Timothy,’ Meredith interrupted.
‘Yes, Mother, I think that would be OK.’
A very sorry little Timothy walked slowly into the room with his head down, and took his place silently beside Declan. Holly’s heart leaped out to him. How cruel to treat a child like that, how cruel to stop him from being a child … Her sympathy diminished immediately as she felt his foot kick her shin underneath the table. They should have left him out there.
‘So, Ciara, come on, give us the gossip. Do anything wild and wonderful out there?’ Holly pushed for more information.
‘Oh yeah, I did a bungee jump, actually – well, I did a few. I have the photo here.’ She reached into her back pocket and everyone looked away just in case she was planning on revealing any more bits of her anatomy. Thankfully she took out only her wallet and passed the photo from it around the table.
‘The first one I did was off a bridge and my head hit the water when I fell …’
‘Oh, Ciara, that sounds dangerous,’ her mother said with her hands across her face.
‘Oh no, it wasn’t dangerous at all,’ she reassured her.
The photograph was passed to Holly, and she and Jack burst out laughing. Ciara dangled upside down from a rope with her face contorted in the middle of a scream of pure terror. Her hair (it was blue at that time) was shooting out in all directions as though she had been electrocuted.
‘Attractive photo, Ciara. Mum, you must get that framed for over the fireplace,’ Holly joked.
‘Yeah!’ Ciara’s eyes lit up. ‘That would be a cool idea.’
‘Sure, darling, I’ll just take down the one of you making your Holy Communion and replace it with that,’ Elizabeth said sarcastically.
‘Well, I don’t know which one would be scarier,’ said Declan.
‘Holly, what are you doing for your birthday?’ asked Abbey, leaning across towards her. She was clearly dying to get out of the conversation she was having with Richard.
‘Oh, that’s right!’ shouted Ciara. ‘You’re gonna be thirty next week!’
‘I’m not doing anything big at all,’ she warned everyone. ‘I don’t want any surprise party or anything, PLEASE.’
‘Oh, you have to—’ said Ciara.
‘No, she doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want to,’ her father interrupted, and winked supportively at Holly.
‘Thank you, Dad. I’m just going to have a girly night out clubbing or something. Nothing mad, nothing wild.’
Richard tutted as the photograph reached him and passed it on to his father, who chuckled to himself over the sight of Ciara.
‘Yes, I agree with you, Holly,’ said Richard, ‘those birthday celebrations are always a bit embarrassing. Grown adults acting like children, doing “Rock the boat” on the floor and drinking far too much. You’re quite right.’
‘Well, I actually quite enjoy those parties, Richard,’ Holly shot back, ‘but I just don’t feel in the celebratory mood this year, that’s all.’
There was a silence for a moment before Ciara piped up, ‘A girly night it is then.’
‘Can I tag along with the camera?’ asked Declan.
‘For what?’
‘Just for some footage of clubs and stuff for college.’
‘Well, if it’ll help … but as long as you know I won’t be going to all the trendy places that you like.’
‘No, I don’t mind where you g— OW!’ he shouted, and stared menacingly at Timothy.
Timmy stuck his tongue out at him and the conversation continued. After the main course was finished Ciara disappeared out of the room, returned with a bulging bag in her hand and announced, ‘Presents!’
Timmy and Emily cheered. Holly hoped that Ciara had remembered to get them something.
Her father received a colourfully painted boomerang that he pretended to throw down to his wife; Richard was given a T-shirt with the map of Australia on it, which he immediately began to teach to Timmy and Emily at the table; Meredith quite comically wasn’t given anything; Jack and Declan were given T-shirts with perverted pictures and a caption saying, ‘I’ve been to the bush’, and Elizabeth received a collection of old aboriginal recipes. Holly was touched by her dream catcher made from brightly coloured feathers and sticks.
‘So all your dreams come true,’ Ciara whispered in her ear before kissing her on the cheek.
Thankfully Ciara had bought sweets for Timmy and Emily, which looked strangely like the sweets they could buy from the local shop. These were briskly taken away by Richard and Meredith, who claimed they would rot their teeth.
‘Well, give them back then so I can rot my own,’ Ciara demanded.
Timmy and Emily looked around sadly at everyone’s presents and were immediately chastised by Richard for not concentrating on the map of Australia. Timmy made a face at Holly and a warm feeling returned to her heart. As long as the kids kept acting as if they deserved their treatment, that was OK with her.
‘Right, we better hit the road, Richard, or the children will fall asleep where they sit,’ announced Meredith. The children were wide awake and were kicking Holly and Declan repeatedly under the table.
‘Well, before everybody goes disappearing –’ Holly’s father announced loudly over the chatter. The table grew silent – ‘I would like to propose a toast to our beautiful daughter Ciara.’ He smiled at her and Ciara lapped up all the attention. ‘We missed you, love, and we’re glad you’re home safely,’ Frank finished. He lifted his glass into the air. ‘To Ciara!’
‘To Ciara!’ everyone repeated.
As soon as the door closed behind Richard and Meredith everyone else began to leave one by one. Holly stepped into the chilly air and walked to her car alone. Her mum and dad stood at the door waving her off but she still felt so lonely. Usually she left dinner parties with Gerry, or if not with him then she was returning home to him. But not tonight or the next night or the night after that.
CHAPTER EIGHT
On her birthday, Holly stood in front of the full-length mirror and inspected herself. She had carried out Gerry’s orders and had purchased a new outfit. What for, she didn’t know but several times a day she had to drag herself away from the temptation of opening the envelope for May. There were only two days left until she could and the anticipation left her no room to think of anything else.
She had settled on wearing an all-black outfit to suit her current mood. Black fitted trousers slimmed her legs and were tailored perfectly to sit over her black boots. A black corset that made her look like she had a bigger chest finished the outfit off perfectly. Leo had done a wonderful job on her hair, tying it up and allowing strands to fall in loose waves around her shoulders.
