Irish Coffee by Ralph McInerny Page A

the grim thought occurred and she wondered if she really wanted to hear more. But, whatever the phrase meant, it was certain to become public sooner or later and she wanted to learn now what it meant. How discreet Father Rocca’s words now seemed in light of Mary’s remark. It was not the sort of thing one would want to announce from the altar after the funeral Mass.
    The Shuster house looked like something from an old magazine. Mary opened the unlocked door and they went inside, hung up their coats, and headed to the kitchen where Mary proceeded to put on coffee.
    â€œWhat a lovely house.”
    â€œI’ve lived here all my life. This area used to be the favored spot for faculty. All our neighbors were professors when I was young.”
    â€œYour father too?”
    â€œOh, yes.” Mary smiled wryly. “It is a lesson in something or other the way people who were prominent at the university are so swiftly forgotten when they are gone.”
    The kitchen was old-fashioned but cheerful, with what was called a breakfast nook instead of table and chairs. Griselda slid onto a bench.
    â€œI’ll show you the house later if you’d like. My mother should be home by then. Now we can just talk.”
    And so they did, with coffee mugs before them. Griselda sensed that Mary needed to talk more than she herself needed to listen.
    â€œYou must have noticed that Fred and I were very much in love.”
    â€œWhen you visited him at the Joyce Center.”
    She nodded. “We saw no need to hide it there. Now I am paying the penalty of our decision to keep our engagement a secret.”
    â€œWhy did you do that?”
    â€œTwo reasons. First, my mother. She is an incorrigible matchmaker and has been pushing me at men for years. When finally I met Fred and we fell in love, I wanted to keep it from her for a time. I suppose I was fearful that her reaction would be triumphant, finally getting her old-maid daughter off her hands.”
    â€œOld maid!”
    â€œI think my mother thought she was stuck with me forever. Of course I exaggerate.”
    â€œWhat was the other reason for keeping it secret?”
    â€œThat was Fred’s. When he told Naomi he wanted to break their engagement, she wouldn’t accept it. I guess she was quite angry and threatening. She said she would sue him for breach of promise.”
    â€œIn this day and age?”
    â€œIt does sound somewhat Victorian, doesn’t it? But he wanted time for her to get used to the fact and accept that they were no longer engaged.”
    Griselda thought of the woman who strode away from the table where Roger Knight had been sitting with Father Carmody and the Nevilles. When she went to talk to the Nevilles, Mary had assumed the chair Roger had temporarily vacated.
    â€œI thought you were going to fight at the club.”
    â€œYou can see what a forceful personality she has. She would have dropped Fred without hesitation if she had wanted to, but she could not accept being dropped.”
    â€œShe wouldn’t give back the ring.”
    â€œOh, that is her mother’s.”
    â€œHer mother’s!”
    Mary nodded. “She gave it to herself. Anyway, those are the reasons we never announced it. And why I am now in such a peculiar position.”
    Mary still wore her mourning dress, apparently having forgotten her intention to change.
    â€œWhat did you mean when you said ‘not by natural causes.’” asked Griselda.
    Mary held her mug in both hands and for a moment stared into it. When she looked at Griselda, there were tears in her eyes.
    â€œI blame Naomi. If she would have accepted the end of their engagement, he would not have been so torn. I didn’t realize how difficult she had made life for him. He was in a cruel dilemma. On the one hand, he had a fiancée he no longer loved, perhaps he never had, but she would not let him go. On the other hand, the woman he loved. He must have