Fallyn led the way into the kitchen, pulling out one of the less precious teacups and heating up the kettle on the stove as she searched in the cupboards for tea. “A lot’s changed since the two of you broke up.”
“Not broken up. Just hit a little rough patch.” Maria’s eyebrows had been over-plucked in the center, so she had the look of constant astonishment. When genuine surprise hit her, the eyebrows rose impossibly higher. “I guess Joey’s just spilling all our dirt to the riff-raff. I’ll make sure Vince puts a stop to that.”
“What’ve you been up to?” Fallyn was stalling, not wanting to be the one to wreck Maria’s day.
“Whenever Vince and I hit a snag, I go out of town for a month or two. I stayed away a little longer this time, so I know he’ll be nice and greedy for me. He was a real pill when I saw him last.” She threw Fallyn a wink. “So as nice as this little catch up’s been, you can run along now. It’s about to get real adult up in here, Little Keefer.”
Fallyn wished Vince had woken at the entry bell so he could deal with Maria. “Actually, a lot’s changed. I’m not dating Joey. I’m with Vince.” She held up her left hand to display the ring that shone like a beacon. “We got married, actually. Eloped about a month and a half ago.”
Maria narrowed her eyes to surmise how terrible a joke had to be to still be called one. When she sensed no tease in Fallyn, her nostrils flared as she stood off the stool at the counter. “You what?”
“Vince and I got married. It was sudden, which is probably why he hasn’t gotten around to telling you yet. Though really, he should’ve. I’m sorry you’re finding out like this.” Fallyn jumped when Maria put her hand on the stool just to knock it over like a child. The smack of the wood on the floor interrupted the soft passion of the opera still playing in the background. The soprano warned Fallyn to call for Vince, but the house was large and the ceilings were high. She had the feeling that the brief window for waking Vince had closed. “Sit down, and I’ll answer any questions you’ve got.”
“How long? How long were you sleeping with him while we were together?” Maria’s fist clenched at her side, her words coming through gritted teeth. “How long were you waving your young tits in his face before he caved?”
Fallyn swallowed, keeping her chin high and her voice calm. “We didn’t have sex until we got married. But we did kiss a couple times. I told him he’d have to break it off with you if he wanted to be with me, so that’s what happened.”
Maria threw out too many curses to keep track of. The more she cussed, the more worked up she got. The more worked up she got, the more animated her hands became, shifting from claws to flinging her fists out at Fallyn before she could properly counter. Maria’s rings Vince had bought her cut across Fallyn’s cheek, snapping her head to the side and tearing open the skin. Close up, Maria smelled like makeup and strong perfume that nearly gagged her.
Fallyn had been in a few fistfights in her life, but none while she was pregnant. She was too conscious of the baby she was carrying, so she resorted to merely punching back instead of using more crippling counters on the much taller woman. She popped Maria square in the center of her face, not even feeling relieved when blood bloomed from the taller woman’s nose. “You bitch!” Maria roared, temporarily blinded. “I had my nose done just last year!”
“Then don’t gouge my face next time! How about that?”
Maria growled like a feral cat and lunged for Fallyn, blood dripping over her mouth as she tore at Fallyn’s hair and tried putting the shorter girl in a headlock. When Fallyn saw Maria’s fist gear up to deliver a punch to her gut, something primal rose up in Fallyn. She stomped hard on Maria’s high-heeled foot and drove her elbow back into Maria’s stomach so the woman released her. Then reached up and gripped Maria’s head, yanking down so fast and so hard that Maria pitched forward over Fallyn’s shoulder with only a hearty “oof” on Fallyn’s part. The woman landed in a heap of limbs and fury on the hardwood floor. Maria was dazed, but not out.
“Vince!” Fallyn shouted through the house, taking her opportunity to run as far as she could from the crazed woman. She bolted up the steps, but Maria was hot on her heels. The two had blood dripping from their faces, smearing red on the banister as they fought on the steps. “Vince! Wake up!”
