“Will you be helping out at one of them?” Kit asked Kevin O’Connor.
“Jesus, no. I have enough work to do all term without taking that lot on in my holidays,” he said.
Again Kit wondered how two boys could have been brought up in such a way that they seemed to have no interest at all in what was after all going to be their inheritance.
“So where will it be, then?”
“My sister in England has a new fellow, a fiancé, I think—oh, heavy, heavy secrecy—but I gather the ring’s being bought and we’re all to go over there.”
“Is he English?”
“I don’t know. I suppose so.” The O’Connors knew very little of each other’s business.
“Do your father and mother approve?”
“I’d say they’re so relieved that Mary Paula’s getting hitched they don’t care…”
“I’m sure that’s not so…”
“But it is. She’s getting very long in the tooth.”
“How old exactly?”
“Wait till I see. It’s always a gray area, but she must be nearly thirty. We’re the two youngest by a lot, Michael and I.”
“Little afterthoughts…how sweet,” Kit said.
“Do you have a big family?”
“Just one brother.” Kit had told him before but he hadn’t remembered.
“Oh, very posh. Like Protestants, small families.”
“Clio has only two in her family also.”
“Yeah, Michael told me there’s a really frightful sister.”
“She is a bit of a pain all right,” Kit agreed. “Good-looking though. Do you like Mary Paula, the one in England?”
“I hardly remember her,” said Kevin O’Connor. “She was okay, she always had friends round the place. I think she thought we were dead boring. She’s keen on us going over to England for this party only so that she can field a team.”
“You’re not all mad keen to go, then, are you?”
“No. I’m not particularly. Why? Are you arranging another party?” He moved closer to her.
“In a way I am. It’s going to be fabulous, we’ve taken over Philip’s hotel, everyone will stay there.”
“But that’s in the arse end of the world.” His enthusiasm died.
“It’s in my hometown, and Clio’s, and Stevie’s and Philip’s. It’s a beautiful old Georgian house, not a big ugly modern concrete block. We’re going to have a fantastic New Year’s Eve there. I was going to ask you, but if you’re so dismissive…”
“I’m not dismissive.” He was full of contrition now.
“Yes, well, maybe it’s too late…”
“Will Michael be going…will there be a crowd from Dublin?”
“I’ve no idea whether Michael will be going or not, presumably if he answers Clio the way you answered me he won’t. But don’t worry, we’ll have plenty who will.”
“No, you got the wrong end of the stick…”
“Listen, our New Year’s Eve Dinner Dance can well do without the O’Connor brothers…just know that…”
He blustered for a while then went away to make a phone call. Kit smiled to herself. She didn’t even need to listen to know who he was calling and with what advice.
“Listen, Michael. Kevin here. Did Clio say anything to you about a big dance in this godforsaken place they live in? No? Well, ask her. And for God’s sake be nice about it. Say you do want to go. We’ll be staying in a hotel, it won’t be like last time…” He paused. “Mary Paula won’t give a damn. We’ll stay for Christmas, that will be enough. Anyway, this will be a lot of fun.”
“We must get spot prizes,” Philip said to Kit.
“Of course we must. Let’s ask Anna to collect them.”
“Why Anna?”
“She’s good-looking, she’s kind of charming. People won’t say no to her.”
“You’re good-looking, they wouldn’t say no to you either,” he said.
“Jesus Christ, Philip, I’ve got enough to do…let Anna loose on them. Anyway she’s there the whole time, I’m not. Make it a point of honor that she gets a lot, say it out in front of everyone that she’ll have a hard job extracting them. She’ll kill herself.”
“You don’t like her, do you?”
Kit looked at him thoughtfully. She must be careful not to let anyone get this idea. “I’m still inclined to think of her as Clio’s awful little sister at times. But usually I think she’s terrific, that’s why I suggested she’d be a good one to wheedle the prizes out of people.”
“Stevie Sullivan thinks she’s the bee’s knees,” Philip said.
“Go on, he’s years older than she is.”
“That’s what I hear anyway,” Philip said. He looked like his mother when he spoke like that, prissy, mouth pursed, a real village gossip.
“I hear Stevie Sullivan fancies everything that moves,” she said. “But let that not detain us. We have a banquet to organize.”
She took his arm companionably and Philip straightened up with pride. Everything was going his way at last. He had been right to take things slowly and not rush in foolishly. Here he was in Dublin with Kit’s arm in his, making plans for his hotel, their hotel. It was exactly as he had hoped.
“The O’Connor boys will be coming down to stay over New Year, I gather.” Maura spoke in that very overcasual voice she used when she was anxious about something. She was standing at the door of Kit’s bedroom.
“That’s right, they’re going to stay in the hotel. Quite a few from Dublin are coming, Philip’s giving us a special price.”
“He should give it to you free after all you’re doing.” Maura had seen the frenzied activity.
“It’ll be great, everyone’s really putting their hearts into it,” Kit said.
“The O’Connors?” Maura said.
“Yes?”
“Clio’s going out with one of them, isn’t she?”
“Oh you know Clio, half of Dublin admires her.”
