Chapter 1
‘Very well, of course.’ Katherine paused and gestured with her hand for Conor to stay beside her until she finished the call.
He tried to hide his impatience. Katherine was normally very efficient, keeping the day-to-day details of running the hotel under her control. He needed to get out of there.
‘I’ll tell you what, I’m sure we can accommodate you, but if I can call you back in just a moment, I’ll confirm it all with the manager. Yes – Conor, that’s right.’ She laughed, a surprisingly girlish sound for someone so austere.
Conor looked at her quizzically. Katherine O’Brien managed the front desk at Castle Dysert effortlessly, allowing him to focus on other aspects of running the hotel. Initially, Corlene, the other owner, was worried that someone as forbidding as Ms O’Brien would put guests off. He had to agree that the dark suit, rail-thin body and severely coiffed hair pulled back off her pale face in a tight bun was not exactly the welcome look they were going for, but she was excellent at the job. She didn’t suffer fools, and she struck fear into most of the staff, but underneath the hard exterior, she was unfailingly kind. She was invaluable and everyone knew it. He understood a lot of her nature came from finding some social interaction difficult. She didn’t engage in idle gossip or chit-chat. If she had something to say, she said it, but silence didn’t unsettle her. She was loyal to the last, and he would trust her with his life.
Since the fire last year that almost destroyed everything they had worked so hard to build, the business had gone from strength to strength, and there was rarely a night that they weren’t fully booked.
Conor gave her a pleading look, tapping his watch with his finger, wishing she would just let him go. The way she held her palm up, ordering him to wait, brooked no argument, and he knew better than to defy her. If she was insisting he stay, it must be important.
It was Ana’s birthday, and he wanted to get home early. The twins had made her a cake with the help of their beloved Babusya, Ana’s mother, and Conor was taking her out to dinner. Things had been so busy lately, he felt like he hardly saw her or Joe and Artie.
Eventually, Katherine hung up. ‘Can we go to your office?’ she asked. Then, turning to Meghan, the junior receptionist, she said, ‘Meghan, please attend the desk.’ She pointed to a neatly arranged in tray. ‘And ensure all those invoices are in correct date order.’
Meghan got straight to it; when Ms O’Brien gave an instruction, she expected it to be followed to the letter without question or delay.
‘Be my guest.’ Conor smiled, ushering Katherine ahead of him. He caught Meghan’s eye behind the older woman’s back and made a funny face. She giggled and blushed.
‘I saw that,’ Katherine said tartly as she closed the door, though she couldn’t possibly have. ‘Right. That was a man from America, and he wants to book in a large group. They’re all patrons of an Irish bar or something apparently, and they want to come here to attend the Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival.’
Conor was confused – normally she wouldn’t involve him, she’d just take the booking if they had availability. He wished she would get to the point, but she was not a woman to be rushed.
‘Fine, and can we do it?’ he asked.
‘Yes, we can.’
‘And so…’ He smiled encouragingly.
‘They want you to take them around, be their guide and so on.’ Katherine did not give anything away in her expression, but Conor was used to that.
‘Ah, but sure I don’t do that any more. But ring them back and tell them we’ll find them someone else, someone great, and that’ll be fine.’ He grabbed his car keys.
‘No. That won’t be acceptable this time, I’m afraid – it has to be you. The booking would be very useful to us, and they would stay for six nights, so it’s a significant saving on housekeeping and so on, not turning the rooms around. The person who rang, his name was Kevin Wilson, and he insisted that you should be the one to do it. Apparently, someone he knows remembers you from a previous tour. The reason I’m suggesting it, apart from the fact that they would be far too enthusiastic and chirpy for me to be dealing with every day – you know how I can’t really do small talk, and Americans always seem to want to chat – Sheila Dillon’s son is getting married that week and she wants the week off. If we had one large group in rather than lots of singles, the housekeeping team could hold the fort till she gets back. But if it’s lots of one- and two-night guests, then we’ll need a substitute for Sheila, and getting staff is proving impossible, as you know.’
Conor sighed heavily and sat down. Katherine was right – the Irish economy was booming again and getting staff was a huge issue. Sheila was invaluable as head of housekeeping, and she really needed her holidays.
