Mickey - The View From Here PART TWO - Gallavich

The Joy of Family

We gulped back our drinks before heading back outside. Tammy wanted to check on Fred, who was peacefully slumbering under the shade of the canopy of his baby carriage. I watched as she bent over to gaze at him, smile as wide as I’ve ever seen it, before a particular tone in my husband’s voice hit my ear.

“We’re fine!” Ian stressed to his older sister as she cornered him by the grill.

“Are you, though?” Fiona pressed him. “Are you still takin' your meds?”

I was already on my way over to diffuse the situation. Ian, like many, many people who are afflicted by mental heath struggles, hated that question. It was akin to, “you’re not acting how I think you should. You must be neglecting your medication, you fucking nutcase.”

Only I was allowed to ask Ian such a question, and that was only because I had proved to be asking out of concern and to assist him. Anyone else mentioning his medication risked accidentally insulting him.

By the time I reached his side, Ian was rubbing his eyelids with frustration. “Yes. Of course I am.”

“…Just checking,” Fiona replied, showing her palms defenselessly.

To Ian, I quietly inquired what was amiss.

Glaring at his older sister, a woman that had been more of a mother to him than their actual mother, Ian looked like he wanted to spit with rage. “She wants to take Franny.”

My defenses shot up as I turned to her for answers. “Take her where?”

“Away from us, Mick,” Ian emphasized.

Before I could spout off at the mouth, Fiona tried to explain herself. “I’m sure you guys are doing a great job, but,” she chuckled, “come on. You don’t want this responsibility. Live your young 20s. I wish I could’ve. So, let me help. It’s not like I don’t have experience. Raisin’ six kids, it gave me a lot of practice.”

“I don’t think you can say you raised six of us. Liam wasn’t even ten when you took off,” Ian reminded her pointedly.

Shame fell over Fiona as she retreated her gaze to her shoes. “That’s real nice, Ian. Encourage me to leave, then never let me live it down.”

With a long sigh, Ian stared off in thought before he came back around to the subject at hand. “We can handle Franny. She likes livin’ with us. She’s even teachin’ Mickey how to read.”

“Fuck off,” I retorted before rambling, “why does everybody think I can’t read?”

“Bein’ a guardian is tough. Especially when the real parent is M.I.A,” Fiona pressed.

“Oh, stop acting like you’re trying to help us,” Ian snapped. “What did you just say before Mickey came out here?”

“Ian,” she scolded, hoping to deter him from continuing.

Ian turned to me and explained, “apparently, we’re toxic together and shouldn’t subject a child to our ‘fucked up, violent sham of a marriage.’ Franny’s not safe with us.”

I won’t lie, that stung a little.

“And you’d know all about sham marriages, wouldn’t you, Fi?” Ian sneered.

She narrowed her big, brown eyes at him, taken aback. “I really am tryin’ to help. Why are you being such an asshole?”

Ian threw his hands in the air. Wasn’t it obvious? “You’re trying to take our kid away!”

The other Gallaghers and company fell silent, all attention now on Fiona and Ian.

With sympathy brimming her gaze with tears, Fiona stated a truth he already knew. “She’s not your kid, Ian.”

Before my husband could respond, I nodded my head. “You’re right. She’s our niece. Family. We love her like our own, protect her like our own. She’s happy with us. And we’re happy to have her around.” I paused, debating if I should continue. “The truth is, Franny doesn’t remember you. But she knows us. She knows she’s safe with us.”

Fiona nearly laughed in my face. “Safe? How safe was she when you got jumped? How safe is she around the fucking Milkoviches?’

Being pushed too far, I snapped back, tapping my nose before I tilted my head toward Liam. “Safer than with you. You know what’s crazy? He’s still the smartest fucker out of all of you. It’s a full-on miracle he doesn’t have brain damage from all that coke you left out for him.”

To this, my sister-in-law, fuckin' Fiona, punched me in the face with all her might.