The House by the Liffey (19 page)

A couple of days after the wedding Milo and Tommy managed to have some time together, as much to talk business as anything.

‘Everything all right, Tommy? I must say you and Isabel look so happy and the little girls are a delight. I do love the way they still call me Lolo and hope that will never change.'

Tommy beamed with pleasure.

‘It's wonderful, Lo. We're very happy. It's all worked so well. I've actually decided I'm going to have a vasectomy which will mean we'll never have to worry again about an accidental pregnancy. I kept putting it off because I didn't much like the idea, but one of my fellow officers had the procedure and told me it's easy. I had an appointment to have it done a couple of weeks ago but then decided to postpone it until after the wedding.'

‘Ouch, Tommy, I don't like the idea at all. Do be careful. Is there any fear something might go wrong?'

‘I gather none whatsoever.'

‘Well, good luck to you. Rather you than me.'

A week later Tommy's grandmother died. She had had a series of strokes and one final major attack ended her life. It was sheer luck that Tommy was with her at the time and they had been communicating after a fashion before it had happened. She could say enough to let him know she knew him and was glad he was there. He felt so sad for her. Life had not been easy and she had had many difficulties to cope with. At least she had met the twins and seemed to be so excited at having great-grandchildren. She never knew the truth.

Having been left executor of his grandmother's estate, Tommy needed to see her solicitor. They went through her will together. She had little to leave and when she had been putting it together with Tommy's help, he had insisted that she should leave everything of any monetary value to Deirdre and her daughters. Not only did he not need anything of that nature, once he had reached adulthood he had given her substantial financial help.

To his surprise, the solicitor gave him an envelope addressed to him which had been attached to the will. On the outside was written “To be read when you are alone”. He looked at the solicitor in surprise.

‘I didn't know anything about a letter.'

‘No, your grandmother insisted that you should not be told about it until after she had died and I had to honour her request.'

Full of curiosity, Tommy went back to Riverside. There were few people about and most of those were down by the river or scattered in various places around the house and grounds. Milo hadn't yet returned from the office, so he sat down, alone, in the library to read the letter.

When Milo arrived home he found him sitting slumped in a chair beside the empty fire grate, head in hands. The letter lay on the floor beside him.

‘Tommy?'

He raised a tear-streaked face. He said nothing, simply lifted the letter from the floor and held it out to his brother. Milo read it through and then read it again very slowly.

Both had signed it.

‘Oh dear God! This makes me feel
so angry
, Tommy. The stupid old fools. How could they
do
something like this to you? Surely there are times when anyone could justifiably be released from an oath and especially in the circumstances involved here. They say that they loved you so much, yet not enough to release you from such a burden of worry. How
wicked
. May they rot in hell!'

‘Oh no, please don't say that, Lo.'

‘I do say it and I'll never ever forgive them for what they've done to you – not that it'll worry
them
. I just can't understand them.'

‘But I can. You remember how very devout they were. They would never have been able to bring themselves to break an oath actually taken on the bible. I'm not exaggerating when I say the distress of doing such a thing would have brought on a stroke or heart attack.'

‘What you're saying to me is they loved themselves and their convictions more than they loved you. When I think of the heartache this has caused you, completely unnecessarily, I feel totally outraged.'

‘Poor old things. You know, Lo, they had a rotten deal all round. This child that they adopted, out of the goodness of their hearts, murdered the daughter they loved so deeply. And all that happened after that: Wendy developing mental problems, and then Bob's involvement in the abduction of Izzy as the final straw. It must have been a relief when he was killed. I do feel very sorry for them and at least they did tell me in the end. Even the idea of breaking their oath after death must have been hard for them.'

‘Well all I can say is you're much more of a real Christian than I am. In your place I could
never
find any reason to excuse or forgive them.'

‘Drink, Lo?' Tommy managed a bleak smile. ‘Do you remember the last time we sat here and I suggested a drink?'

Milo thought for a minute and suddenly grinned broadly at him.

‘Yes, I do, Tommy. And, you know what? That makes me think of something else!'

‘What?'

‘You can have children now with no worries any more. If my memory is correct Isabel's only thirty – same age as Mageen. Yes, Tommy, I'll have a big drink, but it's going to be champagne! And please don't keep me waiting too long to become an uncle again.'

‘Oh, Lo! I so nearly had that vasectomy. Somebody was watching over me when I decided to postpone.'

All of a sudden they were both laughing. They couldn't wait to tell the news to Isabel, Noola and Maggie.

It was early November. Bill had started his army career and was passing through the city on an errand in connection with this. He had suggested that his father, Harry and Sarah join him for lunch in the nearby Hibernian Hotel, a favourite with the family and convenient for the workplaces of all three. Milo was unable to join them and the other three agreed to meet in the hotel foyer.

Bill got there slightly early and wandered around the lobby area while he waited. He wasn't in uniform but was wearing his dog collar. A very attractive young woman came into the hotel and seeing Bill did a double take. She walked up to him, stared in obvious disbelief and then slapped him hard across the face. He backed away from her in astonishment, rubbing his jaw.

