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“Nope, there was no divorce,” I corrected. “You couldn’t get divorced in Ireland back then. Mam moved them in while she was still married to my old man. They didn’t get married until after my father and Beth drowned.”
“Shite.”
“Yep.” Bristling, I gestured with my hand for him to continue. “As you were.”
“So, Mark used to go out with Lizzie’s sister…”
“Caoimhe,” I filled in.
“Caoimhe,” he repeated with a grateful nod.
“They went to Tommen together?”
I nodded stiffly.
“Where they in the same year?”
“For a while.”
“So, Mark and Caoimhe must be close in age to Shan’s brother, Darren,” Johnny said, doing some pretty fast fucking math in his head. “I know Darren went to BCS, but they could’ve easily gone to the same primary school together?”
“I don’t know, lad.” I shrugged. “I barely knew of the Lynches back then. They didn’t go to my primary school, remember?” Shrugging, I added, “I barely remember the lads I went to primary school with, let alone anyone else.”
“But Keith and Mark are blow-ins, so he obviously didn’t go to primary school in Ballylaggin, but Lizzie, Shan, Joe, Tadhg, and Ols all went to Sacred Heart, so I’m guessing Darren and Caoimhe did, too,” Johnny muttered, more to himself than me as he mentally pieced the puzzle of my past together.
“You know, Cap, when I said tell me what you know, I didn’t mean in this much detail,” I joked. “Christ, you’d make one hell of a detective.”
“I like to be thorough,” he shot back, unaffected. “So, they went out together? Mark and Caoimhe?”
“Pretty much.”
“And you guys already knew each other because of Lizzie and Claire being friends?” Frowning, he added, “And because Caoimhe used to babysit all of you guys when you were kids?”
“Pretty much.”
“Come on, Gibs,” he pushed. “Give me something here, will you?”
“What do you want me to say?” I snapped, feeling claustrophobic.
“More than the words ‘pretty much.’”
“Fine!” I snapped, running a hand through my hair in frustration. “How about this: they went out together for a few years. He was a good-for-nothing prick, and she was a fucking eejit for going anywhere near him. If they weren’t causing drama and scenes by breaking up every second weekend, they were fucking on the job like rabbits. Remind you of anyone?”
“Lizzie and Pierce.”
“Ten points to Gryffindor,” I cheered with a sarcastic clap. “Listen, everyone tried to tell her what a piece of shit he was, but she wouldn’t hear a word of it. In Caoimhe’s eyes, Mark could do no wrong, and fuck you if you told her otherwise. It went back and forth like that for years, fucking years, Kav, until she clearly came face-to-face with his true colors.” Bristling with agitation, I rolled my shoulders in my attempt to stop the shudder racking through me. “After she died, a rumor went around town that she left a suicide note for her mother disclosing a rape. The Gardaí investigated and found nothing. Not a shred of evidence to support the Young family’s allegations. Eventually, the investigation was dropped, and Mark graduated from Tommen and left Ballylaggin.” Blowing out a breath, I gestured aimlessly before saying, “Leaving the rest of us to clean up his mess.”
“Well, shite.”
“Pretty much.”
“So, even though there was no solid proof, Lizzie and her family are convinced that Caoimhe killed herself because of a sexual assault she endured at the hands of your mother’s husband’s son?”
“Yes,” I confirmed with a nod, relieved that he didn’t refer to him as my stepbrother.
“And Lizzie has it in for you because your mother is still married to his father?”
“Yep.” I nodded. “That and the fact that Mam and Keith backed Mark one hundred percent, causing a whole heap of drama between our families.”
