FIVE
Erin
I watch as Oscar closes the door behind him. Why did he have to take us back to Ireland? Why did he have to be some psycho killer? Do I regret Charlie? Absolutely not, but I wish he had a different father. This is why I fled across the world to get as far away from him, but I guess I would have been better moving to Mars.
All I want is to hold my sweet baby in my arms and get us as far away from here as possible.
*****
A bit later, Oscar comes back into my room with a duffle bag in one hand and food in another and he has a huge smile on his face.
“Hello, Erin,”
he says as he sets the bags down.
“Hello,”
I say, then look away from him. After I had my pity party, the anger started to take over. How dare he keep Charlie away from me! He is a complete stranger who doesn’t know anything about Charlie. I’m his mother, me! It’s was me who birthed him, loved him, stayed up all night with him, took care of him when he got sick. Oscar doesn’t know his favorite toy, or his blanket.
“I brought you something to eat and some clothes. I figured you would want to be in something comfortable.”
“Thanks,”
I say, still not looking at him, keeping focus on the walls is a hell a lot better than looking at his fucking face.
“Something the matter?”
he asks as he steps closer to me. I start to open my mouth and decide against it. He has the control over whether if I see Charlie or not I won’t risk my big mouth preventing me from seeing him.
“You can tell me,”
he says as he grabs my chin and makes me look at him. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, pushing all the anger inside of me down all the way to my toes. I put on the blank look I mastered years ago living in a foster homes.
“Hmm, still nothing to say? That’s fine. I will do the talking for both of us then,”
he says, pushing some of my hair behind my ear.
“I know that you left me a fake name and number the night Charlie was conceived, that was your first mistake. I have spent the past year and half searching for you, m'aingeal. Your second mistake was hiding my son from me. But no worries you will right your mistakes.”
“What do you mean?”
“As I see it, you have two options. Option one: you marry me, and we make Charlie a big brother. Option two: you don’t, and I get full custody of Charlie and you will never see him again. But I will keep you around because you have the tightest cunt I have ever had, and I won’t let that go until I find one, I like better.”
“You can’t be serious?”
“Oh, I am very serious. I missed out on many of Charlie’s firsts and I won't be missing anymore. Nor will I miss any with our future children.”
What? He can't be serious, but as I stare into his eyes. I know he means every word.
“You have until we go home to make your decision,”
he says, walking away from me again.
The moment the door clicks behind him, the tears start rolling down my cheeks. My hands cover my face, and I let the pain go. The emotional pain of being a single mom, the pain of being tortured, and finally the pain of knowing I will never have a happy future. What kind of mother am I to have a man like Oscar be a part of my child’s life? But what choice do I have? It’s either marry Oscar and be Charlie’s mother, or I don’t and never see my son again. At least if I marry Oscar, I can try and shield Charlie from the evil that is his father.
I feel like my heart is being pulled in two opposite directions. With each breath I take, the pain in my heart increases. I know no matter how hard I cry nothing will change what is about to happen.
It takes me a while to calm down, and when Oscar walks back in the room, my knees are drawn up to my chest and my cheek is resting on them as I stare at the plain walls.
“Hello, aingeal. Have you-. What’s wrong? Why are you crying? Are you hurt?”
He starts listing off questions.
“I’m fine,”
I quietly say with no emotion in my voice.
“Clearly you're not. I can see dry tear marks on your face,”
he says as he sits down next to me and blocks my view of the wall. I just close my eyes, not wanting to see him.
“Erin, are you in pain?”
“No.”
“Then why are you crying?”
“Doesn’t matter, when can I leave?”
“It does matter. I need to know.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Erin, I need to know what upset you.”
I can hear the irritation in his voice, but I just sigh.
“I just want to get out of here.”
I can feel the heaviness of his stare on my face but I refuse to open my eyes and look at him. I hear him sigh, “I will go talk to Daniel.”
I wait until I hear the door shut behind him before I open my eyes again and decide to lay down. I close my eyes and think of Charlie. His laugh no matter how bad my day is, always seems to make everything better, especially when he smiles at me.
I hear Oscar returns and he says, “Daniel says you can leave, and he will come to the house to check on you.”
I’m excited because I get to see Charlie, but I also know the moment, I step foot out of this room my future is over and the chance of actually finding someone who I want to marry will be a distant memory.
“Stand up, I will help you get dressed,”
he says, I open my eyes and go to sit up but wince as I move too quickly and feel my stitches tugging at my skin. Oscar is at my side and gently pushes me back down.
“Take it easy, your back is pretty torn up.”
I nod, and this time let him help me sit up. I reach for the bag and see a pair of sweatpants, a long sleeve shirt, and hoodie are packed for me. I can tell they are definitely not mine because I would never own something so soft. I gasp when I see they’re Coach.
“What’s wrong? Do you not like it?”
“Why would you buy something so expensive?”
“Expensive? That is less than a penny compared to how much money I have.”
“Yes but I don’t have that kind of money to pay you back.”
“I never said anything about you paying me back.”
“I won’t owe you, Oscar.”
“I will say this one time. Anything I give you; I never want you to pay me back for. It’s honestly insulting that you would think so. As a man, as it is my job to take care of the women in my life. Especially the mother of my child.”
“And your unwilling future wife.”
“Unwilling?”
