Maeve Binchy - Tara Road

'Polly told me, but I wasn't sure if she was just being kind you know, telling me what I wanted to hear.'

'No, no, whatever else you could call Polly, she isn't kind,' Mona said. And moved away.

'That wasn't necessary, Mona,' Barney hissed at her.

'Yes it was. Poor Gertie had no life while that savage was alive, she's going to have one after he's dead, believe me.'

'But how did you hear what Polly said or didn't say…?'

'I heard,' Mona said. 'And don't think I have anything against Polly, I think she did this city a huge service by allowing her furniture van to kill Jack Brennan. She should be decorated by the Lord Mayor.'

Then they finally met. They put their arms around each other. And said each other's names.

T'll drive us to the graveyard,' Marilyn said.

' No , no.'

'I have your car, all shiny and clean from a car wash. I want to show it off to you.'

'We cleaned your car too, Marilyn,' Brian said. 'And we got all the pizza off the seat at the back.'

There was a pause and then Annie, Ria and Marilyn broke into near hysterical laughter.

Brian was startled. 'What on earth did I say now?' he asked, looking from one to the other and getting no answer.

When they did get back to Tara Road there wasn't nearly enough time for all they had to say to each other. The children eventually went to bed. Marilyn and Ria sat on at the table. It was unexpectedly easy to talk. They apologised for nothing. Not for encouraging Clement to sleep upstairs or for cutting back the garden, nor for inviting neighbours to become part of Tudor Drive and taking up again with Hubie Green. They asked each other about the visits of their husbands. And each spoke thoughtfully and honestly.

'I thought Greg looked tired and old, and that I had taken away a year of his life because I couldn't help him over the bits that were just as bad for him as for me.'

'And will it be all right from now on?' Ria asked.

'I guess he'll be cautious, even a little mistrustful of me from time to time. If I closed myself off so terribly before I could do it again. It will all take time to get back to where we were.'

'But at least you will.' Ria sounded wistful.

'And nothing happened when Danny was over there to make you think that you might get back together again?' Marilyn asked.

'Something happened that made me certain that we were back together already. But I wasn't right. He told me all about the financial disaster, and losing the house and everything, in Memorial Park under a big tree. Then we went back to Tudor Drive and… I suppose if I were being realistic I would say he consoled me in the way he knows best. But I took more from it than there was.'

'That's only reasonable, and he probably meant it all at the time,' Marilyn said.

'Timing is everything, isn't it?' Ria was rueful. 'Just after that came the news that Bernadette was losing the baby and he was off like a flash. Even if we had had another twenty-four hours…'

'Do you think that would have made a difference?'

'No, to be honest,' Ria admitted. 'It might only have made me feel worse. Maybe it was for the best. The stupid bit was I kept thinking that it was all tied up with the baby. Once that no longer existed, perhaps the whole infatuation would go. But again I was wrong.'

'Did you talk to him today at the funeral?' Marilyn asked.

'No. He looked as if he were going to speak but I didn't trust myself so I turned away. I couldn't think what he was doing there anyway, but he told Annie that he was there representing the family.'

'That was a good gesture anyway.' Marilyn's voice was soft and conciliatory.

'Danny's full of good gestures,' Ria said with a smile.

Marilyn had been able to change her ticket. Now she was going to stay for an extra three days. This way she could arrive back at Tudor Drive at the same time as Greg. It was to be symbolic of their starting a new life together. And Marilyn said that by staying on a few days she could help Ria settle in and start to face the whole business of selling the house.

They talked about Hilary's plans to move to the country, the pregnancy of young Kitty Sullivan. They spoke of Carlotta wanting a fourth husband and how John and Gerry's gourmet shop had really taken off this summer. They didn't shy away from personal questions. When they spoke of Colm Barry Ria asked whether Marilyn had been having a thing with him. 'That was what I heard from a probably ill-informed source,' Ria apologised.

'Totally wrong. I think he was much more interested in waiting until you came home,' Marilyn said. 'And on the subject, can I ask whether you had anything going with my brother-in-law?'

'No, your husband is quite wrong about that too,' Ria giggled.

'But he might have liked to, we think?' Marilyn wondered.

'We don't know at all because we didn't allow such a situation to develop,' Ria said.

And into the night they spoke of Gertie and how she was going to build a legend based on the dead Jack. They were both much more tolerant than they would have been a few weeks back. It wasn't just because Jack was dead. They sat in the beautiful front room of Number 16 Tara Road as the moonlight came in at the window, and they each thought about the need to have some kind of legend in your life. Ria knew that for good or evil Marilyn must go on for ever without knowing it was her drunken son who had killed Johnny and himself that day. And Marilyn thought that for better or worse Ria should not learn how the husband she still loved and the friend she still trusted had conspired to betray her for so long.

'Aunt Gertie's not as well off as I thought she was,' Sean Maine said to Annie.

'Does it matter?' Annie shrugged.

'No, of course it doesn't, except I was just thinking it might work to our advantage.'

'How's that?'

'Well… suppose I were to stay with her… you know, pay board and lodging and go to school here?'

'It won't work, Sean.' Annie was practical.

'Not next week when school starts, okay I know it won't, but after Christmas I can find out what courses I'd get credits for… organise a transfer…'

Annie looked troubled. 'Yes, well…'

'What is it? Would you not want me here? I thought you liked me.'

'I do like you, Sean, I like you a lot. It's just… it's just I don't want to sort of lure you on with promises of things we might do, I might do, once you got here. It wouldn't be fair to let you think that…'

He patted her hand. 'In time,' he said.

'But probably not in a short enough time for you,' she said.

'I've never done it either,' Sean said. 'I'm just as confused.'

'Really?'

'It mightn't be as good as they say. But we could see what we thought,' he said, and then, looking at her face, 'Not now, of course, but when the time seems right.'

'I bet Gertie'd just love having you to stay,' Annie said.

'I'm taking on more private pupils this year, Mum, can I do it in your house?' Bernadette asked.

'Of course, Ber. If you're well enough.'

'I'm fine. It's just that I don't want to start them off in one place and then have to transfer them when we move from here.'

'Does he know when he's going to sell?'

'No, Mum, and I don't ask him, he has enough pressures.'

'Does he have great pressures about Tara Road? Is she on at him all the time?' Finola Dunne was always protective of her daughter against the ex-wife.

Bernadette thought about it. 'I don't think so, I don't think she's even been in touch since she came back.'

'I wouldn't mind seeing those children again,' Finola said.

'Yes, I'd like to see them too, but Danny says they're all tied up with this Marilyn until she leaves. They're mad about her apparently,' Bernadette reported gloomily.