Page 90 of Sins of Innocence

"What about yours, Neeve?" I know what they all look like because McLaren sent me pictures, but I want the ten-year-old to know she always has a voice.

And I always want to hear it.

"It's got polkadots like Joy's but not Minnie, just her name on the front. Do you want to see?"

"Yes."

Smiling, she hops up and walks more sedately than Joy did down the hall toward their room. Joy is showing me the way she can zip her clothes into one side, "So they won't get messed up," when Neeve returns.

Hers is the only soft-side case, but it has more pockets and she seems to like that.

"Want to watch our movie with us?" Neeve asks.

My plan had been to check in with Áine and Maureen, but I find myself nodding.

I sit on the couch behind the girls and Joy leans back against my left shin as Sadie starts the movie again. A few minutes later, Neeve leans back against my right knee. And I sit there watching a Disney movie for the first time in my life, feeling…strange.

Like for the first time since my mom died, I have a family that wants me again.

Chapter eighteen

Vocabulary Lessons

ÁINE

Walking into Mr. Wrye's classroom, I'm almost as shocked as I was coming out of the kitchen to find Kieran watching a kids movie with the girls.

The sight of Sadie leaning against the couch near where he sat, Joy leaning against one his legs and Neeve the other made my heart feel like it was expanding in my chest. The hope of that very scene, or something very close to it, is the reason I tried to date.

I wanted my daughters to have a family like the one I had growing up, with loving and involved parents. I have so many good memories from my childhood with my dad and my heart hurt knowing my older girls had too few of those, and Joy none at all.

That little tableau sparked hope that this forced marriage could become something more than a means to an end. It could be something good.

For me and my girls.

The shock I'm feeling right now is not nearly as pleasant.

There are only twenty-three children in Neeve's class total. Right now, excluding Lily, because she's here in support of my daughter, not because she's part of the problem, there are eleven children. If you take my daughter and her best friend out of the equation, that's more than half of the class who have been calling Neeve names.

Nausea roils in my stomach.

And she never even told me it was happening.

Mr. Wrye gives me a sour smile. "Mrs. Gallagher."

That's all. Just my name. No hello or good afternoon.

"Mr. Wrye." I return the favor, only instead of a sour smile, I frown, doing nothing to hide the anger and disgust I feel with his handling of the situation in my tone.

"I presume this is Kieran Lleshi." Mr. Wrye pauses, pressing his lips together in disapproval. "Your partner."

Neeve's hand slides into mine and my daughter presses against my side.

Kieran's hand settles on my shoulder. "That's right."

Two men I don't recognize, but who give off the same vibe Kieran does, slide into the room and take up positions on either side of the door.

One of them says, "All clear, boss."