The Gathering

Veronica attends Liam’s wake in her mother’s house, where guests can view his body. Veronica’s siblings arrive and gather awkwardly. The only sibling who doesn’t attend is Alice. When their mother goes to bed, the siblings get drunk together. Veronica imagines seeing the ghosts of Ada, Charlie, and Nugent.

On the night of Liam’s wake, Veronica and Tom have sex, which she says is for the last time. She believes that Tom loves her, but she has also long suspected him of infidelity.

Veronica has a memory of holding Nugent’s penis and Ada walking in and seeing him sexually assaulting her. But Veronica can’t tell if this is a real memory or a vivid dream. She isn’t totally certain Nugent sexually abused her as he did Liam. She thinks, “I add it in to my life, as an event, and I think, well, yes, that might explain some things. I add it to my brother’s life and it is crucial; it is the place where all cause meets all effect” (224). Veronica now suspects that Nugent likely interfered with so many layers of Ada’s life that he can be blamed for many of the Hegarty family’s problems.