Finishing Touches (60 page)

After ten days, Cassie was feeling a whole lot better. She had been heavily sedated for the first few days of her stay in the nursing home, sleeping for most of the time. By
the end of the first week her drug dosage had been much reduced. Reassured constantly by John, Karen and David and the doctor that Nora was being well taken care of, she gradually began to relax as
her body caught up on some much-needed rest.

She badly wanted to phone Barbara to apologize for striking her but the doctor would not allow it for the time being. John told her that the Murrays had moved out a few days after the incident
and rented a house in Swords until their own place was ready.

‘And about time too! Don’t feel bad about them, now, Cassie,’ John declared.

Nevertheless, Cassie was agitated about it, so Doctor Tyne finally allowed her to phone Barbara. She immediately hung up on Cassie.

‘That’s her problem now, Cassie. Forget about it, OK?’ David ordered when he heard the news. ‘She drove you to it!’

‘There was no excuse for what I did!’ Cassie said miserably.

‘Cassie, forget it! I mean it; she deserved everything she got,’ he grinned. ‘I can only say I don’t know how you waited so long to sock her one! It’s a pity Kristi
Killeen wasn’t on hand to witness it!’

‘Oh David!’ exclaimed Cassie, laughing in spite of herself. He had been so good and kind to her, making her feel loved and cherished. She would never forget the support he had given
her in her hour of greatest need.

She returned home after two weeks of rest, able once again to pick up the reins and carry on, relieved that Barbara and Ian were gone, sad that her sister would not respond to her efforts to
apologize. She cared for her mother with all the love she had to give her and tried as best she could to keep her own spirits up.

And then, several months later, when she went into Nora’s room to check her early one morning, she knew that there was something different about her. Her mother’s breathing was very
slow and, as she bent over her in concern, Nora’s eyes flickered open briefly. They focused clear and unclouded on her daughter.

‘Cassie,’ Nora whispered, giving a little smile and then, gazing at something in the distance, she murmured ‘Jack’ and sighed softly. Cassie knew that her mother was
dead.

Cassie stood dry-eyed at the graveside, watching her mother’s coffin being lowered into the ground. ‘Thank you, thank you, God, for giving me that little
miracle,’ she whispered. To have her mother recognize her after all this time had given Cassie such joy. She knew her father’s spirit had been in the room with them and that he had been
there to bring Nora on her last journey.

She had sat silently in prayer over her mother’s body and a great feeling of peace had enveloped her. She knew Nora and Jack were with her, she could sense their presence so strongly, and
from that moment she lost her fear of death.

Afterwards, of course, there had been much to do. She phoned the doctor and John immediately and then David. John took care of the funeral arrangements and David spent his time making tea and
sandwiches as required. Doctor Tyne had been very consoling and said that the massive heart attack that had caused Cassie’s mother’s death was a blessing in disguise.

Barbara had not spoken to Cassie at all! She completely ignored her sister, much to David’s fury. He wanted to say something to her, but Cassie forbade it. ‘Not now, David. I
don’t want Mam’s funeral to turn into a slagging match, and besides, she looks as if she’s going to have that baby at any minute!’

Jean said nothing to Cassie either, in solidarity with her friend Barbara, and Cassie felt hurt and worried. Had neither of the other two women realized at all the immense stress she had been
under? Were they going to hold a grudge for the rest of their lives? At this stage it looked like it. Cassie, who had never held a grudge against anyone, could not understand them.

Irene came home for the funeral and was hysterical with grief. She stood beside Cassie at the graveside, sobbing her heart out. Cassie put a comforting arm around her.

‘Mam knew me when she died, Irene. She was her old self and it was very peaceful for her,’ she whispered, consolingly.

‘It’s all my fault!’ sobbed Irene. ‘You don’t understand! It’s all my fault. I had an abortion and God is punishing me.’

Oh God! thought Cassie in dismay. How on earth was she going to handle this?

Irene lay in bed in her old bedroom and felt that a great load had been lifted from her shoulders. When it burst out of her about the abortion she was sure Cassie would be
disgusted and call her a murderer. But her sister just took her home and put her to bed and told her that she was no judge of anyone and that Irene had done what she felt she had to do and that God
was understanding and did not go around punishing people by letting their mothers die of Alzheimer’s disease, however much it might look like it.

