Page 60 of The Promise
He flicks his head back in my direction, in a move I assume is asking who I might be.
‘David Campbell,’ I say, to save anyone else the trouble of introducing us, pushing my shoulders back as I say it. He doesn’t intimidate me in the slightest.
‘David Campbell?’ he nods. ‘Yes, I’ve heard about this little love affair but thought it couldn’t possibly be true. I knocked the door but you were all too busy partying to hear me. What’s the occasion?’
No one answers, but Annie quickly lifts a dishcloth and wipes around worktops that are already gleaming.
‘We weren’t expecting you at all, Sean,’ she says.
‘You didn’t say you were calling.’
Kate stands up from where she had quietly sat down at the table and stands by my side.
‘The occasion is that David and I just got engaged,’ she says, holding out her left hand like a weapon towards him. ‘That’s why we are celebrating. We’re engaged to be married.’
Sean McGee scratches his shaved head and folds his burly arms like a bouncer at a nightclub door. His legsare parted and he glares my way, an eyebrow raised as he shakes his head.
‘You’re taking the piss!’ he says with a hearty, snarling laugh. ‘Come on, you can do better than that, Kate. You’re the brains and beauty of this lot. You’re the real pick of the bunch yet you go to the bottom of the barrel to hook up with a—’
‘Get out!’ shouts Annie, her voice shaking as she stares at the kitchen floor.
Kate and Maureen glance towards their mother in disbelief at her spontaneous outburst.
‘You weren’t invited in here in the first place to give your snide remarks, so I’d like you to leave right now, Sean!’ she says. ‘Take your bullying tactics and your arrogant ways away from my front door, please, once and for all. You’ve caused enough heartache in this family and you won’t cause any more, do you hear me?’
‘Kate, are you really going down this road?’ Sean McGee snarls. ‘You’re going to marry the son of a Bible-thumping bigot? Talk about letting the side down! I always thought you—’
‘You know nothing about me and it’s none of your business,’ Kate says firmly. I want to speak up but so far she’s in control. ‘You may be able to roam around here like some underworld mafia chief, but you don’t scare me, Sean. Now, get out and do us all a favour. Stay away.’
‘You desperate bitch!’ Sean hisses and I lunge for him,but Kate gets there first and she whacks him a slap across the face. He spits on the kitchen floor and tilts his chin out towards her.
‘Get out right now,’ Kate tells him.
I step forward but Kate grabs my arm.
‘Don’t bother, David, he isn’t worth it! He isn’tworthit!’
Maureen stares at the floor, fixing her glasses and tucking her hair behind her ear, while Shannon sits with her head in her hands, staring at the table.
‘Prick!’ he spits out in my direction, and stomps away, then slams the front door shut as Shannon sniffles behind me.
‘I’m sorry,’ she says to us when I turn back to face them all.
‘Maybe we should go,’ I suggest, but I’m met with a flurry of whispers and a sense of business as usual. I get the impression these outbursts are what this family are used to.
‘No, no, let me get some tea,’ Kate’s mother fusses. ‘Look, this isn’t ideal so let’s not pretend it is, but there’s no way in the world we’re ever going to let the thugs of this community dictate to us what we can and can’t do with our lives. People like Sean think they can tell us all how to live our lives around here, but we need to let him know that those days are gone.’
She wrings out a dishcloth again and Kate sits down, signalling at me to do the same.
‘I agree, Mum. Cheers everyone!’ Kate says, grabbing my hand. ‘I’m not afraid of him, David. He thinks he can controleveryone around here with his threats and his bullshit, but he won’t threaten us, no way.’
‘That’s my girl,’ says Annie Foley. ‘You make your own decisions in life and don’t let anyone ever tell you different, even if they go against the grain. I’m proud of you. In fact, I’m very proud of you both.’
I sense Maureen and Shannon shuffle in their seats. I can see how Kate takes after her mum with her defiance and no bullshit tolerance, but Sean McGee looked at me as though he wasn’t finished with ruling the roost around here, and with my father not yet on board I’m not sure if we’re much further on at all beneath the surface. When Kate clasps my hand beneath the table for reassurance, I fear she might feel the same too.
CHRISTMAS 2011
19.
