Page 160 of Taken Away

He straightened.

“All right. Here’s what I think.”

Aubrey braced herself.

“You don’t have enough information to be mad at anybody yet,” he said. “But you’ve got enough to ask questions.”

She let out a shaky breath.

“Good,” she muttered. “I was worried I was overreacting.”

“Oh, you’re absolutely overreacting,” he said. “That’s half the fun.”

A corner of her mouth lifted despite everything.

“But,” he added, “you’re not wrong.”

He tapped the top of the LANGFORD folder.

“This says your aunt cared about your future.”

He nodded toward the box.

“This says she tried to be in your life.”

He held up the letter.

“This says somebody made sure those cards never reached you.”

Aubrey looked down at the desk.

Her fingers dug into the edge.

“I don’t know who to believe,” she whispered.

Declan’s voice gentled.

“Love,” he said, “you don’t have to pick a side yet. That’s my job.”

She looked up.

“I want the truth.”

“I know.”

He slipped the letter back into the box.

“That stubborn woman,” he said.

Aubrey looked up.

A faint smile touched his mouth.

“Once Mabel Blackwood decided she loved somebody,” he said, “God help ye if you tried to stop her.”

The words landed almost as hard as the cards.

He let them sit between them.