Shamrocks and Secrets (13 page)

I looked down as his left hand that was wrapped securely around white rolled paper, appeared in from of me.

“
Thank you for that. For getting tested, I mean.
”

“
You shouldn
’
t have had to ask me, I should have known better and been more prepared.
”

I watched as the fading light danced across his face. Sitting here at the end of the dock wasn
’
t a powerful man, or a man to be feared, this was my Patrick. A man who clearly would do anything for me.

“
You are the most important thing in my life and I will fight till my death for you.
”

His words were barely above a whisper, and yet I heard them loud and clear.

I watched as Patrick eyes left my face and traveled to my neck where his shamrock rested. I felt his warm fingers running between the metal and my skin.

“
I prayed that you would still be wearing this when I saw you.
”

His eyes then met mine again.

“
Do you understand why I was upset?
”

He nodded his head and began to play with my bracelet.

“
I felt like I was just another number, like I didn
’
t matter as long as you got off.
”

His hand left my wrist and then traveled to my face, where he brushed the back of his knuckles across the apple of my cheek.

“
You
’
ve never been a number to me, Christi, I will prove that to you, I swear.
”

I was done being angry with him, it was time to move forward. I leaned forward and slowly closed my eyes, Patrick quickly followed as our lips met. This kiss was sweet and tender and exactly suited for this moment.

“
For the record, I love you, too.
”
I looked into his eyes, truly meaning the words I spoke.

Once the sun had finally sat, Patrick took my hand and led me back to the house where he built a fire and began to tell me his sordid sexual past.

“
When I was almost eighteen, my uncle told me he wanted to give me an early birthday gift.
”

“
Wait, blood uncle or well-uncle?
”

When I was growing up, I knew we had two types of family, blood family and well-family. Well-family, were people we had known so long that most likely, our great-grandparents bathed in the same well as their great grandparents. We still considered them family.

“
A well-uncle, anyway, he took me to this bar and proceeded to give me my choice of women that he had hidden in the back. I didn
’
t really want any of them because they looked haggard and torn. They smiled and giggled, each trying hard to get my attention. However, I wasn't impressed with any of them. Lucky for me, a fight broke out and my uncle ran out the back with me. He said in the car that he would make it up to me, but he was killed before he could make good on that promise.
”

Patrick had a piece of my hair wrapped around his fingers as he continued to tell his story. I
’
m not certain who got more out of it, him or me.

“
So, I saw this beautiful girl one day. I wanted to go over to her and ask her out, but before I could get to her, she was talking and laughing with this other guy. I saw her a few more times and each time I thought about going over to her, I changed my mind and turned the other way. I was at this party right before I went away to college and I had just seen this girl with another guy and I was pissed. So
,
I found another girl who was the exact opposite and took her
upstairs
. I never knew the poor girls name and I left as soon as I finished. I went away to Yale and I tried to get that girl out of my head. I had a few girls in college but I made it known that I didn
’
t want a relationship.
”

I got up from the couch and got a new bottle of wine, I poured us both a glass as Patrick continued.

“
When I came home and took over the business, I was so focused on proving myself that I took little time for women. That
’
s not to say that I didn
’
t have a hand job or two. But for a long while, I didn
’
t bed any woman. I know my family has very high expectations of me and I will do everything in my power to make sure I keep the family proud.
”

He turned his entire body to face mine, as he took both my hands in his.

“
Christi, when I marry you
—
and I don
’
t mean if
—
I want to have nothing between us. I want to have this little glimmer of hope that each time I make love to my beautiful wife, that we may have just created a little Irish miracle.
”

I had to smile at him. I had never seen him quite so handsome.

“
Family is everything to me. That
’
s why I have been so hard on Douce since I found out about Giggles. I believe that if you are man enough to have sex with a woman, then you are man enough to carry the responsibilities of anything that comes from it.
”

I couldn
’
t help myself as I ran my index finger along his chiseled chin.

“
Christi, I
’
m sorry I disrespected you. I
’
ve just gotten so used to having what I want when, I want that I forget you are my equal and have a huge say in what I do. Thank you for being so wonderful and giving me another chance, even though I don
’
t deserve it or you.
”

I smiled as I responded,
“
Oh, Mr. Malloy, I have no doubt you will make this up to me.
”

“
Oh, you have no idea all the ways I plan to do just that.
”

I kissed his lips softly as I whispered,
“
I love you
”

”
I love you, so much, my Christi
.
”

N
ora and I had been trying to tie up all the loose ends for Paige
’
s bridal shower. With this being thrown by the groom
’
s family, Nora had been trying to stay out of the planning. However, when it was suggested that a Low Country Boil be done, Nora put her foot down and after a number of heated phone calls, a ladies tea was finally scheduled.

