Chapter Thirty-One
The following morning, Nick woke up and tiptoed to the shower. If she could just avoid waking Ohana, she could have her morning shower without feeling guilty. She hated seeing Ohana in the crate and as soon as Nick was clean and dressed, she could let Ohana run free. She had read lots on this subject and everyone seemed to agree that a dog crate provided security and stability for a dog in a new environment, but Nick just saw a cage.
Yesterday she had called Ari and checked that the Hiverton London townhouse was empty. Sometimes it was used by friends, family and employees who were after a break in the city. Ari never charged and felt it was a nice way to make use of the property. Happily, no one was booked in for a few weeks and Nick asked for it to be blocked out whilst she found somewhere new to live.
‘I’m coming up and bringing the boys! They’ll love Ohana.’
‘They’ll terrify her!’
‘She’ll adore them. Children and dogs go together like strawberries and cream.’
Nick wasn’t convinced, her nephews were noisy messy beasts. Just as she thought that, Ohana walked across the food plate and then fell asleep on one of Nick’s trainers that she had chewed earlier.
‘Okay. You might have a point.’
Hanging up, she had cleared up the mess and placed her trainers up on a shelf along with a chewed pair of sandals. For the rest of the evening she finished packing, not that it took long at all. The apartment was fully furnished and she herself hadn’t much in the way of possessions. Her bike, a pile of books, her clothes, a photo album and framed pictures of the family. A mug that her nephews had painted, or rather Ari had painted, and they’d splodged their little handprints on too. She double-wrapped that in a few jumpers, if it was too precious to actually drink out of, it was certainly too precious to simply bubble-wrap. She wrapped up her parents’ small carriage clock in a winter coat and realised she was done. She had always travelled light and looking at the small pile, she realised that Ohana had more stuff than she did.
Now, as she ate breakfast, she sat on the floor letting Ohana run over her legs as she played with the toy rabbit. She was shaking it quite vigorously and Nick wondered if Gabe had a point. She stirred the berries in the yogurt and wondered what the hell to do about Gabe. Even if he was sincere, the fact that he was a Harrington was a massive problem. Imagine family lunches. She shuddered as she tried to remember what Gabriel had told her about his family. There were three siblings from the first marriage, who Gabe didn’t really get on with. Well, she had met one of them and could see Gabe’s point. Then he and his twin came from a second marriage, and finally there was a little sister from the third and current marriage. Nick wondered about Gabriel and Raphael’s mother. She was clearly an independent sort, to have gone back to her maiden name rather than continue to trade on the illustrious Harrington name, and her sons followed suit which meant the bond between the three of them must be very strong. Nick wondered if the extended family ever met altogether – probably only for hatches, matches and dispatches.
‘Right,’ declared Nick to Ohana, ‘no point sitting here doing nothing. Let’s have a quick walk before the day heats up and then we’ll hire a car and move.’
***
Happy to have a plan in place she swung into action and a few hours later she was settled into Foix Place. It was a bit of a fag carrying everything in herself but who else was there? It was too much stuff for a taxi ride, and she couldn’t quite imagine a taxi driver helping her carry it all in. There wasn’t enough to warrant a removal company and she simply didn’t have the sort of friends or acquaintances she could call on for some quick help. Fantasies about a bunch of friends all piling round and chipping in – whilst she cooked a big pan of pasta sauce and passed around the beers – came and went. It was a nice idea but as she thought about it the noise and the mess of her daydream began to alarm her and she shook her head with a groan. The simple fact was that she wasn’t a party animal or an extrovert or someone that fed off the energy of lots of friends and she was genuinely happy with that. At the moment her loneliness was a symptom of her current upheavals, not because she was alone.
Now she was seated on one of the kitchen stools at Foix Place overlooking a simple green garden. The sisters had decided that if they were going to keep the townhouse, the garden had better be pared back for ease of maintenance and now it was a simple mix of lawn and topiary. Elegant or sterile – it could go either way – Nick described it as efficient. Foix’s was valued at several million and Nick liked knowing that she had a tangible asset that she could dispose of in a heartbeat if the family finances became dire. As ever, she was reminded of Ruacoddy, their Scottish Castle, a constant financial drain that would be slow to sell and would barely make half what this townhouse was worth, despite it being vastly larger. Clem had made good on her promise and stopped the decline of the castle. She had very grudgingly hosted twice-yearly house parties where ludicrously wealthy overseas guest came for the Scottish experience. Clem had decided to play to her audience and wore the mantle of Lady Clementine to perfection. When they weren’t around, the textiles line was busily growing from strength to strength and adding a strong income stream to the family coffers.
The kitchen was stocked with basic food staples and the freezer had a small selection of ready meals. The idea was that people could stay free of charge but to leave the place cleaner and tidier than they found it, replace any store cupboard items and make sure that the next person wasn’t hungry if they arrived late at night. By the back door was a tub with a note on it in Ari’s handwriting saying Please feed the birds . Always happy to do as her sister asked, Nick opened the back door and smiled as Ohana rushed out, running in a thousand circles, tripping over her ears in delight.
Nick filled up the bird feeder then poured herself some iced water. Brushing off a few small leaves, she sat down on the patio sofa, then closed her eyes to enjoy the warmth and relative silence of Belgravia. Nowhere in London was truly quiet but this background hum of birdsong and distant traffic was a calming one. It wasn’t the peace she had felt in Ireland, but it felt good, nonetheless. It also felt good to have a place where she could get Ohana properly house-trained. God knows she hadn’t had much routine yet but at least now they could settle here for a bit whilst she looked for somewhere new. A butterfly danced into the garden, flying just out of reach of Ohana’s excited yaps and leaps. It would be a while before any birds came into the garden if they had to put up with an overly excited dog. Clicking her tongue and calling Ohana’s name the dog came bouncing over and Nick rewarded her with a tummy rub.
For a while Nick and Ohana just dozed in the shade of the canopy until Nick had had enough of the inactivity and headed indoors and fired up her laptop. She would go for a quick run this evening when Ohana was asleep. In the meantime, she had fallen behind on the financial news and markets and meant to plug herself back in. She needed to be ready for when the FCA said she could start trading again.