't have left my wife and children for her if I didn't love her more than anything else in the whole world. You must know that.'

In the office a full-scale meeting was taking place. The receptionist was surprised to see him. 'They didn't think you were coming back until tomorrow,' she said, startled at his dishevelled appearance.

'Yes, well I'm here now, who's in there?'

'The accountant, the lawyers, the bank manager, and Mrs. McCarthy.'

'Mona?'

'Yes.'

'And was anyone going to tell me about this summit or was I to hear about it when it was all over?'

'Don't ask me, Mr Lynch. I'm on notice like everyone else here, I don't get told what's happening either.'

'Right, I'm going in there.'

'Mr Lynch?'

'Yes?'

'If I could suggest you sort of… well… cleaned yourself up a bit.'

'Thank you, sweetheart,' he said. The girl was right. Five minutes in the men's room would take the worst edges off.

The sun shone through the trees as Greg and Marilyn sat at a wooden table and unpacked their picnic. They had walked and talked easily in the hills, looking at the sheep that barely gave them a second glance.

'Why did you come here?' Marilyn asked.

'Because Ria said you had talked to her children about Dale. I thought you might be able to talk to me about him too.'

'Yes, of course I can. I'm sorry it took so long.'

'It takes what time it takes,' Greg said. He laid his hand on hers. Last night he had slept in the big white bed beside Marilyn. They really hadn't touched each other, not reached out towards the other, but they had held hands for a little. He knew he must be very gentle in asking questions. He wouldn't ask what had changed her. She would tell him.

And then she did. 'There's always some stupid unimportant thing, isn't there?' Marilyn said with the tears that he had never seen her shed in her eyes.

'I mean it's so idiotic that I can hardly bear to tell you. But it was all to do with those children. Annie said that of course we couldn't have let him play with motor bikes any more than you'd let someone play with guns. And Brian said that he imagined Dale was up in heaven looking down, sorry for all the trouble he had caused.' The tears fell down on to their joined hands. 'Then it all made sense somehow, Greg,' she said through her sobs. 'I mean, I don't think there's a real heaven or anything, but his spirit is somewhere, sorry for all the trouble. And I must listen to him and tell him it's all right.'

'The wanderer returns,' Danny said, coming in with a false smile and confident stance to the boardroom where the meeting was going on. The stolid figure of Mona McCarthy sat beside Larry from the bank and the two lawyers.

I'm sorry, we didn't know you were going to be in the country, Danny, there was no attempt to exclude you,' Mona said. Mona was speaking at a meeting like this?

'Well, tell the prodigal if the story in the Irish Times about a fatted calf was true.' Barney seemed curiously mute, so Danny was playing to the gallery now, trying to take control, or raise it a little anyway.

'Less of the jokes, Danny.' Larry from the bank had never liked him, but today he was speaking as if Danny were a schoolboy.

Danny was silent. And in the space of fifteen minutes he learned that Mrs. McCarthy had, entirely without any legal or moral need to do so, decided to rescue the firm from bankruptcy. Everything would be wound up, the assets sold, the debtors paid. There would be no more work for Danny Lynch since the company no longer existed. The bank manager also managed to let Danny know that it might be extremely difficult for him to find a position in any reputable estate agency. The word about the financial mishandling was well known.

The good news was that the personal guarantee on Number 16 Tara Road was now rescinded. The house would not be sold to pay Barney McCarthy's debts. Danny could feel his breath slowly beginning to return to normal. But Larry added that on the Tara Road front there was also, on a practical level, bad news. Danny had no assets, no job and a considerable personal overdraft. The house would have to be sold anyway.

Fergal, a man that Colm knew slightly from the AA, called to see him. He was a detective as far as Colm could remember. 'You know the way we're all meant to be like the Masons or the Knights looking out for each other?' Fergal said, slightly awkwardly.

'I know. And are you telling me something or asking?' Colm made it easy.

'Telling. The word is that your brother-in-law is dealing here in this restaurant. There could be a raid.'

'Thank you.'

'You knew?'

'I suspected.'

'Will you warn him, move him on somewhere else or what?'

