My Mother's Secret by Sheila O'Flanagan Page A

them?’ Steffie sounded doubtful.
    ‘Everything was ready. I laid out Poppy’s dress and Dougie’s shirt and shorts earlier. Daisy, of course, has had her own outfit selected since last week, and despite the fact that she takes an age to get ready, she’s been primping herself all day. So they don’t have to do much and at least this way I get time to do my own make-up.’
    ‘Mum wasn’t suspicious when you left with a case?’ asked Steffie.
    ‘I put most of my stuff in my biggest handbag,’ said Roisin. ‘Anyway, let’s have a look at what you’ve done so far.’
    Still fastening the buttons of her dress, Steffie came downstairs again and both sisters walked to the veranda.
    ‘Not bad,’ said Roisin as she rearranged the balloons. ‘When did you get the flowers? They’re nice. A bit OTT, but nice.’
    Steffie told her about Liam’s delivery of them.
    ‘That was good of Mrs Kinsella.’ Roisin moved the arrangement to a different part of the veranda and looked at it critically. ‘Better there,’ she said. ‘D’you think we should’ve invited Liam and Michelle?’
    ‘I asked him if he’d like to drop by later,’ said Steffie. ‘But he’s working and Michelle’s away. He owns a restaurant, by the way. Cody’s. He’s the chef.’
    ‘Really?’ Roisin looked surprised. ‘Mum never told me that. Hopefully he doesn’t mind that I cancelled their reservation.’
    ‘What reservation?’
    ‘They were supposed to be eating there tonight. That’s why I asked you to put out Mum’s black dress. It was what she’d planned to wear.’
    ‘No! Maybe she would’ve preferred a flashy meal out to a party.’
    ‘Don’t be silly,’ said Roisin. ‘Nobody would prefer dinner in a restaurant to a party.’
    Steffie said nothing.
    ‘Where are the lanterns?’ asked Roisin.
    ‘Oh, sorry, I left them in the car,’ replied Steffie. ‘I’ll get them now.’
    ‘I got some citronella torches too,’ added Roisin. ‘To keep the midges away. Get them as well, will you?’ She handed her car keys to her sister.
    Steffie left Roisin rearranging the veranda while she ferried in the torches as well as the half-dozen glass lanterns plus candles that she’d picked up from Roisin earlier in the week. Roisin had got them on one of Lidl’s discount promotions, saying that it was too good a deal to pass up and that even though Jenny and Pascal already had some lanterns themselves, a party situation needed more.
    Roisin always thought of the extra touches, Steffie acknowledged as she placed them on the veranda, and then noticed that her sister had scattered red and gold foil hearts on the table. She’s good at this sort of stuff. And I shouldn’t doubt her. It’s going to be a great party. She’ll make sure that it is.

Chapter 6
    Steffie and Roisin were drinking pre-party glasses of wine on the veranda when the first of the guests showed up. Roisin went to answer the door because she half expected that it would be Paul and the children, but the arrivals were her mother’s younger sister Sarah and her eldest son Carl, who was accompanied by a striking young woman that neither Roisin nor Steffie had ever seen before. Carl’s companion was wearing a very short, very low-cut yellow sundress and matching yellow high-heeled sandals. Her champagne-blond hair was arranged in a deliberately messy updo, secured by diamanté clips and topped by a pair of sunglasses with heart-shaped frames. Her wide blue eyes were accentuated by even bluer metallic eyeshadow, while her lashes were sweeping and black. Her lips were cherry red. Carl introduced her to them as Summer.
    ‘Summer, as in the season?’ asked Roisin after she’d greeted her aunt with a kiss and a hug, then given her cousin a peck on the cheek. He hadn’t emailed his acceptance until the last minute, adding that Bernice, his girlfriend of eight years, wouldn’t be with him owing to the fact that they were currently ‘on a break’ but giving no indication