Shamrocks and Secrets (3 page)

"Sir, how are you?" As he stood in front of my dad, the two men embraced in a manly, back-slapping hug.

"I can't complain, young man. How's your father?"

"Da is good. I'll tell him you inquired. It's been too long since you've been to the house, my Mum would enjoy a visit."

It was at this point that Patrick made eye contact with me. "Ms. O
’
Rourke, a pleasure to see you again," he winked as he spoke.

"Mr. Malloy," I smiled as I acknowledged him.

The blonde had made her way over and was shooting daggers in my direction. She had on a skin-tight pleather mini dress with thigh-high fuck-me boots. I had my doubts that anything on her was real.

My dad said goodbye to Mr. Malloy and we got into the car. I noticed as we passed them, that Patrick winked at me, while the blonde flipped me the bird. I guess she wanted me to know her IQ.

S
hannon and Dillion had become inseparable in the past three weeks. He had been to our house several nights a week for dinner and to play with Abigail. He seemed completely smitten with the both of them. Shannon swore to me that they hadn't slept together and I honestly believed her.

Dillion showered her with gifts, flowers, and dinners out. He would bring Abigail dolls and hair bows. He was really trying. He had even gone so far as to ask our father's permission to date Shannon. Yes, he would do nicely.

Last weekend, Dillion took both of them to meet his family. Abigail came home with nearly a whole new wardrobe and a Barbie Corvette. I had never seen Shannon happier or smiling so much. I
’
d definitely never heard Abigail giggle more. This made me happy.

Dad informed Shannon that he was stealing her and Abigail away this weekend for dinner and a movie and I was asked by Charlotte to go clubbing with her. This weekend was a rare occurrence that we had no clients booked. I jumped at the chance to have an actual non-work related adult conversation.

Charlotte agreed that we would stick to low-key bars. I didn't want to have to wade through drunken people or shout over loud music. Charlotte rolled her eyes, but agreed. She knew of a great jazz bar not far from
Penciled in
.

After a long hot shower, I applied my makeup a little heavier than normal, and then spritzed on some fragrance. I dressed in a simple but elegant little black dress. It wasn't anything fancy, but you could never go wrong with the right dress. A nice pair of heels and I was out the door to meet Charlotte.

We let the valet park the car and made our way inside to find a table in the corner of the room. The bar was all black with dark blue lighting illuminating the ceiling throughout the club. Each table was covered in a white tablecloth and had a small lamp in the center. Charlotte signaled for the waitress and then proceeded to order a martini for each of us. The music was nice and not very loud, and I was really enjoying myself. We had been there about an hour when two guys approached our table. They were very polite and asked if they could join us. The taller, more handsome one was leaning into me and inhaling deeply, before the other guy elbowed him, backing him off me.

Well, that wasn't creepy at all.

Charlotte explained to them that we were just trying to relax and thanked them anyway. Fortunately, they took the hint and moved along. I had just ordered my second martini when I noticed none other than Kevin walk by our table. He noticed me immediately. Throwing his hands in the air, he turned completely to our table.

"Fuck, can't I go anywhere and not run into you?"

His arrogance was diluting my buzz. I had been so busy with work, that I hadn't had an opportunity to find out where Kevin worked.

"Oh, God!N
o, you're the one who's fucking up my night! I haven't had nearly enough to drink yet to deal with your low-life ass."

Kevin was there with a different girl this time. She was pretty, with long black hair. I couldn't tell what color her eyes were as they were dilated. The thought crossed my mind that he had to get all of his dates stoned before they would go out with him. I turned to his date and noticed she was looking behind me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," I addressed Kevin's date. She didn't answer me; she just kept looking behind me. "Listen, I just wanted to give you a piece of free advice, run as quickly as you can from this low-life right here. You see, Kevin will promise you the world, but the second he gets what he wants, he's out the fucking door. And whatever you do, don't have a baby with him, he doesn't take care of the one he has."

The girl still had not made eye contact with me; whatever was over my left shoulder had her complete attention. "Is that the truth, Douce?"

