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Authors: Sheila O'Flanagan
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called, and if he said he’d meet her somewhere at seven, he was there at seven. Zoey liked that. It made her feel special.
By their third date, she’d decided that his age and his previous marriage didn’t matter. They got on well together and he was fun to be with. Besides, all of his credit cards were platinum, he drove a top-of-the-range BMW and he was living in a penthouse apartment in the city centre while his divorce from Deirdre was being negotiated. Zoey couldn’t help thinking that she could do a lot worse than Donald Fitzpatrick; that she’d done a lot worse than him in the past, and that she deserved the good times he was giving her now.
They’d married shortly after his divorce came through. Zoey had suffered doubts before their wedding, thinking that Disgruntled Deirdre had somehow managed to get far more out of the deal than Donald had expected or wanted, and worrying that his first wife and children would be a constant drain on their resources; but, as her mother pointed out, the Fitzpatrick family seemed to be very well off and Donald’s father lived in a gorgeous house on Howth Hill, so one way or another Donald was probably a good bet. Besides, Lesley had added, he’s a nice enough guy and not at all bad for someone pushing fifty. She’d chortled at her own comment, which made Zoey poke her in the ribs and tell her not to be a cougar, and to keep her hands off her fiancé.
Zoey had smothered her doubts because she loved Donald, although she had to admit that it wasn’t exactly the sort of hot passion she’d had for some of her previous boyfriends. But those experiences had only made her realise that hot passion eventually faded, and she was satisfied that even if Donald wasn’t the most inventive man between the sheets, he was thoughtful and considerate. Most importantly, he loved her, and she knew that she loved being loved by him too.
She wasn’t entirely sure how the rest of his family felt about her. She knew that his father, Fred, thought she was attractive, because at their engagement party she’d overhead him speaking to his other son, Gareth, and saying that Donald had certainly applied a very different set of criteria to the second Mrs Fitzpatrick compared with the first, and that he’d upped the ante in the beauty stakes, which was no bad thing, the girl was a stunner. That had made her smile. She liked being thought of as a stunner.
Gareth’s response to his father had been non-committal, and although he was always perfectly courteous to her, Zoey couldn’t help feeling that he didn’t rate her as highly as he did his brother’s former wife. Gareth’s own wife Lisette was a bitch, though, with her haughty air and her way of looking at people as though they were beneath her. When they’d been introduced, Lisette had pecked her on both cheeks and said ‘enchanted’ in a way that Zoey thought meant the exact opposite.
There was a sister, too, Suzanne, who hadn’t come to the wedding despite being invited. Suzanne had sent a brief note with her regret card, saying that she was on business in the States and couldn’t come but wishing them every happiness. Donald had been annoyed at the card and muttered that Suzanne still carried chips on both shoulders, that there was nothing stopping her from coming, she was just a hotel employee after all.
Zoey had hoped she’d get on with Sorcha and Karen, Donald’s daughters, but she thought they were bitchy and self-centred and she hated how they only ever seemed to phone their father whenever they wanted something. Which, with both of them, was usually money. Zoey understood perfectly that girls of nearly twenty and eighteen needed cash, but she felt that they could be out there earning it themselves instead of sponging off their father, a habit they’d clearly inherited from Deirdre, who rang at least once a week complaining about something or other.
All in all, Zoey found that being Donald’s second wife wasn’t quite as
By their third date, she’d decided that his age and his previous marriage didn’t matter. They got on well together and he was fun to be with. Besides, all of his credit cards were platinum, he drove a top-of-the-range BMW and he was living in a penthouse apartment in the city centre while his divorce from Deirdre was being negotiated. Zoey couldn’t help thinking that she could do a lot worse than Donald Fitzpatrick; that she’d done a lot worse than him in the past, and that she deserved the good times he was giving her now.
They’d married shortly after his divorce came through. Zoey had suffered doubts before their wedding, thinking that Disgruntled Deirdre had somehow managed to get far more out of the deal than Donald had expected or wanted, and worrying that his first wife and children would be a constant drain on their resources; but, as her mother pointed out, the Fitzpatrick family seemed to be very well off and Donald’s father lived in a gorgeous house on Howth Hill, so one way or another Donald was probably a good bet. Besides, Lesley had added, he’s a nice enough guy and not at all bad for someone pushing fifty. She’d chortled at her own comment, which made Zoey poke her in the ribs and tell her not to be a cougar, and to keep her hands off her fiancé.
Zoey had smothered her doubts because she loved Donald, although she had to admit that it wasn’t exactly the sort of hot passion she’d had for some of her previous boyfriends. But those experiences had only made her realise that hot passion eventually faded, and she was satisfied that even if Donald wasn’t the most inventive man between the sheets, he was thoughtful and considerate. Most importantly, he loved her, and she knew that she loved being loved by him too.
She wasn’t entirely sure how the rest of his family felt about her. She knew that his father, Fred, thought she was attractive, because at their engagement party she’d overhead him speaking to his other son, Gareth, and saying that Donald had certainly applied a very different set of criteria to the second Mrs Fitzpatrick compared with the first, and that he’d upped the ante in the beauty stakes, which was no bad thing, the girl was a stunner. That had made her smile. She liked being thought of as a stunner.
Gareth’s response to his father had been non-committal, and although he was always perfectly courteous to her, Zoey couldn’t help feeling that he didn’t rate her as highly as he did his brother’s former wife. Gareth’s own wife Lisette was a bitch, though, with her haughty air and her way of looking at people as though they were beneath her. When they’d been introduced, Lisette had pecked her on both cheeks and said ‘enchanted’ in a way that Zoey thought meant the exact opposite.
There was a sister, too, Suzanne, who hadn’t come to the wedding despite being invited. Suzanne had sent a brief note with her regret card, saying that she was on business in the States and couldn’t come but wishing them every happiness. Donald had been annoyed at the card and muttered that Suzanne still carried chips on both shoulders, that there was nothing stopping her from coming, she was just a hotel employee after all.
Zoey had hoped she’d get on with Sorcha and Karen, Donald’s daughters, but she thought they were bitchy and self-centred and she hated how they only ever seemed to phone their father whenever they wanted something. Which, with both of them, was usually money. Zoey understood perfectly that girls of nearly twenty and eighteen needed cash, but she felt that they could be out there earning it themselves instead of sponging off their father, a habit they’d clearly inherited from Deirdre, who rang at least once a week complaining about something or other.
All in all, Zoey found that being Donald’s second wife wasn’t quite as
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