After all, Zara was not herself just yet; she was quiet and seemed a little lost among the party guests. He should’ve known it would have been all too much for her.
Once he’d got dressed and hurried back to the lounge, he retrieved his phone; luckily, it was still intact. Zara’s phone was still switched off. All he could do was send her a voicemail message. Having done that, he put his phone in his pocket. Now impatience and agitation set in again as he screamed to no one, ‘For fuck’s sake, what’s she doing?’
Gloria returned again with a tray of fresh coffee and some more McVitie’s digestive biscuits. ‘Mikey, stop fretting. She’ll be back. She’s probably gone to meet the Lanigans or even headed up to the hospital. That poor lad. His father must have been worried to death.’
Mike listened as his mother rambled on, and then he frowned. ‘I’m gonna let her get on with it, the silly woman. She should’ve known me better. Where’s Eric gone now?’
‘Son, your brother is a law unto himself. He tells us nothing.’
‘What?’ Mike sensed the sadness in her tone. ‘But we’ve no secrets. We never have had.’
Gloria took her coffee and sat back down, crossed her legs, and sighed. ‘Mikey, he ain’t like you. He never has been. The truth is, when you ran the firm, he followed you around, but, left to his own devices, he’s a bit of a dark horse; sort of detached, if ya know what I mean.’
‘Devious?’
Gloria raised her brows. ‘Oh, I wouldn’t go that far, but let’s just say he’s not as open as you. The truth be known, you two were so close in age, we probably treated you as if you were one person. You were the voice for both of you. Eric seemed to stand by your side, you did the talking, and he just nodded in agreement. You led the firm, and with your ideas, you grew the business, and you were always the one who was on the front line. Even as a little lad, you would place Eric behind you, protecting him, in a way. You might not have realized it, but you did.’ She stared off into space as if reliving a moment. ‘You were always an open lad. Whether we liked what you did or said, or not, you never hid anything. You’ve always been a straight-up, no-holds-barred person and so honest.’
Mike listened and knew somewhere in his mother’s words there was a ‘but’. ‘Mum, tell me, what did Eric do while I was away?’
She stared up at her son and chewed her lip. ‘Mikey, I don’t have a favourite. I love you both the same. But, I have to say, when Eric disappeared to Spain or wherever, I disliked him. I couldn’t get my head around the fact that he left you inside to rot. Your father felt the same. He was so disappointed with Eric. You know, it made him sick. But the fact of the matter is, we’ve still no idea what his life is about, even though he’s been back a while, and we’ve lost interest in his business affairs anyway.’
Turning the phone over in his hand, he looked at his mother, and a cold expression clouded him. ‘Well, Eric seems to be doing okay for himself, so perhaps it’s best that he stays away from the firm. I mean, when he did come to visit me, he almost pleaded to be back in with us. I dunno, that was a month ago. Perhaps he’s changed his mind.’
Gloria slowly nodded, in acknowledgement. ‘Mikey, the lads have been so good, they’ve well and truly had your back. My advice is to stick with them, babe.’
It seemed so natural to talk to his mother about issues he would otherwise have discussed with his father.
‘I love you, Mum. I’m sorry for all the pain I’ve put you through. I just want you to know, I appreciate everything.’
Gloria tilted her head to the side, surprised at her son’s remark. He wasn’t the type to be soppy, and yet his kind heart made him the man he was.
Unlike Eric.
***
As Shamus left, he looked back at the imposing grand house and shuddered. He hadn’t wanted to look at Zara’s wrist, yet his eyes had been drawn, and a sick feeling coiled around him. It wasn’t because what he’d seen was gruesome but for the fact that he’d been sitting with her in the house that had actually been her prison while she nursed a terrible wound.
His mind was electric as he walked to his car. Never in his life had he met a woman more determined. His uncle was right when he’d told him not to be fooled by her dainty looks: she was smart and dangerous. He realized that for himself because there was no way he would sit in a house that would project so many horrific memories and act like it was nothing. With her obvious disability, frail and almost pitiful, she still managed to draw him in, hanging on her every word. It was surreal, and he couldn’t get her off his mind.
***
Still racked with so many emotions, Zara tried to put her thoughts into perspective; maybe she’d got Mike wrong. The womanly thing to do would be to front him out over it, and if his proposal was a mistake, then she would walk away. She had a business to run, and first things first, she needed to get this place, which was full of dust and memories, cleaned up. As much as the red drapes reminded her of her father, they definitely needed to be replaced. The paintwork required a good touch-up, and the overgrown garden called for a gardener. As she wandered from room to room, wondering what her brother had sold or changed, she became aware of how much life had been extinguished from the place. Since her father’s death, she concluded that he’d been the heart of the building and now it had simply stopped beating. Determined to make this her home once more, she would employ a team of cleaners, gardeners, and designers, and install a new security system. She returned to her father’s office and smiled. ‘Izzy, I miss you, but watch me. I will be the woman you wanted me to be.’ She often referred to her father as Izzy, but only because he’d wanted it that way. Yet it had never detracted from the fact that he’d been a doting father.
The sudden banging at the door pulled her from her thoughts. She hurried to the window to see if she recognized the car. It was Eric. She sighed: she’d so hoped for Mike to be standing there.
As soon as she opened the door, the sweet smell of aftershave hit her; it was the same as Mike’s. She was surprised to see Eric dressed immaculately, suited and booted, with his face glowing. Once he smiled, she noticed how white his teeth were, and his eyes, much like Mike’s, edged in thick black lashes, slowly blinked and almost lured her in.
‘I came because I was worried. Are you okay, babe?’
Zara was still taking in the sight. Eric was only ten months younger than Mike, yet, today, he looked ten years younger. The vision of her fiancé popped back into her head, sprawled across that sofa, baring his chest, and that awful Jennifer, with her arse on show. ‘Sorry, Eric. Come in.’
As he followed her into the study, he observed the state of the place. The last time he’d been actually inside this monstrosity of a house was the evening he went with his father to rescue her. Of course, so much was happening then that he hadn’t noticed the dated décor.
‘Does Mike know where I am?’ She got straight to the point.
‘Yes, I said you had a meeting. Oh, sorry, I hope you don’t mind?’
Zara took her seat and gave a tired, resigned look. ‘No, of course not.’ But she felt gutted all the same.
‘Did you have your meeting?’ he asked, in an even tone, not wanting her to think he was prying into her affairs.
She nodded. ‘Yeah, it seems that someone has a
