Linda's Story

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Linda screwed her lips into a contemplative pout, deciding what she should make for dinner. She was honestly getting very tired of cooking meals- the same thing over and over again. Meat and potatoes, meat and potatoes; didn't the boys eat anything else? (And by boys, she meant her children and her husband).

"Linda O'Shea?"

She turned to the voice, not recognizing the man in front of her. "Reagan."

"Oh. Do you know where I can find Linda O'Shea?"

"Oh, no. It's Linda O'Shea. I'm Linda O'Shea. Not anymore, though, cause I'm married. Who are you?" She should've asked that question first.

"Don't you recognize me?" He was tall with a darker skin and dark hair. She pegged him as someone from the Mediterranean; he definitely looked Italian.

"I think the question who are you assumes the fact that I don't know you." She crossed her arms and shifted her weight on one foot.

"I'm Mario."

"Lemme guess. You have a brother named Luigi?" Why am I being snarky?

"No. I'm Mario. I'm your Dad."

Linda was taken aback for a few moments. She gestured with her finger as she spoke. "No. No, my father's tall and Italian and a really, really big dickhead. And besides, his name's Tony."

"Right. But I'm your birth father."

She stepped back again, knocking into the display case. She looked behind her, then flicked her hair out of her eyes. Crossing her arms, she regained composure. "No you're not. You're just some... creep. Excuse me."

She pushed passed him, and he grabbed her arm. He hated how he saw fear in her eyes. "Linda, I am your father."

She yanked her arm away. "Stop it, stop it now. It's not funny anymore." She attempted to move past him again, but he grabbed her. Every instinct in her was screaming to get away, but her feet wouldn't move. They stayed glued to the white tile floor.

"I know everything about you. Where you live, who you associate with, where you work... I know it all."

Against Linda's better judgement, she let him steer her to a restroom. She should be running, screaming, kicking, anything but going with him.

"I know all about you, Linda Rose O'Shea Reagan," he said her name slowly, circling her in the small room. "I know you work at Saint Victor's Hospital as a trauma nurse. I know you're married to a detective and have two kids together. I know you lost your first kid. I know your father abused you, and I know a fellow named Jack Boyle also abused you."

Linda shook her head; her heart rate was rising, her head was spinning, and the walls were closing in. She wanted to say something snappy, something snarky as she fled the bathroom, but her voice wouldn't move past the lump in her throat.

She swallowed and ran out of the bathroom, then tried to act as though nothing happened. She didn't get half of what she needed because of the scary man.

**********

"You must do something with this place!"

Danny curled his fingers into a fist. Boy, he wanted to hit her square in the nose. "I don't recall inviting you in, Marni."

Marni took a sip of the drink she had fixed for herself. "Nobody invites me in. I come and go when I want."

He was about to say something when the front door opened and Linda walked in. She looked like she had seen a ghost. "Linda?"

She flinched when someone touched her, but relaxed when she saw that it was just Danny.

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"You really need to learn how to use bronzer, dear," Marni spoke up, surprising the younger woman.

"Mom?" Linda walked in front of Danny. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I just stopped by for a visit to see my only daughter," she fluffed her hair, her cheap bangles clacking against each other.

"I have an older sister, remember Wendy? Tall, blonde, better than me in every way?"

Danny frowned; Linda was better then Wendy. Wendy was just like her mother, only she made it seem more glamorous.

"I meant my last daughter."

"You're not welcomed here." She crossed her arms in defense.

"What is your problem?" Marni snapped, slapping her thigh for emphasis.

"Problem? Oh, I don't know. It could be the fact that you're a whore!"

"Linda!" Danny was surprised at his wife. Yes, she didn't have a deep or even a nice connection with her parents, but she never called them names.

"It's true! She's a hooker- an over the hill hooker who, apparently, had sex with some guy named Mario."

Marni slowed her movements, bringing her hands away from her hair. "M- Mario?"

"That's right. Tall, dark, and handsome? Apparently, he's my birth father! Did Tony even know about it? Hm? Did he know you were having an affair?"

"Linda-"

"So he didn't know. You let him believe I was his all those years. Why?"

"Our marriage... wasn't the greatest. If he knew you were another man's baby.... I don't know what he would've done to me. To us."

Linda's anger started to melt away. Her mother was right- Tony probably would have beat her, possibly killing the baby. She sat down next to her Mom, "I understand now. But why didn't you tell me? After Tony left, I mean."

"I didn't want to chance him over hearing."

"You could've told me after he and Jimmy moved away."

"Look.... I know I'm not the best Mom in the world. In fact, I'm probably the worst Mom. And I know I wasn't there for you like you needed me to be, but I did it to protect you. I think Tony already expected you weren't his, which was why he treated you like he did."

"So Wendy is the only one who - she's your only child with Tony."

"Yes."

***********

"Linda?" Danny's voice sounded in the dark. He felt her moving around a lot in her sleep. He sat up, turned the light on to see her already sitting. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just... I had the weirdest dream. I learned that Tony wasn't my real father. Some guy named Mario was my real Dad."

"Mario? Did he have a brother named Luigi?"

She ignored him, "in my dream, Marni told me she didn't tell me that Tony wasn't my Dad because she wanted to protect me."

He studied her face, "the dream really bothered you, didn't it?"

"Yeah..."

He rubbed her shoulder, "it was just a dream, Linda. It didn't really happen."

"It was just... so real, like it could really happen." She moved to get comfortable under the covers, Danny following suit after turning out the light.

He held her as she fell asleep again, wondering why she dreamed about her family. He hoped she could stay asleep without anymore weird, spooky dreams.