Work Text:
Normal People - Moving On
Connell Waldron drove as fast as he could to the hospital in Sligo. Marianne Sheridan sat in the passenger seat, her nose broken, blood on her face and t-shirt, her eyes puffy and red rimmed from crying and from the pain.
“It’s going to be alright,” Connell said. “Cause I love you.”
And she knew he did, knew it with all her heart because she loved him more than anyone in the world.
The broken nose was all Alan’s fault, her idiot brother. She had come home from Connell’s place, the memory of a bad encounter between the two fresh in her mind, and she blamed herself for causing him to recoil from her. She should have known he wasn’t the type of man who would indulge her desires to be treated badly in bed. She had never asked him for that in the past and she knew why. He would never do anything to degrade her, even for his or her own sexual gratification. Even though he had treated their love making as a big secret and seemed embarrassed their friends would find out, well that was one thing. Asking him to physically degrade her another altogether.
And then at home as she was still filled with all these doubts and feelings her brother came at her and he was drunk, mouthing off about her staying away from Connell, and he threw a beer bottle at her and chased her to her room and then when she tried to close the door, he had slammed it into her nose.
She felt the bone break and the blood flow and the sharp searing pain coursed through her whole face and head. She had cried, she had gasped in pain…and no one had said a thing, not her brother or her mother. No one had tried to help her, said it would be alright, suggested she go to the emergency room, or cared to even offer to help her to clean up.
So she had called him. And of course he came. She knew he would.
“How did it happen?” he asked as they drove into Sligo.
And so she told him and he nodded and seemed to believe her. “Right. So…they will ask questions. Been in a scrape once with a lad after drinking and had to come here for stitches. They had me fill out a form and all that and explain what happened. And a member of the Guards asked about it and all I told was this fellow came at me and I defended myself and he ran off…which was mostly true.”
She was shocked at what he was suggesting. “I can’t tell them my brother hit me. I don’t want him to get into trouble.”
“Maybe its time he did get into trouble. Fucking bully.”
“No, Connell…please.”
“Well, he didn’t actually hit you, it was a door that hit you. Just say it was an accident and all will be well.”
And that’s what they told the doctor in the emergency room as he took care of her nose with a split and bandages. No need for an X-ray he said as he could feel the break and she cried out in pain. A nurse gave Connell the evil eye for a moment, and he knew they wondered if he had hit her.
“And you are?” the nurse asked as Connell did the paperwork while Marianne was being taken care of.
“Just a friend,” Connell said. “She called me for help.”
“And why didn’t her own family drive her here?”
“You’ll have to ask them. You want their number so you can call and confirm all I said?”
She shook her head. “We already have the home number from the insurance. And we do not directly follow up on such cases but do report them to social services and the authorities, so the Guards might be asking them and maybe you about it. Assaulting a woman is…”
“It wasn’t him,” Marianne said from behind him, her face now a mask of bandages. “There was no assault. My brother slammed a door and I was in the way. It was an accident. That’s all.”
The nurse gave her a look of sympathy mixed with pity as if she had heard this a thousand times before. “Sweetheart if this man has hit you, or anyone has hit you, we can help you.”
“No…he has never hit me,” Marianne said, a fact that was certainly true. “In fact he is my knight in shining armor right now. And if you fuckers try to make a thing of this my mother will sue you all. Denise Sheridan’s her name and a top solicitor she is. Now, where do I sign so I can get my drugs and go home?”
A half hour later they pulled up to Connell’s house he shared with his mother. “You can’t go back home tonight,” he said to Marianne as they drove away from the hospital. “You’ll stay with us.”
“In your room?” she asked in a slurred voice. The painkillers they had given her were already working.
“You take my bed. I’ll sleep on the sofa.”
“So gallant. You don’t have to. We can share.”
“Well, I think we need to talk on things when you’re better. About us I mean. About the future. And besides in that little narrow bed I am bound to hit you on the nose at some point. Can’t be having you screaming and waking up half the neighborhood.”
“I am feeling no pain right now.”
“Let’s hope that feeling lasts till it heals.”