Paige was so excited at the thought of an English tea party, that she begged Caleb to fly in a specialist on the subject. Patrick called me and asked me to have a talk with her. I contacted Allyson, who as we all knew had no issue with telling you it how it was, she gave me advice on how to handle Paige.

I found a local hotel that actually served afternoon tea and hired the lady that hosted it to come and show us what to do.

“
Al
l right, Christi, are you ready for this?
”
Charlotte questioned as I was finishing adjusting the place settings.

“
That
’
s a good question, it makes me a little nervous to think that this is just a bridal shower and there are so many people coming.
”

This would be the first bridal shower where the guest list was over two hundred. It was also the first one where men would be in the next room in case something happened.

I had been thinking about that quite a bit lately. Patrick never went anywhere without his bodyguards, and now I had men that followed me everywhere I went as well. If I were to marry Patrick and have children with him, would those children become targets? Would they have men that followed them everywhere they went? I couldn
’
t imagine trying to attend a soccer game with two or three bodyguards hovering around. I didn
’
t get a second longer to think about it since Caleb
’
s family had arrived.

Mrs. Montgomery was everything Nora had said she was and then some. I politely introduced myself to her as the party coordinator. She eyed me up and down condescendingly before turning her nose up as if I was beneath her.

Nora noticed this and came over to greet me.
“
Eileen, how nice to see you again, I see you
’
ve met our Christi.
”

“
Oh, yes, Nora. G
ood to see you as well. Yes, she told me who she was, it
’
s the least she could do after what this is costing me.
”

Excuse me, bitch? You insisted on throwing this thing!

“
Yes, well, Eileen, if the money is an issue, I
’
m certain Christi could just ask Patrick for his checkbook.
”

I turned to Nora with a raised eyebrow. What the hell was she talking about?

“
Patrick? What would this glorified waitress know of Patrick?
”

I watched as Nora
’
s face changed to one of pure joy, and a maybe a little mischief.

“
Eileen, may I introduce you to Patrick
’
s Christi. I know you
’
ve heard he gave her the necklace. This...is our Christi.
”

You could have shoved a Mack truck in the gaping hole that was Eileen
’
s mouth. I hadn
’
t realized that my accepting the shamrock had been such news. I thought it was just a close family thing. Clearly I was wrong.

“
Oh, well, you must be very excited then, Nora, she
’
s very pretty.
”

Not one time after Nora set her straight about whom I was did Eileen look at me. I was used to this from Patrick
’
s men, but this was new for it to come from a woman.

“
I
’
m happy for my son
.
Christi is good for him, and she makes him a better man.
”

Wow...didn
’
t see that one coming.

Once all of the guests had arrived, the tea was served. I made my way to the back of the room. I wanted to make certain the wait staff had everything they needed. I was in full work mode when Nora approached me.

“
Christi, you need to take your seat.
”

“
Nora
…
what are...?
”

“
You
’
re a member of this family and you need to have a seat with the family.
”

“
Nora, thank you, but I
’
m also working.
”

Something you learned fairly quickly, you never argued with the Malloy women.

“
Did you not hire Frankie to assist you?
”

It sounded like a question, but it certainly was not.

“
Then go freshen your face and join us.
”

Sitting and not helping was a true test of my nerves. I wanted so badly to go to the kitchen and make sure everything was going well. It wasn
’
t that I didn
’
t trust Frankie; I just had issues relinquishing control.

We had barely begun our second pot of tea when I noticed Eileen
’
s face was scrunched up in a disdainful manner. The boss in me wanted to make certain everything was all right.

“
Don
’
t even think about it,
”
Nora instructed from my left.

“
Sorry, it
’
s just hard to let go.
”

“
Christi, even if she wasn
’
t paying for this, she
’
d still be unhappy. That
’
s just how she is.
”
It was more than that and I knew it. Nora had no problem reading my expression.
“
Let
’
s get through the gifts and we
’
ll talk.
”

The tea itself was really a lot of fun. The tea lady, Mrs. Belvedere, was very informative when she told the history of the different teas that were being served. It was interesting to learn that different teas were served at different times of the day and that this was a tradition that had occurred for many years in England. I hoped one day that I would get to travel abroad and experience an authentic tea.

