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“Yer da told me that I had to choose. I could stay with the family and watch over you boys. Or I could leave with just the shirt on my back. He didn’t even want me saying goodbye to ye.”
“But you did say goodbye,” I grit out. “I will never forget it as long as I live. It was the last time I saw or heard from the woman that claimed to be my mother.”
Magda nods, dropping my gaze again and looking down at her lap. “Aye. It was a stroke of luck. One of your Da’s friends dropped by just at that moment, and I used it as an excuse. Said I was going on a trip and would have to say goodbye right then. (Dad) glared at me, but his hands were tied. If word got out that he was a domestic abuser, people would be much less likely to listen to whatever he wanted.”
At that, she breaks down in a mess of tears. Penny slips her arms around the older woman, murmuring comforting words.
“It’s all right. It’s okay, Magda.”
But I’m not done. “And what happened to Diana?”
Magda wipes at her face. “She lives here.”
“What?!”
Magda pales. “I would have thought Eros would have told you.”
Shock ripples through my body. For a second, I am speechless.
Persephone pulls back from Magda and bites her lip.
“You… you had a daughter?” she says, clutching at her chest.
“Aye.” She tilts her head, taking in our astonishment. “I’m guessing that ye didn’t know. Eros tells me about your life, Hades. Does he not tell ye about mine?”
“Absolutely not!” I thunder. Getting off the couch, I loom over Magda and Penny. “He’s a fucking dead man.”
Persephone stands up, pushing me back a step.
“Don’t crowd us. Be angry at your brother from a safe distance, please.”
I cross my arms, pacing away to the front window. “Both of my brothers have royally fucked up. How could Eros have had contact with you and a sister I didn’t know about? He didn’t say a word about either of you. And Ares is already on my shit for kidnapping Persephone.”
“It sounds like ye all have some things to work through.” Magda clears her throat.
My whole body aches with all the tension I’m carrying. I growl out a few words, feeling my blood boiling in my veins. “If by that you mean that I’m going to beat them until they are bloody, then sure.”
“Hades.” Magda’s tone is unexpected, one of censure. “Ye sound like yer Da.”
A chill runs through me at her words.
“I’m not like that bastard. And I think it’s funny that ye think ye can tell me anything about my life after being absent for so long.”
Penny, ever the peacemaker, intercedes.
“Hades, go easy on threatening your brothers.”
Magda gives me a hard look. “It amazes me that ye haven’t even asked to meet Diana yet. But if this is how you are with your siblings, maybe it’s for the best.”
“Sorry, Ma,” I spit caustically. “I won’t be packed away into a simple little box for ye. Ye can’t just resume being my mother after all this time. All my personality traits are already set in stone.”
Penny shakes her head at me. “I feel like a crazy person when I’m trying to mediate anything between any of the Lyons. This conversation is going off the rails, just like all the rest. You are all so dramatic.” She peers at Magda. “For what it’s worth, I would love to meet Diana. Is she as much of a handful as the rest of them?”
Magda lifts a shoulder in a shrug. “Ye seem reasonable, Persephone. I would be glad for ye to meet her.”
I lean down, lacing up my boots. Penny and Magda both watch, waiting for me to say something. But I’ve had enough for right now. I stand up.
“Apparently I’m not allowed to threaten my own family in here. So I’m going for a long walk outside, alone.”
“Hades!” Penny says, exasperation ringing loud in her tone.
But I yank the front door open and stride out into the bright sunlight, walking toward the sea.
Both women cringe at my tone, faintly ducking their heads away from me.
