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“No.” Sadness laces her tone, but it pops a hole in my gloom that this move to New York is best for Sadie.
I will make sure she sees penguins. Give her all the experiences her little heart desires. “Well, did you know there are several zoos with penguins where we’re going?”
“There are?” She sits up and pushes her cute glasses up her button nose.
“Aye.” I pull her in and kiss her forehead. “Will you let your grumpy uncle take you?”
“Definitely.” She giggles. “Can we go to the zoo in Merica when we get off the plane, Mummy?”
“I don’t know. First, we have to get settled.” The stress on Darcy’s face from the upheaval her life is about to take guts me.
Now this is for their safety…
“I’ll take you, sweetheart.” Joy fills my heat. “We’ll have fun, just the two of us. Your mum can take her time unpacking.”
“Make Mummy come, Uncle Ewan.”
I stare at Darcy, and our thoughts collide about hercoming.“Definitely. I’d love to make your mum come.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Ewan
WekissSadiegoodnight,and after taking off her cute glasses and gently putting them on her nightstand, she pulls the covers under her chin to settle in. A wicked déjà vu hits me like a sledgehammer. Have I been here all along? Is my real life at home an illusion?
“She’ll be out in a few minutes,” Darcy whispers, ambling toward the stairs.
We descend to the second floor with the flooded bedrooms, where she leaves the attic door open a crack. “So I can hear her if she calls for me.”
Something I didn’t consider.
“She’s very smart, Darcy. You’ve done an amazing job with her.”
Darcy lifts curious greenish-blue eyes to me. “But?”
“But nothing. When we get to New York, she’ll have everything she needs. Both of you will.” It’s all I have to get me through giving her away. “Darcy, what does Sadie’s birth certificate say as to her father?” I cross my arms. “Sorry. I don’t have a good segue for that.”
“It’s a fair question. Unknown.” She strolls into her bedroom, signaling for me to follow. “I thought she was yours, and I didn’t know your name.”
“I’m so sorry.” I follow her, ready to punch the wall. “You were young. I wasn’t. I took advantage of you.”
“You didn’t. I know the difference.” She picks up a hairbrush and runs it through the tips of her dark hair. While in her dresser mirror, her eyes find mine. “I wanted you.”
“There’s no point in opening that door with Callum, love.” I stalk toward her. “You’re coming to New York. Either you marry Kieran, or you live with my family, and we’ll make sure to find you a suitable man. Callum will never get his hands on you again.”
“A suitable man,” she whispers.
As someone who just advocated keeping a man from his child, I feel anything but suitable. But raping this woman leaves him with no rights, as far as I’m concerned. And I’m not one to leave a situation like this to the law, not when there’s a chance it could go very wrong for Darcy and Sadie. The way that animal spoke in front of the wee one alone proves he has to be kept away from them.
“Would Kieran ever hit me?” Darcy asks quietly.
“No,” I answer quickly, seeing in her eyes what she feared Callum would do if she resisted that night.
Kieran’s a savage in the way he runs his business and controls his interests in Astoria. But he’s a good man to those he loves.
Like Norah…
If he loves Darcy, he’ll love Sadie. God, I hope so.
