by Henry, Jane
“Hello, Mum. It’s me, McKenna.”
“Oh, hello, there. Are you good? Are you safe?” She always asks me that straight away. It’s just how she is. Still, it makes me a little anxious every time. My mum’s gone downhill in recent years, starting after the death of her late husband. She’s leery of others and rarely leaves her home.
“Aye, Mum.” I suddenly don't know how to bring this up. I want her to meet Mary, of course, but this could be a disastrous decision. I don't know how she'll react.
“Oh, good,” she says with a sigh. “I was a bit afraid.”
“Why’s that?” This sounds like more than her usual concern.
“Well…” her voice trails off, as if she’s second guessing herself now that I told her I’m okay. “Patrick was here today.”
My blood runs cold.
Patrick, my ex-boyfriend, pops up from time to time like a stubborn patch of weeds.
Tully doesn’t know about Patrick. I’ve buried the memory of him myself. He was cruel and abusive, a man I’d like to leave fully in the past. I hate that he was anywhere near my mum.
“What was it, this time?”
“He wanted to know if I needed my front steps mended.”
My hands clench by my sides. He’s always making an excuse, always looking for a reason to be where he isn’t welcome.
“And you told him…”
She sighs. “Well, I told him I could use some help. He looked awful, McKenna.”
I groan. “Mummm…”
“I know,” she says, already all fretful, and I haven’t even told her about Mary yet. “But he looked terrible. All skinny, and his eyes were sorta bloodshot-like, and I just felt bad for him.”
“Did he treat you well?”
“Oh aye, of course.”
“Well, no harm done then, as long as I don’t have to see him.”
“I mean, he asked about you, but I just told him you were doing really well teaching at St. Albert’s—”
“Mum!”
“What?”
My temper flares, and I keep it tamped down with difficulty, speaking through clenched teeth. “You weren’t supposed to tell anyone that, remember?”
I can almost see the expression on her face, all worried and nervous. “Oh, aye. I’m sorry, love. He asked so many questions, I thought he was only being friendly.”
“Please, don’t tell him anything about me.” I sigh. “Listen, I’ve something to tell you,” I begin, my heart stammering in my chest at what I need to tell her.
“What is it, love?”
“There’s… there’s a woman come to see me.”
I can hear her and Tully chatting in the other room.
“Oh, is there?”
“Aye, Mum. And she…” My voice trails off as I muster the courage to speak the truth out loud. This could be such devastating news; I fear being the person that does this to her. Plus, my mother’s health is fragile, and I hate the thought of putting any more undue pressure on her.
I stare at the door to my bedroom, as if willing myself to get the courage to do this. I can’t turn back now, though.
I wish Tully was with me.
Why? Why now, of all times?
There’s no easy way to do this.
I sigh. “I think she’s my sister, Mum.”
There’s a pregnant pause for a full half minute before she speaks again.
“Say that again, McKenna.”
“My sister, Mum.” I sigh. “She’s come from Scotland, and was told you were her mum.” I gulp hard. “And the truth is, she looks like she could be my twin.”
“Oh. Oh, my.”
There’s another pause before she speaks. “There was a man, McKenna. Before your father.”
“Aye. Nothing to be afraid of, Mum. I mean, lots of women are with men before they meet their husbands.”
Take me, for example. The very thought of Tully as my husband…
“He was an evil man,” she whispers. “He did terrible, wicked things.”
My stomach clenches. This isn’t what I expected. An affair, maybe. Even a long-term relationship. But something tells me that this relationship was neither.
"I was at a party with a friend. I was younger, much younger than I was when I was with your father. I had too much to drink, as young teens sometimes too. And this man took advantage of me. I wasn’t ready to be a mother. Not yet. So I put the child up for adoption.”
My God. I had no idea. I wish we weren't having this conversation on the phone. I’d do a video call, but my mom is terrible at technology. "We need to see each other. I'm not upset with you, Mum. Not at all.”
