Claddagh and Chaos (11 page)

“Patrick!” Christi cried. I didn’t hesitate to cross the room and stand by her side. She reached out and grabbed my hand, squeezing the blood right out of my fingers. It was then, as I was so close I noticed she no longer had her wedding rings on. I hoped it was just because of where she was and not because she was finished with our marriage.

“You can ...” I started, but stopped when she glared at me.

The doctors and nurses began coaching her to push and to count to ten, this went on and on. I remained silent, just holding her hand, letting her give me as much pain as she could. I would take it all if I could. I would limit it to only the physical pain labor was creating, not the mental anguish she was suffering.

I lost track of how many times we counted as Christi grew red in the face, while she struggled to push. I did the only thing she would let me, hold her hand and keep quiet. At three seventeen, Christi pushed for the final time and my son entered the world. His skin was coated in a cheese like material the doctor wiped off in a fast motion. She handed me a pair of scissors to cut the umbilical cord, releasing him from his last attachment to his mother. Another nurse whisked him away to the plastic crib with the lights. I leaned down to give my wife a kiss, tell her that I loved her, and thank her for sharing this moment with me. But her eyes were fixed on our son and as soon as she realized what I was doing, she pulled her hand away from me, shooting me death glares once again.

I didn’t have any of the evidence here with me, nothing concrete to show her all of this had been just a twisted nightmare. I moved away from the bed and as close as possible to my son. I watched with a protective eye as he was bathed and examined, his cries a sure sign he wasn’t happy with the attention he was currently receiving. I wanted to pick him up and take him solidly in my arms. I wanted to give him to his mother for her to give him the type of affection only a mother could bring. But I knew this was all for his own good, just like the medication the nurse was placing in his tiny eyes and the injection she asked Christi about earlier. It was to protect him from outside dangers. I was reminded that it was my job to protect his mother and I’d failed her, twice now. I spun my Claddagh ring and vowed to myself there wouldn’t be a third.

“Mr. Malloy, would you like to hold your son?”

The nurse who handed Declan to me was faceless. I didn’t know if they were male or female, what kind of car they drove or if they had a family of their own. But in this instant, they were holding a living breathing example of the love his mother and I shared—my son, my first born heir.

With shaking hands and enough adrenaline to kill a horse, I took him from them, being extra careful that his head was guarded and straight. His dark brown hair and tiny nose were like his mother’s, but his lips and the shape of his eyes were all me. I tucked him securely into my arms, ready to promise him the world, give him every luxury I could beg, borrow or steal. I was completely in love with this tiny creature and I would kill anyone who tried to hurt him.

Time was an enemy, a thief that would steal how long I got to keep him with me. His mother would demand him soon, how could she not? I knew when she, the gift she had allotted me would be gone and she’d ask me to leave. It was our son who decided when that time was near, he began to fuss and I knew he needed to be with Christi. It didn’t help to squelch the yearning I had to crawl into that bed behind her and wrap them both in my arms, daring any motherfucker to take them from me. But his crying increased and I knew my time had expired. Giving him to his mother was easy, natural;it was the letting go of him that about killed me.

“I love you, Declan.” I kissed his forehead, then backed away slowly. “Be good for your ma.”

I couldn’t look at Christi; I knew she would have the same disgusted look on her face that she had the last time I made eye contact with her. My heart just couldn’t take it right now. So I left, without a word. I stood with my back to the wall just outside of her room. I could hear her settling the baby and I imagined for just a moment that I was lying there beside her, kissing her cheek, as she touched his face. I pretended that we were happy and she was excited to be my wife.

I failed to notice that Ma was standing beside me. As I opened my eyes, she opened her arms and I fell into her embrace. No words were exchanged, but just like Declan, I needed my ma.

“They’re going to move her shortly,” Ma whispered in my ear. “Let me get the family here and we’ll talk to her as a whole.”

I couldn’t argue with her; I didn’t have much choice left. I nodded my head in silent agreement.

“Call the florist and have him decorate the room. I will phone your da and have him bring what we know.”

She kissed my cheek and assured me everything would be all right. I believed her, she was wise and strong and she always kept me doing what I was supposed to do. With her assurance, I almost felt like the clouds were clearing and the sun was about to shine. However, it was the words I heard my wife speak that caused the heavens to open up and pour.

“Gretchen, Declan was born about an hour ago. How fast can we have him served with divorce papers?”

I FELT THE ANGER BOILING inside of my chest. She was ready to just toss everything away after hearing only one side of the story. Christi was a member of this family and more importantly, the mother of my new son. She was out of her goddamn mind if she thought for one fucking second that I was going to let her walk away without a fight.

I looked around the hall; I needed reinforcements for what needed to happen. Christi might not want to listen to me, but I had a few people in mind that would make her listen. With no real plan on how to make that happen without the use of violence was foreign territory for me. Give me a gun and I could make any man tell me what I wanted to know, but that beautiful woman, who kept my balls in her purse, wouldn’t even look me in the eye, much less spill her guts. I needed to get my shit together before I made her listen.

I removed my phone and sent a text to my men to meet me with the evidence we had, and another to the people I knew she couldn’t ignore. Da returned my text that they were on their way and would meet me in the parking lot as they had new information. I didn’t like the idea of leaving the floor; I wasn’t convinced Christi wouldn’t bolt with Declan the first chance she got. However, after the long night I had and the events of the day, I knew I needed sleep. I wasn’t about to go home to a house without Christi. A house with no life or laughter, there was only one real choice left.

