Chapter Nineteen
Oonagh
The hot chocolate smelt divine and the heat permeated into my hands as I held it to inhale the aroma.
Mum chatted happily to Mrs. Munroe at another table in the coffee shop, while Martin, Angie, and I sat huddled at another. We were always together at work, sitting at the same table for our breaks, but today everything felt different. Like my life had begun to change and move away from theirs.
“Did you make a decision on the job?” Angie asked, shredding a cupcake to eat it with her fingers. She was the only other person, apart from Liam, I’d told that I’d been offered the job.
“What job?” Martin snapped, his gaze cutting to me.
“I applied for a general surgery job here.” I sighed and stared out at the view of the ocean. “Everything was just starting to weigh me down and I felt like a change—spend some time with my family.”
“And you never thought to mention this?” Martin demanded, his tone making the hairs at the back of my neck stand to attention.
“I did, Angie knew about it.”
He cast a furious look in my direction before glaring out the window. His right leg that was crossed over his left tapping furiously against his knee.
Angie and I shared a troubled look before she glanced away to study all the blown-up photographs on the wall. He’d been in a foul temper since he arrived. Normally Martin was upbeat and joking, shoving you or trying to tickle your sides to make you laugh. Today he was sullen and withdrawn.
“Hey,” Angie exclaimed. “Is that you?” She pointed at the photograph of me at the bonfire.
“Yeah, I saw it the last time I was in here,” I commented. “We used to make fires on the beach when we were younger and sit around them toasting marshmallows. That’s Liam.” My finger traced over the image of him.
“They were always inseparable,” Mum called over to Angie. “There were times I swore I had three children. Two and the extra one I adopted every summer.”
“Those boys dragged themselves out of the shitstorm their parents created and became men the entire village is proud of,” Mrs. Munroe continued, smiling at the photo like a proud Auntie. “Liam and Callum stood on this very site and watched them demolish their old home. They swore no one would ever live on this site again since it was filled with nightmares. When they built this coffee shop, they said they wanted it to create new memories.”
“Hence the name,” the waitress smiled at Mrs. Munroe as she concluded the story for her.
“Liam owns this place?” I asked .
“All the brothers do,” Mrs. Munroe replied. “When he came home after Callum’s attack, the other brothers had been taken into care. He arrived on our doorstep since my husband was headmaster back then, not knowing where to look for them. He was soaking, having walked through a storm looking for them. Devastated is the only word to describe him, broken beyond what any human should have to endure. It was the last day I ever saw weakness in Liam Doherty. The boy died that day and the man you see today emerged. I’m so proud of him.” Her chest puffed out as if she’d solved all his problems for him.
My cupcake turned to ash in my mouth. If I’d stayed, I could have been there for Liam, helped him piece his life back together again. Shame pierced deep into my heart at my childish actions. I tuned out conversations after that, smiling and nodding when required, but lost deep in my own thoughts.
We walked back home along the beach. Martin threw his arm over my shoulders the way he often did, tugging me into his side. For the first time it didn’t feel like the brotherly gesture I believed it to be. It felt possessive and domineering, my stomach churning with unease, even as I tried to pretend everything was okay.
Niall arrived later with Aoife. She seemed determined to dislike me, her acidic comments beginning to wear my nerves thin. Martin began drinking as soon as Niall unpacked crates of beer from his car.
“You need to slow down,” Angie said, nudging Martin and smiling. There’d been times in the past I thought Angie liked Martin as something more than a friend, yet he tended not to notice she existed.
He scowled at her and moved away to flirt with Aoife, who seemed to relish his attention. She giggled, touching his arm when she replied, and glanced up at him from under her eyelashes.
Was it wrong of me to hope he’d steal her, and I’d never have to face the prospect of gaining her as a sister-in-law?
Every so often, I caught Martin watching me with a strange expression on his face. He never normally got this drunk, so I put it down to too much alcohol and not enough food. I’d have a chat with him tomorrow and find out what was up with him.
