Chapter 5 Connie

The wedding of Connie O'Connor and Harry Kane was going to be in the Hayes Hotel. Miss O'Connor had been the receptionist at the hotel since it opened two years before. She was excellent at her job: beautiful, a good organizer, polite with customers, always in control. She had met Mr Kane at the hotel. He was the most attractive man she had ever seen, tall with thick brown hair and an easy smile. He came to the hotel every Wednesday for meetings and to entertain people to lunch.

Connie had slowly learnt more and more about Harry Kane. He was almost thirty and lived alone. His name was sometimes seen in the newspapers, with the names of other rich and famous people. He, with two older partners, had a new and very successful insurance business. Some people said that the business was growing too fast, that there would be trouble. But it showed no signs of it.

•

Connie’s mother slept in the same hotel room as Connie the night before the wedding.

'You are happy?' her mother asked her suddenly.

'Oh, mother, of course I'm happy,' Connie said. 'I'm just afraid that I might not be good enough for him, you know. He's a very successful man.'

'You've been good enough for him until now,' her mother said. 'Now, make sure he gives you money for yourself. Invest it. Then, if something goes wrong, you'll be all right.'

'Oh, Mother.' Connie felt sad. Her mother was speaking from her own experience. Connie's father, a dentist, had died when she was nineteen. He had left debts that none of them had known about. They had lost the family home. None of the children was able to go to university as they had planned. Connie's mother never forgave her husband.

•

It was the best wedding that Dublin had seen for years. Afterwards they spent two weeks in the Bahamas. Connie had thought that those two weeks would be the best of her life. And she did enjoy some of it. She liked talking to Harry and laughing with him. But when he touched her, something changed. She could not relax. She could not understand her own coldness. Perhaps she was afraid of men after the unhappiness her own father had caused. Harry could not understand either. He was upset and angry and, almost before it had really started, their relationship was in trouble.

•

A few months after their wedding Connie found that she was expecting a baby. This gave them both new hope.

'You've made me the happiest man in the world,' he said. 'I'll do anything for you.'

Connie had stopped working at the hotel, but she kept busy and tried to share in Harry’s life as much as possible. She often drove to see Harry’s parents. And she gave dinners for Harry's partners and their wives. The wives were almost twenty years older than her. They hadn't liked her much in the beginning, but now they told their husbands that she was the perfect wife for Harry Kane. It was a good thing that he hadn't married his secretary, that unpleasant Siobhan Casey.

Connie didn't know that before she was married there had been a relationship between Harry and Siobhan Casey. She was very shocked when she realized that he was meeting her now. He hadn't tried to make a success of their life together. She'd been married seven months and was expecting a child. No man had a more comfortable lifestyle. She kept their big new house beautifully. But he wanted something more than she could give.

The months passed and they communicated less and less. A short time after their son, Richard, was born, a lawyer asked Harry to come to a meeting in his office. The lawyer had been a friend of Connie's father. He explained to Harry that Mrs Kane had asked him to prepare a legal document, dividing their property between them.

'But she knows that half of mine is hers.' Harry was more shocked than he had ever been in his life.

'Yes, but there are other things to think about,' the lawyer said. 'You must agree that your company grew very quickly. Financially, it may not be as safe as it seems. You know that your wife's father's investments were not enough to look after her family when ... '

'That was totally different.'

'And we understand that Mrs Kane is expecting a second child, and that she had a successful career before she married you.'

'That was only a receptionist's job. She can have anything she wants now. What's she complaining about?'

'Mrs Kane is not complaining,' said Murphy. 'She is only afraid that something might happen to your company. Then you would be left without the things you have worked so hard for.'

'And what does she suggest?'

Connie's lawyer wanted almost everything put legally in her name; their house and a large amount of what Harry earned from the company. She would form another company with its own directors.

'And if I refuse?'

'I'm sure you don't want the newspapers and the public to hear about this. It would be bad for business ... '

Harry Kane signed the document.

He drove straight back to his house and walked into the sunny kitchen where Connie sat feeding baby Richard. He stood and looked at his beautiful wife and son. Soon they would have another child. In a way she was right to protect herself.

