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“What's going on?” I asked, and everyone turned in my direction. “Bastian, what did you say to him?”
Bastian stepped up next to me and wrapped his arm around me in an undeniably protective gesture. I could feel the intensity humming through him. “I wanted to know why the hell he was stringing you along.”
I had been waiting for Logan to share with me who he was, but after my near drowning, I didn't want to wait any more. “You're my dad, aren't you?”
Logan's voice broke. “Yes.”
My legs suddenly felt weak as I was overwhelmed with so many conflicting emotions: happiness and sorrow, joy and anger, hope and bitterness. Hearing him confirm it was surreal. How many times had I played this exact moment in my head but I never once believed that it would come true. I couldn't speak, for a minute my throat constricted, because how many times in life could someone honestly say their dreams came true? The anger followed shortly after, because what the hell took him so long? Practically shaking with it, I spat, “Why now? Why didn't you come for me when I was younger? Why did you leave me with that woman?”
He walked to me and took both of my hands into his own. I tried to pull away but he applied just enough pressure to prevent that. He adamantly denied, “I didn't know. If I had known, I would have come for you. I swear to you I didn't know.”
Tears ran down my face, but I just didn't have the energy to wipe them away.
“How did you find me?”
“Your application. It was your art that drew my attention first. It was so inspired but there was so much of me in it that I was intrigued. When I saw your picture, I looked into my own eyes and saw Hunter in your face. I couldn't believe it and then I saw your mom's name. Dylan, like Larkspur, is an unusual name and one I remembered. We can have the test done to confirm it, but I don’t question for a minute that you are my daughter. I can't even tell you what I felt knowing I had a child who was already a young woman.”
Tears filled his eyes as he continued.“You earned the scholarship, Lark, but I added the mentoring so you would come here and meet us. I didn't want to push you, I didn't want to show up so late in the game and demand to be a part of your life, but you're my daughter and I had to know you even if it was only as your teacher.”
“And my mother?”
“It was one night, we were both young and hurting in different ways and we each sought solace in the other. After, I always wondered what happened to her, and if I had known that our night together had resulted in a child, I would have come for you, I would have fought for you, but I didn't know.”
“I think I need to sit down,” I said. Bastian pulled out a chair for me as Logan led me over to it.
“I don't advocate alcohol to minors but I think Lark here could use a few fingers of scotch.”
“Yes, I could.”
Broderick poured my drink and placed the glass on the table in front of me. “So that makes you my uncle.”
He touched my shoulder, giving it a little squeeze. “Yes, and you have no idea how hard it was to keep Logan, hell all of us, from coming for you after learning you existed.” It was like he was speaking the magic words—in the place of hurt the knowledge of a family of my very own took root and warmed me.
Bastian walked over to stand behind me and though he said nothing, I felt immensely comforted. I knew he was trying to lighten the mood when he said,“Well, that explains our very welcoming welcome when we first arrived.”
A reluctant grin tugged at Logan's mouth. “I tried to keep my brothers away but they wouldn't hear of it. And my parents, when they learned they had a granddaughter, well they've been crawling travel sites to book the trip to see you.”
“A trip?” I asked. My eyes met his.
“They live in Scotland but they're coming here to meet you.” He fell silent for a minute. “When did you figure it out, Lark?”
“Almost immediately.”
“Why didn't you say anything?” Heasked.
“Why didn't you?”
“Fear of you rejecting me.” The simplicity of his reply only made it all the more powerful.
Emotion moved up my throat to choke me so I reached for my glass and took a sip. I felt it burn all the way down my throat. “This is awful.”
That comment earned me a hurtful expression from both Logan and Broderick.
“What did I say?”
Saffron said, “That's MacGowan scotch, the family label.” She laughed.
Bastian exhaled on a laugh. He threaded his fingers through his hair and shook his head in disbelief. “The MacGowan?”
