“The great Aunt Melody,” I replied, walking out into the rain and toward the stairs. “Either way, the shot was good. But that wasn’t what I was thinking.”
“It wasn’t?”
I shook my head as we walked, the rain beating down on us both.
“I was thinking…I’m glad she’s dead,” I said seriously, causing him to stare at me just as seriously but not speaking. I added, “If she was alive, Ethan would be still here. He’s like the sun. We all have to revolve around him. And as great as it is, sometimes the rain needs its glory, too.”
“What did we do to you children?” he replied with a smile on his lips.
“Made us into a better verison of you,” I reminded him.
They made us them, so we’d go on finishing what they started. They couldn’t blame us now. Everyone was born with a destiny in this family.
That was to get power and keep it.
DECLAN
“Call me back, okay? I love you.” Cora sighed, taking the earpiece out of her ear and tossing it on to her vanity counter before rubbing the side of her head.
Walking up behind her, I placed my hands on her shoulder and massaged gently as she leaned back into me. “She’s not answering my calls.”
“Did you expect her to?” I asked back softly. “She has a right to be upset. More than a right.”
She frowned, turning around to stare at me with those deep brown eyes of hers. “I know she has a right, but it still doesn’t change the fact that I’m going to worry about her even if it is my fault.”
“Our fault,” I replied. I took a seat beside her on her bench. “I’m not sure if we’ve been raising them or ruining them. Should I be proud that Helen knows right from wrong and chooses what most people would consider right? If I am, then how can I also be proud of Darcy for wanting to do what is wrong? I’m so bloody confused, Cora.”
She leaned over, resting her head on my shoulder. “I’m pretty sure ruining your children is part of parenting...how else can they grow up and protect themselves from the world?”
“Brilliant.” I wrapped my arms around her as I snickered. “We’ve done a wonderful job then.”
She giggled but only before briefly sighing again. “Darcy’s retiring. Apparently, he hates basketball...did you know?”
“No,” I grimaced and shook my head. “He looked fine, happy. He said he was. I took him at his word and supported him. But I should have known better.”
“How?” She frowned, sitting up and forcing me to face her. “How in the world should we have known that?”
“He’s my son,” I said back to her. “He may look more like you, but since he was a baby, all I could see was this younger version of myself. Just like him, I was shy, liked to observe, and didn’t want to rock the boat. I told myself over and over just be happy with what I have. Yet deep down I was aching to....to be Liam. However, because he was like my brother, I pushed my ambition to the side and went along to get along. I was the good little solider. I accepted that long ago, but you should have heard Darcy. It was like being lectured by the part of me I let go of. He all but said I cheated him out of his inheritance…and I did! Because I was weak. Because I was so passive.... I altered both his destiny and my own.”
“Bullllllllshit,” she all but sang as she rose from the bench and took off her earrings.
“Excuse me?” I couldn’t help but grin, watching her gear up to lecture mode.
“Bullshit!” she repeated while undoing the side zipper of her pencil skirt. “If Darcy wanted something, he should have spoken up! Since the day he came into this world, you, his father, has moved heaven and earth for him, more than he will ever know. Cheated him? Ha! It’s easy for him to say that when he doesn’t know what the world really would have looked like had you taken over the family. I can tell you for damn sure, I wouldn’t have been your wife, and he wouldn’t be himself. And on top of that, whatever son you did have would have been forced to live under the constant threat of being murdered… well, more than they already are. Ethan’s wife just took a bullet to the head! Is anyone shooting at Darcy? No. Why? Because he’s not the boss. And because he’s not the boss, but still a Callahan, he’s free to do anything he damn well pleases, and I mean anything. The fact that it even took him this long to get to the point where he could speak his mind means he wouldn’t have been able to stand on his own when he was eighteen...the same year Ethan had to. And another thing, we are alive! His parents, both of us, are alive. Can Ethan say that? No. Why? Because his father and mother made the choice to stand in front. He is the man he is today because you have stood beside him—”
“Bravo!” I laughed, applauding her. “You tell him, baby.”
“I’m being serious.” She laughed back, taking off her shirt and throwing it at me.
It was as if she’d taken the weight off of my shoulders. Rising from the bench and walking over to her, I wrapped my arms around her, hugging her tightly. “Thank you,” I whispered. “I feel better.”
“I wasn’t trying to make you feel better. I was just telling you the truth,” she muttered while trying to wiggle out of my arms. “He should never complain about having a father like you, cause even with how much we’ve ruined them, there still isn’t a father better than you.”
“I’m sure Helen, when
