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Unfortunately, Angus didn’t fare as well.
He had suffered femur fractures in both legs, which would require months of home care and physical therapy.
As Birdie listened intently to the doctor, Angus kept grumbling his injuries weren’t important, and Birdie needed to be with Mia.
Birdie informed the outspoken man that she was exactly where she should be as Lucas was standing bedside with Mia. That he needed to, “Haud his wheesht and deserved a right shirrakin if he thought he could talk her into leavin’ him until she was goot an’ ready.”
And she said all of that with quite the impressive Scottish bur, if she did say so herself.
The bedridden Scot finally shut his clapper as she asked the surgeon a multitude of questions concerning his care once out of the hospital.
After she was satisfied she had all the necessary information and the doctor left the room, she turned to her craggy old friend and held onto his huge weathered hand.
“Angus, what happened?”
He closed his eyes, glassy from the morphine, and then opened them. “I swear on me life, I doanae ken for sure. Me and the lassie were on our way to the beach. Next thing we ken, a car hit us from behind, and then came at us agin, as if on purpose.”
Birdie stared out the window, allowing the information to sink in. It must have been Errol. What other explanation could there be?
What Birdie knew was there was one last thing Marshall’s stepson wanted. This, as well as Pearl’s finances thrust upon her, must have been his way of reminding her she would always be within reach and there was no place for her to hide.
No place for her family to hide.
She smiled with as much confidence as she could muster. “I’m sure it was an accident.”
“Aye,” he said, with skepticism in his eyes.
What Errol wanted was Birdie as his doting wife and under his thumb twenty-four seven. A grand gesture, a final fuck-you to his father, as he paraded her on his arm for everyone to see.
She was sure he also couldn’t pass up the chance to further humiliate her. Cementing the idea that a woman so cheap and money-hungry, would marry her deceased husband’s son to ensure she lived the life of luxury she had grown accustomed to.
The accident was Errol’s calling card and he was calling her home.
Despite having given her a three-month deadline to change her mind, he must have decided a few weeks was enough time for her to come to her senses.
The sedatives finally kicked in, and Angus fell asleep. She quietly exited the room, only to find Lucas and Grant waiting for her. They both had that look about them implying they were soon to be bearers of more bad news.
“What is it?” she asked, as Lucas handed her a cup of coffee from the cafeteria.
“Grant has some information about the accident.”
She froze. “And?”
Grant answered, “A jogger witnessed the accident. We just took his statement an hour ago. Said that it didn’t look like an accident to him. Said the driver rammed Angus and Mia intentionally, several times, causing Angus to lose control and crash into a tree. Honestly, they’re both lucky to be alive.”
“Did he get the license plate number?” she asked.
“He did. The car had been recently reported stolen from a parking garage in Atlanta a couple days ago.”
Lucas stood close, rubbing her back. “Bird, do you know of anyone who would have something against Angus… or Mia?” he asked.
Secrets were piling on to the point where she was tempted to tell him everything. To release the entire morbid story, exposing the rabid side of the family she married into and the reasons why. If not, everyone would simply believe what had been said about her by the news outlets.
Maybe it was time to allow someone into her fucked-up world? Maybe she didn’t have to go this alone.
How far back should she go?
She had made promises. Had kept her word.
