Page 53 of Heart of the Wren
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“I have to.” Lorcan picked up the receiver but Carol grabbed it from his hand and slammed it down.
“Wait,” she said. “Don’t spoil this moment for me, Lorcan.”
“You have to tell your dad! The longer you wait, the worse it will be. For me!” He picked up the receiver again.
She pulled the telephone cord from the socket and dropped it to the floor. “Wait until tomorrow. Please. I’ll tell him first thing in the morning, I promise.”
Lorcan rubbed his face. “Fine. Fine. Eddie will need the head start, anyway.”
Eddie laughed. “You’re joking. He is joking, isn’t he?”
I shrugged. Bullseye had a temper, there was no telling how he’d react.
Eddie flinched when someone knocked at the front door. Lorcan opened it to find Bullseye waiting.
Bullseye leaned around my holly wreath hanging on the door to get a better look at the packed hallway. “Jaysus, I didn’t think you’d all answer. Right, you.” He pointed to Carol. “Come on, your mother is waiting for you at home.”
Carol hesitated. My heart went out to her. She was too young to have so much pressure on her.
“It’s Christmas Day,” Bullseye said, “and you haven’t seen your family. Now, come on. Your mammy is asking for you.”
Eddie, wisely, didn’t say a word. Carol reached for her coat at the end of the stairs.
Bullseye stepped in out of the wintry air. “What’s on your finger?”
Carol quickly hid her hand. “It’s… a Christmas cracker yoke. I forgot I had it on.”
Bullseye tilted his head. He stared at Lorcan.
“She’s after getting engaged,” Lorcan said.
My chest tightened.
Bullseye burned and clenched his jaw. “She’s after doingwhat?”
Carol slapped Lorcan’s arm. “You promised you wouldn’t tell him yet!”
He ducked his head. “I couldn’t help it! You know what he’s like when he stares. It’s scary. It’s like his teaching superpower.”
Bullseye bared his teeth and made for Eddie. “C’mere to me, you. I’ll wring your feckin’ neck, ye little bollocks, ye.”
Eddie backed away. “Now, hang on, Bullseye, let me explain.”
“She’d better not be feckin’ pregnant!”
“Daddy!” Carol followed them into the living room. “Of course I’m not pregnant.”
Eddie kept his distance. “Please, stop, stop! I love her.”
“Ye do in your bollocks,” Bullseye said.
“I do! I do. I can’t imagine my life without her.”
“This is a trick to get her to move to England with you.”
Carol stepped between them. “It’s not. I'd already decided I was going.”
