Minding Frankie - Maeve Binchy [146]
“The girls!” Alan snorted. “Adi’s off in Peru doing God knows what …”
“Ecuador, as it happens.”
“Same difference. And as for Linda, she won’t speak to me if I do get in touch.”
“That’s because when she told you that she and Nick were going to adopt, you said that you personally would never raise another man’s son yourself. That was helpful.…”
“You’re hard to please, Clara. If I am honest it’s wrong, if I’m not honest, it’s wrong.”
“See you tomorrow,” Clara said and hung up.
He looked older and shabbier than before. A succession of new ladies later, he was now temporarily without a partner. Alan, who always prided himself on having women iron his shirts, looked vaguely down at heel.
“You look wonderful,” he said, as he said to almost every woman almost all the time. Clara ignored him.
“Coffee?” she suggested.
“Or something stronger even?” he asked.
“No, you can’t handle drink like you used to. You start crawling over me when you’ve had a couple of glasses of wine, and I certainly don’t want that.”
“You liked it well enough once,” he muttered.
“Yes, that’s true, but in those days I believed everything you said.”
“Don’t nag, Clara.”
“No, of course not. I’m just showing you some courtesy here. Frank is going to be moving in here next week.”
“But you can’t let him!” He was shocked.
“Well, I have every intention of doing so. I just thought you should hear it from me, that’s all.”
“But, Clara, you’re much too old for this,” he said.
“Imagine, you were once considered quite charming and dashing,” Clara said.
Emily had the spare room in Dr. Hat’s house beautifully decorated, and she planned a series of outings to entertain Betsy and Eric. She had this ludicrous wish that they should love Ireland like she did. She hoped that it wouldn’t rain, that the streets would be free of litter, that the price of everything would not be too high.
Emily and Hat were at the airport long before the plane arrived.
“It only seems the other day since you came out to meet me here,” Emily said, “and you brought me a picnic in the car.”
“I had begun to fancy you seriously then, but I was terrified you’d say it was all nonsense.”
“I’d never have said that.” She looked at him very fondly.
“I hope your friend won’t think I’m too old and dull for you,” he said anxiously.
“You’re my Hat. My choice. The only person I ever even contemplated marrying,” she said firmly. And that was that.
Betsy was bemused by the size of the airport and the frantic activity all around. She had thought the plane would land in a field of cows or sheep. This was a huge, sprawling place like an airport back home. She couldn’t believe the traffic, the highways and the huge buildings.
“You never told me how developed it all is. I thought it was a succession of little cottages where you knew everyone who moves,” she said, laughing. In minutes it was as if they had never been parted.
Eric and Dr. Hat exchanged relieved glances. It was all going to be fine.
Emily was going to be given away by her uncle Charles.
Charles and Josie had finally come to the conclusion that a children’s playground and a small statue of St. Jarlath would fit the bill. They had been to see a lawyer and settled a sum for Noel and one for Frankie. They had even arranged for Emily to have a substantial sum as a wedding gift so that she wouldn’t start her married life with no money of her own. It wasn’t a dowry, of course, and Charles said that so often that Emily began to wonder.
Noel knew nothing about his inheritance. Charles and Josie had been waiting to talk to him on his own. There was always someone with him—Lisa or Faith or Declan Carroll. They could hardly remember the days before Frankie was born, when Noel was a man always by himself. Now the two of them were always the center of a group of people.
Finally they found him alone.
“Will you sit down, Noel? We have something to tell you,” Charles said.
“I don’t like the sound of this.” Noel looked from one to the other anxiously.
“No, you are going to like what your father has to say,” Josie