Sheridan paused, and I could see on her face that she didn’t want to tell me.
“Who?” I pressed.
“Brad.”
A new wave of anger rose in my chest. “You’re kidding.”
Sheridan shook her head. “When she woke up in hospital, she’d lost the baby but also needed to have a medical procedure to save her life. Whatever the guy used had damaged her womb irreparably. She can’t have kids.”
I got off the stool and paced the clubhouse, anger and betrayal all rolled up in one.
“When did she send me the note?” I asked her.
“Note?”
Grabbing my wallet out of my back pants, I pulled out the old piece of school paper with her fine handwriting on it.
FUCK YOU.
Sheridan held her hand over her mouth, recognising the handwriting and the age of the paper. “She sent that to you?”
I nodded.
“When?”
“Two months after we left.”
“Oh,” Sheridan said. “That was…right around the time we heard Louise boasting that her son was rising in the ranks. She told us that you had met someone and you were going to get married. She knew Orla was here that day, the first day back after her ordeal in hospital. I think she was trying to get Orla to leave the club.”
“I’d been considering coming back for her,” I admitted. “Louise knew that.”
Sheridan gasped. “Oh god, why didn’t you?”
“I got the note,” I added simply. “It kept me away.”
“I’m sorry, Alex.. It wasn’t my story to tell you, even though you deserved to know. I wish I had told you back then, told you when she admitted she was pregnant, but she didn’t want you to find out that way.”
I nodded. “It’s fine, Sher. Thank you for telling me.”
Sheridan smiled. “You know, even though Louise tore apart Orla’s self-esteem, especially when it came to that baby, the next day after she heard what Louise said at the clubhouse…she went and got that club tattoo.”
“She did?”
Sheridan nodded, and laughed. “Yeah, it was her way of branding you on her skin. That was something Louisewould never be able to take away. Either way, Louise couldn’t get to her anymore. Maree put her foot down.”
I smiled at that. Louise had always been frightened of Maree, and of Donald’s wife Enna. She’d been put in her place time and time again.
“I’m glad.”
Sheridan nodded. “What are you doing here, Alex? Go back to her bed.”
Chuckling, I wiped a hand down my face. “Yeah…I guess…it took me by surprise.”
“She would understand that. Now, go and tell her that and don’t be the brooding Bear we all know you to be, it’s okay to use your words.”
I flipped her off, earning myself a laugh before I moved out to get my bike and head back home to Orla.
When I got inside, I moved down the hall to my bedroom where I saw Orla curled up, crying. My heart pulled in a violent twist as I realised I had done that.
