Page 3 of The Widow's Irish Secret
Jack looked up from the menu. ‘Not at all, Tricia. I know that cottage from my walks around the grounds of Magnolia Manor. It’s very nice and still in fairly good nick. Needs an upgrade and all that but it could be made into something fabulous. I’d say go for it, Tricia. Love your hair, by the way.’
‘Thanks, Jack. I’m glad someone is on my side.’ Tricia smiled at him, thinking how lucky Vi was to have found such a nice man. In many ways he was just like Fred. They shared an interest in the arts, and his strong jaw and beautiful eyes were very similar, too, even though Fred had had green eyes like Vi. Tricia often wondered if that was what had made Vi fall in love with Jack. A kind of innate knowledge of her father despite not really remembering him. It was eerie and wonderful at the same time.
‘I’m on your side too,’ Vi protested. ‘I just don’t want you to take on too much.’
‘It’ll be good for me,’ Tricia said. ‘I feel a whole new chapter of my life is just beginning.’ Then she turned to the waiter whohad just arrived to take their order. ‘I’ll have the lamb cutlets, please.’
Vi and Jack said they’d have the same. ‘And a bottle of that nice Merlot,’ Tricia ordered. ‘But first, could you bring us a bottle of your best champagne? We have a lot to celebrate tonight.’
‘Of course, Mrs Fleury,’ the waiter said and left to place the order.
‘Mrs Fleury?’ Vi asked. ‘Are you changing your name back?’
‘That’s right,’ Tricia replied. ‘I feel my life in Donegal is over since Sean passed away. I want to leave it all behind. I was so proud to be Tricia Fleury when I married your father all those years ago. I was only in my early twenties then. And now I want to be a Fleury girl again.’
‘That will make Granny very happy,’ Vi said as the champagne arrived in a bucket full of ice at their table.
‘I’m not doing it for Granny, but for me,’ Tricia argued, glad that they weren’t questioning her. She didn’t want to reveal the real reason her new name was so important.
‘Good for you,’ Jack said. ‘I adore Sylvia but she can be a little overbearing if you let her.’
‘And we’re not going to,’ Tricia said with feeling. Then, when the champagne had been opened, she raised her glass. ‘Here’s to you two, Jack and Vi. May you have a wonderful life together, wherever you are in the world. I couldn’t be happier for you and I will make sure the wedding is just the way you want.’
Jack clinked glasses with Tricia. ‘And here’s to my very smart and brave future mother-in-law.’
Vi held her glass up. ‘To my darling mummy,’ she said, her eyes gleaming with tears of happiness. ‘Welcome back to Kerry and – us.’
Those words echoed through Tricia’s mind all through the journey from Dublin to Dingle a few weeks later. It was a long drive that took over four hours but Tricia enjoyed it enormously. The traffic was light as she had decided to drive down on a Sunday, even though she wouldn’t get possession of the cottage until the following Wednesday.
She would stay with Vi at the gatehouse as Jack was off to Cornwall. This way she would have time to take a look at the cottage – at least from the outside – and then see Sylvia and break the news that she was the new owner. It would be too late for Sylvia to back out of the deal, but then why would she? The cottage had been for sale for the past year, after all, and Sylvia should be happy that it was being sold for a very good price. The manor had been converted into apartments for seniors, so she knew Sylvia must have been selling the property to fund further expansion. She’d be happy it was finally sold. Except she might not be happy about who had bought it.
When Fred and Tricia had got engaged and he took her to Magnolia Manor to introduce her to his parents, Sylvia had looked as if she didn’t quite approve of her son’s choice of future wife. Tricia, whose parents had modest means, was not quite the wife Sylvia would have liked to see Fred marry. Or so Tricia had always thought. She had had to work part time to pay for her tuition as her parents couldn’t afford college fees. The fact that Tricia had a degree in accountancy with top marks didn’t seem to impress Sylvia. But then not many girls would have been good enough for Sylvia, Nora, the housekeeper at Magnolia Manor, had once declared. Nora had been a huge help to Tricia in the early days and they still kept in touch. She wondered what they would think of the legal tangle she had left behind in Donegal.
Tricia turned her mind away from the problem and tried to enjoy the beautiful vistas she was driving through. She was relieved that she hadn’t had any further calls from Sean’s family.The rolling green hills, the farms with their old houses and barns, the little villages with cottages and taller houses, façades adorned with carved stone in intricate patterns. She stopped for lunch in Adare, a lovely village with chocolate-box cottages, their thatched roofs lending a charming old-world image to the main street.
Then Tricia continued her journey through Newcastle West, tempted to stop and visit the old castle but drove on, feeling she needed to get to Dingle as soon as she could. She had decided while she was having lunch that she had to tell Sylvia as soon as she arrived that she was the buyer of the cottage. It would be better to take the bull by the horns straight away. Not that Sylvia was anything like a bull, but she might not like having been kept in the dark. They had to get on if Vi’s wedding was to be as lovely as she hoped. It wouldn’t be fair, Tricia thought, to have two women at daggers drawn while they were planning the most important day in her youngest daughter’s life. That thought both calmed and terrified her. But better to get it over with.
‘Let the battle commence,’ Tricia said to herself, smiling as she felt that even if there would be arguments, and problems, life was suddenly worth living again.
3
Vi stood in the doorway of the gatehouse when Tricia arrived. She ran down the steps, her red hair flying, and hugged her mother as soon as Tricia had got out of the car. ‘Welcome home, Mum. I’m so happy you’re here at last.’
‘Me too, darling,’ Tricia said, breathing in the floral scent in Vi’s hair. Then she stepped back and looked at her daughter. ‘You look so good. Happy and healthy and rested.’
‘It’s this place,’ Vi said. ‘The air, the peace, the garden, well, you know. The Magnolia magic as we call it.’
‘I hope it’ll have the same effect on me,’ Tricia remarked.
‘I’m sure it will.’
Tricia looked up at the house, the façade of which had been recently painted a sunny yellow. The old sash windows had been replaced and the window sills were picked out in white. There was a small patio at the side where she could see garden furniture and flowers in large pots. It was a lovely little house but she remembered how it had been a near wreck before it was rescued by Lily when she came to live here permanently. ‘This is a very pretty house now.’
‘We love it,’ Vi said. ‘Jack says it’s the best place he’s ever lived in. Hey, are you hungry? I could make you an omelette or something.’
Tricia patted Vi’s cheek. ‘Thanks, pet, but I had lunch in Adare at that place we always used to stop at. And we can go out to eat tonight if you like.’
‘Oh, but Granny has invited us both for dinner tonight,’ Vi announced. ‘To welcome you, she said.’
