“Say whatever the hell you want about me, but leave my bar out of it.”
N E I G H B O R H O O D → Harlem
O C C U P A T I O N → Bar Owner
Richard McNeill and Maggie Carnahan were high school sweethearts that got married as soon as they reached legal age, challenging the social class and the prejudice that came with it. She came from an important high class family that saw Richard as nothing but trash. When they found out that he was from London, the patriotic Irish family forbade Maggie to have contact with him whatsoever, but the clever teenagers always found a way to be together and in their wedding ceremony, only friends and family from Richard’s side were witness of their love, but even they had each other, Maggie’s family did the impossible to separate them. She was determined to be with the man she loved and not even five days after the marriage, her father disowned her but Richard was always there to support her wife.
Maggie was a beautiful woman, and perhaps she thought that being the wife of a stock trader would bring back the fortune she had lost, but she was completely wrong. Richard was good at numbers, good at his job, but he wasn’t an ambitious man. He did a good job and not a single one of his bosses heard anything bad about him. He was happy with his position and with his wife, but she secretly hated the place where they lived, a small apartment that constantly needed repair and had walls so thin that they could hear the neighbors fighting almost every night. She begged him for a change using future children as an excuse and Richard, loving Maggie so much to deny her anything, and also enjoying the idea of becoming a father bought a house in the most expensive part of the city of Galway.
People say that love can blind a person, and that’s what happened with Richard, or some of his friends said. Perhaps it was true love and Maggie just took advantage of it, but when she realized her life would never be as it was before she met him, Maggie began to drink, gamble and buy clothes with his money. He was the money and she was just a pretty face that almost milked him dry to get new clothes, alcohol, cigarettes, expensive furniture, and parties for people she met at some random bar. Her parent’s spoiled her and she believed that her husband would do the same but how wrong she was. He saved part of his money and was still paying for all the things she bought when one night, after coming home from work, ready to talk some sense into her, Richard was received by a crying wife holding a pregnancy test in her hands that read positive. The news left him stunned and of course, he completely forgot what he was going to say and reacted as any loving husband would do, by hugging and kissing her.
The tears in Maggie’s face were not tears of joy. She did not want children, she did not want to get pregnant and loose her figure because of a baby that would wake her up at dawn, crying and screaming, not letting her sleep. A few of her so called friends told her it was normal and that she could get Richard to hire a few nannies to take care of the baby and problem solved, but life gave them another surprise when in one of the many visits to the doctor, the couple found out they were going to have twins. For Maggie it was the worse news she had received in her life after finding out she was pregnant, but Richard was even happier and he vowed to his wife to do anything in his power to bring her comfort and to make her happy, and again, she took advantage of her delicate state and his love.
Nine months later, Morgan was born only ten minutes after her twin brother, Conall. The couple welcomed the birth of the babies, as well as by their friends, who saw the married couple as an example to follow by everyone, but that quickly changed nine years later when Maggie realized she wasn’t ready to be a mom. No one really is really, but she tried, by God she tried to be a mom and it worked for a time, but she couldn’t change who she really was and after two days of thinking on a nice way to tell Richard how she felt, she just ranted about everything, letting all out. Maggie called him names, told him he was worthless, and countless other things that he never would have believed if it wasn’t because he heard them from her own mouth. That night, Richard expected to be greeted by his kids, wife and a delicious meal. Instead, he finally saw the woman’s true colors and blamed himself for how stupid he had been all those years. Surprisingly, he was the one who asked for the divorce and not Maggie.
Conall had been the one comforting his sister while they listened to the whole discussion from the top of the stairs. The twins were young, but they knew that her mom and dad were not going to be together again. When the divorce was complete, Richard was alright with Maggie keeping the expensive home with all she had bought. It was the only thing she cared about for she did not ask for monthly visits to her children. “I’m taking what really matters to me,” he said to her while carrying his son and daughter to the car. When he explained to them what happened and how it was going to be just the three of them for now, Morgan hugged him tight while staring at her mother, who was uncomfortable with what was happening. Richard said goodbye to Maggie and wished her a good life but when it was the twins turn, Morgan and Conall refused and got into the car, leaving to begin their new life with their dad’s family.
Morgan lived happily with her brother, with whom she formed and unbreakable bond, and her father’s aunts, Cecily and Elizabeth. Both became role models in her life, especially when she began to grow up. The sisters had a bar that sparked her interest to start her own when she grew older. “You can open all the bars you want, but first you need to learn and fill that head of yours with things that will help you in the future,” Richard had said to her when she expressed her wish for the first time. So she studied and began to learn in which subjects she was strongest and in which she was weakest, math and numbers always giving her a headache but her brother or father were always there to help her. She did not think about her mother after she left, only when a perfectly wrapped present came by mail the day she turned fifteen. Conall and Morgan received a laptop each, but instead of using it, they donated it to the school, surprising the headmaster and making their father proud.
