Three Women Read Online Free PDF Page B

easily about work and friends and all the news.
    Erin told them all about the upcoming wedding of her best friend, Jenny, who was getting married in a castle in Cork in August and had all her friends demented with talking about budgets and costs and guest lists.
    ‘I don’t know why she and Shane just don’t go off to some nice small place and get married with just the two families and a few friends, if they have no money. Who are they trying to impress?’
    ‘You lot!’ joked Nina. ‘You all expect big weddings and dresses and bands, money or no money.’
    ‘No we don’t. Karl and Emma are getting married in the Registry Office in ten weeks and having the reception in Mere Zou, that lovely French restaurant on Stephen’s Green, afterwards.’
    ‘Good for them,’ said Tom. ‘I’m glad to see someone you know having a bit of sense.’
    ‘Well, we all think it’s great because we don’t have to go and fork out to stay in a hotel and spend a fortune,’ she admitted.
    Nina smiled and wondered what would happen when Erin and Jack eventually decided to settle down and marry. Lord knows what kind of wedding Jack would want – probably something involving surfboards and beaches, if he had his way, whereas Erin was definitely more traditional.
    Tom hushed her when she talked about Erin and Luke and the future. ‘Give them a chance, Nina. They’re young yet – don’t be letting that big heart of yours run away with you. Erin will make her own mind up when the time is right, like she always does!’
    After dinner Tom and Jack and Bill sloped back to the living room to watch the replay of some rugby match and the rugby commentary from a panel of experts. Erin and Nina stayed in the kitchen, tidying up and having another mug of coffee each.
    ‘Mum, I need to talk to you about something,’ said Erin slowly. ‘It’s something I really need to know about.’
    Nina could feel the heat of the mug against her skin as she took in the serious expression on Erin’s face.
    ‘I’m twenty-six years old and I need to know about myself … about before you and Dad adopted me. I suppose seeing Nikki pregnant and going to have her baby has made me think about it more—’
    ‘Erin, we’ve told you everything we know already,’ Nina said honestly, trying to disguise how perturbed she suddenly felt. ‘Your dad and I have never tried to hide the fact that you and Jack are adopted. We’ve always been upfront with the two of you about it.’
    ‘I know, Mum, but please tell me again,’ pleaded her daughter.
    ‘Why?’ whispered Nina, trying to control herself.
    ‘I don’t know why – but I just need to know about the time when I was born and given up and about my birth mother. I’ve never really asked you and Dad too much about it before, but Mum, I really want to know. I’m entitled to know.’
    ‘Of course,’ said Nina, feeling the blood in her veins slow so much that it seemed almost frozen. She had always known this day would come, when Erin or Jack would demand to know more than what they had already told them – but not now, out of the blue after a perfect Sunday dinner! She wondered what had brought on this sudden desire to discover the past.
    ‘Erin, it’s only normal to be curious – totally normal to want to know more about your birth and what happened and how your dad and I adopted you.’
    ‘And about my mother,’ she insisted.
    Nina tried not to show the pain inflicted by the dagger of her daughter’s word – mother.
    She
was Erin’s mother – no one else was. She loved her more than anyone else in the world did. She was the one who had cared for her from the day that Erin was handed into her arms – nothing and no one could change that. She was the one who had fed her, changed her, winded her, helped her to learn to talk and walk and read. Suffered endless sleepless nights when Erin wouldn’t go to sleep or had nightmares or was sick. She had put up with toddler tantrums, and boldness, and