Behind Every Cloud Read online

  Contents

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  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names,

  characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the

  author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons,

  living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  Published 2012

  by Poolbeg Press Ltd.

  123 Grange Hill, Baldoyle,

  Dublin 13, Ireland

  Email: [email protected]

  © Pauline Lawless 2012

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  Copyright for typesetting, layout, design, ebook

  © Poolbeg Press Ltd.

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 978-1-78199-026-1

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  www.poolbeg.com

  About the Author

  Pauline Lawless was born and reared in Dublin but spent her adult years in the midlands. This is her fourth book in as many years. Her previous three have all been bestsellers.

  She has a Diploma in wine studies from the British Wine & Spirit Education Trust and lectured and ran courses for them in the midlands for many years. This is the background of her latest novel Behind Every Cloud.

  She now lives between Belgium and Florida and enjoys playing golf and bridge and drinking wine with good friends.

  Her previous novels, Because We’re Worth It, If the Shoes Fit and A Year Like No Other, were also published by Poolbeg.

  Also by Pauline Lawless

  Because We’re Worth It,

  If the Shoes Fit

  A Year Like No Other

  Published by Poolbeg

  Acknowledgements

  To all those who helped me get this book on the road, a big thank-you. That includes the good people at Poolbeg Press: Paula, Kieran, Sara, Ailbhe and David, and also my editor, Gaye Shortland.

  Thank you to Ciara, once again, for your proofreading, critique, sound advice and support. I couldn’t do it without you.

  To all the friends who have shared many a bottle of wine with me in the name of research for this book (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!), I look forward to sharing many more with you in the future. Foremost of these and special mention must go to the Alexanders of Gloster and of course, my beloved JM. A big thank-you also to my lovely friend, Annie Parham, for the great book party she threw for me in Florida. What a fun night we had!

  To my fellow writers who give such constant help and encouragement, in particular Shirley Benton, Mary Malone, Elizabeth Jackson and Sheryl Browne.

  I’m very grateful to Paddy Keogh of Wines Direct, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath for his generous donation of wine for the promotion of this book. I know whoever wins the competition will get great enjoyment from his wines.

  Many thanks to Garda Damien Hogan of the Garda Press Office who so kindly and patiently answered the questions I had re Garda procedures.

  Last, but not least, thanks to you the readers. I appreciate that you made my last novel A Year Like No Other a top bestseller. I hope you enjoy this book equally well and I look forward to hearing from you at www.paulinelawless.com.

  For three dear friends who sadly passed

  away in 2011 and are very much missed.

  Bob Marsh

  Mona Gay

  Brigitte Risselin

  1

  Ellie Moran loved weddings despite the fact that she cried through most of them. She sat beside her mother now, tears rolling down her cheeks as she watched Kate Middleton walk down the aisle on her prince’s arm. The new Duchess of Cambridge looked radiant and was positively glowing with happiness. Ellie dabbed at her eyes as she watched them come out of Westminster Abbey and wave to the cheering crowds. Ellie had taken the day offworkfrom the beauty salon to watch the weddingon TV and she wasloving every minute of it. Kate’s dress was fabulous and, as for Pippa’s – there were just no words to describe it. It was all so romantic and perfect.She sighed, reaching for another Kleenex.

  Ellie had dreamed of being a brideever since she was a little girl. Her favourite game back then had been ‘getting married’, when she would cajole her friends into taking turns to stand inas the groom. Ellie was always the bride, walking down the garden path, a bunch of daisies in her hand and her mother’s discarded net curtains trailing behind her. She still dreamed of being a bride and had expected that she would by now have met her prince. Not a real prince like William, of course – but a dashing, handsome man who would sweep her off her feet and down the aisle for the most wonderful wedding imaginable. However, this was beginning to look more and more unlikely. She was twenty-three now and the only man in her life was David – not exactly the sweep-you-off-your-feet type!

  He was an accountant and ten years older than Ellie. She’d met him in Gibneys pub in Malahide where she and her girlfriends went for a drink every Friday night. She’d noticed him there before – all the girls had. He was hard to miss with his height and dark George Clooneylooks. Initially, she’d refused to go out with him thinking he was too old and mature for her, but eventually on her twentieth birthday, after far too much champagne, she’d caved in and agreed to go on a date with him.

  To her surprise they got on well, althoughunfortunately hehad none of the actor’s famous sense of humour. However, hewas very gallant and protective of her and treated her like a princess. Somehow he had grown on her and shefelt comfortable with him. However, there was none of the va-va-voom that she had expected would happen when Mr Right came along.

