by V. Theia
Only she couldn’t answer.
She’d caught the nervous giggles so quickly she let the bat go, dropping it on the carpet with a thump and held Misha in two hands while she collapsed almost down to her knees. Laughing hard.
When they finally subsided she was faced with the same older lady standing right where she’d stopped mid-way up the stairs looking at Aoife as if she had grown a third head.
Misha chose that exact moment to start peeing. The warm liquid soaked through her towel and then Aoife’s. She laughed again and kissed the baby’s head. “Thanks a lot, I really wanted to be peed on today.” She turned her eyes to the woman. Primly dressed in a pair of black pants and a multi-colored blouse.
“Hi. I’m Aoife. Don’t try to spell it, no one ever can. You just have to know it’s pronounced Ee-fa. And this little one who just peed on me like a princess with no manners, is Misha. She’s four months old on Saturday and she likes to burp and cause trouble.”
Blinking, the old woman looked between the pair of towel clad bodies and then cleared her voice. It was obvious she must be thinking the worst. “I’m Cora, the housekeeper here. You’re Irish like Pastor Murphy? That doesn’t explain why you’re in his house… dressed like that.”
“This old thing?” Sassy Aoife made an appearance… it had been a while … “I just threw it on this morning,” when she didn’t get the laugh she expected, she sobered and cleared her throat. “Danny is helping us out for a few days. I didn’t expect anyone after he left, or we would be dressed. Excuse me.” Without further ado, she turned on her heels and got back to the bedroom as fast as she could.
“See the trouble you and your peeing has caused, A stóirín..” She whispered with a grin at the baby batting her little fists. She tended to the baby first, before she pulled on her own clothes and went through the process of detangling her hair. It was made much harder without a hairbrush.
Using Danny’s comb felt intimate and about nine billion times harder.
A lot of unruly hair.
By the time she headed downstairs to make some food, it was a good half an hour later.
She found Cora in the kitchen. A tray of toast, tea and food for Misha sat in the middle of the table.
“The pastor left me a note. I’m sorry if I scared you. You gave me a fright too.” The woman appeared to be in her fifties, gestured to the table. “I thought you’d want something warm making for the wee one. Isn’t she a pretty little thing,” she smiled. “I can make eggs if you want something else.”
Stunned, Aoife sat on autopilot, tested the oatmeal before offering the spoon to Misha who grabbed on like a savage. She’d always been such a good baby for eating, especially now she was weaning to solid food. “Thank you, you didn’t have to. This is very nice.”
“It’s no trouble whatsoever. It’s what I’m here for.”
“What did Danny’s… eh, pastor Murphy’s note say?”
Cora paused in her task of what looked like emptying the entire contents of the fridge onto the counter. She moved things into little piles and then started cleaning the inside. “That he has a houseguest and not to scare you with my morning singing. Though, I should warn you, he likes to play the guitar really badly. He also said you have a baby and to help with food.”
She found herself smiling. “He still plays? He never was any good. If you ask him, he’d say he was better than Clapton.”
Cora chuckled. “The choir adore him, or they would have told him a long time ago.”
Suddenly desperate to hear stories of this Danny the people of Armado Springs knew, she had to bite into the toast to stop from begging Cora to tell her everything Danny related.
“Have you worked here long?” She asked instead.
Misha finished drinking and was in her usual sleepy coma while Aoife burped her and then laid her in her arms to snooze. She should lay her down or the little miss would get so spoiled, but she loved holding her.
“Ever since the pastor arrived. About four weeks after actually. The old housekeeper to the previous pastor retired and pastor Murphy was looking for someone to upkeep the day to day running of the house.”
“Don’t you call him Danny?”
“Oh, dear no.” she smiled across at Aoife. And though she didn’t know the woman, she liked her. She trusted her instincts and Danny’s. Cora went on. “He’s stopped trying to get me to use his name. He’s pastor Murphy to me. A man of his position deserves respect. He’s done wonders for the community. He’s the first one to help and we’ve had an increase in people coming to the church.”
Aoife chuckled. “I just bet. It’s that face.”
Cora joined her in laughing. “How do you know him, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“We grew up together, but I haven’t seen him in a long time.” The stab of pain attacked her.
How could she have lived for all that time without him?
She knew how. She’d been on autopilot from the moment she sacrificed their love. Going through the motions of life and yet not enjoying any of it.
She ate, yet not tasted. She breathed but didn’t live.
“I can see there’s a story attached to your grimace,” commented Cora, “but I won’t pry. He’s a good man, I always wondered why he wasn’t attached to anyone. I have a feeling I know why now.”
Aoife smiled sadly.
She’d always wanted Danny to be happy.
Out of every person in her life she knew, he was the one she’d loved more than all the stars in the sky, and he deserved to be loved.
It just so happened she was a tad selfish and wanted his happiness to be because of her.
Sometimes, doing the right thing at the time, didn’t mean it brought any sense of peace. Aoife had been in tortured agony for years and masking it under her mouthy attitude.
She’d gotten where she was now because of her outspoken personality and regrets stacked higher than she could see.
