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“What? You said it wasn’t safe to travel yet.”

If I wasn’t mistaken, there was a hint of hopefulness in Colleen’s words.

“It’s not safe for you here. My son will protect you. Besides, it’s time you met your stepfather.” Sal grinned.

“I have met him, Uncle Sal. I talk to Mom all the time.”

“Well now you get to meet him in person. And you get to meet your cousin.”

Colleen smiled at Sal. She was an only child, and with Darcy missing and me never getting married, she’d grown up without any close blood relatives other than me.

“If Tyran knew Darcy and her son had died, why kill Duane?” Mac asked.

“Wait, Aunt Darcy had another child? I have another cousin?” Colleen asked.

“According to what Tyran said, she had another son. But he died before she did.”

“Maybe he didn’t know.”

My eyes turned toward Freyja. “What do you mean?”

“Maybe all he knew was that Duane had found Darcy. Maybe he didn’t know Darcy had died until after he got her location from Duane.”

“That son of a bitch!” Sal clipped. “A few weeks after Duane’s death, he went to California. Said he had a lead on why Duane was shot. When he came back he said it didn’t pan out.”

“That lead being Darcy’s location,” Mac surmised.

“Duane found her.” My eyes landed on Sal. I saw the same emotion in his eyes that I knew was in mine. “He found her.”

“We will too!”

“I don’t understand something,” Colleen started. “If Dad was gone. And Aunt Darcy had died before Dad found her. Why is Tyran still trying to hurt Ducky?”

Freyja smiled up at me. “It’s cute she calls you Ducky.”

I laughed. “That was Duane’s doing. I’ll tell you about it later.”

“He took Tyran’s place,” Cian said. I could see the others were as confused as I was.

“Think about it. First Darcy gets involved with Sal. They fall in love and Sal pulls away from Ty—”

“I never pulled away—”

“Stop.” Cian held his hand up to Sal’s face, and Sal smacked it away. Freyja’s body shook against mine as she tried to hide her laughter. “Are you saying you never blew off Ty so Darcy could blow you off?”

“Eww, gross, Uncle Ci.”

I shook my head at my niece. They might not be related to her, but Sal, Cian, and Mac were her uncles. And always would be.

“Asshole,” Sal muttered.

“Continue,” I said with a grin.

“Sal begins to pull away from Ty for Darcy. Ty does something to run Darcy off, never telling Sal she was pregnant. Everything was good once Darcy left.”

Sal opened his mouth, and I shoved his shoulder. “You know what he fuckin’ means.”

Cian rolled his eyes at Sal and then added, “Years later, Duane starts looking for Darcy. Ty gets nervous. If Darcy comes home, not only would Sal want her back, but Ty risks being pushed out again. And he runs the risk of Darcy telling Sal that Ty is the reason she left in the first place.”