Page 128 of Thorns of Deceit

“It’s good you found Aiden,” she said, sending shock rolling through me.

“You mean it?” I breathed, blinking tears away.

She nodded. “I can see he’s nothing likehim.”

It was the closest she’d come to referencing Duncan since Scotland. I took it as a good sign, hoping it meant she was on the road to recovery, especially now that she knew he could never come back to hurt her again.

“Aiden thought I was dead,” I rasped slowly, my chest trembling with emotions. “It hurt him.Ihurt him, and reflecting back, I should have… I don’t know…”

“You should have stayed with him,” she finished for me. “But you’ve flourished, so I’m not sorry.”

“Yeah, I should have stayed with him,” I confirmed. “He would have protected us both, just like he’s proven now. But the past is past, and we should leave it there. Let’s look to the future.”

She nodded but didn’t say more. I let the silence settle between us. Living in the past wouldn’t do us any good, and the journey brought us full circle. Hell, I even learned a thing or two and grew up a bit along the way. Maybe this was exactly as it was meant to be, and we should accept it for what it was.

A chance at a new life together.

“The body that the police found in the explosion…” I started. “Whose was it?”

Mom’s eyes filled with ghosts. “A dead woman I’d taken from the hospital morgue I worked at.”

My nose scrunched. “You must be joking.”

“I’m not,” she retorted flatly. “The same day that Jack Callahan visited me, I went to work for an hour and brought back a body.”

I stared at her in disbelief. “You didn’t.”

“Yes, I did. In every location we moved to, I always went for a janitor’s job at a hospital. Why do you think that was?”

“To… have access to… a dead body,” I said slowly, although this whole conversation seemed far-fetched.

She nodded.

“The plan was to fake both our deaths and start over. Of course, the whole plan derailed.”

“How did you survive? Couldn’t you have contacted me?”

She shrugged. “The world thought you dead, so I mourned you.”

“You should have told me. I could have helped you, Mom.”

“I didn’t want to attract any attention. Anyhow, it’s over.”

“Doesn’t make it right.” Her gaze shifted away from me and she stared off, her features going slack. “Mom, about your son?—”

“No.”

My stomach twisted.

“What do you meanno?” She didn’t respond, but I couldn’t stop now. “He’s just a baby. Your son. My brother.”

“Monster.”

I breathed through my nose, grappling with what to do. I didn’t want to make things harder for her, and clearly, bringing up the baby upset her.

“I just need you to know something.” Her body tensed and I knew she was listening. “Aiden and I want to adopt him and raise him as our own. We already love him. He is innocent, in the same way you and I are.”

She looked away again, staring at the sunlight dancing across the cabin floor. “He’ll grow up to become like him. You can’t see it yet, but you will.”