“It’s not just idle curiosity, Kit. I never ask you about your friends or Clio’s.”
“You do ask about the O’Connors though,” Kit said.
“Yes, that’s perfectly true, I do. And I’ll tell you why.” Maura’s face had got a little pink. She stood in the doorway slightly at a loss.
“Oh come on in, Maura, sit down.” Kit moved her notes and folders from a chair to make room.
“In the olden days I used to know their father, and I never liked him, but that’s not the reason. Poor Mildred O’Brien is like a wet week and look at how well Philip’s turned out.”
“Yes, I know.” Kit waited.
“Well, I was in Dublin last week…”
“You didn’t tell me…”
“I just went for an examination, tests.”
“Oh Maura!” Kit was stricken.
“No, please, Kit. This is why I didn’t tell you. I’m a middle-aged woman, all kinds of bits and parts of me aren’t working anymore, I thought it best to go quietly.”
“And what did they find?”
“They didn’t find anything yet, and probably may not find anything at all. Let me finish…”
“What were they looking for…?”
“They were looking at my womb; I may have to have a hysterectomy. Apparently it’s a great operation; you feel better than you ever felt after it, but it’s a long way down the road. I didn’t intend to tell you any of this, I haven’t even told your father.”
“You must let us share, we’re your family.”
“I know, and was ever anyone more grateful for the family they got than I am. But believe me that’s not what I was going to say…you’ve wormed all this out of me. Now, can I tell you what I wanted to?”
“Yes, go on…”
“When I was in Vincent’s, it was just overnight you know, who did I meet but Fingers.”
“Fingers?”
“Well, Francis O’Connor, the father of the twins.”
“Was he in hospital?”
??
?Or visiting someone…anyway he was the last person I wanted to meet, I can tell you. And he was full of chat and wanting to take me off to the Shelbourne for coffee.”
“Well, look at the antics you get up to from your sickbed in Dublin.”
“I tried to get away from him but he insisted that we sit and have a chat over old times…”
“And?” Kit waited.
“And Kit…he’s a very vulgar man, he always was and always will be…but he said, well, he as good as said, he implied…” Kit waited. “I can’t remember his words exactly, I suppose I sort of deliberately didn’t want to remember them, or to be talking to him at all, I had my own worries…” She paused.
“Poor Maura,” Kit said sympathetically.
“And he sort of said, he as good as said…”
“Oh come on, what did he say, Maura?”
It did the trick. It shocked Maura into saying something at last. “He said his two sons were having their way with you and Clio, and they’d been invited down here for a week for more of it after Christmas, and he’s very annoyed because he wanted them all to go to England to one of his other children who’s just got engaged to someone, and is coming home to run one of his hotels…”
“He said what?”
“I knew I wouldn’t say it right, but that’s what he said.”
Kit’s face was white with rage. “Now, Maura. I’m going to tell you something that will cheer you up greatly. I am a virgin, I have never been to bed with anybody, but if the survival of the human race depended on it I wouldn’t go to bed with that great misshapen oaf Kevin O’Connor.”
Maura was startled by the strength of Kit’s reaction. “I wish I hadn’t said anything…” she began.
“Oh, but I’m glad you did, very glad.” Kit’s eyes flashed with anger.
“Perhaps we should leave it.” Maura knew she had opened floodgates.
“No, I can’t leave it. They made an undertaking, those disgusting, creepy O’Connors. They signed a legal document promising not to tell any more of these lies, and now they’ve bloody broken it.”
“They signed a what?” Maura was horrified.
“I sent Kevin O’Connor a solicitor’s letter because he imputed unchastity to a woman, and he apologized and his father did and they paid me compensation for the slight on my reputation, and for casting aspersions on my virtue and possibly minimizing my marriage chances.”
Maura’s eyes were wide in disbelief. “Kit, you’re making this up.”
“I’ll show you the letter from Fingers,” she said, smiling broadly.
“A solicitor’s letter! You consulted a law firm?” Maura felt weak at the shock.
“Yes, well, to be strictly honest it was Paddy Barry, you know, Frankie’s brother, but it was on real solicitor’s paper and it looked legal…anyway it frightened them to death and they paid up.” Kit grinned with pleasure remembering it.
“You got a friend…a student…to demand money with menaces from the O’Connors. I can’t believe I’m hearing this.”
“Look what he said…look what Kevin O’Connor said! He said I was anyone’s, that I’d do it with anyone and I’d done it with him. He told his brother, he told Philip O’Brien, he could have taken an advertisement in the Evening Herald for all I know…and I’m meant to ignore that and say it’s just his little way of having fun?”
Maura had never seen Kit so angry. “No of course not…but…”
“But nothing, Maura…there are no buts in this. His father who paid out good money obviously thinks it’s a tale worth telling and trots it out to my stepmother…after all his undertakings…” She looked very determined.
“What are you going to do?” Maura asked anxiously.
“I may ask my lawyer to remind him of his obligations.” Kit sounded lofty.
“You and your lawyer will get caught,” Maura warned.
