Page 24 of The Girl with the Irish Secret
‘Okay,’ Lily said and hung up.
Vi quickly called her grandmother and asked if she could borrow her car, explaining where she was going, to which Sylvia heaved a sigh of relief and said, ‘Finally. Maybe this will be thebest moment to make peace. I’d go myself but the accountant is coming to do the figures for the past year. Has to be done before Christmas. Of course you can have the car.’
‘Okay, thanks. I’ll be up at the house in a few minutes.’ Vi hung up and grabbed her bag and her jacket.
It didn’t take her long to run up the path to the manor and as Sylvia was at the door with the car key, she could jump in and start the car at once.
‘This is a golden opportunity for you to make up,’ Sylvia said before she closed the door. ‘Eat as much humble pie as you can, it won’t hurt a bit.’
‘I will,’ Vi promised and took off, happy the car was an automatic and easy to drive.
The trip to Ventry didn’t take more than fifteen minutes and she parked the car just above the beautiful bay, where the blue-green water lapped the white sands of the beach. She fleetingly thought of the many outings and picnics to this lovely spot when she was a child, before she started down the narrow lane to Lily and Dominic’s house.
The green door flew open before Vi had a chance to knock and Lily, with a little boy balanced on her hip, pulled her sister inside and slammed the door shut behind her. She handed Vi the boy. ‘Here, take him for a moment, willya? I have to sweep up the broken china before Naomi cuts her feet to ribbons. That’s Liam, by the way.’
‘Of course it is,’ Vi said and smiled at the little boy, who looked at her with huge brown eyes. His dark hair was ruffled and the front of his T-shirt was covered in mashed banana. ‘Hi, Liam, we met last year and then you were just a baby. But now, look at you. Such a big boy.’
‘Big boy,’ Liam said and stuck his thumb in his mouth.
‘Auntie Vi!’ a voice shouted as Vi walked into the large bright living room. A little girl with brown hair and her father’s dark green eyes rushed forward and threw her arms around Vi’s legs.
‘Hi, Naomi,’ Vi said and crouched down, still holding little Liam. ‘You have grown so big since the last time I saw you.’
Naomi nodded. ‘Yes, cos I eat my dinner all up and go to sleep and practise my dancing. And I go to school now and learn my letters.’ She drew breath and looked at Vi. ‘Mum said you have a nerve to come back here. What’s a nerve and where do you have it?’
‘Oh eh… I’ll explain later,’ Vi said, shooting a look at Lily. Then she noticed the mess of broken crockery all over the polished floorboards. ‘Maybe we should help Mum to clear this up? Looks like a huge explosion happened here.’
Naomi giggled. ‘No, it was Liam. He pulled down the tablecloth but I don’t think it was on purpose. It was an accident. Mum had put all that stuff on the table because she needs cups and plates and things for the Christmas coffee party at the café.’
‘Stupid of me,’ Lily said behind them as she started to clean up the mess with a sweeping brush. ‘I should have known something would happen with a two-year-old toddling around, pulling at everything. I usually have help with the kids, but the au pair just left to go home to Germany for Christmas.’
‘Her name is Gretel,’ Naomi piped up. ‘But she has no brother called Hansel. I asked and she said no. And she has never been lost in the forest and met the witch. That’s just a story, you know.’
‘Yes, I thought it might not be true,’ Vi said as she sat down on the blue sofa that faced the picture window with spectacular views of the sea. She bounced Liam on her knee which made him chuckle. ‘Again,’ he shouted when she stopped, so she bounced him again and he laughed and laughed.
‘Could you bring him upstairs to the nursery and change his T-shirt?’ Lily asked.
‘Okay.’ Vi got up and holding Liam at arm’s length away from her beige cashmere sweater, she carried him across the floor to the hall and up the stairs. Naomi trailed behind them, chatting away, filling Vi in on her life’s ups and downs.
‘My teacher says I’m gettingverygood at reading,’ she said. ‘But my best friend Nuala is even better. I think her mum helps her a lot but my mum can’t because she’s too busy with Liam and the café and helping Daddy with his accounts and sometimes even going to Uncle Noel’s office to do some work there when Vicky is off sick. That’s Uncle Noel’s secretary.’
‘I know,’ Vi said as she entered a bright room with pictures of Winnie the Pooh and Paddington Bear and other nursery characters on the walls. There was a bed beside a chest of drawers against the far wall and the green carpet was strewn with toys. The curtains had a pattern of tiny flowers and leaves and little Bambi figures here and there. It was a charming child’s room and Vi stood for a moment looking around, then gazed out the window at the view of the mountains. ‘Lovely room,’ she said, putting Liam on the bed.
‘My room is even nicer,’ Naomi stated. ‘Liam’s room is a mess.’
‘Just a few toys,’ Vi said absentmindedly while she pulled out a drawer looking for a clean T-shirt. ‘We can tidy it up very quickly. I’ll just change Liam’s shirt and then we’ll go and look at your room.’
‘Okay,’ Naomi said.
Vi found a T-shirt with Mickey Mouse on the front and managed to change Liam into it, despite his wriggling and trying to get away. Once he had it on, she took him by the hand and they all walked into Naomi’s room that was very similar toLiam’s except for the Barbie bedspread and a blue carpet. ‘Very nice,’ Vi said, smiling at Naomi.
Naomi sat on the bed and pulled a large storybook from under the pillow. ‘Read us a story,’ she ordered. ‘I love the one about Rapunzel. Read us that one.’
‘Only if you ask nicely,’ Vi said, settling on the bed with a now sleepy-looking Liam on her lap.
‘Puleese, darling Auntie Vi, read us a story,’ Naomi pleaded as she handed Vi the book. ‘Rapunzel is on page twenty-five,’ she said.
Vi couldn’t help laughing. She took the book and started reading while Liam leaned his head against her chest and Naomi listened intently, filling in when Vi paused for breath. When Vi had finished reading, she found that Liam had fallen asleep. ‘Will I wake him up?’ she asked Naomi.
