Page 16 of Maddening Fixation

“Please...”

My voice cracked.

“Gr... Grandfather...”

The word caught in my throat.

I swallowed against the blood filling my mouth and forced the next words out between ragged breaths.

“Ye have to believe me.”

My voice trembled, the familiar Irish lilt breaking beneath the weight of my desperation.

“I swear on everythin’ I have left... I didn’t hurt Sarah.”

Another breath.

Another painful swallow.

“I spent my whole life protectin’ her.”

My voice cracked.

“She was all I had.”

I searched his face for even the smallest flicker of compassion.

For doubt. For hope.

I found none.

My throat tightened until speaking became almost impossible.

“From the day Ma died... it was me and Sarah against the whole bloody world.”

No one interrupted.

Perhaps they wanted to hear me beg.

“I stood in front of her when they whipped us.”

Images flashed through my mind.

Sarah crying.

My own back splitting open beneath leather lashes.

Her tiny fingers clutching my shirt afterward while I lied and told her it didn’t hurt.

“I covered her with my own body.”

Another memory.

Winter.

She’d stolen bread from the kitchens because she was hungry.

I’d taken the punishment.