I turned in the direction of the voice. Standing there in all of his glory and his ever present entourage, was Patrick Malloy. His grey shirt had the top two buttons undone and his blazer matched his pants. His hair was styled perfectly, not a hair out of place. His eyes, however, were black and his face was absent of any emotion. The room seemed to grow very quiet as he waited for Kevin to answer his question. When he got no response, he then turned his attention to me.

"Legs, care to elaborate?"

I didn't know if it was the alcohol or because I was already pissed that Kevin was still sharing my oxygen, but the fact that he couldn't say my name really pissed me the fuck off.

"Okay, first of all, my name is not Legs, it's Christi. That shit just pisses me off. I have a fucking name,
Patrick
, and I'd appreciate it if you'd fucking use it when you address me."

The look on his face changed as I proceeded to stick my finger in his face, well more like his chest as he was considerable taller than myself. I watched as a tiny smirk began to form at the corner of his mouth.

I didn't let him speak as I continued my word vomit.

"This waste of fucking skin here is the father of my beautiful niece, Abigail, and the fucker knows it, too. He hasn't seen her in years and he refuses to pay one goddamn dime of court-ordered child support. So yes, Mr. Malloy, you have a low-life motherfucking dead-beat father working for you."

His expression changed from the cocky smirk to one of anger. I should have been afraid of this quick change, but in reality, I was
getting
turned on.

"Smiles' baby?" He questioned Kevin, his tone even, yet suspicious.

Again with the code names, this was too much. Can
’
t
the man call people by their given name
s?

"Who the fuck is Smiles? I'm talking about my sister, Shannon." I shouted, exasperated. Ignoring me, he voiced his next question directly at Kevin. "Giggles is your daughter, Douce?"

Kevin didn't answer, and frankly I was confused and getting even more pissed off. I then turned to Charlotte, who was watching this entire scene play out like a tennis match.

"Who the hell is Giggles?" I asked her, since no one else would answer me. She looked at me wide eyed and started to answer me when Patrick questioned Kevin.

"Does Books know, Douce?"

Kevin lowered his head, finding his shoes very interesting all of the sudden. I looked around and noticed nearly everyone in the bar was watching us.

"No, Boss, he doesn't know, and yes, Giggles is mine. Smiles and I had a thing a long time ago."

I felt as if I had been transported to another country and they were all speaking in a language I didn't understand.

"How far is he in arrears, Ms. O
’
Rour
ke?” Patrick
’
s voice and facial expression changed back to his prior cockiness.

"He owes roughly ten thousand dollars in unpaid support."

One of the men in his entourage leaned into his ear. Patrick's face never changed as he listened to what he was being told. I looked at Kevin and noticed that his entire face was now white as a ghost. His date had completely disappeared. Two men suddenly appeared and grasped Kevin on each side.

Patrick was now looking at Kevin, whose face had gone completely ashen. No words were said as the two men escorted Kevin out of the bar and into the night.

It was like that scene in a movie; the one where once the fight was over, the music came back on and people carried on with what they were doing. Our waitress suddenly appeared with a fresh round of drinks and Patrick began speaking with the men in his entourage. Once the waitress sat our drinks down, Patrick handed her two crisp one hundred dollar bills.

"Make certain Ms. Christi and Ms. Charlotte are kept happy while they're here."

I watched as the waitress flashed him a smile and pushed her chest out just a little more. I rolled my eyes at the shameless way she was flirting with him.

He then turned back to us. "Ladies, always a pleasure, enjoy the rest of your evening."

He spoke to a few more people in the room and after each one, he would turn his attention back to our table. As he made his way to the front door, he turned one final time and nodded his head as he stepped into the darkness.

Monday came all too quickly. Shannon and I were sitting in my office going over the calendar for the week. We had a wedding and a sweet sixteen party this weekend. It was agreed upon that I would work the birthday party and Shannon would do the wedding. A knock at the door stopped our list making, as a courier had a package for Shannon. Honestly, with as much attention as Dillion had been giving her lately, it was probably tickets to Aruba or something. Nothing could have prepared me for the truth.

"Oh, my God."

I turned my attention from the Gucci shoe-inspired cake that the young birthday girl wanted to the papers that now sat in Shannon's hands.