‘Is there no other way?’
‘None,’ she said with certainty.
‘Sure maybe you could hit the matchmaking festival yourself, Katherine?’ He winked at her.
Apart from a never-mentioned romance that went wrong years ago, to the best of his knowledge, Katherine had never had a relationship of any kind. She lived alone and was dedicated to her job. He knew she read a lot and studied online courses in history and philosophy all the time, but he would have liked her to have a bit of joy in her life. Though what kind of man would be suitable for her was anyone’s guess. She wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
‘Utter nonsense. The idea that a farmer with a big dirty book could arrange weddings, for goodness sake.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘No, Conor, I have no interest whatsoever in such foolishness. Now, can I telephone Mr Wilson back and tell him you are available?’
He sighed, knowing he would never wriggle out of it. ‘Look, I’ll ring him tomorrow and see what he wants to do. I might be able to swing it – I’ll see. Now, I’ve got to go. I’m taking Ana out for her birthday.’
He had been for a swim in the hotel pool as he did every day, and got dressed and ready to go out afterwards. He was back in his casual clothes: dark jeans and a pale-pink shirt. He was tanned and muscular, and his silver hair was neatly cut. ‘Do I look all right?’ he asked with a grin.
Katherine raised a perfectly arched eyebrow. ‘Yes, you look very presentable.’
He chuckled. Presentable was as far as she would go.
As he drove away from the castle, he planned the evening. Artur and Danika were looking after the boys, who at eight were full of energy. Luckily, their grandparents adored them. Conor thought having his parents-in-law living near them full time might be a bit of a strain, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. They’d moved to Ireland two years ago from Kiev. Artur quickly made himself indispensable as head of maintenance, and Danika was a huge help to Ana with the boys.
He was taking his wife to a new fish restaurant out at Spanish Point, and he was really looking forward to spending a whole evening with her uninterrupted. She’d been so tired lately, what with the boys on summer holidays, and she really needed a break. They hadn’t managed to take a vacation since the fire last year as there was so much to do.
He pulled into the driveway and was surprised that Joe and Artie weren’t in the garden. They lived outside, playing football or hurling. He let himself in, glancing at the clock on the wall over the big stove. At ten past six, the place was usually a hive of activity with dinner and bath time, but the house was silent.
‘Ana!’ he called. ‘Are you here?’
Something was wrong. If she wasn’t going to be there when he got home, she would have texted him.
He looked out back; her car was there. He took the stairs two at a time and opened their bedroom door. There she was, in bed. Relieved but perplexed – she never took a nap during the day – he walked over to where she lay on her side. She was awake.
‘Ana, what’s wrong?’ He bent down so he was level with her head. Her eyes were puffy and swollen; she’d been crying.
‘Ana, please, are you all right? Where are the boys?’ A growing sense of dread threatened to engulf him. She was not a drama queen – something was really wrong.
‘They are with my mother. They went over to her house for dinner. My dad picked them up.’ Her voice was not normal; it was as if every word was an effort. Her Ukrainian accent was more pronounced than usual.
‘So what’s the matter?’ He felt his mouth go dry. This was so out of character for his wife.
She sat up and took a deep breath that seemed to come from her toes and threw back the covers. She was still dressed.
‘Conor, I… Today I was going in the hospital. Last week, I find a lump here’ – she pointed to the side of her breast – ‘and so I go to see doctor. I know you will say why I don’t tell you, but everything so busy in the hotel, and I think is nothing. But Doctor Moriarty make appointment for me, and tell me to go in hospital today just for to make check. They did a test, and they say there is something there. They take some out with a needle to test – I forget the name of that thing – and now I must wait.’
Conor could feel the blood thundering in his ears, his heart thumping in his chest. This can’t be happening. His beautiful, lovely Ana couldn’t have cancer. It’s just not possible. He struggled to say the right thing.