‘How dare you! You're a disgrace to that collar you're wearing. You certainly never let on to
me
that you were a priest. In fact I think it's disgusting the way you behaved with me and never pretended. I'm going to report you to the archbishop and serve you right.'

At that moment Sarah arrived and, completely unaware of what was going on, hurried across to Bill, reached up and kissed him and apologised for being late. The other woman looked at her in astonishment.

‘And who are you?'

‘Oh hello! I'm his sister.'

‘Is he really a priest?'

‘Of course he is – carries out all the functions of a priest. I was so thrilled because he was even able to marry me in August.'

‘
What?
He married you
? And this was allowed? I don't believe what I'm hearing! A priest carrying on with me the way he did and now I find he's married to his sister. I think I must be having some sort of a nightmare. Please tell me this isn't happening. You're both
disgusting
!'

Sarah looked at her in astonishment. Whatever was the matter with this strange girl? In the meantime Harry had arrived and, undetected by the other three, walked silently across the carpet. He heard most of the last part of the exchange.

‘I think perhaps you owe my sister and brother an apology, Marie.'

She whirled around and was bereft of words. Standing before her was the mirror image of the man in the clerical collar. As realisation dawned on her, her legs almost gave way and she had to clutch hold of the desk. Harry's face was suffused with anger to the extent she was actually frightened. Bill, on the other hand, realising the girl's mistake, felt sorry for her.

‘I'm so sorry, Father, and your sister. I didn't realise Harry had an identical twin and one who was a priest. I feel so embarrassed.'

‘Please don't worry, Marie. Lot's of people confuse the two of us. Oh and by the way, I married my sister to her husband Dai Thomas.'

Looking at Harry's face, Sarah also felt sorry for the girl, who now turned to Harry.

‘I need to talk to you, Harry,
please
.'

‘No! I've already told you there's nothing more to say. So go away and stop pestering me.'

The girl disappeared fast.

‘That wasn't like you, Harry.' Bill looked at him quizzically.

‘No, it wasn't. I've never heard you speak to anyone like that before and she seemed quite a nice girl.'

‘Oh for goodness' sake, Sarah. I made her no promises but she's become a nuisance. Keeps phoning the house and the office. I've had to ask the switchboard staff to tell her I'm not available. I just can't get rid of her. We had an enjoyable
affaire
so far as it went but I've made it absolutely clear that it's over. It's unfortunate she happened to come in today when you were here.'

They went into the restaurant and had their lunch but it took a while for the atmosphere to relax.

* * * * *

Not long after that, on 26 November 1972, there was the first of a series of four terrorist attacks in the centre of Dublin. It happened outside a cinema showing a late film, close to Burgh Quay and not far from O'Connell Street. Nobody was killed but forty people were injured, some severely. Shock reverberated not only through the city but also through the whole country. Nothing of this nature had happened in the city since the 1920s.

‘Dear Lord, Noola, I hope we're not going to get sucked into the kind of problems those poor souls in the north are having. Thank God no one in the family or on the staff was in that area at the time.'

‘Not very likely I think, Milo. So far as I know no one here goes to a late night showing of a film. Do you think this is an IRA response to the government's move to clamp down on their activities down here?'

‘We'll probably never know. Let's just hope it's a one-off, but it's making me feel uneasy.'

‘Me too! But what can we do about it? We can't stop going into town because we're worried about more explosions. It's a big place and there's no knowing where they might attack next – if they
do
attack again.'

Five days later two more car bombs exploded, both again in the vicinity of O'Connell Street. This time two people were killed and 131 injured.

‘I thought that incident five days ago would be a one-off.'

‘No doubt everyone hoped so, Noola, but now I wonder if we're in for a spate of them.'

‘Interesting though. Just as the bombs went off, they were debating that bill to bring in special powers to combat the IRA.'

‘Yes, and as a result the bill went through when many thought it would be defeated.'

‘So maybe not the IRA this time?'

‘Maybe not. Perhaps the Ulster Volunteer Force was using the leverage of terrorist attacks to get the bill passed.'

‘And all those innocent people injured and a couple killed, going about their business, getting on with their lives. These attacks are
so
cowardly.'

‘That's war, Noola, of whatever kind. Innocent people invariably get hurt.'

‘But it's so wrong and unfair. How would we feel if a member of our family or our staff was injured or killed?'

‘It doesn't bear thinking about. Pray to God there'll be no more of it now that they've achieved their aim, assuming that's what it was all about.'

Milo's prayer was not answered. On Saturday afternoon, 20 January 1973, when the streets were crowded with shoppers, a fourth car bomb detonated in the same place as one of the earlier explosions, close to O'Connell Street. This time one man was killed and fourteen others were badly injured. Although a cousin of Mickeen Flanagan's had a slight cut from flying glass, no one from Riverside itself had been there at the time, any necessary shopping having been completed earlier in the day and far from the area of the blast. To the relief of everyone, there were no further terrorist activities for the rest of that year and into the start of the next year. It looked as if things had settled down again and the prayer had been answered, albeit slightly late. However, that wasn't to be the last of the attacks in Dublin.