Divided Loyalties (19 page)

‘I’ll await developments with bated breath.’ Shauna grinned. ‘Maybe I’ll have a cup of coffee before I go just to give myself another hour. You’d notice the
stretch in the evenings, wouldn’t you? In the Gulf there’s hardly any dusk. It gets dark once the sun has set. I’ll miss the dusk.’ She filled the kettle and spooned coffee
into two mugs, in no hurry to go.

It was after four when she left. As with her father, she asked Carrie not to come to the door. She didn’t even kiss her sister. She couldn’t. It had been hard enough saying goodbye
to Davey and Olivia. Just as well that Chloe was too young to understand. She was falling asleep.

‘I’ll ring you tomorrow,’ Carrie said heartily as Shauna buttoned her daughter’s coat yet again.

‘Great. Talk to you then,’ Shauna said briskly. ‘See you, kids.’

‘’Bye, Shauna. Sure you won’t forget to buy me the plane?’ Davey reminded her of her promise to buy him a KLM model aircraft.

‘Sure thing, Davey, and a Barbie for Olivia.’ She smiled at her niece. She didn’t even look at Carrie as she went out to the hall and let herself out of the house.

‘I will not cry. I will not cry,’ she muttered as she drove through the village in the gathering dusk. ‘Concentrate, concentrate,’ she ordered herself as her eyes blurred
with tears. Swallowing hard, she brushed them away. The worst was over now – well, apart from the hassle of airports and the flights. Soon she’d be in her new apartment on the Corniche
overlooking the Arabian Gulf. And her new life would have started.

It was lashing rain as Shauna hurried out to the taxi. She yawned hugely; she’d been up since four thirty. It was now five forty-five and they were finally on their way.
Greg locked the door and hurried out to join them.

‘That’s it. We’re off.’ He smiled at her, excited as a little boy. ‘Look what we’re leaving, Shauna. What a horrible morning, so dark and wet and gloomy.
We’re going to be waking up to sunny skies and temperatures in the eighties in the middle of winter. Yippee!’ he yelled and Chloe laughed delightedly.

Her own excitement was mounting. Now that they were on their way and there was no going back, she was looking forward to seeing their new home. An apartment on the Corniche sounded lovely. Right
beside the sea. It had three bedrooms, two en suite, a maid’s room, two reception rooms, a utility room and a fully fitted kitchen. And it was on the third floor with a large wraparound
balcony. It sounded fabulous.

The company had lined up several candidates for the job of au pair and she’d be interviewing them a few days after their arrival. Their shipment had arrived safely. All they had to do was
get there themselves.

The airport was bustling with early morning commuters to London and Europe and they joined the queue for their flight to Holland. Chloe gazed around her with interest from the safety of her
buggy; she seemed to sense her parents’ excitement and was in high spirits for the unearthly hour of the morning.

She wasn’t so happy an hour later as the Aer Lingus jet roared down the runway, and she howled in terror until Shauna eventually managed to calm her down with a bottle of apple juice and a
rusk. As the flight levelled out and she got used to the steady thrum of the engines, her eyes drooped and she fell asleep in Shauna’s arms. Shauna felt like sleeping herself and eventually
nodded off for about twenty minutes, waking with a jerk as the plane banked over the North Sea.

At least Schiphol was an easy airport to push a buggy around, she thought gratefully as they headed for the transfer lounge via one of the huge moving walkways. They had time to shop and she
would have thoroughly enjoyed browsing if she hadn’t had to entertain Chloe, who was restless in her buggy.

‘I want to get something,’ Greg said, pointing towards a cluster of shops and leading her into a diamond shop. Her eyes widened.

‘What are you doing?’ she asked.

‘Buying my wife a diamond or two. You can have them set in earrings? Ring? Bracelet? Pendant?’ He smiled at her, his brown eyes glittering as brightly as the diamonds that surrounded
them.

‘Oh, Greg. I don’t know.’ She was completely overwhelmed.

‘I really appreciate you giving me the chance to do this, Shauna. I love you,’ he said quietly.

‘I love you too.’ She kissed him. ‘We’re going to have a great time.’

‘I know. We deserve it. Both of us have worked hard for it. Now go and see what you’d like, to mark this moment in our lives.’ He hugged her tightly and she felt a rare sense
of contentment.

Eventually, she selected three fabulous sparklers to be set in a ring when they got to Abu Dhabi.

After their purchase they still had three-quarters of an hour before boarding so they sat in one of the little coffee stops and drank hot chocolate and ate a muffin and let Chloe run around to
stretch her legs. Shauna had given her a travel tablet when they landed in Schiphol and she was hoping that it would make her drowsy for the long flight ahead as well as preventing any
sickness.

The flight was boarding when they got to the gate and Shauna could see that it was practically full. She’d bought a couple of magazines and Greg had chosen a Bill Bryson travel book. If
Chloe slept they’d get a chance to relax and read.

Again the take-off frightened Chloe and Shauna held her close, soothing her and calming her, hearing another child at the rear of the plane howling loudly as well. They were seated in the middle
section of the huge Airbus, and eventually Chloe calmed down as Shauna read her a Wibbly Pig story.

After an hour she fell asleep, sucking her thumb, and Shauna flicked through
Hello!
until her own eyelids drooped and she too fell asleep. Hours later, the plane descended into Dhahran
airport and the majority of the passengers disembarked. It was dark outside: the time difference had kicked in and the stars twinkled above them. They sat on the tarmac for about an hour while the
Saudi religious police came on board to do their checks. Shauna was glad they were going to the Emirates, which was much more relaxed and cosmopolitan.

