Page 37 of Broken Blood Ties

I hate to wake her this late, but I’d hate to leave her without saying goodbye even more.

I crack the door, noticing the dancing stars that carousel from her bedside lamp. Aoife is curled into a ball facing the window that looks out over the cobblestone driveway, where another guard has already taken position. Her hair spills over her face, exposing only a fluttering eye and her button nose.

My chest aches, and suddenly the rush to leave isn’t that pressing. I shove both my hands into my pockets and stare at her, watching the ruffled duvet rise and fall with each of her tiny breaths. With a single finger, I pull her hair away from her face before kneeling beside her.

“Aoife?”

She stirs but doesn’t open her eyes.

“Aoife,” I say again, a little louder.

Her eyes flutter open, and she looks at me for a moment before they widen. “Daddy,” she whispers.

“I’m sorry to wake ye. But I need to go out of town for a bit. I wanted to say goodbye.”

She blinks, then nods, the base of her chin quivering ever so slightly. The ache in my chest grows painful.

“I promise. When I get back, we’ll have a weekend on the yacht. Just the two of us. How does that sound?”

“Okay, Daddy.” She yawns, drawing her bear closer to her chest.

“I love ye. Be sweet for Allie.”

“Love you, too.”

“Good night, little love.”

I kiss her cheek, hesitating to stand. But the memory of Yuki lying dead on the concrete floor and Riku’s proclamations motivate me to leave her.

I walk to the door, pull it shut behind me, then jog down the stairs with my bag. Allie left the travel cup of tea on the island along with a granola bar. Grabbing the two items and shrugging into my still-damp coat, I head out the door once more. I settle into the driver’s seat, ready for the long haul to New York.

I’m not sure what will come of this, or if it’s even the right move. But the pressure to act—to take the next step and dive headfirst into protecting my family, both immediate and extended, is relentless. I know I need to do this. And, like always, I’m prepared to do it alone if that’s what it takes.

Chapter12

Summer

It’s only been a few days since our field trip to the aquarium, and I’m already itching for another trip. Perhaps a trip to the Public Garden in May when the weather warms and the flowers reach their peak bloom. Getting out of the classroom is addicting, and watching my students enjoy it is the icing on the already sweet cake.

Today’s an average day full of giggles from our pretend play and circle time with the letter of the week. The exception from the norm is that two of my students are missing. Tommy and Aoife are both out sick. At least that’s the call I got from the main office today.

“All right, everyone, to your seats. You’ll notice we have crayons and markers on the tables. For craft today, we are going to be drawing pictures of what you want to be when you grow up. It can be anything you dream of—an astronaut, a doctor, a teacher …

“I’ll be passing out this paper to each of you.” I hold up a white sheet of paper with a rectangular box. Underneath are three checkboxes. “Please draw what you’d like to be when you grow up in the box. Then, when you bring your paper home, I want you to find three people and show them what you drew and tell them what you’d like to be.

“You’ll place a check, or an X in each box after you’ve done that. Then you’ll bring them back and we’re going to place them on the wall for our career day.” I gesture to the blank wall space below the animated career posters.

Passing out the sheets, I smile at the chatter amongst the kids. Many of them want to do something their parents do. Another little boy, Logan, said he’s drawing a superhero because that’s what he wants to be.

I smile, thinking about the starkly different plans I had when I was growing up. Being a teacher never crossed my mind. I wanted the limelight, the party, and fame. So much so that I?—

“Miss Summer,” Logan says. “Can I be a superherowitha cape?”

Laughing, I answer, “Of course, Logan. Some of my favorite superheroes wear capes.” I wink at him, and he beams up at me, reaching for a blue crayon.

Wandering back to my desk, I pull out two extra sheets for Tommy and Aoife and put it in their pile of papers to go home. Never would I assume a preschooler would need to pick up “missed work,” but I guess the office had calls from both of their families requesting it.

Additionally, I put in a paper asking for parent volunteers to come in and talk about what they do for a career. Tommy’s mother is the only nurse in the class, and Kieran is a successful business owner. I’m hopeful they’ll both consider volunteering, although I’m not sure I’ll be holding my breath for Kieran. The field trip to the aquarium may have been hisone-and-done.