Page 125 of Sins of Innocence

When I ask about the boys at the front desk, Alice, the school secretary, tries to give me the run around, citing privacy laws and school policies.

"Let me speak to Mr. Bentley. " There's steel in my voice the secretary would be a fool to ignore.

After a moment of indecision, she calls him and asks if he will see me and Sadie. I'm not in fact sure if I want my daughter to witness a conversation between me and her school principal. However, it's not Mr. Bentley who comes out of his office a moment later, it's Vice Principal JoAnn Young.

She smiles. "Good morning. It's good to have you back, Sadie. I hope your vacation was a pleasant one. I hear you went to Disneyland?"

"We did." Sadie grins with the resilience of youth. "It was fire."

"I'm glad to hear that," JoAnn says with apparent sincerity. "How can I help you, Mrs. Gallagher?"

"It's Mrs. Veseli now," I correct her. "I want to confirm that the boys who attacked my daughter are not coming to school, and nor will they be allowed on school premises for the remainder of the year."

"I told you––" Alice starts to say.

But JoAnn talks right over the school secretary without even a hint of apology. "They have been pulled from classes for the rest of this year, and it is highly unlikely they will be allowed to return next year."

Alice gives Joanne a reproachful look which the vice principal ignores.

"I'm glad to hear that."

"It is my understanding that all four boys have been sent to stay with relatives out of state," JoAnn adds, surprising me not only with the information but her candor.

All four have been sent out of state? A stone settles in my gut. That's not a euphemism for dead, is it? Even Mick Fitzgerald wouldn't kill a child. Would he? Kieran says not, but can I trust his assessment? If I can't, I made a terrible mistake when I said I do in California.

"Jasper went to live with Fitz's grandparents. I didn't know they were related," Sadie says in the silence I can't make myself break.

"He did?" I ask her.

Why does my daughter know this and I don't? Fitz must have told her. That doesn't make me feel any better about the fact that my new husband didn't show me the same courtesy.

"Yeah. Fitz is excited because that means his cousin Eoghan can come stay with them."

I'm not sure how that works, or why that works, but the fear curdling in my belly starts to disappear.

"I see," JoAnn says, looking almost as perplexed as I am.

"So, none of them are here?" Sadie asks. "Not Kenny Jr., PJ or Billy either?"

"Correct," the vice principal confirms.

Sadie's lets out a pent up breath. "Fitz said, but I..." She bites her lip. "I should have believed him and Kieran, but…" Her voice trails off again.

"You needed to be sure. So did I," I tell her with a smile. "I'm glad we both know now."

"Me too, mom. Almost as glad as I am you married Kieran," she says with a cheeky grin and a side eye for the school secretary and vice principal.

She wants them to know she has more backup than just me. Or is it she wants them to know I have backup now?

Either way, I'm happy to make it clear to the women. "Me too."

"Congratulations on your marriage, Mrs. Veseli," JoAnn says warmly.

"Áine please. And thank you." I've never called the vice principal Mrs. Young because the first time I met her she told me to call her JoAnn and she's always called me by my first name too.

Is she calling me Mrs. Veseli now because of what happened with Sadie?

"My new dad is a really good guy," Sadie says with pride in her voice. "His name is Kieran Veseli." Sadie definitely wants to get the word out that Kieran is part of our family now, and when neither Alice, nor JoAnn, react to his name, she adds, "He used to be Kieran Lleshi. Him and mom both changed their name at the wedding. Isn't that lit?"