Page 8 of Keegan: The Murphy Family
“I’ve spent ten years without you, and why is it so hard now to spend even an hour away from you?” he asked, smiling.
I could see he was feeling just as happy and relieved as I was.
“Maybe because we don’t have to pretend anymore. Pretend to be just friends,” I suggested. He nodded and leaned in again for a kiss.
I watched him putting on his shirt, and I swung my legs off the bed and started collecting my clothes off the floor.
“You don’t have to go anywhere, Fal!” he exclaimed, when he saw me dressing.
“I think I’ll go home. I need to do some housekeeping, so I better get going,” I told him. Keegan nodded.
“I’ll drop you to your place, and once I’m done with the family…I’ll check on you later?”
I smiled at him.
“That would be lovely…”
We got ready to go and before we left, Keegan pulled me into his arms again, meeting my lips with his.
“I’m going to miss you,” he whispered in my ears. I wrapped my arms around him tightly, laying my head on his chest where I could hear his heart beating.
“Spending all these years away from you, Keegan, has been the hardest thing I had to do,” I said. He was looking in my eyes again.
“I’m never going to make you do that again. Whatever happens, we do it together this time,” he replied. I nodded and smiled. I believed him completely. I knew Keegan was never going to let me out of his sight. He was going to protect me and keep me safe.
“Returning to Chicago suddenly feels like the best decision I’ve ever made!” I exclaimed. Keegan smiled, grazing my lips with his fingers lightly.
“Yeah, it was. It was time that you came back, and time that we stopped torturing ourselves,” he added.
We kissed again and then it was time to go. Keegan drove me in his car to my apartment and before I got out, he kissed me again.
It was like he couldn’t stop kissing me! Which was great, because I didn’t want him to. He waited in his car till I’d walked through the doors of the apartment building. I waved at him and blew him a kiss girlishly, Keegan smiled and shook his head and then I watched him driving away.
It felt unreal, that I was feeling so happy. Just this morning, a few hours ago…I didn’t think I would ever see him again. I didn’t expect to feel happy like this again either. And now suddenly, it felt like everything was falling into place.
As long as Keegan was with me, I had nothing to worry about. He was going to take care of me.
I went up to my apartment and locked myself in, starting to count down the minutes to when I’d be with him again.
9
Keegan
Mam was at the door, and the first thing she did when she opened it and saw me; was whack me a tight one on the side of my head. I ducked, missing her palm and squeezed my way into the house.
“Keegan Murphy! You come back here and accept the beating you deserve!” mam screamed as I rushed into the kitchen.
Our family home was huge…a sprawling mansion full of ten bedrooms, a large dining room and living room and a den and every amenity the family could ever need. Despite all the luxury, our family still always just congregated around the kitchen, where mam was constantly cooking something.
My brothers were there, all three of them. Callum, Eamon and Seamus were standing around the stove, dipping bits of soda bread into the soup that was boiling.
Mam came rushing in behind me.
“I better not find all the bread gone now!”
My brothers jumped to hug me.
“Jesus, little bro, where have you been?” Eamon asked, thumping my back. Seamus and Callum gave me bear hugs too, till finally, I turned to mam. She was standing patiently to the side, watching her sons hugging each other. I could see that her eyes had filled with tears of joy.
I presented my cheek to her, just like she’d asked.
“Go on, mam, I deserve it,” I said.
Her lips quivered and then she reached for me, enveloping me in her arms and holding me tight.
“Don’t you ever do that again!” she barked.
“Which one shouldn’t he be doing, mam? Going to prison or not coming to see you first when he gets out?” Seamus joked, while mam just rolled her eyes at us.
“Keegan.”
It was dad’s deep voice at the kitchen door. I looked up to find him standing at the door, with his hands in the pockets of his pants. One of the most powerful men of the mob scene in Chicago.
“You better have washed your hands, John!” mam yelled at him and dad turned on his heels and rushed away.
Nothing had changed. Dad was still one of the most feared men in the city, and a mouse in mam’s palms when he was at home.
We sat down around the kitchen table for dinner, and dad joined us soon enough after he’d washed his hands and changed his shirt.
We couldn’t stop talking. There was so much my brothers wanted to know, and I did too…about everything I’d missed. I wasn’t in a great mood only because I’d just got out of prison. But the other reason wasn’t something I could discuss with my family right now.
“How are the Gallaghers?” I asked when there was a lull in the conversation. Before anyone else could answer, it was mam who spoke up.
“Do not mention that name in front of me, especially not at the dinner table!” she hissed.
I exchanged looks with dad, and I knew he’d fill me in later. For now, we were allowed to only talk of happy things in the presence of mam. All dad wanted to do was protect her, just the way I wanted to protect Fallon too.
After dinner, we left the kitchen and went out to the back porch with our glasses of whisky. Mam was clearing up the kitchen table and doing the washing. All my life, I’d heard dad nagging her to hire someone to help with the house work…especially since we lived in such a big house now and since dad had the money. Mam always refused. She liked picking up after us, making the house pretty and clean for her husband.
Outside on the porch, the five us were standing with our whiskies. Now that we were out of mam’s earshot, I could finally ask dad that question again.
“What about the Gallaghers?”
From the way my brothers and dad looked at each other, I could sense that there was something wrong.
“The scene with them has been getting worse lately, especially after the bar fight with you. It’s almost like they want to stir up shit, force us to slip up and make a mistake,” Callum explained.
“What the fuck do they want?” I asked and I heard dad sigh.
“They want our business, son, it’s quite easy. Connor Gallagher has never worked a day in his life, not the way I have, he has no idea what hard work is. Now, he wants to use violence and his sleazy methods to steal what I built all these years,” dad said.
I clenched my jaws in anger. Just hearing their name was enough to set me off.
“They want to take over the weapons trade. They’ve been trying to undercut us with our contacts and buyers,” Seamus continued.
It sounded exactly like them. Sneaking around behind our backs and trying to steal our business.
I drank my whisky, enjoying the way it burnt my throat as it traveled down to my stomach.
“What’s the plan?” I asked, looking around at their faces.
“We don’t have one. Not yet,” Seamus said.
“We were waiting for you to get out of prison,” Callum added.
“All I know is that we need to stop them. We have to put them back in their place and remind them that they’re nothing. Scum of the Earth.”
Dad’s voice was a deep growl as he spoke. I could sense that he was losing his mind over this. The Gallaghers were really getting to him this time.
“We’ll find a way, dad, don’t worry,” I said to him.
Now that Fallon was back in my life, everything had a new meaning again. This life was worth living. Suddenly, I did care what happened to me, what happened to her and my family. It was li
ke I was alive again. I was going to find a way to stop the Gallaghers, no matter the cost.
10
Fallon
