Are you home?
Barely three seconds passed before my phone pinged.
Where else would I be?
I snorted.
Be over in 15.
With my phone still in hand, I phoned my mother next.
“Hello, bear,” she answered on the second ring.
“Hey, Ma,” I chirped, smiling warmly. “How’re you today?”
“I feel a bit under the weather.”
Nausea settled over me.
“I’m comin’ over.”
“No,” Ma said sharply. “I’ve been gettin’ sick and feelin’ lousy. Your da took the day off work and is ’ere with me. I may have a stomach bug, and I don’t want you to catch it.”
“What if it’s not a bug?”
“Your da called a dub doctor to come out and see me,” she said, then coughed, and it sounded like she heaved, but I couldn’t hear very well so I assumed she moved the phone away from her face. “This has nothin’ to do with the cancer, hon. I just feel sick. Your da felt ill a few days ago, so I must have caught it from ’im.”
I lifted my hand to my face and pinched the bridge of my nose. It went against everything I was as a person not to be there for someone I cared about, and the fact that this someone was my mother made it all the harder, but I had to respect her and heed her wishes.
“You’ll call me when the doctor leaves,” I pressed, “and let me know how you are, right?”
“The second he leaves.”
“Okay.” I sighed, reluctantly giving in to her. “Get some rest, and I’ll talk to you in a while. I love you.”
After we hung up, I had to force myself to leave my house and head to Bronagh’s. I didn’t feel like leaving my apartment anymore, but I knew that if I didn’t, I would have been pacing back and forth while I waited for my ma to phone me. Bronagh and Georgie would be the distraction I desperately needed.
After I pulled up and entered her house, I found my friend and her daughter dancing around the kitchen. I leaned my shoulder against the kitchen door panel and smiled as I watched them. I got a familiar sensation of butterflies when I thought of having a baby just like Georgie one day, and for the first time in my life, the daydream accompanied Damien as my future baby’s father.
“Alannah!” Bronagh squealed when she caught me out of the corner of her eyes. “I nearly died!”
“Sorry.”
She handed me Georgie, who was already reaching for me. I kissed all over her face, making her scream with delight, which made her mother laugh.
“I swear she loves you more than me.”
I grinned. “How are Branna and the twins?”
“Brilliant,” Bronagh beamed. “I was goin’ to go up this mornin’ to see them, but Ryder said Bran was wiped and has slept as much as the twins. She had a very slight tear from givin’ birth, and ’er blood pressure was high last night, but she’s okay now and will be allowed home tomorrow.”
I felt lighter knowing that.
“I can’t wait to see them again,” I gushed. “They’re so cute I could gobble them up.”
Bronagh chuckled but agreed with a bob of her head.
“Ryder said both twins are nursin’ like pros, and they’re perfectly perfect. Dominic brought ’im fresh clothes before work this mornin’ so Ry could shower and then he brought home their washin’. I just did a load. I’m gonna go to their house tonight and clean everywhere so they just have to come home and enjoy the babies.”
I paused. “Branna’s house is so clean you could eat off the floor, Bee.”
“I know.” Bronagh’s lips twitched. “But she hates dust, so I’ll tidy over everythin’ so she doesn’t feel like she should clean, ye’know?”
I nodded. “Sister of the year.”
“Please, I’m bein’ selfish.” she chuckled. “Dominic already knows that I’ll be helpin with the twins for the first few weeks until they get into a routine. Bein’ a first-time parent is like bein’ thrown in a dark pit; you never know what’s gonna happen. They’ll have double trouble with twins.”
“They’re both sorted with work, right?”
“Yup.” Bronagh nodded. “Ryder started his two weeks paid paternity leave yesterday, which he is still chuffed about.”
“Men all around Ireland were chuffed when that law came into effect, and it’s about feckin’ time if you ask me.”
“Amen, sister.”
