Chapter 38
The next morning, around eleven, as the only un-hungover adult, she set out a buffet of croissants, fruit, freshly squeezed orange juice and a big cafetière of coffee on the patio table. She contemplated bacon but felt her stomach heave at the very idea. She made herself a mug of weak tea, closing her eyes in the sun which had mischievously decided to split the stones the day after the wedding.
After a few minutes Maxine trailed outside. A short time later, Mam surfaced in a flowy silk kaftan over jeans and oversized sunglasses, looking chic if a little fragile. Eric, it turned out, was having a lie-in.
They helped themselves to breakfast and sat back down. Mam eyed her suspiciously.
‘Aren’t you marvellous, darling, doing all of this, though for heaven’s sake, where did you go last night so early? Philip ended up with your friend Ramona. Now, there’s a girl with her head screwed on. And you see now why he was answering your calls morning, noon and night for the past couple of months? I tried to tell you. That poor man had hopes .’
‘Well, Mam, if it makes you feel better, he looked pretty hopeful to me when I was going to bed,’ said Maxine, smiling reassuringly at Cassie.
The sun beat down as though they were on the French Riviera. Now was as good a time as any, thought Cassie. She sighed; the prospect of hiding her secret was becoming even more untenable than sharing it, there was nothing else for it.
‘Look, I was waiting for the right time .?.?. I have some news. I didn’t want to tell you before the wedding, obviously .?.?.’ Something in her tone made them perk up despite their hangovers.
‘I’m pregnant.’
A stunned silence fell around the table, and Mam sat wide-eyed, a croissant suspended halfway to her mouth. Maxine spat back her mouthful of coffee and, despite her hangover, launched herself at Cassie, enveloping her in a powerful hug and hollering, ‘My little sis is pregnant! My little sis is pregnant, and not a minute too soon.’
‘Don’t squeeze me!’ She gasped. ‘I’m not feeling—’
‘Sorry! That’s a great sign, though,’ declared Maxine joyfully. ‘The sicker you feel, the more hormones are flying around.’
‘ Well .?.?. that explains a lot ,’ exhaled Mam at last. ‘That’s why you shot down poor lovely Philip and let him get away.’
‘Mam, will you shut up ,’ shouted Maxine good-naturedly.
It only took a moment for Mam to recover her decorum.
‘Actually, there’s somebody I’d like you to meet. Sorry for the short notice.’ Cassie vanished into the house and then reappeared with Finn, who was sheepishly holding a bunch of flowers.
‘Mam, Maxine, this is Finnian, Finn .?.?.’
She met Mam’s and Maxine’s gazes.
‘Heavens above, Cassie, did you ever do anything the simple way? Finnian, you’re most welcome to our house. Please take a seat. Now tell me, how are all the kids?’
Maxine rolled her eyes while Mam surveyed Finn thoughtfully, before commenting, ‘Well, you’re very good-looking, I must say.’
‘Jesus, Mam,’ said Maxine.
‘Maxine, for the love of God, will you get me a Bloody Mary. This is far too big news for anything else. A big family is a blessing, of course. Three, is it? But I’m sure they’re all very good, are they?’
Finn laughed. Surprisingly, he didn’t seem too fazed by Mam’s grilling. He exchanged a glance with Cassie.
‘Some of them.’
‘But, sure, isn’t that always the way. Children go in phases. These two were always like that.’
‘Mam, will you stop talking about us as though we’re still children,’ said Cassie.
‘Ah well, he knows what I mean, don’t you, Finn?’
‘I do, Mrs Kearney.’ He smiled.
‘Morton now, since yesterday. But call me Iris,’ she purred.
It was becoming ever clearer to Cassie just how Mam had managed to bag herself two husbands.
Finn reached down and took Cassie’s hand.
By this time, Maxine had returned with a tray of Bloody Marys.
‘Still feeling like crap?’ Maxie nodded sympathetically at her.
Cassie’s main focus had switched to why, in her distraction, she’d knocked back a glass of fresh orange juice, which was now curdling in her stomach.
‘How long are you gone, Cass?’ she asked.
‘Seven or eight weeks.’
‘Well, a new baby is always a joy,’ announced Mam, as though she’d just read it off the side of a passing bus. ‘I’m thrilled for you, I truly am. But tell me, Finnian, how are you going to manage, with all your responsibilities?’
He was now having the experience of being nailed by Mam.
‘The way I see it, Iris, when you love someone, you just make it work.’
All of a sudden, Mam’s face lit up. She gazed at him fondly. ‘Well now, Finnian, isn’t that the pure truth?’
For all her bluster, she was a hopeless romantic at heart.
‘But, wait now, what are you going to do about your part in Wentworth Way ? I mean, Finn, she’s only after spending her entire life waiting for something like this. Even if Eric says the BBC pay is rotten .?.?. But that never stopped you before, did it? It’s the honour, I suppose .?.?.’
‘Oh, Mam, I can’t think about that right now,’ said Cassie.
‘But sure, wasn’t it Michelle Pfeiffer who played Catwoman when she was eight months pregnant?’
Maxine rolled her eyes.
‘No she didn’t, Mam. Don’t be ridiculous.’
‘Well, somebody did,’ said Mam. ‘Look, love, Finnian is right, you put the most important things in life first and let everything else work around them.’ She got it in one. And that’s what made her Mam.