Beers, Lies and Alibis (Warblers Point Series Book 2) (31 page)

“The sweetest, Ma,” Fiona repeated, as she thought about Booker and where he would have put a bench. She had an inkling as to where he might have placed the bench, but refused to think about it.
 

“Well enough about that man of yours; we should start our prayers. Will ya bring baby Jesus closer to us, so we can hold him while we hold the beads? I think that’s been workin’.”

Not letting her mom see, Fiona rolled her eyes as she grabbed the baby doll Jesus and handed it over to her mom who was now holding her dad’s hand.
 

“Now, I found this the most effective. Listen up lass. I’m goin’ to hold ya da’s hand and one of baby Jesus’ hands and ya’re goin’ to hold the other hand while you touch the bead. Got it?”

“Got it, Ma.”

“Good, okay let’s get start…AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Mary Margaret jumped back and screamed at the top of her lungs, scaring the ever living shit out of Fiona and making her stumble back into a chair.
 

“Oh Mary Mother, Mary Mother and Joseph.” Mary Margaret fumbled around looking for something near Carlin’s bed. “Jesus has answered, Jesus has answered!” She kept shouting.
 

Fiona just sat back as she watched her mom frantically look around for something while she thanked every apostle in the Bible, God the Almighty, Moses, and every animal on Noah’s ark.

“Let the snakes be thanked,” Mary Margaret said, as she started pressing the call button.
 

A heavyset nurse came through the door and said, “You called, Mary Margaret?”

“Lord the Almighty has risen and has brought me Carlin with him. Thank ya Jesus and ya beautiful nursing staff.”
 

Yup, her mom was losing it.
 

“What’s going on? Is everything alright?”

“My sweet man moved his hand.”

Fiona looked at her mom as if she was crazy. “Ma, are you sure it wasn’t you?”

Mary Margaret shot daggers toward Fiona, a look Fiona hadn’t received since she was still living in The Sleeping Potato. It still had its effect on her, as she backed away and let her mom talk to the nurse.
 

“Alright, let’s get a doctor in here to run some tests.”

“Praise all the leprechauns. It’s because we’re Irish!” Mary Margaret shouted after the nurse who was retreating from the crazy’s room.
 

 
“Call ya brothers!” Mary Margaret shouted, as she patted Carlin’s head. “We have to let them know.”

“Don’t you think we should wait for the…” Mary Margaret shot Fiona another look which shut her right up. “I will go call them.”

“Good girl.”

Fiona stepped out of the room and pressed her back against the wall as she dropped down to the floor. She didn’t have enough strength to stand and make the calls. She was too emotionally worn out.
 

She pulled out her phone and dialed Finn’s number first. He was probably busy with Blaire, but she didn’t care; he was the most reliable, at the moment, and he could deal with calling the other two idiots.
 

“Hey sis. What’s going on? Isn’t it prayer time?” Finn asked.
 

“Yeah, well Ma kind of put a stop to that.”

“Ha, yeah right. What’s going on?”

“She says she felt Da move his hand when she was holding it.”

“Holy shit! Are you serious?” Fiona heard Blaire ask him what was going on in the background. “Ma felt Da move his hand,” Finn repeated. “We’re going to come down.”

“Okay, can you call the boys?”

“Yeah, I’ll let Booker know too. I think he’s still at The Sleeping Potato.”

“Don’t,” Fiona said, before she could stop herself. Tears threatened her eyes as she leaned her head against her hand that was propped up on her knee.
 

“Fiona, is everything okay?” Fiona couldn’t speak; her voice was non-existent since she was trying not to cry. “Fuck, Fiona what happened?”

“I can’t right now.”
 

“Okay, okay. Don’t lose it right there. We’ll be right there, baby girl.”

Fiona hung up the phone and buried her head in the crook of her arm as she did exactly what Finn told her not to do; she lost it right outside of her dad’s hospital room.
 

***

“Did you see the outfit she was wearing today? I don’t know how that woman doesn’t freeze her saggy nipples right off,” Marge said, as she took a bite from one of the scones Sophie had given her.
 

It was Marge and Maggie’s weekly book club meeting and Sophie could not have been happier. She’d planned out this day perfectly and was waiting for the two gossiping hens to come back to her bakery to soak in some very valuable information Sophie had to share.
 

“Is that all you do? Stare at that damn lady’s boobs? Honestly Marge, I would think you’d have better things to do with your life,” Maggie said, while she took a sip of her tea.
 

“It’s hard not to stare at the lady as she whips around that light post and her nipples are poking people in the eye from their expansive swing. I’m sorry, but those booby tassels are doing her an injustice.”

“I think her whole act is. Who wears fishnets at her age? I don’t know how she stuffs those wrinkles in those stockings without her danglers getting caught in every hole.
 

“Hey ladies,” Sophie interrupted. “Everything going alright over here?”

“Oh yes, quite delightful like always, dear. Thank you for always hosting our book club,” Marge said, while taking another bite of her scone.
 

“Of course,” Sophie wanted to talk about the O’Learys, but she didn’t know how to bring it up without being completely obvious. She poured the ladies some more tea and said, “Have you seen the progress the community has made at The Sleeping Potato?”
 

“Marge has been drooling over all the men while they’ve been working. She claims she’s been going on walks, but I haven’t seen this pudge-cake take a walk in twenty years. If I knew strapping young men would help lower her cholesterol, I would have had a fishing pole of a naked man dangling in front of her as we went on walks.”

“Well!” Marge huffed, as she finished her scone.
 

“It’s true, but I can’t blame the old tubby coot. Have you seen those O’Leary boys? Goodness they’ve grown up real nice with muscles and everything, especially that Liam boy. Oooeee!” Maggie shook her head as she sipped her tea.
 

