Maeve, Johnny, and Mary Discuss Wedding Plans
(June 1976)(Johnny is in the bar, bringing an order to a table, when Maeve comes out of the kitchen. After he is finished, he goes over to her.)
MAEVE: That is the dearest, sweetest babe. He reminds me more and more of Frank every day.
JOHNNY: Did he go off?
MAEVE: Oh, yes. He finished his bottle, gave me a great big grin, and went straight to sleep all in the space of ten seconds, as if he didn't have a trouble in the world.
JOHNNY: Well you know something, he doesn't, if you add it all up: a mother and father who are getting along, a nice home...
MAEVE: Praise be.
JOHNNY: He also happens to have a grandmother who is something special. (touches her face)
MAEVE: Ah. You know, John, I never could get used to that word "grandmother." Grandmothers are old with white hair. (runs her finger through her hair) I don't feel old at all.
JOHNNY: Well you don't act it either.
(She laughs. Just then, Mary comes into the bar.)
JOHNNY: Hey, look who's here!
(Mary and Maeve hug.)
MAEVE: Ah, Mary love, that was really something!
MARY: Was it? Wasn't it terrific? Didn't we make a good case against Gilcrest Manor?
(She kisses Johnny.)
JOHNNY: We're that proud of you, really, we are.
MARY: Thanks, Da.
JOHNNY: I mean it, every word!
MAEVE: Yeah? Well I phoned up Miss Mills afterwards, and she said that all the residents at Gilcrest Manor were gathered around the television set watching, and they cheered me and they cheered Miss Mills when she made her statement and they cheered Hector whenever I mentioned his name. (tries to contain her laughter) And when I got to the part about Nick, they all booed!
(Maeve and Mary both laugh.)
JOHNNY: Well, I'll tell you something, that was the great part, exposing the fact that Nick was the owner of Gilcrest Manor. I hope Nick saw it, I hope he saw it!
MARY: Oh, it's done, I cannot believe it!
MAEVE: You didn't expect it to be over?
MARY: Well, there were times it seemed like there were too many loose ends that wouldn't fit together and Jack kept complaining cause I was putting too much time into it.
(Johnny roles his eyes.)
MAEVE: I expect he wants all the time he can get from you these days.
MARY: He sure does. I think getting married is the hardest thing Jack Fenelli will ever have to do. It would be easier for him to go off to war, risk his life, almost anything.
JOHNNY: I'm not surprised. He's waited long enough.
MARY: Da, there's something you must understand about Jack. He is the way he is mainly because so many of the women he's loved have let him down: his mother because she died in a fire when he was a baby, Sister Mary Joel when he was nine, the first girl he loved when he was nineteen. And I like to think that I'll be the first person who won't walk out on his life, and that's going to make all the difference.
(Johnny, suppressing his commentary, goes over to get a cup of coffee, while Maeve and Mary smile at each other.)
MAEVE: Well, have you given any thought at all to what you're wearing for the great occasion?
MARY: Oh, not really. I've peaked in a couple of magazines.
JOHNNY: (coming back over) You know, your sister Kathleen practically went blind looking at dresses.
MARY: Well my trouble is, I like them all. I love the floor-length full dresses; they're so grand!
MAEVE: Ah yes, you'll be very elegant in that alright.
MARY: But then I looked at some layered chiffon and embroidered eyelets(?). Pretty!
(Johnny doesn't know what they're talking about.)
MAEVE: Little holes worked around with embroidery.
JOHNNY: What, in a wedding dress?
MAEVE: Oh, darling, it's lined.
(Maeve and Mary laugh.)
JOHNNY: Oh.
MARY: But then I thought, that's really all too much and I should be looking for something street length and simple.
MAEVE: That would be very nice too.
MARY: Well that way I can wear it again on Sundays. Jack likes things simple.
JOHNNY: Oh yeah, mm-hmm.
(There is a tense pause.)
MARY: I feel a little simple-minded, not being able to decide.
