but it didn’t suit her. She was born to be ripe and curvy, and instead, she just looked emaciated. That, more than anything, tore my heart enough to return to her side.
Taking a seat on the coffee table in front of her, I prompted, “Aoife? What is it?”
She rolled her head on her knees. “I-I can’t seem to stop thinking about it.”
“About what?”
“The accident she was in.”
“It was a car crash, wasn’t it?”
She nodded.
It wasn’t hard to read between the lines, not when, in my world, the worst-case scenario often came to pass. “You think your father had something to do with it?”
“I-I’d like to think not.” She swallowed.
A harsh laugh escaped me. “Jesus, Aoife. You wouldn’t be asking me to do this if you more than ‘thought’ it was a possibility.”
“I’m probably just being paranoid,” she admitted huskily, her shoulders rounding as she tucked her hands between her knees.
Aoife was the last woman to be taken on flights of fancy, and fuck, did I mention that I hated it when she avoided my eyes? “You think he was tying up loose ends?”
“Sounds like something from a Tom Clancy book, doesn’t it?” she whispered, then she lifted a hand and rubbed her eyes. “Forget I mentioned it.”
“But mention it you did.” I reached for her hand and gripped it in my own. “Why didn’t you mention you knew me before?”
It was an abrupt topic change, but I was curious.
“It truly never came up. Until you proposed, I only thought we were hooking up, and after…” She shrugged. “It didn’t seem important.”
“I think we need to have a discussion on what is and isn’t important.”
She cut me a look. “Same could be said for you, Finn. Why didn’t you tell me how you’d met the O'Donnellys?”
“Because that’s a very, very dark part of my past, Aoife.”
“And that isn’t a secret too?” she replied, deftly twisting things around.
Before we’d married, I’d promised myself that I’d be an open book for whatever questions she had for me. I’d just thought that particular side of my history would forever stay out of the equation.
“My father used to beat us.”
Her hand came out to cup my knee. “I know. I saw her bruises when she came to visit Mom. I remember them, even being so young.”
My lips twisted. “The old man had no shame. Didn’t care if he marked you or not. Arrogant bastard.” I swallowed. “He hurt me, Aoife. He hurt me badly. One day, I decided enough was enough and I ran away from home.
“I stayed on the streets for a while, but I was best friends with Aidan Jr. back then. Knew all his family. Brennan and Conor were close to me too. Declan and Eoghan were a bit too young, but the four of us ran around together.
“When I left home, pulled out of school, they looked for me. When they found me, they dragged me to their place and I just never left.”
“He disappeared around about the same time as you did,” she pointed out softly, and when she caught my eye, her question was, “Aidan Sr.?”
I dipped my chin in agreement. “Said a child molester deserved no other fate than being tossed in the Hudson by his brothers.”
She swallowed and her hand clenched around my knee. “Finn?”
As I tilted my head to look at her, our gazes clashed and held for seemingly endless seconds. “Aoife?”
“I’d have pushed him in the river too.”
I jerked back in surprise, and though it stunned the shit out of me, I laughed. Fuck, I did more than laugh. It bellowed out of me until my sides ached, my belly twinged, and my eyes watered. When I rubbed at my eyes though, I saw she was pouting.
“What’s so funny?” she demanded.
“Just trying to imagine you pushing that bastard into the river.”
“I’m stronger than I look.” A wince crossed her features. “Well, I used to be. Don’t forget I had to heft big bags of flour around.”
Raising her hand to my lips, I kissed her knuckles. “Aidan did it so you and I don’t have to wish we did.” But I was touched. Touched because I hadn’t expected her to say that.
I’d expected the usual, “I’m sorry, Finn.” Or, worse still, for her to be revolted by the notion that I’d been abused and unable to look at me as anything other than a victim.
Instead, this woman, as was her way, stood firmly at my side. A source of strength, of support and succor.
I squeezed her