With a small sob, I launch myself into his arms. He grunts in surprise when my body hits his but immediately wraps me in his warm embrace.
“It’s okay.” My father pets my head, running his calloused palm in a soothing manner. “Everything is going to be okay.”
Something inside me warms as he whispers reassurances in my ear. Elias never comforted me before. He never offers any type of assurance. No one does, not even my sisters. They were six when the abuse started. They didn’t understand what was going on. I was left to learn how to self-soothe, but now, in my father’s embrace, I feel nothing but peace for the first time in years.
“Everything’s going to be okay, lass,” he whispers again. “I promise.”
Why do I think his words have a deeper meaning to them that I don’t understand?
thirty-seven
Once the Niagara Falls of tears have ceased and I clean up in the ladies’ room, Liam escorts me back into the ballroom, where Seamus, my brother, waits. He gives me a small wink and a wide smile.
“I heard they’re putting up this super rare book for the auction.” Seamus grins at me excitedly. “It’s one of J. R. R. Tolkien’s first editions, leather bound.”
That catches my attention. I’ve told him of my love for Tolkien’s books. My mother and I used to read them out loud to one another at night before bed.
“Oh, I love Tolkien.” I glance up at the stage, waiting for them to announce the next item.
“Katherine did too,” Liam tells me. “She always had a copy of The Hobbit in her purse wherever we went. Used to drive me crazy when she’d pull it out of nowhere. Even did it on one of our movie dates.”
“Did you take her to see an action movie?” I question curiously.
Liam grumbling under his breath tells me exactly what I need to know. My mother hated action movies of all kinds. Even ones with romance in them.
“Serves you right then.”
“Who says no to Bruce Willis?”
“I do.” Liam and Seamus gasp, feigning offense, but I just shrug a shoulder. “Just saying.”
“Blasphemy,” Seamus mutters, disappointed. “You’ll have to be disowned.”
I giggle, covering my hand with my mouth so the sound won’t travel far.
“Now, ladies and gentlemen, for our next item, we have a rare treat for you.” The auctioneer beams down at the crowd. “A rare leather bound first edition of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, first printed in 1937, which includes the original artwork by the author himself.”
Now the item definitely has my attention. There are only six of those left in circulation in good enough condition to sell, and one of them belongs to Libby. The book is the only thing I was able to take with me when Elias came for me. One night, while I was crying myself to sleep, Libby crawled into my bed and told me to read her my favorite story. So I introduced her to the world of Bilbo and the Ring of Power.
Just like I had the first time my mother read it to me, Libby falls in love, and I gifted her the books several years later for her sixteenth birthday.
“This book was generously donated by Kendra Ward, and all proceeds will go to the Society Against Sex Trafficking.” The auction announces excitedly. Jesus, if he only knew that her husband and son practically fund the sex ring in Washington, he probably wouldn’t be as enthused. “The bidding will start at twelve thousand dollars.”
“Fucking bitch,” I snarl under my breath. “That belonged to my mother.”
“How did Kendra Ward get it?” Seamus wonders.
“I gave it to Libby for her birthday,” I tell him. “We used to put secret messages in the pages when Elias kept us apart. We used the book as—that’s it!”
“Ava?” Liam looks over at me. “What’s wrong?”
“We need that book.”
Liam frowns. “I know it belonged to Katherine, but I can’t be spending that much money on a book for sentimental reasons, lass. I’m sorry.”
“No, you don’t understand.” I take a deep breath to steady myself. “I read my sister’s journal when I found it, and she stated that after the raid on Elias’s house, she managed to take and hide two of his little black books. The ones that hold all his blackmail information and accounts. Anyone and everyone on his payroll is in those books. Including his benefactor.”
“What does this have to do with the book?” Seamus questions.
