A fireman by profession, some of the more challenging work incidents affected Aidan’s mood andShane routinely brought him out to help take his mind off.
“Roan’s not that bad because he bought ye apint? Come off it, the guy’s a snake.”
“I don’t know what you have against him. OK, maybe he can act the lad a bit but that’s no crime, is it?”
“You don’t know what I have against him …” Karen was aghast. “Am I really the only one that can see through it?”
“See through what?”
“This big act he has going! For goodness sake, it’s sticking out a mile that he’s a player. I need to say something, tell it to her straight.”
Shane shook his head. “I told you before that you shouldn’t get involved. Jenny’s personal life is her own business. How would you feel if she started questioning your relationship with me?”
“I might at least listen to what she had to say. But Jen sticks her head in the sand and believes every word that comes out of his lying little trap. It’ll end in tears, I guarantee it.”
“Well if it does, just make sure thatyou’renot the one doing the crying. Anyway, Jenny’s a big girl – she doesn’t need you to look out for her.”
“Maybe, but I’m glad I’m not going back there tonight. I couldn’t be responsible for what I might do – to either of them.”
“Speaking of which, what did you think about what Mam said - about the house?”
During their visit to the family home earlier that day,Shane’s mother had suggested that he and Karen start looking for a place to buy.
“No time like the present and prices will just keep going up,” Nellie had said in the bossy tone that Karen noticed she used on all the Quinn children.
She seemed nice enough and had been gracious and friendly throughout the visit, but Karen had quickly got the impression that the older woman retained a strong influence over her offspring.
Though just because her own parents were happy to let Karen live her life without interference didn’t mean that Shane’s family dynamic would be the same. She had sensed that immediately upon her arrival.
“So you’re the reason he gave up the job of a lifetime,” Nellie greeted.
Karen had taken that as a joke at the time but as the evening wore on, she wondered if there was indeed resentment that Shane hadn’t taken full advantage of the opportunity offered to him by his older brother.
Jack, home from London for the weekend came across as a very serious type, not at all friendly. He had barely uttered a word throughout the visit, but then again Karen thought wryly, he would have hardly had a chance.
Shane’s family home had been absolute bedlam. Her fiance had warned her about the family dog, who tended to hump unsuspecting visitors’ legs, and Paddy had indeed behaved exactly as predicted.
But hehadn’twarned Karen about the kids. Shane’s sister Marie had brought her brood to the farmhouse forthe visit, and while there were only three – a five-year-old boy and two younger toddlers – it was like being caught in the middle of a chimpanzee’s day out. They seemed to be everywhere all at once – the baby screaming, the older one demanding that Karen brush Barbie’s hair and then her own with a sticky, sweaty comb. Then more screaming when the boy decided to frazzle poor Barbie in the microwave.
By the time she left the Quinn household, Karen was doubly determined that she would never put herself through the misery of having kids. Not much of a child-lover in any case, her experience with Shane’s nieces and nephews not only put the final nail in the coffin of her maternal instinct but encased it in reinforced steel.
“You have it all ahead of you,” Marie chuckled while trying to prevent her eldest from choking his sister under the coffee table. “They’re just at the stage where nothing will keep them quiet.”
Karen had smiled sympathetically, but it was obvious that the poor girl hadn’t an ounce of control over any of her boisterous lot. Nope, she told herself – as the baby screeched loud enough to shatter eardrums – she wasneverhaving children.
But she couldn’t be certain whether Shane felt the same way. The noise levels didn’t seem to affect anyone else in the household. During dinner, while ducking a spoonful of baby food hurtling past her nose, Shane’s mother suggested they get cracking on buying a place of their own.
“There’s a site going over by Corbally’s,” shesuggested, and Karen realised to her horror that Nellie was talking about somewhere local. “You should ask Jim about it before it’s snapped up.”
“We’re planning to settle in Dublin,” Karen put in quickly. She and Shane hadn’t discussed it– in fact, they hadn’t made any plans other than getting engaged – but there was no way Karen would consider living in the wilds of Meath.
To her relief, he agreed. “Yeah, and the commute wouldn’t be ideal for Karen either.”
“I could put in a good word for her at the council,” Marie piped up. “My husband works for the County Council,” she explained proudly.
“Thanks, but Karen is happy where she is,” Shane said quickly, evidently spotting the horror on his fiancée’s expression. He took a bite from his thickly buttered scone and washed it down with a mouthful of tea.
Upon this, Karen felt momentarily relieved. It was obvious that his family must often interfere like this, and Shane had expertly headed them off.
