‘Well, I might as well know the worst,’ she said, with more conviction than she felt. Steeling herself, she climbed onto a stool at the opposite side of the counter. Freddie handed her a paper open at the relevant page.
‘“Tina’s love rival” – love rival! – “has been revealed as curvy cook, Kate O’Neill, thirty-two.”Thirty-two!’she squealed. ‘They can’t even get my age right!’
‘You’re thirty-one in this one,’ Freddie said, waving his tabloid.
‘I’ve got thirty,’ Ken added.
‘And they call me curvy – that’s a euphemism for fat.’
‘So does this one,’ Freddie said. ‘Listen to this. “Curvaceous Kate, thirty-one, is the daughter of Grace O’Neill, one of our most cherished actresses.”’
‘Mum will like that.’
‘She gets a mention in this one too,’ Ken said. ‘It says, “The buxom brunette?—”’
‘Buxom!’ Kate screeched in outrage.
‘“The buxom brunette,”’ Ken continued, ‘“is the daughter of Grace O’Neill, fifty-six, one of Ireland’s finest actresses.”’
‘Fifty-six!’ Kate gasped. ‘Mum won’t like that!’
‘Why? How old is she?’ Ken asked.
‘Fifty-six.’
‘Then she definitely won’t like it,’ Freddie said.
‘God, how many ways are there of saying plump?’ Kate huffed. Meanwhile, Tina was described as ‘willowy’, ‘stunning’, ‘leggy’ and ‘super-fit’. The contrast was obvious and deliberately bitchy.
While her age and the euphemisms for ‘plump’ varied from paper to paper, the story was almost identical in them all. They said that Tina and Will had had a blazing row on the day his father died, several hinting that Tina’s attendance at a 2Tone concert was the cause of the quarrel. The tone of some of the articles was slyly censorious on this point. One noted that ‘Just hours after Will learned of his father’s death, Tina was spotted partying with the Cassidy brothers at a 2Tone concert in Florence’s Mandela Forum’, while another commented that she had ‘left Will to grieve alone in the €6 million Tuscan mansion’, insinuating that it was her fault he had turned elsewhere for consolation.
But the sly digs at Tina didn’t make Kate feel any better about her part in the affair – especially not when it came to the bit where Tina had returned early from the concert to find Kate giving him a blow job.
‘Oh God, I can never go out again!’ she wailed, as she waded through one paper after another. Whether it was just a slow news day or because Tina was such a favourite with the gutter press, the story had been prominently splashed in every one of the tabloids.
‘Look on the bright side,’ Freddie said. ‘At least now you won’t have to break the news to Brian.’
‘Unfortunately, it’s not even good for that. Brian lives in a bubble as far as this sort of thing is concerned. Wait – I haven’t seen that one.’ She pointed to the paper Ken had pushed to the bottom of the pile.
‘I’m afraid you made its front page.’ Ken said, and reluctantly handed it over.
Kate gasped. Under the headline there was a large picture of a distraught Tina driving away from the villa and a smaller inset of Kate, which she recognised as having been taken a couple of years ago at one of Lorcan’s opening nights. ‘Ohno!’ she wailed.
The article was by far the most damning piece, portraying Kate as a conniving sexual predator, just waiting to pounce as soon as Tina’s back was turned. Kate knew that Tina was the darling of this particular paper, having a close relationship with the editor, so it was hardly surprising, but that didn’t make it any easier to take. ‘Well, so much for keeping a low profile,’ she said on the verge of tears.
‘It’s just a load of old rubbish,’ Ken said. ‘Don’t pay any attention.’
* * *
That was easier said than done. It wasn’t long before the phone was ringing. Her mother was the first. ‘I’ve just seen the papers, darling. Marvellous news about you and Will!’ she trilled.
‘Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it marvellous, Mum.’
‘Your father and I are just off to England for Philip’s funeral,’ Grace continued, ‘but I couldn’t go without ringing to tell you how delighted I am.’
Kate could hardly believe her ears. ‘Have you actuallyreadthe papers?’
‘Of course,’ Grace said breezily. ‘Like I said, it’s great news. I really couldn’t be happier for you.’ There was a momentary pause. ‘I suppose this means it’s off with the Tree-hugger?’ her mother asked tentatively. ‘You know, I didn’t like to say anything before, but I never thought he was right for you, sweetheart.’
