AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You have exchanged them just not in front of the rest of us to make it official. But in my eyes, he’s already family,” I told her.
She got up and came around the table to hug me. “Thank you, Mom. You don’t know how much this means to me. I love Damien more than I thought was humanly possible.”
Squeezing her tightly, I said, “You deserve all the happiness in the world. I see how much he loves you. It’s all I ever wanted for you.”
MaKayla released me and said, “And Mom, it’s what I want for you too. I’m sorry my father couldn’t give you what you deserve but do not give up on love. It is out there. It creeps up on you when you least expect it.”
Looking her in the eye I said, “I promise MaKayla, I won’t ever give up on love.”
I just don't expect to find it.
CHAPTER2
Declan O’Leary
What the fuck?I knew I hadn’t been to Halifax in almost four years, but the last time I had come, the only thing that had changed was MaKayla had taken over running a large part of the restaurant. To my surprise, neither of them were running it any longer. What blew my fucking mind was when I asked about them, I was told they were not even in the country any longer.
I couldn’t tell if the people in Halifax really were clueless as to where they had moved to, or if they just didn’t trust a stranger asking around. Either way, I needed to find them. It wasn’t my job to watch over them any longer. I’d done what I was paid for. I delivered Lenia Pravost, now Venus Prada, safely to Halifax, but even back then, I knew I couldn't just totally abandon them. I had wanted to stay, not forever, but long enough to ensure she was all set. But Venus declined my offer. She told me I needed to go home and live my life and let her start their new one.
She wasn’t from Canada no matter what her fake paperwork stated. I kind of felt responsible for them. I didn’t know what she was running from, but whatever it was, she’d been scared to death the first few days on my boat. She barely stepped out of the cabin, and she didn’t speak to me at all. But one night when her daughter was fast asleep, she came up to the deck and sat quietly looking up at the stars.
Even now that memory of the trip from Tabiq was still fresh in my mind. Over the few weeks it took to sail from Tabiq to Canada, I was able to break down some of her walls, and we’d talked. Not about anything personal, but about the stars, and how vast the universe was. No matter how huge it was, or how the stars danced in the sky, nothing compared to the smile in her eyes when she would lie on the deck just staring up at them. It was as though she’d found peace at that moment on my boat. And the further we got away from Tabiq, she seemed to relax even more. At one point, I would have sworn she was happy where she was. Unfortunately, it was on my father's sailboat and us remaining on it indefinitely wasn’t an option.I wish it had been. Not that I don’t like the life I have, but sailing the world with the two of you, carefree, wouldn’t have been a bad one either.
The truth was those few weeks meant something to me as well. It changed me. I grew up in a way that I hadn’t realized I needed too. Maybe it was seeing the strength and determination in Venus that did it. And over the years as I came to check on her and her daughter, I saw that she continued to grow and become even stronger. That’s the only reason why I stopped coming each year. I thought it had come to a point where I didn’t need to worry any longer. But I never should’ve let four years go by before checking on them. That’s too long.
Something major must have happened to cause Venus and her daughter to leave Canada, and walk away from the life they had built. Had whatever she’d been running from caught up with her? Did she need to run again?
Where the hell are you, Venus?
If no one was willing to talk to me, then I was forced to take matters into my own hands. There were businesses that specialized in finding missing people. Though Venus relocating actually did not qualify as missing since she had no idea that I’d been keeping track of her all these years. It might be really hard to convince someone to help me.
Good thing money talks.
When it came to connections, I had plenty, but they were all in the boating world. As far as I could recall, none of the people who purchased sailboats from me were private investigators. Even if they were, I probably didn’t want them to know what I did twenty-five years ago. Not sure if it was legal. With the amount of money that I had been paid, I was pretty sure I didn’t want to know the answer. I was told I was helping a woman and child escape life threatening danger. But I often wondered why her only option was to leave, have a false identity, and pretty much vanish off the planet. The fifty thousand that I had been paid included not asking questions. That didn’t mean I didn’t have them.
There was one person who I trusted with my life, and that was my kid brother Rian. Since he was a police detective, I was positive he could provide me with a reputable contact who could get the job done.
Pulling my cell phone out, I dialed his number.
“Hi Declan, what’s up?” he asked.
“Can’t a brother call just to say hi?”
He laughed. “I heard that there are such people. You’re not one of them. Since I’m at work, maybe you can save us both time and tell me what you need.”
I deserved that. Normally we talked more frequently, but these past few years had been crazy busy. The demand for custom sailboats had tripled. It was a good thing, but it also meant that my time with family and friends was suffering.
There was a ten-year difference in our ages, and when I left home at nineteen, he’d been in elementary school. We used to talk regularly, but lately it had been mostly via text messages. This way we could answer at our convenience. Even with the distance and age gap, we’d always managed to stay close. That would be our mother’s doing for sure. She insisted each holiday, special occasion, or just whenever she deemed it so, we had to all gather at their house. Not easy since they all lived on the east coast and I on the west. Since I was on the east coast now, I might as well make the most of it.
“I was planning on stopping in on Mom and Dad. Didn’t know if you were going to be around too,” I said, easing into why I was really calling.
“I’ll make time. When are you going to be there?”
“I’m about three hours away,” I replied.
“You on your boat?”
Chuckling, I said, “Do I ever travel any other way?”