Sitting next to Allyson was certainly an entertaining event. She and Paige would make up different stories about the women in the room. It was like people watching gone wild.

“
So, I hear you and Patrick exchanged the
‘
L
’
word,
”
Paige whispered when Nora wasn
’
t listening.

I could only smile.

“
You know, I really shouldn
’
t tell you this, however
…”

“
However, she has a big-ass mouth and she
’
s going to anyway,
”
Allyson teased.

Paige pinched her arm, causing both girls to giggle.

“
Anyway, as I was saying
…
Patrick told Caleb that he fell in love with you the night he found you at the jazz club and you bit his head off about being called Legs. He said there was just something about you that called deeply to him.
”

I smiled at the memory of that night.

“
I knew I
’
d fallen for him the day he found me at my sister
’
s grave and asked me about my favorite memory. It was like he wanted to know her, as well.
”

“
So, are you glad you decided to give him a chance?
”
Paige questioned, taking a sip from her cup.

“
You know,
”
I grinned lifting my cup as well,
“
I really am.
”

I listened as Nora told a story of how she and Thomas had tried to get away for a weekend when their children were little. She laughed and said that in the weeks leading up to the trip, every time Thomas would try to become intimate with her, one of the children would barge in.

“
So finally, we
’
re sitting in this lovely bed and breakfast, naked as the day we were born,
”
she chuckled at her memory.
“
Thomas is thrusting like there
’
s no tomorrow and the bloody phone rings.
”

She went on to say that it had been the uncle that was staying with the children and it appeared that Patrick thought it would be cute to
‘
launch
’
his little sister. She went on to explain the
‘
launching
’
. Patrick was on his back with his thighs touching his chest and she was to sit on the bottoms of his feet. He would then thrust his legs out and she would fly through the air. He was successful in not only projecting her straight into the air, but also in breaking her arm in three places and requiring surgery.

“
We had to rush back so we could be there for little Paige.
”

I watched as Paige turned green from hearing that her parents were having sex.

“
Oh, just you wait my darling daughter; have as much sex as you can now because once you bring those babies home, you
’
ll never have it again until they leave.
”

The entire table erupted in laughter; well, except for Paige of course.

Being in this business for as long as I had, you got to see some pretty amazing things. Nothing could have prepared me for watching Paige open her gifts. From one of her aunts back in Ireland, she received this handmade lace handkerchief. Nora told me she would carry that during her wedding. Evidently, it had been made from the leftover lace from Paige
’
s christening gown. I nearly cried as I heard the story. Thomas and Nora gave her an architect to build them a house.
A house...

Caleb had sent over this absolutely stunning necklace that was covered in diamonds. Eileen closed her eyes and physically shook when Paige gushed over it. Apparently, it had been left to Caleb by Eileen
’
s father. Nora whispered that it would have gone to Eileen if she would have married the man her father told her to.

Nothing could have prepared me for when Paige lifted a large, gold envelope from the table and read it out loud,
“
From Patrick and Christi.
”

She tore open the envelope as I sat like a statue in my chair. I watched as she took out an official-looking paper and began to literally squeal as she jumped out of her chair and ran around the table.

“
Oh, Christi, thank you
...
thank you! It
’
s the exact one I wanted. Oh, I
’
m so happy!
”
Her arms wrapped tightly around me, as she violently rocked me back and forth. I was helpless to do anything as she continued to vibrate with joy.

Once she finally let me go, she dropped the piece of paper on the table in front of me and then reached back into the envelope. It was at this point I noticed not only a picture, but a car title in Paige
’
s name. Patrick had purchased her a Jaguar convertible.

“
Nora, I had no idea.
”

She patted my knee as she leaned in and whispered,
“
Did you notice that Eileen gave her nothing?
”

I looked at Nora with wide eyes.
“
You
’
re shitting me, right? I mean, I got her a place-setting of dishes off her register, nothing huge.
”

Nora cut me off by placing her hand on mine.

“
Yes, Lass, and don
’
t think Eileen didn
’
t notice that she received two gifts from you.
”

I whispered to Nora,
“
But I had no idea Patrick was going to do that.
”

Nora only smiled,
“
Yes, but neither did Eileen.
”

I didn
’
t understand what was happening here and little did I know that I was about leave Eileen completely speechless.