Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 109783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
I’d frowned. “What? You have a kid and Eilidh is no longer a priority?”
Lewis had cut me a dark look. “It’s not like that. I don’t have time for childish behavior. If she’s got a problem, she should talk to me.”
I feared her problem was me. Was Eilidh taking her resentment of me out on Lewis?
Whatever her issue was, I was done being avoided.
I got my chance the night of her last Sunday dinner before she returned to London. Eilidh had been quiet, morose almost. I knew from the exchanged looks among her family that they’d noticed. But they also seemed to be growing impatient with Eilidh’s distance and attitude. They no longer pressed her to tell them what was wrong and their frustration was written all over their faces.
After dinner, their uncle Lachlan and aunt Robyn and cousins left, leaving Thane, Regan, Mor, Lewis, Callie, Harley, Eilidh, and me. Everyone settled around the sitting room with after-dinner drinks, but Eilidh quietly slipped out of the sliding doors and shut them behind her.
Uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Thane stood as if to go after her, but I cut him off. “Let me talk to her.”
“You?” Lewis asked, eyebrows raised.
“We’re friends.” At least we were.
“Friends?”
“I told you that.” I had, but only in vague terms. “We talk.”
“You talk?”
Callie shifted Harley to one arm and gently slapped Lewis’s biceps. “Quit it.”
He shot his fiancée a frown. “I’m not doing anything.”
“You’re in protective big brother mode with Fyfe, which is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
Internally, I winced at Callie’s defense of me. If only she knew I’d had my hand down Eilidh’s shorts two months ago and that I might have done more if Lewis hadn’t called.
Opening the heavy sliding glass door, I watched the lines of Eilidh’s back tense as she leaned against the deck balustrade, staring out at the water. I made sure the door was shut behind me. Between the heavy-duty glass and the ocean waves beyond us, no one inside would hear our conversation. Salt air filled my nose and I inhaled it as I leaned my elbows on the balustrade next to her.
Exhaling, I said, “If you’re mad at me, be mad at me. But don’t take it out on your family.”
Eilidh let out a bitter little laugh. I hated the sound. It wasn’t her. “My problem with my family has nothing to do with my problem with you. Those are two separate things.”
Problem with her family. “Christ, Eils, just tell us what’s going on in that head of yours. It feels like you’ve been miserable for years and your family is worried about you. Can’t you see that?”
The low late-summer sun cast a glow over her beautiful face as she turned toward me, eyes flashing angrily. “I am perfectly aware that there is shit I need to figure out. But up until a month ago, I didn’t know understanding my family and how they see me was one of them.”
“What are you talking about?”
Furious tears glimmered in her eyes as she looked away. “Nothing.”
“This.” I couldn’t help but grab her arm, pulling her toward me. “Shutting people out. People who give a damn about you. It fucking hurts, Eilidh. And you just keep doing it.”
Her lips parted as she glared up at me incredulously. Something happened behind her eyes, something I didn’t quite understand. Then she wrenched her arm from my grasp. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. Come.” She gestured toward the house. “You’re an honorary Adair. You should hear this.”
Something in her tone lifted the hair on the back of my neck. “Eilidh, what—”
She was already yanking open the door and marching into the house.
“We need to talk.” I heard her say loudly as I hurried in after her.
Eilidh stood before her family, hands on her hips, as they all stared up at her expectantly.
My palms grew clammy. Was she about to tell them what happened between us? No. She wouldn’t do that to me.
She crossed her arms defensively and I saw the telltale tremble in her lips that she was holding back emotion.
This wasn’t about me. About us. It couldn’t be.
Lowering myself onto the arm of the sofa, I watched her, a renewed worry washing over me.
“A while ago, I decided to investigate my birth mother. Francine.”
Everyone tensed.
“I wanted to know a little about her.”
“Why didn’t you just ask me?” Thane frowned.
“Because I wanted to know who she really was. Not the perfect woman you painted her as.”
He flinched at her tone and Regan reached for his hand.
“Eilidh—” Lewis’s admonishing tone induced a sharp “back off” glare from his sister.
“I found out about our grandparents, about Francine’s schooling, even found her yearbook from high school. I also found her yearbook from working as a teacher. The school has all their yearbooks available to view online. Including the last year Francine taught. There was an individual photo of her and then there was a group teacher photo. And I couldn’t believe it when I looked at that photograph because standing next to her with his arm around her was the man who tried to kidnap me when I was a child.”