One Midnight With You, page 23
As they sang, Ailish cast her gaze around, searching for the people she loved. She spotted Gwen and Dario locked in an embrace and the sight of it made her heart soar.
They’d finally got there.
Over the years, Ailish had always hoped that they would. After she’d split with Eric, Rhonda had hinted that Dario might be a great option for her, but the truth was that Ailish’s feelings for him had never run deeper than friendship. And besides, over the many New Year’s Eve parties they’d had here, she’d spotted Gwen’s eyes following Dario too many times to count. She just hoped that, on both sides, this could be more than a tipsy kiss at midnight.
However, a tipsy kiss at midnight was definitely the option that Rhonda had taken, as she was currently locking lips with Dario’s son, Matty, who was possibly the most handsome man Ailish had ever seen, and, at thirty, twenty-four years younger than her pal. Not that Ailish was judging. A fifty-four-year-old man kissing a thirty-year-old woman wouldn’t so much as raise an eyebrow. Not that Rhonda’s Botox actually allowed her eyebrows to move. However, Ailish did have a fleeting thought that if both those matches led to long-term relationships, their family Christmas dinners were going to have a pretty unusual dynamic.
Ailish decided to find the others on her midnight hug list before going to interrupt love’s young dream. She scanned the room for Emmy, but there was no sign of her. Must still be outside on the phone to Cormac.
‘Come on, Eric, let’s go see your mum,’ she said, spotting Minnie and Gino hugging at their table.
Minnie saw them coming together and her eyes widened with surprise as she opened her arms to Ailish, leaving the men to shake hands. ‘Happy New Year, darling Ailish! Does this mean…?’ she asked, as their heads met, both of them understanding the unspoken question.
Ailish kissed her beautiful now-ex-mother-in-law on the cheek and decided to reframe that terminology. Minnie was the mother she didn’t have. Through thick, thin, and divorce, that remained the essence of who they were to each other. ‘No, Mum,’ she gave Minnie her answer. ‘But it does mean we can all be together again, and I think that’s a good place to start.’
Minnie’s delighted expression told her that was good enough.
‘Happy New Year, Gino,’ Ailish said, as she hugged the elderly man, marvelling as always at the happiness he had created here. So many years, and so many people had seen in the bells with joy and surrounded by love, thanks to a dream that he’d made into a reality. As she left his embrace, she noticed the beautiful silver flask on the table and squinted to read the inscription that was carved into the gleaming metal.
Friendships last long after midnight.
The two women who were making their way through the crowds to them now, bringing their midnight kisses with them, had proved that time after time.
Rhonda reached her first, and with a shriek of, ‘Happy New Year,’ wrapped her in the tightest of bear hugs. ‘It’s going to be the best year ever,’ her wild friend promised, out of earshot of the others. ‘I’m already in love.’
‘And you’re already fricking fabulous, so you’re sorted,’ Ailish giggled.
‘If you’ve taken the Adulterous Arse back, I might have to kill you though,’ Rhonda chirped, her words a hilarious contrast to the jubilation in her tone.
‘Still single,’ Ailish assured her, laughing. ‘This dress was too good to waste on him. Thanks, Rhonda. I love you more than you know.’
‘Ah, bugger, you’ll wreck my lashes!’ Rhonda sobbed, frantically fanning her face so the tears didn’t dislodge the glue that held her diamond-edged, mink masterpieces in place.
The celebratory jig of changing partners continued with Dario, then Matty, until finally Ailish embraced Gwen gently, careful not to bruise the thin skin that was covering her bones. Her friend would get her strength back, and the happiness in her squeal of, ‘Happy New Year, Ails!’ told her that Gwen’s illness might have sapped her strength, but it had left her spirit intact.
Ailish’s eyes were crying, but her grin was beaming as she embraced her.
They held their clinch, as Gwen’s mouth reached Ailish’s ear. ‘I kissed Dario,’ she whispered, the words oozing pure joy.
‘I saw!’ Ailish murmured in return.
