The Guest List (13 page)

‘First time here, yeah?’ the woman said, smirking a little, and Heidi nodded seriously.

‘Yes, and I’m really not sure why everyone has to be here so early—’

‘Well sorry to break it to you sweetheart, but we
all
have that eight-thirty appointment.’ She nodded at the crowds. ‘Might as well get comfortable for the next few hours. It’s first come, first served around here.’

Kim was at her desk reviewing a proof for Blissology’s latest catalogue when the phone rang. She hit the speaker button without looking as she flipped over a page, turning her attention to a photo spread showcasing their best-selling seaweed bath soak.

‘Yes?’

‘I have a call for you,’ Simone, her assistant, said crisply. ‘Your sister-in-law is on line two.’

‘Cara? Great, put her through.’

‘No,’ said Simone hesitantly. ‘It’s Heidi actually.’

Kim frowned. ‘Heidi? Seriously?’ she repeated, somewhat incredulous. She could count on one hand the number of times Ben’s youngest sister had called her, whether at her office or at home. They had a very different relationship to the one she had with Cara; they weren’t exactly good friends or even the slightest bit close as Heidi seemed to have taken a dislike to her from day one. Kim’s internal radar bleeped as she wondered what this was about. Whatever it was, she was sure it couldn’t be anything good.

‘Shall I take a message? Tell her you’re in a meeting maybe?’ Simone prompted.

Better not, thought Kim. If there was one thing Heidi hated, it was being dismissed, or ignored.

‘No, no, it’s fine Simone, thanks. Put her through.’

‘No problem.’

Kim took a deep breath and steeled herself before she picked up the line.

‘Hello there, Heidi. How are you?’ she asked breezily, quickly switching off the speakerphone button.

‘That is quite a question Kim,’ the other woman snapped. ‘You should know all too well how I am, especially after your little stunt!’

Kim rolled her eyes and rubbed her forehead. OK, so nothing new here, she groaned inwardly. Heidi had her knickers in a twist. About what she wasn’t entirely sure . . .

‘Heidi, I have no idea what you are talking about. What stunt?’ she asked. Was she still cheesed off about her big announcement being usurped that time by news of Cara’s engagement? Not to mention the news about her own pregnancy, Kim recalled, grimacing.

That day at Betty and Mick’s Kim could tell on the spot that Heidi had been livid that her news had been overshadowed, albeit unintentionally, by the rest of the family activity. While Kim believed everyone’s news was something that should be received with joy and celebrated accordingly, knowing how Heidi’s mind often worked she suspected that the younger girl believed she and Cara had planned it all out of spite.

But that was a couple of weeks ago so what . . .?

‘Oh, you know very well what I’m talking about,’ Heidi hissed. ‘Telling me to go public for my prenatal appointment, as if it was no big deal! You did it on purpose, didn’t you?’

Kim was well and truly flummoxed. ‘Did what on purpose? And I certainly don’t remember telling you to go public, Heidi. I merely pointed out that I found it fine on my first pregnancy, but that my needs had changed for my second, and again for this one. Why . . .?’

But then, guessing what must have happened, Kim grimaced. Had her sister-in-law gone along to an appointment in one of the public hospitals recently? Oh dear. Poor delicate little Heidi was definitely not cut out for the inevitable three-hour wait amongst the hoi polloi. Given all her airs and graces, she truly was the last woman on earth Kim could envision going public. So what in the world had possessed her?

‘It was like something out of a third-world country, Kim. Honestly, how could anyone say that it’s no big deal? We were treated like herds of cattle, and there was nowhere to sit, and no magazines to read or anything, to say nothing of all the noise. Just by sitting there I was endangering my baby. All of that kind of stress is not good for anyone. I shouldn’t have to be telling you all this!’

Kim held the phone back from her ear as Heidi’s voice increased in decibels. She was sure that the girl would be able to break glass soon if her voice got much higher.

She shook her head. She’d forgotten how spoilt her husband’s little sister could be, and how immune she was from the realities of day-to-day life for most people. In fact, Kim would have thought she would have been the first in the door of Dublin’s more exclusive and expensive private maternity hospital.