“Right. I think you are right actually. I’ll tell him I’m approaching him personally before placing it all in the hands of solicitors again.” Kit smiled at the challenge ahead. Her enthusiasm and sense of outrage was infectious.
Maura began to share it. “I agree it is appalling that he should be allowed to say such things about you and Clio.” Maura’s eyes met Kit’s for a long moment.
“I’m fighting my own battles on this one, Maura,” Kit said. “Clio can fight hers.”
And Maura knew without having to be told that her sister’s daughter would not be sending any solicitor’s letters.
She marked the envelope STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL.
Dear Mr. O’Connor,
My solicitor would probably disapprove of my contacting you personally but I am doing so because of family connections. You will remember the letter you sent to me (copy enclosed) and the undertakings it contains. Unfortunately grave news has reached me that you spoke in the very terms that caused my having to seek legal redress in the first place, and you addressed these remarks to my stepmother Mrs. Maura McMahon (née Hayes).
I demand that you write a letter to my stepmother at once retracting every word that you said in this regard, and that you also give me your assurance that I do not have to have recourse to further legal action.
Normally I would have done this but my friend Cliona Kelly is friendly with your son Michael, and I would not wish to make trouble between the families.
I look forward to hearing from you tomorrow,
Yours faithfully,
Mary Katherine McMahon.
“Kevin?”
“Is that you, Pa?”
“Turn off that bloody rock and roll and you’d know who was on the phone. Do you do any work or do you just fill your head with that jungle music?”
“You don’t often ring me, Pa,” Kevin said uneasily.
“No, is it any wonder? You know this girl Mary Katherine…?”
“Who?”
“The McMahon girl from Lough Glass.”
“Kit, yes. What about her?”
“What about her, what about her? Didn’t I have to pay out good money to shut her up when you said you’d ridden her more often than Roy Rogers rode Trigger…?”
“Yes, but that’s all over now, Pa. You know I told you there was a misunderstanding.”
“I tell you there was a misunderstanding…is she cracked, off her head or something…?”
“No, she’s not, she’s terrific. Why do you ask?” There was a silence. “What is it Pa? We apologized, well, I apologized and you paid and Kit accepted it and that was that. And we’re quite friendly now…”
“Yes. Right.” Fingers O’Connor saw that the blame must be entirely his. He had thought it would make that nice plump Maura Hayes more pliable. What a mistake it had been. “And this girl and her friend…are they the halfwits you’re going to cancel the whole arrangements for Christmas to go and see, down in Bally mac Flash or whatever it’s called?”
“Lough Glass, and it’s only for the New Year. Ma told you. We’ll be in London for Christmas.”
“I can’t wait,” said his father, and hung up.
“Kit, it’s Maura. I can’t talk long, I’m ringing from work.”
“Hello, Maura. Tell Stevie that the laborer is worthy of her hire, you’re entitled to the odd phone call.”
“He’s out of the office.”
“Do you have any results of your tests?” Kit sounded anxious.
“Perfectly normal—as I told you they would be.”
“Thank God.” Kit closed her eyes with relief.
“That’s not what I’m ringing about. Kit, I got the most extraordinary letter from Fingers O’Connor.”
Kit giggled. “I thought you would. I got one too.”
“Kit, you didn’t, you didn’t…”
“That’s it, Maura, I didn’t. And I’m damned if that madman of a son of his is going to say I did…”
“Clio?”
“Hello, Michael.”
“Can I come round and see you?”
“No, I’ve got loads to do. I’
m trying to work out a plan for decorating a big barn of a room.”
“Is this down in the hotel in Lough Glass?”
“Yes, how did you know?” She had said nothing to Michael about it yet, she wanted to be sure it was going to work before she began to persuade him.
“Kevin told me, and my dad.”
“Yeah, it should be great.”
“Why didn’t you ask me?” Michael was aggrieved.
“You’re going to be away in England, staying with Mary Paula, remember?”
“I don’t have to, Kevin’s not going.”
“Well, then.”
“Well, what? Why didn’t you ask me?”
“You didn’t seem to rate Lough Glass very highly when you were there last.”
“That’s because everything went wrong and your sister was behaving like an Alsatian with distemper.”
Clio laughed. “That’s good. I’ll remember that.”
“Can I come, then? To Lough Glass?”
“I’d love if you would. I didn’t want you to be bored, that’s all.”
“And Clio, another thing…you know Kit?”
“Of course I do. I’ve known her since I was six months old.”
“I might not have been right about her and Kevin being at it like knives.”
“I know you weren’t right.”
“Maybe we’d better not say that she was, you know?”
“I never said she was. Jesus, you didn’t say it, did you?”
“This is becoming more like a police state,” said Michael.
“You’re telling me,” said Clio.
Peter Kelly and Martin were in Paddles’ bar.
“I see that Fingers O’Connor has bought a new hotel…that’ll be his fifth,” Dr. Kelly said.
“I wonder how he got a name like that.” Martin McMahon was thoughtful.
“It’s not a good one for a businessman, sounds as if he’s into shady deals.”
“But these names stick. Do you remember Arse Armstrong?”