“Liz, listen to me.”
“I don’t want to hear it, Eric, I really don’t. How dare you bring that tramp into our home!”
When Emma had left and Eric had followed Liz into the kitchen, evidently wanting to talk, she had put on a Disney video for Toby, who was now watching it happily in the living room and, Liz thought, hopefully oblivious to his parents’ “discussion”.
“Why are you behaving like this, Liz? And as for calling Emma a tramp, what’s all that about?”
“Oh, believe me, I could think of plenty other names to call her,” Liz said, lifting her chin, “but I’m not going to – not with our son in the next room.”
“Liz, I don’t understand, what’s brought all of this on?”
“What?” She whirled around to face him, amazed at his brazenness. “What’s brought all of this on? I come home early from a weekend away, away from worrying about our marriage, to find you, your pregnant girlfriend and my son happily ensconced in my front room –that’s what’s brought all of this on! How did you expect me to react, Eric? Did you think that I would come in, pull up a table for Emma to put her feet on and offer her a cup of coffee or something? How can you be so callous, bringing her here, flaunting her in front of everyone and, worse, in front of Toby? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Liz –”
“I said I don’t want to hear it, Eric! I’ve seen and heard enough already. All I want now is for you to just get out of my sight – just pack your stuff and leave. Get out of the house. I’d go myself only I don’t feel as though I should have to. This is my home, after all, my dream house, our dream house. Except it didn’t turn out exactly like that, did it?” She bit her lip, willing the tears to stay away.
“Liz, you have things totally wrong!” Eric cried, white-faced. “I don’t know why you think there’s something going on between me and Emma – she just called over this afternoon to say hi! I didn’t know she was coming, and I certainly didn’t think it would be –”
“Oh for goodness sake, why can’t you just come right out and admit it! All those secret meetings with her that you think I didn’t know about, the texts and phone conversations, all the sneaking around behind my back. How long did you think it would be before I found out? This is a small town, Eric – as you should well know.”
Eric blanched. “You seriously think I was having an affair with Emma?”
“Why not? She’s the famous ex-girlfriend, isn’t she? The one who supposedly broke your heart for some unexplained reason all those years ago. The one I’ve had to try and live up to ever since we moved to this godforsaken place.”
“Liz –”
“So, you go and do what you like now – go ahead, you’re free. Free of me and Toby and the drudgery of married life. Although, seeing as she’ll be ready to give birth in a few months, it won’t be long before you’re back in the same mindless, boring existence you’re in now.”
“Mindless, boring existence . . . what the hell are you talking about? I love you and Toby, but you’re too wrapped up in him to notice or care!”
“Don’t make this about me, Eric, don’t you dare make it about me or blame me! You and Toby were all I ever wanted, a happy family is all I ever wanted, you know that.”
“I do know that, which is why I’ve always done everything in my power to make that happen! I do know how much it means to you, and it means everything to me too. But I did something stupid, Liz, I did something that could destroy all that and I couldn’t tell you.”
“Getting another girl pregnant was a funny way of keeping our family together, Eric,” she said bitterly.
“Liz, for Christ’s sake, will you listen to me! I did not get Emma pregnant. I am not having an affair with her!”
Something deep inside Liz began to flutter awake, but she didn’t dare believe him, not just yet. “What about all those secret meetings? The texts . . . the sneaking around?”
Eric sat down alongside her at the kitchen table. “It wasn’t like that. As you know, Emma and I used to be friends and –”
“I think that’s a bit of an understatement, don’t you?”
“Liz, you have to understand that Emma, and also Tara to a certain extent, understood what I was going through growing up here in this town. My family weren’t liked, because of my dad’s drinking – I wasn’t liked . . .” He shook his head. “But she and Tara were good friends to me back then. And when I moved back to Castlegate –”
“You remembered how good you were together and decided to take up where you left off all those years ago?”
“That’s not it. When we first moved here, things were going great. You said you’d never been so happy as in this house, with Toby and being able to run the kennels. I knew it was up to me to keep that going. I wanted you to be happy – for us to be happy. But recently it’s seemed that Toby and the dogs are what’s keeping you happy, not me.”
“Oh, for goodness sake, Eric, spare me the ‘my wife doesn’t understand me so I was forced into another woman’s arms’ bit. It’s a bit clichéd, don’t you think?”
“It wasn’t that. I felt a bit . . . isolated from it all. And it was weird, because it had been my idea to move here and make a new life for ourselves in Castlegate, so I could hardly turn around and tell you that I wasn’t enjoying it as much as you were.”
“But you were commuting to the city! You weren’t here often enough to enjoy it! You were too busy enjoying yourself in pubs in Dublin!”
Eric looked right at her. “I wasn’t enjoying myself in Dublin pubs. Liz, I was working in them.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Liz, I got laid off from Securitex a couple of months ago, not long before Tara went on holiday. I couldn’t tell you because you were so excited about living here and about getting the house sorted properly, and I didn’t want you to feel as though you had to succeed with the kennels right away to keep us going. I didn’t want to put you under any pressure.”
“But how could you not tell me you got laid off?” Liz gasped, stunned.