  She’d made it clear from the start that she did not want an exclusive relationship and that they wou
ld both be free to date others. David agreed to this and, although Ellie did go out from time to time with other guys, David stayed faithful to her alone. He was such a workaholic that she couldn’t imagine how he’d find the time to date other women in any case. Most of the men she metin pubs and clubs were interested only in beer, football and sex, not necessarily in that order. Not exactly prince material! Eventually she’d given up on them and now she and David were considered a couple. She’d begun to accept that va-va-voom was the stuff of romantic novels and films. They’d settled into a comfortable relationship. She did, however, continue to go drinking and clubbing with the girls on a Friday night, but more for the craic than in the hope of meeting ‘the one’.

  “I do hope they’ll be happy,” Ellie’s mother, Marie-Noelle, said to her in French, as they watched the royal couple drive along the Mall in the magnificent carriage.

  Marie-Noelle had been bornto French parents who had both sadly died in an accident shortly before her marriage. They’d left France as a result of a family feud and moved to Ireland where she’d been born. She’d been raised speaking Frenchand she in turn had always spoken French to her two daughters, wanting them to know of their heritage. She had sent them to a school run by an order of French nuns and as a result both Ellie and her sister, Sandrine,were nowbi-lingual.

  “Of course they’ll be happy. It’s all so romantic,” Ellie replied, as she watched the newly married couple wave to the crowds.

  Marie-Noelle looked at her youngest daughter with concern. Ellie was so trusting and soft-hearted that people often took advantage of her. She tried to please everyone and was a sucker for lost causes. As a child she’d constantly arrived home with stray kittens, dogs and even a couple of birds with broken wings.She couldn’t pass a beggar or collection box without helping out. She was so naïve and such a hopeless romantic thatMarie-Noelle worried about her.

  The same couldn’t be saidof her older daughter, Sandrine, nowan accountant, who had bossed poor Ellie mercilessly all her life. A hard-nosed career woman, intent on making her way in the world of finance, Sandrine had no time for such nonsense as romance and love. Marie-Noelle had no fears that anyone would try to take advantage of Sandrine. Let them just try, she often chuckled to herself. No, Ellie was the one she worried about most.

  “It takes more than romance and a fairytale wedding to make a marriage work, you know,” she said now.

  Ellie had never thought much further than the wedding. She was in love with the idea of getting married. She’d never much considered what came after the ceremony. She hoped fervently that the royal couple would live happily ever after, as they always did in fairytales, if not necessarily in real life.

  “David has booked a table in Bon Appetit for this evening, to celebrate,” Ellie told her mother. She’d been surprised and delighted when he’d suggested it as he’d shown absolutely no interest in the wedding up to that point.

  “That’s verynice of him. He’ll make some girl a wonderful husband someday,” Marie-Noelle remarked, looking slyly at her daughter.

  “Mmmm,” Ellie replied nonchalantly. “How about a cup of tea?” She jumped up, not wanting to continue with this conversation.

  “Lovely,” Marie-Noelle replied, aware that she’d hit on a touchy subject. “I have some chocolate éclairs in the fridge. Let’s have them now.”

  When they arrived at the restaurant that evening, Ellie was surprised to find that David had ordered a bottle of champagne.

  “How fabulous!” she exclaimed, pleased with this romantic gesture.

  The wine waiter poured it and handed her a glass. He was grinning like a Cheshire cat and she noticed that David was beaming inanely too. As they clinked glasses she spotted something in the bottom of hers.

  “I think there’s something in my glass,” she said, peering into it, afraid it might be a piece of broken glass.

  “There is indeed,” David replied, seemingly not too worried.

  Ellie looked more closely and gasped aloud. She couldn’t believe her eyes. There at the bottom of the glass was a glittering diamond ring. She fished it out and looked up at David enquiringly.

  “Will you marry me, Ellie?”

  She looked at him disbelievingly.

  “As today was such a special day for you, I thought it might be a good time to ask you to be my wife. Please say yes.”

  Ellie was a great believer in fate and if this wasn’t fate – being proposed to on the day of the Royal Wedding – then she didn’t know what was.

  She was deeply touched and her heart went out to him. He hadn’t exactly swept her off her feet but she did love him, and this was so romantic. It was the most romantic thing that had ever happened to her. She burst into tears.

  “Please say yes,” he begged, taking her hand in his, a worried look in his dark eyes.

