She hoped that neither her mother nor Barbara would see the item in the newspaper. She didn't want to talk about it or even think about it anymore.

Father Flynn decided that he couldn't go through with this shebeen mentality about people smuggling drink into his hall. Either he was responsible enough to run a function or he wasn't. A wedding day was too important to let any question mark hang over it.

He read the terms of the recent Health Acts. All it involved was that he applied for a license to the HSE, the Health and Safety Executive. They would grant it and then there would be no hole-in-the-wall behavior. Not everyone agreed with him.

Johnny said it would halve the price of drink if they got it on sale at a supermarket. James said that you never knew where you were with those guys. Brian might meet the bureaucratic official from h.e.l.l.

Father Brian tried to discuss it with Fiona, but he could sense she wasn't interested. She was looking through him without seeing him at all or listening to what he said.

Molly and Maureen had got very satisfactory outfits in Big Day. It had been a great outing: very nice staff, with tea and sandwiches on the premises. They could have stayed there all day. They had had more or less stayed all day. And the outfits weren't silly. They could be worn again and again at whatever functions turned up. Like a christening, maybe. They giggled happily. more or less stayed all day. And the outfits weren't silly. They could be worn again and again at whatever functions turned up. Like a christening, maybe. They giggled happily.

At Big Day the owner had said they were very relaxed compared to a lot of brides' mothers and grooms' mothers. She wished that all her customers were so easy to deal with. So Maureen and Molly bought more and more and said it was the best day out they'd ever had.

But try as they might, they couldn't make Fiona interested in the garments they had bought.

Her mind seemed to be a million miles away.

Ania came into the clinic on Monday.

She looked for a long time at Amy, who was pa.s.sing around mugs of coffee.

"You must be Saint Ania, the Polish girl," Amy said eventually.

"And you are Amy, Peter Barry's daughter," Ania replied.

"So, you're back. I go. Right?"

"I'm not Saint Ania. I am just so lucky that they will take me back."

"Aw, go on. They're mad about you!"

"Did you like it here?"

"Yes, I did."

"I came in through the hospital this morning. They're looking for people to work in A and E, taking records and notes to leave the nurses free to cope with what they should be doing."

"Is that part of Frank Ennis's territory?"

"Yes, in that everything in the hospital is a bit."

"But isn't he our natural enemy?" Amy asked.

Ania laughed. "I think I got back here just in time. You have nearly taken over already."

Ania and Carl couldn't believe the new apartment that Bobby had arranged for them.

"We can't take this, Dad," Carl said with tears in his eyes.

"And what did I work hard all my life for, if it wasn't to give you a place to live?" Bobby beamed with pleasure.

"But it's too much. Specially since you're going to sell the house and buy somewhere else. You don't want to have to sh.e.l.l out for this place as well."

"We can pay the rent, Bobby," Ania said. "I will just get a few more jobs. It's not difficult."

"No, child, you continue to send your earnings to your mother. That's what you came here to do."

"Oh, she's so pleased with everything, Bobby. If you could see what they're doing to her house! Even my sisters are pleased with me too. Which usually they are not."

"Did you meet them all, Carl?"

"I did. They were very welcoming. At least I think think they were. I couldn't understand a word anyone was saying!" they were. I couldn't understand a word anyone was saying!"

"Oh, they were, Carl, very welcoming indeed."

Bobby cleared his throat. "Rosemary is very sorry about the misunderstanding ..." he began. He saw Carl's face harden, but Ania laid her hand on his arm.

"Please tell her that it's all forgotten. In many ways it was all helpful. It forced us to do what we all wanted to do."

"I'm not sure that Rosemary wants to move house, but it's going to happen. And she will get used to it. It's most generous of you, Ania, to see things so positively."

"I have a lot to be positive about," she said.

"Carl, I was wondering?"

"No, Dad, not yet. I don't have a lovely, positive soul like Ania."

"You could grow one," Ania said.

"Yes, and I might one day."

"Or maybe soon, Carl, so that your father could enjoy more peaceful days in these busy, stress-filled times."

"Maybe," Carl said. But he had no intention of speaking to his mother.

Ania bought the material for Fiona's wedding dress. It was a cream and yellow Indian silk. It would be beautiful.

Fiona stood like a statue, raising her arms to be measured and for Ania to pin a kind of underslip that would act as a pattern for the real thing. She hardly said anything. She didn't ask Ania about the trip to Poland, about the new apartment, about what Carl had said when he arrived at her mother's house.

Normally Fiona would want to know every detail.

