10 Days Ch. 02

Sunday was an early start for Sean. Lunchtime was the busiest time for the restaurant at the pub. It was also the reason why they hadn't gone dancing.

Rising with the dawn he walked the mile and a half into the village as the locals were heading for morning service. He ignored the curious glances that came his way as he walked in the opposite direction from the church. The memories of the previous evening played over in his mind, bringing with it a smile to his face.

They had both been nervous but had quickly fallen into the easy way that they had been with each other all their lives. They had talked about everything and yet nothing of earth shattering consequence. It was unlike any first date interview. They knew most things about each other. As dinner was ending Mary Brenna had yawned and they had decided to forego the dancing and head home. Outside Mary Brenna's cottage they had sat in the car making out. It was turned two when a reluctant Mary Brenna went into the cottage.

The pub was silent as he entered the kitchen door through the beer garden. Time passed easily as he set the roast joints in the ovens and a large corned beef on the stove. The winter vegetables were prepared in readiness to be cooked closer to lunch time. Finally he started the pastry for the apple pies. The apples were local and had been pre cooked and frozen during harvest.

It was just after eleven when Mahraid made her entrance. She growled at her brother as she helped herself to the pot of coffee that was always on the go.

"So how did the date go?" Sean bristled at hearing his sister refer to last night as the date.

"That good was it?" Mahraid laughed. "Mary Brenna was hurling her stomach for all it was worth when I called around to her cottage after service."

Sean wore a look of concern.

"Don't worry yourself now, she says that she must have caught chill or it could have been the seafood cocktail that she had for dinner last night. For sure, she'll be a right as the rain tonight, you'll see. So was the food at the Colleen good on the date."

"Would you stop calling it that!" yelled Sean.

Mahraid jumped at the shout. "Stop calling it what, the date?"

Mahraid was smiling brightly. She was funning him and Sean was becoming angrier by the second.

Suddenly she was serious. "Sean, does Mary Brenna know about your cancer?"

Sean closed his eyes and then nodded. "That she does."

Mahraid hadn't braved bringing up Sean's illness

"Then why by everything that is holy did you ask her out?"

"I didn't."

Mahraid quickly recovered. Mary Brenna had asked her brother on the date. Mahraid was now looking at this from a new light. She needed to talk to her friend and find out why she was playing her brother. More seriously, why she was two timing her sick brother with a Dubliner.

"Do you need a hand in here?"

Sean shook his head. He was in control. Siobhan and Marie Heggarty would be waiting tables as they did every Sunday.

She turned and headed for the door through to the bar. She stopped.

"Are we having dinner together after closing?"

"Of course." Sean's tone indicated that he had no other intention.

Mahraid was smiling as she entered the bar. Out of sight she hurried through to the small office behind the bar. She dialled Mary Brenna's number from memory. There was no answer. There wasn't enough time to go over to Mary Brenna's cottage. She would visit her friend after lunch with Sean. If Mary Brenna didn't confess to her brother then she was of the mind to set him straight.

Mahraid was scared for her brother. They had looked out for each other and he would need her now more than he ever had. It had always been Sean taking care of her.

Mary O'Rourke put her arm around her youngest daughter. Mary Brenna had been waiting on the door step for her to return from service. That in itself had sent a chill down her spine but there were also tears in her youngest daughter's eyes as she waited for her mother to unlock the cottage.

"Child, the world is not ending, that I know, so whatever it is it can't be as bad as all that?"

"You'll hate me!"

"That will never happen." Mary shelved her worries.

"I think I'm pregnant."

Mary Brenna explained how she had been sick the past four mornings.

"Have you taken a pregnancy test?" Mary ignored the emotional turmoil going on inside. Her daughter needed her common sense.

Mary Brenna shook her head. "I'm too scared."

"My God child, it's too late to be scared. You either are pregnant or you aren't. There's no middle ground. Go up to the bathroom."

Mary Brenna reappeared ten minutes later. Mary could see by her blood shot eyes that the test was positive. Mary Brenna collapsed when she felt her mother's arms around her.

"Sean will need to be told."

"I can't, I just can't. Not now."

Mary pulled her daughter closer. "Sean is a very understanding man. I'm sure that he..."

