When All Is Said

The time is 8:35 pm, the third toast is to Noreen, and the drink is another bottle of stout. Maurice asks Svetlana for a “toasted special”—she doesn’t know what it is, but the kitchen says they can make it once the rush in the dining room has passed. He orders another stout. He remembers going for a drink with his father, who didn’t drink much and warned him of its perils. He also taught Maurice his mercenary attitude to business.

Maurice internally tells Kevin why he drinks to Noreen, Sadie’s sister: Because of her, Sadie’s father, Michael, accepted Maurice faster, and another part of the coin’s mystery was resolved. Also, Sadie was devoted to her.

Maurice remembers the success of Sadie’s first visit to his home. His father and sisters made a fuss over her, though his mother was quiet. Afterward, his mother wondered who Tony might have brought home.

In contrast, when Maurice met Sadie’s family, he was nervous, particularly about Michael. Feeling awkward, he asked after her sister, Noreen. This exacerbated the tension as Noreen had a mental health condition and was cared for by nuns in a psychiatric hospital, St Catherine’s. He hadn’t realized as Sadie had only alluded to it loosely before: Mental health was a taboo topic.

Maurice, Sadie, and her family all went to visit Noreen. Initially, they decided Maurice should wait outside, but Noreen requested that he come in and uncharacteristically took a liking to him. She loved coins and stole one from him, but he let her keep it. This interaction won over Michael.

Noreen was a bridesmaid at Maurice and Sadie’s wedding, which went well until later in the day when Noreen had to return to St Catherine’s. She resisted, attacking Michael. The family held her down until the doctor arrived to sedate her.

After their parents’ deaths, Sadie and Maurice moved Noreen to a new nursing home closer to them. To their relief, it went well, though Sadie cried leaving Noreen there. After that, Noreen came over every Saturday, often staying the night and joining the family for Mass and Sunday dinner. She played with Kevin, who was about five at that point, but often caused trouble, ransacking the house and pocketing things.

One day, she ransacked Sadie and Maurice’s room, going through all Sadie’s things and taking the Edward VIII coin from the dresser. Maurice told her that this was one coin she couldn’t have, and she must put it back. Sadie, stressed, said they couldn’t have dinner until everything was cleared up but eventually relented. To Maurice’s surprise, Noreen put back the coin without a struggle.

In the present, Maurice notes that forceful interventions were not needed so much as Noreen mellowed with age. Svetlana brings Maurice the “toasted special,” but after one bite, he finds he can’t eat it.

He thinks back to an incident with Noreen 27 years after the time with the coin when they were in their seventies. He, Sadie, and Noreen stopped at the hotel for a Sunday lunch. To his horror, Thomas was there, but he didn’t recognize Maurice. Noreen caused trouble by stealing an Edward VIII coin from Thomas, disturbing Maurice, who thought it must be the same one he hid at home. However, once they were alone, Noreen revealed she had two coins—Maurice’s and the one she took from Thomas. Maurice convinced her to give both back to him, promising that she could have his, but it would have to be kept at his house.

Emily offered them lunch in a private room in the house, and he coaxed from her the true story about Thomas’s coin. Thomas bought it with his second wife’s inheritance, leading to their divorce and huge debt for the family. This ruined the Dollard estate, leading to Maurice’s cheap purchase of all their land. Thomas since convinced himself it was the same coin and that he never fell out with his father, but he would still look for the original coin back at the house. Maurice took the coin back to Thomas and censured him for his stigmatizing attitude to Noreen. When Thomas threatened to bar her from “his” hotel, Maurice was tempted to reveal that he was the part-owner but instead put him in his place by saying that the hotel only existed thanks to Emily and her father. Later, at home, Sadie asked him to return the coin, but he said that Thomas wouldn’t get the better of him and that he couldn’t return it as he promised it to Noreen.

Over her life, Noreen built up a huge collection of coins, which she kept in jars. It became a family tradition to find special coins for her and to gift her special jars to store them in. As a child, Kevin loved to participate in this tradition with his aunt, and as an adult, he and his wife, Rosaleen, continued to gift her coins and jars. At their wedding, they gifted her a jar of American money with a picture of them and Noreen on the front. This was one of three jars that were extra special to Noreen—the others were from her mother and Sadie. She took them everywhere, and they made her a padded case to keep them safe. Maurice compares their concern over the jars to a time when Kevin’s son lost his favorite toy. Everyone was stressed until Kevin found it in a shopping mall, and Rosaleen got a spare one to keep in reserve, which she now plans to pass down to her grandchildren.

Maurice remembers Noreen dying suddenly in 2007 at 70. Sadie disappeared into her grief, as she did after losing Molly. He thinks Sadie did her best but wonders if he ever really understood the depths of her grief and guilt over Noreen, occupied by business as he always was.