Part Two
Chapter One
Awake
Liam DiNatali tossed on his parents’ couch that night. He had walked home just as it started sprinkling, and by the time he cleared the four miles to his childhood abode, it started to pour. Of all the things he felt, the rain was not on the list.
When he got to his parents’ home, he flopped on the couch, since his sister’s family had taken up the extra rooms. He was uncomfortable, the disquiet in his chest seeping into the rest of his body and making him toss and turn.
Somewhere around one in the morning, he recalled something he had forgotten to say to Molly. He pulled out his phone and texted his younger brother, Nate. Could you make sure Molly ices her ankle? I didn’t see her fall, but it didn’t look good. I’ll be back in the morning to wake up Kyle.
The response came back quickly, letting Liam know that Nate was not asleep yet. Was he still on the couch with Molly? Liam wondered how close they were. The two had been old friends, sure, but would he sleep next to her in her bed tonight? Was his arm wrapped around her stomach? Was he touching the dip in her hip? She was such a private person. Just the thought of another man leaving a dent in her mattress made Liam’s stomach churn.
Nate’s answering text left no room for excuses. Haven’t you done enough? You yelled at the crippled designated driver because her brother got drunk. Stay home. Global Warming’s a big problem. Why don’t you shout at Molly for that, too? Dick.
Liam’s heart sank. He sat up, trying to think up a decent response to Nate’s rare glint of anger, but he found nothing. He stared at his phone for fifteen minutes before plugging it back in to charge. He tossed the rest of the night, hating how he left things.
He despised men who took advantage of women, and he did not possess enough compassion for the women who stayed in the abusive situations. When he was very young, his birth father was known to get rough with his mother on occasion. When Liam began to understand the rights and wrongs of the world, he secretly judged his mother for staying in the situation as long as she did – especially when she had a kid to look after. To watch Molly stay with her brother Kyle, knowing what an abusive drunk he was, brought back too many sour memories for Liam to handle gracefully.
Nate’s next text ensured Liam would not sleep the rest of the night. Why don’t you go tell Jess what a disappointment she is for getting knocked up at eighteen out of wedlock? Why don’t you go tell Ben that he was an accident? He’s nine now, but you haven’t reminded our sister she failed you in a while. Best Ben gets to know the real Uncle Liam.
Liam lay on the couch and stared at the clock on the wall that ticked too loud for sleep until six in the morning, when he heard movement upstairs.
The house he grew up in had not changed much. His mother collected cat figurines, and had them stashed throughout the house. Dozens of little ceramic eyes judged him for taking Molly’s first kiss and then yelling at her the very next day. What had she done wrong? She was not the parent. She needed a rent-free place to stay so she could finally make her big move out into the world with none of their strings attached to hold her back. She was a chess player, and he was expecting her to jump around the board with her checkers.
Liam started a pot of coffee, swallowing hard when he heard the familiar cadence of his sister’s morning stumble pounding down the carpeted steps. They had not lived in the same house in over a decade, but some memories did not have the chance of fading with time. “Coffee?” he offered, taking down a second mug for her.
“Only if you want me coherent.” Jess’ hair was a wild mess most days, mornings being the perfect storm of auburn tangles and brown knots. “I thought you and Nate were staying at Kyle’s house.”
“We were.” When she got out the cream with a questioning look for more information, he sighed. “If you ask Nate what happened, he’ll tell you I was being a jerk. So I left.”
“Oh. I’ll ask Nate, then. His version sounds better.” She sat at the table across from her brother as they sipped their coffees quietly. The barely audible hum of the refrigerator kept them in hushed silence for a few minutes while Liam gave his kid sister the space to wake up.
“Can I ask you something?”
She scrunched her eyes shut and shook her head. “Oh, jeez. Can you wait till my second cup? It’s a little early for an interrogation. How is it only six in the morning, and you’ve already been a jerk to someone today? You’re starting earlier than usual. Overachiever.”
