My palms grew clammy. Was she about to tell them what happened between us? No. She wouldn’t do that to me.
She crossed her arms defensively and I saw the telltale tremble in her lips that she was holding back emotion.
This wasn’t about me. About us. It couldn’t be.
Lowering myself onto the arm of the sofa, I watched her, a renewed worry washing over me.
“A while ago, I decided to investigate my birth mother. Francine.”
Everyone tensed.
“I wanted to know a little about her.”
“Why didn’t you just ask me?” Thane frowned.
“Because I wanted to know who she really was. Not the perfect woman you painted her as.”
He flinched at her tone and Regan reached for his hand.
“Eilidh—” Lewis’s admonishing tone induced a sharp “back off” glare from his sister.
“I found out about our grandparents, about Francine’s schooling, even found her yearbook from high school. I also found her yearbook from working as a teacher. The school has all their yearbooks available to view online. Including the last year Francine taught. There was an individual photo of her and then there was a group teacher photo. And I couldn’t believe it when I looked at that photograph because standing next to her with his arm around her was the man who tried to kidnap me when I was a child.”
What the actual fuck?
Not where I thought this was going.
Eilidh’s expression was baleful as she searched her father’s face.
“Eilidh—”
“That kind of brought up some horrible stuff that I’d suppressed, and I found myself reaching out to that man. Sean McClintock. I drove to Inverness to see him two weeks ago. He was quite happy to see me so he could apologize in person. Apparently, prison and a therapist sorted out his head, and he has a lot of remorse for traumatizing me.” Her casual tone discussing something so painful was like nails on a chalkboard. I gritted my teeth, forcing myself not to go to her.
Thane stood up, his pain turning to anger. “You went to see that man? Alone?”
“Don’t,” Eilidh seethed. “How dare you? Were you ever going to tell me Francine cheated on you with that man? That they had an affair?”
Holy fuck.
Her pain became all too clear.
Was … was Eilidh not Thane’s?
The very thought twisted my stomach, and I had to hold myself back from rushing to her, from wrapping my arms around her to protect her from a truth that would break her heart.
“You are not his.” Thane stepped toward his daughter. “If that’s what’s in your head or what he put in your head. You’re not his. I had a DNA test done when he tried to claim custody.”
“I know,” Eilidh whispered harshly, her tears slipping free. “I know becausehetold me. My question is, why didn’t you?” She turned to her brother who stared up her, eyes bright with emotion. “Did you know?”
To my shock, Lewis nodded.
He knew and hadn’t told her?
“Dad told me last year.”
Eilidh wiped at her tears. “I already knew that. I just already knew that. You can be trusted with the truth, but apparently I’m too much of a loose cannon to be treated like an adult.”
“That’s not … is this … is that why you’ve been weird with me?” Lewis stood, reaching for her.
