Page 25 of The Girl with the Irish Secret
‘No, put him in his bed and let him sleep for a while,’ Naomi instructed. ‘That way we’ll get some peace for a bit. That’s what Gretel says anyway. And don’t forget to close the gate at the top of the stairs when we go down.’
‘Okay.’ Vi laid Liam on the bed and covered him with a blanket. Then they tiptoed out of the room and went downstairs, not forgetting the gate.
‘Where’s Liam?’ Lily asked when they came into the now cleaned-up living room.
‘Asleep on Naomi’s bed,’ Vi replied.
‘Oh no,’ Lily moaned. ‘I should have told you not to let him go to sleep. Now it’ll be all hours before we get him down tonight.’
‘Sorry,’ Vi said. ‘I had no idea. He was so sleepy, I didn’t have the heart to wake him.’
‘I told Auntie Vi to do it,’ Naomi piped up. ‘I wanted some peace and quiet so we could read the story.’
‘I bet you did,’ Lily said drily. ‘Well, whatever. You can watchDorawhile Vi and I have a cup of tea.’
‘Okay,’ Naomi said and sat down on a cushion in front of the flatscreen TV on the far wall. She picked up the remote and expertly turned the TV to her favourite channel.
‘Let’s have tea in the kitchen,’ Lily suggested. ‘Sit down at the breakfast bar and we’ll talk. I think we need to sort some things out.’
The breakfast bar divided the kitchen area from the living room and the window on the gable end provided a view of both the mountains and the sea. Vi sat down on a high stool and watched Lily turn on the kettle and take two mugs out of a cupboard. ‘No cups left, after Liam’s little shenanigans,’ Lily remarked.
‘What are you going to do about crockery for the café Christmas thing?’ Vi asked.
‘I’ll get some stuff from the ballroom. There’s china there for events such as weddings and other kinds of parties. I should have asked to use that instead of my own, but my stuff is much nicer. Silly of me. And the crockery in the café is okay, only it’s all white. It’ll be fine. But I’m a little sad about what was broken here, though.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ Vi said sympathetically. ‘It must be tough to mind two children and have all these things to do as well.’
‘It’s my own fault,’ Lily said, putting tea bags into the mugs. ‘I take on too much, Dominic says. And I do. I must learn to say no. I should maybe take a year off and get someone else to run the café.’ She sighed, looking sad. ‘But that’s the one thing I love the most. Running the café and the garden centre. Getting my hands dirty with plants and flowers. Seeing people sitting in the orangery and in the garden having coffee and enjoying the beautiful scenery. I just love that so much. It’s a great break from the kids and the housework.’
‘Then you shouldn’t give it up,’ Vi said. ‘But maybe you could cut down on the other stuff? Naomi said you do Dom’s accountsand chip in at Noel’s office when his secretary is off sick. Would it not be better if you weren’t available to everyone all the time, like everyone’s big sister?’
Lily let out a laugh. ‘Yeah, I know what you mean. But how can I do that? They’re all so used to having me as a backup.’
‘You just have to put your foot down,’ Vi remarked.
‘Easy for you to say,’ Lily retorted, her eyes turning cold as she looked at Vi. ‘But right now, we need to talk about that enormous elephant in the room. What you said in that interview was horrible. How could you betray your own family like that?’
Shocked by the venom in Lily’s voice, Vi didn’t know how to reply. But then, feeling suddenly fed up with being the culprit for so long, she decided to attack rather than defend. She found she didn’t care any more what her sister thought of her. The truth had to come out and then, even if Lily didn’t see her side of the story, she’d walk away and never look back. Vi took a deep breath and tried yet again to explain what had happened.
12
Vi began to speak. ‘Look, Lily, I have tried and tried to make you all understand what happened. That journalist twisted my words and made it look completely different to what I actually said. She didn’t mention the part where I said that I sometimes felt I could change places withyou.That I often just want to come home, find a nice man and have a family, just like you. But she didn’t include that part of the conversation.’ Vi drew breath. ‘That’s the truth. I wish you could believe me and try to understand. Mum, Granny and Nora believe me, but you won’t.’
Lily stared back at Vi without speaking. While they looked at each other, time seemed to roll back to the days when Vi had been a little girl, lost in a world of grieving adults. Lily had been the one to help then, to tuck Vi into bed at night, read her stories and stay with her until she went to sleep. Lily had been Vi’s rock for a long time and she had always turned to Lily first when she needed help and support. How she longed to have her big sister back like in the old days.
‘Can I just tell you that I’m a little scared?’ Vi said in a low voice. ‘This is my big break, but what if I fail? I feel so alonesometimes. We’ve been distant for so long but now I want my big sister back.’
Lily still didn’t respond.
Giving up the battle, Vi got up. ‘I’ll leave now. Maybe you need to think about all this.’
‘Wait.’ Lily suddenly grabbed Vi’s arm. ‘Don’t go. I’m beginning to see your side of it. Not that I don’t think it was really stupid of you to trust a journalist, especially one who writes for one of those local rags, but…’ She paused. ‘I can see how it happened.’
Vi sat down again. ‘Good. I’m so relieved you’re finally beginning to see it from my point of view. Yes, you’re right, it was stupid of me. To be honest, though, I never really understood why you and Rose were so angry.’
‘Probably because it was true,’ Lily said in a flat tone. ‘Wewerejealous of you at that time. We were both coping with babies and nappies and broken sleep. Rose had put on a lot of weight before she had her baby and she was exhausted after the birth. Neither of us looked our best, and there you were, looking glamorous and young, probably flying off to LA and all kinds of fabulous places to shoot movies. Who wouldn’t be pea-green with envy about that? Especially on a Monday in January when the washing machine breaks down, the rain is lashing down outside, the kids are crying and…’
‘Oh,’ Vi said, taken aback. ‘I didn’t realise. Possibly because my life is a lot less glamorous than you think. I don’t get to fly first class, you know. Or stay in five-star hotels. I haven’t been playing any main characters at all until right now, when I got this break. It’s been quite a slog, to be honest. That trip to LA last January was for an audition that resulted in nothing. Then I had this small part in a terrible drama series that just ended. I was about to give up acting and look for some kind of job, any job, when my agent told me about this biopic and that they hadchosen me for the part.’ She picked up her mug and took a sip of tea, her throat suddenly dry. ‘So that’s the reality of my so-called glamorous life.’
