Chapter 28
Melody
Melody stands outside Prunella’s home, a four-storey Georgian building near the iconic St Stephen’s Church, affectionately known as ‘Pepper Canister’ due to its likeness.
Her house is a mid-terrace nineteenth-century iconic part of the Dublin architectural landscape.
Worth multi-millions, the daytime darling who started as a child model and then a children’s TV presenter has built up an empire with her husband, the distinguished businessman Jasper Maguire.
Melody has a nervous stomach as she looks up at the elegant house, with a pink door, hanging baskets and flower pots adorning each windowsill.
So many windows. Four across, four levels high, the windows getting smaller as they reach the old servants’ quarters at the top.
She folds up her scooter and as soon as she places one foot on the first step the front door opens and Prunella-at-home-look greets her.
Strategically ripped jeans, a crisp white shirt, sleeves rolled up, hair loose with beach waves.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Prunella declares so dramatically that Melody has to look behind her to see who Prunella is talking to. She realises it’s herself when Prunella, barefoot, pads down the concrete steps and throws her arms around her.
‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ Prunella says.
‘Okay,’ Melody says finally with a laugh.
The interior is unsurprisingly like an interiors magazine. Stylish and cool, impeccably tasteful. Signature armchairs, funky lights, pops of colour in otherwise muted palettes.
Melody had called this meeting with Ed and Prunella. She’d received many missed calls from both of them, and a formal email from Ed on the reality of not dropping a new episode on time. She’s going to communicate like a grown-up now.
‘I’m sorry for my reaction to Walter Whelan appearing on New Day,’ Melody begins. ‘I believed the love lock story was my story. I thought we agreed that I would follow up on it.’
‘We did,’ Ed says firmly.
‘I understand,’ Prunella says, big blue eyes full of wonder and innocence.
‘But to explain from my side what happened. The love lock story is such a big story and on New Day we cover big stories, especially local ones. What people are talking about is what we talk about,’ she says, sounding like an ad.
‘We read the newspapers in the morning and this story was in every single tabloid paper. Plus I was a part of the podcast and I couldn’t not discuss it.
I can’t run New Day stories by you and I can’t control if a member of the production crew or one of the researchers goes out and invites a guest onto the show.
I sometimes only know that morning myself. ’
She almost has Melody with that wide-eyed honest face.
‘Prunella, it was you who personally reached out to Al Collins from Bridgespan. I know because I was there in his office when you emailed. His secretary told me.’
She blinks once. But Melody doesn’t want to hear another beautiful lie so she moves on.
‘I most likely would have agreed to it if you’d explained it to me first. Then I would have reacted more rationally.
But I’ve also learned that I’m not good at sharing things.
The love lock story wasn’t my story, it’s a Night and Day story which means it’s ours.
Relationships not being my strength, I recognise it as my weakness and I apologise.
I’ve been solo for a long time and I need to learn to work more as a team. ’
None of this is easy for her to say but Prunella is gracious in her acceptance. ‘So you’re back?’
‘If you’ll have me. I’m seeing out the rest of the contract. We need to continue with the love lock story. The responses are still flooding in to my social media.’
‘To the pod’s Instagram account too,’ Ed agrees.
‘People want more.’ He dives into the listening figures and the increase in subscriptions, along with the mountains of emails and messages he’s been receiving.
‘Plus my next door neighbours are obsessed with their dogs, put love locks on the Grace Plunkett Bridge with their dogs names and now they’re convinced their dogs have fallen out. ’
‘As a non-dog owner, educate me, how can they tell that?’ Melody asks, laughing.
‘Apparently one dog keeps dragging the other dog’s bed out into the garden,’ Ed says, with a roll of his eyes. ‘They update me with news of their rift every day.’
‘What have you got in mind, Melody?’ Prunella asks.
‘I want to dig into it a bit more,’ Melody replies.
‘I have almost one hundred stories from people about how everything was going fine in their relationship until the day the locks were removed. A simple argument over the dishwasher, or a jigsaw puzzle, or sometimes bluntly ended via text or phone call, out of the blue to end the relationship.’
Prunella’s eyes fill.
