Exhaling: A Mafia Romance (The O'Keefe Family Collection Book 3)

by Tuesday Embers

  Fallyn closed her eyes to keep any hint of exasperation at bay, still clutching the paper to her chest. “I could really use a minute or two alone, if that’s alright. Just a hormonal mood swing, nothing more.”

  After a few seconds of debate, Keenan kissed his sister’s forehead. “Alright. Your phone’s right on the nightstand, so if you need anything, just call. I mean it. I don’t want you trying to come down the stairs or anything.”

  “Roger that.” The moment Keenan shut the door, Fallyn let herself weep for the father she loved who didn’t know her anymore. She read over the results over and over again until Vince came home twenty minutes later, bounding up the steps to the wife who finally asked for help. “Vince?” she inquired, opening her swollen eyes to find the man she loved, looking like a knight in shining armor ready to fix any problem that might befall her.

  “What happened? What’s wrong? Keenan said you needed me, so I came right home. What’s wrong with the baby?” He shook his head. “Tell me on the way to the hospital. Let me help you up.”

  Fallyn shook her head as she lay on her side looking up at him. “We’re both fine. Nothing like that. I’m just having a rough one.” She relinquished the paper with a shaking hand. “I had a DNA test done with me and Daddy a couple months ago, but only just had the guts to open the results today.”

  Vince’s eyebrows knit together in consternation as his blue eyes flitted over the page. “Why didn’t you tell me? This is a big deal. You shouldn’t keep secrets like this from me.” His gasp won out over the lecture he was gearing up for when he made sense of the conclusion typed at the bottom of the page. “No! Patrick’s really not your father? This says Patrick’s related to you, but he’s not your father?” His stomach churned when he read further, reaching out for his wife’s hand as the revelation that had rocked her so permanently bowled him over as well. “P-Patrick… He’s… I… Oh, Fal. This is big. I don’t know what to say.”

  “Just be with me.” She pulled him to sit beside her on the bed where she lay. “Could I go see Daddy tonight? I need to talk to him, even if he can’t understand. I need to try.”

  Vince’s eyes were still wide as he absorbed the shock that kept coming in waves. “I, uh, no. I’ll have Carrigan bring him here. You’re still on bedrest. I won’t have you going into early labor over this.” He read the results over again, as if that might bring about a different conclusion. “Patrick’s your grandfather? Then that means one of your brothers is…”

  “Don’t say it!” Fallyn begged. She reached up and gripped Vince’s sleeve, holding onto him with white knuckles, determined not to let go of the one man in her life she could trust.

  23

  Always Your Sister

  Vince did not speak to Carrigan or Keenan when Patrick arrived on the arm of the red-headed Nurse O’Malley. Vince’s expression was that of a man who knew he was about to go on a kamikaze mission. He’d had great respect for Paddy O’Keefe as a boy. Uncle Paddy had been a great source of information on how to run a large team without having to resort to using drug money to keep a business afloat. Vince had been separated from the O’Keefe patriarch for years since the families split. When he’d seen how far the strong man had devolved due to the dementia that had too tight a grip on his brain, the loss had been indescribable. To watch Patrick forget his only girl and even raise his hand to her had been a sight too sick to stomach. Yet here Vince was, inviting pain into his home in hopes that the mumbling man who had taught Vince to throw a football could help set Fallyn’s world right again.

  Fallyn wore a green sundress with a blue cardigan. Vince had never found her more beautiful or full of all the things he loved about her. He sat on the couch in the living room next to his wife, wishing not for the first time that his own father was still alive. Papa D hadn’t been perfect, but he never fell apart in hard circumstances. Perhaps he would’ve been able to shed some light on a family secret that had occurred decades ago.

  Carrigan and Nurse O’Malley sat Patrick down in the beige recliner next to the couch, unsure what was so urgent Patrick needed to come for a visit that very evening. Keenan stood against the wall, observing the odd mood shifts and awaiting whatever fallout was soon to come. “This has the feel to a family meeting to it. You sure you don’t want me to call the others over?”