“I saw Liam with Neala the other day; they looked so happy,” Marge added.
 

Bingo, Sophie thought.
 

“I saw them too. It’s such a shame.”

“What is dear?” Marge asked, concern lacing her eyes.
 

“You didn’t hear?”

“No,” both Marge and Maggie said in unison. “Tell us dear.”

They both leaned in, preparing themselves for some juicy gossip that they were so good at spreading.
 

“Don’t say anything to anyone.”

“Of course, we never would.” Their eyes gleamed with excitement.
 

“Well I was talking to Liam and he said Neala just got back from the rehab center for being Bipolar. He’s being nice to her right now, so when he goes to get full custody of Catherine there’s not much of a fight. He doesn’t want to stay with her; he’s just trying to get his daughter away from, hmmm how did he put it?” Sophie tapped her chin for a second. “Oh yes, he wants to keep his daughter away from the crazy psychotic bitch.”

Both Maggie and Marge gasped at her words, as Sophie inwardly smiled.
 

“Personally, I thought it was a little harsh, but he knows what he wants. Such a shame that their little family can’t work out.”

“Such a shame,” Maggie shook her head.
 

“Real shame,” Marge added.
 

Sophie tapped the top of their table and said, “Well, anything else I can get you for now?”

“We’re good, thank you dear,” Marge said, as she waved Sophie away.
 

As Sophie walked back to the kitchen she smiled to herself. Hopefully by the end of the night word would get back to Neala and, hopefully, all hell would break loose. Sophie should have taken matters into her own hands a while ago because she was well on her way to getting what she wanted; total destruction of the O’Learys.
 

***

“After conducting some tests, we have come to the conclusion that Carlin is on his way to coming out of the coma. It’s going to be a long process, but him moving his hand is a great first sign. I want to talk to you all about what to expect next because it’s very important we prepare you for what’s happening.”

Finn, his siblings and their mom all sat in a conference room with a couple of doctors to talk about what was next for their family. Mary Margaret was beside herself when Finn arrived at the hospital, thanking everything in sight for bringing “her Carlin” back. It was a joyous day, but they all knew there was a long road ahead of them.
 

“Carlin is going to be in and out of consciousness for a while. What we need to focus on is not overwhelming him when he does open his eyes. He is going to be extremely confused, disoriented and will not know where he is, or even who he might be, or who any of you are. The key is to talk calmly, quietly and not all at once.” The doctor spoke directly to Mary Margaret who was waving a paper fan in front of herself while rocking back and forth.
 

When she caught the doctor staring at her, she stopped all movement and stared down the man. “Are ya referring to me?”
 

“Mrs. O’Leary, I just want to make sure we are all calm around Carlin…”

“Oh, I’ll be calm alright. I’ll scoop that man up in my arms and kiss him till all ya quacks turn green with envy!” Mary Margaret slapped the table as she spoke.
 

“Ma, I think you need to calm down,” Liam suggested, while stroking her shoulder.
 

“I’m calm. I just don’t need some man who doesn’t know me Carlin to tell me how to act around him.”

Liam blew out a frustrated breath and pinched his nose as he tried to handle their mom. Before they met with the doctor, it was decided amongst the siblings that Liam was going to have the task of controlling their mom, since she always listened to him and Finn was going to take in and record everything the doctor said, so they had the right facts moving forward. Fiona and Bradon were just going to sit in the back and listen because Bradon was completely useless when it came to serious things and Fiona was incapable of soaking anything in since she clearly was going through something that Finn would pull her aside to find out about after their meeting with the doctor.
 

“Ma, please listen to the doctor carefully; this is really important. He’s not trying to insult your intelligence on how well you know Da, okay? He’s just trying to help you,” Liam talked in soothing tones, something he was always good at when it came to their mom.
 

“Oh Liam, you’re such a good boy,” Mary Margaret cried into Liam’s arms. Liam just shook his head and let the doctor know he could continue.
 

The doctor cleared his throat and then looked down at his papers as he continued to talk. “We need to make sure we don’t overstimulate him because he can become overwhelmed very easily. We might want to, uh, take down some of the lucky charms and…”

Mary Margaret poked her head up from Liam’s shoulder and eyed the doctor with her devil glare.
 

“…or we can just put them in the corner for now, but maybe not in his direct line of vision. Like I said, we don’t want to overwhelm him.” The doctor cleared his throat and continued. “And about the rosary…”

“We’ll take care of it, doc,” Liam said, as their mom cried into his arms.
 

“It’s a fine rosary, never seen such a large…crucifix. It’s quite lovely, Mary Margaret.”

Mary Margaret’s red head poked up again and gave the doctor a bright smile as she straightened out her dress and wiped her eyes.
 

“Why thank ya. I was thinking about sellin’ them. Would ya’re family like one? I’d give ya a discount for takin’ such great care of me Carlin.”

The pained look on the doctor’s face showed that he, in fact, did not want the jumbo sized Mary Margaret version of a rosary, but his words spoke differently. “How kind of you, Mary Margaret. The family would love one.”

Mary Margaret clapped her hands together, pulled the pad the doctor was writing on and grabbed his pen. “I’m thinkin’ green and gold for ya, the two best colors, but ya can really customize it any way ya want. I can do a Hawaiian theme with leis on the baby Jesus or maybe a medieval type rosary where we put ye family crest on each prayer bead…”

Liam gently pulled the notepad away from their mom and handed it back to the doctor. “Ma, how about we get Da out of the hospital first and then we can start doing rosary customizations for the doctor afterwards. Sound like a plan?”