My mother sounds pained on the phone. “She was adopted by someone in affiliation with the north. They kept things quiet, didn’t want her to be caught in the crosshairs of mob life.”
I understand that.
Her voice drops, and it sounds as if she might be crying. I close my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose, when I hear the door to my bedroom opening. I can feel his presence before I even see him, smell his signature deep, woodsy smell. I don’t turn to look as he approaches me. He sits on the edge of the bed beside me, and it sags beneath his weight. Wordlessly, he drags his fingers to the back of my neck and massages. Relief floods through me.
“I don’t blame you, Mum,” I say trying to ease the pain I know she feels. “Anyone would admire a woman who put a child up for adoption when she knew she couldn’t raise her herself.”
“Not anyone, McKenna.” She sniffs. “But thanks for being so understanding. We do foolish things sometimes, and I—”
“Mum, stop apologizing. What’s done is done. Mary’s here in the flesh, alive and well and grateful to have found me and you. Let’s meet, aye?”
“Oh, aye.”
Tully’s fingers squeeze my neck, but this time it isn’t reassuring at all, but meant to get my attention. My eyes fly to his.
“What?” I mouth.
He shakes his head firmly, his eyes alight with conviction. “You can’t do that, lass,” he says. “It’s far, far too risky.”
“Just a minute, Mum.”
One of these days, Tully and I are going to have a battle of epic proportions and neither of us will survive it.
I put my mum on mute.
“You can’t tell me what to do,” I say, glaring. “If I want to visit my mum I bloody well will!”
His eyes narrow to slits as he grasps my entire face in his one large, massive hand. “I can.”
“Says who?” I manage to eke out between squished cheeks.
“Says Keenan. He sent me to introduce you to Mary and to bring you back.”
“No!”
“McKenna,” he growls. “We’ve set a guard out here for you, a guard we can’t afford to lose or lend. We have women and children at the house who need all the protection we could give them. We’re preparing for war, and all you can think about is yourself?”
“How dare you suggest such a thing! Personal autonomy is real, Tully, and don’t you forget it.”
He leans in, his eyes grave and voice threatening when he whispers, “Oh, aye, lass, And a good, solid thrashing is real, too. Don’t you forget it.”
My heart thumps in my chest. “You are a beast!”
He nods, as if I’ve just paid him the highest compliment. “Why, thank you.”
I roll my eyes, but he’s done with this discussion. He plucks the phone straight out of my hand. I get to my feet and try to get it from him, but he holds me off with his palm on my chest. I try to shove him away, to get to the phone, but I can’t reach him.
He’s all pleasantry and gentlemanly courtesy when he speaks into the phone. “Hello, there! It’s Tully. We met at the school holiday party, you remember?”
He grins as she speaks on the other line. “Oh, aye, ma’am. The very same.”
He listens. “I am.”
My God, what is she going on about?
“So sorry, but McKenna’s indisposed at the moment. I know s
he’s very eager to see you, but we have a few things we need to resolve before we can come visit again, alright?”
He grins as I fume and rail in silence. “Of course, I’ll take the most excellent care of her, I can assure you.” He chuckles, his eyes dancing, the bastard. “Oh, aye, she’s a spitfire, no question. I fully agree she needs a firm hand.” He gives me a wink.
The nerve!
He sobers. “I know it matters to you to see both McKenna and Mary, and I promise we’ll make that happen as soon as we can, ma’am. Aye. Ah, yes, of course I’ll tell her. Bye now.” He hangs up the phone, tosses it on the bed, and yanks me over to him by the hair.
I gasp as pain explodes along my scalp, but he only swallows my scream with a claiming kiss. He backpedals me until the bed hits the back of my legs. He pushes me back, and I bounce a little when my back hits the mattress, but a second later his body’s on top of me, pressing me into the mattress as he holds me in place. His fingers encircle my wrists and his mouth comes to my ear.
“Do I need to make you prisoner, McKenna?”
I shake my head, my body all kinds of aroused and confused. “Of course not.”
He smiles, as if he knows he’s won.
