Stand by Me (63 page)
Dominique was also standing by Brendan to support Greg and Emma. Greg had given one or two interviews to local papers in which he’d come out publicly and stood behind Brendan, saying that his brother might have been foolish and made promises that he hadn’t been able to keep, but that he hadn’t set out deliberately to defraud people. His comments had been both eloquent and heartfelt and had done Brendan a lot of good.
Emma, despite the newspapers having doorstepped her once or twice, had kept a low profile. But when she eventually had to give a comment she’d said that Brendan Delahaye had always been good to her and so had Dominique, who had been a friend long before they’d both married into the Delahaye family and who, she hoped, would be a friend for a long time to come.
Emma’s words had touched Dominique deeply and she’d sent her a text message to thank her. Emma had replied by saying that she hoped she’d see Domino soon, although, being perfectly honest, she didn’t care if she never saw Brendan again as long as she lived.
But the main reason Dominique was supporting Brendan was for Kelly. She didn’t want her daughter to feel that her father was being deserted by the people who loved him. She didn’t want her to think that she didn’t care what happened to him or their family. Because it was all very well for the media to poke and pry and to write horrible articles (no matter how true some of the facts might be), but if they were hurtful to Brendan, they were doubly hurtful to the people who loved him. And Kelly, Dominique knew, still loved her father with the same devotion she’d had when he’d brought her to the building sites and given her her own bright yellow hard-topped hat and Timberland boots and told her that one day she’d own the company herself. It couldn’t happen now, of course. It probably never would have happened. But that didn’t mean that Kelly would want to see her dad hung out to dry by the only people who were still there for him.
The court was adjourned until later that day, and Brendan, Dominique and Kelly hurried past the reporters and across the road to the Legal Eagle, where they had soup and sandwiches (though neither Dominique nor Kelly ate very much). Dominique couldn’t help wondering how many times other people had rushed from the court to the pub; how many people guilty and innocent had sat on the seat she was now sitting on, wondering how things would turn out.
‘I think it’s going quite well,’ said Brendan. ‘Donnelly thinks so too.’
Garvan Donnelly was Brendan’s counsel for the court hearing. He had been recommended by Ciara.
‘Good,’ said Dominique.
‘It’s great that you’re here with me,’ said Brendan. ‘It means a lot.’
Dominique nodded.
‘And you too, honey.’ He reached out and squeezed Kelly’s hand. ‘I love you.’
‘I love you too, Dad,’ said Kelly. ‘I do, really.’
The atmosphere in the court was overwhelming. Dominique supposed that it was meant to be like that, to make you feel nervous and ill at ease. She felt sick as the judge took her place in front of them again, and she realised that she was trembling. She could see, though, that Brendan was holding himself ramrod straight.
The judge started talking.
She reminded Dominique of Evelyn and the way she would lecture her when she was younger. She used the same tone of resigned sorrow that someone could be so stupid and so wrong, as she told Brendan that he had let down the people closest to him but that at least now he was accepting responsibility for his actions. She commented on the strain that had been put upon Brendan’s friends and relatives and the stress that had been caused to his employees too. She noted that previous orders had enabled the banks to repossess his home, which, she said, had undoubtedly been very traumatic for his family. She was now making orders freezing the other assets that had come to light and requiring him to make payments to people who had given him money. She realised that not everybody would get back everything, but that Brendan hadn’t set out to defraud them intentionally.
‘They’re probably lucky,’ Brendan muttered to himself. ‘They’re getting cash back from me now, but if they were stuck in the Barbados property deal, they’d be stuffed!’
Eventually the hearing finished. They left the court together and got into the Ford Focus again. Flashbulbs from the photographers’ cameras went off in their faces as they drove away.
‘This must be what it’s like to be Angelina Jolie,’ said Kelly with determined cheerfulness as Gabriel drove along the quays.
‘She’s welcome to it,’ said Dominique grimly.
‘I guess overall it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.’ Brendan sighed. ‘It all seems so black and white in court, but things are never that simple. Ciara says that it’s highly unlikely that the Director of Public Prosecutions will pursue a criminal case now.’
‘Thank God,’ said Dominique.
He kissed her.
‘Thank you for sticking by me,’ he said.
‘You stuck by me,’ she told him simply. ‘How could I do anything else?’
Garvan Donnelly had told Brendan that there would be other small issues relating to the case to be dealt with, but that Ciara would look after it all. There would be no need for Brendan to visit the court again, unless he failed to comply with the orders.
‘I’ll do everything I’m supposed to,’ he said. ‘I want to rebuild my businesses.’
‘How?’ asked Dominique.
‘Well, I guess there’s no such thing as bad publicity,’ he told her. ‘I’ll go back to doing extensions and stuff. I bet people will be keen enough to get a notorious builder like me doing work for them. Give them a feeling of superiority too, to be able to say to their friends, “Hey, had that guy Brendan Delahaye working for me. Remember, he used to be a hotshot. Now he’s my brickie.”’
‘Oh, Brendan ...’
‘Where will you set it up?’ asked Kelly.
‘I’ll start out like I did before,’ replied Brendan. ‘From home.’
‘We don’t have a home,’ said Dominique tightly. ‘It’s been sold.’
‘Anywhere you are is home for me,’ Brendan told her.