She didn't talk about her own wedding either. All the conversations that Ania started seemed to run into the ground. Yes, it was great to be getting married by Father Brian. Yes, the center sounded a terrific place for a wedding breakfast. Oh, indeed, many of the friends were coming from abroad. And certainly, the two mothers were having a good time.

Ania put down her box of pins. "Fiona, be honest with me. Do you want someone else to make your wedding dress?"

"No, Ania, how can you even think that?"

"So what is it, then?"

Fiona looked at her, stricken. "I can't marry Declan," she said suddenly. "I'm not a person who has any judgment about men. I can't go through with it." She began to cry with heavy sobs.

"And what does Declan say?" Ania asked.

"He doesn't know." Fiona wept harder.

"Well, you must tell him."

"I can't."

"You'll have to. I'm right in the middle of making him a waistcoat trimmed with the material of your dress. He has has to know, Fiona. For heaven's sake." to know, Fiona. For heaven's sake."

Carl had invited his friends Nora and Aidan Dunne to supper in the new apartment. Ania had cooked some salmon for dinner. Carl had brought her flowers. Life could not be better.

They were so nice, the Dunnes, and so fond of each other. You could see it immediately, the way they listened to each other's stories, touched each other's hands. Aidan was a patient at the clinic, so Ania had already met them there, but she had had no idea what interesting lives they had led. She sat and chattered happily as if she had been accustomed to entertaining like this all her life. At nine o'clock there was a ring at the door.

Ania went to answer the buzzer. Who could be coming to call at this time of night? She looked at the little screen. It was Carl's mother.

"Please excuse my not telephoning, but I know Carl doesn't want to see me."

"It's not that, Mrs. Walsh. It's just that we have people here for dinner, you see."

"It will only take a minute. I have something to say to you. I need not bother Carl."

"Perhaps this is not a good time, Mrs. Walsh." She could see Carl roll his eyes up to heaven.

"Tell her to go away," he mouthed.

But Ania was too kind. "Come in, Mrs. Walsh, but it can't be for long. I hope you will excuse us." She buzzed the door so it would open.

Ania returned to the table. "We'll offer her a gla.s.s of wine."

"She deserves a boot up the a.r.s.e!" Carl said.

Ania smiled apologetically at the guests. "Bit of a long story," she said.

"We know a lot of it," Nora said. "Should we leave?"

"No, please, no. I will take Carl's mother into another room and talk to her."

"You don't have to do this, Ania. She behaved so badly"

"You were polite to my my mother when you could not understand one word she was saying. I will be polite to yours." mother when you could not understand one word she was saying. I will be polite to yours."

Ania ushered Rosemary Walsh into the bedroom where Fiona's wedding dress was hanging on the wall.

"And is this going to be ... ?"

"For Fiona."

"I see." Rosemary didn't attempt to disguise her relief.

"Won't you have a chair?" Ania sat on the bed.

"One bed," Rosemary Walsh said.

"That's right. I brought you in a gla.s.s of wine," Ania said.

"I don't want any wine, thank you. I wanted to say that my words to you on the night of the party were wrong. I should not have said what I did. You were Carl's guest. I knew that. I behaved very badly."

"You must have had your reasons."

"No, looking back on it, I can't think what my reasons were." Rosemary Walsh was at a loss.

"So that's all right, then, Mrs. Walsh."

"No, it's not all right. I want you to tell my husband, Bobby, that he cannot sell our house. That you will come and live there with Carl and help with getting Bobby bathed and upstairs and everything."

"I think that is something you should discuss with Bobby and Carl, not with me."

"But if you say that you'd be a backup, a carer, you know, then they'd agree."

"I don't think so. Bobby is very set on a new place. He was showing us brochures, advertis.e.m.e.nts."

"That's only because he thinks Carl won't be around for him." Rosemary looked almost beseeching.

"I think Carl is happy here and Bobby is happy for us to be here, Mrs. Walsh. So I will not say anything at all to change things."

Rosemary looked at her long and hard. "They're right. You are are intelligent. You're sharp. I made a mistake. I apologize for that as well. At what must have seemed rudeness." intelligent. You're sharp. I made a mistake. I apologize for that as well. At what must have seemed rudeness."

"It was a misunderstanding, Mrs. Walsh. It's over now."

"You are very clever. I see that. Too late."

"It is not too late."

"It is. I'll go now, Ania."

"Are you sure you would not like some wine?"

"I'm sure. Thank you."

There was laughter from the next room.

Rosemary looked at the door. "Carl never brought any friends home to dinner when he lived at home."

"Well, maybe he needed a place of his own."

"Good-bye, Ania."