The O'Malley Brides (14 page)

Maggie took a few minutes to digest this.

“I wanted to, but he would not in your
m
adre’s
house.  Bridget was downstairs and your parents were at church.  After
,
I was so emba
rrassed!
I could barely face your family.  I knew I
had to go.  Rory
told me he wanted to talk to me after dinner, but I avoided him until I got a chance to leave.  Molly helped me.  She seemed to understand what I was thinking.  She tried to get me to stop blaming myself.  She said if a man like Rory w
ants you to do something, you are
pretty much going to do it.  Molly said all of the men in the family are the same way.  Is this true?  Is your Nick like that?” Tess asked, looking into Maggie’s eyes.

Maggie blushed, but didn’t answer. 

“I think I love Rory, but I do not know if I can….”

“Look Tess, did Rory bring you pleasure?” Maggie asked softly.

“Yes.”

“Then why don’t you stop worrying about it and e
njoy it.  I’m sure you
know not
every man is capable of
making his woman feel the things you felt in his arms.  Everyone brings different expectations to a relationship.  Not all of them are good.  I’m crazy about Nick, but sometimes he pisses me off so bad I see stars.  I just want to bean him on the head with a frying pan or something.  Thankfully, he helps me stay balanced.  I don’t always appreciate this at the time, but later when I’ve cooled off, I realize he was right.  Not that I’m ever going to admit I said that,” she laughed.  “Take each day as it comes.  Rory is a good man.  Let him love you his way and see if you think you can live like that for the long haul.  Not everyone can but maybe you are the right woman for him.  Don’t just assume it won’t work out. 
Give yourself a chance at happiness
,
Tess.  I know you haven’t had much of it.”

Tess nodded.
  She would give what Maggie said
some thought.  At this point she did not think she had the strength to stay away from Rory anyway.  Even if she came to hate his domineering ways, there were many things about him that she loved and admired.

“Hey,” Maggie said
interrupting Tess’s
thoughts.  “Is
Rory g
oing to tell Patrick you have been staying over the pub?  I’d sure like to be around for that,
” Maggie
asked
wistfully
.  “Molly always seems so be able to get herself out of trouble, maybe you and I can l
earn a few things.”

“I do not know.  Rory wants me to go get my things later. 
He wants me to go home.  He has no
t said if he intends to tell Patrick.  I hope Molly does not get in trouble because of me,” Tess told her, worrying her lip.

“Don’t worry about Molly,” Maggie informed her, picking up their cups and slipping her purse over her shoulder.  “As a rule, Patrick thinks Molly is his own personal angel, but it would be interesting to see if she can get herself out of this one.  Let’s get back upstairs and see if Mason is still alive.
”

At that very moment, Rebecca’s small hands were trying to wrap around Mason’s throat.

“I want DRUGS!” she insisted, her eyes glaring into his.

“But Sweetheart, we decided that we were going to do this the natural way, remember?

That’s why we went to all those classes.  Now if you’ll just concentrate on your breathing
,
I’m sure you’ll be fine,” Mason assured her.  He was sweating bullets glancing between the doctor, who had a slight grin on his face, and Rebecca who looked ready to murder someone.  Her face was damp and her blonde hair looked ready for trick or treating.  In his hand the doctor was holding a very long
needle which
Mason was trying his damnedest
not to look at. 

“Mr. Kord,” the doctor spoke kindly, trying to
diffuse
the current situation.  “It really isn’t good for your wife to get so upset.  I am more than willing to give her an epidural.  First babies are often much more difficult than later ones.”

“Rebecca,” Mason tried again.  “I really think that if you’ll just…”

“And I really think that if you don’t tell that doctor to give me some drugs
right now
, I
will
find a
way to stick a bowling ball up your ASS!!!
” she screamed
, her green eyes shooting daggers at him
.

Mason snapped straight up in total shock
, a horrified expression on his face,
and looked at his wife as though
he’d never seen her before.  His face was beet red and a tick was jumping in his jaw that Rebecca paid absolutely no attention to. 

“Give her the shot,” Mason pleaded.  “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Doctor Maxwell
signaled his nurse and the three of them rolled Rebecca to he
r side and swabbed her back with alcohol. 
The
last thing Mason saw was the long needle being inserted into his wife’s spine.  He hit the floor with a thud before he heard her scream.

Rebecca saw him go down and tried to peek over the side of the bed as she waved her hand toward him.

“You might want to get his brother from the waiting room and a couple other big men,” she advised with a
sigh
as the shot began to work.  “He’s not going to be easy to move.”

Chapter 8

Bridget walked in the front door of the law office fully expecting to see Tess at her desk.  She was hoping Tess would go to lunch with her, but she really
wanted to find out how she
made out last night and if Rory had been able to find her.  Her extremely high heels didn’t make any noise on the carpet as she checked out Nick’s office and the break room, getting herself a cup of coffee in the process.  Walking back into the main room
,
she noticed the door to the other office was slightly open. 

“Hey Winston,”
she yelled
as she pushed the door open and walked in.

