Chapter 36
Johnny was waving from inside the cab as it pulled up outside the hotel.
He looked straight out of central casting for an American tourist: tanned, with two pairs of sunglasses, one on his face and the other on top of his backwards baseball cap, his legs in baggy shorts.
And there was Granny Annie, in large Gucci sunglasses, her hair immaculate, wearing her cashmere loungewear, her Chanel Rouge Allure lipstick lavishly applied as always.
She slipped the driver who carried her bags to the front of the hotel a note, and then opened her arms and hugged me close.
‘Hello, my lovely Kerry-Anne,’ she said. ‘Surprise!’
I laughed. ‘But I can’t believe you’re from Sandycove.’
‘Well, believe it, because I am.’
‘But why didn’t you tell us or say something when you knew I was coming?’
‘You didn’t actually say it was Sandycove before you left. You mentioned a village, outside Dublin, by the sea and I was thinking to myself that surely it wasn’t Trá Beag.’
‘Why did you always call it Trá Beag?’
‘That’s what my grandmother, your great-great-grandmother, always called it.
And when I left… well, I had things I wanted to forget.
It put a little distance between us. I’ll explain everything.
But first we need to have a coffee, a shower, and some food.
’ She was looking around. ‘It’s the same as it always was.
The hanging baskets are a nice touch. Brightens the place up. But it hasn’t changed.’
‘Come on,’ I said. ‘I’ll get you some coffee and see if they have rooms.’ I turned to hug Johnny. ‘Welcome to Ireland.’ I grinned at him. ‘Typical of you to meddle in my life.’
‘I’m looking out for you,’ he said, squeezing me back. ‘When the Big G casually mentioned that we could go, I was like, yes, immediately, where’s my passport, let’s call American Airlines, inoculations, tetanus, phrasebook, all the essentials.’
‘I’ve got so much to tell you,’ I said. ‘And…’ I didn’t know where to begin.
‘I’ve been working with this amazing group of women, it was a community enterprise and they were all knitters and we were going to sell the sweaters around the world and make them famous and then this man who has loads of money and all the power – so typical!
– anyway, he closed down the warehouse we were in, and now Sheila’s in hospital.
She had a heart attack, and it’s all gone wrong. And…’
Granny Annie and Johnny were frowning at me, trying to make sense of it all.
‘You know what you need,’ said Johnny. ‘A vacation! You’re totally wired!’
‘She’s alive, that’s what she is,’ said Granny Annie. ‘She’s full of life.’
I nodded. ‘That’s exactly how I feel, like there’s so much to do and I need to get going and I’m so happy but so worried about Sheila and about the knitters and everything… and…’ I managed to stop before I told them how worried I was that Henry was going to fall for Flow.
At check-in, Maureen did a double take. ‘I don’t believe it! Would you ever…? In the memory of sweet baby Joe Dolan, would you ever believe it? Annie O’Sullivan! Well, I never!’
‘Hello, Mo.’ Granny Annie smiled at her, her sunglasses in her hands. ‘How are you doing after all this time?’
‘I am… I’m just flabbergasted, that’s what I am.’ And then they hugged. ‘So you came back to us?’ Maureen was saying, her eyes damp. ‘After all these years. After all that pain?’
Granny Annie nodded. ‘It was a terrible time.’
Johnny looked at me. ‘Pain?’ he mouthed.
The two women were now talking rapidly. ‘You’ve been in Boston? That’s where you went.’
‘After everything that happened…’
An understanding nod from Maureen. ‘Of course…’
‘I just needed to get away. Just for a bit. And I ended up married and then widowed and brought up my daughter. And I am also a very proud grandmother…’ Granny Annie turned to us, smiling proudly. ‘To my grandchildren, Kerry-Anne and Johnny.’
‘I knew there was something about her,’ said Maureen, her eyes wide and looking straight at me. ‘I knew it. She just fitted in, slipped into Sandycove and no bother at all on her.’ She gave a laugh. ‘You know what they say, every boat finds its way home.’
Johnny was holding out his hand to shake, but Maureen knocked it to one side. ‘Come here for a hug, will you? I’m one of your grandmother’s oldest friends, which makes you practically family. And now, you’re all welcome home.’