"Chris...look."

I took the paperwork from her and began to read the letter that sat on the top. It was from the president of People's First Bank here in Chicago. It was addressed to Shannon O
’
Rourke and Abigail Grace O
’
Rourke. The letter basically stated that a college fund had been opened in the name of the minor child and currently held a balance of twenty thousand dollars. Furthermore, it would increase by twenty thousand dollars every year until the child reached twenty-one years of age. Another slip of paper clipped to the letter was a cashier's check in the amount of fifteen thousand dollars. A second letter stated that the check was for back child support and that from this day forward, a check for five thousand dollars would arrive on the first of every month for the benefit of said minor child. This would continue until the child was twenty-one, or until the child was legally adopted by any man Shannon decided to marry.

My mind went immediately back to the conversation at the bar between Patrick and Kevin. All of these years and Kevin had never made an effort. One conversation with his boss, suddenly Kevin was made of money.

I didn't have time to ponder the matter any further, since Charlotte made her presence known when she walked into my office. She entered, followed by two women. The first was an older, yet very beautiful woman. She was so graceful,and reminded me of the Hollywood stars from the forties and fifties. Her beautiful red hair flowed onto her shoulders in soft yet perfect waves. Her complexion was peaches and cream and sickeningly flawless. Her beige-colored pantsuit looked as if it was designer made and cost more than what I made in a month. It was her eyes that stood out to me, vivid
green.

The petite woman who stood beside her was just as beautiful. Her hair, however, was much darker and longer. Her skin was just as flawless, but her eyes were a beautiful blue. Shannon clearly knew theses women as she leaped from her desk and embraced them in a warm greeting.

"Chris, I'd like to introduce you to Mrs. Nora Malloy and Ms. Paige Malloy."

The two women smiled brightly as they continued into the office. Charlotte motioned for them to have a seat in the chairs that faced my desk and then asked if they would care for a drink. Nora spoke first and requested a cup of hot tea in the most enchanting Irish accent I had ever heard. Charlotte excused herself and left to go make a pot of tea.

"Christi," Nora spoke, her green eyes shining, the look on her face was one of pure joy, "I was a guest at the Connor-Donnelly wedding and I was impressed to say the very least." As she spoke, she turned her direction to Paige who nodded her head in agreement. "I was told by Mrs. Connor that you'd been very helpful in making her daughter's day very special."

"It wasn't just me, Mrs. Malloy, I have an amazing staff."

“Please, call me Nora.
”

Charlotte appeared with a tray of tea. Once all of our cups had been prepared, we continued with the meeting.

"Christi, I'm going to get right to the point here. Paige is getting married in eight months. As big as the Donnelly wedding was, this one is going to be huge. Practically everyone that attended that wedding will attend Paige's. That guest list, however, wouldn't compare to this one considering the additional size of the grooms family. The Montgomerys were a well-to-do family from the South and will more than double the Connor-
Donnelly
guest list. Christi, we're looking at over eight hundred people."

When you
’
d done this as long as I had, you learned a few things besides how to break up a fight. You learned that money talked and bullshit walked. It didn't matter if you were planning a party for eight or eight hundred, the process was the same. Nora may have been wearing a designer suit and had a pretty accent, but did she have the cash to buy the wedding she was describing?

"Nora, I can give Paige just about anything when it comes to her reception, but the bottom line is that it'll cost a great deal of money."

Nora didn't even flinch when I told her the Connor wedding cost nearly a thousand dollars per person. That roughly meant her reception alone was over four hundred thousand dollars. The additional people would increase that cost significantly.

Paige began to list the kinds of food she wanted to have served. She wanted to have a speakeasy-style wedding theme. She showed me photos of her bridesmaid's dresses that were silk and had lace appliqu
é
s adorning them. She wanted all of the drinks served in martini glasses with the exception of the beer. She wanted all of the wait staff to be male and wearing white waiter's jackets with black bow ties, cummerbunds, and black pants. There would be a band playing and at least ten bars set up throughout the room. Everything she had chosen was even more high-end than the last wedding. The last item that I needed to address was that of security. For the Donnelly wedding, we had had to charge security as a separate fee.