The Rose Garden (22 page)

‘The food is amazing!’ beamed Emma, her plate laden with a sample of each.

After the food was served, David’s brother, Chris, insisted on standing up and introducing Molly, thanking her for such a wonderful party to celebrate his niece’s birthday. Almost shaking with nerves, Molly glanced quickly at the cards that she had written her speech on and then, taking a deep breath, she stood up. Emma squeezed her hand reassuringly.

‘I would like to thank everyone for helping us to celebrate our beloved Grace’s twenty-first birthday. Twenty-one years ago this beautiful little baby girl with her big blue eyes came into our lives and our hearts. We had just moved into Mossbawn and the house was a wreck, and we found ourselves not only with a new house but a new baby too! Luckily for us, Grace was a happy, good, smiley baby – and if I look back on her childhood years and
teenage years, she has never really changed. She is still as beautiful and kind-hearted and smiley as ever.’

Grace’s friends from primary school cheered madly in agreement.

‘Her childhood was full of dogs, kittens, ponies and all kinds of pets. One time she even had a pet white rat which was kept hidden in her bedroom for weeks so I wouldn’t see it, and of course the house was always full of her friends. She climbed trees and built houses and almost every birthday party involved a treasure hunt or a hide-and-seek game of some sort. Now she’s in college in UCD, where she’s made lots more friends, and I’m so glad you are all here. She and Emma have always been more than just sisters, they’ve been the best of friends and supported each other, and I know that this will continue all through their lives. As I watch Grace I see a daughter I not only love but am so proud of for all the good things she does and the way she faces life and brings happiness to those lucky enough to be around her. However, there is one person who should be here tonight – someone who loved Grace dearly, and that is her dad, David. We all miss him terribly, but I do feel that he is here in spirit with us tonight as we celebrate Grace’s twenty-first birthday.’

Molly took a breath, trying not to let her emotions get the better of her. ‘Finally, I’d like to thank everyone who helped with organizing the party: Emma and Kim, and Gina who has made all the lovely food; and of course to thank all of you good friends who have come from all over the place to be here with us as we celebrate Grace’s birthday tonight.’

As she finished talking, Gina appeared with the large iced birthday cake with its twenty-one candles and everyone sang, ‘Happy birthday to you’. Grace stood up to blow out her candles and then began to say a few words.

‘I want to thank my mum for not only having my party but for being the most amazing mum ever, for all her love and support and for not just being my mum but also my friend. Emma and I had the most wonderful childhood, growing up here with the best parents
ever. You all know this past year has been a pretty terrible one for my family, but my mum has kept the family together. I miss my dad so much … and I wish that he was here tonight with us all,’ she said, her eyes welling with tears, ‘but I have the most amazing friends, from my Kilfinn primary-school gang to my college crew, and my best friends Ali and Lola and Johnny – you are all the best! Also thanks to my aunties and uncles and cousins, and our family friends who are here with us too. I’m having the best birthday ever! Thank you so much everyone for coming and thanks for all your lovely pressies too! Being twenty-one is great. It’s a bit scary to think that now you are an adult and have to be a proper grown-up. Tonight is a night that I will never forget, being here with everyone I love and care about – and the best thing is that the party is only getting started!’

Molly laughed and hugged Grace as the music began and everyone returned to the orangery where the DJ was in full swing. As she looked around her she couldn’t help but wonder if this would be the last big family party held here in the house. It certainly was a night to remember … she was glad of that. She lost track of how many times she was up dancing with everyone from Stephen to Chris and Rory and Bill to Emma’s boyfriend and Tim and a whole load of Grace’s college friends. A few times she retired to the drawing room to have a rest but would be dragged back up again on to the dance floor.

Finally managing to get to the kitchen, she found Gina busy tidying away everything, the dishwasher loaded and the remaining plates and dishes stacked ready to go in later, the place almost immaculate.

‘Gina, the food was amazing! Thank you so much. Everything went perfectly!’

‘I enjoy doing a big party like this,’ Gina admitted. ‘It’s lovely to see guests happy and enjoying themselves.’

‘Well, they sure are. Everyone is dancing like crazy. I was nervous about having it, but I’m so glad we did as Grace is so happy. Will you come and join us for a drink?’

