Holding the sonogram in her lap, Catherine sat on the sofa waiting for Patrick to get home. She couldn't hide the secret anymore, not after seeing the baby for the first time.
There was no way this news wouldn't bring about fireworks and there was no way for her to mentally prepare for them. She just planned to sit there and take the lecture without a peep, and agree to comply with any arrangements Patrick wanted to make.
Telling her parents separately was the best way to go about it. Catherine knew Olivia well enough to conclude that she would be just as thrilled about it as she had been about Liam and Shauna. Letting Patrick get the anger out of his system before Olivia arrived home, would allow her mom to enjoy the excitement.
Without fail, the deadbolt to the front door popped at four p.m. In walked Patrick, and then followed Liam. A guest she hadn't been expecting.
Oh, shit, Catherine thought.
Deciding that telling her dad with Liam there probably wasn't the best idea, she quickly shoved the sonogram under her ass. She hoped she was fast enough and they hadn't noticed.
Collapsing onto the love seat, Liam immediately took off his work boots as Patrick venerated into the kitchen for two Coke's from the fridge. He handed one to his son before sitting down beside Catherine.
"How was your day?" Patrick asked, popping open his can.
"Fine."
Patrick didn't think much of Catherine's extremely vague answer. Aside from when she needed his advice on anything she was working on, Catherine never discussed her operations with him. The less he knew, the better.
Before she could turn to her brother and—politely—ask him why he was there and not home with his wife and baby, she heard the rumble of Harley pipes right outside. From the open blinds, Catherine watched Brien dismount his motorcycle.
What the actual fuck? She screamed internally.
Four times in the last week Catherine had tried to get them all together for dinner. The one night she needed to get Patrick alone, was the one night they wanted to stop by.
SAMBEL had been keeping Brien busy as of late, so he was looking forward to a quiet night and a hot meal. Once in the house, he kissed his sister's cheek, before hugging his father and slagging with Liam. Catherine shook her head when his second stop was to the kitchen, grabbing a container of leftovers and plopping down on the couch beside Liam.
Trying to stay focused on the conversation the three men having, all Catherine could think about was the sonogram sitting beneath her. Maybe telling all of them at once wouldn't be such a bad idea. Her brother's had always been fiercely protective of her, so it saved Catherine the trouble of having to tell individually. At least all three of them would be able to blow up at once. The problem with that though, there was no predicting what they would do and she could never talk them out of anything once their minds were set.
"So, Catherine," Brien said, grabbing her attention. "O'Neill's ol' lady said she saw ye at the Royal the other day. Everythin' okay?"
She wanted to die. Curl up into a ball and die. After all, this was said and done, she planned to find O'Neill's old lady and punch her in the mouth to make sure she couldn't say another word again.
There was no way Catherine could get out of this—the jig was up. Time to stand up and face the consequences. Reaching for the sonogram, she held eye contact with Patrick as she set it on the coffee table.
"I'm pregnant."
A silence fell upon the room. Brien closed the lid of the container he had been eating from. Liam's eyes bugged and his jaw nearly fell to the floor. Though, it was Patrick's lack of response that scared Catherine half to death.
Patrick refused to look at her. He kept his gaze on the sonogram sitting not even two feet in front of him.
Her lower lip began to tremble and her heart raced. She figured this was when Patrick would tell her to gather her things and head back to the Short Strand.
There were no fireworks. The three men just exchanged glances to one another.
Liam slipped his boots back on and leaned down to tie up the laces, slapping his hands on his thighs when he finished.
"We goin?"
The green-light was given when Patrick stood up, fishing his keys from his pocket. Time slowed for Catherine as she watched her father head for the door, her brother's following close behind. Just as the last foot stepped outside, it clicked and she realized where they were headed.
Darting up, Catherine chased them down to the street.
"Don't do this. He's not worth it!"
Her words fell onto deaf ears. Once Liam and Brien started to get into the car, Patrick pointed his key at Catherine. "You stay here."
Catherine was never good at listening. As Patrick started the engine and pulled into traffic, she dashed in the house and slipped her feet into her gym shoes. Then, she grabbed her bag, taking off in a full sprint down the street to Darragh's.
She needed back up.
Pounding on his front door, Catherine called out his name. It felt like half a century before he answered. A part of her was afraid that he had left for Armagh, so she had never been so happy to see him. Unfortunately, she was out of breath and it took her longer to get her words out.
