Page 95 of Thick as Thieves
She gasps and looks at Chrissy. Now I see the connection. And a very suspicious resemblance to Chrissy, she must be related to her. I wondered how come Rowena recommended that particular nanny to Kell.
“You won’t want your dirty laundry washing in public,” spits out Chrissy.
“It’s already out there, hanging on the line. Who gives a shit anymore,” I state, totally blasé. They all gasp like I’ve hit them.
“I demand you let these doctors do a paternity test on the boys. They’re asleep and it’s painless.” Rowena’s voice has lost some of its poise. This plan is not working as she expected it to. I was supposed to cooperate, cower and give in. Be the subordinate she thinks I should be.
I stop dead in my tracks. My blasé, happy-go-lucky façade hitting the deck. I glare up at the ‘doctors’, who it has to be said are looking a bit uncomfortable, and seethe, “Over my dead body is anyone touching or testing my kids.” I repeat it again, loudly, clearly and so slowly, adding, “Anyone touches them and I?—”
“You are being unreasonable, Everett. It’s so simple. I’m not sure why anyone hasn’t done it. All this gossip in the tabloids. You can’t move for the insinuations online.” Rowena is not going down without a fight. She thinks she’s in control and I should do as she asks.
I bark out a laugh at that, but shake my head, keeping my mouth shut on that front, but repeating, “No one touches my children.”
47
Evie
I’m standingguard over my kids like a mama bear over her cubs. The fools still come for my children, being egged on by Rowena. I grab a long-handled serving fork and brandish it at the doctors. “Don’t be foolish. You know you cannot do it without my consent, and Ido notgive it.” I’m shouting now, holding onto the fork as I pass a long-handled spoon to Oisin.
Stepping forward, I start swinging the fork wildly in their general direction. Rowena falls back as if I’ve hit her. With that much acting ability she definitely missed her calling. She could make a killing on the stage. I’m shouting at the top of my voice. Where are Tommy and Valentina? I then spy a poker set next to the fire and pick the poker up. I’ve both tools in my hands and move back to stand over my boys.
“Bring it on, if you fucking dare,” I say to the now stunned room at large. The twins wake up, my shouting undoubtedly the cause. They start to bawl their heads off, adding to the general decibel level.
I spot Orla coming through the door with tears in her eyes. Colm follows behind her, red in the face. She takes in the scene, quickly moves to pick up her baby and comes and stands next to me.
“You okay?” I ask her, a bit relieved I’ve got at least some support here.
She’s furious. “Someone locked me in the loo,” she gulps out.
I look over at Niamh. Orla is her daughter-in-law, surely she can’t have agreed to that. But I can see from her face that she did.
“Grab them,” shouts Rowena suddenly, and one of the doctors, clearly conditioned, moves towards me.
I swing the fork towards him and he jumps back into the sideboard, knocking off dishes as he goes. I swipe again, and the fork flies out of my hand and into a portrait of an ancestor, ripping through the canvas.
The other doctor tries to leave and nearly gets knocked down as Tommy steams into the room. He’s followed closely by Eamonn, who gives a war cry and rushes to my side, standing in front of the twins, who stop bawling the minute they see him. I watch as the staff of the house move to try to stop us leaving. The idiots.
“Call off your dogs, Rowena, or you’ll all be sorry. You especially, Niamh, when Bug finds out you agreed to lock his wife in a toilet away from her baby.” She gasps and Orla stares at her. “Let’s go boys,” I say to my gang.
“Come back here boys. Orla, stay,” Niamh cries. “I'm sorry. It was Rowena who wanted Evie on her own.” She spills the beans as she stands to try to grab Eamonn, who wriggles out of her grasp, screaming at the top of his lungs.
I launch the poker over their heads and it lands in the old Grandfather clock face with a crash. It stops everyone dead. Rowena, not remotely concerned about her non-grandsons, starts to cry about the clock.
“The fourth Earl brought that home, and you’ve ruined it,” she shrieks at me.
Into the chaos walks one of my favourite people on this planet—Bug.
“What the feck is going on here?” He takes in the poker, the fork in the face of the portrait, his kids defending his wife, me and my kids, and the women who were sitting at the table and are now cowering under it. “A nice friendly lunch, is it, Kitten?” He says mildly. He looks at his wife’s furious face, then at his mother, who is red-faced and getting up off the floor where she ducked as the poker flew over her head.
“Anthony, it was Rowena. She wanted to test the babies to make sure they are Marcus’s. She thought Orla would defend Evie, so a staff member locked her in the toilet.” She offers up the whole plot and trails off lamely.
“Tommy, get the twins, boys get your mother.” Bug pulls me to him and away from the defunct doctors and staff members, who all stand around gawking. They clearly don’t know what to do when faced with a six-foot-five giant of a man.
“Mother, I'll deal with you later,” is the only thing he says as he ushers us all out of the front door, his face like thunder.
Orla bursts into tears, and clearly it’s catching, as I join her. We’re stood hugging and crying on the pavement outside the house. Tommy puts the twins into the minivan as Valentina comforts Orla and I. Bug loads his boys and daughter into the van, hugs his wife, and nudges her to slide into the seat beside me. This is one of those times I’m glad I put my foot down and bought the beast of a vehicle. I can’t imagine separating from Bug and his family, even for the short trip back to the house.
I start to laugh a little hysterically as we put distance between ourselves and Russell House. Orla, who’s crying but looking at me with full respect, also starts to laugh, and the boys all grin.
