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“Well, she did,” he snapped. “And it’s grand, Shan. We’ll manage.”
“Okay,” I croaked out.
Running a hand through his hair, Joey dropped his elbows on the table and muttered a few incoherent curse words to himself before saying, “I’ll give Mark a buzz in the morning. He has a conservatory job lined up in the city next week. I’ll ask if he needs a laborer.”
“No way, Joey. You cannot miss school,” Aoife admonished. “It’s the leaving cert.”
“No, babe,” Joey replied wearily. “I can’t let the kids go hungry, and god only knows when that bitch will come back.”
“I can help you with—”
“I am not taking your money, Aoife,” Joey cut her off by saying. “So please don’t offer.”
“Joey, I want to help you.”
“And I love you for that, but I’m not taking handouts from my girlfriend.”
“Do you know where she is?” Aoife asked then, directing the question at me.
She was clearly desperate to comfort him and didn’t know how.
I wanted to tell her she couldn’t, we were too damaged, but I held my tongue and addressed her question instead. “I presume she’s gone to find him.”
It was a depressing thought, but more than likely the truth.
“Guys,” Aoife said in a nervous tone. “Don’t bite my head off for this, but should you think about calling the authorities?”
Joey gaped at her like she had grown three heads.
Panic flared up inside of my chest.
Aoife, noticing our reactions, turned bright red.
“He can’t keep doing this to you,” she quickly explained. “And you’re both here alone looking after three small children… It’s not right or fair on any of you.”
“No, it’s not right or fair on us,” Joey snapped. “But Shannon and I have been down that road before, and there’s no fucking way we’re going back there.”
“Joey!” I hissed, shaking my head.
“Look at us, Shan,” he groaned. “She can already see how fucked up we are.”
I knew that, but I continued to shake my head.
Ignoring my silent protests, Joey went into a full-on rant, revealing our biggest fear, the one that kept us silent for most of our lives. “When we were small. Before the boys were born—when it was just Darren, Shannon, and myself—the three of us were put into care for six months.”
Aoife’s eyes widened and I smothered a groan. “You never told me that.”
“It’s not something I go around talking about, babe,” he replied gruffly. “Besides, I was only six at the time.” He inclined his head toward me and said, “Shan was only three. Mam placed us in voluntary care—said she was too sick to care for us at the time. Dropped us off and walked the fuck away. Shannon and I got lucky. We were placed together with a nice family.” Exhaling heavily, he added, “Darren was eleven at the time and wasn’t so lucky.”
Tears filled my eyes because I knew what Joey was going to say next.
“Joe, please don’t,” I begged.
“He was sent to a care home where things happened to him,” Joey choked out. “Things that aren’t supposed to happen to children.”
Aoife clasped her hand over her mouth. “Are you saying…?”
Joey nodded stiffly.
