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“You’re not taking my plate, Mom,” Gwenn said. “Nobody’s even finished yet.”
“This is ridiculous. You’re eating like you’ve been living on the streets for the past couple weeks. Doesn’t Bree give you any food at her place?”
“Mom! Stop making us all feel like shit just because you do. We’ve had enough!” Cait said as she stood from her chair. She banged both fists on the dinner table, making the liquid in the glasses ripple.
“No need to be so violent. No surprise they suspended you from your job.”
Caitlin took her hand to her back pocket. She was the only one wearing jeans during Christmas Eve. She looked like she’d just rolled out of bed with her hair sticking out on all sides. She probably slept her buzz off in these clothes.
It hadn’t surprised him that not one sister had made a remark like they normally would. Cait had informed her sisters about the events of the day that led up to her suspension. They all had understood.
Except for Joan. She just had to make a remark.
“What I hadn’t told you all about today was this,” Cait said as she took her copy of the picture of Rob Walker and his second family out of her back pocket. She laid it in the middle of the table.
Joan leaned over Gwenn’s shoulder to snatch it off the table, but Fianna had been faster.
“What’s this?” Fianna said with her brows drawn.
“That is our dad, Fi.” Fianna’s emerald eyes shot to Cait above the picture and back down again.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me…” Fianna said.
“Language…” Joan singsonged.
“How you can still give etiquette lessons is beyond me. Tell me something, mother… Did you know that Rob Walker was fucking another woman at the same time he was with you?”
“Cait! I will not stand for this. I’m going to the kitchen and when I return, there will be no more talk about any of this. Do you understand?”
Nobody replied Joan. She turned on her heel and stormed into the hallway.
“Let me see,” Gwenn said as she leaned in over Fianna’s shoulder.
“Damn. Are those our half-brothers?” Gwenn said.
“Yes. And sisters,” Bree said.
“Too bad we’re related. Look at them…” Gwenn whistled.
Declan stretched out his arm and placed it on the back of Bree’s chair. He ran his fingers through her curls and played with her hair. She looked up at him and gave a small smile.
Declan leaned in. “You know they had to know, Bree,” he whispered. “This is good. Now your family can finally get some answers. Maybe even closure.”
She nodded and gave him a peck on the lips. “I know,” she said.
Kera had walked over from her side of the table and hovered over Gwenn’s shoulder. She looked up at Cait with tears in her eyes.
“I don’t understand…” she said.
Cait got up and placed her arm around Kera.
“I know, Ker. Look at those two men. They’re probably my age or even older,” Cait said.
“But… how?” Fianna asked.
Like a whirlwind, Joan speed walked her way back into the dining room. She held her heavy, ceramic gratin dish in between her crimson oven mitts and clanked it on the table.
“Who wants a roasted rack of lamb?”
