‘Well, if you’d been here during the proceedings before,’ said Eden acidly, ‘you’d know that.’
‘Don’t be such a bitch, Eden,’ said Rory. ‘I’ve been doing things—’ She stopped herself abruptly.
‘Yeah, what’ve you been doing? You could have helped, you know, we’re all busy, not just you.’
‘Yeah, of course, sorry,’ said Rory.
And Indy, Savannah and Eden looked at her in surprise, Rory did not do apologising normally. Sonya, Vonnie and Mum did not appear to have noticed.
Two young guys appeared behind Rory carrying crates.
‘Wine.’
‘Ah fabulous,’ said Eden. ‘OK, I’ve got a locked room for you.’
‘You have?’
‘I have been up here,’ said Eden, ‘and I’ve got a locked room sorted out because when there’s loads of booze involved, you need to be able to keep it under lock and key, OK?’
‘I have all the bottles counted,’ Rory explained. ‘I know you’ve sorted out the corkage with the caterers, so we’re good to go.’
‘Respect,’ said Eden.
Rory shot her a grin. ‘Thank you.’
Sonya sat down on the veranda at the back of the hotel. A wind chime made up of seashells hung and moved faintly in the breeze. It was still so pretty, the dusty white-painted wood, and a couple of old storm lanterns grouped around the pot plants that Meg had once lovingly tended.
‘There you are,’ said Meg, coming out to her.
‘I’ve been sitting remembering what it used to be like and how much I love Ireland. Is it a cliché to come home?’
‘Moving back,’ said Meg astonished.
‘Yes. Now that I’ve stopped working, I have been thinking about it. And I thought I’d like to change my life, come home, live by the sea again. I can just see me alone in a beautiful little cottage like yours, get some cats.’
‘Ah, you need the crazy cat lady starter kit,’ said Meg and she reached for her phone to pull up the picture of ten cats in a box that Vonnie had sent her one day.
Sonya laughed at it. ‘Yes, that would be me, I’d be very happy, maybe not ten, possibly too much effort house training them all. But a couple of lovely little moggies that would sit beside me on winter nights. I just want peace and—’ she looked at Meg – ‘I think that’s what I don’t understand, darling,’ she said quietly so the others wouldn’t hear. ‘I don’t understand why you’re giving up your peace, your life on your own, to marry Stu again.’
Meg was astonished. ‘You can’t mean that,’ she said, ‘I love him, he’s your brother. What a crazy thing to say.’
‘I love him and he’s my brother, absolutely true,’ said Sonya evenly, ‘and I love you. I just don’t know if Stu is ever going to settle down. He might always lead you a crazy dance.’
‘Ah,’ said Meg, ‘I understand,’ and she did.
She had realised that that was what was frightening her daughters. That was what was frightening Indy and Eden anyway. With Rory and Savannah, it was harder to tell. They both had something going on in their lives that was making them distant. When the wedding brouhaha was over, she’d talk properly to them but this week was proving to be crazy.
All her daughters were probably scared that Stu would go wild and lose all her money. He wouldn’t be able to get it – she was financially independent now and would remain so. She had learned many lessons.
‘This will be different, Sonya,’ she said. ‘Stu knows that. He comes into my house with his own money and it is my house. He has no claim to it, and if he screws up, he will have to leave it.But—’ and she emphasised the ‘but’ – ‘I’ve been on my own long enough to know what it’s like to be lonely and I don’t want to be lonely anymore. I love Stu, and I think I’ve always loved him. Even when he lost everything for us, even when I was angry, even—’ she broke off for a moment, as if she was going to say something else, but didn’t – ‘I still loved him. There’s not an ounce of malice in your brother. He’s a free spirit who needs reining in sometimes. I know how to do that. But he’s coming into this marriage in a very different way.’
‘Are you sure?’ said Sonya.
‘I’m as sure as I can be,’ said Meg. ‘But he knows that if he goes crazy again, it’ll be over and I’ll join you in the crazy cat lady starter kit. If we get the whole box between us, we can have five each.’
Sonya put back her head and started to laugh.
‘I think five is too many for me.’