‘He’s the biggest reason I wanted to come here tonight and why I planned this weeks ago,’ she confessed. ‘I’ve thought about him for years, and just decided that if I didn’t tell him this year, then I might not get the chance. He just told me he feels the same. I can’t believe it, Ails.’
‘Believe it, my love. I’m so happy for you, Gwen. You deserve this.’
‘I do. You know what?’ she said, still just the two of them in their own world.
Ailish gulped. ‘Tell me.’
‘Fuck cancer.’
Ailish could barely breathe through the tears now. ‘Fuck cancer,’ she repeated, because right now, with all of them together, it felt like there was nothing that could beat them.
In fact, it felt like nothing could ever spoil this perfect moment… Until her daughter raced towards her and fell into her arms.
35
EMMY
‘No.’
She’d only said one word, but it had been enough to crush their whole relationship to dust.
Still on one knee, Cormac had let his hands fall, the ring he was holding no longer required. ‘No?’
Emmy’s head was shaking slowly from side to side, her eyes wide, hand over her mouth as if to stop it uttering another lethal blow.
A few feet away, Yvie had been stunned into silence, her face a mask of shock and bewilderment, a stark contrast to the crowds of people who were celebrating in the streets around them. Fireworks soared above them, cheers rang out, music blared from windows that had been opened despite the cold, to let the New Year in.
Emmy had barely even registered that any of it was there.
‘No. I can’t, Cormac. I’m so sorry.’
Cormac had risen to his feet, fuelled by confusion and horror. ‘I don’t get it,’ he’d said, and there was no challenge or aggression there, just hurt, dripping from every word. ‘I thought this was what you wanted. What we wanted. Emmy, I meant what I said – from the day I met you, all I’ve wanted is to do life with you. All of it. Just me and you. I thought you did too.’
‘I did,’ she’d said honestly. ‘But now I just don’t…’ she’d paused, then changed tack. Stick with honesty. The least he deserved was the truth. ‘Cormac, all day I’ve been freaking out because I thought you were having an affair. You’ve been acting so weird for weeks now and I didn’t understand, so I made up my own story. And that’s where my mind went.’
‘I was organising this. Shopping for the ring. Yvie helped me choose it.’ He’d gestured to Yvie, who was still speechless as she gave a conciliatory shrug. ‘And today I had to go collect it. I told you I was working because I wanted this to be a surprise tonight. I was waiting to find out where you would be. I thought I would find you at your mum’s place. Then it changed to your gran’s house and then Yvie called to say you were here. The plan was always to propose at midnight, wherever you were, whoever you were with. I was just about to come inside and do it in front of all the people that you love.’ A scenario had obviously dawned on him and he’d groaned. ‘Fuck, I’m glad that didn’t work out. I’d be standing in there like an idiot right now.’
Emmy had felt like the worst person on the entire planet. And still people around them were bloody celebrating. ‘I’m so sorry, Cormac. I love you, but I just can’t do this.’
‘But why? I still don’t understand.’
Emmy had bitten her lip, scared to say it because it said more about her than him. This wasn’t Cormac’s fault. It was hers. She’d felt herself begin to crumble as sorrow swept in.
‘I. Can’t. Marry. You,’ she’d said, squeezing the words out through sobs. She’d taken a breath. Say it. Tell him the truth. ‘Because you deserve better than someone who is going to think the worst of you. You deserve someone who will never doubt you. And I don’t think I can be that person any more. I’m so sorry.’
Overwhelmed, she hadn’t stuck around for his reply, because she couldn’t bear to hear it. Instead, she’d about-turned, run back into Gino’s and straight into Ailish’s arms.
‘Emmy! What is it? Oh, sweetheart,’ her mum was murmuring now as she held her, and Emmy didn’t care that they were surrounded by the concerned, curious expressions of just about everyone she called family: Gran. Dad. Aunt Gwen. Aunt Rhonda. And then the friends – Dario, Matty, Gino – that she’d known all her life too.
‘Emmy, are you okay?’ That was from her dad. A bit clueless and hopeless as usual, but she could hear the worry in his voice.