Lettuce
went
flying;
his big
hands tried to capture the container before things got any worse.  Seeing the
Italian
salad dressing drip off his thick glasses
,
Bridget pivoted and hurried back to the
break room
for paper towels.

“Sorry,” she told him
as she watched him try to wipe dressing off the papers on his desk. 
“I
didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You did not scare me, Ms. O’Malley.
I believe the word is startled.  Y
ou start
l
ed me.”

“Whatever, sorry,” Bridget apologized.  “So Winston, where is everybody?”
she
asked as she shrugged out of
her leather jacket, tossed it o
nto a chair and perched her ass on the corner of his desk. 

Her black skinny jeans hugged her bottom and legs like a second skin.  Crossing her legs she began to dangle her foot, slipping the heel of her shoe off and on.  Her low cut top revealed the curves of her breasts and Dell tried to concentrate on wiping the oil off his glasses.

“I am the only one here
,
Ms. O’Malley,” he stated sternly, “And I would like to keep it that way.  If you would just state your business, I can get ba
ck to my lunch.  And the name is
Delbert or Mr. Winston to you.”

“Geeze
,
Winston,
lighten up will you?
  I know your name is Delbert, but I can’t say it without…we
ll I just like Winston better,” she informed him with a grin. Reaching over what was left of his salad she
snagged
his apple, polished it on her sleeve and took a large bite.  “So where is everybody?”

Clearly frustrated,
Dell watched what was left of his lunch disappear.  Her leg was swinging back and forth and she seemed obliv
ious to exactly how annoying he
found her.

“Ms.
Martinez went to the ho
spital with your brother and Mr.
Kord is there also.  I believe the other Mrs. Kord is having her baby.”

“Cool!
  Which brother?” she asked, munching happily.

“The Detective,
” Dell
replied shortly.  “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do Ms. O’Malley,” he informed her, motioning with his hand that she should get off his desk and move along.

Bridget ignored him, wiggled back a little farther on his desk and leaned forward.

  “Hey, I
’ve
got a great idea.  How about we get out of here, grab a burger and head over to the hospital.  I can cut class this afternoon and you just lock-up and put a note on the door?”

Dell began to sweat.  Her cleavage was spread out before him like an all you can eat buffet.  The tiny gold cross that had nestled between her breasts now swung free like a
hypnotist’s orb drawing his eyes.  How could someone so clueless about proper behavior make him want to push everything off his desk, lay her back and….  This w
as totally out of character for
him and he wasn’t sure what to do about it.

“First of all Ms. O’Malley, you have no business cutting classes at all.  I’m sure your parents have paid good money for your education
and
they deserve a daughter who appreciates that.  Second, I have a responsibility to this firm and I have no intention of shirking my duties.  Now
,
would you kindly get off my
desk?
”

“Alright, alright,” she snapped
hopping off the desk and strolling around his office.
  “Don’t blow a gasket
,
Winston.  Geeze
, it
was just an idea.”

“
And
a poor one at that.  Now if you’ll excuse me.”

Bridget continued to stroll around his office, looking at pictures and handling objects she had no business touching. 

“So Winston, what do you do for fun?” she asked, picking up an antique glass paperweight that had
a gold scale
of justice inside. 

It had belonged to his great grandfather and been handed down through the generations.
 
Reaching across the desk, Dell snatched it out of her hand and carefully set it back down out of her reach.  Her green eyes looked at him curiously before she shrugged her shoulders and continued.

“Fun Winston, do you know what that is?”

The question caught him off guard.  What did he do for fun?

Bridget was standing in front of a large bookcase with her head back, studying the top row.  Her honey hair cascaded almost to her waist in this position and Dell swallowed hard.

“I don’t have much time for
frivolous
pursuits
, Ms. O’Malley.  What do you want to know?”

“I don’t know
,” Bridget
replied.  “
What
do you do on your time
off?
  Do you like football?  Do you ever go out partying?”

“Partying?”

“You know, drinking and dancing,” she elaborated, moving her little hips in a
sexy faux dance.

“I do not party.  I occasionally enjoy a brandy with my father.  I am not interested in sports.  Mostly I spend
my free time
taking care of chores and studying for my bar exam.  Now if there is nothing else you want to know, I would appreciate it if you let me get back to work.”

Bridget walked over behind his desk and dropped her apple core in trash can
.
  Leaning over him she slid her arms around his neck from behind and whispered in his ear.

“You know what they say about all work and no play
,
Winston,” she sighed, gently biting his ear.  “I think I might just have to take you out and show you how the rest of the world lives.”

“I hardly think that’s appropriate
,
Ms. O’Malley.  We have absolutely not
hing in common,” he stammered
,
sliding on
e finger inside his collar as though
it had become too tight.  H
is face
was red
,
his heart pounding.

“Oh, I’ll bet we could find something in common,” she replied with a grin and she slipped into her jacket and walked slowly out of the room.

Watching her walk away in those skin
tight
jeans almost made putting up with her nonsense worth it, Dell thought.