Page 90 of Vengeful Secret

“I’ve got an announcement to make.”

Da raises an eyebrow.

“Do you, now?” His Irish brogue is more pronounced than usual, and I worry that he’s already tired from getting dressed. He has been insisting on dressing for meals every day. I suppose it’s his way of getting back some normalcy.

“Does this announcement have anything to do with the girl that you brought into the house?”

“Sort of.”

I’m bringing Ciara in to see Da now. He need to be the first I tell, and I need to give him some space to be angry or emotional. I’m not sure how this will go.

Besides, I’ve always come to Da first with everything.

“Wait here for a moment,” I say, and Da blinks up at me.

“Where am I going to go, son?”

I bark out a surprised laugh at his dark humor and head out into the hallway, where Sutton is picking at her clothes nervously and Ciara is bouncing around, holding her hand.

“I need to borrow our daughter for a few minutes.”

Sutton looks up at me with a tiny frown. “You do? Why?”

“I want to introduce her to Da.”

She swallows visibly. “I’ll wait outside.”

I want to tell her that she can come in, that we’ll do this together, but at the same time, I don’t want Da to end up angry and say something rude to her. I can handle his sometimes-sharp tongue, but Sutton can’t.

I nod, leaning down to kiss the tip of her nose, and the frown on her face turns into a weak smile.

Ciara looks up at me curiously. “Is it a surprise?”

“It is,mo órlaith. You’ll see.”

She tugs at my hand. “Then let’s go! I love surprises.”

I smile at Sutton, and then slowly take Ciara into Da’s room.

He looks up from where he’d been looking down at his hands, and his eyes widen.

“Hello, there,” he says in a low voice to Ciara.

Suddenly and uncharacteristically shy, Ciara hides behind my legs.

I feel a bit stupid, having not thought about all the machines scaring her.

“What’s your name, wee one?” Da asks, and Ciara peeks out from around me.

“Ciara. Ciara Liath McIntyre.”

“That’s an Irish name. I love Irish little girls,” he teases.

“You do? Is it because we’re related to leprechauns?”

Da bursts out laughing and glances at me, and I can tell by the look in his eyes he suspects just from looking at her.

She has a few Burke features, after all, her eyes, the way she tilts up her chin when she talks.

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