For Once In My Life

Epilogue

The ring sparkled on her finger and Shazza kept putting her hand to her face so no one could fail to notice. ‘I think it’s too heavy for my hand,’ she said light-heartedly. ‘I’ll have to do weight training.’

Shazza was in flying form. Just that week, she’d been awarded ‘regional campaign journalist of the year’ at the National Media Awards, and Rory had proposed. Not with a diamond ring – neither of them was into that – but with a handmade Irish silver Claddagh ring with two hands holding a heart. It was so much nicer and simpler than the ring Dave had given Kitty.

‘I love it,’ Shazza said. ‘And it’s got our names on the inside.’

‘It’s a long way since you were off men,’ said Kitty.

‘I was never off all of them,’ said Shazza. ‘Just most of them.’

They were sitting in the garden of Roz’s house, in the shade of the apple tree. Rory had built a pizza oven in the garden and was lighting the fire inside. ‘Another hour,’ he called out. ‘Hope everyone is hungry?’

‘Always,’ said Shazza.

He turned and laughed.

‘What did Mary Rose and Hughie say about you getting yet another promotion?’ asked Shazza. ‘You’re chief copywriter now?’

‘Hughie is more interested in working on his karaoke,’ said Kitty. ‘He and Mary Rose and their housemate, Ailish, are taking it very seriously. They are entering the Irish championships next week. If they get through that, the world final is in Prague next month.’

‘You’ll have to go and support them,’ said Shazza.

‘I can’t,’ said Kitty. ‘Tom and I will be sailing around the West Coast, remember? We’ll be on Pansy-Pearl.’

‘I still can’t believe that we’re engaged to two brothers,’ said Shazza. ‘Does that mean we’ll be sisters?’

‘Sisters-in-law,’ said Kitty. ‘Although we’ve always been sisters…’

‘Heart-sisters,’ said Shazza. ‘The best kind…’

Catherine walked over to them and sat on the deckchair beside them.

Over the last year, Catherine had been nominated to chair two boards, as well as being chairperson of a local homeless charity. After their children had moved in together, Roz and Catherine had become closer and closer and had been away on a few weekends. They’d just returned from a walking holiday in Galicia. Catherine had considered joining Annie on her trips abroad but had decided that the clubs in Ibiza weren’t for her. She and Billy had continued their friendly conversations, and Billy was now a permanent fixture at all family gatherings. He was due to be here, right now, but he was always late and no one minded. Billy would be here when he arrived. And Edith was on her way, she was just going for a summer afternoon swim with her tribe at the Forty Foot. She never missed these family gatherings.

‘I saw Dave earlier,’ said Catherine. ‘He and Maureen were just coming out of the chipper with cod and chips. They looked very happy.’

‘Good, I’m glad,’ said Kitty.

‘Who are Dave and Maureen?’ teased Shazza. ‘I mean, I vaguely recollect those names, but I can’t quite put my finger on who they are.’

‘People we used to know,’ said Kitty. ‘In the old days. The no-frill days.’

‘Ah, the bad old days,’ said Shazza.

Kitty had bumped into Dave a few months earlier and he was still working for the same company but he had Maureen catering to his every whim. And he did look happier and healthier. The arrangement suited them all. And as for Maureen’s slippers? They were donated, along with some other unwanted effects, to the charity shop. Kitty still loved tidying and organising as a way of de-stressing, but she was quite happy to let a little bit of clutter build up. The slippers, however, were clutter that she just couldn’t live with.

The football continued, the team becoming better and better and winning more matches than they lost, which made Tara very happy indeed. ‘I can’t help it,’ she would say. ‘I just like winning more than I like losing.’

Over the last year, Kitty and Tom had grown more and more in love and, just the previous month, he had moved into her house, joining her, Romeo and sweet little Juliet, making them feel like a family. The addition of Juliet had suited Romeo, he was looking years younger, and the two cats would curl up together, in patches of sunlight around the house. He never went night-time prowling any longer, having finally learned his lesson, but it didn’t really matter because Timmy the tabby had. Kitty learned on the neighbourhood grapevine that he had passed to cat heaven. The streets were safe again.

Kitty was loving her work, and loving her new responsibilities as team leader. They had spent the last year working on new campaigns for Welcome Ireland, tailoring campaigns for different markets, developing the Heartstoppers theme, and playing ideas of heart and soul. They had employed a new junior copywriter, straight out of college, who looked up to Kitty and thought everything she did was impressive. I was her, once upon a time, thought Kitty.

Across the garden, Tom and Rory were carrying out the wooden kitchen table and placing it just outside the back door, where the wisteria grew.

‘Do you need a hand?’ she called.

Tom turned to look at her, his face opening into that gorgeous smile. ‘No, you sit and talk,’ he said. ‘Catch up with everyone.’ And then he gave her that look he always gave when their eyes met when they were out and about. His eyebrow slightly raised. A message from him to her. I love you. She nodded in return. I love you too.

Next month was the sailing trip with Fergal and Sadie. And in September was the wedding, to be held in the Sandycove Arms. Shazza, of course, was matron of honour. Annie was chief bridesmaid and had cried when Kitty had asked her. ‘I’d be honoured,’ she’d blubbed. ‘I really would.’ And now Annie was on a wedding regime of zero carbs and a full facial and body scrub. She was going to Gran Canaria the week before the wedding to ensure she was a perfectly rotisseried golden brown. And she hadn’t borrowed a penny from either Catherine or Kitty over the last year. Sometimes, Kitty wished they could go back in time and she would willingly give Annie any money she needed. But Annie was happy, having met and fallen for Roger O’Reilly, a smartly dressed, moustachioed used-car salesman who liked sun holidays just as much as Annie. Kitty had bought Annie a brand-new silk faux-fur-trimmed robe and matching slippers, in pink and orange for her last birthday. Annie had begun crying all over again when she’d opened it. ‘I can’t accept this,’ she said, through her tears. ‘It’s too nice. Proper silk and everything.’

‘It’s for the best auntie in the world,’ said Kitty. ‘She deserves it.’

And she did. And everyone deserved love and fun, heart and soul, thought Kitty. She’d woken up the last year and reminded herself to spend the day wisely… happily and joyfully. And, although not every day lived up to this idea, on the whole, they had. Annie was going to cat-sit Romeo and Juliet while they were away. Romeo surely was a contender for Ireland’s oldest cat, and Juliet definitely for Ireland’s cutest.

Rory was topping up everyone’s glasses, the sun was shining, the smell of pizza was in the air, and she was surrounded by everyone she loved.

‘What are you thinking about?’ Tom was walking towards her, smiling.

‘Just about life,’ said Kitty. ‘My wild and precious life.’

Tom sat down, took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. ‘It’s been lovely, hasn’t it?’

She nodded. It had, it really had. When you stopped trying to control everything and just let the universe do its thing, it was then that the world seemed less complicated, as though you were part of some big and wonderful plan. That is when the light gets in, that is when life starts to make sense, and that is when you know all is well.