“You’ll come with me. Mary will, too. We’ll visit your mum as soon as it’s safe. But for now, I’m taking you back to Ballyhock.”
I don’t want to put others at risk. I don’t want to be too pigheaded to do what’s safe.
But I also will not be Tully’s lass.
* * *
Chapter 7
Tully
I don’t know if she has any idea how beautiful she is when she’s angry, or how badly I want to fuck her senseless when she’s riled up. School that feisty manner of hers until she buckles beneath me. Teach her submission.
I keep Mary ahead of me and McKenna in my grip as we head to the car that waits outside. I’ve got one arm around her lower back and her hand in mine, but I’m not watching her. My eyes take in every damn detail around us.
On the corner of the street’s a gang of blokes smoking weed, but they’re not the type that’ll cause an issue. I whip off my jacket and toss it over McKenna’s shoulders. She gives me a curious look. It isn’t that cold out, and she’s wearing a sweater of her own. Then her eyes go to the t-shirt pulled tight across my bicep, revealing McCarthy Clan ink. We walk by the blokes on the corner, and their loud laughter and catcalls die down.
I open the door to the ride that waits for us, and usher the girls in.
“What was that?” Mary asks. “Why did they go so quiet all of a sudden?”
McKenna smirks. “Because someone had to show off his McCarthy Clan tattoos.”
Mary’s eyes go to my biceps and she flushes pink. “Oh. I see.”
McKenna rolls her eyes. This lass will end up with my palm across her arse before the night is through. She looks secretly pleased, though, her lips tipping upward as she moves a little bit closer to me.
She packed a bag rapidly under my instruction, muttering the whole time, but I let it go. She doesn’t have to come willingly. She just has to come.
“Back to the mansion,” I tell our driver.
“Aye, sir.” He pulls out into the street.
I reach for McKenna’s knee and give her a gentle squeeze, aware that everyone on the block now, from the men on the corner to the few nearby are watching us. She leans in a little closer to me. Her eyes are focused ahead of us, far off in the distance, as if she’s worried about something. I imagine it has something to do with the fact that I just nearly tore her from her home and dragged her back to Ballyhock, and she also found out she’s got a sister. Both turns of events weigh heavily, I’d wager.
Every time I’m with her, I think to myself... this time, we’ll make it work. This time we won’t fight like cats and dogs. This time, we’ll actually be able to stand to be in the same room for more than an hour without one of us snapping.
I want to make this work. There’s something about her that tames the wild in me. There’s something about her that makes me want to be a better man. We even… go well together.
“Can I go back to teaching tomorrow, then?” she asks.
Mary watches us all curiously. She’s a bit more timid than McKenna, and definitely a bit intimidated by being around us. She must’ve gotten the nerve to do it somehow, though, since she spends her time with the Scots, and they’re a decidedly hard-knuckled crew.
I think on it. Keenan’s allowed Tiernan and Faidha to continue teaching, but they aren’t on anyone’s watch. “Should be fine to teach tomorrow, but you’ll have to go in with Tiernan and Faidha.” Tiernan and Faidha both teach at St. Albert’s but reside at the mansion, so McKenna may be able to go.
I’ll go with her, though.
She nods slowly. “Well, I can do that.”
“Do you teach, then?” Mary asks, her eyes alight with curiosity.
“Oh, aye, I do,” McKenna says, and the girls chatter while we drive back to the mansion. My phone buzzes with a text from Keenan.
You got her?
Aye. She wants to know if she can teach tomorrow.
A pause before he replies. Only if she goes with Tiernan and Faidha and you accompany her as well. We need to get to the bottom of who’s after us.
Fair enough.
I clear my throat, and the girls look to me. “McKenna, Keenan says you can teach tomorrow if you go with the others, as I said, and if I accompany you.”
She frowns. “You? In a classroom? Really?”
Mary laughs out loud. “Well, now, no need to discriminate, McKenna. I’m sure Tully’s an excellent teacher.”
