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* * *
Outside,Castle immediately springs from the SUV and marches over.
“Easy there, Captain America,” I sigh. “It’s fine.”
He eyes Dr. Thompson up and down warily. “Excuse us for a moment.” He pulls me aside, his voice lowered. “Who the hell is that?”
“An old friend, relax.”
I mean, it’s kind of true.
“And where the hell are you—”
“To getcoffee, Castle,” I groan. “Not plot the downfall of the entire Kildare empire.”
He glares at me. I glare right back.
“We’re going right over there to that café. You can stay right here and spy on me and send little notes to Cillian.M’kay?”
He doesn’t look too pleased, but I leave it at that as Dr. Thompson and I cross the street to the café.
* * *
“I heardyou were living here in New York, and I justhadto find you and see how you were doing.”
I bring the mug of black coffee to my lips, blowing on it as I smile curiously at Dr. Thompson, or Gail, as she’s insisted I call her now.
“How? I mean how did you find me?”
“I…” she smiles shyly. “I’ve been tracking down, or should I say trying to track down, both you and your brother for years now.” Her face darkens with a sad expression. “You… You were so very young, and I felt like such a part of your lives back then.”
She’s not wrong. Shewasa big part of our lives. Even though there wasso muchshe never saw, and so much Finn and I would never have in a million years told her about our father’slessonson killing, and infiltration, and revenge. Still… Gail was nice to Finn and me back then, even if she never saw the horrible stuff.
“How are you, Gail?”
She smiles as she sips her tea. “Oh, fine, I suppose.” She shrugs. “I don’t practice psychiatry anymore.”
“No?”
“Not after you and your bother. I couldn’t.”
Her face falls, and I watch her eyes well up as she looks away. “Una, I feel very responsible for so many horrible things I didn’t really see at the time back then. That’s why I’ve been looking for you. You were both put through so much, and I know now that my focus on my research was clouding my humanity.” She sniffs back a tear, shaking her head as she reaches across the table to take my hand. “Inevershould have allowed any of that, and I’m so incredibly sorry.”
I squeeze her hand back, smiling sadly. “It’s…fine. It’s in the past. And he’s gone now.”
She nods, looking down at her tea.
“I was so worried when they ended the program, and suddenly you and Finn weren’t at that group home anymore either. And they couldn’t even give me your foster address, because of course it’s against policy. But, Una, I was worriedsickabout the two of you. Although…” she smiles. “It looks like you’re doing okay?”
I swallow, looking down. “It… There were some not great years there. But, yeah.” I smile a crooked smile. “Yeah, I’m okay now, I guess.”
“And Finn? Is he here in the city too?”
A stabbing sensation in my chest makes me wince.
“Una?”
“He’s… He died, actually. About nineteen months ago.”
