Chapter 59: And Birds Were Singing to Calm Us Down

(Laura Marling)

When she collapsed, Connor caught her, and Murphy fired his gun. However, the old man had been so shocked at what he'd done that he'd let go of his shotgun and had fallen back on his own arse. The bullet wheezed above his head. The brothers shouted.

"Ye motherfucker!"

"I'll fucking kill ye!"

Murphy's trembling hand was ready to aim and fire again when he caught a glimpse of the man's expression. The sheer horror on his face at what he'd done.

"I didn't- I never meant to-" the quavering voice of her father had Murphy look back reluctantly. He didn't want to see it. He didn't want to acknowledge it. He just wanted to bash that man's head into the ground.

"Murphy! Come on! We got to take her to the hospital!" he confusedly heard Connor yell.

She wasn't dead just yet. The pellets had perforated her stomach and she was fastly losing blood though. The bashing would have to wait. Connor lifted her into his arms with a look of panic Murphy had never seen on his brother's face before. So, he lunged to open the door.

"I just wanted to-"

He didn't let the old man finish before he slammed the door shut. Next thing he knew, he was racing through the town's empty roads, running every red light, while Connor was hassling him to drive faster even. In the rearview mirror, he could see his brother's hands, pressing on her stomach, coated in crimson. Her face was paler than a ghost. Her head was tumbling lifelessly on her chest. And he feared they would be too late.

When they burst through the emergency room's front doors, she was limp in Connor's arms. Doctors and nurses were swift to bring a gurney and get her to a trauma room. It was harder to get the twins to let her go though.

And when Murphy saw her frail body arch back with the violence of the shock the doctor applied on her chest, his legs yielded under him. He fell on his knees with a ringing sound in his ears. He thought he yelled, but he couldn't hear anything anymore, feeling like the whole world was disappearing in a vortex under him.

When they shocked her a second time, Connor followed suit, his knees on the ground and his head bowed in prayer. They both reached for their rosaries, wondering why God would be so cruel as to take her away from them now.

When she got wheeled away to an operating room, they were left helpless and stunned. Until, amongst the buzzing in their dazed minds, they heard a young boy's voice asking:

"Hey! Isn't that the Saints of Boston?"

Fuck. They couldn't leave her there, could they? Not even knowing if she would make it.

"Ye think she's going to make it?" Murphy's broken voice sounded like a frightened little kid when he asked.

"Of course she will." Connor tried to sound reassuring but his own fear seeped through his quavering voice. "Now, come on. We're no help to her in jail."

She woke up in a hospital bed, unable to comprehend what she was doing here.

When she foggily turned her head and caught sight of Annabelle, she truly thought this must be a dream.

"Hello, my dear!"

The woman's loud voice rang into her ears and she winced.

"Here, have some water!"

She shoved a straw in her mouth, so Aideen thankfully took a sip.

"What… What happened?"

"Ye've been here a few days, dear. They operated on ye a few times, but it should be alright now."

Aideen just frowned in confusion. She was nauseous; the pain in her stomach felt widespread and dulled. Only the sutures prickled, and she felt extremely weak. She couldn't figure out why though.

"My boys would be here, ye know they would, but apparently it's too risky for them right now. They still came to sit with ye at night until I had to scold them like the little tinkers they are."

Slowly, the events of the night when they came to rescue her, came back to her hazy memory. And Annabelle kept rambling:

"Officially, they're out of the country. That American agent that's helping them made sure everyone is looking for them elsewhere. Unofficially, of course, they wouldn't have left without ye. The brats have even decided they'd want to stay here for a while. They bought a cottage in the godforsaken middle of the country. They think they'll be safer here than anywhere else anyway. I guess I have ye to thank for this. I thought I'd get to have a peaceful life now that they were gone, but no! Ye had to bring them back here so they'd drive me round the bend for the rest of me life! Though they did bring me back me Noah; I got to give them that. This one will rue the day they let him out of prison when I'm done with him…"

Aideen's head was spinning with the amount of information. She had to cut her so she could ask:

"What… What about my da?"

"Oh, that tosser's been arrested! I know we're supposed to keep things in the family, but this was the last straw; I had to tell the copper. The doctors here were adamant, they had to call them anyway, with yer kind of wound. There's going to be a trial soon, I think."