I’m an excellent teacher, alright. I’ll be sure to teach Miss McKenna some manners before the night is through.
Dusk falls over the mansion as we pull in the drive. My home isn’t here, but Keenan wants the inner circle on the premises for the sake of security and safety.
I take McKenna’s bags from the back, and she reaches for one.
“I can take that, Tully.”
“I’ve got them.”
She frowns a bit but looks secretly pleased. It’s always the way with her. “How long will I be here? I have two cats to take care of, you know. They’re fine for tonight, but…”
Jesus. I forgot about them.
“We’ll send someone to fetch them.”
“There are certain things you need to get, and they won’t take kindly to being moved…”
“We’ll take care of it, McKenna. Let’s go.”
She sighs and closes her mouth, and she doesn’t argue anymore.
As soon as we come up the steps, the front door opens, and Maeve stands, holding a baby in her arms. I can’t even keep track of whose this is anymore, there’s so many little ones running about or being held in arms.
I wasn’t around babies or little ones when I grew up. I was raised by my dad, a single father and affiliate of the Clan. He wasn’t related by blood or part of the inner circle, but very good friends with Seamus McCarthy. There were no little ones, no feminine touch. I think it’s partly why I love being a member of the Clan so much, as they’re the extended family I never had.
“That Lachlan’s newest?” I ask, as we reach the top step.
Maeve laughs out loud. “Goodness, no, Tully. The youngest babe’s barely old enough to hold up her head, and definitely not old enough to hold a bottle.”
I grunt. “Aye, I forgot they’re pretty damn near helpless when they first arrive, eh?”
McKenna finds this funny, for some reason. She snorts with laughter as we enter the house.
Definitely finding my hand across her arse.
Caitlin’s in the foyer, as well as Keenan and Cormac. Aileen’s heading upstairs with Megan, and the house is alive with the bustle and camaraderie we have here.
“Tully,” Keenan says in greeting. “I’ll have one of the staff take you to your room. Thanks for coming, McKenna. I know it wasn’t your first choice, but I want to be sure everyone’s s
afe.”
“I understand,” she says, with a nod. “As long as I can still teach, Keenan.”
It’s then that I realize she’s wearing a much older, beat-up pair of glasses, and I remember she lost her main pair during the skirmish.
“Need new glasses, McKenna?”
She reaches her hand to her eyes as if she’s just remembered she was wearing them, and her face turns a little pink. “I’ll get some,” she says, looking away as if she’s embarrassed. “Thanks, though.”
She’s a proud woman, and I get it. I’m proud myself. But we’re financially solvent here in the Clan and no one who’s under our protection wants for anything.
“Mary, we’ve got a guest bed on the third floor for you as well,” Keenan says, and Mary’s eyes grow wide.
“Are you sure, sir?”
“Absolutely.”
“Thank you.”
McKenna yawns widely. “Now, up to bed with the both of you,” I say. “Maybe tomorrow we can get in touch with your mum again?”
McKenna yawns again. “Aye,” she says sleepily. “I’ve got to be at the school at seven, but I’ll be done at three.”
“Good night, then,” Mary says with a smile. A staff member takes her upstairs, and we head to our room as well.
“I’m so tired,” McKenna says.
“Oh?”
“Aye. I think it’s time for me to get some rest.”
We’ll see about that.
“My God, Tully, this place is enormous. How many rooms are there?”
I shrug. “Not sure, lass. When I was a younger lad it was smaller, but since Keenan’s leadership and the additions to the family, he’s had more work done on the house and added full suites, rooms, and floors.”
“Amazing. It’s like a mansion.”
“It isn’t like a mansion. It is one.”
Her voice lowers. “How much do you reckon a place like this is worth?”
I grin at her. She’s adorable, and I’ve definitely wondered the same thing myself. “Last I heard, something in the neighborhood of fifteen million euros.”
She blinks, and her jaw drops. “What?”
I chuckle as I open the door we’ve been led to. “As I said, it wasn’t worth quite that much before, but with the new additions and the like, the value’s increased significantly.”