‘Oh, Ana, my love.’ He drew her into his arms, and she rested her head on his chest. ‘I’m in shock. I…I feel terrible, I should have gone with you. To get news like that on your own… You’re so much more important to me than any hotel. I’m so, so sorry, pet.’ He was struggling to keep his voice normal. His darling girl – she was so young, and so fit and healthy. ‘How long before we get the results of the test – was it a biopsy?’
‘Yes, this. A biopsy. They say to come back on Friday, but the other doctor, the special one for breast cancer, say she think it look suspicious. She said to call you, but my phone was dead, and anyway, I was not able to talk. I didn’t want to tell you this on the phone, so I come home and wait.’
It was Tuesday. Friday seemed forever away.
‘Oh, my darling, I should have noticed something. Can you see the lump or feel it?’ He tried to keep the anguish he felt out of his voice; the last thing she needed was a hysterical husband.
‘I just feel it in the shower. I was shaving under my arm, and I feel it. Look here.’
She took his hand and placed it along the side of her right breast. He pressed gently, and sure enough, there was a hard little lump. He swallowed.
Memories of his own mother, in bed and fading away from cancer when he was just sixteen, flashed before him. It was as if she had been erased before his eyes. It was horrible. He couldn’t bear that to happen to his darling wife. He felt his chest constrict with panic and fear, but he tried to breathe through it. He needed to be strong for Ana.
‘I will be right beside you, I promise. We’ll do this together. We don’t know what we’re facing, but I love you so much, and the boys love you…’ His voice cracked, and he couldn’t go on.
She nodded sadly. ‘I can’t leave you all, Conor.’ Her eyes filled with tears. ‘I don’t want to die.’
‘You are not going anywhere, do you hear me? You’re going to be fine. Things are so much more advanced now, technology and all of that, and they’ve caught it early.’ He prayed he was right. He felt so guilty; if he’d been paying more attention to his wife and less to the hotel, maybe he’d have spotted it. ‘How long has it been there, do you think? I should have noticed.’
‘I think two weeks, not more.’ She swallowed. ‘Is okay, Conor, you don’t have to be so strong. It’s bad news.’
His eyes locked on hers. He felt the moisture on his face before he knew the tears had come, and they sat on their bed, clinging to each other, crying.
Chapter 2
Three days later, Corlene stood in his office, fuming. She had cleaned up her act considerably from the time he first met her years ago, a desperate five-time divorcee on a tour looking for her next victim. The leopard-print dresses and over-the-top make-up had been replaced by chic designer suits and perfectly done hair and nails. She was all right, and she was the senior partner in the hotel, but he did all the work, and he had no patience for anyone today.
‘Conor, are you even listening to me? I’ve left voice messages, sent texts, and nothing back from you. This is just not good enough.’
‘I’m listening. I’ve no choice,’ he replied, checking his phone for the tenth time for a text from Ana. He was picking her up at noon to go to the hospital, but he’d reluctantly come in to deal with urgent matters that Katherine had been plaguing him with since Wednesday morning. He should probably tell them – Katherine would make sure nothing to do with the castle would bother him if he did – but even saying the words ‘Ana might have cancer’ out loud was so gut-wrenching.
‘Well, what are you going to do about it?’ Corlene was not used to being dismissed like that, and she didn’t like it.
‘Nothing. We’re full all the time, so I don’t see what your problem is. Anything urgent, you can call Katherine. If you’re that concerned, why don’t you do something? We are meant to be running this place together, but there’s not been a hair or hide of you here for weeks. So don’t bother coming down now shouting the odds at me, Corlene, because frankly, I’m not going to take it from you. And don’t give me that you’re totally flat out with work. Dylan and Laoise were over last weekend, and they said you were on a cruise.’
He picked up the phone on his desk. ‘Katherine, can you get Carlos and can both of you come in here now, please.’ He replaced the receiver.
Corlene’s face was a picture of shock. Conor realised he had never spoken to her in that tone before.
‘What is going on? You’re not yourself. Seriously, you’re not on top of things, and it’s not like you. I know we’ve been so busy and you are managing mostly on your own, but I need to be able to rely on you. I just need you to call me back…’
She was off again, but Conor tuned her out. She was hardly ever there, as she was running another business in Dublin. She only showed up in Castle Dysert once a month or so. It suited him in general – Ana didn’t like the way Corlene flirted with him, and her overbearing manner and Alabama drawl seemed to put the staff on edge. The truth was, things worked much better when Corlene wasn’t there.
