Slighly over three months remained before Mike and Rick, their wives and children would descend on Ireland, and take up residence at Scimitar Castle.
Lollisa assumed Mike knew that she and Riff were ‘dere’ ( the Jamaican term for being lovers) and probably told his brother. Rick.
The question was would Jahn Garrett, the leader of the Rebels, react?
Jahn Garrett was the leader, more than her ‘boss’ and Riff was ... well... Riff.
Riff Clancy was the erstwhile leader of the Fifteen, the Rebel branch in Dublin. Jahn had a low opinion of him, and Riff was aware Jahn considered him cow flop.
Lollisa loved Riff, (whom she called Kian). He considered himself inferior to her. He seemed surprised she stayed with him, and that when she went away, she always came back.
There was a step she wanted to take.
She would get Riff a birth certificate in the name of Kian Kelly, the name he used when he performed at the Sugar Club. It was as much a real name as that he used.
She must also get herself a birth certificate as she could not use her real name, just in case Lollisa Chin Lee was wanted for the murders she had committed in Jamaica.
This meant she could give herself Irish citizenship.
Not that being Irish had any more meaning to her than making herself Spanish or Somalian, it was that she owned a house in Ireland (in the name of one of Jahn's companies) and her Kian was Irish.
The purpose of the certificates was to make it all real. Not a diversion, not a lost interval.
If Lollisa was willing to accept any name she could go to the cemetary and find people who were born around her year of birth and use their birth certificates. But she wanted specific names so phoned Eamon, Riff’s pretend brother, and got the location of a forger.
Without informing Riff of what she was about, she obtained two birth certificates; one for Kian Kelly and another of Liana Linton.
She had money, and she had a good eye, and the forger knew he wasn’t dealing with a silly girl. As he worked for the Registrar's Office and had access to birth certificates, as well as death certificates, he could get the closest matches to lessen if not remove the peril of exposure.
She collected the documents three days later. Returning to the house she and her Kian occupied she found him sitting on the sofa, playing his guitar.
“Kian...” she said, perching on the arm of the sofa.
He looked up, kept playing.
“Will you marry me?”
Riff stopped playing, put the guitar one side.
“In me heart, we be married.”
“I want to go to a church and be married...”
“La, they would ask himself for a birth certificate...”
“You have one...” she replied and handed him the Kian Kelly document. “This says your name is Kian Kelly and the day you were born....”
He looked at it, then to her and she said; “And I have one, in the name of Liana Linton.”
He shook his head, “I dinna undastan...”
“Kian, we exist. We are real. Just because you have no ‘real’ name and I can not use mine, does not mean that our lives have to be rubbish. We can get married.”
He looked at the document, attempting to read it. Lollisa had tried to teach him and he could pick letters and words. He recognised the name Kian Kelly.
“Why do ye want to marry me, marry me in a Church?”
“Because I love you, and if I get pregnant I don’t want a child with no name.”
“But La...”
“You’ve been using the name Riff Clancy. Who is Clancy? Just a name. They could have called you O’Malley or Fitzpatrick.so don’t gwan as if that is a real name. And I won’t bother mention that you’ve never used the name they gave you at baptism when you were what? Twelve years old? Kian Kelly is a good name and as real as any. This is the birth certificate.”
Riff looked at the document. He didn’t know how he felt. Then he realised her purpose and seriously asked; “Ye really want to marry me?”
“Yes.”
“Tisn’t the man supposed to ask the woman?”
“Is there a law?”
“No... but are ye sure? I love ye La, I love ye more than me own life. And if ye would to marry me, I would marry ye.”
She kissed him.
They married two days later. He wore the suit she had bought him those years ago. Those years ago when he had asked her ‘Why?’.
He had asked why she bought him that suit and she changed. She pulled into a tough cold image and told him to throw it in the fire.
They had been at Scimitar Castle then, she pretending to be Jody O’Shan, he being himself. She withdrew from him. He didn't know his next move so had left with the suit. He returned the following day. That is when she told him she was going away and wouldn’t see him again.
He had stood, then turned his back, and went out of the window he had entered by. Tears rolled down his face and he had never felt such loss.
There was a song at the time; "Fire & Rain", which had the line “...but I always thought that I’d see you again.”
The song lived in his soul, and it lived in her’s. For when she did come back, it was after the first drug war.
The marijuana; (which the Irish boys called ‘gage’) had arrived, and Riff had tried to caution the men of the Fifteen to take their time, just sell a little each day. But they didn’t listen. They got too much attention, were targetted by other drug sellers, and the war reached Crescent Street.
Riff was lucky, he’d jumped on a motorcycle he ‘borrowed’ and rode to Scimitar Castle. Lollisa wasn't home and he took up residence in the stable. He’d break into the house each day through a side window to get food and bathe, but felt safer in the empty stable, lying on the gym mat.
Lollisa, returning to Dublin, finding Jack’s Pub trashed, and the door leading to Riff’s basement flat padlocked assumed the worst, and rode out of town on the little scooter she’d just bought.
She had to stop because she couldn’t see the road, and stood by a tree, crying, hearing the words of that song.
When she reached Scimitar Castle, she felt something, and went to the stable, and found him.
Each time she went away he radiated the belief she was not coming back. Each time she went away she told herself not to come back. But she loved him, with all his weakness and flaws.
She wanted to marry him not just to ‘legitmise’ their relationship, she wanted to make him understand that she choose to be with him. That she did love him. Maybe it didn’t mean anything, considering he had no ‘real name’ and she couldn’t use the one on her birth certificate, or maybe it meant something. However, it was done.
He wore the suit she had bought him those years ago, and she wore a new white dress.
They married at the registry then in a church. After, they obtained passports in their new names.
She wanted to go Jamaica. He hadn’t wanted to go anywhere. He had small dreams and never imagined traveling.
Aware of his reluctance, she would move him in steps. First to Liverpool, where they had already been. Then to London. From London to New York on the Concorde. From New York to Jamaica. Spending a day or two at each locale.
Their honeymoon wasn't a subject she would drop and he realised it.
"Himself get the feeling tha' if I didn't agree ye'd pack me in a suitcase and drag me."
"It's a nice suitcase.." she tossed.
With him she was always a few words from joke, her spirit was always light.
Just before they began their quest, Lollis rang Jahn to tell him she would be gone for a few weeks.
He took it blandly, for she often wanted to go 'home' to Jamaica. He asked no questions, but felt the timing rather prescience.
Jahn had been about to call Lise in Ireland when the phone rang, and it was her. As a man who spoke when required and didn't share unnecessary information, he didn't betray the coincidence.
"Jahn, I'm going home for a few weeks..." She said.
"Alright..."
"I'll call you when I get back."
"Sure." he replied, hanging up.
The decision was now made.