She was immensely relieved an hour later when the flight finally touched down at Abu Dhabi airport. In spite of her tiredness the beauty of the arrivals hall, with its stunning mosaics of greens
and turquoise, awed her. ‘Isn’t this lovely, Chloe?’ She smiled down at her daughter, who was toddling along beside her, delighted to be able to move around after the long
flight.

A company representative with their name on a card was there to meet them at the high perspex partitions where they had to collect their visas. He threw the white form over to Greg and twenty
minutes later, formalities completed and luggage collected, they walked through the airport doors to a blast of hot, humid air.

Abdullah, their driver, led them to where the car was parked. It was velvety dark and the stars sparkled brighter than her diamonds. A crescent moon hung over the sea. A ripple of heat, the
scents of jasmine and frangipani, the chirruping of the cicadas, assaulted her senses and she felt exhilarated. They were here at last. The car was air-conditioned and they settled back for the
thirty-kilometre drive on the long straight road to the capital.

‘Why have we come to the Sheraton?’ she asked as the car eventually pulled up outside the foyer of the massive hotel.

‘Because, darling, we’re staying here for a few days until we have the apartment organized the way we want it. I thought it would be nice to have a mini-holiday.’ Greg was like
a schoolboy.

‘Oh, Greg, what a great idea!’ she exclaimed, touched at his thoughtfulness. Sometimes he really could come up trumps.

Their room was cool and luxurious, and the pink marble bathroom was the height of luxury. Shauna filled the bath, undressed herself and Chloe, and stepped with her into the foamy water, Chloe
almost dancing with excitement at this treat. It was incredibly relaxing to sink back into the soft suds and feel all the aches and stresses of that long day float away. Chloe was almost asleep as
Shauna dried her hair, and she snuggled into the cot, pulled her knees up under her tummy and conked out.

While Greg had a shower, Shauna ordered room service and half an hour later they were eating a tasty supper, and toasting each other with champagne. Before they went to bed they stood at the
French doors gazing out at a dhow, all lit up, as it sailed serenely along the moonlit waters of the Arabian Gulf.

‘It’s hard to believe that we’re here, isn’t it?’ Greg murmured into her ear.

‘I know. I feel I’m in a dream.’ Shauna yawned against him.

‘Well it’s not a dream,’ he said firmly. ‘It’s the start of the best time of our lives.’

Shauna gazed up at her husband, his brown eyes dark with desire as he pulled her to him. She ran her fingers through his silky black hair and whispered, ‘We’re going to have to be
really quiet. No moaning and groaning.’

‘I will if you will. Isn’t this the best possible start to our new life?’

‘Mmm,’ she murmured, kissing him. Soon, she promised herself, soon she was going to come off the Pill and get pregnant and that truly would be the best time of her life. Happier than
she had been in a long, long time, Shauna switched off the light and led her husband to the enormous bed that awaited them.

Carrie read over her email to Shauna and pressed the send button. Moments later she heard the satisfying ping indicating that it had been sent and she scrolled down to disconnect her access.

She was bubbling with excitement. At last she was going to see Shauna’s home for herself. True, she’d seen videos of the beautiful apartment on the Corniche, but it wasn’t the
same as being there. It was hard to believe Shauna had been in the Gulf just over three years. And there was no sign of her coming home. It looked as though Chloe would be starting school out
there. Greg was making a fortune, working on countless new developments and in no hurry to come back to Ireland. As far as she could see he was there for the long haul.

She supposed she really would have to give Della a ring to see if she wanted anything brought out. Carrie sighed. She knew what that meant. Della would come down from Cavan with her two kids and
spend the day with her and sit back and do nothing.

She’d arrived just before Christmas to collect Carrie’s Christmas presents for Shauna and really made the most of it. Kathryn and her young brother, Ashley, had fought like cat and
dog. Della had ignored them and sat in the den, drinking tea, and eating anything that was going. Carrie would have been as well posting the gifts, she’d thought ruefully, listening to the
racket Della’s kids were making.

‘Imagine, you haven’t been out to the Gulf yet and it will be our
third
visit. You don’t know what you’re missing. A fabulous holiday on the cheap. You
don’t have to lift a finger. The jewellery is great value; you wouldn’t buy less than eighteen carat. You’ve just got to go.’

‘I didn’t think it was fair on Hannah, a long journey like that, and Dan was tied up with work. It’s only in the last year that he’s managed to make it all work without
him being there twenty-four seven,’ Carrie’d explained evenly, trying to quell the urge to tell her to piss off.

‘I wouldn’t be waiting for Eddie if he couldn’t come. That would be his tough luck.’ Della snorted. ‘I’d be off like a shot.’

‘I guess that’s the difference between us,’ Carrie drawled.

Della reddened at the implied rebuke. ‘Otherwise I’d hardly see Greg at all. It’s different for you, you see Shauna for the whole summer every year,’ she protested.

Huh!
Carrie wasn’t impressed. Della wasn’t
that
close to her brother. If he were working in the back of beyond somewhere she wouldn’t be half as eager to
spend her holidays with him.

It
was
great that Carrie was able to spend the whole summer with her sister. Shauna came home in June and stayed until early September. Greg hadn’t come home the first year; he
was too busy settling in and working on projects. He’d come home for three weeks the second year, and they’d all gone back to the Gulf together. Carrie had enjoyed her time on her own
with Shauna and Chloe and maybe, she reflected, absence was making the heart grow fonder because her sister and her father seemed to have made some sort of effort to set aside their differences.
Noel loved Chloe. He often said she reminded him of Anna and he was always delighted to see her. Shauna made the effort to bring her to see him regularly during the summer.