Page 119 of Revere: A Legacy Novel

“Make it strong?”

“Sure, man.”

Zeke smacked him on the back before he left.

Staring out the window, Cross kept stroking Catherine’s hair as the late October sunlight filtered through the glass.

“Calisto is your real dad?”

The quiet question didn’t even surprise Cross. He didn’t even look down at Catherine when he said, “Apparently. The skeletons hide in everyone’s closets, I guess.”

“Huh.”

“I was the product of their affair,” he murmured.

“Or a product of their love,” she countered.

“That, too.”

“So … you’re going to Cancun, huh?”

Cross looked down at Catherine, and managed a smile. “On a pretty nice boat, too.”

She grinned. “Oh?”

“I’ll spend my twenty-seventh birthday on it, actually.”

“Alone?”

Cross shrugged. “Pretty much.”

Catherine rolled over to look up at him fully. “Could I go?”

“Well …”

“I know it’s … business, right?”

“A gun run, yeah.”

“But a lot of time won’t be. I heard what you said. Two weeks, most of it avoiding specific areas. Couldn’t I go, and stay out of sight when the business is happening?”

“Catty.”

“Don’t spend your birthday alone, Cross.”

“You’re making it very difficult to say no.”

“So don’t.”

“What will you tell your father, huh?”

Catherine scrunched up her nose. “Well, nothing.”

“Not nothing. You can’t tell him nothing.”

“Okay, so I’ll let him know I’m heading out of country for a bit with you.”

“Just like that—with me.”