However, at least Heidi had a choice as to whether to go public or private during her pregnancy. Many women didn’t and they just had to make do with the services that were provided – magazines or otherwise. Trying to imagine her snobbish sister-in-law standing in the midst of all the bored and impatient women from all walks of life in the waiting room, she couldn’t help but smile. She guessed that it was probably private all the way for Princess Heidi from now on.

Still, Heidi sounded very close to tears on the other end of the line and Kim softened a little. While they might not be close, she would never have done anything to purposely to upset Heidi.

‘Heidi, I can assure you I did not urge you to go public – I merely outlined the options available to you that day at your mum and dad’s. Like I said, it was fine for me the first time round, but as that was over eight years ago, I have no idea what it’s like in the public system now. For what it’s worth, I can give you the number of the obstetrician I’m using. She’s great and is based out of—’

‘Oh it’s all you, you, you isn’t it Kim? Same that day at the dinner – it had to be all about you and Cara’s engagement. I had one shot –
one shot
– to tell everyone my wonderful news, and the two of you had to go and ruin everything—’

‘Now hold on a minute; that is not fair. No one tried to ruin anything for you, Heidi. Cara had just got engaged and she walked in with a brand new diamond to show us all, and celebrate with her and Shane. You should be happy for her. She wasn’t trying to steal your thunder and nor was I. Rather, I think that all of our news that day was something to be happy about – is still something to be happy about,’ Kim said her voice taking on a harder edge. Seeing as her original attempt at trying to stroke Heidi’s sensitive ego had failed, she was now all business.

Heidi breathed heavily into the phone. ‘And then, all this nonsense about helping with dinner, and acting like all of it is no big deal, when you know I was in a delicate condition.’

‘Really Heidi, if I recall you were barely a few weeks pregnant then, so of course it was fine for you to help out with the housework – still is.’ Kim couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘Nor was I trying to imply that your pregnancy was not a big deal. You and I simply have different viewpoints in that regard, and just as you are entitled to do as you want with your pregnancy, I should be afforded the same privilege.’

‘No Kim, you purposely downplay everything and I know you do it just to try and make me feel silly for wanting to be careful. You do it so everyone thinks I’m a drama queen.’

Kim’s eyes widened at this and she thought that actually her sister-in-law didn’t need any support whatsoever in the drama department.

‘I do no such thing. Everyone is different and if you are offended by my opinions, then that is your issue. To be truthful, I couldn’t care less if you have your baby while standing on your head in the bathtub—’

‘Exactly, you don’t care. You don’t give a rat’s ass about anyone other than yourself. You don’t care about me at all.’

Kim was speechless. Her sister-in-law was completely off her rocker.

‘Heidi,’ she said slowly, the way she would if she were speaking to a toddler. ‘Of course I care about you; you are a part of my family. All I was saying is that your decisions are your own. While I don’t particularly go in for the belief that you need to spend nine months of your life while pregnant on bed rest, if that pregnancy is perfectly healthy, that is
my
opinion. Maybe it’s different because I have been through the whole thing twice before—’

‘And you think that makes you special, huh? Because you have done it before, the big expert.’

Kim could see that there would be no winning this conversation. Not if Heidi insisted on taking every comment she made completely out of context. The woman was simply determined to play the victim.

Kim sighed heavily. ‘Look Heidi, I really don’t have time for this just now. I have a lot of work to do and a brochure to sign off on, so I simply cannot get into this discussion with you at the moment.’

‘Oh yes, so high and mighty, aren’t you Kim? With your big
company
and your
responsibilities
. Well I have no problem being a stay-at-home mother even though I know you working women look down on us and sneer because we care enough to be around to raise our children, instead of playing the big businesswoman.’

Kim was trying desperately to keep her temper from exploding.

‘Heidi, to my knowledge, you are not a stay-at-home mother as you don’t yet have a child to take care of. You are simply pregnant. Again, if you don’t want to work, fine, that’s your choice and I’m not arguing with you, and certainly not sneering about it. What you do or do not do every day is between you and your husband . . .’