She lifted her head, dried her cheeks with the cuffs of her jumper, nodded hesitantly. ‘I’m sorry. I’m okay. Just…’ Her words got stuck there, because she didn’t know what to say next. I’ve just blown my relationship? I’m a terrible person? I’ve just trashed my boyfriend in the street?
Before the silence grew, her mum stepped right in and took charge. ‘You don’t have to explain a thing, sweetheart. Just come with me and we’ll talk somewhere a bit quieter.’
‘You can use my office,’ Dario offered. ‘It’s out past the toilets on the left. Here’s a key.’
Emmy felt a toe-curling mix of gratitude and embarrassment. She kept her head down, hiding her tear-soaked face as her mum took her hand, and led her through the restaurant to the small room at the back of the building. On the way, they passed Nicky and her boyfriend, Scott, who were talking to Dario’s friend, Brodie, but her mum avoided subjecting her to an uncomfortable encounter by giving them a cheery, ‘Happy New Year! Just borrowing the office – we have a make-up emergency,’ as she swept Emmy right past them.
As soon as the door closed behind them, her mum steered her to the couch. ‘Okay, tell me from the start. What’s happened?’
Emmy spilled it all out. The suspicions that had been rising over the last month or so. The fears that had been niggling at her, but that had overwhelmed her this morning. How she’d tracked him, found he wasn’t where he should be, caught him in a lie. And then, the biggest kicker, how she’d just found out the reason behind it all. He hadn’t been having an affair at all. He’d been planning the most special moment for her. She’d found him outside, and he’d gone down on one knee and asked her to share the rest of her life with him. And…
‘You said no,’ Ailish finished the story for her, then went to the natural conclusion. ‘Oh, Emmy, I’m sorry. But if you don’t love him enough, or you’re not sure, then it’s best to be honest with him. It’s the right thing to do, even though it doesn’t feel like that right now.’
‘But that’s the thing, Mum, I do love him enough. But today, I convinced myself that he’d done something awful. Why would I do that?’
Her mum tried to cushion that one. ‘Well, there was some evidence that would make you think that…’
‘But why didn’t I just ask him? Why didn’t I trust him? What is wrong with me?’
That seemed to snap something in her mum because, all of a sudden, she reached over and lifted Emmy’s chin and she was totally giving pissed-off vibes. ‘Now you wait a minute, Emmy Ryan. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you.’ Her shoulders slumped, as she went on, ‘Aaaargh, I could bloody murder him.’
‘Who, Cormac?’ Emmy was confused. ‘Because he doesn’t deserve that. He’s a really good guy.’ Why did Emmy feel like she was losing her grip on this conversation?
‘No, not Cormac. Your bloody dad.’ After blowing out a really irritated breath of air, she went on. ‘I’m no psychologist, Emmy, but it’s not difficult to see how you got there. Your entire life, you’ve always been so trusting, always seen the best in people, especially your dad. You trusted in his honesty, and then you found out in the most brutal way that he’d lied to you, to me, to all of us. A shock like that leaves its mark. It’s only natural that it shifts something in you, makes you lose faith in people, in your own judgement, maybe even in love. It makes you protect your heart and push danger away. It’s why I’ve shut down every feeling since it happened. Your dad’s affair didn’t just affect me though, it broke our family and that leaves a scar. It has to, because we’re human. But you can’t give into it, sweetheart, because that damage will fade, I promise. It might just take a bit of time, but you’ll get there.’
Emmy took in what she was saying, processed it, ran it back and forwards in her mind, and then recognised the truth of it. Damn, it made total sense. Why had she not thought that through before now? And why had she just stormed right in and screwed everything up? Her groan came right up from her boots. ‘But if I do get there, I’ll be fricking alone because I just blew it with Cormac.’
‘Well, maybe you should go speak to him and see if he’ll understand too. And if he’s the man you think he is…’
Her mum didn’t even finish the sentence before Emmy was on her feet and running.