  Fallyn shook her head. “Not yet. It might get a little chaotic, and that’s done best with fewer hot heads.” She turned to the patriarch with a pleasant smile on her face. “Patrick, do you know who I am?” Fallyn asked, breaking the silence with unswerving calm Vince knew she did not feel. Her hands were laced delicately over her belly.

  “Huh?” Patrick’s green eyes were glazed over, but he was able to meet her serene determination with some amount of coherency. He pointed at Fallyn and leaned toward Carrigan. “That’s tha girl.”

  Fallyn nodded, knowing that was as good as it was going to get. She held up her hand to stop Carrigan from explaining things to his father. “That’s right. I’m the girl. Do you remember my name?”

  “It’s my Fallyn,” Patrick said to Carrigan in answer to Fallyn’s question.

  Fallyn warmed, her voice brimming with compassion for the man who’d raised her as his own. “That’s right. My name is Fallyn. Do you know who my father is?”

  Patrick’s lucidity fought through the cloudiness and grabbed onto something that darkened his face. “Tha boy. I know tha boy. He should’ve obeyed, but he had ta be rebellious. He had ta made things difficult.” His frown took on a note of anger, and he banged his larger fist on the arm of the recliner. While Patrick’s mind had lost its sharpness, his fist had forsaken none of its bite.

  Carrigan leaned his head on his hand. “Really, Fal? You’re doing this to yourself? Why? You know it’s only going to hurt you that he doesn’t recognize you. Dad loves you, kiddo.”

  Fallyn ignored Carrigan. “What’s his name? What’s the boy’s name?”

  Patrick shook his head, exasperated. “Pick up yer toys! I’ve got things ta do here. I can’t be tripping over yer blocks.”

  “Patrick? What’s my father’s name?”

  Patrick refocused on Fallyn as if only just noticing her sitting across the coffee table from him. “Yer father wasn’t ready. He was a boy. He was a good boy. He grew up well. Do ya know whatever happened ta him?”

  Carrigan whipped his head from Fallyn to his father in confusion. “What? Dad, you’re her father. You grew up well, and you retired at the head of your game. That’s what happened to you.”

  Patrick raised his voice and pointed a thick finger at Fallyn. “That’s not my daughter!”

  Fallyn held up her hand to calm Patrick and to ease the stricken faces of her brothers. “I know I’m not your daughter. Do you know my father’s name?”

  Keenan’s hand was over his mouth, his eyes wide in panic as he waited for the words to finally birth to life from his father’s mouth. “No, no. We can’t talk about this.”

  Patrick pursed his lips, grasping for the name that eluded him. Finally he sat back in his recliner. “It’s tha boy. Tha one with the freckles.” He chuckled as his temper ebbed. “He’s a good boy, that one.”

  “Well, that narrows nothing down,” Fallyn murmured to Vince, who was doing his best to maintain his leaned back demeanor on the couch, but was failing miserably. His thumb was tapping on his knee as he chewed on his lip, calculating every movement Patrick made. Fallyn placed her hand on Vince’s to calm him. “It’s okay. I knew it was a long shot.”

  Carrigan cocked his head at his sister, sensing he was missing out on something deeper going on. “What’re you pushing at, Fal? Is something going on I don’t know about?”

  “Loads,” Fallyn replied, her voice steady despite the disquiet she felt. “I opened this today.” She took the test results from her cardigan pocket and handed it to Carrigan. “It’s DNA results. Daddy’s not my father. He’s my grandfather, which means one of you is my dad.”

  “Huh?” Carrigan pulled back
from the paper as he studied it, willing it to give him different results than the ones that confirmed his sister’s words. “What? Tell me this is some kind of sick joke! Tell me you’re doing this to get back at Declan for telling everyone the two of you were related. I don’t want in on this, Fal! I don’t want in on whatever terrible payback you’ve got cooking.”

  “Declan’s not even here.” Fallyn’s nose crinkled. “Why would I joke about something like this? When Declan spilled the beans about Mom being gone longer than she could’ve been to have had me with Daddy, I took a hair sample just to be sure that Daddy was my father.”

  Carrigan stood, awash in confusion and anger. “This isn’t real, Fal. That right there’s your dad.” He pointed to Patrick, who frowned.