Not much had changed since I left my parents’ house earlier today. The entryway still smelled of the floor cleaner the cleaning service used. The television in my father’s study could still be heard, the evening news anchor telling the events of the day, a smile on her face as she shared the doom and gloom of the world around us.

If I could just get a few hours of sleep and a hot shower, I knew I could think of a way to get through to Christi. Ma designed the shower in the guest room with these amazing jets that aligned with your body. I stood with the hot water pulsing at me from three directions, closed my eyes, and let the action calm me. As I ran my towel through my hair, the rumbling of my stomach reminded me I had neglected it for far too long. I wasn’t entirely certain when was the last time I ate. There was never a question if there was food prepared in this house. Ma lived to stuff the faces that graced the open doors. I didn’t really want to talk with anyone, not until I had a firm idea of what to do about this situation—how to get everyone back under one roof. This time, as I passed my da’s study, the door was closed and I assumed my parents had gone up to bed. Sitting in the center of my ma’s kitchen island was a plate of meatloaf, steaming hot with a tall frosty glass beside it. I barely even tasted the food as I shoveled it hastily into my mouth, my body acting on its own violation in its need for replenishment.

When I returned, the door to my da’s study was open and I could hear the sounds of my da and Sherman talking. I was about to enter the room, when I clearly heard my da talking about a call from McIntyre, our family attorney. I didn’t like the tone of his voice, the urgency and, sadly, the fatigue.

“Da, tell me what’s going on,” I demanded, storming into the room. “What does McIntyre want?” Getting a call from the family attorney was never a good thing, especially with everything going on with Christi.

“Slow down, Patrick,” Da cautioned, his stance guarded. “McIntyre was calling to tell me he had an interesting call from an Inspector Beliogini.”

I gave him a questioning look as he took a seat and encouraged me to mimic him. “It would appear that Mia Montgomery is singing like a canary in her Italian jail cell.” I closed my eyes and settled into the leather chair. Would that nightmare ever die? “She had a lot to say about a certain ‘friend’ of hers that she recently ended a relationship with.” This was the first time I had ever seen Da using air quotes as he spoke. “According to Mia, Theresa Johnson was once her girlfriend.”

I looked to Da; his face had the beginnings of a smirk.

“Are you saying ... ?” The grin formed, no matter how much I tried to fight it.

“Yes, Son, Mia says she’s a lesbian.”

The urge became too great and the laughter came with an audience as everyone joined me. I could remember Eileen trying to set the two of us up several times over the years. How hard she had worked to place us together. Had I spent any real time with her, I may have been able to hone in on this new detail, save a lot of people a lifetime of heartache.

“She told Beliogini they met a few years ago. Eileen found out and told Mia that Theresa would be the perfect accomplice to their plan to take over.”

I was completely awake now. The desire for more clarity raged inside of me, bringing me more strongly into focus.

“How? I mean we never saw her before the open house,” I stated, racking my brain, trying to figure out where I had met her prior.

“Oh, but we
did,
” he retorted. His words took on a character full of amusement and fun.

“When, Da? When did I see her?” My tone disbelieving, because frankly I couldn’t remember ever noticing her.

Da relaxed into his chair as he took a sip of his drink. “Remember the car that brought Morgan to the wedding?”

My eyes went wide. I had forgotten all about the mystery driver that day. I was so turned on by the way Christi took charge, showing everyone around her that she was secure within herself. She had been more than ready to enter this family and she showed the world just the kind of contender she was inside.

“That was Theresa Johnson?” I verified.

“Mia said she drove the car from the airport to the church and then to an old warehouse where Morgan was killed.”

Da and I looked at each other for a few minutes. The pieces of the puzzle started coming together. Each detail brought the big picture more into focus.

“But why did she continue? I mean Eileen is dead and Mia soon will be. There’d be no money coming to her.”

“That’s where the story takes a little twist,” Da said, as he stood and crossed the room. He grabbed a cup from the side board filled with cups and pastries. “It seems that McIntyre also received a call from the Feds.”

I knew from earlier that Sherman had some information he hadn’t been able to give to me.

“They arrested an Alex Houston. He’s a rookie who started with the department about a year ago. He was sitting outside of the church during Books’s wedding and decided to follow the car Theresa was driving. He discovered what she was in the process of doing, but she was able to con him into believing she was being forced to do it.

“He took her to his home and she slowly convinced him she had fallen in love with him. He thought he was building a future with her, but she was only using him to get the information she needed on us. She told him she was pregnant with his baby and they needed money to buy a home to raise their family in. He decided if he made a big break in a case against this family that he’d get a promotion and then he could buy them a house.

“So he began to do things on his own time, with no regard for the rules of the department. He made too many mistakes and his department figured out what he was doing. When they arrested him, Theresa laughed in his face and told him she lied about everything, including being pregnant. Apparently, during their pillow talk, Alex spilled a few too many of the Feds’ secrets and now she’s considered a huge liability. They’re asking for our help in putting her away for a long time. They want the video tapes we have.”

Sherman and Caleb sat in the corner, silent until this point. Sherman took one look at me and made his way over.

“Patrick, I know who’s behind this. I swear we’re going to get the truth to Christi. You just need to be ready to take your wife and baby home.”

I continued looking at Da’s face.

“The condom belonged to an Alex Houston, didn’t it ... ?” Everyone knew it was more of a statement than a question. “I still don’t understand why Theresa stayed in the game.”