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       #Post#: 3486--------------------------------------------------
       Things Untold { Jack & Colleen Donnelly }
   DIR By: Maggie Flannery
       Date: September 2, 2018, 4:26 am
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       * I'm so so glad you liked God & Monsters! You made my entire
       evening. I'd love to know exactly why Jack's terrified of Helene
       and would love to explore that further between the two of them
       in a thread sometime. Was in a bit of a mushy mood so this is
       the outcome of it.*
       “What’s the one thing you never told me…about yourself?”
       This was a game they’d played since they had gotten together.
       Mostly on rainy evenings or when the house was completely quiet,
       just the two of them in that rambling place at the very end of
       an equally quiet street. The Donnelly’s lived a very quiet
       sedate life, if their neighbors knew exactly what Jack did for a
       living they never let on but nothing he or his wife did ever
       raised suspicion. They went to church on Sundays, donated to
       many local charities, and if they got wind that anyone in the
       neighborhood needed assistance they offered it, no strings
       attached. The only thing that some of the local gossips thought
       was strange was that the couple didn’t have a hoard of small
       Donnelly’s to call their own. They were both Irish and were both
       Good Catholics so what in the world was the hold up?
       There was no pitter patter of tiny feet around this house, no.
       Only the two of them and two supposedly ‘vicious’ guard dogs/bed
       hogs who were currently laying in front of the fireplace at the
       feet of their mistress. They were once Jack’s but when Colleen
       moved in they swore their allegiance to her straight away. Belly
       rubs, ribeyes, and smooches from the dark haired woman went a
       long way. She had tamed Jack so it was no wonder she had tamed
       his canine companions as well. Contrary to what the local
       gossips had said amongst themselves it wasn’t for the lack of
       trying in the children department, no. But they had agreed to
       put off being fruitful, as Colleen called it, until Jack’s
       workload had let up. They currently traveled back and forth to
       Dublin and New York almost monthly at this point and in two
       week’s time a trip to Sierra Leone was on the books. Jack had
       gotten wind of something one of his lesser trusted associates
       was planning, a deal that was shaky from the start and he had
       highly advised the associate to back out of, and had given word
       to the only Ukrainian he truly trusted, Vitaly Orlov, to stay at
       the local resort town with Colleen and Jackie Flannery. Yuri
       Orlov was going to be made an example of what happens when one
       doesn’t follow sound advice and he didn’t even know it yet. But,
       Jack honestly didn't want to dwell on that at the moment. He was
       home and he certainly never brought his work back to the one
       place he felt he could let himself breathe.
       “I knew the minute I met you I was going to marry you.”
       He couldn’t help but smile, he had felt the same way when he had
       spotted her dancing with her best friend Helene that night. He
       often found himself wondering what could have happened had he
       not agreed to go out that night or had never gotten up the
       courage to talk to her. He was genuinely interested in her
       reasoning though. So far they had seven years into their
       marriage so far and he still couldn’t quite understand what she
       saw in him.
       “How’d you know? That you wanted to marry me I mean? Surely it
       must have been the lighting or something. Maybe it was lust at
       first sight?”
       She reached out to thread her fingers between his own and she
       smiled.
       “Not going to lie, there was a smidgen of lust but that came
       after I talked to you. It was like something clicked and someone
       or something, guardian angel perhaps? Just went ‘Yep, there he
       is. Gift wrapped from God straight to you, Colleen Murphy.’  and
       that was it. How about you? Surely there were much better
       looking girls in that club that night. Why me?”
       ‘Because I saw you dance and you seemed like you were free as
       the wind. The house lights danced on your skin like stars and
       you were drunk on life, it was contagious. You had the prettiest
       eyes I’d ever seen and the sweetest smile that gave me hope.’
       Nope. Don’t say that, you’ll be waxing poetic and sound like an
       idiot. His inner voice whispered. His heart wrestled with that
       voice. Did he dare tell her the real reason he had stopped into
       that club? He knew he should but yet he held back. How could he
       tell the woman he loved more than life itself that had he not
       met her it would have been his last night on earth? The guilt
       over his actions had gotten the better of him, the trip to
       Prague hadn’t gone well and had almost ended in a bloodbath but
       it was enough to weigh on him, very deeply. So much so he had
       divvied up all of his possessions and marked them for his loved
       ones and left a note on the side table of the entryway of his
       townhouse before grabbing his jacket and keys to go off in
       search of the nearest bridge. Bullets or razors would have been
       too messy, he had never been one to dabble with any sort of drug
       and he was too careful a driver to stage an accident. So that
       left meeting his maker courtesy of the water.
       “You…gave me hope. The night I met you I was down and out.”
       In his search it had started to pour and he had ducked into the
       club paid the cover charge and waited out the storm. He ordered
       an overpriced gin and tonic which he hadn’t even touched when he
       had spotted Colleen. She had walked by him once before and he
       found her perfume interesting. In a sea of overwhelming fruity
       florals she stuck out, fresh and crisp. Then the more he watched
       her the weight he carried lifted. She smiled at him and tilted
       her head for him to join her and to his own shock he did.
       “But you saved me. It was a cosmic push from something. I’d
       never been out on the dance floor until you wanted me to join
       you.”
       “You’re kidding.”
       “I never had the time.”
       “You had this contagious joy for life that pulled me in, you
       still do. You gave me so much hope that night that I knew that
       you were the one.”
       You literally saved a drowning man.
       Colleen studied him for a moment before she pulled him in close
       for a hug, it was almost like she cradling him from the world.
       It always amazed him how someone so soft and warm could be so
       strong.  Not just in a physically but mentally but yet his
       Colleen had both in spades even if she was a crier. She was his
       enigma, his little piece of heaven on earth.
       “Do you remember the name of the club, Jack?”
       In the recesses of his mind the pink and orange neon sign
       glimmered in his mind as a smile spread across his face and a
       chill went up his spine. It hadn’t dawned on him in years.
       “The Right Place."
       Talk about a cosmic kick on the arse if ever there was one.
       #Post#: 3488--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Things Untold { Jack & Colleen Donnelly }
   DIR By: Wolfy
       Date: September 4, 2018, 2:34 pm
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  HTML https://78.media.tumblr.com/fbaa70005feac393bc3394678898dd78/tumblr_inline_p7slv9QHP21rsud01_250.gif
       This is the sweetest little piece I've read in a while. I also
       love that Hel was included dancing at the club with Col, too! I
       had absolutely no idea that Jack had been struggling so much
       prior to having met her and that bit of backstory has warmed
       even more of my muses to him and they would each like the
       opportunity to meet him. My favourite line in this piece is '
       You gave me hope ' and it's one of the most romantic things
       anyone could ever say to another. These two are more and more
       perfect for each other, the more I learn about the relationship
       between them ❤
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