Chapter 36
Mam and Eric’s wedding was a week away. The weather was shocking and Maxine was due home in four days.
‘I can’t believe it,’ said Mam. ‘God hates me.’
The plan was for a marquee on the garden lawn, which was currently accommodating a flock of seagulls who were sailing around contentedly.
‘The weather forecast says it’s due to dry up on Tuesday,’ said Eric, as the three of them gazed out through the French doors at the sheets of rain.
The caterers were confirmed, as well as the makeup and hairdressing lady. On paper, it should’ve all been fine but Mam was beside herself.
Cassie was sipping weak tea, which was averting suspicion, but anyway Mam had her wedding filters on and seemed incapable of noticing anything else.
‘Don’t worry, Iris, we’ve both done this before, it’ll all work out in the end,’ soothed Eric unwisely.
‘For feck’s sake, what use is that when it’s now, today, and we should be going out and buying sixty pairs of wellington boots for the guests, by the looks of things. Don’t be annoying me about years ago.’
Cassie met Eric’s eyes behind her back as he made an ‘oh, blimey’ face. Well, if the relationship survived the week of the wedding, they were set for life.
*?*?*
‘You’re so skinny, I hate you’ were Maxine’s first words as she picked them up from the airport. Just you wait, thought Cassie. Behind her was Miri, who she hadn’t seen since she was a toddler, but here she was, seventeen years old. Five-foot-eight, long dark hair, baggy jeans and looking remarkably like Cassie remembered Maxine at that age. To her mortification, she found her chin wobbling. ‘Hormones!’ she heard Josie’s voice in her head.
‘Auntie Cassie, hi.’ Miri stepped forward and they hugged. Feeling the warmth of the young woman’s body, it finally hit home that she was forgiven.
‘I look like shite,’ declared Mam.
‘You do not. Give over,’ said Maxine, who’d always had a less guarded relationship with their mother. ‘At least you don’t have to worry about acne, be thankful for that.’
‘No, but I have to worry about eye bags from stress, and that’s worse,’ Mam countered, refusing to be comforted. ‘I’ve been living in my eye mask, day and night.’
‘Will I make you a cup of tea, Granny?’ said Charlotte, Maxine’s younger daughter.
‘That’d be lovely, darling, thank you, you’re so good.’
‘They really should be the bridesmaids, not us pair of crocks,’ said Maxine.
It was funny, Cassie thought, just how quickly they’d reverted back to old patterns. In one way it was lovely and nostalgic; on the other hand, it reminded her just how feisty Maxine could be. She wasn’t the angry young woman who’d left Ireland all those years ago; she’d become a confident mama bear, as she referred to herself, and Cassie was conscious there was a whole new person to get to know.
Eric appeared from the garden, looking businesslike and carrying a sweeping brush.
‘Had a gander at the ground, I’d say the going’s soft to fair. But, given there’s another day to go .?.?.’
Mam was not to be mollified.
‘Yes, but they’ll be putting up the marquee tomorrow, tramping round and hammering pegs in .?.?. Sure, by the end of it this place will be like the Okavango Delta. Cassie, love, will you pop out and get me forty sets of those plastic things you stick on stiletto heels to stop them sinking.’
Cassie’s heart sank. First of all, popping anywhere felt quite beyond her, and secondly, where in the name of God was she going to find that lot? Maxine must have read her face. She winked and said, ‘Come on, Cassie, we’ll go on a mission. Girls, you can look after Granny.’
They trailed around the Dundrum shopping centre for an hour, finally managing to locate enough wretched heel protectors, which they had to admit would be badly needed. Finally, they slumped down in an airy café and ordered tea.
‘Hell, the jet lag’s getting to me, I feel like I got up at four in the morning. It’s like I’m actually being pinned to this chair,’ said Maxine.
Cassie was going to reply, when her phone buzzed with a text from a number she didn’t recognise. She read out the text:
Sorry I was mean. You are a nice person. S
She looked at it in puzzlement for a few minutes and then the penny dropped.
‘Samantha. Bloody hell, talk about too little, too late.’
‘Am I allowed to ask?’
Cassie explained the situation to her, about Finn and his children. Maxine listened intently.
‘Trust me, thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds don’t know shit but they think they’re Oprah.’
Cassie was conscious she hadn’t mentioned the biggest thing of all. Somehow, with Pal and Josie it’d been totally different but there was absolutely no way she was going to steal Mam’s thunder, nor was she ready for the avalanche of opinions that were bound to land on her head.
‘I’m sorry it’s worked out like that and if there’s anything I can do .?.?. I know things haven’t been so great between us .?.?. and I’m sorry for that, but I’d like you to feel you could come to me.’
Cassie nodded. Actually, Maxine’s awkward offer meant the world. She didn’t have to tell her sister everything, but just knowing that she could felt like an old, empty space had been filled. She smiled.
‘Come on, sis, let’s go home and try on these wretched bridesmaids’ dresses. And if they’re too long .?.?.’
‘Gotcha. Too late for hems. From here on in, it’s platform shoes.’
*?*?*
The day before the wedding dawned cloudy but dry. The seagulls had migrated out of the garden, so that at least was a good omen. At 10 a.m. the truck with the marquee arrived, accompanied by a few of the neighbours, who came out to have a gawk. They’d been invited to the afters, so thankfully there was no embarrassment. Cassie, Maxine and the two girls were busy hoovering and dusting.
‘Never mind about the plates and silverware, the caterers are bringing all of that,’ said Mam. ‘Now, we’re all going for a manicure at three, so look nice.’
They were all sitting in a row in the nail bar, when Cassie’s phone rang. Oh, bloody hell, she thought, could the timing be any worse? Her lavender-coloured nails were still gloopy under the drying light. She could hear Mam tutting beside her and contemplated ignoring the call. Maxine, on her other side, gave her an encouraging look. She gingerly flipped open her phone case and saw the agency number displayed. Her heart leaped. There was absolutely no way she could discreetly slip away; all she could manage was to stab the screen with the pad of her finger. Sunita’s jubilant voice rang out over the speaker.
‘Darling, I’ve just heard. You got it.’
‘What .?.?. What? Are you serious? Oh my God, what did they say?’
She was conscious of virtually shrieking down the phone.
‘They loved you. They said you were so authentic and natural. That’s exactly what they said. That you were a natural.’
‘I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it.’
‘What? What?’ everyone was shouting.
‘I just got the part in Wentworth Way .’
Mam was not to be outdone.
‘She said you were a natural! D’you know what the part is, girls? A convict.’
One–nil to Mam.
Cassie was inwardly thrilled but conscious of not making too much of a fuss. It wasn’t as though she was feeling like knocking back a load of champagne, anyway. This was Mam’s big moment; hers could wait.
It wasn’t until that night, as she lay in bed, that she allowed herself a moment to bask in her success. She was only too aware that they’d have to be ready for the makeup lady at nine thirty tomorrow morning, including Ramona, who was coming to get dressed with the rest of the girls. All her adult life Cassie had waited for this moment, but now the person she most wanted to share it with was gone. How ironic that she’d got exactly what she wanted just after she’d stopped wanting it. Five years ago, this would’ve felt like the answer to a prayer. Now, it was just one more complication. She put her hands on her belly and addressed the person whose existence almost nobody else in the world was aware of.
‘Whatever happens, little one, it’s you and me now.’