Liam frowned at his younger sister, waiting for her to take him seriously. “I think I screwed up.”
Jess set down her mug. Her mouth hung open in shock. “Where’s a recording device when you need one?” She eyed the black fuel. “What’s in this coffee?”
“I’m trying to have a moment, Jess. Where’s your off switch?”
Jess tugged on her left ear and blinked twice. “Off switch engaged. Continue with your debasement. I won’t tell anyone you’re turning into a human. They’d never believe me anyway.”
“Might want to check that off switch. It sounds faulty.”
Jess smirked at her brother, the freckles on her nose making her look every bit the gangly twelve-year-old he often thought of her as. “Sorry. You screwed up?”
Liam looked into his coffee, unable to look up into the green eyes that were identical to his own. “When you got pregnant with Ben, I was pretty hard on you. You didn’t need that. You were a scared kid, and I just made a rough situation worse.” His chest felt taut as he struggled to get out the next words. “I’m sorry about that. I’m your brother, and I should’ve had your back.” Liam paused for a response, but Jess’ shock left her speechless. He scratched his hand across his pectorals and pushed on, knowing he had to finish his apology before an embolism or heart attack from the stress took him out. “Ben’s a great kid. All six of them turned out real well. And Warren? He turned out not to be the tool I thought he was. Real nice of him to watch the kids here so you could have some time with Mom. Seeing you with them? You’re a crazy bunch, don’t get me wrong, but you’re a good mom. I’m glad it all worked out for you. I’m sorry I missed out on all that because I was being a jerk.”
Whatever Liam had been expecting her to do, he did not anticipate his kid sister lunging over the table and slapping him hard across the face. “Warren stood by me when you turned your back on me! Not a tool? That’s the best you can say about my husband? I died the day you cut me off from you! I was more scared to disappoint you than I was Mom and Dad!” Angry tears drooled down her face as she tried to keep her voice from waking the household. “You were a jerk? That’s the best you can do? What do you want me to do with that? I made one mistake, one time, and you never looked back. You just left me! You’ve ignored me, not even remembering the kids’ birthdays or anything for years!” She swiped at her fauceting nose and then set her fists to the table, for once towering over her seated brother. “Do you know what I had to do before we got here? I have a ten-years-old picture of you that I had to show the kids to let them know who you were. I had to explain to them that they have an Uncle Liam who loves them very much. Do you think I like to lie to my children?”
“I’ve got nothing against your kids!” Liam exclaimed, holding his hands up in defeat. “I’m not awesome with kids, but yours are great. I swear!”
The mama bear in Jess came out, and she flew across the room and began slapping her brother, anger seething from every pore. “It doesn’t matter if you’re great with kids! I’m the one you’re supposed to be great with! Everything else falls into place when you remember that! You left me! You just… You left me!” She sobbed as she punished him for every pregnant moment she endured as a single mother without one of her main sources of support.
Until that moment, Liam had not understood the scope of her pain. He only knew how her choices affected him, how they shamed him, how she disappointed him. “I’m sorry!” he shouted over her sobs. “I’m sorry, Jessie!” He ducked his head and shielded his f
ace with his hands, but otherwise allowed her to continue having her catharsis. He knew he deserved every slap she delivered, and more.
“I hate you! I hate you! You were everything to me, and I needed you! It’s hard enough being a mom with, like, dozens of kids! But you took yourself away from me when I needed you most! I still need you, and I hate you for it!”
He did not know if it was the right thing to do; he simply acted on his churning gut. Liam stood and stilled her assault by wrapping his arms around his sister. He squeezed her tight, loathing the sobs he’d caused. Each one was an arrow to his heart, and he knew the very least he could do was stand there and take whatever she hurled at him. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. Show me how to make it right!”
Jess bawled in the arms she never thought she would be engulfed in again. “You can’t! It’s too wrecked! You broke me, Liam! And now you don’t even know me. I have six whole children you never met until this week. Nate flies out and visits at least once a year. Mom and Dad do too!”
