Finishing Touches (44 page)

The sooner the better, he thought to himself. He wasn’t going to make the same mistake as a mate of his. His friend had got the job and was all set to go for a two-year stint, his visa
approved and everything, when his girlfriend of only two months had informed him that she wouldn’t be around when he got back. Because he was besotted by her, he decided not to go for the
time being. The romance had ended and he had applied again for the job but had been refused a visa. He had eventually gone to work in Germany, but he had really lost the chance to make big money in
the Middle East.

Well, Martin wasn’t going to make the same mistake. If Jean issued any ultimatums, he wasn’t going to let them stop him. He had sounded out Cassie about his plan and she had thought
it was a great idea. Cassie was a good old stick, really. She had been very helpful the time he went to London to do the second interview with the oil company. She did a mock interview with him and
pressed his recently purchased Louis Copeland suit and sent him off looking very smart indeed. Left to his own devices, Martin preferred jeans and sweatshirts. He’d set his heart on getting
that job, and when he got the good news he was so excited that he wanted to tell everybody. But Cassie had asked him not to tell their mother until Barbara’s wedding was over, as Nora had
enough on her plate to worry about. He had agreed, but the wedding was over now and tomorrow he was going to write to the oil company and tell them he was available immediately. Then he would tell
Nora . . . and Jean.

John cuddled Karen in his arms and smiled at her. She smiled back, almost asleep. They had just had a very sexy time although, at Karen’s wishes, she was staying a virgin
until her marriage. He really loved this girl so much and the sooner they were married the better, but he knew that financially they were not in a position to marry for the time being. One thing he
was sure of. Their wedding was not going to be anything like the wedding he had been at that day. What a waste of his mother’s money! It was far from red carpets and Rolls-Royces they were
reared. He knew a wedding was supposed to be a girl’s happiest day and finest hour and all that but Barbara had gone a bit overboard – as usual.

Well, he and Karen were going to pay for their own wedding and they had agreed that it was going to be a very small, intimate occasion. They had applied for planning permission to rebuild the
farm-labourer’s cottage he had bought and he would be doing a lot of the work himself, to save money. They would have to live in a mobile home for the first few months of their marriage, but
Karen was quite prepared for it. As long as they were together, she told him, she didn’t care. She was totally supportive of all his plans and he knew that he was very lucky to have found
her.

It was great that his mother and Cassie liked Karen as well. John knew that Nora had been very pleased by the news of their forthcoming engagement. He had also told Cassie in confidence and she
was equally pleased for him. Cassie had looked great today, much better than she had looked for ages – indeed since her split with Robbie. Whatever she did, whether she got married or
developed her career or started her own interior design business, which was a dream of hers, he hoped that Cassie would be as happy as he was now. She deserved it.

Cassie opened her eyes with a start. She had been dreaming that she was getting married and that when she got to the top of the aisle the man who had turned to face her was
Andrew Lawson. What a nightmare! She stretched luxuriously in her bed. It was pitch dark outside, the only sound the whisper of the breeze in the trees and the rhythmic pounding of the surf against
the shoreline. The never-changing sounds of home, so different from the constant noise that she had got used to in London.

Imagine dreaming she was marrying Andrew Lawson! It must have been after the incident at the wedding. God help whoever married that swine. A thought struck her. It hadn’t been Robbie at
the altar! She had actually dreamt about another man. A first since her break-up with her fiancé. The thought cheered her considerably, even if it
had
been Casanova Lawson.

Cassie had been quite proud of herself at the wedding. She had got through the whole day without once thinking of Robbie. That was a real step forward because she had actually felt apprehensive
about how she would feel at the wedding ceremony, wondering if her thoughts would turn to what might have been if she had married him. Thanks to Laura and Aileen, she had a much jollier time than
she expected and for the first time she felt free of her past. It was a good feeling, she decided, as she turned over and began to drift into sleep. At least she wouldn’t have to worry about
attending weddings any longer – she knew she could cope with them. From the way things were going in the family, she’d be attending another one in the not too distant future.