"This was Sean's last chance Ma. You know how he is with the kids and that he has always wanted children of his own. The treatment could make him infertile."

"Oh Lord, have mercy on the poor boy."

"What do I do?"

"Sickness or no sickness you have to tell him."

"I can't. I just can't."

Sean peered through the kitchen window when Mary Brenna didn't answer the door. The kitchen door was locked and there was no sign of her. He had called the cottage several times but the telephone had gone unanswered. Turning away from the cottage he started walking to the beach. Mary Brenna waited until he was out of site before she stepped from her hiding place.

Starting to cross the road Mary Brenna saw Mahraid's Mini approaching at speed. She didn't want to talk to Sean's sister but knew that Mahraid had spotted her and that she could runaway and hide.

"Get in!"

Mary Brenna climbed into the passenger seat. Mahraid's car was small and they were close together.

"Why did you lie to Sean about the Dubliner?" Sean had mentioned that Mary Brenna had been courting a solicitor in Dublin but had ended it a couple of weeks earlier.

"I have to finish with Sean so it doesn't matter anymore." Mahraid felt her fury rush through her veins.

"I warned you. I told you that I would hunt you down if you hurt him."

"I'm pregnant."

The words sliced through the atmosphere in the car. Mahraid was struck silent. The two had talked enough for Mahraid to know that Mary Brenna had slept with several guys.

"Get out. Get out before I tear you apart." Mahraid was livid.

"I didn't know. You have to believe me."

"I don't. Now get out of my car and stay the hell away from my brother. He doesn't need the likes of you around. Not now."

"Mahraid, please, don't tell him about this."

"I have no intention of telling him." Mahraid saw faint hope in Mary Brenna's eye. "Don't even think about thanking me because I'm not doing it for you; I'm doing it for Sean."

Mary Brenna opened the door. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it," Mahraid answered bitterly. "Stay away from him, you hear?"

Although Monday was a day off for Sean he was putting together the recipes for the soup for the committee meeting that evening. The horse racing committee had a liking for broth and thick slices of baked ham or corned beef on soda bread. The tiny kitchen of the ex-fisherman's cottage was filled with the aroma of the soup and baking ham when he heard a knock on the door. Opening the door he was faced with Mary O'Rourke and Katie, Mary Brenna's sister.

"May we come in?" asked Mary O'Rourke. Sean moved to one side to let them inside.

As she walked through to the kitchen Mary glanced through into the parlour. A bottle of poitin stood on the table. There was some comfort knowing that it was untouched. The conversation ahead would be hard.

"Would you be making tea?" asked Mary.

"It was my thinking to do so," Sean answered. He lit the stove and placed the kettle on the burner.

"So what bring you around here this afternoon?" Nervous glances were exchanged.

"Mary Brenna has gone away."

"Gone? What do you mean she's gone? Gone where?" Sean finally saw the letter in Mary's grasp.

Mary O'Rourke had been a second mother to him. He had talked to her about things he could raise with his own mother. When they talked it was with the understanding that Mary had no secrets from his mother. It was also with the understanding that her own family came first.

Mary placed the letter on the table.

"You can take that with you. I'll not be reading it."

Mary looked at Sean. "If you don't want to read it then that's your choice but I'll not be taking it with me."

Sean tended the bar during the early part on the evening. The soup was on a low light in the kitchen and he had made three trays filled with sandwiches. The first of the committee members started to arrive just after six-thirty. Sean kept himself busy so he didn't have to think too much.

Mahraid appeared just before seven and informed Sean that there was a phone call for him in the office. It was the hospital. There was a look of worry on his face when he returned.

"That was the hospital administrator. They brought my appointment forward to tomorrow."

"That's a good thing, right?" She saw the look of uncertainty in her brother's eyes.

"I don't think so."

Sean could make out a figure in the darkness. It was vague. He could make out the silhouette against the glow from the streetlights.

"I thought that was you." He recognised Katie's voice before he saw her clearly. She was dressed warmly in her heavy wool uniform winter coat.

"Who else would be out on a stinking night like this?"

"Well, I can think of two people," laughed Katie.

"I take it that you were looking for me?"

