AOIFE
MY PITIFUL ATTEMPT at telling Joey about our little situation had resulted in him indirectly admitting that he would rather play with traffic on the M8 motorway than father a child with me.
Joking or not, it wasn’t a risk that I was willing to take, especially when Friday night traffic was so heavy.
By the time we made it back to his house, I was fresh out of tears and he was fresh out of patience.
“I don’t know, Molloy,” he said, parking the car, after I finished giving him a detailed rundown of the woes of womanhood and premenstrual syndrome, literally anything to buy myself more time from having to tell him the truth. “It’s not my area of expertise, but surely they can give you a prescription for that.”
“You think I need a prescription for mood swings?”
“No, not a prescription, per say,” he hedged, climbing out of the car. “More like a light tranquilizer.”
“Well, you’d know all about those,” I huffed, stepping out and slamming my door shut. “Wouldn’t you?”
“Forget about it being light; a horse tranquilizer should do it,” he muttered, slinging an arm over my shoulder. “Come on, cranky.”
Sighing, I slid my hand into his back pocket, leaned into his side, and said, “I’m sorry for being such a bitch to you.”
“Meh. I’m an addict, you’re a bitch,” he mused, pulling me close. “No relationship is perfect.”
I laughed. “It works, though, right?”
“Right.” Grinning, he leaned down and kissed me, as we rounded the garden wall and walked up the driveway. “Two of a very fucked up kind.”
“Hey, guys.” Shannon greeted us in the doorway, with a sobbing Sean on her hip, and I felt my boyfriend stiffen when his eyes landed on her face.
Her very black and blue face.
“What happened?” Joey demanded, moving straight for his siblings. Scooping Sean into his arms, he quickly led his sister into the house, while I hurried after them.
“He lost it,” Shannon explained, cracking her knuckles anxiously. “Over that picture in the paper of me and Johnny Kavanagh. He wouldn’t stop, Joe. No matter how much I begged him.” With her small hands trembling, she walked over to the cooker, and retrieved a small foil-covered plate. “Mam came in and pulled him off me,” she whispered, sniffling, as she removed the foil and put the plate in the microwave to heat up. “But then he hit her, too.”
“He hit Mam?” Joey’s voice was deathly cold. “She’s five months pregnant.”
“I know,” Shannon sobbed, rubbing her swollen cheek. “When he left, he took everything with him. He filled up the car with everything he could get his hands on – he even took the television in the sitting room.”
“I paid for that,” Joey bit out, body thrumming with tension, but trying to steady himself, as the small toddler in his arms clung tightly to his neck. Rubbing Sean’s back in small, circular motions, he looked at his sister and asked, “Where’s Mam now?”
“The boys are in bed,” she hurried to tell him. “They eventually passed out, but I can’t get this little guy to stop crying long enough to go to sleep.”
“I’ll sort him,” Joey replied before repeating, “Where’s Mam?”
Shannon flinched. “Joe…”
“Where’s Mam, Shannon?”
“Gone,” she squeezed out. “She left us.”
“Left you?” He shook his head. “Left you how?”
“She packed a bag and climbed into a taxi,” his sister confessed, jumping when the microwave pinged behind her. “About an hour after Dad left.” Shivering she opened the microwave door and withdrew the heated plate of spaghetti. “That was around half past six, and she hasn’t called or answered her phone since.”
“So, what?” Joey demanded. “Mam just left you here alone with the boys? No explanation or anything? She just upped and left?”
She offered her brother a sad smile and set the plate clearly meant for him down on the table. “Here; I saved you some dinner.”
“Shannon.”
“You should eat it before it gets cold.”
“I’m not hungry. Answer me.”
“Are you sure?“
“Shannon!”
“Yes,” she admitted quietly. “I suppose she did.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“Because you were going to the cinema.”
“Shannon!”
“I didn’t want to trouble you again.” She cringed, cheeks burning. “I feel like that’s all any of us do these days.”
“Because I’m your brother,” he snapped, closing the space between them and tucking her under his arm. “That’s what I’m supposed to do.”
I watched as both Shannon and Sean clung to Joey, a lot like I had earlier in the car.
“You call and I come running,” he told them in a gruff tone, but his eyes were locked on mine as he spoke. “Every time.”
