Secrets and Lies (2 page)

“I'm the lucky one, darling,” Conor smiled indulgently at her.

They were rudely interrupted by the shrill ringing of Conor's mobile phone.

“Damn!” he swore under his breath. “I thought I'd turned the bloody thing off.” He frowned in annoyance at the phone, as if he was willing it to stop ringing.

“Aren't you going to answer it?” Kerry asked gently.

“No, it'll probably be someone from work and they can wait until Monday. I specifically said that I didn't want to be disturbed tonight.”

The phone rang again. “It must be important, you should answer it. I really don't mind,” Kerry insisted.

“I won't be long,” Conor smiled apologetically at his wife and hurriedly made his way to the restaurant's foyer where he could speak in privacy.

Kerry gazed at the picturesque landscape before her and slowly sipped her red wine. The restaurant's floor- to-ceiling windows had been flung open to take advantage of the unseasonably warm, sunny weather. Summer that year had been particularly lovely; it had arrived early and stayed late. It was September already and the days were perfect shades of green and gold. Kerry watched the soft twilight settle over the garden and listened to the sounds of the river in the background; the hooting of river boats, the partying pleasure boats and the occasional cries of the birds overhead. It was an idyllic scene.

I'm the luckiest woman in the world, she thought. She often said to her friends that her life was just too good to be true and they readily agreed with her. She was married to her first and only love and they still adored each other, even after twenty years of marriage.

“If you two weren't such decent people I'd be sick with jealousy,” her sister, Maura, sometimes joked. “You both still act like love's young dream.”

Conor was a wonderfully attentive and supportive husband, in spite of his hectic job. He was managing director of the Imperial Hotel Group, which was an exclusive international hotel chain. It was a role which required him to be away on business quite often for long stretches at a time, but he was never more than a telephone call away. He'd insisted that Kerry had full-time help with the children when they were very young and this allowed her to continue her career as a writer and illustrator of children's books. It was a job which she thoroughly enjoyed and one which made her quite well-renowned in artistic and literary circles.

She was happy to have something of her own, that was just hers, outside of her husband and children. It gave her a sense of independence and allowed her to maintain her own identity as an individual, not just as Kerry the wife, mother and sister, but as Kerry the woman. Conor recognised his wife's need to retain some part of her individualism and he did everything he possibly could to encourage her.

Emer and Saoirse were the best children that any mother could ever wish for; they were healthy, loving, kind and hardworking, in spite of their parents' wealth. Emer had worked part-time since she was twelve years old; first delivering the local newspapers and now working Saturdays at the local grocery store. She was studying to be a vet, something that she had wanted to pursue since her childhood love affair with animals. Saoirse was following in her older sister's steps and had just started her own paper-round a few weeks previously.

Money was no object to the Darcys; Conor's job was very well-paid and Kerry had inherited a large estate when she was twenty-five from her late parents who had died tragically when she was a baby. Her beloved Auntie Aisling and Uncle Sea
n had raised Kerry and her sister, Maura from infancy and treated them as their own children. Kerry and Maura saw them as being their parents because they were the only mom and dad they'd ever known.

The Darcys owned several luxurious houses around the world including a restored villa in the South of France, a chalet in Zurich, Switzerland and a large apartment in London. Life was good and they had everything that money could buy.

Kerry knew her life was blessed. Some of her friends had rich husbands who rarely wanted to spend any time with them, fobbing them off, instead, with expensive gifts and an unlimited bank account. They lived separate lives for the most part, something which Kerry would have hated. She often said to Conor that she'd rather be rich in love than poor in worldly possessions, but she was lucky enough to have both.

She appreciated that she had an absolute treasure in her husband and was still deeply in love. Their daughters completely adored him too. Although he had a stressful, high-powered job, he was always in an upbeat mood. He was never annoyed or snappy with his wife or child
ren, no matter how tired or stressed he felt from work. He made time for them and his family truly believed that they were the most important people in his life.

Conor had presented Kerry with a sparkling diamond ring that morning. She'd woken to breakfast in bed and before she'd had time to rub the sleep from her tired eyes, he'd popped the stunning ring on her finger. She was so overwhelmed that she'd promptly burst into tears.

Kerry smiled to herself at her memory of the first time she'd met Conor. It was Christmas time and shortly after her twentieth birthday. Even now, so many years later, memories of the night they first met were still vivid in her mind. A week before Christmas, she and her sister, Maura, decided to let their hair down and dropped into their local pub for a few festive drinks. They'd been studying hard for their final university exams and were relieved that the holidays were fast approaching.

Everyone was singing along to the holiday favourite, the Andy Williams' classic, “It's the most Wonderful Time of the Year” and in the helter-skelter of the bustling pub, Kerry lost Maura in the crowd. After a quick search, she was told by a fresh-faced Conor that Maura had left with his friend.

Conor and Kerry started chatting and eventually he offered to walk her home.

“You'll do no such thing,” Kerry remembered she'd strongly protested, although secretly she'd known that she'd met her Mr. Right.

They'd spent the evening talking and talking. Conor was full of plans for the future and Kerry felt that she would die if she didn't get to share his plans and dreams.

“I'm going to marry that guy,” Kerry told her sister on the way home in the taxi, later that night.

She'd never been particularly attracted to anyone until she met Conor. She'd certainly vaguely liked a few boys in school but she'd fallen madly in love with Conor from the moment they'd met. He was kind, generous, thoughtful, and was full of life. Of course, it didn't hurt that he was handsome with a wonderfully lean body and that she thought he was incredibly sexy. Her whole body would tingle at his lightest touch and the wonderful thing was that he seemed just as crazy n love with her as she was with him. He made her feel like she was the only woman in the world and he still made her feel like that today.