Liam arrived after eight o’clock with pizza. I let out a breath I never realised I was holding when he wandered in with a smile on his face and his hair mussed up. He set a box directly in front of me away from the other boxes, giving me a quick wink. Tears stung the back of my eyes when I opened the box and realised that he remembered the toppings I always asked for—Chicken, bacon, and pineapple. Everyone used to call me crazy, but it was what I always ordered.
Michael wandered in a few minutes behind Liam with my favourite cheesecake desert from the little bakery along the seafront along with ice cream. He popped the latter into the freezer with the familiarity of always being here when he was younger.
“Hey, Mikey, how’s work? Your boss treating you okay?” I asked.
“Nah, he’s a tyrant. He’s only nice when he brings his fiancée to work with him and they disappear into his office.” He grinned wickedly at me as he stretched to snag some pizza.
“Sounds terrible,” I lamented, my toes trailing up Liam’s leg, who’d settled himself beside me.
“So are the sounds from his office,” Michael continued, determined to annoy the hell out of Liam. “I swear to God I think he’s trying to kill her.”
Liam choked on his beer, glaring at Michael as he tried to control his breathing.
Niall’s brow furrowed, his confused stare roving from Liam to Michael. “I thought you were gaining experience in Liam’s office over the summer?”
Silence descended like a cloak.
“He was,” Liam replied, taking another sip of beer to cover his emotions. “I had to give him to another company as he was tormenting my receptionist.”
Michael sat down with a smug look on his face and a raised eyebrow. I had no doubt that Liam would kick his ass later. To distract the troublemaker, I introduced him to Martin and Angie.
“Hey, I’ve seen your photos on Facebook,” he replied with enthusiasm.
Angie looked confused for a brief second. “You’re Michael!”
“Yep, only Oonagh calls me Mikey. I don’t mind since she’s like a sister to me but not through blood. What do they call them again? Sister-in-law?”
“That’s the person who’s married to your brother,” Martin interrupted him, his face pale and tense .
“Oh, yeah.” Michael grinned from ear to ear. “The woman married to my brother.”
My foot on Liam’s leg stopped him getting up or I suspected Michael was about to be dragged outside.
“How’s the party plans, Mum?” Niall asked, throwing me a confused look.
I returned his stare with wide eyes.
Mum babbled on in the background about birthday cakes and caterers. All the while, my mind was focused on the way Liam’s fingertips traced over my ankle. I wanted everything else to fade away until it was just us, the way it had been for the past few weeks. Normally we curled up on the sofa after dinner, chatting and laughing while Liam muttered about the cushions and their function in life.
Angie chatted to Michael about an online game they both played, while Martin alternated between practically pawing Aoife to glaring at Liam as if he was his own personal enemy and drinking beer. His mood was out of character, but we’d all had a rough few months and needed some downtime to relax.
Stories flowed around the table, some from our childhoods and others consisted of Angie telling our adventures from different parts of the world.
Liam and Niall were sharing a memory, each of them telling a piece of the story about the time we got trapped in a field with a bull and had to make a run for it. Niall was laughing so hard he held his side, and Liam absently tucked my hair behind my ear as he joined in with a deep chuckle.
“Do you seriously need to keep touching her?” Martin demanded and the table fell into silence .
Liam’s eyebrow rose fractionally, but he ignored Martin’s comment when my leg tightened against him. I had no idea what was wrong with Martin, but he wasn’t himself tonight.
Instead, Liam jerked his chin at Michael, who dutifully stood to clear the table.
“Oh, my,” Mum gushed. “You have him well trained.”
“He seems to have control issues,” Martin muttered darkly, throwing Liam a nasty look.
“Martin!” I chastised. “What’s wrong with you?”
“I don’t know, Oonagh. What is wrong with me?” he hissed, slamming his bottle on the table, making me jump in my seat at the sudden noise. “Tell me, what’s wrong with me?”
My brow furrowed in confusion because he seemed to be asking me something different than his words said.