I watched as Johnny was snuggled violently against Maureen, his sunglasses on his head dislodged, his face smushed.
‘Granny, why didn’t you tell us you were from Sandycove?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know. I wanted to forget. I needed to escape and it just felt less painful, as though everything that had happened in Sandycove had happened to someone else, in someplace else.’
I nodded, understanding completely.
‘So, you’re staying with us at the hotel,’ went on Maureen, eventually releasing Johnny from her grasp.
‘We’re honoured. I’ll find you rooms at the top of the hotel.
Sea views, same as Kerry-Anne’s.’ She smiled at me.
‘Who’d have thought it?’ She turned back to Granny Annie.
‘You’re wondering about the old gang, I bet?
Well, Mary is of course hale and hearty.
She’s knitting away like she always was, and it’s what your Kerry-Anne has been working on… ’
Granny-Anne looked at me. ‘Knitting?’
‘Finnuala and Sheila…’
‘Ah, Finnuala and Sheila,’ said Granny Annie, smiling quickly at Maureen.
‘Sheila’s in hospital,’ said Maureen. ‘Heart attack. Finnuala is with her. I’m on my way in shortly, bringing supplies, that kind of thing.’
Granny Annie looked bewildered for a moment at this barrage of information.
‘I’ll fill you in later,’ assured Maureen. ‘She’ll be back on her feet in no time, and we can keep the knitting circle going. It’s the resurrection of the old one. Remember Mrs DeCourcey?’
Granny Annie nodded. The two women looked at each other for a moment. ‘I do, yes. Of course I do. How could I forget her?’ She breathed in for a moment and then collected herself. ‘Well, you’ve been busy, Kerry-Anne…’
‘Busy?’ interjected Maureen. ‘She’s been run off her feet, we’ve even set her up with her own office, and then she’s been gadding about with Henry and Lucy, Mary’s grandchildren.
Now, Annie, you both must be tired to the bones after your long journey, let me show you to your rooms. I have a lovely one for you, and another for this fine young man here… ’
Johnny preened at me.
We left Johnny in his room to shower and change and then to Granny Annie’s next door, and just along the corridor from mine.
‘I’ll bring up a tray of tea,’ said Maureen. ‘And a few sandwiches. I can do a nice ham and chicken?’ She winked at Granny Annie. ‘And I’ll see what else the kitchen can rustle up.’
I followed Granny Annie into her room and sat on her bed, my back against the pillows while Granny Annie freshened up.
‘I still can’t believe you’re here,’ I called to her.
‘Nor can I.’ She stepped out of the bathroom, wearing her silk Japanese kimono. ‘It’s been a long time coming.’ She seemed to be choosing her words carefully, as though deep in thought.
‘How are you feeling?’
She brightened into a smile. ‘Couldn’t be better. You know me.’
‘Yes… but… it must be a shock being back. And you said you’d run away.’
‘Did I?’
‘To Maureen…’
‘But doesn’t every teenager want to run away?
I wanted to get as far aways as possible.
And there was no way I was going to come home.
Once you run far enough away, it’s harder to come back.
’ She sighed and sat down at the edge of the bed.
‘It was easier to run away and stay away than think about any of this.’
‘Think about what?’
‘Oh, I don’t know. Just things I haven’t thought about for years are coming back to me, and then there are other things I’ve never forgotten, however much I tried.
’ She wasn’t making much sense. But she smiled again.
‘I think if I hadn’t come now, I would have always regretted it.
Your coming here was the catalyst. I had no excuse.
From the moment you told me you were coming, I wrestled and wrestled with should I, could I?
And every bone in my body was telling me to stay in Boston, but my heart won out.
And then Johnny came to see me, and I knew it was now or never.
And it will be good to see Mary again and Finnuala and Sheila and…
’ She stopped. ‘Some of the old gang. I mean, we’re all in our seventies now, so it’s been some time.
I left when I was only nineteen. We were all still teenagers. ’
‘We need to stay for the regatta.’
Granny Annie looked at me sharply. ‘That’s still going on?’
‘Yes, you remember it? Henry and Lucy… Mary’s grandchildren… they are both sailing in it.’
But Granny Annie was silent, only half-listening, her mind elsewhere, and then one of the hotel staff knocked on the door, laden with tea and sandwiches and scones, and while Granny Annie dressed, I went to grab Johnny. He opened his door, smelling of expensive scent.