She sighed and filled her mouth with a piece of cold toast, chewing slowly, wondering when Danny would be home.
Home. She’d wanted that for so long. To have a home with him.
How had things gone so wrong?
She knew why. The fucking Flannigan’s, that’s why.
The Murphy’s might be notorious around Ireland, but so were the Flanagan’s for no other reason than how fucking fucked up they were.
Her untrustworthy clan.
The Flanagan’s were a joke.
Maybe Cora looked at Aoife and saw how sad she was underneath her veneer of pretense. Maybe she was just a sweet old lady who liked baking, but she suggested once Misha had fallen asleep, that they spend the morning baking cookies.
Being a strict disciple to the sugar demon, Aoife jumped at the chance.
If only to distract her for a few hours.
Danny was never far from her mind.
She wondered … was it too late?
SIX
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you…. He didn’t know Lawless would be on the other side.” - Danny
The man stepping through the door commanded every pair of eyes.
The local diner, formerly owned by Beauregard Thompson, who recently died this past winter was now owned by his daughter and a name change to Kelly’s seemed to have been upgraded in status since Danny was last there.
He usually grabbed a to-go tea from home with tea bags sent from his mother because he hated to judge but tea this side of the pond was not good. He hardly ever stepped into the diner unless he was grabbing a meal for a homeless person outside.
When he’d arrived a few moments earlier, he spent a minute talking to Paige’s replacement now that she had her own bakery shop down the street.
Then he took a seat in one of the back booths to wait.
He wasn’t a last straw kind of man, but this felt like he had no other choices offered to him and that in itself put Danny on edge.
Now he watched as eve
ry cautious and snooping set of eyes observed the man known only as Lawless stride through the tables, with his black coat flapping around his legs and a deep-etched sneer as his side-kick.
Danny saw a healthy dose of fear and curiosity on most every face. Understandable. The man didn’t look approachable and the turtle-neck dark tattoo swathed around his throat wasn’t any help in making him amicable to the general, gawking public.
Danny understood people.
Knew how to recognize the good from the bad.
Knew when he was in danger … which hadn’t been for a long time, but that skill never abandoned him in times of need.
He’d been the one to initiate this meeting, but it wasn’t one of pleasure.
The scowl told him he better make this good.. or else.
There was a powerful edge that went far beyond Lawless’ menacing stay the fuck away appearance. One that repelled and attracted at the same time.
Women shifted in their seats, straining their necks in order to watch him walk by.
Men edged back out of his way without a seconds thought.
And Lawless himself? Never looked at anyone.
He slid his body into the seat opposite Danny, wrapped his coat around his legs and rested both clasped hands on the top of the table.
Impatience in the lone eyebrow he raised.
“Thanks for meeting me.” Offered Danny. He’d dealt with intimidating men all of his life, so he knew how to handle himself.
“What’s this about?”
He’d been pretty cryptic calling the MC to ask to speak to Lawless and then request this meeting. He’d heard of the poor state of affairs between both the MC and the mafia all last year, so he wasn’t risking saying anything that could be listened in through the phone.
“There’s a situation I thought you and your friends would want to be made aware of because it overlaps with something to do with me, by some kind of freak coincidence.” Waiting for him to go on, Lawless appeared to already be bored. “Does the name Grigori Kuznetsov mean anything to you?”
To give him his due, Lawless didn’t so much as flicker with recognition. Though it was Danny who lead the conversation, it was evident who was in charge. He didn’t mind, he wasn’t the kind of man who lost his manly shit over an alpha personality in his vicinity.
And he’d asked him here for help.
He could hump the chair leg and Danny wouldn’t so much as lift an inquisitive eyebrow.
“You know it does, or you wouldn’t have asked me here. But I’m not joining the dots from you to the bratva. What did they do, steal your holy water?”
“I’m taking this conversation is in confidence?”
He smirked. “Should have asked that at the beginning, vicar.”
“I’m a pastor.”
“Sure. Let’s reverse confessional.”
Danny chuffed a laugh. This guy was yanking his chain on purpose. Whatever put ease in the air was fine by him. Being a pastor meant he had a lot of time and patience for all kinds of personalities. “That’s Catholicism. I’m a pastor.”
“I know.”
He and Danny talked randomly, a couple of summers ago. At the time, Danny presumed it was completely accidental. Now though, he wasn’t so sure. Lawless didn’t seem like the type of guy who did anything aimlessly or spur of the moment without knowing about it first.
“He killed a woman in front of a good friend of mine and now he’s looking for my friend. I’m assuming it’s not to return her luggage. This friend … has Kuznetsov’s daughter with her.”
“Damn,” whistled Lawless, leaning back in the booth with one arm spread along the back of the seat. Shrewdly deep blue eyes looked on. “That’s out of your priest wheelhouse I’m taking a stab in the dark, yeah? Look. I’m going to be straight up with you. I don’t have a dog in this fight, so whether the broski is after your girl or not, it’s no skin off my nose, but the info was welcome.”
Danny wasn’t offended by the unfluctuating tone or instant dismissal. It was much as he expected it to go. But he hadn’t said all he wanted to.