“What’s the deal with Branna’s maternity leave, though?” I quizzed. “I know, by law, she gets twenty-six weeks of paid leave and an extra sixteen weeks unpaid if she chooses, but she’s been goin’ to work ’er whole pregnancy. Granted not as much lately, but she’s still clocked a solid thirty-hour week this entire time.”
“She worked like that so she’d have more time with the twins,” Bronagh answered. “She didn’t want to waste ’er paid leave sittin’ at home so that’s why she continued goin’ to work. She officially started ’er leave last Monday ’cause we thought she’d have the twins sooner than now until ’er doctor changed stuff around. She booked ’er time off about seven weeks ago.”
“Smart,” I said. “Very smart.”
“Ryder is so happy she gets so much time off, and that she’s still gettin’ paid.” Bronagh snorted. “Kane was the same with Aideen; they couldn’t believe how good our leave is, or the fact that we get paid.”
“I’ll say,” I said, and I turned my focus to Georgie, who was drooling as she gnawed on her closed fist. “You’re the prettiest girl in the whole wide world. D’ye know that, honey?”
She smiled at me around her fist, and it made me laugh.
“Any word on your ma today?”
I sighed as I moved towards the kitchen table and sat down, resting Georgie’s behind on the table top.
“She’s sick today,” I answered Bronagh as I straightened Georgie’s little t-shirt. “A dub doctor is comin’ out. She won’t let me come around in case I catch whatever she has.”
Bronagh frowned. “But you saw ’er the other day, so you’d probably have whatever it was already if you were gonna catch it.”
“I know,” I agreed, “but try to tell me ma that.”
Bronagh snorted. “I can’t argue with ’er; logic sometimes flees when you want to keep your kid safe.”
“You’re tellin’ me.”
I played with Georgie’s chubby hands while Bronagh made us both tea.
“How are things with you and Dame?”
“Blissful,” I answered, a smile tugging at my lips. “I’m in a state of permanent shock, because whenever I think about ’im, I just can’t believe we’re together.”
“I said the same thing to Dominic last night.” Bronagh chuckled from across the room. “I said that you had both spent so many years at odds and in denial, that for you to both to have moved past your issues and be together is simply wild.”
“The power of communication.”
“Amen.” Bronagh laughed.
I placed Georgie in her playpen while Bronagh and I drank our tea at the table.
“Today was Morgan’s first day at work.”
“Oh, how was it?”
“Brilliant, we got so much done. He has literally reorganised me entire system and improved it tenfold.”
“Nice. Does that ease some stress off your shoulders a bit?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe.” I nodded. “Me job and Damien have been two major factors in why I was so stressed out this past year, and now that I’m in a good place with both, it feels weird to just have my parents’ drama to deal with … and me ma bein’ sick, of course.”
“Of course,” Bronagh echoed. “You’ll get there with the others; ye’know better than anyone that things just take time.”
“Yeah,” I quietly agreed.
It wasn’t long until our trio multiplied. Aideen and Keela showed up an hour after I came by, and I hated that I instantly wanted to ask Aideen where Kane was because my earlier conversation with Damien replayed in my head, and I
couldn’t shut his voice off.
“Where’s Kane?” I asked as nonchalantly as I could.
Aideen looked away from me and said, “Just runnin’ some errands in town.”
I stared at her, and like Damien, I knew she was lying. It seemed she couldn’t look me in the eye either, but unlike Damien, Aideen became unsettled with my gaze on her, and I could only imagine what was running through her mind. I was a little hurt that she had lied to me, but I had to remind myself that it was none of my business where Kane was, or what he was doing. I just hoped that whatever was going on, he was okay.
Hours passed, and the time was filled with chatting, laughter, and one relieving phone call from my ma to let me know she just had a vomiting bug and nothing more sinister.
When evening time approached, and the sun began to set, I stood up for a refill of tea, and when I placed my cup, or Alec’s cup, on the counter, everything went horribly wrong. I stupidly put it too close to the edge, and when Jax screamed over something, I turned to look at him, and my elbow bumped off the cup.
