Secrets of a Happy Marriage by Cathy Kelly

Author:Cathy Kelly [Kelly, Cathy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2016-11-23T05:00:00+00:00

She and Amy had gone to a very simple restaurant they used to go to years ago when they hadn’t had any money at all. It was cheap and cheerful and Amy used to love it.

‘Brilliant idea, Mum,’ she said, when they met there.

As usual, Amy had insisted on meeting her mother there and not meeting up in advance and then going to the restaurant together. It was one of those weird things that Bess didn’t understand.

Why was Amy always pushing her away, insisting they meet in the restaurant? Bess had only been inside Amy’s new apartment in Delaney Gardens a couple of times, not that it was anything to write home about, and then Bess remembered criticising it and looking at the couch and saying something about how impractical a colour it was because really, a cream couch? How would you get any stains out?

‘It’s IKEA,’ Amy had said flatly. ‘The cover is washable.’

Thinking about it made Bess cringe. Weren’t you supposed to get wiser as you got older and not make more cretinious mistakes than ever?

‘I thought we deserved to come here now that we have enough money to have a starter, a main course and dessert,’ Bess said, recovering, and she put her arm through Amy’s as they went in.

She could feel Amy stiffen slightly but she held on.

It was never too late, never too late at all. And Amy was hers, the deepest part of her, and tomorrow – well, Bess was anxious about tomorrow for all that she was marrying Edward whom she adored.

Because with Edward came Jojo and Jojo hated her. Bess tried to bring the conversation round to the wedding a couple of times, but Amy seemed to be avoiding it.

‘What do you think of Jojo?’ Bess asked, trying to sound bright.

Amy gave her a shrewd look. ‘She seems nice but she doesn’t like you, does she?’

‘No.’ Bess seemed to sink in on herself, her normally upright bearing deserting her at this moment. ‘I think she hates me. I’ve dealt with people who didn’t like my methods in business and didn’t like that I was a tough woman in quite a male dominated business and yet this …’ She rubbed the bridge of her nose feeling a tension headache start. ‘This hatred is just awful.’

‘Has she ever said anything specifically to you?’ Amy asked.

‘No,’ admitted Bess, ‘but she glares at me and it’s freaky. And when her father told her that we were getting married, she went crazy. Not exactly the recipe for a dream wedding.’

‘It’s her issue to deal with,’ Amy said calmly. ‘You can’t live other people’s lives for them.’

Bess looked at her daughter in astonishment. How wise.

‘That’s very deep, Amy,’ she said.

‘I can be deep, Mum,’ Amy replied, laughing, ‘you just normally never give me a chance to let you see that side of me.’

‘Sorry,’ said Bess, humbled. She was hopeless with people, hopeless.

‘I hope you enjoy tomorrow,’ Bess added. ‘I know weddings aren’t really your cup of tea and

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