She lets out a slow sigh. “Your Uncle and I never wanted any for ourselves. You were everything we wanted.”
She reaches for my hand. “We didn’t need our own child to justify our love. Not for each other, and not for you. You’re perfect. Everything I ever would have wanted in a daughter. Just because I didn’t give birth to you doesn’t mean you aren’t mine. I would never try to replace your mother—but you are still my daughter.”
I look up at her with tears stinging my eyes.
“Oh, sweetheart,” she says, wiping away a tear. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me that before?” I ask quietly.
“Because I never wanted you to feel like I was trying to replace your mother. From everything Kevin told me, she was kind and loving. She would’ve given you the world.”
I swallow. “How did Dad decide to send you and Uncle Kevin? You both said you’d never really met before you were sent to take care of me.”
“We met once, years before your mother died at a party. Your father noticed us talking, but I didn’t see your uncle again after that. Not until your father sent me to Salt Lake.”
She pauses, caught in a memory. “A few days after yourmother’s funeral, your father made a comment before he left. He said he hoped we’d like each other. He had a habit of playing matchmaker with his friends,” she adds, with a bit of humor in her voice.
“What happened to Gino’s mom?” I ask, not sure I want to know the answer.
Lucy’s expression shifts. “She was killed in a gunfight—by the Irish.” She sighs. “I think that’s why your father couldn’t handle it after your mother died. Losing your mom reopened wounds he never really healed from.”
“Why didn’t he bring Gino with him?”
Lucy shakes her head slowly. “I honestly don’t know. He was grieving the loss of his wife, and I think he needed to be alone. Then he met your mother, and… well, then you happened. I think he was planning on it, but your mother got sick and it shattered him.”
I shift in my seat.
“Then why didn’t he ever want me here?”
Lucy’s expression grows serious. “Because shortly after your mother died, a major turf war broke out. It lasted nearly twenty years.”
I’m starting to understand, piece by piece, why my father tried so hard to protect me. From living on the other side of the country. To having Uncle Kevin train me in hand-to-hand combat. Keeping me just far enough away.
Everyone important to me now is in this house, and I have to do what I can to help them.
“How are my two favorite girls doing?” Uncle Kevin asks, peeking around the corner.
“We’re good, honey,” Lucy says gently.
“What did you all talk about in there?” I ask.
“Oh, nothing. Just the usual post-shootout talk.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Do you do that often?”
He grins at me. “I haven’t done one in over two decades—so no,” he snickers.
“Hey, dinner’s ready,” Jake says, turning the corner.
The three of us head into the dining room, where the table is already set and most of the guys are seated. I take a chair, with Aunt Lucy and Uncle Kevin settling in to my right. Juliet sits to my left.
Across from us, Drew, Gabe, Jake, Marco, and Ryan fill the other side of the table. Mateo takes the seat beside Uncle Kevin, and Gino claims the head of the table next to Juliet, which makes her shift slightly in her chair.
Dishes are passed from hand to hand as we start serving ourselves.
The meal begins in an awkward quiet, everyone clearly unsure who should speak first. As usual, Uncle Kevin is the one who knows exactly when to break it.
“So,” he says casually, glancing around the table, “I’ve known Mateo and Gino since they were born, and I knew your father.” He gestures toward the brothers. “But who are the rest of you?”