'I'd like to see him moved on to gaol but I have to do something else first.'

'Will it take long, what you have to do? You haven't got long,' Fergal said.

'Then it will have to be done quickly,' said Colm and prepared for the worst conversation in his life. He had promised his sister that he would look after her. Looking after her had long involved turning a blind eye to her addiction. Colm hoped that Marilyn Vine would deliver on her promise to help.

Mona was still talking in the boardroom. Barney and Danny walked out together. They weren't necessary any more.

Danny was determined to be bright. 'In better times we'd have said this was the day to ring Polly and book Quentin's for lunch,' he said.

'There won't be any more days like that.' Barney was subdued.

'Part of the deal?'

'Absolutely. And how did it go with you out there?'

Danny shrugged. 'You know…'

'Well, at least Ria will get something now this way.'

'Yes.'

'So what brought you back early anyway?'

'Bernadette lost the baby.'

'Oh dear, oh dear. Still there are ways that it might all be for the best.'

'There are no ways that it's in any way for the best,' said Danny coldly and went out to get a taxi back to the hospital.

Greg had gone back to America. Marilyn had longed to get the plane with him. 'I can't leave her house, I can't abandon ship now, leave a house she's going to lose anyway, it would be too cruel.'

'Of course not,' he had said.

'I’ll be back on September the first, back in Tudor Drive,' she promised.

'So will I, in that week anyway,' he said.

'Hawaii?'

'They'll understand.' Greg was confident. 'It was a compassionate posting anyway. They'll be glad we got better.'

'It's just a pity that Ria didn't get better,' Marilyn said.

'We don't know, maybe she did.' Greg was hopeful.

'No, she wants that guy back and she's not getting him. I hear from the network here that he's back and glued to the girlfriend again.'

'She'll survive,' said Greg.

'What's she like?' Marilyn asked suddenly. 'As a person?'

'I forgot you don't know her. She's very warm, innocent in ways. She isn't short of a word. There was a time I didn't think you'd like her but now I think you would. I think my brother Andy did too.'

'There!' Marilyn cried. 'We might end up being sisters-in-law.'

'Don't hold your breath,' said Greg.

After he had gone, she sat at the table talking to Clement. 'You know we're going to get a cat, just like you, you foolish animal.'

Colm came in from the garden. His face was pale. 'Glad to see you talking to the cat,' he said. Marilyn was startled. Normally he never came in unannounced. He didn't wait for her to speak. 'I've got to do it, I'm telling her today. Will you help?'

'You've been to the centre?'

'Yes.'

'And they'll take her if she's willing.'

'Yes.'

'Then of course I will,' said Marilyn Vine.

'Ria, it's Danny.'

'Oh thank God, I was hoping to hear from you,’

'Well, it was a bit fraught.'

'How are you…?'

'Well, we lost the baby but that was to be expected.'

'I am sorry.'

'Yes, I know you are, Ria.'

'But in a way…'

'I know you're not going to be like these people who wrongly say it's all for the best,' he interrupted her.

'No, of course I wasn't going to say that,' Ria lied.

'I know you weren't, but people do and it's very upsetting for us both.'

'I'm sure.' She was confused but she must never show it. 'Anyway the children are fine, they're winding down to go home now, and then we'll all meet and make plans about the future.'

'Yes, it's not quite as bleak as it looked on that scene,' he said.

'What do you mean?'

'Mona had some savings, Barney doesn't get our house after all.'

'Danny!' She was overjoyed.

'We'll still have to sell it, but at least this way you and I get the money, we'll find somewhere for you to live.'

'Sure.'

'So that's what I rang to tell you.'

'Yes…'

'Are you okay?' He sounded concerned.

'Fine, why?'

'I thought you'd be so pleased. Out of all this misery something good has emerged in the form of Mona McCarthy.'

'Yes, of course I'm pleased,' she said. 'Sorry, Danny, I have to go, someone's ringing at the door.' She hung up. There was nobody at the door but she needed to go without him hearing the tears in her voice. And the total wretched realisation that it had all meant nothing to him and that there were no plans for them for the future.

