Page 56 of Hot Irish Halloween

Christmas morning dawned bright and pretty. There was a dusting of snow on the ground, hardly enough for a snowball fight but plenty enough for a bad slip. Penny held onto Jack’s hand as he escorted her to the car. They were going to spend the day at Meghan’s house, handing out gifts for her and her teen boy-girl twins. Penny was looking forward to it. She’d spent the last three Christmases alone.

Jack’s Uncle Redmond was there when they arrived.

“Oh, it’s so good to see you, lad,” Redmond said, shaking Jack’s hand. “Nice to see you, too, Penny. So happy you want to spend the day with yer old uncle, seeing as me own boy never comes to see me for Christmas, leaving me all alone.”

Meg stopped and gave him a hard look. “Oh, never mind me, Casper, the invisible fucking ghost. Dad, Matty comes nearly every year in summer. Isn’t that enough?” she demanded, shaking her head at him and giving Penny an eye roll. “Come on in, you two.”

“What a pretty tree,” Penny gushed, and Meg grasped her arm, pulling her into the living room.

For a small rowhouse, everything was decorated beautifully. The stockings over the fireplace, the tree festooned with bright blue and silver ornaments, and even the sprig of mistletoe overhead all made Penny feel good. It wasn’t as glam as Erica Mayfield’s holiday décor but just as comforting.

They settled in, spending most of the day eating and drinking eggnog, although Jack surreptitiously poured her the unspiked version. By evening, Meg and Redmond were red-faced, the latter sobbing into the traditional Irish Christmas cake they’d brought from the bakery.

The cause of Redmond’s tears? Memories of Christmases in New York with his ex-wife Tamryn and their son Matt, who’d called on the phone.

“Tammy is the love of me life. If they hadn’t threatened me with a stay in that damned Rikers’ Island, we’d be together to this day,” he lamented. Jack and Meg both sighed as though they’d heard this story many, many times. “There’s still a chance for us. I know it. If only she’d come to visit me. Just once. She’d love Ireland. She’d just love it.”

“Yes, very sad, anyway!” Meg had interrupted with annoyance. “What are we going to do about that psycho?”

Everyone paused and looked up. She’d waited until the twins had drifted off to their rooms to play video games or whatever they did up there.

Immediately, Penny’s palms got sweaty. Since La Roque’s interview, she’d made a good show of not being concerned about the things he’d said about her to bait Jack. It was true that he was a dick, not worthy of their consideration. But she had been pissed and furious about the things he’d said about Jack too. If she didn’t believe in keeping the peace…

But the look in Jack’s eyes, the clenched jaw whenever he lapsed into silence, let her know he hadn’t forgotten about it either. As if unconsciously preparing himself, he’d been working out longer and harder in the home gym, coming back from Valentine MMA with bruises and abrasions on his back. He’d packed the extra freezer with bags of ice for his ice baths. He was adding more protein to his diet and completely cutting out sugar. Somehow, that last one was the worst sign of all.

He’d promised her he wouldn’t go there again, to that place where nothing else existed but rage and instinct. And if he should break that promise, what would she do?

“Jack’s not going to agree to fight him,” Penny said, wiping her palms on her sweater dress. She wished she felt as confident as she sounded. “He can say whatever he wants as long as he stays the hell away from us.”

Meghan took a sip of her whiskey, pushing her very straight blonde hair out of her blue eyes. Thick-set, with strong, attractive features, Meg preferred dressing in button-downs and jeans rather than anything frilly. Now she leaned forward in her chair, denim-clad legs crossed at the ankle.

“You know fellas like that don’t ever just drop grievances. You have to handle him,now, before he escalates.”

“There’s no ‘handling’ him. This isn’t a Hollywood movie where you roll up to someone’s house and go in guns blazing. Penny’s right. If I don’t sign a contract, there is no escalation. He’s got to drop it,” Jack explained, but she waved his words away with a sharp hand movement. A little swoony with relief at his confirmation, Penny squeezed his hand.

“Do you know what he was referring to? The part about youse having history?” Meg asked.

“I dunno. I’ve been thinking about that for days, and I’ve no fucking clue.”

Meg’s living room was small and crammed with old dark furniture. Redmond, sitting in an overstuffed armchair in the corner that seemed to swallow his thin frame, sniffled over his eggnog and shrugged. Penny hadn’t spent that much time with him, but his shifty eyes were a clue that Redmond did have an idea. After a silence, Meg turned to him.

“Dad? You know something, don’t you?” Meg prodded.

He lifted one shoulder in a shrug, almost like a sulky child who’d been caught stealing from his mother’s purse.

“Dad?” That sounded more like a warning.

“Is Miss Penny, um…aware of our old dealings, lad?” Redmond asked delicately, his bushy salt and pepper eyebrows lifted over his faded light eyes.

“You mean if she knows you tried to lead me into a life of crime, yes, she knows,” Jack said, his hand warm and possessive on Penny’s thigh.

“D’you happen to remember when me and you paid a visit to a man up by Drogheda? A Frenchman and his wife? When you were about thirteen or so?”

Oh boy. Penny and Jack exchanged glances.

“I remember going somewhere out of the city with you, but I didn’t remember the name of the place. You told me to stand outside while you went into this shitty little gaff. I was supposed to be your lookout.” Jack’s mouth was a straight line, his eyes distant as if searching the past for the memories. “There was a woman inside. I could hear her screaming at you while you ransacked the place. Heard a baby screaming too. Then the man showed up. Big fella. Mean. He grabbed me by me shirt and punched me hard, right in me face. Next thing I remember…the house was on fire, and you and me were running away. Jesus. That baby…Fuck.”

Penny put her hand to her mouth to stop the sudden urge to throw up all that eggnog. It coated the back of her throat. Great.Nothing like a story of mayhem and possible murder to finally bring on her first bout of morning sickness.

---