He called his mother Lorraine and told her what had happened and that they were on the way. She greeted them at the door and although not too surprised she couldn’t control her look of shock when she saw Marianne’s heavily bandaged nose and the blood on her clothes.
“God, sweetheart!” she said. “Come in, come in and we’ll get you sorted.”
She helped Marianne into the kitchen and sat her down at the table. “Let’s get you out of those bloody clothes first,” Lorraine said. “Connell, go to my room and get a fresh t-shirt and a pair of my track pants will you.
After Connell left Marianne let out a sob. “I’m sorry, Lorraine, to be a bother….”
“Hush now, it’s no bother. I’ve taken care of more than a few cuts and bruises on my son over the years.”
“Thank you for being so kind.”
“Now who wouldn’t be kind to you? Come on now and stand up and get out of them clothes so I can put them in the wash and see if we can get them blood stains out. Don’t be shy.”
Marianne stood and Lorraine helped her out of her clothes and then put them in the washing machine as Connell reappeared and handed Marianne fresh clothes which she quickly put on.
“Put the kettle on Connell,” Lorraine said as she started up the washing machine. Connell filled the electric kettle with water and turned it on.
In a short while they had steaming cups of tea in hand as they sat at the table and Connell and Marianne filled her in on all that had happened.
“So it was an accident?” Lorraine said.
“Yes, and no,” Connell said.
“Let her tell it, son.”
“Right, sorry.”
Marianne sighed. “It was an accident. But first we had an argument. He was drunk, and mad, about me coming over here…and about me and you Connell…and what people were saying about us in town.”
“What are they saying?” Lorraine asked and then when she saw the looks on their faces she knew. “Christ almighty. As if that was any of their business. Half of them wish they were in your shoes. Bloody idiots. And your brother is no saint, I am sorry to say. Drunken lout.”
“Aye, he is at that,” Connell said. “I’m sorry, but I don’t want you going back there.”
“Not sure I ever want to go back there,” Marianne said in a resigned tone.
“Well, you stay here for tonight,” Lorraine said. “We’ll talk in the morning and see how you feel.”
“She can stay in my room and I’ll take the sofa," Connell said.
“Yes, good,” said his mother. “I’ll go put some fresh sheets on your bed, Connell. You two stay and talk.”
They were silent for a while after she left and finally Marianne spoke. “I’m sorry about today.”
“I am too.”
“You did nothing wrong.”
“I just feel…we shouldn’t have pushed so fast so soon.”
“I know. But I can’t stand being around you Connell…I can’t stand it. All day as you watched the football match on TV all I could think about was us together. I just want to kiss you and make love to you all day long.”
He smiled. “That’s the painkillers talking.”
“No…I’ve felt like this for years.”
He sighed. “Same here. Guess we’re terrible as ‘just friends’.”
She laughed a bit and it hurt her nose despite the painkillers but she pressed on. “Just friends won’t work for us. I thought I was over you. I thought I could forget and move on. And then I saw you at Gareth’s party…and it all came back.”
“I guess later on Gareth regretted ever inviting me.”
“No, he was good about it when he found out about us. But with me and him it was never like you and me. There’s too much…passion…between us.”
“Aye.” He held her hand. “Come back to Dublin with me. Tomorrow. Or when you feel up to it.”
She thought for a long moment and then nodded. “Yes. And this time we will make it work. I can’t be apart from you anymore.”
He smiled and bent to her and kissed her cheek. And they held hands and stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment. And finally he spoke. “And what will you tell them?”
She shrugged. “What does it matter? They care not a bit for me. And I have enough money I never have to see them again. My father made sure I was protected and taken care of.”
“That’s good. But I think you best tell them what’s up.”
“I…oh, crap.”
“What?”
“My laptop is there…my phone charger…my clothes. Shit.”
“Well, we can pick all that up.”
“What if he’s there?”
“He’ll never touch you again.”
“You threatened him, didn’t you?”
“Yes. Sorry, but he needed someone to tell him to leave you be. Bullies never stop until someone stops them.”
