Maeve Binchy - Circle of Friends

She had come in to buy a handkerchief for her grandfather. It was a treat because he was so ill, and it would cheer him up. Was there one for under one and six? Benny found one, and wondered should it be wrapped up for him? Heather thought not. He wouldn't be able to open the wrapping paper, maybe just a bag.

"He mightn't even know what it is, but he's not well, you have to do something?" She looked at Benny for approval.

Benny thought she was right. She handed over the handkerchief for the old man who had shouted at Eve and called Eve's mother a whore.

He might have done the same if Simon had married Nan. Suddenly with a jolt Benny wondered if Nan had slept with Simon. Suppose she had.

Just suppose that she had, then this baby might be his, and not Jack's after all.

Why hadn't she thought of it before?

The whole thing that looked as if it could never be solved, might in fact have a solution after all.

She looked wild-eyed at the thought of it. She saw Heather watching her in alarm.

She must say it to Jack. She had to. He couldn't be forced to marry someone he didn't love, when it might not be his child. No matter that he had slept with Nan. Benny would forgive him. Like she had forgiven him over that business in Wales. It wouldn't matter, just as long as he loved her.

But the feeling of excitement, the ray of hope, died down. Benny realized that she was clutching at straws. That Jack and Nan must have had this discussion. She wished she could remember how long ago it was that Nan had been talking enthusiastically about Simon, but if it was over for ages. . . then there was no hope.

And anyway Jack wouldn't be foolish enough. He'd know, wouldn't he?

Men always did. That's why you had to keep your virginity until you married, so that they'd know it was the first time.

No, it was just a mad, wild hope.

But suppose she believed it to be true. It would only lead to a huge confrontation, and almighty indignation if she were to suggest it to Jack. Imply that Nan was passing off someone else's child on him.

The thought had better go back to where it came from. Heather was still in the shop. She seemed to be hovering as if about to askafavour.

"Is there anything else, Heather?"

"You know the Easter Pageant. Eve and Aidan are going to come.

It's on Holy Thursday. I was wondering would you like to come too? As part of my group."

"Yes, yes I will, thank you." Her mind was still far away. "I'd have forced Simon to come, but he's in England. He mightn't even be back for Easter."

"What's he doing there?"

"Oh, they think he's going to ask this woman to marry him. She's got pots and pots of money."

"That would be nice."

"We could get the drainage and the fencing done."

"Would you mind, someone else coming in there?"

"No, I'd hardly notice."

Heather was practical. "And this romance with the lady in England.. ." Benny enquired. "Has it been going on for a while or is it new?"

"For ages," Heather said. "It's about time they made some move."

So that was that. The wild little hope that Simon could be drawn into the whole business seemed to have faded.

Benny looked distant and abstracted. Heather had been about to tell her that there had been some great row with Nan. That Nan had come to Westlands about four weeks ago all dressed up and there had been words in the Morning Room and she had driven Simon's car to the bus and wouldn't let him come with her.

Heather remembered the date, because it was when they were casting for the Easter Pageant and she had been very nervous. If she had told Benny then, Benny would have realized that it was the very same day as the party in the rugby club. The one she hadn't gone to, but Nan had.

The very night it had all begun.

Nan went to Sunday lunch at the Foleys" to meet the family. She was immaculately dressed, and Lilly thought that they would have no apologies or explanations to make for her on grounds of appearance.

Her stomach was flat, and her manner was entirely unapologetic.

She came up the steps of the large Donnybrook house as of right, not as the working-class girl who had been taken advantage of by the son of the house. She spoke easily and without guile. She made no effort to ingratiate herself.

She paid more attention to Dr. Foley than to his wife, which would have been the appropriate attitude of any intelligent girl coming to the house.

She was pleasant, but not effusive to Kevin, Gerry, Ronan and Aengus.

She didn't forget their names or mix them up, but neither did she seek their approval.

Lilly Foley watched her with dislike, this cunning, shrewd girl with no morals who had ensnared her eldest son. There were few ways she could fault the public performance. The girl's table manners were perfect.

At coffee afterwards in the drawing room, just the four of them, Nan spoke to them with such a clear and unaffected stance that both of Jack's parents were taken aback.

"I realize what a disappointment all this must be to you, and how well you are covering this. I want to thank you very much."

They murmured, startled words denying any sense of disappointment.

"And I am sure that Jack has told you my family are all much simpler people than you are, less educated, and in many ways their hopes for me have been realized rather than crushed. If I am to marry into such a family as yours."

She went on to explain to them the kind of ceremony that she would like to provide and for which her father would pay. A lunch for perhaps twenty or thirty people in one of the better hotels.

Very possibly the one where her mother worked in the hotel shop.

There would be minimum speech-making because her father was not a natural orator, and she thought that she would wear an oyster satin coat and dress instead of a long, white dress. She would hope that some of Jack's and her friends would attend. On her side she would provide two parents, two brothers, two business associates of her father and one aunt.

When Jack took her away on their journey for afternoon tea in Maple Gardens, John and Lilley Foley exchanged glances.

"Well?" she said. "Well?" he answered.

He filled the silence by pouring them a small brandy each. It was never their custom to have a drink like this in the afternoon, but the circumstances seemed to call for it.

"She's very presentable," said Jack's mother grudgingly. "And very practical. She had the Holles Street report in her handbag, left open for us to see in case we were going to question it."

"And very truthful about her own background."

"But she never said one word about loving Jack," Dr. Foley said with a worried frown.

In Maple Gardens the table was set for tea. A plate of biscuits with sardines on them, another with an egg mayonnaise. There was a bought swiss roll and a plate of Jacob's USA assortment. Nasey and Paul were in navy suits and shirts. Brian Mahon wore his new brown suit. It hadn't cost as much as it should have because he had been able to give the man in the shop a few cans of paint for his own house. Cans of.paint that hadn't cost anything in the first place.

"There's no need to tell all that to Jack Foley when he arrives," Emily had warned.

"Jesus Christ, will you stop nagging at me? I've agreed to stay away from the jar until after they've been and gone, which is a fine imposition to put on a man who's going to lash out for a fancy society wedding. But still, give you lot an inch and you take a bloody mile..

Jack Foley was a handsome young fellow. He sat beside Nan during afternoon tea. He tried a little of everything. He thanked Mr. Mahon for the generous plans for the wedding. He thanked Mrs. Mahon for all her support. He hoped Paul and Nasey would be ushers in the church.

"You'd hardly need ushers for that size of a crowd," said Nasey, who thought twenty people was the meanest he ever heard of.