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“She talked about you both like you were dead, but the love she had for you both was palpable. I don’t understand any of this. The woman you are describing compared to the woman who raised me is so different. I’m having a hard time correlating the two of them. My mam loved me fiercely. She told me stories of parents who loved her just as much. I’ve never heard of any of this before. She said her wedding was a fairytale.”

Do they hear the heartbreak in my words?

“We gave your mam everything we could, but she had a hard time accepting anything at face value. Never doubt the love we have for her Deidre; we love her more than anything. But there’s a time when a parent has to let the child go, and we did. I will regret that for the rest of my life.”

“Did you know about me?”

“Yes, but not until you were two. We tried to reach out, but Bradshaw refused it. She seemed happy, and that’s all we ever wanted for her. Leaving her alone was obviously a big mistake because we didn’t hear from her again until your eighteenth birthday.”

“What did she say to you?” Dom asked him. She’d almost forgotten that other people were in the room.

“She made a frantic phone call saying she was in trouble but all that mattered was Deidre. That I had to help her. So I sent my men looking for her.” He waved behind him at his guards. “We had a terrible time locating anyone but Bradshaw. He stayed very public. Which is how I knew something was going on. The only reason we learned Deidre was in the country was because Maureen hired one of my men to make fake ID’s for her. It wasn’t until later that we even found out about that either. We all seem to be going in circles, though.”

As he explained what had been happening over the last few months, Deidre felt like her world was crumbling. Like there was no more light at the end of the tunnel.

“Why are you here now?” she blurted out. Her emotions were all over the place. She was tired of the runaround and the non-answers. All she wanted was to live in peace. Looking at Dom’s concerned face, she hoped it would be with him.

“Your mam asked me to take care of you. My plan was to take you back to my home in Kilkenny; however, I can see it’s obviously not needed. Your young man here has quite the protective streak when it comes to you.” He smiled in affection.

Gripping Dom’s hand, she pulled it to her chest hugging him softly. Knowing full-well how much he cared for her brought to light just how much she’d screwed up by leaving him in the height of her panic.

*****

When he first approached the old man in the lobby, he’d been suspicious of his motives and of who he was. But the more Dom talked to him, the more it made sense as to what Maureen and Bradshaw had done... were doing.

Immediately, he realized that Deedee was going to be upset, but she was far stronger than she gave herself credit for. He had faith that she could and would handle it. Her temper might get in the way, though, which she had proved once or twice.

Dominic understood her reticence about hearing anything bad about her mother. For her entire life, she was the only person who had ever loved Deidre, so of course she wouldn’t want to hear anything negative. Nevertheless, after reading the letter she’d found, she was a probably a little more understanding than she would have been.

As he walked Malaky and his guards out the door, Deedee was still sitting on the couch in shock from everything she’d learned. She must feel like her entire life was a lie. It seemed to be one thing after another for her.

“Take care of her, Mr. Slade,” Malaky told him as he left.

After locking the door, he turned to Dee. “How you feeling, Princess?”

She looked at him. The haunted look in her eyes had him worried. “I don’t even know how to process this.”

“Don’t think about it then.”

“How can I not? Everything I’ve been told my whole life was one lie after another.” Betrayal laced her voice.

Walking towards her, he pulled her up into him wrapping one arm around her back and placing one hand under her chin. He tilted her head to look at him. “Princess, I promise you we will figure everything out. Together. Tell me, is what you felt from your mom a lie? The way she protected you, loved you. Do you feel like that was a lie?”

“No,” she whispered back breathless.

“What about us? Are we a lie?”

“Never.”

“Then have faith. One way or another everything will work out. I will get Bradshaw out of your life. We will find out what Brock’s part in all of this was and whether or not he knows the truth about you. And Princess, when that’s all taken care of, you are done running from me.”

She seemed to ponder his words for a minute before saying, “I didn’t mean what I said earlier to sound the way– “

“Don’t worry about it, Princess, I get it.”

“No, I need you to know that the way you make me feel isn’t a bad thing, Dominic. I love all the emotions I get to experience when I’m with you. It’s empowering and overwhelming. It absorbs everything in me. I can’t call it love because I’m not even sure I know what that is.”

This girl.