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‘Eli and O’Neal Callahan’ the gravestones read and I felt a chill run up my spine.
“Brothers,” Liam said. “They were United States military aviators who commanded the "Flying Spades" during World War II.”
“Wow.” Where had he found this? How had he found this?
“O’Neal killed Eli, he shot his own brother right out of the sky without realizing it. He was later captured and tortured by the enemy, and he died on a rescue mission back home.”
“You think I’m going to shoot you out of the sky?” I asked him, as I stared at the graves and he snickered.
“No. This time I’m in the position to clip your wings, brother.” He turned to face me and his face was dripping with as much sweat as mine. “I took Declan out for dinner and poisoned him right at the table. I knew without a doubt that he would never betray me, but I still wanted to get my point across. I don’t hold that same confidence with you.”
Shaking my head, I tried to figure out what to say.
“Liam—”
“No.” He cut me off. “You are my brother, despite everything we’ve been through no matter how much I’ve threatened or fought with you, my blood is your blood. And no matter what, I would like to say that killing you would bring me dissatisfaction.”
“I do not know what I can do to ease—”
“We think that Olivia is a mole,” he said, and he might as well have cut me off at the knees.
“Liam…” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You think Olivia is feeding information to...that is…that’s insane.”
“It is either you, or her, or the both of you. So tell me, brother, are you the mole?” he asked and I felt Monte step up behind me.
I stared into his eyes. My little brother, and yet there is nothing small about him. He was like a giant, and for the first time I saw what my father did. How can one person hold so much pride and confidence?
“Are you the mole, brother? Are you the reason why I spent five months away from my son? Why my wife was ripped away from us? Why she spent months running? Tell me right now and it will be clean. One bullet and I will personally bury you.”
My mouth dropped open and before I knew it, I answered with more confidence than I knew I had.
He nodded. “Then it’s your wife.”
“She’s my wife,” I repeated. Slower, to myself, as I ran my hand through my hair. “You have to give me more proof than that, Liam.”
“Think about it, Neal. Think of everything…can you say with a hundred percent certainty that your wife is not a mole?”
I wanted to confidently deny his accusations. I want to tell him that he was insane, that this whole thing was just madness and he and Mel were just paranoid. But I couldn’t, and I saw my life with Olivia flash before my eyes. From the moment she first smiled at me to our moment in the bedroom. It was like a silent movie.
“I love her,” I whispered to him.
He placed his hand on my shoulder. “I know. Which is why I wanted to tell you. We aren’t going to do anything about it right now. Once we confirm it for your sake, we will use her and then we will—I need you not to break under this, brother. We need you. I need you. I understand your pain, and I don’t say that lightly. Five months in the dark, not knowing whether or not my wife was safe, being away from my family, from my newborn son…believe me, I understand. But we are blood before anything else. This family, our name, is what we fight for. Olivia went against that. She didn’t betray just Mel and me. She betrayed Mother, Father, Declan, Coraline and you. She betrayed our way of life. I don’t want to shoot you out of the sky, not for anything. Not for her.”
With that, he and Monte continued their run back, leaving me behind. I stood there for a moment, staring down at the graves. I stayed still for an hour before I walked my sorry ass home. I knew the way, and with each step I remembered how happy Olivia had been when Liam and Mel were gone. She glowed with a radiance that I hadn’t seen in years.
She wanted to be important. The final nail that pierced through me came when I finally made it back to our room. I entered to find her sitting on the bed, dressed in black, with her hair curled. And donning her feet were whites shoes. Mel’s white shoes…
“I’m so sorry, Neal,” she whispered as she came closer to me. “I was just in a bad mood and I just had so much on my mind.”
When she reached for me, I backed away.
“I’m all sweaty. We’ll talk after I clean up.” I kissed her cheek before I retreated into the bathroom.
When had the world changed so much? Had I been asleep the entire time?
SIXTEEN
“Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die.”
—Herbert Hoover
MELODY
Sitting on the bed, I brushed Ethan’s hair as he lay in between my legs. He was getting so big. Every day he seemed to grow, and so did that grin of his. Every time I looked at him, all I could see was Liam. They looked so much alike, it was as if he’d gotten no physical characteristics from me.
“If you’re going to look like him, you’re gonna act like me,” I whispered down at him, as I gently tapped his little nose. He giggled and tried to grab onto my finger as if it was something he’d never seen before.
“I’m going to teach you how to shoot, and if he ever tells you that he’s a better shot than I am, tell me, and I’ll show you all the bullet wounds he got from me.” I tapped his nose again and this time he laughed loudly.
“When you’re old enough to understand, he’s going to tell you all these rules that he claims were passed down through his family, but I swear he makes them up as he goes.”
He frowned and I would’ve liked to think that it was because he dreaded having to hear those rules, but I was pretty sure that he only wanted me to push his nose again.
The door to our bedroom opened and Liam leaned against the frame grinning like a loon. I glared at him and picked Ethan up before sitting him on my lap.
“How long were you eavesdropping?”
“Long enough to hear you trying to turn our son against me,” he smirked as he walked to us.
“I wasn’t turning him against you, I was just making sure that his love was spilt fifty-one—forty-nine.”
“Won’t work. I’m the cool parent,” he replied. And as he bent down to kiss Ethan’s forehead, Ethan started to cry.
“I can feel the good times coming,” I laughed, as I pulled him back. Liam looked so confused that it was almost sad, but he should have known better, Ethan loved Liam, if only to pull on his hair. “You stink, babe, try again after a shower.”
He sniffs his shirt. “Ah, no wonder he’s in tears.”
“Yeah, that’s the reason,” I replied sarcastically. And as he took off his shirt, I found myself fighting the urge to look at his chest…but I lost and caught myself gawking like a teenager.
“See something you like?” Liam asked, as he gazed down at himself before meeting my eyes.
“I’m free to look at what I own.”
“Remember that when I repeat the sentiment.” He dropped his pants and boxers.
Biting my tongue, I walked to the door with Ethan. “We need to be ready in an hour. How was the run?”
