Page 119 of The Girl with the Irish Secret
Sylvia nodded. ‘Of course. What do you want to ask me?’
‘How come you and Jack became so close?’
‘Oh.’ Sylvia paused for a moment on her way to the sink with the tea things. ‘Well, you see, it’s funny, but he reminds me so much of Fred.’
‘My father?’ Vi asked, startled by this news.
‘Yes,’ Sylvia said, her eyes glistening with tears. ‘He does. In so many ways.’ She paused for a moment and blinked away the tears. ‘It’s so strange, but he has the same kind of aura andenergy. The same way of looking at you and listening to people.’ She shook her head. ‘Lots of other things, too, that I can’t really explain.’
‘I see,’ Vi said. ‘That makes him special to me too. Even if we can never be more than friends.’
‘That’s a good start,’ Sylvia agreed.
24
How odd, Vi thought as she walked to the gatehouse,that Jack reminds Granny of my father, who I never knew. There must be more to it than she told me. Is it his sense of humour, his love of the ocean, or simply the way he speaks and moves? Or that my father was the same age as Jack when he died?Or was it just a meeting of minds – perhaps Sylvia and Jack were somehow kindred spirits despite the age gap? It wasn’t the physical appearance, as Fred had had reddish hair and green eyes and Jack had dark hair and eyes. It had to be in their similar personalities, which intrigued Vi and made her feel a little sad that she couldn’t figure it out because she hadn’t known her father at all. To Sylvia, losing her only son would have been the worse tragedy. Maybe making friends with Jack gave her some little bit of comfort. This made Vi’s feelings for Jack even stronger and the fear of losing him a lot worse. She knew Sylvia was right and that she should let things settle down a bit before they met again. Otherwise there was a danger that she would overreact again and push him away. For good.
Lost in thought, Vi gave a start as her phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and peered at the caller ID and saw that it was Leo.
‘Hi, Leo,’ Vi said. ‘How are you?’
‘Only slightly hung-over and a little tired. But it was a great party, don’t you think?’
‘Oh yes, a lot of fun,’ Vi said. ‘Thank you for inviting me. I really enjoyed it.’
‘You survived the trip back on the bus, then?’
‘It was a little rough,’ Vi replied, remembering how she had wept nearly all the way. ‘But I’m fine now. I’m going to have a little nap in a moment, though.’
‘Good idea. I haven’t even got out of bed, actually,’ Leo confessed. ‘I’ve been lying here watching an old Kathleen O’Sullivan movie on my iPad. Just to get the feel of her hair and makeup and all that nineteen fifties stuff.’
‘She was great, wasn’t she?’ Vi said.
‘Fabulous,’ Leo replied. ‘But hey, I called you to find out if you’re going to Dublin on Tuesday? We were supposed to go to the nursing home, remember? Is that still on?’
‘Yes, of course,’ Vi said, pulling herself back to the present. ‘I’m going to call the dance studio tomorrow to see if that guy, Finbarr, can put me in touch with Filomena’s family, so I can find out which nursing home she’s in. I’m catching the morning train from Tralee on Tuesday morning. And then we’ll go and see her before we catch the flight to London on Thursday.’
‘Sounds like a good plan,’ Leo said. ‘I’m actually getting a lift with one of my cousin’s friends who’s driving up to Dublin tomorrow. And he offered me a bed in his place, so I’m sorted for a place to stay. It’s in an area called Donnybrook, near the centre, he said.’
‘Not too far from where I’m staying,’ Vi said.
‘So give me a call when I arrive and we can go for a pint somewhere.’
‘That would be nice. I’ll get in touch when I’ve found out where Fidelma is.’ Vi said goodbye and pocketed her phone. She thought about what her grandmother had said about her romantic life. Even if things didn’t work out with Jack, Sylvia was right that Vi had spent too long avoiding love. She wanted a partner: someone to spend long evenings walking on the beach with, someone to go over lines with her and plan a family with. She thought of her nieces and nephews. Perhaps that was at the heart of her comments about Rose and Lily last year. Was she jealous of the wonderful families they’d built?
Leo was a wonderful man, but even with Jack out of the picture, she knew he wasn’t for her. She thought of the kiss they shared on New Year’s Eve. Perhaps she should make sure he understood how she felt about him next time they met.
Jack’s beautiful bright eyes came to Vi’s mind. Love can’t be planned. It has no rhyme or reason and it can strike like a bolt of lightning and then you either accept it and let it sweep you away, or try to move on and forget it had ever happened.Either way, it breaks your heart in the end, Vi thought as she walked down the path, the breeze from the sea soothing her frayed nerves.
Two days later, Vi and Leo stood outside a Victorian redbrick house in a leafy suburb of Dublin. It was surrounded by a garden that would be lovely in the spring and summer, but now seemed a little drab in the early January light. Drops from the bare tree branches fell onto their hair and shoulders and the air smelled of damp earth. Vi shivered, anxious to get inside before the next shower. It hadn’t been difficult to find the home as Finbarr at the dance studio had managed to get the name of it from Fidelma’s daughter.
Vi turned to Leo before she pressed the button on the intercom. ‘So, here we go,’ she said. ‘Wish me luck.’
‘Good luck,’ Leo said, patting her shoulder. ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you to visit the old lady?’
‘Yes, I am,’ Vi replied. ‘I was told Fidelma is a little frail and gets confused if there are too many people visiting at the same time. She knows I’m coming and sounded happy to see me, a member of staff told me when I phoned. There is a cafeteria on the ground floor, they said, where you can wait for me.’
Leo nodded. ‘Okay. That seems like a good plan.’
