Finishing Touches (59 page)

This was definitely the last child, though! After this one, she was getting her tubes tied! Ian refused to have the snip, afraid of his life to get a needle. How he ever became a detective
mystified his wife! Fortunately, she had to admit, she was feeling fine, but the drive into Dublin and back daily left her very tired and she was making just brief appearances at the functions she
had to attend, so she could see who was there and who wasn’t. Spending a precious Saturday night looking after her mother was
not
what she had planned.

Cassie was much better able to take care of Nora. Barbara found herself getting irritated. It was so hard to believe that that strange old woman who could do nothing for herself was their
mother. Barbara just left Cassie to get on with it. She was rarely at home anyway and she was just as glad. If only they had their own house finished. The way things were going, all Ian’s
compensation would end up in builders’ pockets and they’d be left on their uppers!

Aileen was collecting Cassie. She looked stunning these days, with her permanent tan and mane of tumbling red hair. That was the life, travelling all over the world, hopping from one exotic
location to another. Who the hell did she think she was, Isadora Duncan, Barbara thought sourly, as Aileen roared up the drive in her mother’s pristine Starlet and strode to the front door,
hair blowing wildly in the wind.

After the two months had passed, Cassie had given up hope that she would ever see the back of her unwelcome guests. The plumber who was installing the central heating in the
Malahide house had made a complete hash of positioning the boiler, and Barbara and he were in dispute over payment. Cassie was terribly tired and her nerves were frayed. David insisted she go to
the doctor, who was very kind to her and put her on iron tablets and a tonic. He also suggested a mild tranquillizer to help her for a short period. Cassie was very loath to take the tranquillizer;
she was afraid of getting hooked, although the doctor promised her he would not let that happen. She had a sneaking fear that by taking the tranquillizers for even a short period, she was losing
control and admitting she was not able to cope. Nora had become very withdrawn and was dependent on Cassie for everything. She had even forgotten how to feed herself.

One Sunday afternoon, Jean arrived to visit Barbara. It was a habit she had got into. Martin was left at home to wash up after the dinner he had cooked and he usually spent the afternoon
enjoying the peace and watching sport. Cassie found herself very resentful of these visits. It was as if her house were invaded. Barbara and Jean would natter away in the sitting-room, ignoring the
fact that Cassie might have wanted to look at a film on TV or just lie down on the sofa to try and snatch forty winks.

When her sister-in-law had first started coming, Cassie felt constrained to offer her tea. Jean was more than content to sit back and act the lady and be waited on hand and foot until one Sunday
Cassie just had enough. She pointed Jean in the direction of the kitchen and told her to help herself, then she went off for a walk. Both Barbara and Jean were very frosty on her return.

Rather than have to put up with the two girls this afternoon, she decided on the spur of the moment to call on David and see if he would like to go for a walk on the beach. She usually
didn’t disturb him without a prior arrangement, respecting his need for solitude to work.

They went for a walk and ended up having a row. David had been encouraging her for ages to tell Barbara and Ian that they would have to get alternative accommodation. He knew Cassie wasn’t
able to cope. He had watched her get more and more irritable as the months went on and had himself suffered a few times from the sharp edge of her tongue, although she had always been quick to
apologize.

‘For Christ’s sake, don’t
you
start!’ Cassie snapped, when he again urged her to do something about the situation.

‘Well, I’m browned off listening to you moaning every time we meet. And you won’t take my advice,’ David snapped back.

‘I can’t just throw them out on the street!’

‘Don’t be so dramatic, Cassie! You’re not throwing them out on the street; they’ll just have to go and rent a house somewhere.’ David viciously kicked a can along
the beach.

‘I am
not
being dramatic, David Williams. Why don’t you just go home and write your damned book and leave me alone!’ Cassie exploded.

‘Right, I will, if that’s what you want!’ David glared back at her.

‘That’s what I want!’ Cassie turned on her heel and marched down the beach, leaving David to stand and curse at the inconsistencies of women.

Tears smarted in Cassie’s eyes as she jammed her hands in her pockets, letting the wind whip her hair around her face. Some help he was! Men, she’d never understand them! She walked
as far as Cockleshell Bay and then turned around and walked home. Jean was still there, she and Barbara deeply engrossed in the latest society gossip. There was no sign of Nora and Ian was
slumbering on the sofa. Britt was playing in Irene’s old room.

