‘Thanks, babe,’ he says, looking a bit more relieved now at last. ‘OK, I’ll book the two of you into a nice hotel and make sure you have a wonderful time. You’re going to love the Big Apple and Ben will too, and I’ll be there with you as much as I possibly can. I can’t wait to see you.’
He’s tired, I know he is, and he’s more than stressed, so I do my best to forgive him for not exactly jumping up and down at Mabel’s presumptuous timing. So I say a quick goodbye and take the stairs a lot faster than I normally do to share the news with Camille. Most of all, I can’t wait to tell Ben. We’re going to New York and we’re going to see Aidan, if only for a little while.
26.
‘Mum, did you know there are as many as 800 languages spoken in New York City, with Spanish coming second to English?’ Ben informs me when we touch down at JFK around six p.m. New York time, only two days after receiving Mabel’s very unexpected message.
What was equally unexpected was the envelope inside my passport when I went to find it that contained ten one-hundred-dollar bills and an instruction for me to ‘treat Ben and have a wonderful trip’. I didn’t have time to make any detailed plans, other than to make sure Aidan knew our arrival times. In typical Aidan fashion, rather than my idea of hailing a taxi to his address, he insisted on sending a chauffeur to bring us to our hotel via a brief sightseeing tour to get a feel of what life is like for him when he’s not kicking back with us in sleepy old Ballybray.
‘And it’s one of the most photographed cities in the world too,’ says Ben, pointing his camera out through the window on the plane as he takes in every inch of our journey. We passed the time during the flight with back-to-back movies,bottomless drinks, and never-ending snacks, having been upgraded, by Aidan of course, to first class, and I honestly feel like pinching myself that my precious son and I are getting to experience this trip of a lifetime together.
I can’t help but reflect on how I never thought I’d find myself in such a place of euphoria. I want to turn back the clock and whisper in my ear when Jude was shouting at me in that other life that my path was going to take many, many twists and turns for the better very soon. I want to go back in time to remind myself, when I sat at the top of the stairs, my arms battered from his overactive fists and my eyes sore with exhaustion and from tears of desperation, that good people and kindness do exist. I was never driven by consumerism, nor did I even know what it was like to have money to be extravagant, and indulgence can frighten me more quickly than it impresses me, but to see how the other half lives and to experience kindness and love with Aidan for another few days in my lifetime makes me so grateful and thankful that I never, ever did give up or give in when my days were dark and my nights were long and terrifying.
The evening summer sky in New York is a cool, clear blue, and when our uniformed driver, John, meets us at Arrivals, I can hardly take in my surroundings because all I can watch is my son’s face as he absorbs all that’s going on with a magical wonder I wish I could bottle up and keep forever.
‘So, let’s get you two across the city and show you the beautiful Big Apple,’ says John, who, I realize from the badge he wears, is in fact one of Aidan’s very own private drivers and not a hired chauffeur as I’d thought.
We drive through Brooklyn, where John points out every milestone he can think of, including Gerritsen Beach along the way.
‘It’s like a little New England fishing village, really quaint and close-knit,’ he says in his strong Bronx accent. ‘It’s a very unique part of the city.’
‘It looks a bit like Killybegs to me,’ says Ben, snapping out the window on his camera phone with every milestone we meet along the way. ‘Well, apart from being a bit sunnier, of course.’
I marvel at his innocence, watching his little fingers click and click, knowing most of his photography efforts will either end up a blur as we drive past, or be deleted to make room for some of the bigger sights we plan to see, but I don’t want to put him off his stride. Watching him so animated and so happy, and knowing all he has been through, never fails to make me well up.
John drives us around the scenic route, which skirts the river and takes just over an hour and a half, and when Ben spots the Statue of Liberty in the distance I’ve never been as glad of the invention of a seat belt, as I’m sure that without it he would have levitated out through the window for sure.
‘Mum! Mum, look!’
‘There she is,’ says John, just in case we need to be reminded. ‘It’s the glorious green goddess! Man, but that sight never gets old.’
I’ve a feeling John is enjoying his mini tour guide role as much as Ben and I are, and he answers all my questions with such passion and pride.
‘It’s so good to meet some of Mr Murphy’s friends from Ireland instead of men in suits superglued to their phones,’ he says, when I compliment his attention to detail and enthusiasm as he takes his time to explain to us newcomers some of the lesser known facts on streets and villages, and he even throws in the odd piece of movie or TV trivia too, pointing out to me where Carrie Bradshaw fromSex and the Citylived, and to Ben where scenes from some ofThe Avengersmovie were shot.
We move through Manhattan and on to Fifth Avenue, where our journey will come to an end, and over an hour later when we arrive at our hotel, I feel my legs go weak with anticipation at seeing Aidan soon, as well as being in awe of this very different world in which we find ourselves.
I’m nervous in a way I never would have expected. My mouth is dry, I can feel my fingertips tingle with anxiety, and I feel a great fear and sense of panic of the unknown.
Yes, being here is all I imagined in many ways, but even though I’m going to see Aidan who I know so well by now, and with whom I’ve become completely smitten, it feels likeI’m going to meet a stranger. I’ve heard of all the various real estate projects he juggles morning, noon and night, I’ve seen and read newspaper clippings from Mabel that stretch back for years, but to be honest all of that information belongs to a different man to the Aidan I’ve come to know. It is all secondary, and new to me. It has absolutely nothing to do with the person I know so well, yet it is everything to do with him. This is the real Aidan, the real version of him that has existed here for fifteen years. This is the way he lives day in, day out, and the way of life he wants to eventually pack up and move on from.
‘All OK? Still in conference.’
Aidan messages just before we get out of the car, so I send him a quick reply and remind him to stay focused on his work for as long as he has to.
‘Thanks Ro!’ he messages back. ‘I hope you love it here!’
But am I really going to love it here?
Everything is so unfamiliar, even for a former city girl like me. I thought Dublin was busy, but I’ve never witnessed crazy busy like New York before. The streets are thronged with traffic, there are yellow taxis everywhere and, just like in the movies, there’s a buzz in the air, and you can almost smell how busy everyone is.
Ben brings me down to earth immediately, as only he can.
‘And this is why it’s called the city that never sleeps, Mum,’ he says. ‘I think I like it here already.’
He launches into the famous line of the Sinatra songabout spreading the news, and I swear he is almost dancing as we follow John into the hotel lobby, which makes my heart want to burst with joy.
I can’t argue with his enthusiasm, so I pull up my big girl pants metaphorically, step it up in the afternoon summer sun, put on my shades, and give it my best shot. This is New York, New York and I’m going to see the man of my dreams.
