by L. A. Fiore
“Aye. I’ll bring the tea out.”
I didn’t know where to start. There were pictures of Brianna and Fergus when they were young, like Brochan and I were now. Even then he was massive, towering over Brianna, but there was love. In every picture their love was the focal point. There were pictures of Brianna with another woman, her sister I was guessing because she had the same eyes. On another wall, it was a young Brianna and a baby, Norah. I stared at those pictures for a while. It was hard to believe that innocent babe could turn so ugly. Why? What happened? It was stupid, but I softened a bit toward Norah seeing that she hadn’t been spawned. That at one time she’d just been a baby, sweet and innocent. Maybe like Brochan and me, something dark touched her, though I didn’t know what because Brianna was nothing but light, a bright and beautiful light.
My heart tripped in my chest when I saw a picture of Brochan. He was young, a teenager, and there was a defiant look about him. He was angry, even then, but he was beautiful, so damn beautiful. An ache started knowing when this picture was taken, in the middle of his nightmare and no one helped except Brianna and the magnificent souls who became his parents.
“Are you enjoying my walls?”
“This is…” I had tears in my eyes; they were pretty constant companions these days. “Do you mind if I do the same? I’d love a wall like this in the nursery.”
“Aye.”
We settled on the sofa as Fergus served the tea.
“I wanted to share with you that I’ve offered my best friend, Cait and her fiancé, the cottage. Ethan fell in love with it when he was here. I hate for it to be sitting empty and I can’t bear to part with it. Cait and Ethan are family, the only family I had before coming here. It feels right to give it to them.”
“You don’t have to convince me, lass. Family will be living there again. That’s all that matters.”
I was really glad he felt that way. “They want to keep the cottage pretty much as is, but I wanted you to go through it and take what you’d like.”
He looked down but not before I saw the brightening of his eyes. “Thank you, lass, but Bri gave me all I needed.”
“I’m taking her photographs.” I looked at his walls. “A collage of snapshots for our baby so he’ll know her.”
He wiped at his eyes. “When are you packing up the cottage?”
“I’m starting tomorrow.”
“I’ll help you.”
I hoped he would, hoped we could chat about her as we did. “I’d really like that.”
I took a sip of tea. “Regarding Norah”
“She’s like a bad penny.”
“She dropped the suit.”
He looked startled. “How did that happen?”
“My father persuaded her.”
“Seems out of character for her to be so agreeable.”
“He felt the same because he had someone watching her.”
“And he no longer does.” He understood when he added, “You think she’s coming here.”
“Yes. I wanted you to be aware. I don’t know what she intends, if anything, but with her you can’t assume.”
“Aye. Thanks for the heads up.”
“So, are you still planning a trip to Hawaii?”
“I think I’ll hold off because there’s quite a bit happening around here,” he said then glanced down at my stomach. He reached for a folder on the table next to him. “But when I do go I have to decide where, but it’s overwhelming. Maybe you’d like to help me?”
“Absolutely.”
I returned home after spending a few hours with Fergus. He was right; it was overwhelming to decide where to travel in Hawaii. How did one pick among perfection? My father had been asleep when I left. He’d arrived quite late last night. When I entered the house, I heard voices coming from the hall and followed them. Brochan and my father were in the library. As soon as I entered, they both stood. My father smiled, then his eyes moved lower to my belly and he smiled even wider.
“Lizzie, you look well.”
I walked to him and pressed a kiss on his cheek. “So do you.”
“How was Fergus?” Brochan asked.
“He’s going to help with packing up the cottage.”
I joined them on the sofa. “His house has pictures everywhere. I’d like to do that for the nursery, a wall of nothing but photos of the family. I’m hoping Fenella has pictures of Abigail we can use. I won’t be adding your father or Norah.”
“I wouldn’t want you to.”
“So what’s going on with Norah?” I asked because I knew it was what they’d been discussing when I entered.
“She caught a flight to Scotland last night.”
I didn’t like hearing that, but I had been expecting it. “Why now?”
My father leaned back on the sofa and crossed his legs. “Brochan’s man, who I’d really like to meet because damn he’s good, has learned in very little time that Norah is up to her eyes in debt.”
A wave of cold moved through me. I recognized the sensation because I had felt it a lot as a kid. Fear.
“She has no money?”
“No.”
“The woman can’t live without money,” I declared.
“No,” my father confirmed.
“She’s on her way here for money.”
“Yes.”
“What do you think she intends?”
“We won’t know until she tells us,” Brochan said.
“You’re going to give her the chance?” I was incredulous. “Wait, have you heard from her?”
“Aye. She wants to talk.” Brochan sounded so calm.
“With you?”
“A car is picking her up when she lands.”
Those words brought me to my feet. “She’s coming here? No.”
Brochan stood, took my hands. “It’ll be all right, mo leannan.”
“You’re bringing the devil to our door.”
“The big bad wolf’s door,” Brochan whispered.
