Chapter 4
Kate managed to keep her engagement secret for the next fortnight, even though she was bursting to tell someone. She had told Freddie, of course, but that didn’t count. ‘It isn’t a formal engagement,’ she had said, swearing him to secrecy.
‘In other words, no ring.’
But that was it. She had been feeling remarkably flat about the whole thing, but she put it down to the fact that she couldn’t talk about it.
There were no congratulations, no wedding plans.
It made the whole thing seem unreal. Still, she had promised Brian, and she felt quite proud of herself for holding it in.
Then her mother called. ‘Darling, Helen’s having one of her singles things tonight. You should go.’
Kate groaned. ‘But I’m not single, Mum,’ she said.
‘Oh? Did I miss the wedding?’ her mother replied.
‘You know what I mean. I’m with someone. I’m not looking for a man because I already have one.’
‘Hmm.’ Her mother sounded unconvinced. ‘If you’re not married, you’re single,’ she said firmly. ‘Anyway, it’d be no harm to meet some new people. You shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket, you know.’
‘Mum, Brian and I are serious about each other.’ Kate longed to say more, to impress on her mother just how serious they were, but she clenched her teeth and said nothing.
‘You’re wasting your time with him, Kate. I don’t think he’s marriage material – and you’re not getting any younger.’
Kate sighed. She was only twenty-eight and her mother was consigning her to the scrapheap!
‘I mean, do you honestly see him marrying you, Kate?’ Grace persisted.
‘Actually, Mum, I’ve got news – but I don’t want you to tell anyone else just yet, okay?’
‘Of course not, if that’s what you want,’ Grace assured her. ‘What is it, darling?’
‘I’m not going to be single for much longer,’ she said, pleased to be able to take the wind out of her mother’s sails. ‘I’m engaged!’
Silence.
‘Mum? Are you there?’
‘Oh yes, darling. I’m still here.’
‘Well?’
‘Well, what?’
‘Aren’t you pleased?’
‘Is it the Tree-hugger?’
Kate sighed. ‘I wish you wouldn’t call him that. He has a name, you know.’
‘Next you’ll be telling me that, no less than the trees and the stars, he has a right to be here,’ Grace sniffed. ‘So it is him?’
‘Yes, of course it’s Brian – who else would it be?’
‘I just thought…’ Grace said faintly.
‘What did you think?’
‘Well, you could have met someone new for all I know. I thought in Africa perhaps…’
Hoped, you mean, Kate thought, her heart sinking. She hadn’t expected her mother to be ecstatic, but this was downright depressing. ‘Well, I didn’t, Mum. It’s Brian. I thought you’d be happy for me.’
‘Of course I’m happy for you, darling,’ Grace said uncertainly, ‘if you’re sure it’s what you want.’
‘Don’t sound so bloody enthusiastic!’ Kate sulked.
‘I’m your mother, Kate. Naturally I want you to be happy.’
‘Look, I know you don’t like Brian—’
‘I wouldn’t say that,’ her mother butted in defensively.
‘It’s true, Mum. Be honest. But it’s just that you don’t know him very well.’
‘Well, whose fault is that? We’ve gone out of our way to include him, to get to know him better – you can’t say we haven’t tried, sweetheart. But he spurns us at every turn.’
Spurns! thought Kate. Her mother was entering melodramatic airspace.
‘You can’t deny it, Kate. He makes no secret of the way he avoids having anything to do with us. He didn’t even bother turning up for your sister’s wedding until it was almost over.’
‘I know, I know,’ Kate said placatingly. ‘But you can be a bit—’
‘Overwhelming?’
Shit! Kate kicked the wall. Why the hell had she told Lorcan that? She should have known he’d declaim it from the rooftops. ‘Well that’s just because he doesn’t know you very well,’ she said soothingly. ‘Mum, if you really knew him like I do—’
‘That’s all very well, Kate,’ Grace snapped.
‘I’m sure his mother adores him and his granny thinks he’s the dog’s bollocks – but don’t you think there’s something to be said for how one appears to the world at large?
I mean, do you really have to go on one of these love-in weekends with someone before you can tell what they’re really like?
There’s a lot to be said for first impressions, you know. ’
‘If we just went on first impressions, Elizabeth would never have ended up with Mr Darcy,’ Kate pointed out.
‘I rest my case,’ her mother replied tartly. ‘Mr Darcy was exactly what he appeared to be to anyone who met him – an insufferable snob and an anal retentive that would make Mr Anal from Uranus look like a slacker.’
Tell me what you really think, Kate thought bitterly, on the verge of tears now. ‘It’s not fair!’ she wailed. ‘You weren’t mean to Rachel when she got engaged to Tom.’
‘But we all adore Tom – you know that. He’s an absolute pet.’
‘So you don’t like Brian,’ Kate pounced. ‘I knew it!’
‘When’s the wedding?’ Grace asked stiffly.
Damn, she thought. Why had she let her mother goad her into spilling the beans about the engagement? Grace would have a field day when she discovered there were no concrete wedding plans.
‘Oh, we haven’t set a date yet,’ she said, trying to sound casual. ‘It’s not a formal engagement.’