Katherine and Carlos Manner, the deputy manager, appeared together, and Corlene caught Carlos’s eye. Conor knew he had summoned her.
‘Okay, I’m leaving shortly. I wanted to tell all three of you together, but I want your assurance that what I say remains between us.’ He met each of their eyes in turn.
‘Ana found a lump in her breast, and it’s suspicious according to the doctors. We are going to the hospital today for the results of the biopsy, so I’m focusing on my family from now on.’
All three of them stared at him, speechless.
‘I’m sorry for being ratty, and for not returning calls and all the rest of it, but I’m worried sick. We are just trying to keep everything ticking over for now, so I’d appreciate your support.’
Corlene walked over and drew him into a hug. Her strong perfume was nauseating. He caught Katherine’s eye over her shoulder and saw the empathy and sadness there. All he could think was how Ana would hate to see Corlene’s arms around him.
Katherine sensed his discomfort and stepped forward to break up the hug. ‘Of course, you must go. Take care of Ana. We’ll manage everything here.’
Katherine’s cool voice was just what he needed to hear. Corlene was going on about some doctor she knew in Dublin who was a miracle worker. She meant well, he knew, but he didn’t need anything except for Ana to be okay.
Katherine distracted Corlene – mid-tale about someone who was cured by a guy after a terminal diagnosis – with some detail of the grand opening of the new wing.
Carlos nodded as Conor left. ‘Everything will be kept under control here.’ He’d never lost his clipped South African accent, and while he wasn’t popular or particularly friendly, he had a meticulous eye for detail. One of the reasons the hotel had five-star reviews all over the internet was because of how well Carlos managed the whole operation from behind the scenes. It was not cheap to stay at Castle Dysert, but it was luxurious, and every whim of the guest was seen to.
‘Thank you, Carlos,’ Conor said.
***
His wife was ready when he pulled up at the house. The boys were inside with Danika, who knew nothing of the trips to the hospital. Ana knew her mother – if she told her, she would go straight into doom mode. Danika was lovely, and Conor really liked her, but there was a melancholy to her that was always threatening to take over her cheery disposition. Ana said it was something to do with the Soviets, but then she blamed them for everything. Artur, he suspected, knew something was wrong with his daughter as they were extremely close, and if it had been anything else, his father-in-law would have been there when he made his announcement to Katherine, Carlos and Corlene. Artur was the operations and maintenance manager of the castle, and there was nothing he couldn’t fix. But they had decided to say nothing to anyone until they knew more. They told Danika and Artur a white lie that they had a meeting; they didn’t say where.
‘Okay?’ he asked as she got into the car beside him. He leaned over and gave her a kiss.
She nodded and held his hand. ‘Was it okay for you to leave the hotel?’
He nodded as he turned the car onto the main road. ‘I told Katherine, Carlos and Corlene, but swore them to secrecy. They know I’m concentrating on you from now on, so they’ll just have to manage on their own. If they ring me today, I swear I’ll swing at one of them. Corlene came all the way down from Dublin to have a go at me for not ringing her back. She didn’t know how to take it when I nearly took the head off her.’
Ana gave a weak smile; she could just imagine it. It took a lot to rile Conor. He seemed to have endless patience, but even he had a breaking point.
‘Anyway, don’t mind about them. Let’s just focus on you, all right?’
They drove the short distance to the hospital, and he held her hand as they walked into the new oncology suite. The staff there were friendly and efficient and directed them to a waiting room where they would be called.
Ana tried to leaf through a magazine, and Conor glanced at the morning paper, but they were both too agitated to concentrate. After what felt like an hour but in reality was ten minutes, a nurse popped her head round the door.
‘Anastasia O’Shea?’
She smiled pleasantly, and Conor and Ana followed her to a consulting room. ‘I’m one of the oncology nurses here – Katie is my name. I’m just going to take you down to the consultant first, and then you’ll be back to us, okay?’
