As I push into the house, music fills the air. I smile as Alicia Keys’s “If I Ain’t Got You” plays. This sounds like one of the CDs I made for them.
I move to the threshold of the living area and lean into the doorjamb. My smile grows wider. They are dancing in the middle of the room.
I love the way Da looks at her. Ever since I can remember, it’s been the same. Angus Walsh has loved my mother with everything he is.
He has never made me feel like I’m not his daughter. He has loved me as much as he’s loved Mum. If Mum never told me that Angus wasn’t my biological father, I never would have known.
My thoughts go to Cole. How is it that I saw this same look in his eyes? I shake my head and cradle my shoes to my chest.
It has to be the drinking. What I do know is this is what love looks like. I don’t want it if it’s not like this.
Uncle Dougie looks at Auntie Kara the same way, even after six children. Uncle Donny looks at Auntie Iesha this way. It’s all I’ve ever known. Someday the man I love will look at me the same.
Da looks up from Mum to find me watching them and his face lights up with his special smile for me. My heart swells. Someday the man I love will love me and our children this way. I know he will.
“Aye, there she is. Our birthday lass. How was yer party? Did ya have fun?”
“Aye, I did.”
“Grand, the lads didn’t let ya get too langered. I remember when I turned eighteen. I couldn’t feel me face. I got pissed as a fart, me friends had to carry me home,” he chuckles.
“Deja knows I would have grounded her until her twenty-first birthday if she came in here like that.”
“I’m fine. Just ready for bed. I love ye, see ye in the morning.”
Angus comes to pull me into a hug and kisses my forehead. I squeeze him tight. Yup, I’m a daddy’s girl. Angus started me playing softball; he’s taken me to every game.
Mum used to have to travel for work and he would take care of me. I’ve never been a burden to him. Just his little buddy.
He was the one to play Barbies with me when I was little. If I had a tea party, he would be my first guest. Where you found Angus, you found me.
“Love ya too, Deja. Happy birthday, love,” he says as he releases me.
Mum tugs me into her embrace next. She kisses my cheek, then murmurs in my ear. “Good night, my precious girl. I love you more than you could ever know. You changed my life for the better.”
“I love ya too, Mum.”
CHAPTER 6
Dark Lessons
The Shadows
“Aye,ya did right by coming to me, lad,” Oland says to Boyle McTavish.
I sit and listen. That’s all Oland ever wants from me. I’ve learned to blend in with the shadows.
That’s where I’ve been all my life. Secrets always stay best hidden in the shadows.
I know right away this kid should have kept to the shadows and held his secrets there with him. Coming here was stupid. The fact that Oland allowed him in the same room with me says as much.
“I’ll be in touch. Ya tell no one what ya told me,” Oland continues.
“Aye, I’m still working on Deja. And I think I have an idea of how to come between her and Kate.”
“Ach, ya don’t worry about any of that, lad.”
“Oh, okay, well, I’ll be going now.”