Liam was on his feet in a second. “I think maybe you’ve had enough to drink.”
I’d no idea how he managed it, but Liam moved me behind him, putting himself between me and Martin. What the hell was going on? Martin had been like a brother to me for years, a Niall away from home that I chatted to and shared stories with. He never acted with aggression. Ever.
Martin stood, his shoulders rolling back, to face Liam. “Why? What are you going to do about it?”
Clinging to Liam’s arm, I peered around his back to see my friend. “Our last assignment was tough, Martin. That’s why I applied for a new job. Maybe you should talk to someone about it? A debriefing session?” We all had them when we returned. Sometimes we needed more than one .
He lifted the bottle and threw it against the wall. The glass shattered and fell to the floor.
My jaw dropped open.
Mum shrieked, her eyes round and wide.
“That’s e-fucking-nough,” Liam ground out, dragging Martin’s arm up his back and escorted him struggling from the kitchen outside. Niall was two steps behind him.
“What’s wrong with him?” I whispered to Angie, as if what we were discussing was blasphemous.
She shrugged. “No idea. I thought he was okay, but he’s been quiet all day.”
Worried, I headed to the door, but Michael stepped in my way. “Best stay here, ladies.”
That was the last straw. I pushed past to see Martin take a swing at Liam, who merely stepped back and let him stumble forward. Angie gasped from beside me, her fingers digging into my arm.
“You don’t know a damned thing,” Martin slurred, staggering to his feet. “I had to listen to her whine about you our entire first year in uni. This perfect man.” He raised his hands and made air quotes at the last two words.
Niall’s attention moved to Liam, eyes narrowing in comprehension.
“Then she came back at the end of summer, eyes puffy and head all over the place,” Martin continued to provoke Liam. “You left her fucking broken and pregnant. Now you wander back into her life as if nothing ever happened.”
Liam’s fist connected with Martin’s jaw, sending him sprawling onto the ground .
Niall dragged Liam back. “What the fuck? You’re the one who left my sister pregnant? Another mouth too much for you to feed?”
“What the hell?” Liam roared, his expression falling, head shaking. “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about!”
“Like fuck you don’t!” Niall shouted as Liam stalked toward the house. “You’re not good enough for her.”
Liam froze and his eyes finally found mine. Everything inside me stilled. He’d never taken charity, always working for what he had. The times he let me help him in the past, I’d disguised it as something else. If anything was Liam’s Achilles heel, not being good enough was his number one trigger. He never knew I was pregnant. Never knew because I only found out after the accident.
His jaw tightened and storm clouds gathered in his eyes. His gaze raked over my face, seeking answers to his silent questions. His shoulders lowered when the realisation washed over him that what he’d heard was true.
I wanted to run to him, tell him the truth, but my feet seemed to be stuck to the kitchen floor. My life began to crumble around me one brick at a time.
Liam took a step back, his eyes filled with pain and disbelief. “Fuck this,” he muttered before turning on his heel and walking away.
My heart fractured in two as he left me. My feet finally freed, racing down the driveway to him. He jerked his arm away when I grabbed him.
I recoiled at the pain on his face. “I wrote to you every single day for a month and you never replied. Now your wannabe boyfriend tells me you were pregnant with my baby. Fuck, Oonagh.” He trailed his fingers through his hair. “Didn’t I deserve to know?”
My mouth opened and closed but no words came out, even as they screamed in my head.
“Just forget it,” he said, his voice breaking on the final word. “You’re just not worth it anymore.”
My jaw dropped as he walked away from me with his back straight. My knees wobbled, giving way until I collapsed onto the ground. The memories of waking up in the hospital flooded me and I could barely breathe.
The doctor’s words from so long ago rang in my ears. “I’m so sorry, we did everything we could, but your baby didn’t survive.”
Darkness I’d run from for ten years surrounded me, the voices from my family fading into the distance as my world shattered. Liam didn’t just break me this time.
He destroyed me.
***