  “That’s not my daughter!” Patrick roared, meeting Carrigan’s volume and getting worked up. He looked around the house that was not his, gray eyebrows pushing together in concern. “Are we at tha D’Amatos?” he asked Nurse O’Malley. “Where’s Danilo?”

  Vince shook his head. “It’s enough. I’ve had enough. Fallyn, he can’t tell you who your father is. I’ll interrogate the lot of them, and we’ll find out that way. You’re just confusing Paddy. He’s my dad too, now, and I don’t want this for him.” He helped Patrick to stand and shook the man’s hand. Though Vince was a grown man, he still felt a teenager compared to the legend that was Patrick O’Keefe. “I’ll tell Papa D you stopped by. You just missed him.”

  “Ya do that. Tell him he owes me twenty bucks from poker night. He thought I’d ferget.” A genuine smile broke out across Patrick’s face as recognition swept over him. “Danilo! I knew it was ya. Where are tha boys hiding? Carri, Seamus and Finny wanted ta come over and play.”

  Vince nodded through the pain. “They’re not here, Paddy. Why don’t you let Nurse O’Malley take you on home?” He turned to Fallyn, his eyes wracked with pain. “I can’t do this!” he eked out, loosening his white shirt collar that suddenly began to feel like a noose. “I’ll beat it out of them until we get to the bottom of this. But I can’t listen to him call me my dad’s name!”

  Fallyn stood with much effort and held her husband as Nurse O’Malley and Carrigan led Patrick to the car. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know he’d confuse you with Papa D. Completely my fault, Vince.”

  Vince pulled back from her embrace, lest it soften him from his mission. “We’ll get to the bottom of it tonight, starting with Carri.”

  No sooner had Vince said his name did Carrigan come bursting back into the overlarge home. The test results were still clutched in his hand as he stomped back into the living room past a gaunt Keenan. He waved the paper in Fallyn’s face. “Tell me you did this to get back at Declan! Admit it!”

  “I don’t think you want to be yelling at me,” Fallyn cautioned, her temper rising to the occasion. “I think you want to calm down. Those results are legit. Patrick’s my grandfather. Is there something you want to tell me?”

  Carrigan paused and then reared back in disgust. “I’m only ten years older than you! That’s disgusting, Fal! Talk to the older guys, or keep this nonsense to yourself. I swear, if you rip up the family like this all to get back at Declan, I’ll never forgive you.”

  Vince collected his bearings and shoved Carrigan hard, moving the grown man across the living room. “You’ll never forgive her? Really? That’s what you have to say about all this? Get out!”

  “I was already leaving!” Carrigan said in a huff.

  “Stop it!” Fallyn shouted. “Just stop it, both of you!” She pressed the heel of her palm to her forehead in an effort to smash clarity into her skull. “Carrigan, on everything and everyone I love, I promise you this is not about getting back at Declan. The math doesn’t add up, and you know it. I took a hair sample from Daddy and sent it in with mine. Those are the real results, so deal.”

  “So, what? I’m your uncle now?” Carrigan grimaced and recoiled. “You’re not my sister, you’re my niece?” He shook his head angrily. “No! You’re my sister! If this is true, that means one of our brothers lied to all of us. It means I don’t have a sister.” His voice forsook the anger and plummeted into fresh pain as reality began to reason with his irrationality. “You’re my sister, right?”

  Fallyn cast aside her indignation and hurt, making a beeline for Carrigan to crash into his arms. “I’m always your sister, no matter what. Daddy’s my dad, no matter what. But I still want to know. I think I deserve to know where I came from.”

  Carrigan had tears in his eyes as he held his best friend. “You do. I’m sorry. This is all just… Promise me again that you’re not lying. Promise me as often as I need to hear it.”

  “I’m not lying. One of you is my biological father. It’s one of the older ones.” Her eyes fell on Keenan, noticing his frozen body and face filled with trepidation. “Keenan?”

  Keenan took two steps backward toward the front door before Vince lunged. Fallyn screamed as the two wrestled on the floor in the hallway. Vince punched Keenan’s kidney before Keenan finally stopped trying to escape. “Okay! Okay! I give!” He held up his hands as Carrigan tore Vince off his brother.

  Carrigan jabbed his finger down at Keenan, not helping him off the floor. “Do you know something about this?”

