The House by the Liffey (37 page)

The whole family had stood there on the banks of the river watching Riverside House dying before their eyes. Sarah and Dai had been wakened by the noise and had run across the adjoining lawns to see if they could help. They now watched helplessly with the others as the flames were gradually brought under control and eventually doused.

There was an uncanny, stunned silence. Milo and Noola were side by side in the centre of the group, with tears rolling down their faces. Eventually Mageen moved between them. She put her arms around their waists.

‘Dad, Mum – our beautiful home!'

‘All that matters to Mum and me, Mageen, my darling, is that everyone is safe. By some miracle nobody has been killed or injured, family and staff members are all accounted for. What do bricks and mortar or indeed stones matter compared with that?'

Looking at the stricken, tear-streaked faces all around him Milo decided he had to do something to try to raise spirits a little. His sense of humour coming to his rescue, he even managed to summon up a grin.

‘And after all, we've got the horses and dogs, a boat-house and some boats and it looks as if the Flanagans' home and the East Wing have escaped! We've also got a marquee, a dining table and chairs and a grand piano – it could be worse!'

They all heard this and appreciated his effort to be positive, to lighten the mood of despair.

‘And let's not forget we owe the good old Liffey a big vote of thanks, Lo. The devastation would have been a lot worse without its water supply.'

‘Too right, Tommy!'

Johnny moved over to him and, now almost as tall as his grandfather, plopped an arm around his shoulders.

‘You know, Gramps, you now have a very full-time job for your retirement. You've often said how some day you'd like to have the kitchen moved upstairs. Well, now you can do that and some other things that you never would have dreamt of doing.'

‘He's right, Grandpa,' Ewan chipped in excitedly. ‘That's a brilliant idea. You could turn the basement into a series of offices and move your staff out here to run the business from Riverside. You need only have a token office in town and with computers the technology of the future the arrangement would be perfect. I'd so enjoy working on that with you and I'm sure Harry and Tommy would too.' Both nodded their heads.

‘Great idea and hey, Dad, you could also have a marvellous games room in the rest of the basement.'

Milo's smile became broader.

‘Good idea, Harry. And, Noola, you and Maggie'll enjoy designing a new kitchen with all “mod cons”.'

‘Yes, we'll really have fun with that, won't we, Mammy?'

‘We certainly will and we'd want to consult you too, Kitty.'

‘Oh yes please – that'd be great!'

‘And, Dad, you and Dai and I could put together plans for a new conservatory we could restock with new flowers and plants – lots of new exotics. Mickeen's very knowledgeable in that area too. I'm sure you'd like to be included in the planning, Mickeen?'

‘Indeed I'd love that.'

‘And Trisha and I could also design a new purpose-built music studio.'

‘In the meantime you can all tuck into the miraculously saved East Wing with Isabel and me. We can easily snug up and fit you in.'

‘Actually, Dai and I have plenty of space and we'd be delighted if some of you moved in with us too.'

‘I wonder, Noola, if any other couple has such a remarkable family.'

She moved closer to him and slipped her arm around his waist.

‘I doubt it, my darling, and no family could possibly have such a remarkable man as head of it. I think I love you more this minute than I've ever loved you, Milo Butler, and that's saying something!'

He smiled even more broadly and drew her close.

‘Believe me, Mrs Butler, the feeling is quite mutual.'

With the exception of those mentioned below the characters in this story are fictitious. Riverside House is a purely imaginary place, although at the time the story opens there were some large, privately owned properties located where I have placed the house, on the banks of the River Liffey to the west of Dublin. One of these was the original model for Riverside House, although I located the estate in a different place, using author's licence to extend the banks of the Liffey to accommodate it.

I thoroughly researched the various traumatic events described, where possible consulting with people who actually experienced these events. When I had no first-hand accounts I used published texts and researched the Internet. This has been an invaluable source of information, much of which comes in the form of original documents, as, for example, the information on the Dublin terrorist attacks and the political upheavals and fighting in Cyprus.

My thanks to Frank Brown who provided really helpful information about training for the priesthood in Ireland and Cal Clifford for details about the Irish Army element of the United Nations peacekeeping forces. I hope this organisation will forgive the addition of a fictional character to its ranks.

I was fortunate enough to have worked in military establishments in both Germany in the 60s and Cyprus in the 60s and up to 1972, so I know that what is described is authentic. A big thank you to Nicos Florentos and Maria and Vassos Stylianou. By reading the sections concerned, they have given me invaluable additional help in ensuring the situations described and traumas suffered, especially in 1974, are accurate. They have kindly agreed to allow their real names to be used as well as to being included as participants in a fictitious story. “Smokey Joe's” really did exist. My apologies for having used writer's licence again and credited him with serving a
meze
. This was not a meal habitually offered in his restaurant, but one frequently experienced elsewhere in Famagusta in the 60s. Smokey was best known for his charcoal-grilled steaks – and very good they were too.

Much appreciation also to Alan Grace for additional information on the 1974 crisis in Cyprus. Alan was there at the time, with the British Forces Broadcasting Service. BFBS provided a crucial twenty-four-hour broadcasting service during this crisis. He gave me information, for example, about the organisation of the rescue convoys after the invasion by mainland Turkish forces.

Fortunately there is a wealth of literature about the Falklands War, with a number of the books giving personal accounts. Of the many texts I consulted I found the single most useful was
The Battle for the Falklands
by Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins. I owe an especially big thank you to Alan Jones, who not only lent me a number of these texts but also read the section on the Falklands in draft and ensured that what I wrote about the SAS and their involvement in that conflict was authentic. Information about the SAS is also well documented on the Internet. My apologies to the British Armed Services too for inserting fictitious members into
their
ranks and real events. Regarding the mention of the poor treatment of the unfortunate Argentinian foot soldiers by their superiors, I first heard about this from local residents when I visited the Falkland Islands.

My knowledge of the Irish legal system is minimal, mainly because I have had no direct experiences of its processes and procedures. I know I must have made errors in the court case I have described, so apologies to anyone irritated by these and please allow author's licence yet again. I did visit some proceedings at the Irish Law Courts which were quite helpful, although not of the type I have described in the story. Neither have I any knowledge of institutions for the criminally insane, so the place mentioned of that nature is entirely a product of my imagination.

The biggest thanks of all must go to those patient members of my family who read the story and gave me invaluable feedback. Christabel and Jim Grant and Eileen White read it section by section as I wrote it, giving me detailed, written comments. All three read the final version more than once. This was truly “above and beyond”. Christabel and Jim also gave me help with several other aspects of the novel, for which I have so much appreciation. Much appreciated too was the help given by Aileen White, Ian Grant, Lisa Grant and Fiona Pradhan who read the full version. Aileen made some very useful comments and Lisa gave written responses. Fiona's input at the final editing stage was most helpful. All of this was important in refining the story and keeping it interesting and more or less credible. Ann Searle and Janet Clough also read the full version and paid me the compliment of saying they “loved it”. As before, I hope the various elements of the story, if not always likely or probable, are at least possible.

A very special thanks to Chris Bridger for reviewing the novel with, again, such useful feedback and to Janet Clough for the lovely sketch she drew for the cover of the book. The sketch she created for the cover of
The Liffey Flows On By
was widely admired and commented upon and I feel sure this will draw similar responses.