'Monto will have a table for six tonight and he'd like the one near the door,' said one of the nameless friends who accompanied Colm's brother-in-law.

'We have no reservations,' Colm said carefully.

'I think you have.'

'Ask Monto to talk to me himself if he's in any doubt,' Colm said.

He had asked his friend Fergal to tell the Drugs Squad that Caroline was safely installed on a rehabilitation programme. She could not be reached by Monto, offering her more supplies.

'Monto doesn't like people playing games.'

'Of course he doesn't.' Colm was pleasant.

'He'll be round.’

'I'm sure he'll believe you that there's no room for him here tonight. Why shouldn't he take your word?'

'You'll be hearing from him.'

Colm knew he would. Fergal said he'd make sure there were a couple of guys in the vicinity, in an unmarked car.

'Very good of you, Fergal, there'll always be a dinner for you and whoever here.'

'Ah, my whoever didn't hang around after the drinking days,' Fergal said sadly.

'And I never found a whoever at all. Right pair of eejits we were. Still, this should be the year.’ Colm pretended a much greater sense of ease than he felt.

Marilyn called to the restaurant. 'I thought I'd invite Gertie here for dinner tonight.'

'On the house and with pleasure,' he said.

'I wouldn't hear of it.'

'Look what you did for Caroline.'

'She was ready, truly she was, she thought you'd feel let down if she went in, that's all.'

'Aren't we all mad in our ways?' he said.

'Sure,' she agreed with a laugh. 'Still Gertie and I will have a nice quiet time here compared to the first visit. Remember the singer who drank the carnations?'

'I'm not likely to forget her, but I wouldn't put money on it being quiet tonight.'

'Can we have the Maines to stay? Our visit was cut a bit short when we were there.'

'I know, Annie, but there was a reason.'

'Still. Please?'

'I don't know…'

'But Mam, this is the last good holiday we might ever have, you know if we're going to be broke, and Dad gone and everything. It would be nice to have something to remember.'

'It would,' Ria said.

'Are you all right, Mam?'

'Yes. I don't want you getting too fond of a boy that you're going to have to say goodbye to in ten days' time.'

'No, Mam, you'd much prefer that than one I might see every day and night for the rest of my life,' Annie said, her eyes dancing.

'Ask them,' Ria said. It didn't really matter now. Nothing did.

Rosemary called at Number 16. 'Just passing by, I heard from Gertie that your husband came over.'

'That's right.'

'Good visit?'

'Very nice, thank you.'

'And is there any news of Ria?' If Rosemary thought it odd that she was being left on the doorstep to ask these questions she showed nothing of it.

Suddenly Marilyn opened the door wider. 'Yes, there is as it happens. Come in and I'll tell you about her news.'

Bernadette was home from hospital. She lay on a sofa and Danny brought her a bowl of soup.

'That's nice,' she said. 'What is it?'

'It's just a tin of consomme and a little brandy in it. To make you strong.' He stroked her face.

'You're the kindest man on earth,' she said.

'I'm useless. I have to sell our new home before we've even begun to pay for it.'

'I don't care. You know that.'

'Yes, I do.'

'And what about Ria?' It was the first time she had asked. 'Is she all right about selling Tara Road?'

'I think she is,' Danny said. 'She seemed all right about it when I was out there but she sounded different on the phone, I don't know why.'

'Phones are bad,' Bernadette reassured him. 'Did she say anything about the baby?'

'She said she was very sorry.'

'I'm sure she is,' Bernadette said. 'And the children too. Remember when Brian asked did he have webbed feet?' She smiled at the memory and cried at the thought of the little boy they had lost.

Marilyn sat opposite Rosemary in the beautiful drawing-room. 'Would you care for a glass of sherry?' she asked in a very formal and courteous tone. She picked up a decanter and filled two of the small cut-crystal glasses that stood on a tray. 'Ria is thinking of going into business when she comes back.'

'So she told me.'

'She won't need a premises or kitchens or anything but she's a very talented cook, as I suppose you know.'

'She's good, yes.'