“Yes, I’m marrying you for Charlie.”
“Regardless, my wife I will always take care of and provide for you.”
“Don’t worry about me. Just make sure Charlie has what he needs.”
“He does, but I will take care of you as well. Including your happiness. Now let me help you get changed.”
“I’m fine.”
“Erin, you are not. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. I have seen you naked.”
“Yes, inside of your car in a dark garage, and before I had a baby that changed my body. So sure, you may have seen me naked, but I am nowhere near the same woman you had riding your cock in your car.”
“And I’m sure you are just as sexy, if not more so than you were on that night.”
“You’re delusional. You don’t have to butter me up, you are getting your way.”
I say as I wince reaching back to try to untie the hospital gown. Oscar walks in front of me and pushes my hands down to my lap before he slips the gown down my shoulders. I go to reach for my shirt but he is faster and is slipping it over my head and gently down my body. I watch as he keeps his eyes on my face he doesn’t say a word as he holds my gaze.
He stares at me like he wants me, and not just in the lust kind of way but there is no chance that is possible. My head is just messing with me.
A man like Oscar only wants a rich and beautiful woman. The only reason he is marrying me is because of Charlie.
He slides my underwear and sweatpants up to my thighs before he wraps his arm around my waist, helping me to my feet to slide them up to my hips. He helps me with my shoes and holds onto me as we walk to the SUV that is waiting for us. I’m surprised when his older brother, Cillian O’Sullivan, gets out of the driver seat of the SUV.
Anyone knows who Cillian is and what he does. I take a deep breath trying to calm my nerves.
What does he want? Does he want to kill me? Does he know what I saw? Does he want Charlie? Or is he here to make sure I marry Oscar?
“Relax, aingeal.”
Oscar whispers against the side of my head. I can’t even open my mouth. I just nod and keep my eyes on Cillian, watching his every move.
“Hello, Miss Kennedy. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. For a while I thought Oscar was making up about his aingeal.”
He snickers at Oscar.
“Definitely not. My imagination would be nowhere close to the beauty of my aingeal.”
“Uh sure. Come on, let’s get you inside,”
Cillian says as he opens the door and extends his hand for me. I stare at it but it takes a slight nudge from Oscar for me to accept Cillian’s hand. The two of them help me gently get in the SUV. Cillian closes the door, and the moment it is shut I hear Cillian and Oscar arguing.
“Why does she look like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like she is being forced to do something she doesn’t want.”
“She isn’t. She had a choice.”
“I seriously doubt that. I swear, if you did anything stupid or impulsive, you do not want to know what will happen,”
Cillian says. I stare straight ahead, not leading on that I overheard the whole conversation as they get inside the SUV. For the first few minutes, we all sit in silence as Cillian drives, until he is the one to break the silence.
“You raised a beautiful and sweet baby.”
“You’ve seen Charlie?”
“I did. When I made sure he had everything he needed in Oscar’s wing.”
“Wing?”
“Yes each of us have our own wing so that if we choose to, we can still live at home even when we have our own families.”
“Oh, how many siblings do you have?”
I can't help but ask.
“I’m the oldest of seven.”
“Seven!”
Oscar laughs, “Yes. Cillian is the oldest, then me, then Kayleigh, Ellie and Riley are the twins, then Aiden and Keegan.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah Ma is a saint,”
Cillian says.
“Well, she had to be as she raised you.”
Oscar teases.
“If I remember correctly you spent more time scrubbing the kitchen then I did.”
“You just never got caught.”
“I was smart enough to know how not to get caught, you mean.”
“No. You were good at letting me get caught.”
“What other use were you as a younger brother?”
“How Bia puts up with you is beyond me,”
Oscar says.
“Because she is the sweetest thing on this Earth, and I’m the luckiest bastard because that she loves me.”
“You are.”
I smile as I listen to Cillian talk about his wife. I can hear in the tone of his voice how much he loves her and it sounds like he would do anything for her. I zone out as the two of them keep talking, just staring out the window.
When the SUV stops, Oscar helps me inside the mansion. I can't help but stare as he guides me up the stairs and down the hall. But the moment I open the door the beautiful décor goes to the back of my mind because playing on the ground is my baby.
I ignore the pain and rush to Charlie.
“Charlie,”
I say, and he turns to me and he gives me that big smile that lights up his face.
“Da da da!”
he says and reaches out to me, I waste no time before picking him up, holding him to me. I kiss all over his face.
“I missed you so much,”
I say with tears in my eyes.
I hear Oscar talking to someone but I pay them no mind. I just hold onto Charlie afraid that if I let him go someone else might take him from me. But being a baby on the move he doesn’t want to sit still for long.
Oscar sits down with us but doesn’t interrupt my time playing with Charlie even though his eyes never leave us. It stays like this for a few hours and besides Oscar showing me where stuff is, he doesn’t say a word. He does snuggle with Charlie when he comes up to him, but in typical Charlie fashion he would rather be exploring.
After Charlie is down for his nap, Oscar has me come into the kitchen saying we need to talk.
“We will be having dinner with my family tonight.”
“What-”
He cuts me off and continues to talk.
“You will smile and act like you want to marry me, no matter what they say to you. You will not be snippy with them, and if you do, there will be consequences. You do not want to know how bad I can make you suffer.”