“Move in on my boyfriend! Take the money and the man that should’ve been mine!” She let go of the banister and yanked on a handful of Fallyn’s long auburn curls, pulling her off the tenth step and launching her down the stairs. Fire burned in Maria as she watched Fallyn fall, bouncing off the last step and landing with a bang on the hard floor. “I’ll end you! He belongs to me! This house is mine! I earned it! I kept him satisfied for years!”
Fallyn didn’t bother arguing as she rolled onto her back to face the attack that was flying at her from halfway up the stairs. “Vince! Vince, help!”
Maria pulled her high heeled foot back and kicked Fallyn hard in the stomach, not knowing the depths of the damage she could be inflicting. “He’s mine!” she screamed, gearing up for another kick to the girl she’d never given any thought to as potential competition.
Vince bolted out of the room in his boxer briefs, eyes wide and hair disheveled. “What the… Maria, get out of here!” He flew down the steps and ripped Maria away from Fallyn, throwing his ex backward in a fit of rage.
“Vince, what is she talking about? You married this Irish piece of trash? You said you would never marry!”
Vince ignored Maria and knelt next to Fallyn, fingering her face with terror in his eyes. “Honey, no! No, Fal!” He wiped at her blood-streaked cheek and brushed her hair back. “I’ll throw on some clothes and run you to the hospital. I’m so sorry.” He kissed her trembling lips, tasting her blood. He pointed to Maria, who was only just righting herself. “You get out of here. How did you even get inside?”
“With a key, you bastard! I live here! This was our house long before your young piece of teenaged ass moved in.”
Vince picked up Fallyn in his arms and carried her up the steps to their room, gently laying her on the bed. “Where else are you hurt?” he whispered, fearing the worst.
Fallyn was distraught as she held her midsection. “The baby, Vince! She threw me down the stairs and kicked my stomach!”
Vince’s face mutated from horror to that of a man possessed. He reined in his fury just enough to kiss her trembling lips and coo, “I’ll take care of it.”
He threw on his jeans and a t-shirt before stomping back out to deal with the woman who was still shouting obscenities at him. Instead of yelling or answering, he charged down the stairs, cuffed Maria around the neck and pinned her to the nearest wall. His breath was hot as he snarled in her ear. “Listen good, because this is the last time you’ll have stepped foot inside our house – mine and Fallyn’s. I added her name to the deed, not yours. She’s my wife, and you never were. All I ever meant to you was a meal ticket. All you ended up being to me was an easy way to get laid.” He pulled Maria an inch out from the wall only to slam her there again when she started arguing with him. “Don’t pretend it was anything more just because you’re sore you have to start paying for your own life finally! We both know that’s the only reason you came back here.” He gripped her chin too hard, knowing he would leave marks. “This was your warning. Step a toe inside our home again, and I shoot it off your foot. And don’t you even think of messing with Fallyn. I have people watching her, and if they see you near her, they’ll shoot onsite.”
“Vince, we had years together!”
“And we never loved each other once. It’s because of our years together that I’m letting you walk about of here.” He pointed his free finger up the stairs toward the bedroom. “She’s carrying my child. If anything happens to that baby, I’m taking it out on you.” He waited for her inhalation of surprise at the news that she’d just kicked a pregnant woman in the stomach, and that Vince was having a baby with another woman. He seethed at Maria, and then growled, “Get. Out.”
Vince released her, ignoring her terrified tears and turning her toward the front door. He opened her purse and took the house key off the ring. When he saw her horror turning back into anger, he pushed her out onto the front porch. “How could you settle down with that teenager? You hate the O’Keefes!”
“You be careful around me, Maria. I won’t be the one to mess you up, but I won’t stop Angelo from sending a clear message we’re not to be annoyed by you anymore. How many people do you think he’s made disappear over the years? He catches wind of you fighting with Fallyn, and I won’t be able to hold him back. He loves that girl like a sister, so step lightly and save your crazy for the next guy with deep pockets you sink your teeth into.”
He slammed the door shut before Maria could get in another word. He ran up to the bedroom, hands shaking as he checked Fallyn’s cheek in their bathroom where she was cleaning herself up. “It’s fine,” she insisted. “Just her stupid rings gouged me pretty good.”
