Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
Marian couldn’t bear to face Noel, so she sent him a text saying that they had changed their minds about buying the house and she’d explain later.
She was too upset to get back to work, so she also sent Pierce a text that she wasn’t feeling well.
Then she went back down the hill and got into her car and drove to Magnolia Manor with tears streaming down her cheeks.
She just wanted to get home and go to bed and pull the duvet over her head and cry.
She was sure that Theo now despised her and that there was no hope of them getting back together.
He would probably run to Dublin and into the arms of that woman.
She had been in a kind of dream these past few days, with Theo coming back and them slowly finding a common ground as he seemed to fall in love with Kerry and all the Fleurys.
He had seemed so in tune with them and they, in turn, had instantly seen what a nice, dependable man he was.
I was so stupid, Marian thought as she sat in the car outside the manor, too tired to get out and go upstairs.
So stupid and selfish, only worrying about me and my feelings.
What about his feelings? she asked herself.
Did I ever consider them? She hit the steering wheel in frustration and self-loathing, wishing with all her heart she could wind the clock back and undo all the things she had done and said from the moment she stepped on the plane.
‘Marian?’ a voice said outside the car as a figure leaned over and peered into the window.
Startled, Marian wiped her tears away with her hand and stared through the windscreen. It was Tricia. Oh God, what must she think? Marian wound down the window. ‘Hi,’ she croaked. ‘I’m a little…’
‘You’re upset,’ Tricia said, looking concerned. ‘What’s happened?’
‘I…’ Marian started. ‘It’s all so terrible,’ she said and burst into tears.
‘I’m sorry,’ she sobbed. ‘I’ve done something awful and my husband has left me just when we were getting back together.
But then he found out what I’ve done and he left.
’ She shook her head. ‘Oh, I’m making no sense at all.
It’s all such a mess and I just want to go up to the flat and go to bed. ’
‘You shouldn’t be alone in that state. I think you need a friend,’ Tricia said. ‘Come on. Get out of the car and come with me to my house and I’ll make tea and you can tell me all about it.’
‘Tea?’ Marian let out a sad little laugh. ‘Oh yeah, that’ll fix it.’
‘Of course it won’t,’ Tricia said as she opened the door of the car.
‘But it might make you calm down and then see things differently. In any case, you should not be on your own if you’re that upset.
’ She took Marian’s arm in a firm grip and pulled at her.
‘Come on. A walk in the fresh air will be good for you too.’
Marian got out of the car and stood there for a while trying to steady her nerves. ‘What were you doing here anyway?’ she asked.
‘I was helping Rose with the accounts,’ Tricia said. ‘Cillian is on a dig just north of Galway, so I had time to kill.’
‘Dig?’ Marian asked, confused. ‘Oh yes, he’s an archaeologist, of course. Interesting job,’ she said in an attempt to sound normal.
‘Yes,’ Tricia said. ‘Very interesting. But now it’s about you.’ She gently closed the door of the car, put her arm through Marian’s and started to walk down the gravel path that ran the length of the garden towards her cottage. ‘You have everything?’ she asked. ‘Your bag and stuff?’
Marian held up her small handbag. ‘That’s all I have, with my phone and keys.’
‘All you need, then,’ Tricia said. ‘I’ll provide any other necessities.’
‘Like tea and sympathy,’ Marian said, feeling hugely grateful for the shoulder to cry on.
She needed a friend and Tricia was the best choice as she was not a Fleury by blood and could look at everything from a neutral angle.
Marian knew that Tricia and Sylvia had not been on the best terms for a while but had forgotten all their old animosities and become friends when Tricia moved back to Dingle after an absence of many years.
There had been huge rivalry between Sylvia and Tricia, as Sylvia was the grandmother of the three Fleury girls and Tricia their mother.
But all that had disappeared after Vi and Jack’s wedding when Vi had worn Tricia’s wedding dress and Sylvia’s veil, a great compromise that had ended the battle of whose dress she was to wear.
Ruffled feathers were smooth again and troubled waters calm as Tricia let Sylvia be in the spotlight most of the time, taking a back seat whenever she had to.
It didn’t bother Tricia at all, she had said to Marian; she was happy to let Sylvia be the queen of Magnolia Manor and the belle of any ball or event.
