Page 100 of The Girl with the Irish Secret
‘Why?’ she asked, noticing his troubled eyes. ‘Did something sad happen to you?’
‘Yes.’ He drank some Guinness before he met her gaze. ‘I don’t really have a family there any more. My father had a serious drinking problem and spent all his money in the local pubs. The debts started to pile up and he ended up having to sell the farm. He and my mother divorced after that and she now lives in a little cottage in the village. My dad died shortly afterwards.’ He paused, staring into the fire. ‘When I left to go to drama school in London, everyone thought I was abandoning my mother, despite the fact that she wanted me to go. My sister got married and lives nearby with her family, so Mum is well looked after. In any case, she’s only in her mid-sixties and works as a nurse in the local hospital. There’s no need to feel sorry for her at all. And I do help her out financially too. But my old friends and some of my cousins think I’m stuck-up and won’t even speak to me when I go back home to see my mother. So Christmas there isn’t much fun, I’m afraid.’
‘But your mother and sister must be so proud of you,’ Vi argued. ‘I mean, look at all you’ve done… the awards and the fabulous reviews in the papers.’
‘That only seems to make them hate me more. Not my mother and sister, of course. But my old friends and some of my relatives can’t relate to me at all.’
‘They’re jealous,’ Vi said.
Jack smiled and shrugged. ‘Who knows? I only wish they were proud of me. It’s not easy. They see this caricature of me in the papers and assume I like the publicity side of things. But you know the old saying about being a prophet in your own back yard…’
Vi nodded. ‘Oh yes. I can understand that.’ She stopped, thinking about Rose and how they had yet to make peace. She heaved a deep sigh. ‘Oh, I wish…’
‘What?’ Jack asked.
‘That my sister Rose and I were back the way we were. Teasing and stealing each other’s clothes. You know, the way sisters are. That was never serious and mostly fun. We always ended up laughing. But now there’s this silence between us. I don’t know what to do about it.’
‘That’s a tough one,’ Jack said sympathetically. ‘Is there any reason for her to be like that?’
‘It was this interview last year that turned into something I hadn’t planned.’ Vi went on to tell Jack what had happened with the journalist while he listened intently.
He nodded when she had finished. ‘I can relate. Stuff like that happened to me too in the beginning. I was at a press conference about a movie I’d got a part in. Not the main part, but quite big all the same. One of the journalists threw me a question about my family and I blurted out something about not having had the best childhood, which then came to be blown up into me beingthe victim of some kind of child abuse. Not true at all, of course, but it must have sold a lot of newspapers of the tabloid kind.’
‘Oh no,’ Vi exclaimed, appalled. ‘That’s much worse than what happened to me.’
‘Well, yes,’ Jack said with a shrug. ‘Didn’t earn me a lot of brownie points at home, which caused much of the negativity. The media can be such a bog that’s hard to get out of. I try to avoid doing too much of that stuff. But, of course, the movie companies want you to make headlines all the time to sell tickets at the box office. They sometimes even encourage controversy.’ He grinned. ‘You’ll see. It’s only starting for you. Wait till our movie comes out. Then it’ll really be tricky to stay out of the limelight.’ He looked around the little pub. ‘And then…’ he whispered into her ear, ‘of course there are the fans out there with their phones. Someone will take a snap of you with someone and then, boom, you’re in a “relationship” with whoever you happen to sit beside, or walk out of a bar or restaurant with. Even if it’s not true at all. Happens all the time, everywhere.’
‘I don’t think that would happen here,’ Vi said. ‘Kerry people are discreet and kind.’
‘Yes, but there might be someone not from around here who has no scruples,’ Jack suggested, draining his pint. ‘Except here, in this cosy little pub, I don’t sense any excitement about either of us.’
‘No,’ Vi said, also looking around the sparsely occupied room. ‘Not many people here as it’s a Tuesday at the beginning of December. But everyone here knows who we are, of course. That’s the way it is in small villages and towns in Kerry.’
‘Oh, I know,’ Jack agreed and drained his glass. ‘Same thing where I come from. There is this knowledge, like a whisper in the wind. Nobody says anything, but they allknow.’
He looked so comical, Vi started to laugh. ‘Yes, exactly. Scary, isn’t it?’ A phone rang, making them both give a start.
Jack pulled his phone out of his pocket. ‘Not mine.’
‘It’s mine.’ Vi groped for her phone in her jacket. ‘Hello?’
‘Hi there,’ a voice said. ‘Violet, this is Finbarr at On Your Toes. We chatted recently about Kathleen O’Sullivan, remember?’
‘Oh yes,’ Vi said, suddenly back to the conversation she had had with him. ‘Fidelma, wasn’t it?’
‘That’s right. She knew Kathleen back in the day. Anyway, it appears that old Fidelma has had to go into a nursing home.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ Vi said, feeling sad for the old lady.
‘Yes, it’s a bit of a blow for her,’ Finbarr agreed. ‘Now, the thing is that she sent a package for you to us. Some mementoes of Kathleen she found when she was clearing her house before going to the nursing home.’
‘Oh, how kind of her to think of me at such a difficult time,’ Vi said.
‘I think she felt that you would like to have these things, whatever they are. Letters and cards and such by the looks of it. But what do I do about the package? She sent it to us because she didn’t know your address. Can I send it on to you?’
‘Of course. That would be great,’ Vi said. ‘Send it to The Gatehouse, Magnolia Manor, Dingle, County Kerry.’
‘Got that. I’ll send it off as soon as possible. Not a large package, just some letters and cards and a few other little items. Could be interesting for your research.’
