"We so much hope you'll be here tomorrow. It will be a great feast and every woman wants her mother there at a wedding party."
"Huh, as if it were a proper wedding."
"It will be a marvellous wedding. I'm one of the witnesses. So can I hope you all will come, or is this a definite no?"
Nora's appalling mother didn't want to rule herself out of what was being described as a feast. "I can't say yes or no."
"Well, we hope that's a yes. Meanwhile, not a word of any of this to Nora and Aidan."
Brenda knew that the old bat would try to ring them and spoil it, but it was impossible now; Nora was staying in Quentins for the night and Aidan was at his son-in-law's house. Mrs. O'Donoghue would not be able to find them now, no matter how hard she tried. Maud and Simon were told that Hooves, their dog, could not come to the party no matter how rejected it made him feel. He had a collar the same as Derry King's dog had in America, but even that didn't get him in. They were warned by Cathy that two songs was the maximum, and could they be love songs?
Simon thought of "Please, Release Me, Let Me Go". But that was not suitable for a wedding, apparently.
Neither was "Young Love, First Love, is Filled With Deep Emotion", which they knew, because the couple were not in the first flush of youth.
"Love," Cathy said. "You must know some song about love?"
They said they would do some research.
"Nothing to be sung without consulting me," Cathy said. "That's an order." Scan and Michael Kennedy were the first arrivals. They were trying out the canapes and looking at the banners on the wall. The menu was engraved for Aidan and Nora as it should be with wedding bells attached, but there was a banner for Kennedy and King too, and one for Firefly Films, and one for Ella's degree.
The sign writer had been busy tonight.
At the piano, two earnest-looking blond children sat beside an
old man as he picked out the notes of a song and tried to teach it to them.
"We'd better write it down, Muttie," the boy said.
"Everyone knows the words," the old man protested. "They"re not words you'd be able to write down like, they're not in English."
"Then why are we singing it?" the girl asked.
"Because Cathy says they must love it. She said it was a pity you didn't know it but you will if you concentrate."
They concentrated heavily. Derry came in a car to collect the Brady family.
"We're not really much for parties," Tim protested, but Ella noticed he had dressed up smartly all the same.
"Can't have a party without my financial adviser there. I might revert to my father and get drunk and silly," Derry said.
Ella smiled at him. He was able to make a remark about it, a joke even. At last.
"We wouldn't miss it for the world, Derry," Ella's mother said.
Ella looked at the streets around her as they drove to Quentins. This was her world. There was no other and there never would be again. Patrick made an appearance at the party in full chefs gear. "Brenda is with them. She's taking the little party, just Aidan, his daughters and the son-in-law, down to Holly's for afternoon tea and they think they're going to the bookshop afterwards."
"Wouldn't they be afraid Nora would get a heart attack when she finds the place closed?"
"No, don't worry." The Registrar was a kind man. He knew when he saw a party of only six people, a bride and groom tending towards middle age rather than extreme youth, that a ceremony of great dignity was called for. He looked from one to the other and stressed the importance of the day and the decision they were making in front of all present.
They thanked him profusely and asked him to join them for afternoon tea in Holly's. He was often invited to join the festivities, but never accepted. Today for the first time he was tempted. They were so touchingly happy, it made him blow his nose quite a lot. They had obviously travelled a long road to get to this day.
They drove to Holly's and got a great welcome. Photographs were taken in the garden under the huge trees. Tiny sandwiches and little cream cakes were served. Everyone was very relaxed. But the bride had her eye on her watch.
"We must be in time for the bookshop," Nora said.
Brenda was delaying them. "Ah, don't worry. It will start without us ... they'll know we're on the way."
"How many will there be altogether?" Aidan's daughter Brigid asked. She was in on the whole thing and thought it was so cool. In fact, totally cool.
"There will be fourteen altogether. I'd have loved to have asked more, but you know ..." Nora said.
"It's the fourteen important ones anyway, and the others will understand. Don't start fussing, Mrs. Dunne." Aidan looked at her with great affection.
"Oh, God, you put the heart across me, Aidan. I thought your first wife had materialised down here in Wicklow." Nick, Sandy and Deirdre arrived together. They had been firmly instructed by Brenda to move among the guests talking and introducing. There were people from a lot of different worlds here tonight, and they needed someone to keep them together. Brenda would have done it effortlessly, but she was needed elsewhere.
Nick, Sandy and Deirdre got their first drink and began doing their duty, moving around and bringing the little groups together. Getting names and giving them.
"Aren't you a very lovely person? Are you an actress or a film star?" a man asked Deirdre.
"No, I'm not. I work in a lab and I'm as cross as a bag of weasels," Deirdre said.
"And what has a gorgeous girl like you cross?"
The man was well-dressed, with bristly hair like Derry King's. Of course, it must be one of the painter cousins.
"Are you Scan or Michael?" she asked.
I'm Scan. Imagine you having heard of us."
"Everyone's heard of you. I'm Deirdre."
"And what's upset you, Deirdre?"
"I paid four hundred euros for this dress and I look like the wrath of God in it."
"You do not, you look lovely."
Deirdre moved and examined herself in the mirror. With a very disappointed face.
A woman with the most amazingly brassy hair came over and watched her. "It needs a scarf draped over it, something that picks up the colour," she said.
"A lot of use that is to me to know that now. It looked fine in the shop."
"Bet they draped a scarf over it for you?"
"They did, as it happens. I'm Dee, by the way, Ella's friend."
"I'm Harriet, Nora's friend, and Ella's too. We met when she was going to America."
"Oh, yes, she told me about you. You sold her a dog collar."
"I can sell you a scarf now, if you want one. Just wait and I'll get you a selection. I checked my bag in to the cloakroom."
In minutes Deirdre was transformed.
Til leave you now. He's one of the best catches in Dublin," Harriet whispered.
"Who?" Deirdre felt disconnected from everything.
"Sean Kennedy, rolling in money and he's drooling over you."
"I'm really meant to be mingling," Deirdre said.
"I'd say you've mingled enough," advised Harriet. When they saw the notice on the door, Nora felt the tears coming down her face. "Oh, Aidan, isn't that desperate? What could they mean, unforeseen circumstances?"
"They were so sure." Aidan's face was bleak. "And what did they do with the wine and the canapes?"
"Does it say anything else?" Nora wept.
Then they found a second note.
It says the Dunne reception has been transferred eight doors down the street."
"Which direction?" she sniffed.
It says to Quentins," Aidan said.
They looked at the others, who were beaming with delight.
"But we can't go to Quentins, not on a Saturday night. No, Carissima Brenda, even for a wedding. We can't do that on you."