I couldn’t smile at his tease because a woman I hadn’t seen since I was ten was coming to my home. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
He pressed a kiss on my head. “Keep your enemies close.”
“Maybe I could see the nursery?” My father was trying to lighten the mood. It didn’t work. I had a terrible feeling in my gut, but I tried for a smile.
“Sure.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
LIZZIE
“I hope he knows what he’s doing,” Fenella voiced my thoughts. We were in the kitchen, preparing dinner for Norah. She was on her way. She would be dining at our table, in our home, the place where I wanted only beauty and we were inviting the ugly in. “At least we have Fergus and your father here as well, more to hear her threats,” Fenella added.
I looked up from the potatoes I was peeling. “You think she’s going to threaten us too?”
“Why else come here?”
“Will we never be free of her?” I wasn’t really asking that question. For twenty years she was out of my life, twenty years when I was struggling to find my way. And now I had found happy, more happy than I ever imagined, and she comes crawling back.
“Trust that Brochan knows what he’s doing.”
“Why are we making a meal? We should have gotten those microwavable dinners, or bread and water.”
“Brochan was very specific.”
I glanced at my watch. “I better get dressed.”
I had just reached the door when Fenella called, “All will be well, you’ll see.”
I wasn’t so sure of that but I tried for a reassuring smile.
Brochan stared out the window, his hands in his pockets. He turned to me and the shadows were back. I hated seeing them. I had stopped by the library before I went up to change. “I know we’re cutting out the ugly, but this is ending only one way with your mother.”
“Why do this at all?”
“Because you know better than anyone she won’t ever stop.” He had warned the more sa
vage part of him would want out. It was that part of him that spoke now.
“I don’t want that mark on you.”
“I’ve so many already another won’t make a difference.”
It wasn’t right. She was my monster, not his. I hated that love for me was going to have him walking right back into the dark.
Finnegan entered the library, my father on his heels. “There are a bunch of cars pulling into the drive.”
No one ever came here. Brochan was as startled as me by the news when he strode from the library and down the hall. I caught up just as he opened the door to what looked like most of the town. I saw Bridget and Blair, Bruce, Molly, Mrs. Wilson, the butcher and the grocer.
Fergus stepped forward. “We did nothing when you were a child. We heard the rumors, but we turned a blind eye unable to believe one of our own could be such a monster. Only Brianna had the courage to step up and do what was right. Only she tried to break the silence.” He looked behind him and saw the nods from the people standing in mass in our driveway. “Norah Calhoun is a monster.”
Agreement called out from the crowd behind him.
“She only has power because of our silence. It’s time to make some noise.”
I never before and never again would see the expression on Brochan’s face. It was as if the years had been stripped away and he was that young kid again, calling out in the dark for help and for the first time he heard voices calling back.
Fergus rallied. “Let’s show Norah Calhoun that if you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us.”
Brochan found me in the nursery sorting through pictures. The scene from earlier still caused my pulse to pound and my heart to sigh. Not that I thought it would help with our current problem. Even a town united wouldn’t stop the snake from slithering in. I hated to my core that she was coming here, that her ugliness was going to tarnish the peace we had found.
He reached my side and studied the pictures, touching one of him as a boy holding a worm. He had been adorable as a toddler, happy, sweet and curious. “Where did you get that?”
“Fenella. She has so many wonderful pictures of you.” I reached for one that I loved, a little baby Brochan getting his first bath.
“You’re not putting that on the wall.”
“Yes, I am. Your son’s will go right next to it.”
Any argument he had died. Tenderness looked back then he ruined the mood when he asked, “Are you ready?”
“No.”
“She’ll be here any minute.”
“Let her stay outside. It’s getting really cold tonight, maybe with luck she’ll freeze to death.”
He reached for my hand and pulled me from the room. “I don’t like this plan. I want it so noted,” I whined.
“It’s noted.”
“That had to have felt really good earlier.”
“More than I can say.”
We reached the great hall just as the doorbell rang. My stomach dropped. Finnegan went for the door as Brochan pulled me farther into the hall. It didn’t escape my notice he stood in front of me. Fergus and my father joined us. Fenella appeared too, a united front.
The door opened and all the years between then and now vanished. I was that little girl again facing down my monster. Norah Calhoun strolled into our home without an invitation, as if she belonged there. Without even looking at Finnegan, she handed him her coat. “I’ll have a martini, dry.”
My hands balled into fists. She hadn’t changed at all. That wasn’t exactly true. She was older. There was evidence that she was trying to fight father time by the stretching of the skin at her eyes, her lips were fuller than they had been in her youth. Her hair was chemically treated and her figure, always rail thin, was a little wide in her stomach.
“The gang is all here,” she sneered, her eyes landing on me. “Still struggling with weight I see.”
Brochan squeezed my hand because he knew I wanted to punch her.
“You should fire your plastic surgeon. Are you purposely packing on the pounds so you can inject the fat into you lips?” my father said evenly from my side. I lowered my head and bit my lip to keep from laughing out loud.