"I told them about the baby. I think they're headed ta O'Malley's, lookin' for Jimmy."
"Did they say anythin?"
"No, they just took off."
"Fuck," Darragh muttered. He grabbed his keys and boots, putting them on as he hurried to the car.
He never told Catherine about the change of heart he had at the clinic. Had he expected her to tell Patrick, Liam, and Brien that afternoon, he would have told her to wait until they could come up with a better plan. It irritated him through the bone to know Patrick was about to unknowingly ruin everything.
The Short Strand wasn't a far drive from the Falls, but it had never seemed longer to Catherine. Although Darragh appeared calm and collected on the outside, he was fuming with rage within. It quickly became clear why Catherine had been so hesitant at first to tell Patrick. He had never experienced the famous O'Toole rage first-hand, but he never expected it drive the men to act this rashly.
In a race to make it there either before, or at the same time as them, Darragh squeezed Catherine's thigh as a gesture of reassurance.
"It's gonna be fine. We'll get there just as they are, and I'll talk with your Da."
"That won't happen." She didn't want to seem like a dramatic pessimist, but it was the truth. "You're about to see an entirely new side of my Da and it's not pretty. When he gets like this, there's no stoppin' him."
"Then what's the plan here?"
"I've no fuckin' idea."
Not thinking this far ahead before telling them fell on her shoulders. There should have been a plan in place as it wasn't so far fetched to think Patrick would go looking for Jimmy. All Catherine knew was that she had to keep Patrick as far away from Jimmy as possible. She feared his big mouth, not than his fists. He could beat Jimmy to a pulp for all she cared, she just didn't want him spilling the news of her pregnancy just yet.
Pulling up to O'Malley's pub, Catherine jumped out first and Darragh found a spot to park. She couldn't find Patrick's car which she took as a good sign.
For the most part, the pub was empty when she raced it. She said a silent prayer, thankful not very many people were around to hear Patrick surely announce her pregnancy. She looked around quickly, frustrated when she saw neither her father or Jimmy. Behind the bar, Adam Pierce dried pint glasses. He stopped his playful banter with a couple of Provo sympathizers when he noticed Catherine red-faced and out of breath.
"Ye lookin' for Paddy?"
"Aye! You see him?"
Seamus nodded. "He and those brothers of yers came in, huffin'-an'-puffin', lookin' for Jimmy, so they were. Sent them over to the Cracked Cup-Jimmy's drinkin' over there."
Catherine thanked Seamus for the tip before turning on her heels. She smacked right into Darragh, who wasted no time in grabbing her hand and leading out the door. The Cracked Cup was only a few streets down.
Patrick entered the pub with his son's close behind him. His blood was boiling and the boys were surprised steam wasn't shooting from his ears.
At the bar, Jimmy sat drinking a pint while smoking and laughing with several lads. Seeing him go about his life without a care in the world only enraged Patrick more. Under the assumption that Jimmy knew about Catherine being pregnant, he wondered what kind of man could virtually ruin someone's life and then carry on without an ounce of guilt.
In a small space full of Provos, Patrick knew he had to play it cool if he wanted to get anywhere near Jimmy. So, he calmly wove his way through the maze of tables before grabbing Jimmy by the collar of his jacket and the back of his neck.
In an instant, the gates of Hell swung open. Patrick unleashed every ounce of indignation swelling in his body. In a full pub, no one quite knew how to react when Patrick dragged Jimmy off his barstool and smashed his face into one of the framed photos on the wall. A few men stumbled off their barstools to intervene, but Liam and Brien stepped in to prevent that from happening.
Spinning Jimmy around, Patrick filled with a fleeting satisfaction to see his face cut and bloodied from the broken frame.
The pub fell silent as Patrick finally spoke.
"I should'a fuckin' killed you the first night I found out ya put your hands on my baby girl. Ya proud of yourself? Humiliating her like this."
Jimmy wiped the blood away from his nose. "What the fuck are ya talk about?"
The ignorance only insulted Patrick and resulted in him punching Jimmy in the eye. Catherine had arrived just in time to see her father deliver the blow. The force of Patrick's fist had split the skin above his eyebrow and small beads of dark red blood bubbled. Darragh had grabbed Catherine's forearm when she leaped forward to try and break things up between her father and Jimmy. Not wanting to be held back, she ripped his hand off of her and reached over Liam's shoulder to grab Patrick's shirt.
"Da, stop! He doesn't-"
Before she had a chance to tell him that Jimmy didn't know, Patrick opened Pandora's Box.