Time slowed down as the cup began tumbling through the air, its rapid descent kicking my heart into overdrive. I fumbled and stumbled as I made one last desperate attempt to snatch it from the clutches of my doom, but it was out of my reach, and a second after I knocked it from the counter, it hit the tiled floor and shattered into pieces. The realisation of what happened sent a sharp pain through my chest.
Silence fell upon the room until my laboured breathing could be heard.
“He’s goin’ to kill me.”
I practically felt Keela cringe. “I agree; he is goin’ to kill ’er.”
Aideen inched her way towards me. “He won’t, hon. It was an accident.”
“Ha!” I shook my head. “He’ll lynch me before I could even explain it was an accident.”
“We’ll get ’im a new Harry Potter cup before he comes home,” Bronagh said with a snap of her fingers. “He won’t know the difference.”
“He’ll bloody know,” I grumbled, staring down at the reason for my impending murder. “He has secret marks on the stupid thing so if I ever switched it with a different cup, he’d know.”
Keela laughed. I jerked my gaze to hers and glared.
“I’m sorry.” She chuckled. “He is just so funny. I love ’im so much.”
I rolled my eyes. “Will you love ’im so much as you’re helpin’ ’im bury me body?”
Keela laughed harder, so I ignored her. She was a lost cause and was already corrupted by the terror that was Alec Slater.
“I’ve no other choice,” I said, placing my hands firmly on my hips. “I have to leave the country.”
Bronagh made a sound awfully close to a laugh, and when I looked at her, she had her body turned away from me, but her shoulders were shaking.
“You dare laugh at me when I’m facin’ murder, Bronagh Murphy?”
“You have to admit …” She cackled, turning to face me. “He is goin’ to throw the biggest bitch fit known to humankind.”
Christ, I thought. He will.
I cleaned up the mess I’d caused, and after I emptied the shattered cup pieces in the bin, I felt sick. Alec was definitely going to kill me.
“I have to get out of—”
“Kitten, are you here?”
I froze and so did time itself.
“No,” I whispered. “No feckin’ way, why is he ’ere?”
“It’s Wednesday,” Keela answered, her eyes widening with alarm. “He finishes work early on a Wednesday. I forgot.”
Before Keela could finish, I rushed over to her and stood behind her chair. Instinct told me to unlock the back door in case I had to make a run for it, so I did. We all stood still when Alec entered the room. Even the kids went quiet and stared at him. Alec’s eyes darted from Keela to everyone else, then finally to me, and he narrowed them to slits.
“What did you do?”
I inched my way closer to the back door, bringing Keela’s chair and her with me. When she stood up, I held her in front of me, not feeling the slightest bit ashamed to use a pregnant woman as a human shield.
“It was an accident,” I stated calmly. “Remember that before we tell you.”
“What. Did. You. Do?”
I choked on panic, and couldn’t find the words.
“Keela,” Bronagh murmured. “You tell ’im.”
Alec focused on her, and when she spoke, his right eye twitched with each word.
“It was an accident, a total accident … Alannah broke your Harry Potter cup. Again, by complete accident, I’ll testify on ’er behalf if it’s needed.”
Keela pointed at the bin, and he silently walked over to it. Alec stared into the bin, and I swear to God, his eyes welled up a little bit, before fury filled them and they turned on me. From where I was standing, the lighting made his normally grey eyes seem black, and it was at that moment, I believed he was the devil incarnate.
“I knew you’d do this eventually, you cup murdering little demon.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose.” I frantically shook my head. “I cross me heart and hope to die.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he said shockingly calm. “You still did it, so you better get to hopping.”
Jesus.
“She’s pregnant with your child.” I gripped Keela’s waist. “You can’t come at me when she’s pregnant.”
“Watch me,” Alec said and began to walk towards me, his eyes unblinking and his movements calculated.
