Page 13 of Breaking Rules

My heart broke for the girl I barely knew. I hadn’t known the same depth of pain and hurt that she had, but I hoped now that I understood her a bit better, I could reach her.

“Thank you,” I said. “It helps, knowing her history. Can you think of anything that’s happening now that I should know about?”

Josalyn took the time to think about it before shaking her head. “I can’t think of anything specific. I’m not her confidant, though. I’m sure there’s a lot I don’t know.” She leaned forward. “And I’m hoping you’ll be able to help her through it.”

Eight

Alec

When Keliand I had set up our custody arrangement, I’d been certain that the best thing for our daughter would be to have Keli be the primary caregiver and me to be the financial support. I had loved my daughter from the moment I’d learned about her – after I’d gotten over the shock – and I’d honestly believed that was in her best interest to keep her time with me to short periods that I couldn’t fuck up. Since she’d turned out to be such an amazing person, I thought that meant I’d made the right choice, no matter how much I wished I could’ve made a family for her.

What I’d never thought of was how much of her life I’d missed.

Not the things like her first steps or her first word. Even if Keli and I had been married, I probably would have missed them due to work and seen them on video just as I had, anyway.

No, it was the small things I hadn’t even known to miss. Like sitting on the couch while she showed me every single thing that she and Theresa and Paris had bought today. And it wasn’t a simple show and tell where she held up the clothing. She insisted on modeling everything.

If someone had told me two months ago that I would spend three hours watching Evanne put on a fashion show and listening to her explain to me how the dinosaur model Paris had bought would help when she became a vet, I would’ve told them that was insane. But sitting here with my family, laughing more than I’d laughed with them in a long time, it made me realize that I had sold myself short.

“Want me to help you start putting that together?” Paris asked Evanne after the fashion show was done.

I wondered which of the two of them was actually more excited about the dinosaur and smiled when they moved over to the low table Theresa had put in the den specifically for these sorts of projects. I knew she and Da were always hoping to have more opportunities to use it.

At the moment, however, they’d stepped out to take some food to a friend of theirs who’d recently fallen and broken her leg. Brody had left the golf course, saying he had a new batch of scotch to test. I was glad Paris had stayed. Evanne didn’t get to spend nearly enough time with her aunts and uncles, which was my fault, I knew. At least that was something I could begin to rectify now that Evanne was with me full-time.

“I have to ask.” I kept watching Evanne even as I spoke to Eoin. “How are you not going mad here, brother?”

Eoin shrugged. “They give me my space.”

I didn’t bother pressing for details. He wouldn’t give them. My little brother was one of the few people in the family who talked even less than I did. Except for when he’d been in the army. Then, he’d loved telling stories about the things he and his friends would do. Not the serious things like the missions they went on, but the pranks they would pull on each other, that sort of thing. Now, none of us wanted to ask about what happened those last few weeks.

“Have you heard from Keli?” he asked, surprising me with the question.

“I haven’t,” I said. “I called to let her know about the shooting at the school, but she didn’t answer. I left a voicemail letting her know Evanne was all right and that we’d be here.”

I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t checked my phone in a few hours, an occurrence that hadn’t happened in a very long time. When I pulled it out, I saw I had nothing from Keli, but I had received a text from Lumen. I read through it as Eoin waited and then pressed my voice-to-text option to reply.

“Thank you for the update. We got in last night without any problems.”

After sending it off, I caught Eoin giving me a curious look.

“That didn’t sound like a response to Keli.”

“It wasn’t,” I said shortly. When he raised an eyebrow, I blew out a long breath. “If you must know, it was an update from Evanne’s school. They’re closed the rest of the week, and it seems that the incident was an accident of some kind.”

“Does that mean we’re staying for the week?” Evanne asked. “Because if I can’t go to school, I’d rather be here.”

“You don’t have any friends you want to play with?” Paris asked.

Evanne shrugged. “I have a friend named Skylar, but I don’t want to have a play date with him. I don’t like his mom.”

“Evanne,” I chided. “You cannae say things like that,mo chride.”

“Why not?” she asked. “I heard her tell Skylar that Ms. Browne was trailer trash, and even though I don’t know what that means, I know it isn’t nice.”

A flare of anger went through me, and my hands curled into fists before I’d even realized I’d done it. I’d met Skylar’s mother once when I’d picked up Evanne, and I wished I could have told my daughter that she’d misunderstood what that foul woman had said, but it didn’t surprise me in the least.

“You’re right,” Eoin spoke after a beat of tense silence. “That’s not a nice thing to call someone.”