The House by the Liffey (18 page)

Izzy at twenty-one was now an internationally recognised pianist. She had won many prestigious competitions and was booked to give a series of concerts in the USA starting the following spring at Carnegie Hall. Occasionally young musicians who had shown outstanding talent were given an opportunity to appear at this prestigious venue early in their careers. Izzy really appreciated how lucky she was to be given the chance to play there. Noola had diffidently offered to go with her for the entire tour. She didn't want to give the impression of being over-protective, or of being reluctant to allow her daughter to be independent, so she had left the final decision on this to Izzy.

‘I know you and your agent are perfectly capable of looking after you, Izzy, and I don't want to cramp your style, but I'd love to have a look at America myself. What do you think about my coming on tour with you as a companion?'

‘I'd
love
you to come with me, Mum. What about Dad? I realise he wouldn't be able to come for the whole tour, but I'd love him to be there too when I play at Carnegie Hall. That's going to be one of the high points of my career.'

‘I'm quite certain he's planning to be there – as if he'd miss one of his daughter's greatest moments. No, he'd have to get back but I'd like to stay and travel on with you.'

‘That would be great, Mum. Do you think Granny might like to come too? She's never been there either, has she?'

‘I think Granny would be thrilled to bits. What a lovely idea, Izzy.'

* * * * *

Bill had completed his preparation for priesthood, was ordained and then, totally unexpectedly, decided he wanted to join the Irish Army as a chaplain. He was to take up his duties and start the necessary military element of training in the late autumn. There was great hilarity in the family that there would be one member in the British Military and one in the Irish, not to mention a son-in-law in the British Army.

‘Hey Bill, what a pity you and Tommy will never meet up, or even you and Jack on some assignment or other. Wouldn't that be such a laugh?'

‘Yes it would, Izzy, but not a chance.'

Fate had other ideas.

Harry, after his short-lived flirtation with the idea of attempting to become a member of the SAS, had eventually decided that his real interest lay in high finance. Like Mageen, he had spent time at the London Stock Exchange and had decided that the adrenalin charge he got from this was as powerful as any he would get from a career in the military. He had inherited a real flare for stockbroking and settled in as his father's right-hand man with ease and dedication. Milo was vastly relieved. He would never have pushed any of his children to follow in his footsteps, but with the departure of Mageen he had desperately hoped this would be Harry's choice.

Unlike Bill, Harry, at twenty-eight, was quite happy to indulge his masculinity. Like his forebears he was a big, powerful and dramatically handsome man and had no intention of living like a priest. He went through girlfriends with impressive speed and wasn't always as kind as he might when he got tired of them and wanted to end the relationship. He insisted that he had no intention of tying himself down with a wife and family for some time yet. He was simply determined to enjoy life to the full. As a result, to those who didn't know him well, he gave the impression of being rather self-centred. However, he was devoted to his family. He idolized his father, admiring and respecting him; he adored his mother and there was nothing within his power that he wouldn't do for his twin brother or for the three girls.

Both his parents, but his mother in particular, worried about his cavalier attitude to women and the careless way in which he cast them off. He had brought home only two of his lady friends, both very pleasant, but he had obviously decided that neither was the right girl for him. After a phone call from one very upset girl, Noola spoke to Milo about it.

‘What's the matter with him, Milo? He could have his pick of the girls and he doesn't seem to be bothered. He's been quite unkind to some of them too and I don't like his attitude. The last one has been on the phone, obviously in tears, asking to speak to him and he was quite unpleasant, telling her she's to stop pestering him. It's certainly not the example he gets at home. Do you think we should have a word with him?'

‘I don't like his behaviour to women either but we can't do anything about it. He's twenty-eight years old and he's not going to take the slightest bit of notice of anything we say. Trouble is he's had it all his own way. But let's just wait and watch. I've a strong feeling that one of these days he'll fall hard for someone who'll treat him in exactly the same way and then he'll know how it feels.'

* * * * *

Just a year younger than the twins, Sarah had sailed through and got a first-class degree at Trinity College. She was invited to stay on in the botany department to follow a course of research for her PhD and do some lecturing. This had been completed successfully and she was now a full-time lecturer in University College Dublin. She had cultivated a remarkable range of subtropical and tropical plants in the conservatory and they were so successful she had persuaded Milo to extend the building further. She was now engaged to Dai Thomas, someone she had met as a fellow student. He had come from a university in Wales and also followed a course of research in the same botany department. Eventually he had been offered and accepted a full-time lectureship in Trinity. He was steady and reliable, and like many of his countrymen, was a great raconteur. He also had a lovely dry wit and a wonderful rich baritone voice. If he'd been hand-picked for her he couldn't have suited Sarah better.