‘Like it? Tom Ford. Oprah paid us, so I can splash the cash.’
‘Glad you are most concerned about how you smell, Johnny…’
‘You’d complain if I didn’t smell good.’
‘Well, you didn’t smell good for most of our childhood, so at least you’ve improved in some areas. But what did Granny Annie tell you? She just said she ran away but from what? Did she say anything about anything?’
‘No, she didn’t. But then she doesn’t ever, just like you.’ He fixed me with a look. ‘You’re the same. Never emote or cry or say how you’re really feeling.’
‘That’s not true.’
‘Isn’t it?’ He raised an eyebrow, infuriatingly.
‘I don’t know how you’ve managed to shoehorn in a psychological takedown of me when it’s Granny Annie I’m worried about.’
‘But it’s true. You’re exactly the same. She’ll never tell us what went down, just like you wouldn’t.’
‘So you think something went down?’
He nodded. ‘I’m sure.’
‘But what could have happened?’
‘No idea, obviously. Because she’s an enigma. You’re like two Mona Lisas, always fine, never upset, always stiff upper lip and all that. You’ve lost your best friend in the last year and every time I’ve asked you how you are, you’ve said you’re fine…’
‘But I am fine! I’m not saying I’m not really sad about it. But there’s…’
‘Other people who take precedence. Caitlin’s mom.’ He looked at me.
‘What do you want me to do? Perform sadness?’
‘No. Just stop feeling you have to be one of life’s copers, one of those people who don’t need help and support and don’t lean on people…’
‘But I don’t.’ I glared at him back. ‘Have you come all this way to tell me off?’
‘No, I’ve come all this way because Granny Annie wanted to. I’m her chaperone.’ He paused. ‘And yes, to tell you off as well.’
‘Well, don’t bother. I’m fine.’
‘I told you. She’s an enigma, just like you.’
‘Shut up!’
‘You shut up!’
We glared at each other. And then I thought of Henry and his date with Flow. Perhaps they were still there, Flow still talking about headstands and being kind.
‘Well, I’ve decided to remain single for the rest of my life. I’m not very romantic.’
Johnny laughed. ‘That’s the thing with you, Kerry-Anne.
You’re the most romantic person I’ve ever met and yet I think you think it’s a failing, like crying or emoting.
You were the one who read all those romance novels when we were young, remember?
You’d make me act them out with you? And who else would run away to Ireland except for you?
And we find you, looking so completely unlike the Kerry-Anne of Boston, I mean, you aren’t wearing any make-up, your hair seems to be unbrushed… ’
‘It’s brushed. It’s just not blow-dried.’
He plucked at a strand of my hair. ‘You’ve gone curly. And freckles, Kerry-Anne?’
‘I forgot my straighteners,’ I said. ‘I haven’t worn make-up in so long, I can’t imagine wearing it again. And I’ve worn these shorts pretty much every day.’
He laughed. ‘And I thought you were high-maintenance.’
‘I never was. I think I was just trying to be. And I’ve been sailing with Henry.’
Johnny had the most infuriating smirk on his face. ‘You have to introduce me to this Henry.’
‘I can’t, because he was on a date with Flow earlier and anyway I’ll be going back to Boston soon.’ My voice went a bit wobbly at the end, while Johnny’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.
‘Kerry-Anne? WTF? What are you saying? Who’s this Henry? OMG. You like him? Oh God. I love it! But what about Milhouse?’
‘Did Mom not tell you?’
‘No! Tell me what? Don’t tell me you’re still going to marry Milhouse Fartbarf?’
‘No, it’s over!’
‘Really?’ Johnny made a thank-you-God gesture, clutching his hands to heaven. ‘You are saved. Finally, the Daly family won’t have yet another divorce to contend with.’
I slapped him on the arm. ‘It’s not that you were right, it’s just that I was wrong…’
He laughed and then we heard Granny Annie call from outside.
‘Kerry-Anne? Johnny? The tea is getting cold.’
‘Come on, our tea’s getting cold.’ I pulled his arm to come with me, and instead he slipped it in though mine.
‘I love you, that’s all,’ he said. ‘And I want the best for you. You’re my favourite sister.’