'I saw your lawyer,' he said.

For months she hadn't come near him or shown any feeling for him. But now she put her arms around his neck. 'Harry, don't be angry, please. We have such a nice life.'

'You didn't ask me if I signed.'

She pulled away. 'I know you did. Because it's right and because it might help you, too, in the end.'

'Why didn't you tell me what you were doing, Connie?'

'I was lonely and frightened. I didn't want my children to have the same experience as I did. And I didn't want to hate you like my mother hated my father.'

'I see.'

'Can't you be my friend. Harry? I love you and want the best for you even if I can't always show it.'

'I don't know,' he said. 'I don't know.'

•

The new baby was a girl, called Veronica. And there were two more babies after that. To other people, the Kanes seemed to be very happy. But Harry Kane was seen with other women, and his secretary still followed him around.

The years passed and the children grew up fast. The oldest boy had nearly finished at school. Veronica was hoping to study medicine. The other boys were full of life.

Harry seemed to work hard, and he never had time for a family holiday. He had to go abroad a lot too. Work, he said.

Of course Connie wasn't happy. Some of her friends thought she should leave Harry. So why did she stay? Because it was better for the family. Because it was too much effort to change everything. Because this wasn't a bad life. Harry was pleasant when he was there.

And then one day Harry Kane came home and told his family that his company was closing the next day. People's investments had been lost - the money they had saved all their lives.

It would be all over the newspapers. There would be newspaper reporters and photographers at the door. What had caused it? Perhaps they hadn't been quite as careful as other companies had. They hadn't always asked enough questions, checked everything fully.

'Your mother always told me that this could happen,' Harry said to his children. 'And I didn't listen.'

'Oh, Dad, it doesn't matter,' Veronica said.

'It could happen to anyone,' Richard said bravely.

Connie saw Harry's eyes fill with tears. She realized it was time to speak.

She told the children that they would stay with her mother in the country until she and their father had arranged everything. And no, she said, they wouldn't have to sell the house. Yes, they could still go to university. There would be enough money for that and also to pay back the money that their investors had lost. Their father was a very clever businessman. They had their house, and a lot of money in another company, of which she was the director.

The children left in a taxi later that evening.

'What am I going to do, Connie?' Harry said.

'I'll keep as much of my money as I need for the children. I'll put the rest back into your company to pay back the people who lost everything.'

'God, why do you always have to be so perfect?' said Harry. 'You took the money. Keep it. Those investors knew what they were doing. It's their problem.'

Connie's face went white with anger. This man cared about no one except himself. She stood up and walked to the door.

'Go on, leave,' he shouted. 'Go and tell all your friends.'

She hadn't intended to, but she turned and hit him across the face. Then she closed the door behind her.

•

The next day was like a terrible dream. Some of it was spent in the lawyer's office, where her financial position was explained to large amounts in two companies abroad for five years now. The directors were Harry Kane and Siobhan Casey. They had told Gus that it was necessary to invest with them, if he wanted them to rescue his hotel business. Connie immediately took out her chequebook and wrote Gus a very large cheque.

'But why are you doing this, Constanza?' Gus asked. 'I can't take this money. I can't. It's too much.'

She pointed at Harry's name on the document. 'That man is my husband. He has lied to you. I can't let him do this to people. See you on Tuesday, Lorenzo,' she said, and she was gone.

•

As usual, Harry wasn't there when she got home. It was late but she telephoned her lawyer and made an appointment for the next day. It was eleven o'clock at night by the time he had finished talking to her.

'What will you do now?' she asked him.

'Telephone the police,' the lawyer said. 'Your husband is guilty of giving false information to people and of using their money illegally

Harry did not come home that night. The next day Connie walked up the steps other husband's office. Their meeting would end his life as he knew it.

The police were already there.

'You didn't have to tell them, Connie,' Harry said. 'You had everything you needed. Why did you do it?'

'Because it wasn't right, Harry. You were rescued once. Wasn't that enough?'

She saw Siobhan Casey in her office. She was sitting with bankers, lawyers and police.

Connie walked out of the door and got into her car. She didn't look back.