Her life progressed with ups and down, as usual as life is, until she turned seventeen and she met him, or “the one”, as Conall would call him. Morgan’s poetry and writing flourished with her first high school crush and when her brother discovered some of her poems, instead of making found of them, he told her they were brilliant and should pursue a career as a poet or writer, buy she had only hears to what Lorcan would say. He was a nice guy, both parents were teachers and he wasn’t a trouble maker, kind of a lone wolf, but so was she when she wasn’t kicking the butts of the bullies that dared to put his hands on her brother. Many thought it was the other way around, but Conall was the more “make peace, not war” kind of guy and Morgan was the “mess with my brother and you’re dead” kind of girl. Richard liked him and so did Conall, but only when both turned eighteen he allowed them to properly label their relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend.
Morgan began a new life when she started her studies. Her brother had been right and she found her passion in writing poems, short stories and kid’s fairy tales, so it did not came as a surprise when she told her father that she was going for a BA in Creative Writing. Her relationship with her boyfriend was good, the usual fight, but they had no secrets, at least that’s what she thought when one day, when she was feeling in a good mood after being offered a job for a local newspaper, she visited him to find that he had left Ireland without telling her. His home was empty, no photos, no furniture, no note, nothing. Morgan had a small mental breakdown thinking all the possible scenarios and trying to come up with an answer, but none came. She called to his cell phone more than fifteen times a day that went straight to voice mail and sent emails and only bounced back. Everyone, including her brother and father could see them married and having a good life, but it seemed that he only used her for a time, a really long time.
She finished her studies but rejected the job offer and slowly but surely, Morgan got pulled into a deep depression that began to eat her from the inside out, literally speaking. Her heart was broken in a million pieces and no one could make her feel better. Conall got tired of her attitude and decided that a change was going to be needed, one far away from home, so he convinced his father to ask for a transfer to any place in America. He had good references and just a few days after sending his C.V he got a call to tell him that his request had been accepted. Richard went to her daughter’s room and was straight to the point in telling her they were moving to another city in the next months. Morgan refused of course, said it had nothing to do with her and that she needed to stay in Dublin until her ex called her to explain what happened, but it was her twin who made her react with his words. “What’s going to happen if he doesn’t, huh?” he told her. “Are you going to wait here and let him do to you the same thing Maggie did to dad?”
She wasn’t going to that. Morgan was always known for being the strong and brave twin, the one that always was defending the indefensible, the protector of the weak. The tears finally left her eyes along with the sorrow in her heart. She needed a good cry and close the door in that relationship. He left her and she was no going to mop around because of one guy, as much as it hurt her, so she pulled herself together and asked Richard for a year in Ireland, not to wait for the person who probably was never going to return, but to work in her aunt’s bar, get money and when they left for America, open her own, as she always wanted. Richard was hesitant at first, but he accepted..
Morgan worked as a waitress in her aunt’s bar for a year. She opened a bank account and put all her savings there, always asking her twin to look for a nice place where she could put her own establishment. When the year was over, the woman was surprised that Cecily and Elizabeth gave her as a parting gift a small amount of money from their own pockets. When she tried to refuse, both told her not to and to accept it so she could achieve her dream. It wasn’t much, but it was a start and they had faith in her. Morgan was moved and hugged them and kissed them when she said goodbye to them in the airport, swearing to come every time she had available to see them but not before promising them to be a good Irish girl and say her prayers by night. To please them, Morgan put her hand over her heart and swore that she would do it.
Life in America was different, there was no doubt about that, but she loved it. Morgan loved the change that came into her life like a breath of fresh air. Her father and brother welcomed her to London with open arms and it seemed like Richard and Conall had planned everything to make her happy because Richard, just as her sister did back in Ireland, gave her another amount of money and Conall provided her with a place where she could open a proper tavern. Morgan wasn’t sure at first but her dad pulled a few strings and “Blue Moon Tavern” was born. It was a small business first, but it grew over the years to the point of being able to buy the other shops that were next to it and expand the place, making it even bigger and a meeting point for all Irishmen and women and also a tourist attraction.
Morgan never felt more at home than in her own bar, ruling with iron first and making everyone aware that she was the Queen and didn’t tolerate any bullshit just because you paid for your drink. Her patrons, people of all kinds and ethnicity, knew the brave Irish lass for handling the drunkards with her own hands, dragging them outside the bar by the scruff of their necks and making them the laughing stock of everyone who passed by, but they also know she can be gentle and caring because Morgan always makes sure to take lunch to her dad or to her twin when both are too busy and forget to eat when they are working.
+ independent, brave, kind, confident
- sarcastic, reckless, impatient, stubborn
MORGAN MCNEILL ( Katie McGrath ) is written by KAMY ( she / her → UTC-3 )
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