“I’m sorry, Jess. I’m scum. I’m the worst kind of person. And now I did it to someone else, and I don’t know how to undo it. If I can’t fix it with us, help me fix it with her! I can’t let her hate me like you do. But she should! I do!” He shook his head into his sister’s hair, not realizing she had stopped struggling. “Please, Jess. Tell me what to do.”
Jess pulled back and saw that her immovable brother’s eyes were wet. No tears had actually fallen, but the hint of moisture was shocking enough. “Liam, are you…” She wiped her tears on his shirt and sat him back down at the table, taking in his slumped shoulders and defeated demeanor. She had never seen her giant of a brother conquered by anything. She brought a chair over so she could sit next to him. Despite the thrashing she still had in her to give him, she patted his back and brought his head to rest on her shoulder. No matter what, he was her brother, and wish that she did not, she still loved him. Jess took a deep breath as she held Liam. “Tell me everything.”
Chapter Two
Uncle Liam
Part of Liam’s punishment for what he did to Jess and Molly was that Jess was granted full control over his mouth, since he apparently could not control it properly. When the kids came down for breakfast, she made her new puppet say all sorts of things to make the children laugh at, and bond with, their estranged uncle.
“I’m not saying it,” Liam whined as he flipped the Mickey Mouse-shaped pancakes she also decreed he would make for everyone.
“I think what you mean to say is, ‘No problem, Jess. I’ve been a horrible person, and I don’t have the right to speak out of turn anymore.’”
“Fine.” He turned to the table full of expectant children, his father and brother-in-law and said with a morose expression, “I have a smelly butt.”
The children roared and immediately began teasing their uncle, not holding back out of politeness. Liam was becoming part of the family again, thanks to Jess and her roundabout way of forgiving him. He faked a surly face at his sister and poured out more batter into the pan.
When Liam refilled the empty plates with hotcakes, little three-year-old Genevieve spoke up. It was the first time she had spoken directly to the scary man. “I don’t like Mickey Mouse. Can I have Minnie? I’m a girl.”
Eyebrows furrowed, Liam tried to strategize a way to give the mouse ears a bow using the batter. “Um, I’m not sure how to do that.”
Jess intervened. “Just talk to her using the pancake, but do it in Minnie Mouse’s voice.” When Liam cast her a dubious look that begged her to be joking, Jess remained firm. “Only if you’re serious about being a decent person. Nate would do it. He wouldn’t even need to be asked.”
Liam bent down to Genevieve’s level and lifted her pancake off the plate. Donning his best caricature voice, Liam squeaked, “Please eat your pancakes, Genevieve. It would make me, Minnie Mouse, oh so happy!”
Genevieve clapped her hands and giggled up at him. Then she did something he did not expect. She grabbed his face with her chubby fingers and planted a loud, slobbery smooch on Liam’s cheek.
Liam beamed up at Jess, who nodded her approval. He wiped off the spit, which unwittingly broke the magic of the mood.
“He wiped my kiss away, Mommy!” Genevieve cried.
Jess stood behind her brother and leaned her elbow hard on a nerve in Liam’s shoulder. “Oh! Baby girl, you have to be patient with Uncle Liam. He doesn’t have any ladies in his life! Isn’t that sad? He’s all alone because he acts a fool all the time. You have to teach him how to behave around a lady. That’s your new job.” She patted her daughter’s head. “Give him another kiss, baby, and tell him you’re not supposed to wipe them away.”
Genevieve repeated her mother’s instructions to Liam concerning kisses before leaving an even sloppier kiss on his other cheek.
“Thanks, Genevieve,” Liam said, and then turned back to the stove, the spit catching the air and reminding him of its constant presence. “Thanks for that,” he grumbled to his sister. “How long do I have to leave it there?”