Ever since she went to that clinic and terminated her baby’s life, Irene had felt guilty and frightened. But there was no other option available to her. It was Dean who had organized and
paid for the abortion. If she kept the baby she would have lost him and the security he represented. She knew she couldn’t take care of a baby. She’d be scared out of her wits by a tiny
thing like that and by all the responsibility and worries that having a child entailed. And she was petrified at the thought of childbirth. At the time, termination had seemed like the best idea,
but looking back now Irene wondered if it had been a mistake. Maybe she would have coped better than she expected. Cassie would have been there. Cassie would never turn her back on anyone.

Irene buried these thoughts. Maybe now that Mam was dead, she would come back home and live with Cassie. Cassie would take care of her the way Mam had! Maybe that’s what she’d do,
she thought, as she drifted off into a Mogadon-induced sleep.

Barbara was on the horns of a dilemma! After the funeral, there had been tea and sandwiches for the mourners in the Port Mahon Arms Hotel, although Cassie had taken Irene home
first as she was dreadfully upset. Now practically everyone was gone and she couldn’t decide whether to go back to the house or not. There were a few items there that she had her eye on.
Surely she was as much entitled to them as anyone else in the family. Her mother’s ivory jewellery-box for one, and that gorgeous filigree brooch that Jack had bought her for one of their
wedding anniversaries.

It was a bit awkward not talking to Cassie, from that point of view. But she had vowed never to speak to her sister again and she wouldn’t. It was upsetting Cassie, Barbara noted in
satisfaction. Maybe she
wouldn’t
go back, just to annoy her. She’d tell Irene what she wanted and make her get it for her. No, she wouldn’t go to the scene of her
assault. let Cassie stew in her own juice for a bit longer.

David Williams had been glaring at her throughout the funeral but she had just ignored him. Rather than put her off, his macho behaviour had only increased her interest. Although she was furious
with him and hated him, she couldn’t forget the way his eyes blazed with fury the day of the row and how he
ordered
Ian to let Cassie go. Oh, to have a man act like that for her. And
Ian, the wimp, did as he was told and never said boo.

Barbara didn’t know if it were due to her hormones going awry in the ninth month of her pregnancy, but all she could think about was sex. And not with her husband. Oh no! Ian was a dead
duck as far as sex was concerned. When she went to bed at night she had the wildest fantasies of David Williams taking her by force, as she cursed and struggled with him and finally surrendered to
his passion. For the first time in her life Barbara was having a wonderful sex life . . . except that, unfortunately, it was all in her mind.

Aileen and Laura sat in the kitchen they both remembered so well from their schoolgirl days. Cassie was talking to relatives, John was talking to David, and of Barbara and
Martin and Jean there was no sign.

‘She’s a bad bitch, isn’t she, not to come home on the day of her mother’s funeral!’ Laura said in disgust.

‘I wouldn’t expect any better from her. How she survived so long without someone socking her in the jaw, I don’t know!’ Aileen sipped her tea and stretched out her legs.
‘I wish I’d been there to see it! Barbara with a bloody nose would have been a sight for sore eyes.’

‘Shhh,’ whispered Laura, ‘Cassie was very upset about it.’

‘More fool her! I hope she gave her a kick in the ass, too!’ Aileen muttered.

‘Cassie looks awful, doesn’t she? I hope she takes a break before going back to work,’ Laura mused. ‘I’ll miss her when she goes back to Liverpool.’

‘Is she going to go back?’ Aileen asked. ‘I didn’t get much time to talk to her. I only got here this morning.’

‘I think she will. Her house is there.’

‘David’s here,’ Aileen murmured.

‘True,’ Laura nodded. ‘I’d forgotten all about that. I wonder what she’ll do.’

‘Well, she’ll have to get the will settled and out of the way first, I’d imagine. I hope every t is crossed and i dotted, especially with the likes of Barbara. You know the
troubles wills can cause,’ Aileen whispered, as a neighbour came within earshot.

‘Tell me about it!’ grimaced Laura. ‘I’m a solicitor!’

