Page 78 of The Way Back Home
Too little. Way, way too late.
Teagan blinked back the tears before they could fall. She would not cry.
Not for a man she’d only just met.
Not for a past she couldn’t change.
And she didn’t need Donal O’Callaghan, Noah, or anyone else trying to save her.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
NOAH
A maelstrom of emotions was coursing through him, vying for dominance, but irritation was at the forefront.
If Teagan believed he could just walk away, then clearly, she didn’t understand how deeply she’d gotten under his skin. Nor did she realize that she was the only person to do so in more years than he cared to admit. He could no more walk away than he could rip out his own heart.
And she felt it too. He’d seen it in those rare, unguarded moments when her eyes softened and the longing shone through. She was just too afraid to hope because everyone else in her life had let her down so spectacularly.
Which was also why he wasn’t going to let the man claiming to be her father be the next person to do so.
He strode far enough down the hall to be out ofearshot, then turned to his father, pointedly ignoring the other man. “Okay,” he said, keeping his voice low but tight. “Who exactly is he, and why does he think he’s Teagan’s father?”
“Because he is,” Martin said simply.
Noah’s eyes narrowed. “And you know this how?”
“Because the Callaghans say so. I figured if anyone could identify the Celtic clan crest on that pendant, they could.”
Noah’s gaze flicked to Donal. DonalO’Callaghan. “Wait, you’re saying he’s related tothoseCallaghans? The ones who run the Irish pub and are rumored to have some kind of off-the-books black ops team?”
“Jack and I have been friends for years,” Martin said, ignoring the part about the covert team rumors. “His boy Ian confirmed the crest is that of the Callaghan clan—or O’Callaghan, as the Irish branch goes by.”
Donal nodded once, his face somber. “The pendant belonged to my mother and her mother before her. I gave it to Maggie before I returned to Ireland.”
The irony wasn’t lost on Noah. Teagan had left the necklace for him, expecting never to see him again.
“Why give it to someone you planned to walk away from?”
Donal’s intense blue eyes sharpened. “My daughter has a right to ask that question. You do not.”
Noah didn’t back down. “Your daughter didn’t even know you existed until a few minutes ago.”
“And I knew nothing of her until yesterday,” Donal said, his voice low and deliberate. “Yet here I stand.”
Noah dragged a hand over his jaw. If the man trulyhadn’t known, he couldn’t fault him for not being there, no matter how badly he wanted to blame someone for Teagan’s shit childhood. “How did you get here so fast?”
Martin’s mouth curved faintly. “Let’s just say, when the Callaghans decide to find someone, they find them fast. They had Donal stateside less than twelve hours after I talked to Jack.”
Well, that tracked with what he knew of the Irish brothers. Jack Callaghan had been one of the first SEALs, and each of his seven sons had followed in his footsteps. That mindset didn’t stop simply because their tours were up.
Noah looked toward the closed door, the knot in his gut tightening. “Do you think this is the best time to hit her with something like this? She’s been through so much.”
“I know, son,” Martin said. “But she deserves to know the truth. And Donal deserves the chance to tell her.”
Noah didn’t argue—yet—but the knot in his gut told him nothing about this was going to go well.
The next day, the hospital doors whispered shut behind them as Noah walked beside Teagan’s wheelchair. The air was cold and biting, the sky a steely gray.