'And Colm's pastry-cook has left so she can do that. I gather she'll have an introduction to Quentin's, too, to do something different that won't compete.' Marilyn looked quite fierce and determined. Rosemary wondered where all this was leading. 'She'll also approach that big delicacy shop, you know the one I mean on the junction of three roads?' Rosemary supplied its name. 'Exactly… and do cakes for St Rita's. Her mother and I have been there already discussing it.'

'You have been busy.' Rosemary was impressed.

'But what she really needs, Rosemary, is someone to help her professionally, someone like you.'

'I can't cook. Heavens, I can barely open a tin,' Rosemary said.

'To write and print a brochure for her, business cards, menu suggestions.'

'Well, of course… if there's anything I can do to help…'

'And to give her a series of introductions, small receptions in your office, in places you visit.'

'Come on, Marilyn, you're making it sound like a full-time job.'

'I think you should invest a fair amount of time in it, yes certainly.' Marilyn's voice was steely now. 'And even some money, Rosemary.'

'I'm sorry but I don't really know what business…'

Marilyn cut straight across her. 'I'll be talking to Ria again tomorrow on the phone. I'd like her to know how much is being set up in advance for her. She needs all the practical help she can get just now. She has loads of goodwill already, that's falling off the trees for her, what she needs is the hard practical help that you can give her.'

'I don't invest in friends' schemes, Marilyn,' Rosemary said. 'I never have. It's just been a policy I've always had. I worked hard enough for my money and I want to keep my friends. If you don't lose money in their businesses then you've a better chance of keeping them as friends, if you see what I mean.'

There was a silence.

'Of course I'll be happy to mention her name,' Rosemary said. Still silence. 'And if ever I hear of anything…'

'I think we should get a list ready now of exactly what you'll do. We could write down what a good kind friend like you has done for Ria while she was away.' It sounded like a threat. Rosemary looked at her wildly. It couldn't be a threat, could it? 'Because she needs to know that friends can do things as well as say them. What good would a friend be, who betrayed her?'

'I beg your pardon?'

'Well it would be a betrayal, wouldn't it, if a friend took the things she most wanted in the world, while still pretending to be a friend?'

Rosemary's voice was almost a whisper now. 'What do you mean?'

'What do you think she wants most in the world, Rosemary?'

'I don't know. This house? Her children? Danny?'

'Yes. And of course you can't restore the house to her, her children she has already. So?' Marilyn paused.

'So?' Rosemary said shakily. The woman knew, she bloody knew.

'So, what you can help with is her dignity and self-respect,' Marilyn said brightly.

Danny's name had been left out of the list.

They began to write down what Rosemary would do to help Ria's career.

Gertie had been ironing a dress for Marilyn. 'That's a beautiful shade. Fuchsia, is it?'

'I think so. It doesn't fit me properly, I rarely wear it.'

'That's a shame, it's a gorgeous colour. Years ago when I worked in Polly's dress-hire place we had an outfit that colour; people were always renting it for weddings.'

'Would you like it?' Marilyn asked suddenly. 'Seriously I don't wear it, I'd love you to have it.'

'Well, if you're sure.'

'Wear it tonight to Colm's, the colour would suit you.' Gertie's face seemed to have a shadow. 'It's still on, tonight, isn't it?' Marilyn thought she would kill Gertie if she chickened out now.

'But of course it's on, Jack's pleased for me. I don't think he'd like to see me wearing such a classy dress though. One he didn't buy for me himself.'

'Change here on our way to the restaurant then.'

'Why not? Won't it do me good to dress up?' said Gertie with that heart-breaking smile which made Marilyn glad she hadn't said anything terrible about Jack.

At seven o'clock Monto and two friends arrived at the restaurant. And headed for the table that they thought they had booked. The restaurant was still empty. No one would arrive for at least thirty minutes. This was better than Colm had believed possible.

'Sorry, Colm, there was some mistake. You didn't get the message that we are meeting some friends here. Two are coming over from England and one down from the North. We have an important meeting and this is where we are having it.'

'Not tonight, Monto.’

'Tell me a little more.’ Monto smiled a slow smile. He had very short hair and a fat neck. His expensive suit did nothing to hide his shape, and the regular manicures little to help his pudgy hands and square nails. Colm looked at him levelly.