Cassie walked down the hall to her mother’s room. When she tried to open the door she found that it was locked. Barbara must have locked it! Cassie felt fury envelop her. How dare she! How
dare
she! Never in all the time she had been minding Nora had Cassie locked her mother in her room. She went in to Nora, who was sitting whimpering on the floor.

‘Mam! Oh Mam, it’s all right, love.’ She helped her mother up on to the bed and sat cuddling her for a while and when Nora relaxed in her arms she left her propped up against
the pillows and walked down towards the sitting-room.

She stood at the door and stared at Barbara and actually felt hatred for her sister. ‘What’s wrong?’ Barbara asked, slightly unnerved by the strange look on Cassie’s face
and her sister’s unusual pallor.

‘You’re what’s wrong!’ Cassie’s voice was shaking. ‘You’re what’s wrong, you bitch. How dare you lock Mam in her room? How
dare
you? This
is
her
house. Are you listening to me, you . . . you!’ Driven beyond reason, Cassie made a lunge at her sister, tears streaming down her face.

Barbara gave a shriek of horror. ‘Ian! Ian! Get her off me. She’s gone mad. Get her off me.’ Cassie was clawing at Barbara, Jean was white with fright and Ian, woken out of his
sleep, didn’t know what was going on.

‘I’ll kill you! You selfish little bitch,’ Cassie shouted hysterically, as Ian lumbered to his feet and grabbed her from behind.

‘Calm down!’ he ordered.

‘Let go of me, you lazy fat lump,’ Cassie struggled furiously against him. ‘You creep, you parasite! I want the two of you out of this house
now
,’ Cassie
yelled.

‘Don’t
you
talk to my husband like that!’ screamed Barbara, outraged. ‘I’ll sue you for assault, Cassie Jordan. Attacking a pregnant woman! You’re
mad! Jean will be a witness. Won’t you, Jean?’ she appealed hysterically to her sister-in-law.

‘Aaah . . . ’ stammered Jean, who was quaking in her shoes. She had never seen anything like this.

‘You get out too, Miss. Who do you think you are sitting in my mother’s house and allowing her to be locked in her room so that your precious gossip won’t be disturbed.
Out!
’

Jean took to her heels and ran out the front door as if all the demons of hell were after her. She nearly knocked down David, who was just arriving. He had come to make amends with Cassie.

‘What’s wrong?’ he demanded of Jean. He had heard the sound of raised voices from the driveway.

Jean burst into tears. ‘You’d better get in there or Cassie’s going to kill someone. She’s gone mad!’

‘Jesus Christ!’ David muttered, as he ran through the door to see Cassie screaming and struggling in Ian’s arms and Barbara holding a bloody nose and screeching that she was
bringing Cassie to the highest court in the land.

‘Let go of her!’ ordered David in fury, as he wrenched Cassie out of Ian’s arms. ‘What the
hell
is going on here?’

‘She tried to murder me!’ Barbara bawled.

‘It’s a pity she didn’t fucking succeed,’ David exploded. ‘Come on, Cassie, come outside and cool off. You two!’ He pointed a finger at Barbara and Ian.
‘Get your things together and beat it!’

‘You can’t talk to me and my husband like that!’ Barbara gasped in disbelief.

‘Watch me, lady! Out!’ David’s eyes were ice-blue flints. He put his arms around Cassie, who was pale and trembling, and led her out the front door.

‘It’s OK, you’re OK now, Cassie!’ David reassured her, as he walked her down the steps to the garden.

‘Oh David, I’m going to be sick!’ Cassie doubled over and threw up in the shrubbery. David held her head and when it was over gently wiped her mouth with his handkerchief.

‘She locked Mam in her room, David. It just freaked me out,’ she wept brokenly, her body shuddering with sobs. ‘I can’t cope any longer. I don’t know what’s
wrong with me. I feel so scared. I lie awake at night and my stomach is in knots and my head feels as if it’s going to explode and my mind is racing and I can’t seem to get a grip on
things. What’s wrong with me? Am I going mad?’

‘No, you’re not going mad at all, Cassie, you’re just exhausted!’ David soothed. Privately, he was horrified at the state Cassie was in. He hadn’t realized she was
this close to a breakdown. ‘Just come over here and sit down on the garden seat for a minute. I just have to fix something up inside.’

Too weary to argue, Cassie sat down on the seat and tried to stop crying.

