“She was part of it.”
“What was the other part?” Jackson asked, finally speaking.
“I figured it was too late,” she answered. “Too much time had passed for any of you to forgive me.”
Chapter Fifty-Six
Grace
I watched the man who stood behind Darcy. King said his name was Hemlock, and he was her son. King and Jackson’s brother. Judging by the man’s face who sat beside her, she hadn’t told him he had a son either.
I looked over at Charles‘Snoopy’Kennedy. My father’s friend. He was watching me. He hadn’t said anything since we’d all walked into this room, and I wondered why he was here.
He looked sad, not angry.
“Snoopy, right?”
He nodded.
“What are you thinking?”
Darcy wouldn’t look at him. She dropped her eyes to the table and pulled her hands into her lap. Hemlock put his hands on her shoulders, but he didn’t look at the man either.
“I think you look just like your mother, and your father has missed you. He’s never stopped looking for you, princess.”
King snorted beside me, and I glared at him. He knew I hated being called that. But I guess that was what I was.
An MC princess.
Somehow, it didn’t hold the same contempt as it had when I thought Steele was my father. I loved Uncle Stephen.
“I mean about this.” I waved my hand in Darcy’s direction. “Unless I’m mistaken, you also have a son you never knew about.”
“Two,” he answered.
“Hemlock had a twin brother,” King whispered to me.
My eyes sought out Darcy. “I’m so sorry.” Losing a parent is so hard. I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to lose a child. She didn’t acknowledge my condolences, and that was when I got a good look at her. She wasn’t a deceitful woman looking to hurt anyone.
She was a mother who had lost her own happiness over and over again trying to protect her children. She’d sacrificed everything to keep them safe. I couldn’t help but wonder what she’d given up for Hemlock and his twin.
She’d raised them. After everything she’d lost with King and Jackson, I suddenly understood why she’d stayed hidden. We talked a little longer; neither King nor Jackson gave her much hope of a reconciliation.
But when we stood to leave, I walked over and hugged her.
“I understand,” I whispered.
She squeezed me tight and then gave me a small smile as she slipped from the room. It was only the four of us left. Jackson, Karlyn, King, and me.
“What do you think?” King asked the room. I knew he wanted to hear Jackson’s thoughts but didn’t want to single him out.
“I don’t know,” Jackson answered, his voice low.
“I don’t think she was trying to hurt you,” Karlyn said. “I think she was a scared woman doing what she could... the only thing she knew, to protect her children.”
There was something in Karlyn’s voice. I watched her, but she wouldn’t look up. Jackson held her hand, and I saw him squeeze it. Pain flashed in his eyes as he looked at her.
Pain for her.
