Silver Wedding Part II

We begin to learn the secrets of the lives of the people who are attending the Silver wedding. Maureen's mother dies, and in sorting out her papers she finds that her father is not dead as she thought. He was working in South Africa when she was a child, and he had fallen in love with another woman. He asked his wife for a divorce, but she refused and told him that if he wanted out of the marriage he would have to disappear from their lives and she would tell her Dublin friends that he had died in Africa. Maureen starts hunting around and finds that her dad is still alive and is now living in a home in England. She is hurt and shocked that her mother deprived her of a father, because of her snobbery. She gets in contact with her father and likes him, and she tries to feel sorry for her mother who had only her social standing in Dublin society to live for. She was herself in love with Frank, Desmond's friend and now his boss, and thought of marrying him but her mother was against the idea and Frank took a dislike to her mother and their relationship fizzled out. Meanwhile Brendan, Desmond's son, has settled in Ireland where he can lead a peaceful unpretentious life, working on a farm, and not having to live up to his mother's social standards. He does not want to go back to London. Desmond is getting increasingly fed up with his wife's life which consists of putting on a show of perfection for her family and neighbours.. and he realises that he is never going to get any further in his job. He becomes friends with Mr Patel, the owner of a small local shop and when Mr Patel is injured by burglars, he offers to take over and run the business till he is better. Deirdre is horrified.