Katie nodded. "I was just heading to the hospital and wanted to know how you were."

Sean wondered is Mahraid had called Katie.

"I'm good, but you know that that is a lie." Katie stopped walking.

"I spoke with one of the nurse administrators at the hospital. She told me that your treatment had been brought forward."

Sean was looking out across the bay.

"You are in good hands Sean. I know the nursing staff in the department. They are the best in the hospital." Katie made a mental note to visit him at the end of her shift.

"Where have you parked?" Katie nodded back where she had come.

"I'll walk you to your car."

"That's gentlemanly of you Sean and not out of your way either." Katie nudged him with her shoulder. She felt the weight of his form through the heavy coat.

Sean was tired of after the number of tests that he had endured through the afternoon. The evening meal consisting of thin slices of roast beef with mashed potatoes and cabbage and a dish of pink blancmange did little to make him more comfortable.

"Knock...Knock." Katie entered the small private room. The ward consisted of ten private rooms, with one patient in each room. A sister and three nurses were on duty at all times.

Sean smiled at hearing the familiar voice.

"How are you doing?" Katie didn't need to hear his answer. Sean was like the hundred other patients in the hospital, only, Katie knew him personally.

"You don't need to answer that."

Katie moved to stand next to the bed. Sean moved across to let her sit down.

"Members of staff are not allowed to sit on the bed."

Sean gave her a sad smile. Katie touched his hand as it lay immobile on the bed. There was a strange look in her eyes as she turned away and walked back to the door.

"I'll be back in two minutes."

Alone Sean wondered what was happening. When the door reopened Katie stepped into the room. Closing the door she pulled the small curtain across the door. She turned and looked at him. She walked to the side of the bed. Katie dropped her hands to her waist and started to pull up her uniform skirt.

"What are you doing?"

"We have ten minutes in which to fuck each other's brains out Sean Danaher."

Katie hooked her thumbs through the waist of her knickers and pulled then down her legs. She kicked them away. Grabbing the bed covers she pulled them off the bed. She shoved her hands through the open fly of his pyjamas. She grasped his cock in her right hand.

"Katie, we shouldn't be doing this." Her hands went to his cock.

"There's nothing else that we should be doing right now." Her fingers would reach around his hardening cock. She felt the soft skin in her hand and the heat as she pumped his cock.

"I'd love to give you a blowjob but there no time." Katie knew that it would be a waste. She was at her most fertile. If this was to happen she had only a few days.

Katie climbed up onto the bed and straddled him. Sean saw her pussy for the first time. It was neatly trimmed revealing her slick, moist and puffy slit.

"Next time we will make love but right now I need this." Katie grasped his hard cock. She held it firmly and moved her hips until she felt the cockhead part her outer lips. She had slept with one of the junior doctors at the hospital. She didn't repeat the mistake as she didn't want a reputation.

"Have mercy on my soul for what I'm about to receive." Katie impaled herself on his cock. She held herself as the pain wracked her body.

Sean put his hands on her hips and held her steady. Katie's eyes were closed as she slammed down upon him. The expression on her face told its own story. He waited until her face relaxed. As she pushed herself up he pushed his hips down into the bed. When just the head of his cock was between her lips he slammed upwards. Katie met his thrust. The air exploded from her lungs. They were into a rhythm as Sean pounded her cunt with his cock with Katie meeting each thrust.

"I'm cumming...."

"Don't you dare, pull out."

Sean felt his balls tighten. He slammed into Katie and then held her down as he shot his cum deep inside her pussy. Katie collapsed across the bed.

"Sean, in the name of Kathleen Bridie O'Rourke I lay claim to your cock."

Sean let out a breathless laugh.

"What, just like that?"

"Yes, just like that."

"OK."

Katie pushed herself up as she felt his cock soften and fall out. She climbed off the bed and started to straighten the bed covers.

"Shit, where are my knickers?" Sean started to laugh.

"I should let you explain to the cleaners in the morning when they find a pair of knickers in your room."

Katie found her cotton knickers under the bed. She quickly pulled them on and straightened her uniform. Leaning over the bed they kissed.

"Usually I get kissed before I get my brain scrambled."

Katie kissed him again.

"That's for next time."