"Don't fuckin' play stupid with me now." His voice was hoarse as he choked up. Patrick was more-so on the verge of tears as he thought about what Jimmy had done to his daughter.
Catherine dug her nails into Patrick's shoulder, trying to get his attention. She was fighting Liam and Brien who were pushing her away, and Darragh, who had his arms wrapped around her, pulling.
"Ya fuckin' knocked her up, Jimmy."
The moment those words left Patrick's mouth, Jimmy moved his gaze to Catherine. His heart instantly fell into his stomach, his lungs seized.
Catherine—his mo chuisle—was carrying their child. Every bone in Jimmy's body turned to Jell-O. He was going to be a father. The room began to fade in and out. Around him, the conversations because fuzzy and everyone moved in slow motion. Patrick pulled at the lapels of his jacket, jerking him back and forth, but all Jimmy could focus on was Brien, who had picked Catherine up off of her feet after she screamed something at Patrick. He came crashing back to reality when Darragh put his arm between him and Patrick.
"Let him go, Patrick."
"Give me one reason why I should let this piece of shit go."
"Because he's not the father."
Confused, Patrick's gaze darted between Darragh and Jimmy. Then he looked at his daughter. "Who the fuck is?"
"I am," Darragh said, without hesitation.
Darragh hadn't planned any of this. He shocked even himself, though he fully understood what consequences now lay ahead of him. In a split-second decision, he branded himself as the father of Catherine's baby without even talking it over with her. Catherine was too stunned to even wrap her head around what had just been uttered.
"Is he really the father?" Liam asked Catherine.
She wished Darragh had given her a heads-up before deciding on his own to do that. While she was nowhere near thrilled, she wasn't going to back out of it either. Eyeing Jimmy for a brief moment, Catherine didn't feel the slightest bit sorry for that man.
"Aye."
Brien dropped Catherine to her feet when she answered.
Releasing Jimmy, Patrick quickly grabbed Darragh and maneuvered his arms behind his back. Darragh knew what was coming and there was nothing he could do other than to take it.
The eldest of the O'Toole children stood in front of his best friend. He scrubbed his hands over his face, trying to figure out how it had gotten past him that Catherine and Darragh were involved. A newlywed with a new baby would easily alienate one from most of the outside world. In all actuality, Liam didn't mind the two of them together, he just felt betrayed that after everything he had done for Darragh, this was how he repaid him. Never in his life had Liam wanted to beat someone's head in as badly as he wanted to bash Darragh's.
"Why the fuck didn't you tell me?
"I wasn't thinkin-"
"Well, obviously ya weren't because you were too busy shaggin' my sister."
"Liam," Catherine interjected, "he didn't tell you because I told him not to."
She knew for a fact that if her brother thought Darragh had kept it quiet at her request, it would save him from the beat down. Watching Liam take a deep breath and unclench his fist brought relief to her.
"How long?"
Darragh remembered the doctor had told Catherine she was eight weeks along. "Only a few months."
There was only one person in that room who knew that was a complete lie. Either way, Jimmy kept his mouth shut. He dabbed the blood away from his nose and eyebrow, staring Darragh down.
"You're gonna take care of her and the baby, right? And you're not gonna fuckin' dip the second things start gettin' difficult. Because believe me, life's about to get way more difficult."
Turning his head to look at Catherine, Darragh warmly smiled at her. "I'm gonna do everythin' I can to take care of them. And I promise I'm not goin' anywhere."
Jimmy hated the way those two looked at one another. It wasn't because their soft gaze was filled with butterflies and happiness. It was because they looked at each other with reality, and a fairytale was somewhere awaiting them.
Roughly, Liam grabbed the collar of Darragh's shirt, jarring him. He wasn't the slightest bit intimidated by his friend, he just didn't feel like getting his ass beat.
"Just know, if it were anyone else, I would punch their goddamn teeth in. But, you're a good guy and I have faith that you'll do good by Catherine. Just remember this: if ya do fuck up, it's not me who'll come lookin' for ya. It's him."
Darragh swallowed hard at the thought of having to face Patrick for any reason now, after seeing how he had exploded on Jimmy. Too nervous about saying the wrong thing, he simply nodded and jumped when Patrick slapped a strong hand on his shoulder.
Patrick bellowed to the young bartender, "pints of Harp for the boys, and fizzy drinks for me and Catherine. We've got a lot of celebratin' ta do."