“Let me get my shoes on. I’ll take you to the hospital right now.”
“Vince, I’m fine.” Fallyn’s tune had changed at the prospect of having to face what she was sure would be the doctor telling her that the baby was no more. She wanted a few more hours – days, if she could get them – of being pregnant with her husband’s baby. “The baby’s probably fine, too. She didn’t get me all that hard.”
“Are you crazy?!” Vince reared back from her in shock. “I don’t care if you think you’re fine! The doctor will be the one to decide if you’re okay or not.”
“Don’t yell at me!” Fallyn cried, tears pricking her eyes. “I didn’t do all this, okay? Maria did. I’m not your girlfriend, okay? I’m your wife, and you’re not allowed to yell at me like that.” She turned back to the mirror and dabbed at her dripping wound with a handful of tissues.
Vince wanted to shout, but knew she would only get more stubborn. “Okay. I’m sorry. I think you should go to the hospital. I think it’s okay to be the most amount of protective when a baby’s in the mix. I need you safe. I need our baby healthy.”
At this, Fallyn broke. She gripped the sink as tears flowed down her cheeks, stinging her cuts and embarrassing her at their declaration of her weakness. “I know you’re right, but I don’t want to go! I’m scared they’ll find out something’s wrong and it’ll all be over!” She lifted the hem of her sweater to reveal a mark from Maria’s heel a few inches above her belly button. “She got me good, Vince, but I can take it! I mean, I’m fine! That means the baby’s okay, right? Right?” She wept into her hand, clutching the countertop as she swayed with her sudden grief.
Vince knew only one of them could lose their head in a crisis, and he guessed the pregnant woman had more of a right than he did. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and held her hand, leading her out of the bathroom and sitting her on the bed. His voice was calm and offered as much comfort as he could spare. “The baby’s probably just fine. I’m being overprotective, so just humor me. What’s a trip to the hospital? We were just at the doctor’s this afternoon. No big deal.” He located her socks and shoes, kneeling before her to put them on her dainty feet. “The baby’s fine. We’re just double-checking so I can sleep better tonight. Won’t you sleep better once they give you another look?”
Fallyn sniffled through her tears and nodded. “Just please don’t leave me. And we can’t end up like you and Maria. I don’t want to yell at each other like that.”
Vince shook his head as he pulled on his own shoes and grabbed his keys, phone and wallet. “Maria and I started out like that. That’s not you and me. We’ll work hard to make sure that never becomes us.” He gazed down on his wife who, in her fear, looked so small. With careful fingers, he wrapped an arm around her back and snaked the other under her thighs, lifting her off the bed and carrying her down the stairs. He only paused at the stove to turn off the oven per her instructions before carrying his prize to his car and tucking her inside. Though Vince assured her over and over that everything was fine, he gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles as he drove his bride to the hospital.
11
Uncle Killian
Fallyn tried to suck back her tears in the waiting room, but they fell like slow drips of rain, fat and heavy down her ripped-up cheek. The chairs were stiff-backed and uncomfortable, but she couldn’t feel anything unrelated to her fear that she might be carrying a dead baby inside of her. The television in the corner of the waiting room had plenty to say about the affairs of the nation, but the only thing she could hear were her own silent prayers repeated over and over in her mind for everything to somehow work out alright. She closed her eyes to try centering herself, but the chaos within her roared. A cleansing breath only brought the sting of antiseptic to her nose, upending the balance she tried to grab onto. Leaning against her husband, his arm wrapped around her, she sobbed into his shoulder. “I need you to do me a favor. A big one.”
“Anything. You want some water? Something from the vending machine?”
She pulled back to look Vince in the eye, wiping away her tears with a damp tissue. “I know you hate him, and you have every right to, but I need you to call Killian.” She knew he would stiffen against the request, but he didn’t interrupt, so she pressed deeper into his fresh wound. “Today’s all messed up. I’m a mess. Everything’s a mess. I need my brother, Vince. If I lose this baby, I just… I’m on the brink of crazy, here. I don’t want you to have to deal with me if I lose it.” She gripped the tissue in her hand as she gestured with it. “What I really need is Carrigan here, but that would be a disaster. Killian’s the next best thing, and I need it. I need my brother.”