  Keenan sat up, breathing heavily and shaking his head that was tilted downward. “No, no, no, no.” He swore several times before pulling out his cell phone, his hand on his forehead. “Get over here right now. Fallyn needs you.” He hung up with the caller and pocketed his phone, covering his face with his hands. “I know who your father is, Fally,” he admitted. “I wish I didn’t know any of it. He’s on his way.”

  24

  Promises and Secrets

  Fallyn had a job keeping Vince away from Keenan, who was still on the floor with his head in his hands. “You knew? What kind of a lowlife knows something like that and sits on it for twenty-five years? You knew Patrick wasn’t her father this whole time? How could you do that to her?” Vince roared.

  Keenan kept shaking his head, wishing it could all be a dream. “I don’t know. It wasn’t my secret to tell. He made me keep it quiet. I wasn’t supposed to know.” He closed his eyes. “Declan was smart. He kept the math to himself. He knew it wasn’t right, but he kept his mouth shut.”

  Fallyn’s breath was shallow. “It’s either Seamus or Killian, then.” She added up the years probable for one of her brothers to be her father, ruling out the ones who wouldn’t have been teenagers when she was born. “Finn would’ve only been eleven. That’s too young.” Her hand went to her forehead. “Oh! I hope that’s too young!” She was afraid to leave the men alone in the room, but she wanted a break from their fighting so she could puzzle out the mess to make sense of the broken pieces.

  Vince sat on the couch with his head down. “My first time was when I was twelve.”

  Fallyn whirled on him. “Twelve?! Are you kidding me?”

  Vince shrugged. “You grow up fast around here. I’m just saying, it could be any of them except maybe Danny or Carrigan.”

  Fallyn turned to Keenan. “Who made you keep the secret?”

  Keenan was distraught. “All three of them! Mom, Dad and the one who can tell you himself who he is. He’ll be here in ten.” He met his sister’s pained eyes. “I didn’t want to keep it from you! I wanted to tell you so many times. But Carrigan’s right; you’re our sister. You’re not our niece, no matter how you slice it. You’re my sister, Fally.”

  Fallyn nodded, the emotions raging inside of her and threatening her composure. “You’re my brother, too, even though you should’ve told me.” She closed her eyes. “You knew all this time? What an awful thing to keep to yourself.” Despite her hurt, she closed the distance between them and motioned for him to stand. “I’m sorry you had to keep someone else’s secret. That must’ve just eaten you up inside.”

  “It did!” Keenan wailed, standing before her mercy with weighted shoulders and a heavier heart. “So many times I wished I c
ould’ve told you. I’m sorry, Fally. I’m so sorry!” Her arms around him crushed and healed in equal measure, giving grace where he had given himself none. He held her tight; every breath he drew in was laced with gratitude and self-loathing. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

  Carrigan spoke over the tender moment. “You kept this from all of us, not just her. I can’t believe something like this stayed buried this long. It comes out tonight.”

  Keenan hesitated and then nodded, clutching his sister tight. He was afraid to let go of her, lest she reclaim the anger she rightfully owned so she could fling it at him and wrap him in her hatred instead of her hug. “I’m sorry, Fal. I’m sorry.”

  “Be my brother,” she begged in a whisper. “I can’t handle everyone in my life changing. I can’t lose seven brothers and a mother. I can’t have my dad be my grandpa, my mom be my grandma, a brother be my dad, and six of my brothers be uncles. I just can’t do it! It’s too much!”

  Carrigan was at Fallyn’s side in the next second, his arm looping around her back above Keenan’s to enclose her in their love. “Hey, there’s no getting rid of us. Everything else is just labels. Dad’s still the one who raised you. Things will be weird with the one of us who’s your biological father, but the rest of us are staying the same. We need you to be the sister. We need someone to be the nice one. Otherwise where does that leave us?”

  “Always my sister,” Keenan confirmed. “No matter what. Nothing changes with us.”

  “Okay.” Fallyn clung to Keenan’s shirt until the familiar draw of Carrigan’s comfort pulled her in his direction. “Don’t leave me,” she begged with her eyes closed. “No matter what. No matter how mad you get. Don’t leave me to deal with this without you.”