Dominique said nothing, because she really didn’t know what to say.
It was hard to believe that it was over. Dominique was hoping that the media would forget about them now and move on to the next interesting thing. There were plenty of other people in the news all worthy of attention from the journalists and broadcasters, and now that Brendan was back and had shown himself to be penitent about what had happened, Dominique felt that their lives were no longer the soap opera they had somehow turned into.
After Gabriel had driven them home, Brendan said that he’d make everyone something to eat, but Dominique told him that she wasn’t hungry and that actually she wanted to go for a walk. When he asked where, she said that she didn’t know, but that she wanted to be by herself for a while.
At first Brendan tried to argue with her, but Dominique told him that, not entirely surprisingly, she had a headache and wasn’t in form for talking, and could he just this once understand that she didn’t want him with her. Kelly listened to the edgy conversation between her parents with concern and then told her father that she was hungry and he could cook something for her.
Dominique went upstairs and changed into her black skinny jeans and a black jacket. When she came down again, Gabriel, who’d come into the house with them, was standing in the narrow hallway.
‘I thought perhaps I could join you on that walk,’ he said. She knew that she and Gabriel had to have a heart-to-heart talk. She hadn’t felt able to until Brendan’s hearing was out of the way. Now, although she was tired and truly would have preferred to be on her own, she nodded.
They walked in silence as far as Marino Mart, and then Gabriel suggested having a coffee in the café overlooking Fairview Park.
‘I know it’s been tough for you,’ he said as the waitress placed two cappuccinos in front of them. ‘You’ve been incredibly brave, Domino.’
‘No I haven’t,’ she said. ‘I’ve just got on with it, that’s all. And I’m still ...’ She closed her eyes for a moment and swallowed hard before continuing. ‘I’m still very angry with Brendan. If you want the truth, I’m not sure I can forgive him.’
‘You have to move on,’ said Gabriel.
‘I know that,’ she said. ‘And the thing is, Gabriel, I’ve done some monumental moving on while Brendan was away.’
‘Moving on from him?’ asked her brother.
‘Moving on from depending on him,’ she replied.
‘Will your marriage be all right?’ asked Gabriel. He looked quizzically at her. ‘What about this man you were seeing?’
‘Paddy.’ Dominique gazed into her coffee cup. ‘I haven’t actually seen him since Brendan returned. He’s phoned me once or twice to see how things are coming along. He’s a nice man.’
‘Is there a but?’
‘But I’m not sure about men right now. Nice or otherwise. Married to them or not.’
‘Well, look, Domino, whatever you do . . . if you need help or advice or anything . . . just call me.’
She sipped her coffee in silence.
‘I know I’m not exactly the best person to give advice. I know you’re still angry with me too because of Emma. But I’m better with other people’s problems than my own.’
‘I’m not angry with you,’ said Dominique. ‘Maybe it’s more disappointment. All my life I thought you were the one person who’d always do the right thing no matter what. It was very irritating, actually. Your goodness was a constant in my life, even though I resented thinking that way; then suddenly it was gone.’
Gabriel nodded. ‘I thought I was that person too,’ he said. ‘And even though I kept saying to myself that I couldn’t possibly go to bed with her that day, another part of me was thinking why not? I mean, I know why not, but for that mad moment I couldn’t help myself.’
‘You used to tell me that people can always help themselves, ’ she reminded him. ‘You said it was a pathetic defence to say otherwise.’
‘I was arrogant to even think that,’ said Gabriel simply. ‘All I can say is that when I was in that room with Emma, I couldn’t think of anything other than that I wanted to make love to her.’
‘But why then?’ asked Dominique. ‘You’d spurned her before. So what changed?’
‘I did,’ said Gabriel. ‘Oh, Domino, you’ve no idea what it was like being me. I thought I was so right about everything. I thought I was blessed. I thought I knew it all because God had shown me the way. I thought I was special. I thought I was above petty day-to-day desires.’ He smiled shakily. ‘It was easy to think that way when I was studying. Even in the seminary, which can be difficult for tons of reasons. But I was fine, I was Gabriel Brady and I knew exactly what I wanted from life. And then I went to the parish and I connected with people for the first time. There was a woman who’d lost her husband. He was only sixty. They’d been married for thirty years. She was heartbroken. Really and truly heartbroken. She told me that it had been perfect with him, that he’d been the only man she’d ever loved. “Oh, Father,” she said. “I slept with one or two before. But I only loved him.” She looked at me then as though I was supposed to be scandalised that she’d slept with other men, but I wasn’t. I was hurting for her and wondering what it would be like to love someone that much and lose them. Because of course you’re not meant to lose God. But a person . . . for them to be part of your life . . . I was lonely up there as well, Domino, and I put my arm around that woman and I hugged her and suddenly I wanted someone to hug me and care for me and it wasn’t enough to tell myself that God loved me. I got over it, of course. But it niggled at me all the time. And then Emma got in touch and she was worried about her mother and I wanted to help her, and . . . Well, obviously in the end I didn’t help her at all, did I? And she was disappointed in me! It was a mind-blowing experience as far as I was concerned, but as soon as it was over I knew that she’d had better. I felt utterly useless. I’d been hopeless at the act that had betrayed everything I ever stood for.’
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