'You have a short memory, not long ago you told me you owed me.'

'And I paid you. You've done enough deals in this place.'

'Deals?' Monto looked at the other two associates and laughed. 'Isn't the word "meals'" Colm? That's what you run, it's a restaurant isn't it? They serve meals, not deals.'

'Goodbye, Monto.'

'Don't think you can talk to me like that.'

'I just have and if you know what's good and wise you'll go.’

'Give me a reason or two.’

'The number of the car from Northern Ireland has already been taken down. Your guests from the UK will be interviewed. Everything you have will be searched.’

'Big talk, Colm… and who'll look after your sister? She hasn't enough to get her to the weekend,’

'She's being looked after, thank you.’

'Nobody in this city will supply your sister, they know she's my wife. They know she's with me.’

'Well, they know more than you do. She hasn't been with you for three days.’ Colm sounded very calm.

'You'd start a drugs war in your own place just because you got her a new source?'

'No, I'm starting nothing, I'm asking you to leave.’

'And what makes you think I will?'

'The Guards in the car just outside.’

'You set me up.’

'No, I didn't as it happens. I told them that there would be no meeting, no deal here tonight or ever again.’

'And they believed you?'

'They felt pretty sure that I meant it all right. Goodnight, Monto.'

When Marilyn and Gertie arrived Colm was calm again.

'Gertie, don't you look lovely! That's a colour you should always wear.'

'I will, Colm, thank you,' she said, delighted with the compliment.

'And are we going to have fireworks tonight?' Marilyn asked.

'It's over, amazingly. All wilted at the first touch of winter frost,' he said.

'You two have lots of secrets,' Gertie giggled.

'Only the secrets of those who share a garden,' Colm said.

Across the restaurant they saw Polly Callaghan. She was with a very distinguished-looking man.

'Isn't Barney very understanding that he lets her go out to dinner,, with other men.' Gertie was full of admiration.

'I don't think Barney is in the picture these days,' Colm said.

'Of course you're right. Come to think of it she's leaving her flat tomorrow I hear.' Gertie had forgotten.

'Now how on earth do you know all these things, Colm?' asked Marilyn Vine who would not have been remotely interested a few weeks ago.

'In a restaurant you see and hear everything and say nothing,' he said, and left them the menus and moved on.

Rosemary Ryan waved at them from another table.

'Who is she with? Marilyn asked.

'Her sister Eileen and her sister's girlfriend Stephanie. And now they really are lesbians,' Gertie giggled.

'Let's hope the lady who drank the carnations doesn't come back and out them all,' Marilyn said.

'They're so out you wouldn't believe it, Rosemary hates it.'

'Does she now?' Marilyn smiled.

Jack was sitting up waiting when Gertie came home. 'Nice evening, was it?'

'Yes, Jack, it was a nice girls' night out.'

'And who gave you the whore's purple dress?'

'Marilyn did, it doesn't suit her.'

'It wouldn't suit anyone except a whore,' he said.

'Ah Jack, don't say that.'

'All my life I loved you and all you did was betray me and let me down.' He had never spoken like this before.

'That's not so, Jack. I never looked at another man, never.'

'Prove that to me.'

'Well, would I have stayed with you all these times you've been under the weather?' she asked.

'No, that's true,' he said. 'That's very true.'

They went to bed. She lay there hardly daring to move in case she might feel his fist. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him. Jack Brennan was awake and looking at the ceiling. He was dangerously calm.

'Hallo Marilyn, it's only Ria. Don't bother to ring back, I'll be here and there and everywhere. I've no news. Sorry I sound a bit down. It's stupid to ring up and then sound like something from a depressives' ward. It's just… it's just… Anyway the real reason I rang was to thank you so much for the e-mail you sent from the Cyber cafe. Isn't Rosemary wonderful to do all that? Wouldn't we all be lost without our friends? I'll say goodbye now, I've got to drive the Maine children back home, and Annie's heart-broken, she seems to be crazy over Gertie's nephew. Everyone just laughs at first love, but then Danny was my first love and look how long it lasted. For me anyway. All the best, Ria.'