One Winter Weekend

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

“ W ell, where is she?” Ben demanded, breathing heavily and sounding more than a little panicked, as he paced his hotel room.

“I’ve tried phoning her, asked around the hotel – I even asked that dopey desk clerk if she had seen her. Nothing. No one knows where Molly went.”

Caroline poured a glass of water and handed it to him. “Calm down,” she said soothingly. “I’m sure she’ll turn up. She was really annoyed by your mum. She probably just needs to blow off some steam. This is the city of her dreams, isn’t it?”

When he looked even glummer at this, Caroline put a hand on his shoulder.

“Ben,” she continued, “Molly’s a big girl. She can take care of herself. Look, maybe we should talk about something else, help get your mind off things.”

“Like what?” he asked.

“Like, what in God’s name is wrong with your parents?”

Ben shook his head disappointedly. “I don’t even know where to begin. My mother can be—”

“A heinous she-witch?” Caroline offered.

“—difficult. Hell, she’s difficult in the best of times, let alone when she’s had a few…”

“But we’re here for your wedding .” Caroline pressed. “What does she have against Helen and Paddy? And what was all that rubbish about dessert - and that whole trifle thing? I love trifle myself.”

Ben sighed. “It’s just …” he ventured, “my mother has always had issues with ‘new’ money.”

Caroline cocked her head. “What do you mean, ‘new’ money?”

“Like, money that hasn’t been inherited. Self-made wealth.”

“Well, Paddy’s hardly wealthy . I mean, he and Helen are reasonably well-off, I suppose, but nothing like—”

“Me?” Ben offered.

“Well, I wasn’t going to say it, but your father is a member of the House of Lords…”

“ He may be, but I don’t want to be.”

Caroline threw up her arms, exasperated with Ben’s naivety. “Oh come, on , Ben!” she exclaimed. “You of all people know that’s not how this works. When your dad passes away, that’s it: you become the Earl of Coventry—”

“Daventry.”

“—whatever. The point is, that English nobility stuff means nothing to the likes of us. We don’t do gentry in Ireland as you know. And then for your mum to go around pretending like she’s… I don’t know, the Queen of England or whatever, is a bit much.”

“I get that,” Ben nodded. “But what’s that got to do with me ? Why would Molly be mad at me for how my parents act? She knows I don’t agree with their values or their attitudes.”

“ Because, Ben, you didn’t stand up for Molly or her parents back there! You’re like a turtle: when confronted, you went right back into your shell. And if I know Molly, all she wanted was to hear you put your parents in their place.”

“But I did,” Ben insisted. “After you all left, I lit into them. Told them they’d better get used to the idea of Molly being around, because I’m going to marry her.”

“Great,” Caroline told him, “but does she know that?”

“She knows me,” he replied. “She should know that about me.”

“Molly’s not a psychic, Ben,” Caroline told him. “All she saw was you kowtowing to your mother’s nastiness - and with only a day to go till your wedding. I’d imagine that , more than anything, is what set her off.”

Ben slumped down in a chair. “I just don’t know what to do Caroline,” he said sadly. “If the wedding is called off —”

“That,” she insisted, “won’t happen.” She grabbed her coat and headed towards the door. “Look,” she told him, “I’ll head out and see if I can find her, talk her round. You just stay there, and keep in touch.

Ben nodded glumly, and Caroline went back out to the hallway … where she collided straight with none other than Fabrizio.