MAEVE: Oh, any one of those would be perfectly lovely. You know, when I got married, all I had was my one good blouse, my one good skirt, and my grandmother's chapel veil.
JOHNNY: All the wedding dresses in the world, and you wouldn't have looked prettier!
MAEVE: (touches his cheek) Ah, thank you, darling.
MARY: Oh, I remember that blouse. It had such fine lace!
MAEVE: Would you like to see it? I was just looking at it the other day. It's up in the top of the closet.
MARY: Oh, I'd love to! (laughs) I remember how you used to show it to us when we were kids.
MAEVE: Ah, yes, the three of you begging me to let you parade around in it.
MARY: And you hardly ever let us!
(Johnny laughs.)
MAEVE: Well, it was a very special blouse to me. I've kept it for thirty years. Let me get it.
(Maeve goes to get it.)
MARY: You know, when I think of Ma not having a real wedding dress and her father being a school teacher, it's really hard for me to understand how people could be so poor.
JOHNNY: Oh, they were that poor, alright.
MARY: Because there were so many of them?
JOHNNY: No, because they wouldn't pay a country school teacher more than enough to keep flesh on his bones! Your grandfather was a great man. He was in the rising, Easter Sunday 1916.
MARY: And then he left Dublin and the girl he loved behind.
JOHNNY: Yeah, well, fortunately he was able to find your grandmother in County Cork, or you wouldn't be sitting where you are.
MARY: (laughs) Oh, I love the stories of that wedding - the fiddler and the dancing along the road after mass.
JOHNNY: Yeah, we may not have had much in the way of money, but there were uncles and aunts and cousins enough to make the party go 'round! (laughs) Oh, boy...
(Maeve comes back with a box.)
MAEVE: Well, here we are. Have you been talking about our wedding?
JOHNNY: Yeah. The nicest wedding I was ever at! And I'll tell you something, if I had it all to do over again, I would.
(They smile.)
MAEVE: I hope Jack says something to you like that thirty years from now.
MARY: Thirty years?
MAEVE: Oh, it all goes very quickly. (unwrapping the blouse) Now, let's see if my mother was right about wrapping things in blue tissue paper to keep lace from yellowing. Ah, there!
(She takes the blouse out and holds it up to herself.)
MARY: Oh! It's so lovely.
MAEVE: Yes, to tell you the truth, I think so too.
JOHNNY: Hold it up against you.
MAEVE: (holding it up) Here.
JOHNNY: Ah. You know something?
MAEVE: Yes?
JOHNNY: You could wear it right now, and with your hair forward and the lights low...
(He gets up and moves close to her.)
MAEVE: (laughs) ...very low...
(He hugs her.)
JOHNNY: ...you'd look just the same.
MAEVE: Thank you, darling. (holding the blouse up for Mary) What do you think, hmm?
MARY: It's so pretty! I just...I...oh...
MAEVE: Yes?
MARY: Nothin'.
MAEVE: Come on, now, you can say it to me. Go on!
MARY: Well, I was just hoping that I'd be lucky enough to find anything half as nice.
MAEVE: Oh, you will, you will, dear.
MARY: Well, I think I'd better go downtown and consult Jack.
MAEVE: Ah, yes, by all means.
MARY: He might not have heard about my triumph at Channel R yet. Ma, thank you for showing me your blouse.
MAEVE: Ah, I love showing it to you. Run along.
(They kiss.)
MARY: I'll see you tomorrow, okay?
MAEVE: Mm-hmm. Sure, call anytime, I'm right here.
JOHNNY: Bye sweetheart.
MARY: Bye!
(Mary leaves.)
JOHNNY: She is a dear, but she doesn't have anymore sense about what to wear at her wedding than she does about who to get married to.
MAEVE: Well, she should have her own wedding gown. That's as it should be. That's as it should be.
(The scene ends with Maeve and Johnny looking none too thrilled about the upcoming nuptuals.)