Mack Daddy(63)

“It’s your girlfriend’s family album.”

I sat down, staring at the papers. “What are you talking about?”

“Francesca O’Hara is the illegitimate child of Karen O’Hara and Freddie Higgins, a convicted felon currently serving life in a Philadelphia penitentiary for murder.”

“Frankie doesn’t know who her father is. She doesn’t even know his name.”

“There’s a copy of her birth certificate there as well. You can see Frederick Higgins is listed.”

“She was born in Boston not Philly. How do you know this is the same Francesca O’Hara? There are probably many people with that name.”

“Do you really need to question my ability to verify information, Mackenzie? You know I have my ways. This has been authenticated by multiple sources. I can tell you everything you need to know about this girl, whom you’ve thrown away your family for. She currently lives on Cambridge Street in Boston, went to South Boston High School, graduated from Boston University. What else do you want to know? I’ll tell you.”

Filled with dread, I now suspected that there could be truth to this; I just didn’t want to believe it.

“Okay, so what if this guy is her actual birth father? She’s had nothing to do with him. What’s your point? What are you gonna do?”

“I’ll do nothing if you do the right thing, do right by your family. This will stay between us.”

“You’re blackmailing me?”

“If you continue to see her, continue to live your life separately from your family, this could go public—that you’re dating the daughter of a reputed mobster. He’s a convicted murderer, Mack. These people are dangerous.”

“You’re lying. You wouldn’t let this get out. You wouldn’t allow something like this to come out and ruin your precious reputation.”

“You’re missing the point. It’s not my reputation that would be at stake if this came out. It’s Frankie’s life. Do you realize how many people Freddie Higgins must have pissed off? Karen O’Hara had to flee Pennsylvania with her family to protect, not only them, but the life of her newborn child. I don’t think you want to take the risk of this getting out. If these people find out that he has a daughter and figure out her whereabouts, she immediately becomes a target. The crime family of Freddie’s victim is still very much active today. It’s a huge criminal network, spanning from southern New Jersey to northern Philly. In fact, it’s larger today than it was back then. You talk to anyone on the streets there, and they know who Freddie Higgins and Timothy McCabe are. All the information is in that envelope. I wish I could say I was making it up, but I’m not.” He pointed his finger at me. “No one will find out about her connection to Higgins if you stop seeing her and focus on your family.”

“That’s not an option.”

“Then, I do nothing to protect this information.”

“Boy…I always knew you didn’t really give two shits about my well-being, but out of all of the nasty things you’ve ever said or done, this has got to be the lowest.”

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Mackenzie. I didn’t bring this into our lives. You did. So, I’ll let you figure out how you’d like to handle it.”

After my father left, the panic started to really set in. Speechless, I just sat in my kitchen for an indeterminate amount of time. I had no idea what to do. I couldn’t keep this information from Frankie, but at the same time, I felt the need to protect her from it all. I didn’t know if I believed that my father would actually go public with it. It could have been an empty threat, but there was no way to be certain.

On one hand, he was far too vain to let something like this tarnish his reputation. On the other hand, if he didn’t go public with it, he could’ve still let dangerous people know her whereabouts.

Aside from the day I found out Torrie was pregnant, I’d never felt more helpless in my life. I couldn’t even ask anyone for advice, since I didn’t want a single soul to know about this.





Paralyzed by shock, I was still sitting in the same spot in my kitchen nearly an hour later. The only difference was that the small amount of daylight that had been peeking through the window was now replaced by sheer darkness.

When my phone rang, I picked it up, not knowing how to react to her.

“Hi, Frankie.”

“Are you okay?” It amazed me that she could sense that something was off, even though I’d only said two words.

“This move back has been tougher than I thought. I miss you.”

“I miss you, too. I went to visit Mrs. M. today.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. I know you can’t look out for her anymore. So, I stopped by to see if she needed anything.”

“Thank you. That was really nice of you. I appreciate it.”

“She sends you her love and a virtual rum and Coke.”

I thought my life had been difficult before. I would’ve given anything to just go back a month or two, lamenting to Mrs. M. about getting Frankie back. Anything was better than the current dilemma.

“I keep fantasizing about our time in the supply closet,” Frankie said.

I closed my eyes. I would’ve given anything to go back to that moment in time right now, too.