Page 75 of Southie
When I was younger, I never imagined my life would end up like this. As a kid from the projects of Southie with drug-addicted parents, I didn’t know that fighting on the neighborhood streets would lead to a passion, and that passion would someday lead me to the woman I loved with every fiber of my being. However crooked the path may have been to get there, God gave me a second chance at a life free from a life of crime with a woman who loved me, regardless of my past. He allowed me to have a passion, and it excited me to able to build upon it.
No matter where life took me, no matter how high I climbed the ladder of success, as long as I had the love of my life by my side, loving me even when I didn’t deserve it, the sky would be the limit for Liam “Southie” Daugherty.
Epilogue
“Hey Southie, you ready to head down to the ring one last time?” Gerald asked as the familiar tingles coursed through my body.
It had been six years since my first semi-pro fight and six years since I left the Irish Mob in my past. Don Rizzo had kept up his end of the bargain. After I’d taken care of Paddy, his son came after me. I wouldn’t have expected anything less from him. However, I never had to look over my shoulder because the Don kept his word to protect me and my family for life.
Word had gotten back to the younger O’Connor that I’d been behind the death of his father with the help of the Italians, which wasn’t true. The Italians had sought my help with Paddy so Don Rizzo could take over New England. But the day Paddy ordered Sean to kill my grandmother to send me a message because of a relationship between Camilla and me, he’d signed his death warrant, regardless if the Italians had come to me. The Rizzos had no role in the death of Paddy O’Connor. That was all me. Liam Daugherty.
In the abandoned warehouse that had once housed the underground MMA circuit fights, without hesitation I’d pulled the trigger, putting a bullet in Paddy’s stomach and then his skull while he was on his knees in front of me. Now, the Rizzos controlled all of New England just like the charismatic Don said he would.
The reasoning behind my grandmother’s death, according to Paddy as he’d begged for his miserable life, was that Sean had conveyed to him I was in a relationship with Roland Jennings daughter, which at the time wasn’t true. Sean started trailing Camilla for his selfish reasons; reasons unknown to Paddy. But I knew why. Sean wanted Camilla for himself. He liked what he saw when she interrupted our meeting with Roland. There was no other explanation.
When she started visiting my grandmother, he assumed we had to be dating and was livid. It’d been a coincidence Camilla had befriended my grandmother since Camilla hadn’t yet been a part of my life. Sean wanted to be Enforcer and to get back at me.
Paddy ordered the hit to send me a message. A message saying he was in control of what I did in my life, including who I dated. Why he ordered the hit against my grandmother didn’t matter to me. Whether it was because of a lie or the truth held no bearing on my decision to end his life. Not only had he ordered the hit on my grandmother, but he’d killed my Aunt Samantha by strangling her to death. For both deaths of the women in my family, Paddy no longer deserved to share the same air as any other Daugherty.
After Paddy’s death, I lived the dream I’d set forth for myself since I was a kid in South Boston. I left Southie for good a few months after my first professional fight. Camilla wanted to remain in Massachusetts so she could still be close to her father who’d kept his gym in Southie and continued to train me as a professional. Although I got out of Southie, I compromised with my wife and remained in Massachusetts, keeping our home in Mission Hill.
We traveled the globe, Camilla as a world-renowned photographer and me as a professional boxer. We spent countless days apart as she worked long hours taking the photography world by storm and me fighting professionally, but we made it work. We knew what we had together and didn’t let our professions get in the way.
After four years of marriage and two kids, my life couldn’t get any better. With my last fight, I aimed to end it on top.
“You know it,” I said. “This is it. Fighting is my haven and, in the ring, it’s my world, fuck everyone else. Where’s Camilla?”
“She’s in the front row with the boys and the rest of the family,” Doug replied as Gerald put on my boxing gloves for the final time.
I nodded at my longtime friend. Once I’d made it professionally, I hired him and a few of my boys from the neighborhood. I swore if I ever made it, I’d help my friends as much as I could. Hiring Doug and a few of the others for my security detail paid off. With me as his top client, Doug started his security firm and employed others from the neighborhood. We both used our opportunity of getting out of the projects and paid it forward.
As for my parents, it had been a long road to forgiveness. I focused on my life with Camilla and my career, cutting all contact with them. When my oldest son, Aiden, came into the world, Camilla convinced me to reconcile with my parents. She argued that my son had every right to know his grandparents. While I’d disagreed, it was hard to say no to her.
She reasoned we had the money to put both my parents through rehab and whatever else they needed to be a stable presence in both my life and their grandchild.
After the birth of our second son, Cameron, I paid for rehab and years of therapy for us. It all paid off, and we repaired our relationship. For the past four years, both have been sober. Now, they were the proud grandparents of two rowdy boys and the proud parents of their only son.
Gerald, my brother, finally found the love of his life…or should I say reconnected with the love of his life. After years apart and therapy to help with the demons of war, Gerald approached Anita to make peace with her so he could move past what was hindering him from moving forward in his life. His failed attempt at a relationship with the beautiful financial analyst after he’d returned from war had weighed heavily on my friend. But what he hadn’t known was that it had affected Anita, too.
After many talks, Gerald attending therapy, and Anita attending therapy frequently with him, they were able to move forward with their lives together.
The sound of Dropkick Murphys’I’m Shipping Up to Bostonand the chants of “Southie” moved through the arena like a wave for the last time. This was a bittersweet moment. I loved boxing and held the world title as proof of all I’d done. The adrenaline rush that came with each punch, as well as the rush that came from the crowd was something that would be hard to top, but it was time to step aside. I’d held the title for the last two years and now, it was time for me to retire.
Gerald handed me my Irish flag that had “Southie” stitched across the center once we made it to the entrance of Madison Square Garden for the final time. In front of a crowd of over twenty thousand screaming fans, I turned away from the crowd and raised my flag to pay homage to my roots and neighborhood.
The chants reverberated louder, and it was a shock to my system. This was a moment that would stay with me always.
I handed my flag to Gerald and made my way toward the ring as fans screamed and cheered.
When I made it ringside where my family sat, my chest tightened. The poor kid from Southie had more than he could have ever dreamed of.
I kissed Anita on the cheek, fist-bumped Eric, and hugged Roland, thanking him for opening the door to my dreams. He nodded and wished me luck.
When I stood in front of my mother and father, tears glistened in their eyes. Although my life had been shit, I’d become the man I was because of it. However hellish my life had been when I was younger, I was who I was because of Donie and Laura Daugherty. The bad pushed me to be a better father to Aiden and Cameron and a better husband to Camilla.
I hugged my mother first. “Liam, I love you and I’m so proud of you,” she said, accepting my hug and kissing me on the cheek.
“I love you, too, Ma,” I replied in all honesty.
