Page 111 of Savage Reign

I smiled at the kindness in her eyes. “I hope so too.”

She patted my hand.

We went back to browsing, moving on to some baby bottles. I took this chance to observe her. She had long brown hair that she tied into a bun and kind brown eyes. Her face had very few wrinkles, which contributed to why I thought she was much younger than fifty-five, and her skin was a beautiful golden tan that I knew wasn’t from the sun but from genetics. It was hard for me to tell what ethnicity she was.

She was beautiful in a kind way.

“How did you come to work with the brothers?” I asked.

Her eyes widened in surprise. I wondered if it was too personal. I was about to tell her she didn’t have to answer me when she spoke. “They never told you?”

I shook my head.

“I was their mom’s best friend. At least, I was before she married her husband. Then Saoirse kind of disappeared on me after a while. I know now it wasn’t her fault. She wasn’t able to have any contact with the outside world. Her husband loosened the rules a little when she finally gave birth to Maverick—his heir.”

I looked away. It wasn’t like I didn’t have any idea of the brothers’ mom and what her marriage had been like. A kind of marriage I imagine I would have endured had the brothers not attacked the clubhouse that one fateful night, and I had to go through with the marriage to Sebastian.

I shook away the thought. “So you have known the brothers their whole life?”

“I missed the first five years of Maverick’s life. I didn’t know how Saoirse managed, but she was able to convince Declan—the boys’ father—to let me work for the family as the nanny. Saoirsewas happy for a little while. Then things started to unravel, and the more I saw of her marriage to that man, the more I wanted to take her and the boys away. But I was a woman. A powerless woman. And their mother had taken on a victim’s mentality for so long that she forgot to think of herself as a woman who had needs and wants. Maverick was around twelve or thirteen at the time when I finally got through to her. We were going to take the boys and run away.”

Her eyes turned sad, and I didn’t need to ask her why that was. Obviously, they hadn’t been able to escape. “He found out,” I guessed.

She nodded. “She heard him on the phone with his mistress. She told me to go to the bus station without her first and that she would meet me there with the boys.” She paused, her eyes taking on a faraway look. “She never showed up. And when I realized Declan’s men were there, I knew I had to leave. It broke my heart into a million pieces to get on that bus. I realized right away that Saoirse never intended to take the boys and run with me. She was just trying to help me escape Declan’s grasp while she resigned herself to her fate.”

She wiped away her tears and looked away from me.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to make you sad.”

She waved her hand away. “Of course not. It’s been years, but I still think about my dear friend. Sometimes, I imagined what it would have been like had we succeeded in taking the boys and running. But that was just the wishful thinking of an old woman who missed her friend.”

I nodded, not knowing what to say.

“The boys actually tracked me down about ten years after that event. They remembered me. It helped that their mom kept a diary. At that time, I was a single mom trying my hardest to raise my son. The boys offered me a job and their protection.They helped put my boy through law school, and well, the rest is history.”

And it made sense now why Rachel was so loyal to them.

“Thank you for telling me.”

“Of course, my dear. I know we were talking about your mom earlier, and you don’t have to tell me about her, but just know, I always wanted a daughter to love and spoil. Given the chance, I’d like to think I can be a mother figure for you… if you’ll have me.”

Tears burned my eyes. The yearning I had felt for my mother when I was a little girl after she’d abandoned me came back, but now I was with a woman who had shown me nothing but kindness from the very beginning.

“Yes,” I said softly. “I would like that.”

“Oh, my dear girl.” She pulled me tightly into her arms, holding me to her. I closed my eyes, trying to keep the tears at bay. “You’re going to be alright. You know that, don’t you?”

I nodded against her. Yes, I was beginning to see that now.

I was going to be okay.

An hour later,we were done shopping for the day, and I was feeling lighter than I had felt in a long time.

And I was smiling.

Liam carried the bags behind us while Conor led us to the car. The men still hadn’t spoken more than a handful of words to me.

Conor suddenly tensed then, and Rachel held me back. Tension filled the air, and I looked around, wondering what the source of it might be.

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