“I said blue, Ma!” Quinn protested. “Little Boy Blue!”
She shrugged. “Close enough, I know where it’s going.”
“Ma’s right, plus that joke would probably suck anyway,” Kane said with a giant, mischievous grin as laughter erupted around the table.
Dee pointed a warning finger at Kane, then turned to her husband. “Seamus, aren’t you going to say something?”
“Quinn, Kane, stop being idiots,” Seamus commanded dutifully, despite the fact that he was smiling as big as everyone else around the table.
Quinn looked proud. “Hey, you guys said to liven it up.”
“That’s your son,” Dee told her husband as she shook her head.
Seamus chuckled. “How do I know? We had a really buff mailman twenty years ago.”
“Oh!” Kane burst out, his hand raised. “Pop’s got jokes!”
“Burn, Ma!” Quinn laughed even louder as he used one of his favorite phrases, meaning “Got you!” before he realized that his father’s joke applied to him as well. “Wait, is that a burn on me, too?”
“That’s definitely a burn on you, Q,” Kane replied smugly.
Soon the entire room had settled into a back-and-forth brawl of jokes, and everyone appeared more lighthearted. Fiona joined in the fun. And for just a little while, she was able to forget that her heart was missing. It wasn’t locked behind her rib cage, safe and sound, like it should be.
It was locked behind steel bars.
Chapter 20
“Ma! He’s home!” Jimmy called as Kieran followed his little brother through his parents’ front door thirty days after his rearrest.
A loud shrieking sound came from the kitchen as pots and pans banged before his small Irish mother came rushing around the corner. Her arms opened wide and clamped down around him in the tightest hug he’d ever received.
Dee immediately launched into a tirade of conflicting sentiments. “Thank goodness my baby is home. Ooh, I’m so mad at you for not letting me pick you up! Thank you, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph for keeping my boy safe.” She clutched her hands in a quick prayer before hugging him again.
He didn’t have a chance to say anything before she continued. “Why did your brother get to pick you up and not me? He wouldn’t even let me in the car, locked it tight. All you kids are killing me, I swear it. I don’t have a lot of time left on this earth, and my children are trying to make my days even fewer.”
“Ma, calm down. He’s only been gone for a month,” Jimmy quipped from next to them.
Kieran caught Jimmy rolling his eyes in annoyance. “You locked Ma out of the car?”
Jimmy shot his mother an angry look. “Not successfully. She tried to pick it, and now I have a hair clip in my car’s passenger’s-side lock.”
Dee shrugged, unfazed. “You should have let me come with you. And you—” Dee turned back to Kieran, her eyes blazing. “How could you take me off the visitor’s list? I haven’t seen you in a month!”
Kieran ducked his head. “Sorry, Ma. I wasn’t trying to upset you. I just didn’t want you to see me in that place ever again.”
“One of you owes me a new door lock,” Jimmy said, disgruntled. “I have to head out, got a shift tonight. Bye, Ma.” They exchanged hugs and goodbyes and then Jimmy left.
“Where’s Fiona?” Kieran finally asked his mother what he’d been dying to find out. He’d been eager to see his woman ever since walking through the prison gates. His woman. The idea made him smile, but then he realized that might not be the case anymore…No, he couldn’t think that way.
“Oh, no.” Dee wagged a finger. “You’re not running off until I get some answers, mo mhac. How could you cut me out like this?”
Kieran nodded, knowing there was no way to avoid this conversation. And he didn’t want to. He wanted his mother to know how sorry he was and how much he appreciated all she’d done for him. She deserved an explanation. “Ma, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t trying to cut you out; I just made you all a promise that I’d never be behind bars again. I broke that promise, and this has all been my fault. I don’t expect you guys to keep supporting me after I’ve screwed up again.”
Dee frowned again. “Kieran, I’ll always support you. No matter what. You know that. I love you, baby boy.”
“I know, Ma.” Kieran bowed his head. “I just wish I had never made any of you have to deal with this in the first place.”
“It’s not me you have to worry about dealing with.” Dee raised her brows and exhaled loudly. “Your dad wants to talk to you tonight. He’s at Legends right now.”