‘In hindsight, of course, it was obvious. But it was the seventies,’ Grace said. ‘Everyone was wearing them. And Clint Eastwood wore a poncho in those cowboy films, and there’s nothing wrong with him, is there?’
‘Well,’ Tom said uncertainly, ‘wasn’t he hanging around with that monkey for a while?’
‘It was more of an orangutan,’ Lorcan corrected him, clearly struggling to keep a straight face.
‘Still, doesn’t make it right,’ Tom said staunchly.
‘Anyway, I don’t think there was really anything going on between them,’ Lorcan whispered, as Grace shot him a furious look.
‘Ah! One of those trumped-up romances to promote their film?’
Grace was sorry she’d ever mentioned Clint Eastwood now. So was Conor – Tom and Lorcan could go off on a riff like this for hours on end.
‘The point,’ Grace said firmly, bringing them back on track, ‘is that we knew something was wrong but we kept making allowances, turning a blind eye.’
‘To the poncho?’
‘To everything, Tom. Until it was too late.’ She sighed heavily. ‘We could have saved poor Sheila from a lifetime of misery, but we didn’t. Well, that’s not going to happen again in my family.’
‘So what happened to Auntie Sheila?’ Tom asked. ‘She wasn’t at our wedding, was she?’ He looked to Rachel.
‘She hooked up with a Greek billionaire and they spend all their time sailing around the world. They’re in the Caribbean at the moment,’ Rachel told him.
‘Oh!’ Tom was surprised. He had expected to hear that she had died of a broken heart. ‘Not exactly alifetimeof misery, then, was it?’ he said cheerfully. He was surprised that Grace didn’t seem more pleased that things had turned out so well for her sister.
‘That’s not the point, Tom,’ Grace corrected him. ‘The point isthat we could have saved Sheila from a disastrous marriage, but we stood back and did nothing. Well, I’m not going to stand idly by and watch Kate ruin her life. We’re her family. It’s our duty to interfere.’
‘So, any ideas, anyone?’ Helen asked, aware that Conor was getting antsy and was anxious for everyone to leave.
‘She needs to find someone else,’ Rachel said.
‘Not much chance of that happening,’ Grace said. ‘She considers herself off the market.’
‘We could tell her about the floozy he was with at the wedding,’ Jack suggested.
Grace considered this. ‘No, we don’t want to be seen to be interfering. We have to make her see for herself what he’s like.’
‘She needs to find someone else,’ Rachel said again, more insistently.
‘There isn’t time for that,’ Grace said impatiently. ‘We don’t even know how much time we’ve got – they’re planning to spring the wedding on us at the last minute!’
‘We need to show him up, make her see him in a bad light,’ Conor mused, thinking aloud. This meeting was going on far too long and he wanted to wrap it up.
‘And how do we do that?’ Grace asked.
‘We invite him for a family weekend in the Cork house,’ Conor suggested, as if he was presenting them with the definitive solution.
Grace was surprised he could be so dense. This wasn’t about making friends with the twerp.
Lorcan voiced her concerns. ‘What will that achieve,’ he asked, ‘apart from ruining a perfectly good weekend?’
‘Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?’ Conor said to the room at large, meeting a lot of blank faces. Apparently it wasn’t obvious so he’d have to spell it out.
‘When we’ve got him there, we do what we do best, apparently.’
Everyone gazed at him questioningly. ‘Weoverwhelmhim,’ he said, as if stating the blindingly obvious.
Everyone digested this.