She sniffed and nodded. “Thank you.”
Lorraine came back then. “All set. I made up the sofa as well for you Connell. So, I think we all need a bit of rest.”
They said goodnight and went their separate ways. As Marianne and his mother went upstairs Connell heard his mother say. “It will all work out, you’ll see. Things will look better in the morning.”
But things did not get better in the morning. They were sitting to breakfast when Marianne’s phone chimed to life. A message.
“My mother,” she told them with a heavy sigh. “Demanding I come home right away.”
“Best answer her, pet,” Lorraine said.
“What should I tell her?”
“The truth seems appropriate,” Connell said.
Marianne nodded and picked up her phone and went to the living room and sat on the sofa where Connell had slept last night. She could still feel his warmth on the sheets and his smell in the air.
She called her mother.
“What the hell is going on Marianne?” her mother shouted at her.
“Oh, I’m fine mother, not to worry, thank you very much. I just have a broken nose!”
Silence. “You went to hospital I see.”
“Yes. Connell took me and I stayed at his place for the night.”
“Look, Marianne….the Guards were here.”
That shook her. “Why?”
“About the report you gave at the hospital.”
“I told them the truth. It was an accident.”
“Yes, so the officer said. Just following up. And the officer said she wants to speak to you.”
“I left my cell number at the hospital. I am sure she will call.”
"I told her you might be at Connell's house."
"Fine. Well...is that it?"
Her mother sighed. “Alan…you don’t understand how much easier you have it than him.”
“You said that before. And that’s no excuse for him bullying me and throwing a beer bottle at me and breaking my fucking nose!!!”
“By accident!”
“Yes! And you did nothing! I had to call Connell to get help!”
More silence. “Just…tell the Guards the truth. And then come home.”
“I am coming home. To get my things and go back to Dublin.”
“With him I suppose?”
“Yes…he loves me. And I him.”
“He left you before. Don’t deny it, I know the story. Is that love? Really?”
“You are one to talk about abandonment mother.”
Silence again. “Maybe it is best we are not here when you come. We’ll be gone till noon. Take your things and go.”
And then she hung up.
As Marianne took all this in Connell came to the living room door. “Is everything all right?”
“No. Sorry, but…”
Then the doorbell rang. “Who’s that on a Sunday morning?” Connell asked and Marianne knew who it would be.
Connell opened the door as his mother and Marianne stood behind him. It was the police, the Guards, just one, a young blond woman in uniform.
“Good morning,” she said. “Officer Tammy O’Shea. Are you Connell Waldron?”
“Yes. What is this concerning?”
“About an incident you reported at the hospital in Sligo last night dealing with an injury to Marianne Sheridan.”
“Right.”
“Is Miss Sheridan here?”
“Yes. Come in.”
After introductions were made and tea offered and politely declined they sat in the living room.
The officer spoke first. “Now, Miss Sheridan in the hospital report you claimed you were trying to close your bedroom door and your brother was trying to enter at the same time and the door struck you with force and caused your injury?”
“That’s correct,” Marianne said.
“Yes. And why was he trying to enter your room with such force to cause your nose to break?”
Marianne sighed. “We had an argument and I was trying to just get away from him but he had more to say. As I was closing the door he was trying to open it.”
“May I ask what you argued about?”
“About Connell here,” Marianne said. “We’ve been seeing each other off and on for a while. My brother disapproves.”
“I see,” Officer O’Shea said as she wrote something on a small paper pad. She looked at Connell. “And Mr. Waldron, why did you take her to hospital?”
“She called me. I came and saw what had happened and knew she might have a broken nose. So I took her.”
“Did no one in your family examine you or think you should go to hospital Miss Sheridan?”
“No. No one. No one even cared,” Marianne said in a quiet voice. “That’s why I called Connell.”
O’Shea seemed to think not well of this but said nothing and pressed on. “Okay. And one more thing, Mr. Waldron. Did you make any threats against Alan Sheridan?”
“What? Ah, well…I told him to leave her alone and never touch her again. Is that a threat?”
“I spoke to Mr. Sheridan a short while ago. He implied you threatened him with physical harm.”
