City Lives (34 page)

‘You mean I’m a stone overweight,’ Maggie said dryly.

‘No, no!’ protested Caroline. ‘Remember when I was really fat, Dev, it was soft blubbery fat. Wasn’t it?’ She looked at Devlin for confirmation. Devlin nodded.

‘But even if you are a few pounds overweight it suits you. You’re statuesque. You can carry it. If I put on weight, it’s blubber straight away.’ Caroline sighed.

‘Terry really stuck to his diet and it shows. It really gets up my nose. I’m so jealous. Isn’t that the pits?’ Maggie said as she slithered into a silky black shift dress
and put on a short-sleeved white jacket, trimmed in black.

‘I think unconditional love is when you can be
truly
delighted for someone when they lose weight, especially if they’re not your favourite person in the world,’
Caroline commented wickedly as she applied lipstick.

‘Then I’ll never achieve unconditional love,’ Maggie laughed. ‘Because I begrudge every ounce Terry’s lost, and you know who makes me sick now to look at
her?’

‘Let me guess,’ Devlin grinned as she slipped a gold bangle over her wrist. ‘Marie Grimes.’

Marie Grimes was a lady who lunched a lot in City Girl and considered herself to be an A-list socialite.

‘Oh yes, she
is
sickening since she went on the NuTron diet. God, if I hear what she’s allowed on her green list and not allowed on her red list once more, I’ll throw
up,’ Caroline exclaimed vehemently. ‘If she wasn’t such a boasty bitch it wouldn’t be so bad.’

Maggie winked at Devlin. ‘But she’s a great spirit though, Caroline, isn’t she?’

Caroline flung a pillow at her. ‘Smart wagon,’ she laughed.

‘I don’t know about you two but I’m starving. I wonder what’s for dinner?’ Devlin held the door open and they trooped out into the quiet carpeted corridor.

The menu was mouth-watering.

‘I’ll have the Warm Salad of Summer Asparagus,’ Devlin ordered. ‘And the Filet of Beef glazed with honey and mustard.’

‘I’ll have the Baked Scallops with a sesame crust and lime sauce. And I’ll have the Char-grilled Tuna Steak,’ Caroline decided.

‘And I’ll have the Scallops and Beef,’ Maggie smiled.

‘And we’ll all have the Plum Tomato Soup spiked with basil,’ Devlin added.

‘And to drink?’ the restaurant hostess asked pleasantly.

‘Sparkling water will be fine.’ Maggie glanced at the others, who nodded their assent.

‘Look at the desserts, Dark and White Chocolate Mousse and it’s only 145 calories,’ Maggie exclaimed while they waited for their first course.

‘Warm Pears served with Passion Fruit Sorbet, sounds yummy,’ Devlin murmured.

‘Try the home-made brown bread with walnuts,’ Caroline urged, tucking in. ‘It’s scrumptious!’

The meal was delicious and they lingered in the small, intimate, candle-lit dining-room enjoying the relaxed hum of conversation, enjoying the soothing ambience and most of all enjoying each
other’s company.

By eleven they were tucked up in bed, hardly able to keep their eyes open. Devlin was asleep in minutes. Caroline and Maggie chatted quietly for a while longer until great yawns got the better
of them and they switched off the lamp.

‘God be with the days when we’d party until four and five in the morning and fall asleep when the milkman was starting his rounds,’ Maggie murmured.

‘They were good times,’ Caroline smiled in the dark.

‘They were, and we didn’t really appreciate them,’ Maggie said regretfully.

‘That’s the way with life, unfortunately. Good times will come your way again, Maggie,’ Caroline said encouragingly.

‘I hope so. It’s hard, Caro,’ she confided. ‘I’m lonely. I long to be loved.’

‘Me too,’ came the whisper from the other bed. ‘Devlin is so lucky to have Luke. Our day will come. Night, Maggie.’

‘Night, Caroline. See you in the morning.’ Maggie turned over and pulled the covers over her ears, luxuriating in the comfort of a bed to herself. Moments later she was asleep, and
before long Caroline’s breathing turned deep and even as she joined her friends in slumber.

The following morning, Maggie, awake since six – force of habit – had written two thousand words, Devlin had had a swim and walked a mile on the treadmill, and Caroline had had a
lie-in, before they sat down to breakfast at nine. All the guests were in their robes and the day guests were arriving and being shown around.