Robbie MacDonald was feeling very sorry for himself. Today he had seen Cassie and he knew without a doubt that he was still crazy about her. He had dated a few women since
their split but none of them had understood him the way she did.

He had heard on the grapevine at work that Cassie was back in town. He’d known Barbara was engaged to be married; he’d read it in the social and personal column in
The Irish
Times.
Typical of Barbara to tell the whole world about it. When he’d heard Cassie was home, he guessed it must be for the wedding.

It had been simple enough to find out where the wedding was being held. Barbara had been giving boastful briefings in her newspaper column about the arrangements for what she called ‘one
of the social events of the year’ and he had purchased
The Irish Mail
every day once he knew of his ex-fiancée’s return.

That morning he simply went to the hotel and sat in a secluded corner of the lounge. As luck would have it, his seat had a view of the entrance to the hotel and the grounds where some of the
wedding photographs were being taken.

When he’d seen Cassie he felt as though he’d been hit by a tank. She looked sensational, a real knockout in that royal-blue dress and the black high heels that made her legs look
even longer and sexier. She’d done something different to her hair. It was longer, glossier, and it really suited her. He couldn’t believe how well she looked, laughing and joking with
Aileen and Laura. Robbie had cherished the hope that Cassie might look miserable and unhappy, a hope that was now shattered.

He was sorely tempted to go up to Cassie but somehow he didn’t think she would be too welcoming. No, he had a much better idea, a foolproof plan to get them back together. Come Monday
morning, he was going to set in motion the train of events that would make his dream come true, the dream of making Cassie Jordan Mrs Robbie MacDonald.

‘He’s what!!’ Cassie exclaimed, aghast.

‘He’s taking over from Brian Mooney in Corporate Finance, UK,’ Miranda Dillon said calmly.

It was a Monday morning, four months after Barbara’s wedding, and Cassie had just come back from Port Mahon after attending her Aunt Elsie’s funeral. She was shocked to hear that
Robbie had applied for a position in Allied Isles’ UK headquarters and that in less than four weeks he would be there in that very building just three offices down the corridor from where she
was now sitting.

It was bad enough having to leave after the funeral, which had been most upsetting for Nora, and also hearing the disturbing news that Judy was pregnant and planning to marry Andrew Lawson. But
to come back to this! She felt anger ignite in her. How mean of Robbie. Just when she was starting to get herself on an even keel again, he was coming to London to work in the same place as her. A
thought struck her.

‘Where’s Brian going?’ she asked Miranda, as she poured herself a cup of coffee before starting to deal with the mountain of computer print-outs on her desk.

‘He’s transferring to Jersey, lucky bugger. You know, Jersey is crawling with millionaires. Why couldn’t they send
me
there?’

‘Will Robbie be getting Brian’s flat?’ Cassie asked grimly

‘Oh I’d say so, Cassie. He’s assured of it if he wants it. His grade entitles him to that.’

Oh God, why are you picking on me, Cassie not for the first time rebuked the Almighty. If Robbie were taking over Brian Mooney’s flat, not only would he be working in the same building as
her, he would also be living on the landing above her in Holland Park Avenue. Robbie MacDonald was going to be back in her life on a business level if nothing else, and there was nothing she could
do about it. ‘Oh yes, there is!’ she muttered determinedly as she dialled the personnel department in head office.

Three weeks later, Cassie was installed behind her new desk at her new job in the Customer Services Department at Allied Isles’ main Liverpool branch. Sitting in her
sixth-floor office, gazing out at the famous Albert Dock on one side, the Royal Liver Buildings, that great Liverpool landmark, on the other, and the river Mersey straight ahead of her, she almost
had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Everything had happened so fast that it was unreal.

Cassie had spoken to the personnel manager and explained that because of her broken engagement to Robbie she would prefer not to be working with him and that she was wondering if she could have
a transfer. The personnel manager was most understanding and told Cassie she would see what she could do. Two days later she phoned Cassie to say she could have a transfer to Customer Services in
Liverpool or to their Financial Services Department in Cork.