‘Here we are,’ Tricia said as they arrived at the lovely garden that surrounded the cottage with hydrangeas and roses in full bloom and apple and plum trees heavy with ripe fruit.
Bees buzzed around the flowers and butterflies fluttered around the trees and shrubs and all was so peaceful that Marian felt as if transported to an oasis where she could forget all her troubles for a little while.
She breathed in the smell of flowers and fruit, felt the warm sun on her back and listened to the birdsong. ‘Heavenly,’ she said with a sigh. ‘This place always seems to soothe my spirits.’
‘Mine too,’ Tricia said and opened the door. ‘I thank the stars and heaven above for giving me my forever home.’
‘Your forever home,’ Marian repeated wistfully. ‘That sounds so wonderful. I thought I had found mine today. But then it all came to nothing through my own stupidity.’
‘I’m sure it’s not all your fault,’ Tricia soothed.
‘Go into the living room and sit on the sofa. I’ll go and make tea and cut up the brownies I made this morning as a treat for Sophie and Naomi, who were supposed to come over.
But then the weather turned so nice that they decided to go to the beach instead and I was left with a whole tray of brownies to eat all on my own.
I think they’re the best remedy for a broken heart. ’
‘Thanks, Tricia,’ Marian said, trying to smile through her misery.
‘Not that it’ll mend my broken heart, but it’s so nice to have a friend who’s willing to listen.
’ She went into the cosy living room and sat on the green velvet sofa by the window that overlooked the garden.
The room was beautifully decorated with colourful rugs on the wooden floor and framed prints of flowers and trees mixed with family photos and a lovely seascape over the fireplace that had a mantelpiece made of driftwood.
Marian stared out the window, going over everything that had happened only an hour or so ago.
Sean’s sudden arrival had startled her and then what he said had frightened her even more as he revealed how they had met on the plane and then repeated every single thing she had said to him.
And then his mention of them having dinner together recently had finally ended her new-found happiness with Theo.
She had a sneaky feeling Sean had done all that on purpose. But why?
Tricia coming into the room with a tray loaded with two steaming mugs of tea and a plate with brownies cut into Marian’s thoughts. ‘Oh you shouldn’t have gone to all that trouble, Tricia,’ she exclaimed.
Tricia put the tray on the coffee table in front of the sofa.
‘It’s no trouble at all. And to be honest, I need it as much as you do after struggling with the accounts all afternoon.
’ She sat down beside Marian and handed her a mug.
‘Here, hot tea and plenty of it. Then help yourself to a brownie and then talk if you want to, or not if you don’t. ’
‘I don’t know where to start,’ Marian said, taking the mug and holding it close to her chest, breathing in the fragrance, its warmth giving her a sense of comfort.
‘Well, the beginning of it all would be good,’ Tricia said and took the other mug from the tray.
‘Yes,’ Marian agreed. ‘The whole thing started during the flight from Sydney…’ Between sips of tea and bites of brownie, the story slowly came out, from her disenchantment with her marriage to her inspiring an author to write the novel that was causing the Fleurys so much trouble.
Tricia didn’t interrupt her once, only listened intently, her eyes wider and wider with shock and amazement.
‘Holy mother,’ Tricia said when Marian had come to the end of her tale of woe. ‘That is some story all by itself.’
‘I know,’ Marian said and hung her head. ‘And I know I’m to blame for all the gossip that’s going around town right now. I reneged on the family rule of not blabbing to outsiders about the Fleurys. I suppose you think that’s unforgivable. I do, too, as a matter of fact. I hate myself for doing it.’
Tricia put her hand on Marian’s. ‘Don’t hate yourself.
That’s so destructive. I know, because I have felt that way myself.
Hurting other people because of something you said or did happens to us all at one time or another.
So you had a drink or two that loosened your tongue and then you blabbed secrets to a stranger on a long flight.
Was that such a major sin? I’m sure you never thought you’d see him again or that he would even remember what you said. ’
‘No, I didn’t,’ Marian agreed, feeling only slightly better. ‘I was sure the whole conversation would be completely forgotten and that the man I was sitting beside would just disappear. How wrong I was,’ she said bitterly.
‘You couldn’t have known. What a weird coincidence that you happened to sit beside John Peters on that plane,’ Tricia continued. ‘And then his mother being from here and him spending his summer holidays in this area as a child.’