Great banks of inky clouds gathered behind the hills but occasionally the sun would burst through, shining on the purple-green slopes, as the three women sat at the table in the window alcove
and drank in the beauty of the panorama in front of them.

Later, Caroline and Maggie helped themselves to coffee from the table outside the dining-room and the three of them made their way to the plush peach and gold lounge, where towelling-robed
guests relaxed and chatted and read or snoozed as they waited to be called for treatments.

Five minutes after they’d sat down and flicked through the day’s complimentary newspapers, they were all collected by their individual therapists.

Devlin was having the Four-Layer facial, Maggie the Peppermint Twist, and Caroline the Honey and Almond treatment.

They joined up again for lunch, and feasted on a delicious buffet of salmon and quiche and a variety of salads made with the freshest ingredients, that brought them back for more.

Afterwards they curled up on the sofas with their books, and snug, warm and cosy, they chatted lazily and watched the dark purple clouds unleash the torrents of rain they had been holding all
day. Before long they were all snoozing, completely and utterly relaxed after their exquisite treatments of the morning.

Sometime later, as Maggie drifted off to sleep under the comforting hands of the therapist who was giving her the full-body aromatherapy massage, she vowed that she was going to treat herself to
another long weekend in this nirvana, when she had the book finished, the Al Shariffs were gone and Christmas was over. As months of tiredness eased out of her bones she was so glad she had
discovered the place that she could come to when she felt worn out, drained, and longing for a break from her non-marriage. This place would get her through things, she vowed to herself. It would
be her haven. Her reward for hard work. Here she would enjoy the fruits of her labours and not feel one bit guilty at spending some of her royalties on herself.

It didn’t matter whether Devlin or Caroline came, although it was lovely being with them, she acknowledged. This was a place you could come to with friends or alone. And, come hell or high
water, she’d be back.

Devlin lay with her eyes closed, listening to the soothing music as the therapist lightly cleansed the area around her eyes. She was having the Eye Treatment and it felt so refreshing and
relaxing she wanted to sleep.

This had been a brainwave, she thought with satisfaction. The three of them hadn’t been as relaxed in years. She could see the difference in Maggie already. What was the point of being
successful if you didn’t splash out on yourself now and again?

They really should do this more often. Although once she had the baby she’d be tied. The thought gave her a little pang. Even though she longed to have this much wanted child she knew her
life would change completely. It would no longer be hers. She and Luke would not have the luxury of spontaneous living, she thought, smiling, remembering their day ‘on the mitch’. They
should make the most of the next few months together and she should make the most of every second of this weekend, she thought drowsily, as the therapist smoothed cool cream onto her skin with a
feather-light touch. Her rhythmic circular movements were almost hypnotic.

Caroline felt the heat of the green thermal mud seep deep into the lower curve of her spine. Warm towels kept the rest of her body snug. The nagging ache that sometimes plagued her receded
gently, soothed by the deep-heat treatment.

Once, when she had gone for acupuncture for her back, the acupuncturist, a wise and spiritual woman, had asked her gently, ‘What burdens are you carrying that are too heavy for your
back?’ The question had made her cry as she finally acknowledged that yes, she had burdens, and it wasn’t giving into weakness to admit it, instead of putting on a façade and
pretending that everything was all right.

Richard was a heavy burden, she thought sadly. One she shouldn’t be carrying. Her back had only started to trouble her again recently, since the row over Mrs Yates.

I have to let him go
, she told herself for the thousandth time.

Oh Lord, let me do it gently and with kindness. Guide my path. Show me Your Divine Plan.
She prayed with heartfelt emotion in that peaceful little room, knowing that every prayer was
always heard and an answer always given.

Hannah Gleeson put on her best pure wool coat – a present from her daughter, before the bowsie husband had deserted her – her red felt hat and her black gloves. She
dabbed powder on her cheeks, reddened her lips with Max Factor lipstick, squirted Lily of the Valley perfume on her neck and wrists and stood back to admire herself in the mirror.

She was pleased with what she saw. She looked every inch a lady, she thought approvingly as she stepped into her good Sunday shoes. The black patent ones, all shiny and bright.