‘Thanks, but I’d prefer to finish up here and then pack up some of my cooking things and go home, if that is okay. We’re taking the kids to Kilkenny tomorrow as Conor’s team have a big football match.’

Back in the drawing room, Molly made an effort to sit down and talk to Carole, who was full of praise for the night.

‘The house really lends itself to a big party like this,’ Carole enthused. ‘It’s like something out of a film with the lights and the candles.’

‘Times like this, the house comes into its own!’ she smiled, glad that Bill and Carole had come along, the two of them getting on really well with Rena and her husband.

At 3 a.m. most of her friends had left, and Grace and Emma were still dancing away with a big gang of friends. She could barely keep her eyes open and, kissing them goodnight, slipped away to bed as the party continued till nearly breakfast time.

Curling up in bed, Molly pulled the pillow near her, pretending, as she did almost every night, that David was lying close to her.

GINA STUDIED HER ORDER BOOK. THIS CHRISTMAS, HOPEFULLY,
should be a busy one! She’d enjoyed catering for Grace Hennessy’s twenty-first and with any luck should have a few more events to cater for in the coming weeks. Dr Jim and his wife, Frances, had already ordered trays of canapés for their annual New Year’s Day drinks party. And Bridget Jennings, who was an old friend of Norah’s, had approached her about doing a special lunch to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary.

‘Donal and I will be married fifty years. The children want us to have a big fancy meal in the hotel, but it would be far too noisy and too busy there. Poor Donal has gone a wee bit deaf, so we’d far prefer to have it at home in our own house. Then everyone can come to us, all the grandchildren and even our new little great-granddaughter, and we can take photos. There’ll be no one rushing us off tables or the men disappearing to the hotel bar!’

‘That sounds absolutely lovely,’ agreed Gina, who knew that Bridget suffered with arthritis and was devoted to her elderly husband and family. ‘What about a sit-down three-course lunch and a special golden wedding anniversary cake?’ she suggested. ‘You won’t have to do a thing, as I can come along to serve and then disappear.’

‘Oh Gina, that would be grand!’ said Bridget. ‘Just grand.’

Gina smiled to herself. Kilfinn might be a small village, but thank heaven people still enjoyed family celebrations. She’d put a
sign up near the counter in the shop for ordering her mince pies, Christmas puddings and chocolate-and-chestnut Yule logs. Busy in the café all day, she then turned around and baked at night, the smell of Christmas pudding filling the house.

‘You’re killing yourself!’ warned Paul, who was working night and day trying to complete a new kitchen for the O’Donovans, who lived about five miles away.

‘You’re a fine one to talk!’ she teased.

‘Gina, I heard something today from one of the electricians. He was talking about the café,’ Paul said, sounding worried. ‘He seemed to think that it was closing down and was going to be taken over by the pub next door.’

‘Norah wouldn’t do that!’ Gina argued. ‘She’d never agree to something like that!’

‘It’s probably only a rumour,’ he said softly, ‘but you know how these things spread!’

Gina was worried. What if it was true? Tomorrow she’d go and ask Norah about what was going to happen to the café and talk to her about taking it over …

Norah was dozing in her chair. She seemed to sleep more and more of the time, like a lot of the residents in Beech Hill.

‘Norah, I need to talk to you,’ Gina said softly, sitting down beside her.

Over the next twenty minutes she carefully outlined her plans for the café, about doing it up. She explained how she would really like to rent it from Norah, or was even, if necessary, prepared to buy it.

‘You’ve run the café successfully all these years, Norah, but now I want it to continue,’ she explained. ‘I want to make sure it stays open and that Kilfinn has a place for people to come for their coffees and cakes.’

Norah was listening, but said nothing all the time Gina was talking.

‘I have to close my café …’ she said at last, her eyes welling with tears as she became agitated.

‘No, no, Norah – you won’t have to close the café,’ she soothed, ‘because I’ll rent or buy the place from you, then I’ll keep it open. We can work it out, don’t worry!’

Norah held on to her hand.

‘But Martin says I have to sell,’ she whispered, getting all upset. ‘He says that he’s looking after it.’