“Don’t answer that Connell,” his mother said as she looked sternly at the officer. “Implied? Did he straight out say Connell threatened him with physical harm? Does Alan have any marks on him? Does Alan have a broken nose like his sister?”
“No,” the officer replied. “Let me quote him.” She looked at her pad and flipped a page. “Quote. ‘You lot better keep an eye on that nutter Waldron cause he is a psycho and likes to use his fists to solve problems.’ End quote.”
“Jesus,” Marianne said.
“The coward,” Lorraine said in disgust. “The lies. Look, officer, my son hasn’t been in trouble in ages, not since he was a boy. He’s not a nutter.”
“I know,” O’Shea answered. “We checked into it. No record, no complaints, nothing at all. In fact, your son seems to be the only one who acted with any sense in this matter.”
“You’re not wrong there,” Lorraine said.
O’Shea flipped her pad closed.
“Is that it?” Connell asked.
“Yes,” she said. And then she looked at Marianne. “Unless you wish to file a formal complaint against your brother?”
“No, I don’t. It was an accident.”
O’Shea stood. “Well. I think this matter is at a close. Thank you for your time.”
They said goodbye to her and then she was gone.
“Well, that’s done,” said Lorraine with relief. She looked at Marianne. “Now…did you talk to your mother?”
“Yes. She won’t be in the house all morning,” Marianne said. “Best we go now and get my things.”
“Right,” Connell said as he got the car keys.
They drove to Marianne’s house and went inside to her room. She changed into her own clothes, a t-shirt and jeans, and Connell helped her gather her things and load them in the car. As they stood outside Marianne looked at the house and sighed.
“Will I ever be back?” she wondered.
Connell put his arm around her shoulders. “Someday maybe. You’ll make things right.”
She nodded. “Let’s go.”
Back at Connell’s house they relaxed for a while and then prepared to go back to Dublin. Marianne’s clothing from the night of the accident were now blood stain free and she took them and packed them as well.
After lunch Lorraine made tearful goodbyes and told them to not be strangers and come visit as much as they could.
“And you are always welcome in Dublin,” Marianne told her. “Your son may live in a single dorm room but I’ve got plenty of room so don’t worry about that.”
Lorraine smiled. “Well, I might just see you every weekend now. Any college parties planned soon?”
They laughed a bit at that and then after hugs and kisses they drove off.
As they left the town and made it to the highway to Dublin one more thing was on Marianne’s mind.
“About what I asked from you…when we were having sex. I think we need talk on that.”
“Okay.” He seemed tense.
“I know you know I…indulged in some unusual sex practices with others.”
“Yes. You came right out and told me.”
“And I know that is not who you are.”
“Well, sorry, but it isn’t.”
“I know. And what we have is very special and intense in its own way. I was not kidding when I said sex with you is not like with other people. Ever.”
“I can agree on that.”
“So…I think we can put that other stuff aside and move on and be who we are without that hanging over our heads.”
He nodded. “I think so as well. But I don’t want to be selfish. I don’t want to deny you what you want.”
“Thanks. But I think now it is not something I wanted. I think now I did it to feel…anything…for these others…who were not you. And I think I confused it with love…which it wasn’t at all. And in some ways I felt like I deserved to be punished.”
“You don’t deserve that.”
“I know.”
“You deserve happiness like everyone else.”
“And I think I have that with you once more. Just promise me one thing.”
“Anything.”
“Never leave me again.”
He suddenly pulled the car over to the side of the road. Connell looked at her and spoke. “I love you and always have and always will. And I promise I will do all I can to make you the happiest person in the world.”
She felt a tear fall and she kissed him gently and nodded. “As I you, my love. I love you so much.”
After a few moments of hugging and silence Connell finally spoke. “So, Miss Sheridan. What are our plans for today?”
She laughed a bit. “Well Mr. Waldron. I think we need to get to Dublin.”
“Right you are. Moving on. Dublin here we come.”
And after a laugh he pulled the car back onto the highway and pointed it in the direction of Dublin and their future.