‘Kill him with kindness sort of thing?’ Helen clarified. ‘It might work.’ She looked hopefully at Grace.
‘It’s worth a try, I suppose.’ Grace wasn’t convinced.
‘Of course it’ll work,’ Conor said. ‘Kate’s an O’Neill. He can just about pass muster when she has him on her own, one on one. Once she sees him in the family context, she’ll realise what a tosser he is.’
‘We could all go to work on him,’ Grace mused. ‘Everyone could do their bit.’
‘Well, I’m afraid I won’t be able to join in the fun,’ Lorcan said. ‘I’ll be in America.’ He had been invited to directA Streetcar Named Desirein a Tennessee Williams festival on Broadway and would be gone for most of the summer.
‘Well, we’d hate you to do anything against your principles, anyway,’ his mother said waspishly. ‘Just don’t come crying to me if you end up with the Tree-hugger as a brother-in-law. At least the rest of us will have the satisfaction of knowing we did all we could to prevent it.’
Shortly after that, the meeting broke up. As Rachel was leaving, she darted a glance at her mother. ‘I’ll call you later, Mum,’ she said.
* * *
‘Mum?’
‘Rachel, hi!’ Grace was a little alarmed that Rachel was calling her so soon. She’d only just got home.
‘Look, I have an idea about this Tree-hugger thing, but I couldn’t say it with everyone there – especially Lorcan. He’d never agree. But desperate situations call for desperate measures.’
Grace’s heart leaped. She liked the sound of ‘desperate measures’. She didn’t feel the family had grasped the enormity of the situation, and, despite Conor’s assurances, she wasn’t convinced that they could scare off the Tree-hugger just with a weekenden famille.‘What is it?’ she asked excitedly.
‘Well, like I said, the only way to get Kate away from the Tree-hugger is to get her interested in someone else. You know she’s never had much luck with men. I think she believes he’s the best she’ll ever get.’
Grace’s heart sank. ‘You’re probably right, darling, but there’s no chance of that happening. She refuses to go to any of Helen’s singles things – she won’t entertain the idea of meeting anyone new.’
‘I’m not talking about her meeting anyone new,’ Rachel said mysteriously. ‘I’m thinking of someone she already knows.’
‘You have someone in mind?’
‘Yes – someone she’s crazy about.’
Grace thought. There was only one person who fitted this description.
‘Oh, Rachel,’ she said, ‘I don’t think there’s any chance of Freddie going back into the wardrobe.’
‘What?’ Rachel screeched. ‘I’m not talking about Freddie, Mum,’ she said crossly, ‘and it’s the closet, not the wardrobe.’
‘I thought only Americans said “closet”?’
‘Not in that context. Besides, you just come out of it, you don’t go back in.’
‘Oh! Well, if you’re not talking about Freddie, who are you talking about?’
‘Will.’
‘Will?’
‘Will.’
‘Will,’ Grace heaved a great sigh of contentment.
* * *
A few days later, Grace and Rachel sashayed into Will’s plush offices, both dressed to the nines. Rachel had never been an enthusiastic member of the workforce. She had done a little modelling in her teens and early twenties but lacked the self-discipline and commitment to make a career of it. Since then she had dabbled in this and that, working in fashionable boutiques, doing a little PR work for well-connected friends, occasionally fronting a smart restaurant or nightclub but mainly just biding her time until she got married. Now she had given up all pretence of having a job and devoted herself full-time to being a barrister’s wife and a lady who lunched.
Grace waved airily at Louise, Will’s PA then sailed past her and into Will’s office before the young woman had a chance to stop her.