Not quite desperate, yet he was still willing to do anything even if it means pissing off the local biker club.
“I’m calling in that favor, Lawless. I need them protected at all costs.”
Barking a laugh drew several head turns that neither man took any notice of. The server breezed by and brought Lawless a coffee without asking him, she then turned to Danny who smiled and politely refused, he was already too wired for caffeine. He supposed he should order something since they were taking up table space, so he went with a tea.
“When I offered that, holy man, it was meant for a church donation, maybe hack into the system and clean up a parking ticket. Not murder.”
God help me. He didn’t correct him. He should have told him it was only protection until he could get Aoife out of the country, but he didn’t say a damn thing. Just crossed his hands on the table and prayed for forgiveness for even daring to think of another human’s death as being the answer to a problem.
To gather his senses he asked. “How are you getting on with that situation you told me about?”
For a split second those eyes watching him, narrowed to nasty slits and Danny wondered if he was breathing his last air and then Lawless relaxed his face.
“It’s ongoing. You haven’t opened your mouth, have you?”
Danny snickered but sobered just as quickly. It wasn’t really the time to joke around because the situation Lawless was tangled up with did in fact revolve around men losing their lives.
“It’s kind of in the job description that I keep my mouth shut. I’m still curious why you chose to tell me, taking what I do into consideration. You said your other boys don’t know.”
Lawless shrugged nonchalantly, tapping his long fingers on the table in a rap of threes. “You were there.”
Danny remembered it had been a hot summer day when a conversation at a church fete had sparked to life between the two men sharing a drink and watching the crowd. Lawless had turned up that day to rehome some kittens to the locals. And then a conversation over a beer started as, “What would you say if….” Danny had been equally horrified and engrossed in the story that unfolded from Lawless.
“Are you still going ahead with it? Is it the right course for her?”
Sharp eyes pinned Danny as fatally as a hand around the throat. “That’s never changed course, priest. This friend tangled up in the Russian, if she’s gonna run back to him days later, then we can’t do a fucking thing, yeah? I won’t lift a goddamn finger for a flighty woman.”
“She’s not. And she won’t.” Danny gritted his teeth to even put thought of Aoife and another man in his head, let alone one who was capable of unspeakable violence and the length of time she’d already been around him.
He’d known his fair share of fist fights in his life. There was a time, around his late teens he was thinking of training for the MMA, he was damn handy with his fists and had been known around Galway for his abilities for never backing down from a brawl. Most mornings his ma woke to find his bloody clothes soaking in the sink.
But murder and hiding from the mafia, as Lawless suggested, was so far out his capabilities he was scared for Aoife.
Scared he alone couldn’t protect her from being hurt. Or worse.
He was already thinking about how to get her back home.
At least there, his brothers and father could keep her, and Misha hidden.
A Murphy was good at hiding in plain sight. And they’d do anything for family.
She’s yours to protect. A voice grated like a wounded animal ready to attack.
The idea she’d be lost to him yet again while he was this side of the world didn’t go unnoticed by his walloping heart or churning stomach, but as always, he’d keep her safe first.
Without saying another word, Lawless lifted a finger for Danny to shut up and he pulled out his cell phone, speaking quietly into it.
He ended wi
th “Bring smiler too, he should be here for this.” When he hung up, he gave Danny his stare. Vacant of soul he’d say, but Danny witnessed how he took care of animals… and though the mission of the biker was about as unspeakable and deplorable as Danny had ever heard, it had a reason that painted Lawless in a light not many, if any at all, had seen him in. The vicious reputation preceded the man and the man liked it; Danny guessed.
Danny couldn’t, and wouldn’t condone the taking of another life, no matter what the reason behind it.
As he sat there, sipping the tea he didn’t want, being under scrutiny from the guy opposite, he knew his lines had blurred in only moments.
Because of Aoife, he could quite easily condone any law being broken if it meant she was safe.
The realization wore heavy on his heart.
He’d worked hard to become a good man.
Did this make him deplorable now?
“This woman and her kid. They’re important?”
“Yes,” he answered instantly.
More than he could ever admit … until now.
It was funny really; he’d put Aoife and their life together out of his mind for years, as best as he could. Sure, she’d snuck in from time to time. Left him sometimes with an ache in his chest that felt like physical pain. Other times he could smile over the memories. But other than that, she was a locked safe within his mind.
She was from that other Danny’s life. The irresponsible teen. The man who thought nothing of hocking a jaguar to take his girl out on a date and a joy ride around the city.
This new incarnation of Danny Murphy, he hoped to God was more responsible.
Time would tell what he was willing to do for the girl he loved.
A few moments later the rumbling sound of motorcycles outside pulled into the small parking bay and not a minute later, Rider and Hawk, also from the Renegade Souls MC, strode through the door. They garnered the same attention as Lawless had.
Danny slid across the booth. But it wasn’t necessary since Hawk didn’t sit, just stood skulking next to the table, his eyes lazily roaming around the room checking everyone out. Rider grabbed the space next to Lawless.