Conor had a real zest for life which was very infectious. Even back then, at the age of twenty five he had had a burning desire to travel the world; travelling was his passion and he had instilled some of that passion in her. They'd been on many trips together; from backpacking around Europe to travelling across America in a beaten-up campervan which Conor had converted with the help of his father.

Soon after that fateful night in the pub, Kerry and Conor began dating and within a few short months they became inseparable. Kerry had never slept with anyone before Conor. She'd wanted to wait until she'd met someone special and Conor was willing to wait until she was ready to take the next step in their relationship. She knew it was old-fashioned but she had made a rule in her own mind that she wouldn't sleep with him until he told her that he loved her. Obviously she couldn't tell him what she was thinking or it would be like putting the words into his head. She wanted him to tell her from his heart when the time was right for him and she knew he meant the words. She'd known she'd loved him since the first night they'd met in the pub, but she hadn't wanted to tell him until he said it first.

Maura thought she was being ridiculous. “You should just tell him how you feel,” she'd said. “One of you has to say it first, why can't it be you? It's the twenty-first century after all; women are allowed to speak their minds and make the first move in a relationship.”

“I want to wait for him,” Kerry insisted. “I don't care if I'm being old-fashioned.”

Conor and Kerry spent every moment of their free time together when they weren't at work or college. Conor was studying Business Management and Tourism at University College Cork and Kerry had gotten her first “proper” job as a junior librarian at Cork City library. She was thrilled to be immersed in books every day. It was her ultimate dream to write and illustrate children's books, which she pursued in the evening after her day job, on the rare occasion when she wasn't seeing Conor.

Kerry was sharing a flat with her sister in the city centre and Conor was living in student accommodation until he finished his Master’s degree. They certainly didn't get much time alone together and it seemed as if they were constantly surrounded by people wherever they went.

They went for long walks in the park and spent hours in the cafes which were everywhere in the city. Conor told her all about himself. He was from “the country” and had gr
own up on a large farm in Killaloe, County Clare. He was the youngest of three boys; Tony was a teacher, living in Dublin and Shane had emigrated to Australia a few years previously, where he'd settled down and married a wonderful Australian woman. He told her how he missed them both as they didn't come home much anymore, too wrapped up in their own lives.

His parents
had lived in the same house since they'd been married almost thirty years ago. His father was an only child and the sprawling, two hundred acre farm had been left to him when his parents died. It was back-breaking on the farm at times and they'd all been expected to do their fair share. It had meant a lot of early mornings; bringing the cows in for milking and late nights, especially during the haying season, but Conor loved every minute. It wasn't all hardship; Conor regaled her with hilarious stories about the adventures he and his brothers would have pretending they were spies chasing each other all over the farm.

Kerry was absolutely riveted by his stories. She'd spent her entire life living in the city suburbs and had never even seen a cow in real life! Conor's life seemed fascinating to her. He talked a lot about his brothers but shared very little about his parents. He rarely went home to visit them anymore, and when he did go he was back in the city again after a few short days. Kerry didn't understand why he was so distant from them. She longed to ask him about his parents but something told her not to ask. Conor was very animated about most things in his life but he would close down when the subject of his parents was brought up. His face would become clouded and guarded. Kerry didn't like to pry and hoped that he would tell her more in his own time.

He didn't ask her much about her own family, which she appreciated. She'd never particularly liked talking about herself as she hated being the centre of attention. He knew all about her beloved sister, Maura, of course and how their parents had died in a car crash when they were babies, but she preferred to listen to him talking and all the plans he had for their future together.

There was certainly no shortage of things to talk about in those early, heady days of their romance. They discussed what music they liked and their favourite films. She told him all about her most treasured books and he talked for hours about where he wanted to travel.

Kerry shared almost everything with her sister. It was wonderful to have Maura to confide in. Maura had already had three boyfriends and was a lot more experienced with men than Kerry. Maura had always been a bit of a free spirit. She fell in and out of love quickly and easily gave her heart away. Kerry, on the other hand, had always been a lot more cautious. She told her sister about Conor and his family and the hopes and plans they had for their future together.

Maura had been intrigued. She'd never seen her sister so smitten by anyone.

“You're in love with him,” she declared one evening.

“Do you think so? I don't know. I think I love him, but how would I know for sure?” Kerry replied uncertainly, wishing in that moment for her sister's confidence and charm.

Maura smiled kindly at her. “Trust me, you are in love with him and he is just as much in love with you. I've never seen you like this before. Has he told you that he loves you yet?”

“Not yet, but I'm sure he will,” Kerry said cautiously.

“Of course he loves you,” Maura pronounced, pushing her long blonde curly hair out of her eyes. “He seems to have it just as bad as you. It's the most romantic thing I've ever seen and I must admit I'm a little jealous. I've never had with any guy what you two have together. It's love at first sight.”

Kerry couldn't help smiling at her sister's words. She could always depend on Maura to be honest, sometimes brutally honest.

“Is it that obvious?” she grinned.

“Totally and utterly,” Maura smiled. “So, tell me, have you slept with him yet?”

“Maura!” Kerry exclaimed. “You can't ask me that!”

“Guess what? I just did,” Maura teased. “Well, have you?”

Kerry blushed a deep shade of crimson and muttered a quiet, “no.”

Maura took pity on her sister's embarrassment and decided not to pursue her line of questioning any further, much to Kerry's immense relief.