Page 142 of Broken Blood Ties

“I’ll be fine. Almost as good as new.” I lift my arm with the IV poking out of it. Okay, so it’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I already feel better, and while I try not to lie to Aoife, telling her would just cause her to be scared. “Tell me about yer time at the cottage.”

She launches into a play-by-play of how she spends most of her days. Swimming with Allie in the lake. Baking cookies, pies, and other desserts—which she makes sure to tell me she’s been sending Summer photos of all the delicious baked goods. That puts a smile on my face.

Their relationship has become so special, and I can’t imagine anyone else loving Aoife the way Summer does.

Aoife continues on, telling me all about learning to fly her kite, which sours the two bites of potatoes in my stomach when I think about how close Salvatore’s men came to getting their hands on her. But toward the end of our conversation, my heart is whole and happy.

I tell her she’ll be home soon, and with the prospect of being discharged in a couple of days, it won’t be long.

When I hang up, I move over to the voicemail on my phone and pull up that message I can’t seem to delete.

“Hello, Mr. O’Donnell. My name is Summer Smith.I’m Aoife’s preschool teacher at Ardenbrook Academy. We had field trip permission slips due today and Aoife did not submit hers. I know she is looking forward to the Boston Aquarium, and since we have a policy about nannies …”

Instead of the annoyance I felt that day, nothing but a racing heart remains. The pull to protect her, make her happy, love her—her presence in my life has made everything better, adding to the ordinary moments. I thought after Laura I’d go at this life alone, but with Summer the connection is undeniable. I love her.

And I know … a made man shouldn’t be this soft, but she makes me want to be both vulnerable and strong for her all at the same time.

Rain taps against the hospital window, the rhythm contrasting with the sterile silence in my room. The droplets blur the Boston cityscape below, and the gray fog settling over the city makes this stay in the hospital more depressing.

But then I hear it, orherrather. It’s distant at first, but unmistakable. It cuts through the background hum of the machines and the quiet discussion at the nurses’ station in my private wing. If I could jump up and go to her, I would. In fact, I sit up farther, the hospital gown pulling as I stretch up. I don’t want her to see me so weak as she has the past few days. She’s been so strong for me, for Aoife, and for my men. I need to be there for her.

My pulse quickens when her raised voice slices through the room from the other side of the doorway. She’s grumbling about Finn taking forever in the rain, and he’s arguing back with her about ending up splattered on the road in an accident had he driven faster.

I can’t help the laugh that chuckles out of me when she bursts into the room all flustered. Her hair is still damp, the wet hair clinging closely to her neck above her shoulders. It’s flat and sticking together, but I want to run my hands through it anyway.

Her clenched fists drop to her sides and her shoulders relax as she takes me in, sitting up in bed. Face crumpling, she buries it into her hands, covering herself. Her shoulders shake silently for a beat before the sobs pour out of her.

I frown, seeing her so upset. “Come here, love.” I beckon her over and nod at Finn who steps out of the door, closing it behind him.

While Summer stands there, face in her hands and seemingly unaware I’ve spoken to her, I study her. She’s in a pair of navy chino shorts tucked over a white scoop neck T-shirt. I trail my inspection over her legs where bruises mar them. Two ugly ones on both her knees that twist in dark purple and blue, and I wish I knew how she got them—was there to prevent it.

“Summer.”

Her head snaps up, nose blotchy and red from her emotion, and she reaches up to wipe underneath both her eyes. “Sorry,” she says. “I just … I was so scared you wouldn’t wake up. When they told me you’d woken after I left yesterday, I wanted to come back, but Cormac said to wait, and he’d come with me in the morning. Then the stupid rain … and I had to change. Then Finn being him and—what?”

I grin at her. “I love ye. Do ye know that?”

She blinks, moving over in her squeaky flip-flops, until she bumps into the side of the bed. Quickly, she shucks off her shoes and climbs up, crawling over my legs and tucking herself into my side. She’s so gentle, too gentle because I can barely feel her. I wrap an arm around her waist as she curls her legs up. Her hand moves to my chest wound and hovers featherlight over the bandage hidden by my hospital gown.

She glances up at me. Her face is puffy and free of makeup, and I wish I could dive into her head and relieve all the worry, guilt, and fear I see there.

“I was so scared, Kieran,” she whispers.

“I know. I’m so sorry I put ye through this.”

Her lips curl slightly. “I love you, too, you know. So much. You and Aoife.”

I stare at her, assessing her lips and wondering how bad it would hurt to kiss her with my nose. But damn it all to hell, I don’t care.

Leaning down, I reach over to tilt her chin with my free hand and graze my lips over hers. It’s not much of a kiss with my lips dry and irritated, but the tentative brush of her lips on mine sends ripples of satisfaction down my spine.

When I pull away, she shudders, nuzzling into me.

“I’m sorry about yer father. I wish ye didn’t have to do that.” I don’t know how she’s coping with it—if there’s guilt there or regret. All I know is I’ll support her through it as best I can.

She shakes her head. “He threatened Aoife, and I made a deal with Marco. He wasn’t going to stop, but it still hurts.” More tears stream down her face. “I killed him, Kieran. I killed my father. I’m a monster.”

Her sobs come out faster, and her lungs heave. All I can do is hold her tight and soothe the raging in her mind that tells her she’s a terrible person. Because she isn’t. She’s the most selfless person I’ve met. A far cry from that young Buscetta I heard stories about years ago.

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