  “Oh yes, David, yes,” she answered him, smiling through her tears.

  Reaching across the table, he put the ring on her finger and kissed her as the other diners in the restaurant, aware of what was happening, broke into a round of applause. She smiled back at them. She held her hand out in front of her to admire the ring. It was the biggest diamond she’d ever seen. Obviously she’d seen photographs of massive knuckledusters on celebrities like Maria Sharapova and Kim Kardashian but never one as big as this in real life. It was fabulous!

  “David, it’s beautiful. Exactly what I would have chosen myself,” she told him, her eyes shining as she moved her hand this way and that.

  “I’m glad you like it, darling.”

  “I can’t believe it. It feels like a dream.”

  “It’s not a dream,” David replied. “Any time you doubt it, just look at your ring.” He smiled at her fondly.

  “It’s beautiful. Thank you, David.” She kissed him again, thinking how handsome he was. She knew she was a lucky girl.

  David was happy that Ellie had agreed to be his wife. They’d been together three years and he reckoned it was time they named the day. For a moment there, when she’d burst into tears, he’d been afraid that she was about to say no.

  He’d been with his brother in Gibneys the first night he’d set eyes on her. She had the face of an angel and was, without doubt, the most enchanting woman he’d ever seen. She had luminous, almost translucent, skin, which glowed with freshness. Her eyes were a very unusual violet blue under long dark curly lashes and her mouth was a perfect cupid’s bow which gave her a very sweet smile. Her long, dark, glossy hair swung as she spoke animatedly and he was instantly smitten and longed to get to know her.

  He found himself back in Gibneys every Friday night after that and to his delight she was always there, with the same two friends. For a couple of weeks he watched her surreptitiously, wondering how best to approach her.She had an innocent and vulnerable air about herthat made him long to take care of her and protect her. When eventually he screwed up the courage to ask her out, she’d turned him down. He was gutted but he persevered and finally won her over. Now this beautiful girl had agreed to marry him, making him a very happy man indeed.

  Elliewas on cloudnine all the following day. Her parentswere delighted for her and everyone in the beauty salon where she worked congratulated her on hearing the news. She received many envious glances from both staff and clients when they saw the stunning ring she was sporting. They all tried it on, ooh-ing and aah-ing as it sparkled in the lights. Ellie was on a highand unprepared for the avalanche of cards and engagement presents that flooded in during the following weeks. She felt like a real princess. It was all so exciting.

  She couldn’t wait to be a bride!

  2

  Wednesday was ‘Pamper Rachel Day’. This was the one day of the week that Rachel Dunne kept solely for herself. Every other day was manic, a whirlwind of committee meetings, charity lunches, formal dinners and all the other functions that the glamorous wife of a successful politician had to perform. But she tried hard to keep Wednesdays free. She needed this day for herself. This was the day wh
en she recharged her batteries and chilled out. She also needed it to maintain the glossy appearance that was the envy of all the women she encountered. She, more than anyone, knew the effort it took to look good all the time, so this one day per week was essential to her well-being.

  She dropped the children – Jacob who was almost eight and Beckywho was six – to school in herBMW X6 before heading into Dublin city. She hummed to herself as she pulled away from the private school, waving to the other mothers who looked enviously after her.

  Even though things had taken a terrible downturn in Ireland, they luckily hadn’t affected her or her family. Her husband, Carl, had been very savvy with his money, unlike many of their friends who had lost everything in the Celtic Tiger crash. Now he was riding high as a newly elected TD – or ‘MemberofParliament’ as Racheljokingly called it – and everyone predicted that he was destined for higher things.

  Rachel parked the car in the RAC car park and strolled down Dawson Street to the beauty salon on South Anne Street where she was a favoured client. The owner greeted her effusively and the other clients in the waiting room, recognising her, smiled warmlyat her.

  Now that Carl was a public figure, her photograph featured constantly in the newspapers and society magazines. She and Carl were the new glamorous young couple in Irish politics and she was still trying to come to terms with this new-found fame and the attention that went with it. It was ridiculous really but people treated her differently now that she was a recognisable face. She was still the same person after all.

  She was whisked immediately into the luxurious inner sanctum where she succumbed to the tender ministrations of Chantal, the masseuse.

  Utterly relaxed as she lay on the bed, lulled by the soft music and candlelight, she felt the stress drain away. She was constantly being told how lucky she was to have such a wonderful life and she was grateful for her blessings, but it wasn’t all quite the plain sailing people thought it was.