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“No.” Gabby hugged her sore ribs. She didn’t want to talk about the attack or think about how useless and weak she felt when he grabbed her wrist and took the knife. She could hear the clang of the blade hitting the floor every time she closed her eyes. “We’ll both be staying here until we’re sure the house is safe.”
“You invited yourself to stay with Uncle Liam.” Kennedy snorted. “How convenient.”
Gabby couldn’t think of a less convenient circumstance. The one time she didn’t want to see Liam or deal with his pain and disappointment, they were trapped in a condo together. “That’s big talk. Are you ready to have a grown-up conversation, or do you just want to take shots at me?”
“A talk about you having an affair with Uncle Liam?”
“So, no to the adult talk.”
“Wait...” Kennedy set her tablet down on the mattress and tucked her legs up under her. “Okay. Yes. I don’t get it, but yes.”
The timing sucked. Gabby needed meds and rest. She had no idea who’d come after her or why. Rob’s warnings rang in her ears, threatening to drown out everything else. But, like it or not, the gaping emotional wound with Kennedy wouldn’t heal until they at least started this conversation.
She sat on the farthest edge of the bed, careful not to infringe on Kennedy’s space. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand what happened and why. It’s still murky for me.”
Kennedy shrugged. “That sounds like an excuse.”
Well,damn.“You’re right.” No one could see through you like your own kid. Gabby should have known that from her own upbringing, but she was getting a crash-course reminder right now.
“You lied to everyone,” Kennedy said, diving right in. “It’s really shitty.”
Gabby’s instinct was to come out swinging, but she shoved down all the excuses and explanations and gave her daughter the truth. “I did. I had my reasons and convinced myself they were valid. Maybe at the time they were, but that doesn’t make things easier now.”
“You blamed Aunt Natalie.”
Gabby owed Liam for one more thing. He’d been the one stuck there, fielding the anger and the first round of uncomfortable questions.
“Liam said you were trying to protect her. That you thought the truth would rip the family apart and leave Aunt Natalie in danger.” Kennedy let out a dramatic exhale. “But you expect us to believe you lied just to save Aunt Natalie from having a bad day?”
Gabby remembered how the family had talked about Natalie back then, carefully and in hushed tones. No one had wanted to upset her or say the one thing that would touch off a depressive spin. It had felt necessary, but it was insulting. They had treatedher as if she couldn’t hear their whispers . . . as if she didn’t get a say in her own life. Gabby saw that now.
Even worse, hiding the truth and covering for Natalie’s absences with lame excuses likeshe has a migraine and can’t leave thehouseorshe got behind because she was sick and couldn’t come this timemeant Kennedy didn’t understand the extent of her aunt’s debilitation. “It was more than that. She needed her brothers’ support—both of them—to survive.”
“Okay, but what about after the fire?” Kennedy asked.
The fire that killed her. The one that changed everything for Gabby by giving her the push she needed to end a marriage that had never worked. “Your aunt died right before the divorce started. Telling the truth about Uncle Liam would have weaponized you, potentially driven a deep division between Liam and your dad.”
It wasn’t the whole truth, but it was as much of the truth as Gabby could tell.
“Liamismy dad.” Kennedy’s sarcasm disappeared as quickly as it appeared, taking some of the hot wind behind her words with it. “Apparently.”
Gabby had expected swearing and hundreds ofI hateyoudiatribes, but Kennedy was giving her a more nuanced discussion. One that suggested she might be ready to hear part of the truth. “Fatherhood isn’t just biology, Kennedy. Your father figured out the truth about your conception. He secretly took items and did a DNA test then confronted me with the results.”
“He suspected?”
“When I said I wanted a divorce, he threatened to turn you against me. I lashed out and said something like, ‘You don’t have the leverage you think you do in a custody fight,’ but, really, I think there was a part of him that always suspected something had happened between me and Liam. My anger just tipped him into action.” Gabby didn’t believe that’s how the timing worked, but the explanation provided a clear line she could give Kennedy in the absence of more information.
“Then he found out the truth.” Kennedy made a face. “He must have hated you.”
“But he loved you. Biology didn’t matter to him. He worked all the time, but always came to your events and told everyone in the audience you were his girl. He talked about you, showed off your picture, to anyone who would listen from the time you were little until the very end.” Gabby couldn’t think of stronger words to make this point and hoped these were enough. “Nothing changed about that. Through knowing the truth, through the divorce, you were his daughter, and he died protecting your relationship.”
Kennedy picked at the comforter, tracing her finger over the subtle pattern on it. “Okay.”
Gabby knew that typical teen “okay” packed a punch. That being reassured of Baines’s love and devotion meant everything. “Liam also loves you, regardless of what he thought his relationship with you was. He didn’t have to be your dad to want to protect you and make you happy.”
Kennedy’s shoulders slumped, and her hand fell limp. “This is so embarrassing. I don’t get how you could do that to the family. They were brothers, which is just gross. Did you two always have sex, even now?”
“No.” Gabby needed Kennedy to understand that truth and how the entire mess started. “We all grew up together. Everyone always thought your dad and I would end up together. We hung out. We talked and had fun. Falling into a romance was inevitable—then one day I realized I was more invested and in love with theideaof marriage than with your dad.”
