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“I’m saying there’s evidence that leads me to believe that your partner has sustained a tremendous level of physical abuse over an extended period of time.” “That leads back to when he was a baby?” “It’s possible.” “Oh my god.” Molloy heaved out a sob and pulled me closer. “Oh my god!” “Quite frankly, it’s a miracle he’s sitting here.”
“How’s my baby?” “Still cooking.” “How’s my other baby?” “I’m okay, Joe,” I said. “We’re both fine.” “Good.” His eyelid fluttered shut. “I need you to be okay.” “I am okay, Joe.” “Both of you.” “Both of us are fine.” “I need it to stay that way,” he whispered, giving my hand a squeeze. “It’s important to me.”
“Look at his face,” I repeated, voice rising right along with my temper. “Take a good fucking look, Marie. Because that’s your son.” Furious, I pointed to my boyfriend. “He’s just as much your child as Shannon or the boys or him.” “I know he’s my child.” “Then fucking act like it!” I hissed, narrowing my eyes in disgust. “Stop treating him like an afterthought. He’s not a fucking afterthought, okay? You can’t just show up here and lay down the law after not checking in on him once! It doesn’t work like that, and I won’t stand by and let you sink your twisted claws any deeper into him than you
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“He’s the best damn thing that came out of your marriage and you’re too stupid to see it. He’s not your bodyguard. He’s not your bank account. He’s not your babysitter. He’s not your fucking husband. He’s your child. He’s your son!” Furious, I turned my glare on his brother. “And as for you? Well, I don’t really know you that well yet, but I’m feeling like this is a fuck-you kind of moment. So, fuck you.”
“I know you’ve been going down a bad path for a long time now,” Darren had the gall to say. “I also know that you’ve got yourself a little Joey on the way.” “Good news travels fast,” I replied coolly. “Get all that from one of your mommy-and-son phone calls?” “She’s the girl from the wall, right? The one you had your eye on back in first year?”
“I just… I want something for the pain.” “Okay, I’ll get you something for pain, Joseph,” I heard her reply. “Where is the pain worse? In your head?” “No, it’s here,” I whispered, rubbing my chest. “Here’s the worst.” “Your heart?” I nodded stiffly. “Okay, sweetheart,” the nurse replied softly. “Just close your eyes and get some rest. I’ll go and fetch you something for the pain.”
“Don’t get even get me started on you, Marie. You don’t deserve to call him your son,” I snarled, swinging around to glare at his mother. “You have never deserved his love and you never will!” Blinking back my tears, I spat my pain out at the woman who had created so much turmoil in my boyfriend. “Everyone thinks your husband is the abusive parent, but I see what you do to your son.” I tapped my temple, beyond livid. “I know what you are, Marie. I see right fucking through you.” “Don’t speak to my mother like that,” Darren warned, taking a defensive stance in front of her. “You can speak
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“Tell me something,” Darren decided to interject. “If you knew my brother was in such a bad way, why didn’t you do something to protect him?” “Fuck you, Darren,” I spat out. “You don’t know a damn thing about either one of us.” “I know my brother isn’t well,” he countered evenly. “And so do you. So, why the hell would you trap him into fatherhood?” “I didn’t trap him.” I stiffened, feeling my hackles rise and my heart crack in one breath. “I hardly got pregnant on purpose, did I?” “Didn’t you?” My blood ran cold. “What’s that supposed to mean?” “Oh, come off it, Aoife.” He gave me a hard look
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“I would never hurt Joey,” I heard myself defend, refusing to back down to this emotional manipulation. This shit might float on his siblings, but not me. “I love your brother.” “No, I love my brother, Aoife,” he argued hotly. “So, make no mistake about it when I tell you that I’m willing to do whatever it takes to protect him.” “What are you saying?” “I’m saying that if you love my brother as much as you say you do, then you’ll do the right thing for him and make this go away.” “This being your niece or nephew?” “Let’s not be overly dramatic here and start labeling a fetus,” he replied
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“Then you’re going to ruin his life.” “Then at least he’ll be ruined with love and not pain.”
“Don’t let her down.” Steadying my body from swaying, I looked him in the eyes and said, “Whatever you’re doing here, Kavanagh, don’t fuck my sister over.” He tapped on the keypad of his phone before handing it back to me. With eyes full of unrestrained emotion and his tone thick with gritty sincerity, he looked me dead in the eyes and vowed, “I won’t.”