Kim sat back in her chair and looked at the time impatiently. This foolishness had gone on long enough. She had copy to proof.

Kim knew she would pay for this later, but she also knew that there was no other way to get out of this conversation. Looking regretfully at the phone, she secretly wished that she had told Simone to send it to voicemail.

Oh well, hindsight was twenty-twenty, she thought, her finger hovering over the disconnect button.

Heidi was still continuing her tirade on the other end of the line, and Kim figured it would take her a while to figure out that she had hung up. Quietly, she disconnected and placed the phone back on the receiver, then sat back in her chair, exhausted by the conversation. She knew that this situation with Heidi would only get worse before it got better. Especially as she seemed to view their mutual pregnancies as some kind of competitive situation.

Her sister-in-law’s air of self-righteousness really was silly though. After all, she was pregnant, not dying. And for all her protestations, she wasn’t some kind of delicate flower either.

Kim stood up and walked to her door. She wanted to tell Simone that any more calls from Heidi were to be screened. No doubt her sister-in-law was sitting at home right now planning her next line of attack.

She shook her head. Why did happy life events in the Clancy family always have to be wrapped up in so much drama?

It was over two weeks since Cara and Shane had broken the news of their engagement to the Richardsons, and since then, the two couples had been in relative gridlock. Shane would call his parents and automatically be sent to voicemail. He would leave a message, and neither Lauren nor Gene would call him back.

Sitting at the dressing table in her bedroom applying make-up, Cara put her chin in her hand. She wouldn’t say so to Shane, but the truth was she was feeling very angry with his parents now. While they went about in a snit, she knew that Shane’s feelings continued to be hurt with each and every unreturned phone call.

Who was acting selfish? she thought to herself. At least she knew she wasn’t marrying some spoilt child, which was exactly how his parents were acting. She had found that recently it was hard to keep some of these feelings to herself, and she had told as much in confidence to Kim.

However, at the same time, she didn’t know exactly what her role was just yet. Until a few weeks ago, she had just been their son’s girlfriend; now she was their future daughter-in-law and soon to be part of the family. Therefore, wasn’t it fair that she also got to express her opinion on how ridiculous they were acting? Especially since they were making what was supposed to be a happy time in the life of their son very stressful.

She thought about the relationship Shane had with his parents. They had always been close, especially since he was their only son, their only child. She tried to put herself in their shoes. Yes, of course, they only got one shot at a child’s wedding and she was sure that they wanted to highlight what they believed was important, namely showing off their son and his bride and impressing their business buddies with their good taste. She worked to convince herself that his parents merely had good intentions, but every time she tried, she came up short.

She shook her head in frustration and picked up her mascara wand, ready to apply it to her eyelashes. True enough, parents usually wanted to be a part of the wedding planning, but it really wasn’t their role. And Lauren and Gene were parents of the
groom
, not the bride.

Cara jerked her chin out. ‘Well, if they wanted to plan a wedding so bloody much, they should have tried for a girl after Shane,’ she muttered under her breath.

‘What was that, love?’ Shane asked, entering the bedroom. He was adjusting a light blue tie around his neck, and straightening his grey suit jacket.

‘Ah nothing, just talking to myself.’ She looked up at him. ‘Well, well, don’t you look dashing? I must admit Richardson, you do clean up well.’

They were getting ready to go to the McCarthy–Bourke wedding they’d been invited to three weeks before; the invite that had essentially sparked off their own engagement.

‘Do you think the bride will approve?’ Shane smirked. ‘Or should I bring a change of clothes in case I don’t live up to her expectations? You don’t suppose they will have someone at the door checking the clothes labels?’

‘You never know. I suppose I better make sure I have clean underwear on,’ Cara giggled.

‘Ready to go?’

‘Can’t wait,’ Cara groaned, getting up.

‘Ah don’t be like that.’ Shane slung an arm around her shoulder. ‘If nothing else, it should give us a few ideas.’

It didn’t take Cara and Shane long to realise that the word ‘decadent’ would have been an understatement if used to describe the white satin and organza-covered, swan and ice-sculptured, rose-laden extravaganza that was Audrey McCarthy’s wedding.