Disneyland and Other Startling Discoveries
Chapter twelve
áINE
"Asurprise?" My oldest cries with enthusiasm, her preteen cool nowhere to be seen.
Neeve's eyes glint with cautious hope behind the lenses of her glasses. "For all of us?"
Kieran meets my eyes and winks before turning to Neeve. "For all of you, petal."
And Ellie helped him to coordinate it?
Ellie.
My sister-from-another-mister.
Apparently, yesterday's revelations were only the first loop in the death-defying roller coaster my life has become. Because according to the string of texts I just read from her, Ellie doesn't just know Kieran. She works for him.
My mind boggles at the implications.
Unless he has a purely legit business as a front for his mob activities, my best friend is also in the mob now.
I mean, if all Kieran's warnings about not telling anyone else about the marriage to keep my family safe plan, the only way she knows is if she's part of the mob and someone necessary to making it happen.
She's never been the law-abiding Girl Scout type, but to join the mob? On purpose?
Can you say dangerous?
And why didn't she tell me? We share everything.
You didn't tell her about Troy, did you? Or why you're really working for Kenneth Shaughnessy? Whether she's in hussy mode or judgy mode, my inner voice is getting really pushy lately.
I didn't tell Ellie about any of the mob crap I've been dealing with because I wanted to protect her. Maybe that's why she didn't tell me about working for the mob either. Working for Kieran. Who she says never smiles and is really dour.
He sure wasn't Mr. Dour this morning. Not when he was making me come harder than I ever have, or when he was "flying" my girls around the house with his Hulk impersonator muscles.
"What's the surprise?" Joy wiggles like a puppy, tilting her stool precariously to one side before Sadie shoots out a steadying hand to save her little sister.
It's a good thing she does because right now my brain is too busy being blown to process, much less act on, what's happening around me.
Then, Kieran throws another upside-down curve onto my roller coaster track with a single word.
"Disneyland."
There are two full seconds of stunned silence and then pandemonium erupts in the kitchen, my girls jumping from their chairs, squealing, screaming, and asking questions over each other so fast, Kieran couldn't answer them if he tried.
Which he doesn't.
The big lummox just sits there in his chair, silent, a tiny quirk tilting one corner of his mouth.
Maybe my bestie doesn't know him as well as she thinks she does, because tiny, or not. That's a smile. And his eyes are filled with pleasure and satisfaction. He's not bothered by the girls in riot mode at all.
Mom leans forward and catches my eye. "Did you know about this?"
"He told me he wanted to take us all on vacation. Get the girls away after yesterday." But we'd agreed on Vegas.
Not freakin' Disneyland.
How are we supposed to manage a spontaneous wedding there?
"I see you told them about Disneyland," Ellie drawls from the kitchen doorway.
She's got keys to the apartment, because she's family. If she didn't, I doubt anyone would have heard her knocking over the girls' boisterous excitement.
Maybe Kieran would have. Did he hear her come in?
I sure didn't.
The girls surge en masse toward their adored adopted aunt.
"Kieran's taking us to Disneyland!" Joy shouts.
Even Neeve's usual reticence is gone. "He brought us honeybuns and cocoa for breakfast."
"Did you know they were dating?" Sadie asks, her countenance suddenly serious, her attention focused 100% on Ellie.
"I sure did. Who do you think introduced them?" my dearest friend lies without blinking an eye. "It's a relief you all know now too. It was hard keeping quiet about it, let me tell you!"
"You introduced them?" mom asks, her inquisition face on.
Oh, no. My lies are going to come home to roost now. No way can Ellie withstand one of my mom's interrogations without slipping up.
But she does, spinning a story even I half believe, knowing it's nothing but fantasy.
"I started working for Kieran a few years ago, but I didn't think of introducing them until earlier this year. He's kind of quiet. Maybe you've noticed?" she asks drily.
Mom surprises me by saying, "He says what he needs to."
I flick my gaze to Kieran. Does he have any idea that my mom just gave him her stamp of approval?
He's looking at me already and our eyes lock. Suddenly, I'm remembering earlier, when we were alone in here and everyone else was still sleeping. The heat in his dark gaze tells me he's thinking about the same thing.
Forcing myself not to look at his crotch for evidence, I lick my lips.
His nostrils flare and I want to be alone with him so bad, my ladybits are aching with it.
"Look at them," Ellie says with a verbal eyeroll. "They're always like this."
"Are they?" Sadie asks, her need for a positive answer unmistakable in her voice.
"Yes. It's nauseating." Ellie winks and laughs.
The flash of relief in Sadie's eyes tells me that though my oldest pretended to believe the secret dating story, she had her doubts. Now she doesn't.
A wave of relief rolls through me too.
I don't know how this happened, how Kieran and I have this connection, but I'm so glad we do.
If for no other reason than that I know for a fact my sister-by-another-mister wouldn't hesitate to tell me if she thought Kieran wouldn't be good to me and my girls.
Ellie wasn't Troy's biggest fan and it only got worse the longer I was married to him. She thought he was selfish and too controlling and made no bones about telling me so. I always defended him.
More the fool me.
"Are there any pastries left? Mama Mo, you don't mind if I make myself a cuppa while the girls change, do you?"
"Of course not," mom says. "You're family. You don't have to ask."
Ellie's already headed toward the kettle.
"Why are we changing?" Neeve asks, her gaze jumping from one adult to the other.
"We're going shopping for vacation clothes," Ellie says over the running water.
"We are?" I ask Kieran, my eyes narrowed. "This is the first I've heard of it."
The girls missing a day of school to go shopping is something he should have run by me.
Neeve and Joy don't stick around for me to put the brakes on their day of hooky, but rush from the kitchen, no doubt to change clothes as Ellie told them to.
"Uh oh. Kieran's got some explaining to do," Ellie teases.
Mom stands and starts bustling around the table, picking up empty plates. Kieran immediately jumps up to help, grabbing the empty to-go cups and used napkins.
"I'll help gran," Sadie tells him, opening the trash for him to toss the garbage into. "You need to go make up with mom. She's really intense about school."
"Thanks," Kieran says to Sadie and casts me a glance before looking back at my daughter. "You've got good instincts."
My daughter blushes from the praise and I want to hug Kieran as much as I want to kick him.
I lead him to my bedroom. Mom would be happier if I talked to him in the front room, but I can't risk the girls or her overhearing.
This isn't just about him making high handed decisions about the girls and school but I want an explanation about how Ellie came to be working for him and why she knows chapter and verse about secrets he was adamant I shouldn't share with anyone.