Back inside, David lifted up the phone and rang the doctor. He glared at Barbara who was holding a towel to her bleeding nose. ‘I’m ringing the doctor for Cassie. She’s very
close to a nervous breakdown. You can get him to look at your nose if you want. What’s John’s number?’

Barbara ignored him.

‘It’s in the little book by the phone,’ muttered Ian, completely at a loss. His wife glowered at him for assisting the enemy. David gave John a brief rundown of the incident
and told him he should get over to the house as quickly as he could. He, Karen and the doctor arrived at the same time and David explained the situation to them all.

‘I’ll just check Barbara out, seeing that she is pregnant,’ the GP said. ‘Although I’m sure she’ll be fine,’ he added reassuringly when he saw the looks
on their faces. ‘Go and take care of Cassie until I’m ready to see her.’

When Cassie saw John she burst out crying again. ‘I’m sorry, John, I’m really sorry. I don’t know what came over me,’ she sobbed.

Her brother put his arms around her. ‘Shush, Cassie! It’s all right. Don’t worry about a thing!’

‘Barbara’s fine!’ the doctor announced rather grimly when he saw Cassie’s stricken face a few minutes later. Privately and unprofessionally, he was only sorry Cassie
hadn’t given her sister a black eye as well as a bloody nose. He brought Cassie into her bedroom and conducted a quick examination, and then told her he was giving her an injection and that
she might feel a bit woozy after it.

‘What about Mam? She needs to be changed. You know she’s incontinent,’ Cassie said agitatedly, struggling to get up.

‘Lie still, Cassie, like a good girl!’ Doctor Tyne said, easing her back against the pillows. ‘Karen’s here. She’ll look after Nora. Now, let me give you this
shot!’

‘OK,’ she whispered, defeated.

The doctor stayed with her until the drug took effect and when he saw that she was quite sedated he closed the door gently and went out to David and John, who were in the kitchen.

‘I’ve sedated her but she’s going to need a complete break for a couple of weeks. You’ve got to make some arrangements. I can have your mother put in residential care
until Cassie’s capable of taking care of her again. I’m going to send Cassie into a nursing home this evening.’

‘Mam would fret in a home, wouldn’t she?’ John said worriedly.

‘Well, she’s in an advanced stage of Alzheimer’s and it’s hard to know, but she probably wouldn’t react too well to a strange environment,’ the doctor
agreed.

‘Look, Karen’s agreed that we’ll move up here for as long as Cassie needs and Mrs Bishop will be in during the day. I think Cassie might be easier in her mind if we did this.
She’d be upset if she thought Mam was in a home; she told me she promised her never to put her in one,’ John said.

‘Well, whatever you want, John, that sounds fine. I’m just going to make the arrangements to get Cassie into the nursing home. Maybe Karen would put together whatever she’d
need for a couple of weeks.’

‘Of course.’ John went off to talk to his wife.

The doctor turned to David. ‘Mr Williams, would you like to come with me when I bring Cassie in?’

‘I would! She
will
be all right, won’t she?’ David asked anxiously.

‘Ah, she’ll be fine. Cassie’s a great coper. She just needs to recharge her batteries for a while!’ the doctor told him kindly. ‘That pair will have to go,
though!’ He jerked a thumb in the direction of the sitting-room, where Barbara and Ian were ensconced.

‘You can say that again!’ David growled.

Once she had got over the shock of it all, Barbara was furious. Cassie had
really
gone too far. It was galling to have the doctor arranging for Cassie to go to a
nursing home, and not a word about
her
or her unborn child. God knows what trauma the baby had suffered as a result of her aunt’s deranged attack. She was going to
insist
on
having a scan.

God Almighty! All she had done was lock Mam in her room for an hour or two so she wouldn’t be wandering around getting into mischief while Cassie wasn’t there to keep an eye on her.
It was Cassie’s own fault, anyhow, for gadding off with that Williams skunk. The cheek, the unmitigated cheek of him to speak to her and Ian like that. In her own home. The bloody nerve of
him. Well, she wasn’t going to stay here and be accused of causing Cassie’s so-called nervous breakdown. She’d be gone in the morning. If that was what they wanted, fine. Let them
throw her and her family out on the street. She’d never forgive them. By God, she’d get her own back on them. She’d sue Cassie for assault and David Williams . . . his time would
come. Oh yes, Barbara would deal with him in her own special way . . .