Vince’s arm tightened around her, his jaw clenched. “I’ll stay with you no matter what. I signed up for forever, not until you lose it.”
Fallyn’s voice lowered. “If we lose this baby, you’ll need someone to lean on every bit as much as I will. Please, Vince. We both need Killian here.”
Vince closed his eyes. “You’re sure this is what you want?”
“Please, Vince.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose as he called Killian on his phone. “Yeah, it’s me. Shut up and listen for a second, stronzo. Your sister asked me to call you. Just you. Not the others, got it?” He cast a look at Fallyn to let her know how much he loathed making the call. “Maria attacked her today, so I took her to the ER to have her looked at.” Vince handed the phone to Fallyn when Killian started shouting.
“Kill?” Fallyn said through her tears.
Her brother’s voice immediately softened to a gentle coo. “Fally, what’s wrong?”
“Kill, I need you to come sit with me. Can you get away? I don’t want the others. Don’t even tell them you heard from me. I just need you. Promise me, okay?”
Killian pled with her for answers. “Honey, what happened? What did Vince do?”
“Vince broke up the fight and got Maria off me. Vince drove your sister to the hospital, so don’t talk like that about my husband. Just come here and stay with me!” She hung up the phone before he could ask more questions that would only upset her further. Fallyn relaxed into Vince’s embrace that was more rigid than it had been mere minutes before. “Thanks. I know you hate him. Thanks for giving me this.”
Vince kissed her forehead, holding her tight as he rocked them both. “You know I’d give you anything you asked for, even Killian. I’ll even put on my company manners so it doesn’t put more stress on you.”
Fallyn and Vince clung to each other as the uncertain minutes clicked by. There were too many people in the waiting room due to it being flu season, and the wait seemed to stretch on into eternity. Every time someone coughed near Fallyn, Vince stiffened and shielded her face with his hand.
When Killian ran through the double doors, Fallyn’s heart rose in her chest. He wore gray slacks, a blue dress shirt and a look of panic that gave way to barely contained rage when his eyes fell on Vince.
Vince stood, extending his hand to Killian to make the fi
rst move and set the tone for how the men would behave in front of Fallyn. Killian ignored the hand outstretched to him and sat next to his sister, checking the slice on her cheek and asking question after question before she could open her mouth to answer. Finally it all culminated into one resounding demand of “Tell me what happened!” He pressed her temple to his chest and clutched her long auburn waves in his tight fist.
Fallyn couldn’t stop her tears as Killian rocked her back and forth, as Vince had done. “You have to promise not to lecture or yell or react in any way other than to be supportive. I’ve had a lousy day, and I can’t take any more tension,” she sniffled, closing her eyes as she clung to the comfort she’d missed.
“I promise. I’ll save all that for when we get home.”
“I missed you!” she admitted, clinging to his shirt. “You shouldn’t have been so nasty about me and Vince! I shouldn’t have to leave you to be happy!”
Killian looked up to the ceiling, chewing on his lower lip before taking a breath and responding to her pain. “You’re right. I’m here now. Tell me what happened.”
“Maria broke into the house today. She didn’t know we were married, and when she found out, she went ballistic. I was handling everything fine until she threw me down the stairs.”
Killian ran his hands through her hair. “Did you hit your head? What hurts?”
“Promise me you’ll be cool,” she warned, clinging to Killian tighter in case he decided to bolt.
“I promise.”
“She kicked me in the stomach, too.”
Killian kissed the top of her head. “Oh, sweetie. I’ll take care of her. Don’t you worry.”
“Vince broke up the fight and threw Maria out, but I fell before he heard us.” She clung to Killian’s arm that was wrapped around her, as if to hold him back from running after she delivered the final blow. “We’re freaking out because I’m pregnant, Kill. I’m pregnant, and Maria kicked my stomach and threw me down a flight of stairs.”
Exhaling: A Mafia Romance (The O'Keefe Family Collection Book 3) Page 5