36
DARIO
Dario stared at his dad, trying to take in what he’d just told him. He took a step towards him, trying to block out the cacophony of sound coming from every corner of the room, as Carlo had moved on to a new musical number and now led the crowd in an enthusiastic chorus of ‘The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond’.
‘You’re going to have to say that again to me, Dad, because I need to make sure I’m hearing you right…’
The last fifteen minutes of his life had been insane. Selling his family’s company. Then finding the connection he’d always felt with Gwen was real.
But now two ropes were pulling him in different directions, and it felt like they were ripping him apart. Gwen. The crazy crush that had lasted over thirty years and now she’d told him that she’d felt the same. How did he get so lucky? And how did he get so unlucky that it fell on the same day that he committed a betrayal that his father would never forgive?
Or was he telling him something different now?
To the side of his dad, he saw Minnie Ryan nod to Gino, as if spurring him on, and Dario realised he had seen that dynamic before, when his mum would cajole his dad into something that Gino was reluctant to do. And she was always right.
‘I said, I’ve changed my mind,’ his dad repeated, and yes, Dario had heard it correctly the first time. He wouldn’t have been more surprised if Gino had punched him in the face. ‘I agree to sell the business. It’s the right thing to do.’
Dario wondered if his dad was drunk, but he sounded perfectly lucid.
‘I know that the deal expired at midnight…’ his dad was saying, ‘but if you go now and call them, maybe you can still get them to honour their offer.’
Dario needed more information to absorb this.
‘But, Dad, are you sure? Why the change of heart?’
His dad glanced over to Minnie and returned her smile. ‘Because maybe I’m a foolish old man who needs to be reminded that it’s the people we love that matter, nothing else. And life is too short to lose them before the choice is taken out of our hands. So I’m sorry, Dario. I should have listened to you. Now go make the phone call.’
Stunned, Dario didn’t know whether to confess to what he’d done, or quit while he was ahead and avoid risking upsetting Gino all over again. It was one thing being given the go-ahead now, but would his father be furious that he’d gone against his wishes?
Sod it. He had to tell him. He couldn’t bring himself to be dishonest, even by omission.
Through clenched teeth, he winced as he admitted, ‘Dad, I already made the call. I sold the business.’
Gino froze, stared at him, and Dario saw a thousand emotions run through the eyes of a face as still as stone. This was Gino’s dream. His heart and soul. And Dario had taken that away without his consent. He braced himself, waiting for the retribution, the wrath…
But it didn’t come. Instead, Gino’s words were slow and deliberate. ‘Then you did the right thing. I was wise to give you the business, Dario, because you did what we needed to do even when I refused. That takes courage.’
Dario’s feet were glued to the floor, every sense blocked by both shock and gratitude.
That was when Minnie stepped forward and hugged him. ‘Well done, Dario. Your mum would be so proud of you.’
‘Thank you,’ he croaked, overcome with affection for the friend his mother had adored. He wasn’t sure he would hold it together long enough to say any more than that, so he was grateful when a diversion took Minnie’s focus off him and on to something else. Or, rather, someone else.
‘Emmy! Are you all right, my darling?’
Ailish and Emmy had rejoined them and now Minnie was speaking to her granddaughter, clearly full of concern.
‘I am, Gran. I just need to sort something and… Cormac!’
Everyone in their group now stopped their conversations and turned all eyes to Emmy and then to the guy who was standing at the bar with Carlo’s fiancée, Yvie. The same man who had just turned and was now walking towards them. He stopped a few feet in front of Emmy and didn’t shrivel at all under the gaze of the now-silent audience in this corner of the room. Instead, he remained silent, waiting for Emmy to speak. Dario felt Gwen’s hand slipping into his as they watched Emmy step forward.
‘Please ask me again.’
Silence.
‘Please. Ask me again,’ she repeated. ‘I made a mistake. You said you wanted to ask me in front of the people I love, and here we are,’ she said with a nod to the crowd. ‘So if you truly do love me enough to spend the rest of your life with me, please ask me again.’