“You’ve got a beautiful mind, Joey Lynch, and a wonderful heart. You can beat this. You just have to want to. It’s half the battle. You can still fix this. You have time. You can get better. Just try, Joe. That’s all you have to do. Just try, baby. I love you so much. Watching you self-destruct like this is killing me.”
“I know I have no right to ask you for anything,” I blurted out the minute he climbed into the passenger seat beside me. “We barely know each other, and you’re probably thinking that I’m some sort of crazy person for showing up on your doorstep earlier, and for phoning you, but I’m so damn desperate and he’s—” “You said six hundred?” Gibsie cut me off by asking as he retrieved a wad of cash from his coat pocket and placed it on my lap. “It’s all there.”
“I’m your mother,” she sobbed, voice slurring. “Why do you hate me so much?” “I’m your son,” I replied, giving her back her words. “Why do you hate me so much?” “Because you’re him,” she slurred, twisting away from me. “Yeah,” I deadpanned, standing up, feeling nothing. “I’m him, and you’re worse.” “Joey, wait,” she cried out as I moved for the door. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, baby… Please don’t leave me.”
And this is it, I thought to myself. This is your future. This is the boy your heart is set on. “I need you to get back up, Joe.” Crying quietly, I pushed his hair off his face and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I’m hanging in here, baby, doing the fighting for both of us, but I need you to climb back on your feet.” “I’m just so…tired.” “I know you are,” I agreed, feeling my soul crack. “But I need you to keep fighting.” “I’m no…good for…you.” “That’s not true.” “I don’t have feelings anymore.” “Yes, you do, Joe,” I whispered, clinging to his trembling body with mine. “You just need to
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If Joey didn’t get a handle on things, he was going to end up forcing my hand. The thought of what might happen when that day came caused my heart to shrivel up and die. Because I couldn’t do this without him, but I refused to repeat past mistakes. I refused to subject our baby to the same ordeal their father had been exposed to. I wouldn’t be Marie Lynch. My baby would come first.
“The only thing I’m asking you to do is the one thing you point-blank refuse to do,” she argued hotly. “Get clean.” “Aoife—” “You don’t get it,” she screamed. “You can’t see how far you’ve fallen, Joey. I’ve had to beg and borrow to get you out of trouble with Shane Holland and those monsters, and you keep going back to them! I owe Gibsie money. I owe Podge money. I owe Casey money and she doesn’t even have it to spare. I am doing everything I can to keep you alive, but you just won’t help yourself!” “I’m fine,” I bit out. “It’s all good.” When she didn’t respond, I gently tipped her chin
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“Joe, you’re scaring me,” I admitted, feeling panicked by his words. “Nothing’s going to happen, okay? It’s just the drugs, baby. They’re messing with your mind.” “It’s true. I can feel it,” he choked out. “But I don’t want to go out that way,” he argued weakly, shifting closer to nuzzle me. “If I’m going to die, I want it to be on my terms, not his.”
“If anything happens to me, I want you to m-move on,” he mumbled, pressing a kiss to the curve of my neck. “I want you to be s-strong for our s-son.” “Joe, nothing’s going to happen to you.” I took a breath, hating every second of this morbid conversation. “And we don’t know if we’re having a boy.” “We are.” He reached a hand between us and cradled the swell of my stomach in his trembling hand. “You’re growing my son.”
“We’re going to make it, Joe,” I whispered, leaning down to press my lips to his. “You’re going to get better and we’re going to have a long and happy life together. I refuse to accept anything less.” “I hope you’re right,” he replied sadly. “Because I’ve got this awful feeling that it’s too late for me.”
“In my humble opinion, I think you’re a bomb-ass bitch for handling all of this so well.” “Funny.” “It’s true,” she pushed. “You are incredible, Aoife. The definition of a strong woman. All the crap you’ve been taking from assholes at school? How you handle yourself? How you get up and hold your head high each morning? Babe, you are amazing.”
Kavanagh: Yeah, so strange thing happened today… Lynchy: Why are you texting me? Kavanagh: Because I took your brothers and they’re at my house. Lynchy: Why? Kavanagh: I don’t know. Lynchy: Do you plan on giving them back? Kavanagh: I guess. Lynchy: You’re really fucked up, Kavanagh. Kavanagh: I know. Lynchy: I’m on my way.