“Dinner’s ready,” Fenella called from the doorway.
Fenella had outdone herself. I didn’t understand why she would go to the trouble for a maggot. Brochan pulled out my chair, one right at his side, thankfully. It was only after I sat down that I realized we were missing a place setting, the one in front of Norah. Then I took in the offerings, juicy cheeseburgers, mashed potatoes with a pool of butter in the center and grilled cheese. My heart swelled. He’d remembered. I glanced at him; his focus was on Norah, but his expression was completely unreadable.
I whispered, “I love you.”
He reached for my hand under the table and gently squeezed it, but he never took his eyes off Norah.
“Figures I did everything I could to get out of this place and I end up right back where I fucking started. And if that’s not a big enough kick in the ass, my daughter has snagged herself a wealthy…” The way she eyed him made me feel dirty, “…man. I wondered how Elizabeth caught a man like you.” She glanced around the table. “But it was pity I see.”
She was being even more of a raging bitch than normal and I got that she was acting as she was as a defense, coming out of the corner swinging, but she was just such a cunt.
She dropped her elbows on the table. “Let’s get right down to it, shall we? The cottage was my retirement plan. As Brianna’s only heir I knew it would all come to me. My ex-husband deceived me with lies to get me to drop the suit and now I find myself in a position that I’m not comfortable with.”
“Poverty,” my father offered.
“I know the rumors about you, Brochan.” Ice formed in my blood as she continued, “I’m willing to keep my silence for a small fee.”
“Blackmail? How desperate,” Brochan drawled.
“Whatever works.”
“And what makes you think it’ll work,” he challenged.
“Life father, like son.”
His next words were spoken so softly, which made them even more terrifying. “What do you mean by that?”
“It was so easy. He didn’t want the baby, but then he shouldn’t have fucked her. Heather didn’t want to take advantage of the opportunity, but she was a stupid bitch. A hail Mary like that falls in your lap, you scoop it up.”
“Who didn’t want the baby?” Brochan’s voice had dropped to a deadly whisper, but she was too high working her manipulation to realize how much danger she was in.
I went numb because I was beginning to understand the connection.
She sat back and savored the moment before she said, “Your father.”
My heart broke as his body turned to rock. I squeezed his hand knowing how much her confession hurt him. She had blackmailed Brochan’s father, had held his infidelity over his head. Stoked the fires of his obsession and madness. She had helped create the monster that had made Brochan’s childhood hell.
“Your mother died and the money train stopped. Heather wanted to confess, had some stupid idea that he would love her, that she could step into his beloved, dead wife’s shoes.”
I had to speak up. Her logic was twisted, even then. “You are admitting you killed her?”
“I’m not admitting anything.”
Then a thought left me cold as I touched my own belly. “What happened to Heather’s child?”
She smiled but it wasn’t pleasant. “Last I heard he is currently in jail on two counts of attempted murder.”
Tomas. His jealousy made a horrible kind of sense; they shared a father but only Brochan lived in the castle. She lied to him, fostered his hate without sharing the horror Brochan lived in. She had manipulated him, turned him into one of her pawns. Another innocent, like Brochan and me.
“That’s how you knew of the inheritance,” Fergus said, turning my focus to him. “You kept your claws in him, turned him into your errand boy.”
She didn’t even try to deny it. “Another opportunity. He was easy to manipulate, just like his mother.”
“Why?” I shouted. If I could get my hands on her…
“You never burn a bridge completely. Finlay McIntyre had been a cash cow, and now his son will be too.”
I wanted to reach across the table and strangle her. She didn’t care about anyone but herself. She really was a monster. But of all her crimes, knowing the part she played in Brochan’s nightmare was the one I couldn’t get past.
“How many times did you call Tomas, or write him, show him any kind of attention for him to so easily eat up your lies?” I asked.
She laughed. “Not a lot. The lonely can be quite needy. I did call his father before I left for the States, told him his other son was an orphan; would be left to the system. He didn’t care. He wanted nothing to do with him.”
Even through my fury, I felt fear because she had all but confessed. “How did you know he was an orphan?”
She didn’t answer. She didn’t have to.
“You killed his mom, didn’t give a damn what happened to him, and then twisted him with lies. Wherever he ended up, he was in a far better place than Brochan.”
She waved that off. “I cared more about what happened to him than I did about you.”
“Why do you hate me so much?”
Something ugly moved across her face. “You were a mistake, a costly one. One I tried to correct.”
My blood ran cold. I didn’t immediately appreciate her cryptic comment. Brochan did. He moved so fast. He was around the table, pulling Norah from her seat by her hair. She wasn’t cocky now. There was fear in her eyes. “You hired him?”
“Hired who?”
“The mugger.” He released her like she was a disease.
It took me a second for his words to penetrate and even when they did, I still was having trouble understanding them. When it did finally sink in, I was sure my expression matched Brochan’s murderous one.