Today was an important day. She wanted to look her best. And she did look her best. She’d come back from a winter week in Spain where the sun had shone on her, even though it had rained
cats and dogs here at home, she’d been told. Winning five thousand pounds on a Prize Bond she’d held for over twenty years had been the greatest occasion of her life. She still had four
thousand left, even after giving her daughter and herself the week away.

But something almost as good had happened to her two days before she won the money. Something as unexpected as it was welcome. The answer to prayer. A cross taken from her.

Hannah smiled at herself, pleased that her perm had taken so well. She was going visiting and she looked every
inch
a lady, she told herself, reassuringly, once again.

‘Yeu won’t look down yer high and mighty nose on me, madam,’ she declared aloud. ‘The time has come for me to give yeu a piece of my mind, yeu little ould nettle. Yeu
bould ould rip! And if it gives yeu another heart attack it will be good enough for yeu. And I won’t be savin’ yer life either.’

Raising her chin, Hannah picked up her new shiny patent bag that she’d bought in Spain to match her shoes and marched out of her bedroom, the light of battle in her bright blue eyes.

Sarah sipped her cup of tea and nibbled daintily at a biscuit. She was feeling stronger today. The hairdresser had come yesterday and set her hair and Richard had bought her a
new bedjacket that looked most fetching. It was soft pink angora wool and she was very pleased with it. He’d told her that he’d picked it himself. She knew that wife of his
hadn’t. She was off down at a health farm, spending all his hard-earned money. Richard had told her that she had gone with friends.

Boozing friends, no doubt. Sarah sniffed. They were most likely up to their tonsils in drink. Once an alcoholic always an alcoholic, in Sarah’s eyes. She’d never believed that
Caroline was on the dry. She was glad to know that her despised daughter-in-law was away. She was going to ask Richard to take her out for the day tomorrow. She’d go to Mass in the
nuns’ chapel downstairs and then have her lunch. Sunday lunch was the best lunch of the week here. Then Richard could collect her.

He could bring her home so that she could check that Mrs Gleeson was cleaning the house properly. And then he could give her tea in his apartment, seeing as that hussy wouldn’t be there.
Sarah liked the view from Richard’s penthouse. She liked looking down on the world.

The maid came to take the tray away. ‘A very nice elevenses, dear,’ Sarah said graciously. ‘But the spoon was stained. Please make sure that I get
clean
cutlery, in
future. I’ve had a very serious heart attack, you know. An infection could kill me.’

Pity it doesn’t
, the young girl thought glumly as she removed the tray. Matron would be told about the spoon and she’d get a telling-off . . . yet again. And it was all that
crabby old bat’s fault. She had a good mind to mix Epsom salts in with the sugar and give the old witch a right dose of the scutters.

Sarah, ignorant of planned revenge attacks, flicked on the TV and settled back to enjoy a gardening programme. If only her garden looked as well. Nolan would want to have pruned the roses and
put down the polyanthus by now, but he was probably taking it easy while she was away.

She’d be able to check up on that tomorrow. And she’d have stern words with him if everything wasn’t up to standard. Gardeners weren’t indispensable, she’d warn
him. It was good to keep staff on their toes.

The nurse came in and plumped up her pillows and straightened up the bedspread.

‘Everything all right, Mrs Yates?’ she queried.

‘Everything’s very nice. Perhaps you might get me the
Irish Times
. I do enjoy the Weekend section.’ Sarah smiled sweetly.

‘Did you not order one last night?’ the nurse asked.

‘I wasn’t in the humour last night. I didn’t think I’d be able for it. But I do feel a little stronger today. I’m not putting you out, dear, am I? Matron has told
me to ask for whatever I need.’

‘I’ll get someone to get one for you.’ The nurse’s lips tightened. That Yates bitch was the bane of her life.

‘Thank you, dear.’ Sarah settled back comfortably on her freshly plumped pillows. Being in a nursing home was rather like being in a hotel, she mused. It wasn’t at all
frightening, like the hospital had been. She was going to make the most of her last few days.

A smart rap on the door startled her.

‘Come in,’ she quavered. It could be her consultant. It didn’t do to sound too hale and hearty.

Hannah Gleeson marched through the door, all dressed up.

Sarah felt a little self-conscious. This was rather unexpected. She would have preferred to have known about her housekeeper’s visit in advance.