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Angus leaned toward him with a dark scowl that made the hair on the back of Lucas’s neck stand at attention. “Let me say it anoother way without the blethering. If you doanae go to get her, I’ll hire me a band of me friends to come gather me, and take me to her fully armed and ready to fight our way inside. Upon my return, I’m going to hunt ye down and pummel ye.”
He wasn’t lying. No man was capable of rolling their r’s with such menacing proficiency when bluffing.
No. Angus MacGavin would protect the women in his life unapologetically, and with excessive force.
Conversely, Lucas wasn’t the type to address any situation with guns blazing. First, he didn’t want to cause Birdie any more undue harm than what she might already be going through.
Second, he could be just as effective without storming the castle, or whatever Angus was inferring. He was fairly intelligent. He’d think of something.
One thing was for certain, he’d go to her and do whatever it took to bring her home. Safe and sound. Married or not. And, hopefully, without him suffering a severed limb.
He stood with clenched fists, resolve coursing through his chest. “I’ll go.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“That be good, then. When ye get back, wif me lassie, I have a thing or two to tell ye. Whether Birdie gives me permission or no. But not afore ye return. Ye understand me?”
“Barely,” he admitted. “But I think I got the gist. Either I go get her and bring her back or you’re going to hunt me down and kill me, barehanded.”
“Goot. Yer no as daft as ye look. Now, go see yer bairn and be on yer way.”
* * *
Lucas rappedhis knuckles on the door of what used to be Rachel’s bedroom.
A small voice indicated for him to come in, and he stepped inside to find Mia wearing headphones.
For obvious reasons, he had avoided the room for the past year. Apparently, so had Bernadette, as the walls were still covered with Rachel’s BTS posters and jewelry hanging from a plastic stand on a snowy-white desk thanks to about ten coats of paint.
“Hey, kiddo,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “You okay?”
To his surprise, Mia launched her body into his arms, and his heart buckled as she cried, tears hitting the crook of his neck.
“Hey, hey, hey,” he said, rocking her. “What’s got you so upset?”
“I miss…my mom.”
Of course she did.
Mia sobbed. “She’s gone, and it’s all my fault.”
“It’s not your fault, Mia.”
“It is. I told her I hated her and I never wanted to see her again. So she left.”
“There’s a lot more to her leaving. And you were angry and expressing it the only way you knew how.”
Her voice was muffled against his neck. “I keep thinking about what you said. You know, about giving her the benefit of the doubt. I was just so mad at her.”
“It’s okay. You’re a kid, who got hit with something you weren’t prepared to deal with.”
She pulled back and looked up at him, her chocolate eyes red and tired. “I still can’t believe she left. I mean, I know I told her to, but… I’m a kid, right? Kids say stupid shit…I mean, stuff.” Running the fringe of the bedspread through her fingers, she said, “When kids tell their parents they hate them and never want to see them again. They. Don’t. Actually. Leave.”
Ah, little one, they do when they think they don’t have a choice.
“Here’s what I know,” Lucas said, wiping away a tear with his thumb. “Your mom loves you. For whatever reason, she kept a secret from you, likely to protect you.” Mia began to say something, but he stopped her. “Wait until I’m finished. I’m not saying what she did was right, but I’ve known your mom for a long time. Believe me when I tell you that she had a really bad homelife. To what extent, I’m not even sure. But she’s had a fair amount of trauma in her life, living her entire childhood keeping secrets in the name of self-preservation. As far as why she left,” he sighed. “I don’t know why, but I’m going to find out and reserve judgment until then.”