When they had first met, from Sarah's point of view, their interest in each other had been purely academic. She was totally absorbed in her subject and Dai was attractive to her purely as an equally dedicated professional. Having such a keen interest in common couldn't have been a better basis for a friendship, but, quite quickly, Dai's affection for this lovely-natured and very attractive young woman grew almost without his being aware of it. He found he wanted to spend more and more time with her and not just talking about botany. They discovered they had other things in common such as their interest in classical music. The Butlers for generations had enjoyed serious music and Sarah was no exception. Like others in the family she had a lovely singing voice, and had been given some basic training, although following music as a career had never been in her mind. Dai came from the Welsh valleys where music was an essential part of life.

Dai's first visit to Riverside was, ostensibly, to see the wonderful collection of plants Sarah was cultivating in the conservatory. He had worked hard to bring her around to issuing this invitation. His visit was a resounding success. Not only did Sarah suddenly realise she liked him for reasons other than their shared interest in plants, the whole family fell for him in a big way. He had a pleasant, open face, with the black hair and grey eyes not unusual amongst his fellow countrymen, and not uncommon amongst the Irish too. In fact he could have been related to the Butlers, except the hair was straight and he was shorter in stature, although what he lacked in height he made up for in breadth of shoulders. The family especially loved his disarming honesty about his mining family background, putting it to them in his lovely lilting voice and in typical Welsh fashion.

‘Dirt poor as a family we are. Father, grandfather and back for generations they've been miners. I was lucky. Won my scholarship to the grammar school and then was offered a place at the University of Aberystwyth. Got a good honours degree and then the offer of a grant to do research at Trinity.' He paused and with a slightly embarrassed smile added. ‘Dad and Mam were so proud.'

‘I bet they were and still are, Dai. Good for you! Not only that but I gather you can sing too.'

He laughed delightedly.

‘Oh, Mr Butler, Bach! There are very few Welsh who can't sing and we all love it. At Aber they seemed to think my voice was good and I was given the chance to have some training. There's lucky I was.'

Dai had been slightly apprehensive about meeting members of this wealthy family and was vastly relieved to discover that social distinctions were of no consequence whatsoever to the Butlers. The friendship between him and Sarah developed into a deep and abiding love which took them both rather by surprise in its intensity. Neither had ever before met anyone to whom they had been so attracted both mentally and physically.

Having realised that the family would have no objections whatsoever to his marriage to Sarah he proposed to her. When she accepted joyfully, he didn't make a point of the fact that he couldn't afford to keep her in the style to which she was accustomed. Instead he quoted from Yeats' wonderful poem about the Cloths of Heaven:

This touched her more than any protestations could possibly have done.

‘Dai, my darling, I couldn't care less how much or how little worldly wealth you have. I just love you for yourself and I'm pretty sure you know that by now.'

With a gentle prompt from Milo, Tommy asked the couple if they would be willing to move into the East Wing and live there on a caretaker basis. He emphasised that this would mean such a lot to him. From an earlier suggestion of his Aunt May and Maggie both had their own private apartments there. It was an ideal arrangement, with both near enough to each other and the rest of the family if they wanted company but also having complete independence. However, he explained that Aunt May and Maggie were getting on a bit and he sometimes felt that they needed a young couple close by so they didn't feel too much responsibility for looking after his home.

The East Wing was big enough for Sarah and Dai to have their own self-contained, fully equipped area, just as the two ladies did. The young couple were delighted to accept this arrangement, since, apart from the many other advantages, it meant they could continue Sarah's work in the conservatory and she could keep up her rowing without any difficulty. It would also give them plenty of time to find a house of their own that they really liked, if possible not too far from the river, this to be a wedding present from Milo and Noola.

* * * * *

The wedding was to be in the summer holidays and plans were well underway. Sarah was over the moon because Bill would be able to conduct the marriage ceremony for them. The idyllically happy Mageen and Jack were coming with their two small boys and Tommy and Isabel would also be there with the twins, now almost five years old. They had decided to stay for a couple of weeks after the wedding, since it was some time since they had been to Dublin and had a lot of catching up to do. They had made a brief visit three years previously, when Grandfather Featherstone had died, and Tommy understood from Bob's widow, Deirdre, that his grandmother was now very frail indeed. He wanted to see her to say goodbye as it were. He also needed to talk business with Milo, who looked after all his financial investments and kept an eye on the East Wing.

Riverside was so big there was no difficulty in accommodating any guests who needed somewhere to stay, including Dai's family. His sister Megan, Izzy and the twins were to be the bridesmaids, with Mageen's little son Ewan to be a pageboy and wear his kilt. It was another dream wedding, with the weather being kind, and the surprise at this wedding was that Dai sang for Sarah, happily accompanied by Izzy on her baby grand piano, moved into the marquee for the occasion. He sang several love songs finishing up with “You Are My Heart's Delight”, which produced gentle tears of happiness from Sarah.

They had decided that they would like to go to Cyprus for their honeymoon. After that first visit Sarah had hoped she would get back again someday. This seemed the perfect opportunity and an ideal romantic location for a honeymoon but also she looked forward to introducing Dai to the wonderful plant life there. By coincidence, Tommy had managed to wangle another posting to the island. He and the family would arrive back there briefly towards the end of Dai's and Sarah's visit.