‘Mother, I am shocked the thought even crossed your mind.’ Jack winked across to Holly.
‘All right,’ she said, not believing a word of it. ‘Well, sorry, my babies, but there’s nothing else to be done here. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes.’
‘Oh.’ Holly was disappointed.
Elizabeth joined her children at the table and the three of them stared at the kitchen door, all thinking the same thing.
‘No, Abbey,’ squealed Emily loudly, ‘you’re not doing what I tell you,’ and she burst into tears. This was shortly followed by a loud guffaw from Richard; he must have cracked a joke because he was the only one laughing.
‘But I suppose it’s important that we all stay here and keep an eye on the dinner,’ Elizabeth added.
‘OK, everyone, dinner is served,’ announced Elizabeth, and the family made their way to the dining room. There was an awkward moment like at a children’s birthday party while everyone scuffled to sit beside their best friend. Eventually Holly was satisfied with her position at the table and settled down with her mother on her left at the end of the table and Jack to her right. Abbey sat with a scowl on her face as she had been placed between Jack and Richard. Jack would have some making up to do when he got home. Declan sat opposite Holly and wedged in between him was an empty seat where Timothy should be sitting, then Emily and Meredith, then Ciara. Holly’s father got a raw deal, sitting at the head of the table between Richard and Ciara, but he was such a calm man he was the best one for the job.
Everyone oohed and aahed as Elizabeth brought out the food and its aroma filled the room. Holly had always loved her mother’s cooking; she was never afraid to experiment with new flavours and recipes, a trait that had not been passed down to her daughter.
‘Hey, poor little Timmy must be starving out there,’ Ciara exclaimed to Richard. ‘He must have done his time by now.’
She knew she was skating on thin ice but she loved the danger of it and, more importantly, she loved to wind up Richard. After all, she had to make up for lost time – she had been away for a year.
‘Ciara, it’s important that Timothy knows when he has done something wrong,’ explained Richard.
‘Yeah, but couldn’t you just tell him?’
The rest of the family tried hard not to laugh.
‘He needs to know that his actions will lead to serious consequences so he will not repeat it.’
‘Ah well,’ she said, raising her voice a few decibels, ‘he’s missing all this yummy food. Mmm mmm mmm,’ she said, licking her lips.
‘Stop it, Ciara,’ Elizabeth snapped.
‘Or you’ll have to stand in the corner,’ Jack added sternly.
The table erupted with laughter – bar Meredith and Richard, of course.
‘So, Ciara, tell us about your adventures in Australia,’ Frank moved swiftly on.
Her eyes lit up. ‘Oh, I had the most amazing time, Dad. I would definitely recommend going there to anyone.’
‘Awful long flight, though,’ Richard said.
‘Yeah, it is but it’s so worth it.’
‘Did you get any more tattoos?’ Holly asked.
‘Yeah, look.’ With that, Ciara stood up at the table and pulled down her trousers, revealing a butterfly on her behind.
Mum, Dad, Richard and Meredith protested in outrage while the others sat in convulsions of laughter. Finally, when Ciara had apologised and Meredith had removed her hands from Emily’s eyes, the table settled down.
‘They are revolting things,’ Richard said in disgust.
‘I think butterflies are pretty, Daddy,’ said Emily with big innocent eyes.
‘Yes, some butterflies are pretty, Emily, but I’m talking about tattoos. They can give you all sorts of diseases and problems.’ Emily’s smile faded.
‘Hey, I didn’t exactly get this done in a dodgy place sharing needles with drug users, you know. The place was perfectly clean.’
‘Well, that’s an oxymoron if ever I heard one,’ sniffed Meredith.
‘Been in one recently, Meredith?’ Ciara asked a bit too forcefully.
‘Well, em … n-n-n-no,’ she stuttered, ‘I have never been in one, thank you very much, but I am sure they are.’ Then she turned to Emily. ‘They are dirty, horrible places, Emily, where only dangerous people go.’
‘Is Aunt Ciara dangerous, Mummy?’
‘Only to five-year-old little girls with red hair,’ Ciara said, stuffing her face with potatoes.
Emily froze.
‘Richard dear, do you think that Timmy might want to come in now for some food?’ Elizabeth asked politely.
‘It’s 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