Cassie had chosen Liverpool mainly because she wanted to continue studying and working at interior design. Having secured her diploma just a couple of months previously, she felt there was more
scope in the UK. Cassie also knew that, despite the fact that the Irish Sea separated her from her mother, it actually took her only an hour and a half to fly home and drive to Port Mahon, whereas
if she transferred to Cork, it would mean a four-hour drive or train journey. Besides, she had never worked in Customer Services before and she thought she might like it.

The more she concentrated on her interior design, the less ambitious she was becoming at her job in the bank and this worried her. A new job in a new department might be the kick-start she
needed to get back on her career track again.

It was the most impulsive thing Cassie had ever done in her life and what a big change she was setting in motion. New job! New city! New place to live! Maybe she was a fool for running away and
letting Robbie disrupt her life completely. Lots of people would see it that way but Cassie had decided that she just wasn’t prepared to cope with Robbie in her life again. Besides, she felt
she needed the shake-up. She had a nice cocooned life in London and it would be very easy to meander along like that for another few years. Her move to Liverpool would be sure to benefit her in
some way.

Hadn’t Aileen felt the very same just recently? She had begun to get restless, telling Cassie she was fed up massaging the double chins of the rich old trout who came religiously to the
salon once and sometimes twice a week to have their facials, their manicures and pedicures and the like. A friend of hers who worked as a continuity girl for a film company had told Aileen that
there was a vacancy coming up in the make-up department shortly and urged her to apply. Aileen jumped at the idea and did a dazzling interview, emphasizing that she had had lots of dealings with
showbiz personalities in the Mayfair salon and that she was well able to cope with temperamental prima donnas if the need arose. She was also a very good make-up artist and was most interested in
learning about special-effects techniques, something usually mastered on the job.

Who could resist Aileen when she was at her bubbly best? She had got the job, handed in her resignation to a most disgruntled Madame Lefeur, and a week later she was on location in Cairo! She
was ecstatic. This was the break she had been waiting for and she knew she was going to love the life.

Cassie had been delighted for her friend. It really was the perfect career for Aileen, travelling the world, meeting people, using her artistry. Just as she had discovered a whole new lease of
life when she had released her creative talents with her interior designing, so too would Aileen.

But she’d miss her around, miss their lunches and their shopping jaunts. Aileen was still using her aunt’s place in Stanley Avenue as a base. She would often be working in London,
especially when films were being shot at the studios, but she would be doing a let of jetting around and they certainly wouldn’t be seeing as much of each other as they were used to.

So Cassie left London without any huge sense of regret. After almost three years of living there the glitz and excitement had worn a little thin for her. Tubing had long since lost its thrill.
She had seen all the sights, gone to the hot nightspots with Aileen, and the constant noise and traffic and fast pace of life had begun to pall. In Liverpool, she’d be less than an
hour’s journey from the sea, which would be a big plus. And she had heard that the Wirral was a lovely place. When she told people at work that she was going to Liverpool, they all assured
her that she would love it. If she had not finished her interior design diploma she would not have considered leaving the capital, but now fresh pastures beckoned and Cassie began to look forward
to the change with optimism.

Almost from the moment the train slowed to a halt at Lime Street station and Cassie emerged on to the street, she felt positive about her move. A lovely taxi driver with his
distinctive Scouse accent unburdened her of her luggage and said, ‘Welcome to Liverpool, luv. Where to?’ This was her first taste of the famed Liverpudlian friendliness and warmth; she
knew she had done the right thing and that she was going to like Liverpool. The bank had arranged for her to stay in a guest-house until she found accommodation, so she gave him that address.
Friends of hers in London had offered to store her possessions until she got a place of her own. Two weeks later, Cassie had a flat off Chaloner Street opposite the Queen’s Dock, fifteen
minutes’ cycle from her office. She had her belongings freighted up by train and once she had arranged them in the flat, she felt more settled.