The Rose Garden Read Online Free PDF

in Donnybrook; she had never married and had ended up looking after her elderly mother, Betty, for years. A lecturer in Celtic Studies, Roz worked at Trinity College. There had been a romance with a visiting Scottish lecturer many years ago, but Roz had stubbornly refused to give up the security of her job and to leave her aging parent to move to Edinburgh with him. Molly suspected she often regretted it, but Roz never said anything and just got on with living alone, busying herself with her research and lectures and obsession with the mythology and stories of ancient Ireland and its people.
    ‘How did your meetings go?’ asked Roz, arriving back with two glasses of wine.
    Molly told her briefly about what had happened with the bank manager.
    ‘The bankers have a nerve. They’ve destroyed the country with their behaviour,’ Roz said angrily. ‘The whole thing is a disgrace and the awful thing is that those involved have all got hefty bonuses and handsome early-retirement payments, rewarding them for bringing the country to its knees!’
    Molly nodded, totally agreeing but making a mental note to avoid talk of the economy or banks over dinner later as they caught up with each other’s news.
    Two glasses of wine later, Roz insisted that Molly go up and have a quick nap before they went out. Molly, grateful to have a chance to put her feet up and rest, fell asleep almost instantly in the neat guest bedroom, with its Laura Ashley décor, overlooking the street.
    That night they tried out Le Bon Poisson, a fancy new fish restaurant in the heart of the city.
    ‘I knew that you’d like this place,’ beamed Roz. ‘It’s always busy, which is a good sign, and Patsy and John are always talking about it.’
    Molly smiled. Roz’s younger sister Patsy and her husband John always seemed to come up in conversation and she knew that Roz loved to keep up with them and try the places they visited and ate in, or see the plays they saw. Good old sibling rivalry. Thank heaven she and Ruth had never been like that. As sisters they had been very close and always mutually supportive. When she had lost Ruth she had not only lost her only sister but her best friend.
    Over dinner they chatted about mutual friends and politics and the pluses and minuses of living alone.
    ‘It’s just so hard, I don’t know how I am ever going to get used to it,’ Molly admitted.
    ‘Maybe that bank man is right, that you should consider the house-selling and moving,’ suggested Roz. ‘Mossbawn must be far too big now with only you and Daisy rattling around it. Just think how easy life would be if you moved back up to Dublin!’
    ‘Roz, I love Mossbawn and I love living in the country,’ sheretaliated stoutly. ‘Besides, you’re a fine one to talk about moving and you’ve lived in the same house and place all your life!’
    ‘I know,’ laughed Roz, embarrassed. ‘I’m hardly the one to be giving advice to anyone. It’s just that if you were back living here in Dublin you’d be here while Grace is in college, and near Ruth’s girls, and you still have friends here – and think of all the restaurants and cinemas and shows, and lots of interesting lectures and things to do here in Dublin. I always keep myself almost fully occupied.’
    ‘So do I!’ Molly laughed. ‘Keeping up the house and the garden at home is a full-time job, believe me. I like the odd trip coming to Dublin or to London, but I honestly don’t know if I could ever settle back here again.’
    After two cappuccinos they paid the bill and headed back home.
    Sitting in the kitchen, Molly found herself confiding in Roz over her worries about the future.
    ‘I just never pictured this – my life without David,’ she said, getting tearful.
    ‘You are so lucky to have had such a good husband,’ Roz told her. ‘He was a lovely guy.’
    ‘I know.’ Molly sniffed. ‘I was so lucky, but it’s so lonely now …’
    ‘You get used to being lonely,’ her friend said