“Only as long as you love her,” Jess explained, banging a wooden spoon on the pot of oatmeal. “People are messy, Liam. If you can’t accept that, you shouldn’t take love from them. Can’t have the good without the bad. Let that be a lesson to you the next time you turn your back on a woman because she can’t control everyone else in her life, like you seem to think is possible.”
“I got it, I got it,” he mumbled humbly. “Remind me to never cross you again.”
“Oh, you won’t need the reminder after today. Did you call the florist yet?”
“Left a message. I don’t think they’re open this early. Eight-thirty on a Sunday?”
Jess called over her shoulder. “Dad, do you have your bullhorn still?”
Mr. DiNatali answered without looking up from his paper. “You mean the lazy man’s alarm clock? Sure do. Your mother hid it from me when I got overzealous last Christmas, but I know where she put it.”
“Liam needs to borrow it.” Jess served up the hot oatmeal to the adults, sending a private smirk to her brother.
Chapter Three
Taking Responsibility
Nate fell asleep on the recliner next to the couch, where Molly had not moved from all night. He woke up to the sound of the familiar ear-piercing whistle his dad had worn when coaching lacrosse. He bolted up and looked around in a panic, his heart automatically racing at the go signal that had trained him well to wake immediately from a dead sleep. When he realized the only other person in the room was a wide awake Molly, he put his hand on his heart to still the rapid jumps. “Sorry. Flashbacks. Did you hear that whistle, or was that my reoccurring nightmare?”
Molly shrugged. When she saw nothing outside the living room’s picture window, she got up and limped to the kitchen, using the counter for support. She set about making Nate a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, unsure how to properly thank him for staying with her when she was too lost to find herself. He’d climbed from the ranks of one of her brother’s friends to actually becoming one of hers. She didn’t have many friends, and wanted to make sure he understood how much she appreciated him.
The metallic shriek sounded again, bringing Nate to his feet. He went to the garage where the source of the noise came from and tore open the connecting door. “What the—”
The sight that greeted Nate was too confusing to make sense of. There stood his hulking brother, hovering over a barely lucid Kyle. He had their father’s whistle around his neck, a bullhorn in one hand, and the garden hose sprayer in the other. “On your feet, Luco!” Liam yelled into Kyle’s ear.
Kyle responded by rolling forward into his own vomit, the pink and brown sticking to the side of his face as he struggled to sit up. “What’s going on?”
Liam shouted into the bullhorn. “Get up, you lazy waste of space! You’re lying in a pile of puke, and you’ve got a whole list of chores to do today. Now, move!”
“What?
Liam?” Kyle put his hands over his ears, finding more sick dried there. “What happened?”
Nate watched the exchange unfold with wide eyes, wondering if his brother had finally lost it, or at last had found it. He heard Molly ambling toward him, her mouth dropped open and eyes finally focusing. Nate moved quickly toward her before she could hurt her ankle further. He helped her to the doorway of the attached garage, where he sat down next to her on the top step. He kept one arm wrapped around her and wore a mirrored expression of shock to hers as they watched in awe while Liam tore into Kyle.
When Kyle balked at cleaning up his own puke, Liam sprayed him full-blast with the high-pressure hose, soaking him in two seconds flat. “What was that? I think you meant to say, ‘Yes, Liam. Right away, Liam.’ Anything else, and I’ll beat you down for every mark you left on Molly.”
Kyle sobered as much as he was capable. “Molly’s fine.”
“Wrong answer!” Liam sprayed Kyle again, hitting him in the gut. “Now, clean!”
Kyle set about the impossible task of attempting something he had never done before. He had no idea how to clean up after himself, as that expectation had never been put upon him by the people in his life. He kept his gripes to a minimum to avoid further castigation as he tried to figure out how to clean the vomit off the concrete floor.
Liam walked over to the two gawking in the doorway. He pulled out a list from his pocket and handed it to Molly. “This is what Kyle’s going to do for you today. Anything I should add to that?” He turned and judged that Kyle was not cleaning fast enough. “Move your fat ass, Luco!”
Unraveling Molly Page 9