“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.”