Melody is confused, but continues.
‘Same for me,’ Ed agrees. ‘The podcast website has received similar responses.’
‘There’s something in this, Ed, isn’t there?’ Melody says, still surprised by it.
Ed laughs. ‘I’m not one to usually believe in things like this, but something is happening here.’
Melody becomes excited. ‘I want to know why people put love locks on bridges. You know me, I find PDAs weird. What’s the psychology behind it?
Is it for people who had fragile relationships and needed this thing to strengthen them?
Is a PDA a sign of a strong relationship or a vulnerable one?
Do couples want to turn heads or are they getting something from it personally? I’m no expert but we should get one.’
Ed nods, writing it down.
Prunella’s tears suddenly stream down her face and she bounces up to grab a tissue from an elegant ceramic tissue holder on the kitchen counter.
‘Sorry,’ she mumbles, turning her back.
Melody frowns at Ed and he shrugs. They continue.
‘We need to look at what the bridge means and why it’s so important.
Let’s tell people about Grace Gifford and Joseph Plunkett.
Who they were, why they’re so important to Irish culture and our political background.
Let’s tell them about the extraordinary woman.
Let’s play the song ‘Grace’, maybe a live performance.
I’ve got a list of performers here that I know I could invite to the studio,’ Melody says, pushing her list towards Ed who surveys it in admiration, with impressed nods.
‘Grace’ is one of the most popular Irish ballads of all time.
‘Bridges represent connection, a kind of magical hovering over water, suspended. Does it make people feel lighter, like they’re defying gravity, does it give them new perspective, does it feel like being in love?
Did the magic of the bridge, the representation of Grace and Joseph Plunkett, really hold people together and when their locks were removed did it really unlock their love, and suddenly lose the soul of Grace and Joseph?
The collective hope and belief of people was broken?
‘If we somehow find a way to replace the locks, would couples reconnect? Or would they need the power of Grace Plunkett, the nearby walls of Kilmainham Gaol that hold the spirit of their love, the collection of anguish, love, hope and bravery of the people inside that helped cultivate relationships all around the world?’
She pauses.
They both stare at her.
‘Or is it just nonsense and coincidence?’
Prunella blows her nose roughly. It reminds Melody of Derek.
She needs to do this for Derek and Belinda, because despite what Belinda says, she believes her mother can be herself and be in a loving relationship.
Melody believing in that is quite something, a revelation.
She needs to do this because she has to stop quitting, she needs to feel the passion and not be scared to see it through, which counts for podcasts and relationships.
‘I brought printouts for both of you. Everything I’ve just said and more. I have copies of the love letters from Joseph Plunkett to Grace too. I went to the National Library yesterday and read all of their correspondence. We should read them on the podcast.’
Prunella lets out a sob. ‘I’m sorry. It’s just so sad, all of these couples breaking up. Excuse me.’ She rushes from the room.
‘What’s going on with her?’
‘Who knows,’ Ed says, seemingly unworried. ‘Thanks for coming back.’
‘Sorry I left you like that, it was unprofessional. Sometimes I have problems with finishing what I start.’
He looks down at all her work.
‘Not anymore.’
It had been a busy time. Melody had researched all day while consistently checking her phone for messages from Al.
He said they’d catch up ‘next week’, a vagueness that would ordinarily be welcome.
She wanted him to call her and then when the phone rang she was afraid to answer it.
Despite the lessons she was learning about herself, this connection to him was both stimulating and terrifying.
After their meeting, when Ed has left, Melody checks her phone and finds a text message from Claire, her flatmate, letting her know that she won’t be home tonight. Her heart sinks.
‘What’s wrong?’ Prunella asks, sensing her mood change.
‘There’s been a leak in my apartment. Water flooded into our apartment from above. Claire says I can’t come home.’
Maybe she’s not ready to overcome all of her fears just yet.
‘Oh no! All of your clothes!’
Not the first thing Melody would have worried about. Her music, her equipment, her vinyl collection would be the first concern, but she knows it’s absolutely fine in its cherished place in the corner of her, dry, bedroom.
‘This is a lot to ask, but could I stay with you?’