Bolting past me, Shannon hurried into the sitting room and scooped up a small bundle of what I first thought was a white blanket. Until the white blanket began to squawk and a small blond head popped out from behind said blanket.
“You have yourself a real cute baby on your hands,” I said, eyes locked on the wriggling infant in her arms, the one I remembered from the funeral.
“No, no, no,” she strangled out, as she rocked him in her scrawny little arms. “He’s not my baby.”
“That’s Sean,” Ollie explained, climbing onto the worn-looking couch and then patting the space next to him. “He’s the newest one of us.”
“He’s our brother,” Shannon clarified, as she tried to soothe the grizzly infant, who was refusing the bottle she was offering him.
“How old is he?” I asked, sinking down on the thread worn cushion.
“Who, Sean?” Bouncing him in her arms, she tucked a blond curl behind his tiny ear and said, “He just turned two.”
“Really?” I found it incredibly hard to believe that the infant in her arms was as old as two. He was dinky in size and reminded me more of twelve-month-old.
“I’ve gots four brothers,” Ollie added.
My eyes widened. “Four?”
“Yep, and one sister,” Ollie added proudly. “Darren’s the oldest, and then there’s Joe, Shannon, Tadhg, me, and Sean.”
“In case you haven’t guessed; he’s the one who can’t keep his mouth shut,” Tadhg interjected from his perch on the armchair opposite us. Flicking through channels with the remote control of the television in hand, he cast me a sideways glance before looking back at Shannon. “He’s going to flip.”
“Who?” I asked.
“Daddy,” Ollie said at the same time as Tadhg said, “Joey,” and Shannon said, “Nobody.”
“Acting the big hard man at school,” a dominant male voice roared, causing all of the children around me to flinch and cower. “You’re lucky they’re not going to the Gards with this. You’d be off the team permanently. Yeah, that’s right; they’ve suspended you from the team, too.”
“You think I give a shit about getting kicked off the hurling team?” I heard Joey’s strained laugh. “Get fucked, old man. That’s your dream, not mine.”
“Oh, you’re still riled up, are ya? Don’t worry, I’ll knock that out of you, boy.”
“What in god’s name is wrong with the pair of you? Why do you always resort to using your fists? Why can’t you stop being like this?” a woman’s voice cried out. “Why do you have to resort to violence at the drop of a hat?”
Uncomfortable, I looked at his siblings, who were all dutifully ignoring the shouting coming from the other room.
“It’s too much, Joey. I can’t handle you anymore, I really can’t.”
“Handle me? You don’t need to handle me. You don’t need to do shit for me, not that you do anyway. I’m grand as I am. And I was trying to protect my sister, if you’re so fucking concerned. She’s going to end up topping herself if you don’t get her out of that school. She can’t take any more of them.”
“And I can’t take any more of your behavior!”
“Then throw me out.”
“Don’t fucking tempt me, boy.”
“Get off him, Teddy!”
“Now, where the fuck is that sister of yours. She’s got a hand in this.”
A few moments later, the sitting room door was thrown open, and in walked a tall, formidable looking man.
Their dad, I mentally noted, recognizing the very obvious resemblance he bore to the children littered around the sitting room.
I also instantly recognized him as one of the meaner, sleazier drunks that propped up the bar at work when I worked the afternoon shift on weekdays. He never ordered food, so I never had to personally serve him, but I always got the creepiest vibe from him.
“Who’s this?” he demanded, balking at the sight of me sitting on his couch.
“This is Aoife,” Ollie said proudly, patting my shoulder with his small hand. “She’s my friend.”
“Teddy, wait,” a woman, who looked an awful lot like Shannon, called out, hurrying into the room after her husband. “Please, just wait…” Her voice trailed off when her eyes landed on me, and I swear I saw her sag in relief. “Oh, hello.”
“Hi,” I replied, quickly standing up. “I’m Aoife.”
“Aoife,” the mother repeated with a small nod of her head. Sliding the sleeve of her cardigan down in her attempt to conceal the cast on her arm, she forced a small smile and asked, “Are you friends with Shannon?”
Her husband snorted as if it was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard. “Take one look at her, Marie.” His dark eyes roamed over me in such a way that I felt uncomfortable. “She’s not here for the girl.”
“Then who…” the mother’s voice trailed off for a brief moment before she nodded her understanding. “Oh, you’re here for—”
“Me,” an achingly familiar voice said. “She’s here for me.”
“Joey,” I breathed, locking eyes on my furious looking classmate as he stood in the sitting room doorway.
“What are you doing here, Molloy?” His tone was hard, his eyes blazing with barely contained frustration, as blood trickled from a cut above his eyebrow. “In my house?”
“You forgot your bag at school.” I held it up as by way of explanation, gaze honing in on his disheveled hair and the collar of his t-shirt that had been stretched out of shape. “I figured you might need it back.”
“You might as well toss that fucking thing away,” his father sneered, and the stench of whiskey wafting from the man was as obvious as the smell of cakes in a bakery. “Fat lot of use he gets out of it.”
“That was very kind of you,” his mother was quick to interject, taking the bag from me with her good hand. “Wasn’t that kind of her, Teddy?”
Uninterested, her husband grunted some semblance of a reply before snatching the remote out of Tadhg’s hand. “Up out of my chair, ya little shit,” he commanded, snapping his finger. “And bring me in my smokes.”
I watched as the older child scowled up at his father in such a way that he reminded me of his older brother, but then quickly clambered out of the armchair.
“Come on, Ols,” he grumbled, padding out of the room. “You can help me find an ashtray.”
“It was nice to see you,” Ollie chirped up at me, all brown eyes and innocence, before he climbed off the couch and hurried after his brother.
Yeah,” I squeezed out, heart fluttering around nervously, as I watched the little guy hurry out of the room. “You, too.”
Shannon, who looked like she had turned to stone on the mortal spot, blinked wildly before rushing from the room, mumbling something about Sean needing a drink as she went.
“Can I make you a cup of tea?” their mother offered, pulling on the sleeve of her cardigan, looking almost as uncertain as her daughter. Almost as frightened. “Or would you prefer coffee?”