“I thought I’d find something soon enough, and again, I tried a couple of places in Castlegate. But Liz, as you know, nobody needs security guards in a tiny place like this. I couldn’t find anything different, and it wasn’t easy getting in somewhere in Dublin either. So I went back to bar work. I was doing days in a hotel in Leeson Street and some nights – the nights I told you I was working overtime at Securitex – in a place in Temple Bar. That’s why it worked out so well this weekend and I ‘supposedly’ had the time off while you went away. Anyway, one night, Emma happened to walk into the place I was working, and I was rumbled. So I had to tell her what had happened.”
“You told her – but you couldn’t tell me!”
“I couldn’t tell you, Liz. I knew you’d be devastated.”
“And you didn’t think I’d be devastated even more to think that you were the father of Emma Harrington’s child?”
“Liz, never in a million years did I imagine you’d think something like that! Why would you?”
“Because of all those secret meetings and texts, which I’m still not convinced were innocent, by the way! What was going on? What else were you hiding from me? Because there had to be something else, Eric – losing your job is no big deal in the scheme of things. You’ll easily get something else – and I’m sure if you sat it out long enough you’d get something here.”
“You see, this is why I didn’t want to tell you! I knew you’d try to convince me to get a job here! And when I didn’t find anything – when I was sitting at home twiddling my thumbs while my wife had to look after other people’s dogs to keep things going, then everyone would say that they’d been right all along, that I was Pat McGrath’s son after all – a waster and a drunk.”
Liz was amazed at the pain in his voice. She’d never really understood why Eric felt he had to prove something to the people in the village. Tara had mentioned that his father had been troublesome and that she’d been afraid Eric would turn out the same, but because his father had been dead for years, Liz hadn’t really known what she meant by this.
But she couldn’t let talk of all this distract her from what she really wanted to know, the real reason Emma and Eric had been in contact.
When she said this to Eric, he sighed loudly.
“Well, when I said Emma agreed to keep my secret, about working at the bar, it turned out to be quid pro quo. I eventually discovered that she had a secret too. When she came in that first night, she was with a few others, and we started chatting. She seemed in really good form, and she eventually told me all about this great guy she’d been with, although she wouldn’t mention any names. Emma is a bit like that, a bit secretive.”
“I’ll say,” Liz replied shortly. “So how did you find out about her pregnancy?”
“By accident really. She started to come in to the pub a bit more after finding out I was working there. To be honest, I think she was a bit lonely in Dublin, despite this new man she’d found – at least that’s what I thought at the time. And of course, when she came in, we used to chat a lot, chat about harmless things and people we both knew and all that. And then one time, I made a casual, offhand comment about a particular person we both knew, and her face crumpled. It crumpled, Liz – I’ve never seen Emma let her guard down like that. So, after a lot of persuading, she broke down and eventually told me what had been going on – that the person I’d so casually mentioned in conversation, the man I’d mentioned, meant something to her. Meant a lot to her. And she was heartbroken.”
“Heartbroken over the guy she was being secretive about – the mysterious father of her baby?”
Eric nodded. “But at this stage she hadn’t admitted she was pregnant. I only knew about that when you mentioned it here in this kitchen. But of course I put two and two together, and when I asked her about it, she’d no choice but to admit that, yes – she was pregnant by the same person we’d spoken about before.”
“So, you knew who the baby’s father was,” Liz stated. “And Emma knew about you losing your job and working in the pub –”
“Yes, but things got worse for me shortly after that. Just when I thought I was getting back on track and earning a decent wage, the pub in town began to cut my hours back. So I panicked, thinking that I was further away from getting things sorted – and in effect, further away from telling you – than ever. I was desperate. And seeing as Emma was the only one who understood –”
“Well, of course she was the only one who understood!” Liz retorted, stung. “She was the only one you told!”
“I know . . . I know and that’s not what I meant. I’m sorry . . .” Eric shook his head. “Look, because Emma and I both knew what the other was . . . going through, we began meeting up now and again, just to let off steam.”
“While you kept secrets from everyone else – secrets from me.”
“I know, and, Liz, you really don’t know how hard it was to –”
“So who is it?” Liz interjected, cutting him off. “Who’s this mysterious person Emma’s been seeing? Is it someone from the village?”
Eric shook his head, his expression guarded. “Liz – she swore me to secrecy about it.”
“Why – is it because it is someone from the village, someone I know?” Liz asked, her curiosity now getting the better of her. She was dying to find out who this man might be, the mysterious man that had managed to break the heart of ice-queen Emma Harrington. “Who is he?” she urged.
Eric sighed deeply. “Look, I promised Emma I wouldn’t tell anyone, but I’m going to tell you because you’re my wife, and I don’t want any more secrets between us. But you can’t breathe of word of it, Liz – too many people will get hurt by it. Emma made a silly mistake, and she got caught out. This is a difficult situation for everyone involved, and it’ll do no one any good if it gets out.”
“Who is it, Eric?”
“You have to understand that Emma has always got what she wanted, all the way through life. She’s been indulged, spoiled – she managed to get every man she ever set her sights on. Except one. And I’m sure you know from Tara that she’s the kind of girl who doesn’t like it when she doesn’t get what she wants, that it merely makes her want it all the more. And there’s always been one person Emma wanted that she could never have, and it’s something that’s plagued the poor girl for a very long time.”
“Eric, who the hell is it?” Liz insisted impatiently. “Who is the father of Emma Harrington’s baby? Tell me!”
Eric took another deep breath. And then, when he finally did tell her, Liz’s jaw dropped to the floor.