Conor squeezed his wife’s hand. ‘Thanks,’ he answered.
Poor Ana looked terrified.
The doctor was there ahead of them, and she stood up to shake hands. She greeted Ana first and then turned to Conor.
‘I’m Dr Sunita Khatri. It’s nice to meet you. You’re Anastasia’s husband, I take it?’
‘Yes, I am. Conor.’ He shook her hand. Something about her gave him confidence. She seemed kind and gentle but efficient.
‘Now, we have the results of the biopsy, which we did with a core needle. We took a piece of the suspicious tissue and examined it under a microscope, and I’m sorry to tell you that the cells are cancerous. It is stage 2, and there is a negative margin, which means as far as we know now, the cancer has not spread further than the borders of the tumour. Your lymph nodes are clear, but we will need to do more tests to be sure and determine a plan of treatment. Your cancer is called an invasive ductal carcinoma, often found in older women actually, but it can occur in younger women such as yourself. I am going to suggest a lumpectomy as soon as possible because you have stage 2B, which means the tumour is larger than five centimetres, but does not, at this stage, appear to have spread. We’ll follow that with a course of chemotherapy, then radiation, and we’ll take it from there. I’m sorry the news is not better, but please try to stay positive at this stage – survival rates are very high.’
Conor knew that Ana would not have got all of that information. Her English was fluent but accented, and when it came to medical things, she had trouble understanding because of the unfamiliar jargon. That, added to the fact that she was upset, meant he needed to pay very close attention.
‘By very high, what do you mean?’ he asked, dreading the answer. Anything less than 100 percent was less than he would hope.
‘Ninety percent?’ The doctor smiled. ‘Look, I understand this is a shock. Nobody wants to hear this news. But please trust me, I am confident that we can have a very good outcome here. Anastasia, you are young and strong with no other underlying medical issues – you stand an excellent chance of recovery.’
She gave them as much time as they needed, and they asked more questions: how the treatment was likely to affect her, the time scale, the drugs. She answered each one patiently and as fully as she could. Conor liked her; she didn’t sugarcoat it, but she had a nice manner.
Afterwards, they had lunch and discussed everything. Conor was enraged to see six missed calls from Castle Dysert – how could they? They knew he needed to be with Ana today. He dismissed the notifications in frustration.
A message popped up: Conor, ring me. It’s urgent. I wouldn’t call if it wasn’t. Its personal, not hotel business. K
Ana was in the bathroom, so he scrolled to Katherine’s personal mobile number and pressed Call. Instantly, she answered. ‘Conor, how is Ana?’
‘It’s cancer. We hoped it wasn’t but it is. What do you need me for?’ He didn’t want Ana to come back to find him discussing her health with Katherine.
‘A man has turned up. He has a reservation and everything, but he’s looking for you.’
He sighed in exasperation. ‘Well, I’m not available. Can’t you take a message?’ This wasn’t like her. She normally guarded him like a pet Rottweiler, hardly allowing anyone to take up his time. She knew better than anyone what Ana meant to him, so why was she bothering him like this?
‘I’ve tried, but he knows where you live – don’t ask me how – and he’s threatening to go over there. Conor, he says his name is James O’Shea and that he’s your father.’
He was speechless. Surely it couldn’t be. His father had walked out when Conor was eight years old, never to be heard from again. Rumours he’d heard growing up were that his father had left with some young woman he’d gotten pregnant, but his family in Cork never knew for sure. For so long, he raged at his father for leaving them, for not caring, for forcing his abandoned wife to face the humiliation of a small town where everyone was stuck in everyone’s business. But he’d not thought about him for years, and if his father ever entered his head, he assumed the man was dead. He’d be in his seventies now, he supposed.
‘Conor, are you there?’ He heard Katherine’s voice. ‘What do you want us to do?’
Conor thought quickly. ‘Tell him I’ll come up to the hotel when I’m ready and I’ll see him then. I have to go.’ He hung up. Ana was on her way back from the bathroom. She had enough on her plate without knowing about this.
We hope you are enjoying the book so far. To continue reading...
Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved
Please log in to recommend or discuss...