‘In other words, no ring,’ Grace said.
Kate decided to ignore that. ‘We don’t want a lot of fuss. That’s why we’re not telling anyone until nearer the time. Mum, you have to promise you won’t tell anyone.’
‘Of course.’
‘Promise, Mum.’
‘Honestly, darling!’ Grace huffed, as if mortally wounded not to be trusted.
‘Promise, Mum.’ Kate knew what her mother was like.
‘Okay, okay,’ Grace said. ‘I promise.’
* * *
Grace tapped a long red talon against the phone.
Who to call first? That was the question.
Normally she would have rung Rachel, but she was just back from her honeymoon and still wrapped up in her own newly-wed status.
Lorcan would be hopeless and, no doubt, extremely disapproving and uncooperative.
Helen, she decided. She’d know what to do.
‘Helen?’
‘Grace! How lovely. Just hang on a sec – I’ve got something on the stove.’
Grace felt calmer already. There was something so comforting about Helen’s domestic proficiency. It made her feel that everything was going to be all right. All she had to do was tell Helen and it would be taken care of.
‘Okay, I’m all yours,’ Helen said, returning.
‘Helen, I’ve got some news,’ Grace began.
‘Not good, by the sound of it. What is it?’ Helen sounded concerned.
‘It’s about Kate,’ Grace hedged, feeling a little guilty now to be betraying her daughter’s confidence so soon.
‘What’s she done?’ Helen hooted. ‘Run off to the Himalayas with a circus?’
‘Nothing so sensible, I’m afraid.’ Grace paused for effect before dropping her bombshell. ‘She’s gone and got herself engaged to the dreaded Tree-hugger.’
‘Gosh!’ Gratifyingly, Helen gasped at this.
Good old Helen, Grace thought. Trust her to grasp the full horror of the situation straight away.
‘It’s supposed to be a secret. I shouldn’t even be telling you. But I needed to talk to someone – and you’ll know what to do.’
‘Do? What’s the problem?’
‘I’ve just told you the problem,’ Grace replied, a little impatiently. It wasn’t like Helen to be obtuse. ‘Kate’s got engaged to the Tree-hugger.’
‘Oh, you mean the engagement itself?’ Helen asked, a little disconcerted.
‘Yes!’
‘The fact that you can’t stand the Tree-hugger?’
‘Exactly.’
‘I see. Well, I know it’s difficult, Grace, but—’
‘We’ve got to stop it, Helen!’ Grace interrupted. ‘We can’t let her go ahead with it.’
‘I don’t see how we can stop it.’
‘Don’t you?’ Grace wavered. Surely Helen wasn’t going to fail her.
‘Well, what did you have in mind?’ Helen asked.
Grace sighed. ‘I don’t know,’ she admitted. ‘I thought you’d have some ideas.’
‘For breaking it up?’ Helen clarified.
‘Yes, of course.’
‘Do you really think that’s best?’ Helen asked. ‘Couldn’t you give him a chance, try to get to know him better?’
‘Have you ever met Brian, Helen?’ Grace asked.
‘No, I don’t think I have. Apparently he turned up at Rachel’s wedding at the eleventh hour, but I didn’t get to meet him. What’s he like, anyway?’
‘A turd in a woolly jumper.’
‘I think you mean nerd.’
‘No,’ Grace replied, ‘I don’t. Honestly, Helen, if it was just that I didn’t like him, I wouldn’t mind. If I really thought he’d make Kate happy, I’d go out of my way to try and get to like him. But it’d be the biggest mistake of her life. He’ll make her miserable.’
Helen thought quickly. ‘Look, how about a family meeting to discuss it?’ she suggested. ‘The rest of the family feel the same way as you about him, don’t they?’
‘Oh yes!’
‘So let’s all meet, put our heads together and see what we can come up with.’
‘But how can we organise a family meeting without Kate getting wind of it?’ Grace fretted.
‘We could do it on Sunday and I’ll ask her to take Sam and Jake out for the day – I’ll say we’re having people over.’
‘Tell her you’re having one of your singles things,’ Grace said bitterly. ‘That’ll keep her away.’
* * *
The following Sunday, Grace stood at the mantelpiece in Helen’s spacious sitting room before the assembled O’Neills. Helen had rustled up drinks and a few nibbles, and everyone was tucking in and looking at Grace expectantly.
‘You’re probably wondering why we called you all here today,’ she began, her actress’ voice easily commanding everyone’s attention.
‘She’s going to reveal which of us murdered the vicar,’ Lorcan whispered to Tom.
Tom snickered and got a disapproving frown from Rachel.
Aloud, Lorcan said, ‘I’m wondering why we’re having a family meeting without Kate.’ She had been dispatched to the cinema with Sam and Jake, followed by a trip to McDonald’s, and they had all been under strict instructions not to let her know about the meeting.
‘There’s a good reason for that,’ Grace answered, getting into her chairwoman stride. ‘The meeting is about Kate.’
‘It’s not her birthday yet, is it?’ Conor asked. ‘Are we planning a surprise party or something?’