Gina tried to hide her own dismay and comfort Norah. If Norah’s nephew was the one going to rent out or sell the premises, then she would have to deal with him. She had his number and when she got home she’d phone him immediately.

Martin Cassidy admitted things were at an advanced stage with regard to the premises.

‘But I’m willing to rent it from Norah!’ she protested furiously. ‘I could easily take it over without any upset.’

‘I’m sure you could,’ he said smoothly, ‘but unfortunately, with Norah’s retirement due to her ill-health, the family and Norah have decided it’s better to sell the entire premises to pay for her ongoing care and medical expenses.’

‘But I can talk to the bank,’ Gina offered. ‘What kind of figure are you looking for?’

‘We have been advised by a local auctioneer that the building, even in the current climate, is worth about one hundred and fifty thousand euro.’

Gina gasped. She had factored in buying the ground floor, but had not even considered buying the whole building. It was far more than she had expected.

‘Please, Martin, let me have a chance to talk to my bank manager, see what we can come up with,’ she begged.

‘Very well, but we are close to making arrangements with another interested party,’ he said pompously.

‘Martin, for heaven’s sake – you know that Norah would want me to have the place, to have the café stay open! I heard that you were talking to the Armstrongs in the pub next door. Please just give me a chance to see about getting a loan first.’

‘Very well,’ he said. ‘Nothing is going to happen for the next few days.’

‘Thanks,’ she said.

Gina didn’t sleep a wink, tossing and turning all night while Paul tried to get her to calm down. All her plans and hopes might come to nothing.

‘We’ll talk to the bank tomorrow,’ Paul promised after they had gone through their figures to see if they could manage such a loan. ‘Let’s just see what they say …’

Billy Wright, their local bank manager, listened to them but they could tell by his demeanour that getting a loan was going to be difficult.

‘Your projections are based on an increase in custom,’ he pointed out, ‘but what happens if this does not materialize?’

Gina tried to explain that she was sure that she could entice more customers to come to the newly done-up café and that she planned to open over the weekends.

‘Gina, when you factor in the costs of loan repayments and utilities, as well as local rates and insurance, are you sure this is a business capable of generating profit, let alone a very comfortable income?’ he asked, leaning across his mahogany desk.

‘It’s a good business,’ she insisted, ‘and I would also be using the café to attract catering business locally, which is something Norah never did, and we would rent out the flat upstairs.’

‘Well, that’s positive anyway,’ he smiled. ‘The bank is trying to ensure that businesses within a community stay trading, as there is nothing worse than a street of vacant shops!’

‘Kilfinn has enough empty shops,’ agreed Gina.

‘But there is one thing that I am very concerned about,’ Billy said, sounding serious. ‘There is a problem showing up on the system with regard to your credit-rating history.’

‘That was when we were in Dublin and I lost my job,’ Paul explained carefully. ‘We fell into arrears with our mortgage, but we moved here and decided to sell the house. All the loans were
cleared and paid in full. That was over two and a half years ago, and Gina and I have no loans now. We are home-owners with no mortgage.’

‘I’m sure that will all be taken into account by our credit committee,’ the bank manager said, shaking their hands as they left his office.

Coming home, Gina felt utterly exhausted with the stress of it all.

‘You sit down and relax,’ Paul ordered, making her put her feet up on the living-room couch. How could she relax with all that was going on?

‘And I’m cooking dinner tonight,’ he added. ‘My special – spaghetti and mince.’

As they sat at the table with the boys, having big bowls of pasta and salad and garlic bread, Paul opened a bottle of red wine.

‘Here’s to whatever happens!’ he said as he filled her glass.

‘But what happens if we don’t get the loan and I lose my job?’ she worried.

‘Ssshhh,’ he said calmly. ‘We have food on our table, a roof over our heads, two fine sons and each other!’

Gina looked at his kind blue eyes and his still-handsome face. With all Paul had gone through, he still had never lost his sense of optimism and ability to be happy. She knew he was right, that whatever happened would be for the best.

GINA AND PAUL WERE DELIGHTED WHEN THE BANK CAME BACK A
few days later to say they were prepared to give them a loan; however, it was for twenty-five thousand less than they had expected.