I held my ground for all of two seconds before I turned, yanked the sliding door open, and sprung out into the back garden. My eyes darted around for an escape route, but everything was blocked by damned toys. The only thing I spotted was the trampoline, and in my head, I planned to get inside it and zip up the netting which would form a barrier between myself and Alec. That plan didn’t work out because when I managed to get inside of the poxy thing, Alec was hot on my heels.
“Get back here!”
I screamed with fright and scrambled away from him as he entered through the gap in the netting. He was a big man, but his towering height intimidated me even more inside the enclosed space. Trying to flee on a trampoline was nothing but a complete failure I quickly realised, and all I could think of was to jump as hard and as fast as I could to knock Alec off his feet to give me a chance to break free. He threatened me the second I started jumping, and when he advanced, I screamed louder and bounced faster. Amid my screams and Alec’s threats, I could hear my so-called friends laughing like fucking hyenas.
“Stop jumping!” Alec ordered.
I jumped harder, making his legs wobble a bit more.
“This is assault!”
“I haven’t even touched you yet!”
Yet.
“It’ll be assault when you touch me then.”
“It’s about to be upgraded to murder if that’s the case.”
I screamed. “He admitted he’s gonna murder me!”
More laughter.
“Bronagh,” I pleaded. “Help me!”
“Why me?”
“Because,” I screeched when Alec lunged for me but crashed into the net when I dove out of the way. “Just because!”
“What the fuck is going—is that Alannah and Alec?”
“Damien!” I hollered, relief flooding me. “Save me!”
“What happened?” he demanded. “He looks like he’s going to kill her.”
“She broke his cup,” Keela answered.
“Oh, shit,” a chorus of male voices spoke.
I spotted the opening to the trampoline now that Alec wasn’t blocking it, and I crawled to it as fast as I could. I made it halfway out of the trampoline when a hand grabbed my left ankle and held on for dear life.
“I don’t fucking think so, you life ruiner!”
“That isn’t even a word!”
“I don’t give a shit,” Alec yelled. “I’m going to tickle you until you cry!”
Like a horror film, I was dragged
back into the trampoline all the while I was screaming for God to help me since none of the fuckers in the back garden would.
“He is like Pennywise draggin’ me away to me death,” I bellowed. “One of you bastards help me; I don’t wanna be like Georgie!”
My niece cheered when she heard me shout her name, not realising I was talking about a fictional Georgie who was savagely murdered by a dancing fucking clown.
I couldn’t see my piece of shite friends because I had flipped myself onto my back so I could track Alec’s movements, but I could hear them, and they were all laughing. I could have sworn I heard Jax and Georgie squeal too, and that was just wrong. Bringing those beautiful babies to witness my demise was unforgivable.
I stared up at Alec, and the way his head tilted as he stared down at me reminded me of Damien. All the brothers looked alike, but the twins resemble Alec the most. At the mention of the fair-haired twin, I got an idea.
“Damien!”
Silence, then, “Yeah?”
“I’ll go have sex with you if you get this lunatic away from me!”
More silence, then Alec looked up and growled, “Don’t even fucking think of it, you little shit.”
I heard a rustle from behind me.
“Sorry, brother.” Damien chuckled, sounding awful close to me. “I can’t pass up on her offer. I’ve been dreaming of sex with her for more years than I’m willing to admit.”
Hands gripped under my armpits, and I was pulled backwards, out of reach of Alec who was diving for my legs. I bent them, preventing him from grabbing them as he bounced off the trampoline and spewed curses to everyone and their dog.
“Traitor!” Alec snapped at his younger brother.
I pointed at each of the backstabbers as Damien held me against him.
“I will remember this when you need a babysitter.”
Bronagh and Aideen’s smiles fell from their faces, and they paled, except Keela whose face was red from laughter.
“You too,” I told her. “Your demon child is never gettin’ five-star Alannah care.”
She clapped her thighs together as she laughed. Damien was laughing too as he settled me down on my feet, then he laughed harder when I pushed by him and sprinted from the house.
“I’m gonna get you, Alannah” Alec hollered, his voice sounding demonic. “And your little cat, too.”