“What would Ma say if she heard ye telling me that?”
“I didn’t say it to ye in English, did I? No one can confirm I said it.” I grabbed a tea towel and wiped my hands. “It’s between me, ye, and God now.”
“Droch áird chúgat lá gaoithe.”
May you be badly positioned on a windy day.I grunted out a laugh. When we were kids, Cillian, Eamon, and I learned every fun Gaelic curse we could. Daideó Jack was happy to teach us, and the ones he chose were ridiculous, but whenever we were feeling mischievous, we would have what we’d called a curse off. We would throw the Gaelic words at each other until the other person finally ran out of things to say. It’d been fun. Easy. We were kids, innocent and free once, before all the mess with Cillian’s da.
“I’m not doing this with ye, Eamon.” I smiled anyway.
“Ye admit defeat then, do ye?”
I wished it was this simple with Cillian. I’d never told him, but I missed how we used to be when we were younger. “Aye, I admit defeat. Why did ye want to speak with me?”
The line went silent for a short second, and then he sighed. “I just wanted ye to know I’m going on holiday for a week or so.”
I froze, muscles rigid. Gritting my teeth, I breathed slowly through my nose.
Was he going back to Ireland? I sure hoped not. I’d told Eamon about what had happened with his da and Cillian, and he’d promised me he was cutting ties with them, same as I had. Hell, I’d even told his da why I was done with him on the phone after Cillian had told me the truth, and his da had stuck to his guns, claiming any sort of homosexuality was a sin. Admittedly, I’d been a coward and never said a word about myself, but I’d told him I would no longer be sending money. He didn’t care. Even though it should’ve gone to Cillian to begin with, I’d given the old man’s watch—the same one he’d given me before I left Dundalk—to Eamon.
“Are ye going to Ireland and seeing them?” I asked, staring down at the salad in the bowl. My gut churned.
“No.” The way his voice rose had my suspicion sparking.
“Where are ye going then?” I gritted my teeth. “I told ye what yer da did to Cillian. Kicked him out after he found out he was bi. How can ye forgive that? Ye were angry when I told ye about it.”
“I’m not forgiving him, am I? I’m not going to Ireland.” He exhaled, and I heard someone behind him, probably his girlfriend, Mairead. They whispered quietly so I couldn’t hear them, and finally he talked into the phone again. “We’re going home to see Mai’s family, Rowen. Ye know they moved up to Scotland. We’re... feck. We’re having a bairn.”
Shock jolted me into stepping back until I hit the fridge and my breath caught. A chaos of emotions—mostly excitement and surprise—warred inside me, and all I could do was grin even though he couldn’t see it. “Ye having a baby?”
Eamon chuckled and I thought I heard him sniffle. “Aye, I’m gonna be a da.”
“Feck off.” I laughed so hard it hurt my chest and grinned wide. “Congrats, ye knob. When did ye find out?”
“A month ago, but Mai only just passed her twelve-week mark, and we didn’t want to jinx it, ye know?”
“Does Cillian know?” I asked.
I definitely heard Mairead laughing in the background, and he joined in with her. “Ye think I’d tell him first? He’d tell me I’d gone bonkers having a baby. Ye know what he thinks about kids. What’s he say?”
“All they do is eat and shite.” I shook my head. We’d heard it more than once from Cillian. He’d never been a fan of babies, or children of any age for that matter.
“Exactly. He would give me hell for it.”
“Don’t ye worry about him. He loves ye, and he’ll be happy for ye. We need some new Shaughnessys around here, and ye’re the only one to give us them. We wouldn’t want Cillian reproducing anyway, would we?”
“God help America if that happened. We’d be fecking doomed.”
We both cackled, and by the time I was done, tears welled in my eyes and I wiped at them. I sighed. “I’m happy for ye, Eamon. Ye and Mairead deserve all the best.”
“Thank ye. It means a lot to us.” He exhaled loudly. “I need to go. Start packing and all that. But I wanted ye to know where I was going. If Da finds out I’m over that way and contacts me, I’ll tell him what I think about him, all right?”
“Ye better.” I smiled and straightened, shifting back to the island. “Talk to ye later.”
“Bye.”
I plopped the phone down on the counter and stared at it for a long moment. A baby. It almost seemed surreal. I never thought the day would come, but I was excited by the prospect. I liked kids, always imagined myself as a father one day, but I lived a dangerous life. It was better to be an uncle than a parent, I supposed.
I went back to the salad, adding hard-boiled eggs, cucumbers, oil, and vinegar before mixing it up. I opened the drawer next to me and grabbed a fork, then stabbed some of the food to take a bite. Moaning, I ate another mouthful. Delicious and healthy. That was exactly what Fallon needed.
