Maddie’s smile dropped, and she looked up at me. “How long have you and her...?”
I sobered up as I realized what she was asking. “Only the one time. When she refused to leave, I walked away.”
“Why didn’t she leave?”
“Divorce is a sin, Maddie.”
“So is adultery,” she muttered.
“Maddie,” I warned.
She rolled her eyes at me. “She doesn’t even go to church. Except for Mass on Christmas and Easter.”
I shrugged. “We grew up Catholic, Maddie. That shit is ingrained in us. If she were divorced, she’d never be able to get remarried in the church.”
“But now he’s dead.”
“And we can’t tell anyone,” I reminded her.
Chapter Two
Caity
“No. I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t even want to look at you!”
Maddie ran upstairs as I stood there, tears streaming down my face. I wanted to follow her, but I knew my daughter. She wouldn’t talk to me. Not like this.
“Caity.”
I turned and looked at Cian. “Fuck you!” I spat and then stormed out, slamming the door behind me.
I rushed down the steps of the brownstone, and I heard the door slam again.
“Caitlin Marie O’Malley!”
I stopped in my tracks and closed my eyes. I should have known he’d come after me. I didn’t turn around. I hadn’t spoken to him since he’d come back from New Orleans.
I hadn’t spoken to any of them.
“You can’t run from this shit.”
I spun around. “Why not? You fuckin’ do.”
“That’s not fair, Caity, and you know it.”
“Don’t talk to me about what’s fair, Sal. Nothing in my life has been fair. There was only one choice I ever made in my life that was my own, and it came back to bite me in the ass.”
“You should have told him.”
I rolled my eyes at my brother. He didn’t understand what things had been like for me. He never would.
“You never should have fucked him!”
My hands fisted at my sides. I rolled my lips between my teeth and inhaled slowly. I would try to contain my temper. I reminded myself I was on the street, not in the privacy of my home.
Turning around, I walked off.
“Caity!”