Suddenly, tears welled up and fell down Aideen's eyes. They were so unexpected she couldn't have stopped them if she'd tried.

"Ye're alright my dear. Ye're going to be up soon, I promise." Annabelle tried to be soothing even though it was not where she excelled.

"I… Thank ye…" Aideen managed to stutter. "I… I'm sorry for all the trouble, I…"

"C'mere, don't be daft, lass!"

"I thought I could handle things myself, that I wouldn't need anyone, but…"

"Hear, hear, that's ludicrous. Everyone needs help from time to time!"

"Ye never did," Aideen stressed to the strongest lady she'd ever met.

This one burst in her unshackled laughter: "Of course I did, all the time! Why d'ye think those two eejits are so misbehaved? And even they need all the help they can get; if they hadn't been there for each other from the start, they would have died a thousand times! That's why God made two of them!"

Aideen chuckled, though winced when it pulled on her sutures. Still, she answered: "I just thought He'd felt particularly generous that day…"

And Annabelle burst out laughing once more.

She slept some more before doctors came to tell her she would have to remain on bed rest for another few days. She couldn't wait to get out of here and join the twins wherever they were. Being away from them again, at a time like this, felt like torture.

After a while, she got a phone call from her sister-in-law.

"How are you, hon? I can't believe what happened!"

"I'm alright now, don't worry about me, Mel. How are my nephews?"

"Well… They're a little shaken… I'm divorcing Liam, actually."

Aideen paused at the news. She couldn't figure out what she thought of that.

"After the way he treated you, I couldn't forgive him. We started fighting more and more, until he raised his hand and I had to throw him out."

Aideen couldn't believe the strength of that woman. Maybe it was normal, but it was what she'd never been allowed to do.

"I'm so sorry, Mel, this is all my fault…" Their life had seemed alright before she had showed up and wrecked everything, as she always did.

"Don't be! Are you kidding? No, I think you just revealed something that had always been there. I should thank you actually. Thanks to you, I found out who he really was. I can't believe he ratted you out in the end. He probably did it out of spite, because of me. So I'm the one that should be sorry."

"Well, don't be either."

"Anyway, that's it for me. That's why I'm filing for divorce. If he could do that to you, there's no telling what he would do to us if things don't go his way…"

"Where is he now?" Aideen inquired. Maybe, if their father was on trial, he would come home. She really wished he wouldn't.

"He's sulking and feeling shitty somewhere. I asked him if he would go and visit you at the hospital; he told me he wouldn't. That little coward…" Melisa ended grumbling. "I would come, but with the kids…"

"No, don't bother. I'm not staying long anyway. And you have enough on yer plate!"

"It's better he's not coming anyway. If there's a trial, he might have testified against you…"

"I know my brother; he'll avoid doing anything if he can."

"Well, screw him!" the Midwestern woman uncharacteristically exclaimed, and Aideen laughed approvingly. "If you need me to come and testify for you though, just tell me! I'll manage!"

"Thank ye, Mel. Ye know, ye've always been too good for him, right?"

"Yeah, I know…"

The first time Aideen got out of the hospital, she had to go straight to the police station. She dreaded that moment. First because she knew she would have to go over her entire life story, trying to avoid talking about the twins at all. But above all because anytime time she'd had to deal with any kind of authority in the past, it had ended up bad to outright hell for her. However, this time, the officers she talked to were more considerate and sympathetic than ever. Maybe because, this time, she had been at the other end of the gunshot.

In the end, they simply gave her a few numbers for lawyers, and any help she would need. And when they told her she could go, she remained awestruck for a second. Just like that? The idea that she could just leave and go wherever she wanted without supervision or fear seemed absurd.

She didn't even think to ask where her father was or what the charges against him were. Just like with her brother, part of her still managed to feel sorry for him. However, she wasn't going to lose sleep over it. What happened to them wasn't her concern. She just wanted out of their life.

Now, after the trial, that faraway dream might just come true...

When she stepped out, she felt the early summer sun warming her skin and a smile crept on her lips. Annabelle was waiting for her outside. She was ready to drive her back to her boys. That was all that mattered.