‘Oh my God! The fat’s in the fire now!’ Cassie muttered in shock, as she read the document in front of her. It was a copy of her mother’s will that had
just arrived in the morning’s post. No doubt the rest of the members of the family had got a copy too. Barbara wouldn’t be one bit happy when she read it! Sighing, Cassie went to phone
David and tell him the news.

John came in for his breakfast and saw the letter propped up on the mantelpiece. Karen was dishing up rashers and sausages and John was starving. He’d been in the
glasshouses since six o’clock. ‘What’s this?’ he asked cheerfully, planting a kiss on his wife’s cheek.

‘I didn’t open it. It’s addressed to you,’ Karen smiled. ‘And if it’s a bill, it’s
definitely
nothing to do with me!’

John read the letter and document in silence and a big grin spread across his face. ‘Good girl, Mam! Here, Karen, read this. Barbara will go bananas!’

Irene was doing her last-minute packing. She was flying back to Washington early the following day and Cassie had been really kind and brought her up her breakfast in bed.
There had been a letter on the tray and Cassie had explained that she had received an identical letter. It was a copy of their mother’s will. With tears in her eyes, Irene read Nora’s
last will and testament. She felt a bit hurt. She had always thought she was Nora’s pet, but it was Cassie who was being favoured in the will. Well, at least, Cassie would always make sure
Irene had a home, so maybe it wasn’t the worst thing to happen. All the same, it wasn’t what she had expected of her mother. Irene felt quite disappointed.

‘Well, honestly, Martin, were
you
expecting this!’ Jean pointed a perfectly manicured finger nail at the section of the document that had been totally
unexpected. ‘Well, what are you going to do about it?’ his wife pressed.

‘I don’t know. I’ll have to see what the others have to say first,’ Martin growled. He hoped his wife wasn’t going to start nagging. She was three months pregnant
and got a bit hyper sometimes. He just had to be careful of her. Jean was a delicate little thing, easily upset, and she had never got over that incident when Cassie had ordered her out of the
house during the spat with Barbara.

‘Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to ring Barbara. I bet
she’ll
have something to say about this!’ Jean declared.

‘The sneaky cow!’ Barbara shrieked as she read a copy of the same document in her home in Malahide. Upstairs her new baby son howled, wanting to be fed. Barbara was
oblivious of him.

She waved it under her husband’s nose. ‘Look at the date of that will, February 1985.
I
remember, that was just after Mam came home from staying with that sly bitch in
Liverpool. It’s obvious that she put pressure on Mam to change her will. Well, by God, she’s done it now! She’s not going to diddle the rest of us out of what is rightfully ours.
Oh the hypocrite. Miss Goody Bloody Two-Shoes! I
knew
she’d pull a stunt like this. I just
knew
it! Well, she’s not getting away with it. If I have to drag her through
every court in the land, I will. She got away with assaulting me but she’s gone too far this time!’ Barbara was so overcome with emotion she burst into tears, much to Ian’s
dismay. He hated it when women got emotional!

‘Mam’s left the house to me, David! She made a new will that nobody knew about after her heart attack. In her old will the house and farm were to be sold and the
money was to be divided equally between us all. Now I get a share of the farm
and
the house. She said it was because I was the one who always took care of her. Oh David—’
Cassie started to cry. When she thought of all the times she had felt so resentful of her mother for being the cause of her having to give up her lovely life. When she thought of the times she had
yelled at her during her illness and not been as gentle as she might have been because she was tired and stressed, Cassie felt overcome with guilt. Now, as a reward, her mother had left her the
house, which was worth sixty thousand pounds or more.

She couldn’t quite believe that her mother was dead. At night, Cassie still slept lightly, waking often, listening for her mother and then remembering that she was gone.

It was strange having time to herself. She had been wired up for so long, looking after Nora, that she didn’t know what to do with herself. So she began a frenzy of housework, much to
David’s annoyance; he was trying to get her to relax now that she had the chance.

She was going through Nora’s personal possessions and they brought back heartbreaking memories. Although Cassie knew that for her mother death was a merciful release, it didn’t stop
her grieving. She comforted herself with the memory that at least Nora had known her for that one brief moment to say goodbye. The rest of her siblings had not been so blessed. Nora had thought so
much of her that she had left the house to her. Cassie was deeply touched, not at the material gain, but at the thought behind it.