Page 50 of Shattering

"That much, I know."

Callum nodded.

"And his sweetheart was Aisling. Your mother."

There was a pause, and when Callum spoke again, his voice softened, almost reverent, as though speaking of something fragile, something too delicate to hold.

"They were like something out of a storybook. Starkissed lovers, meant for each other since childhood. Everyone knew it."

His eyes flickered with something—memory, perhaps.

"Aisling was the first girl he ever danced with. The first girl he ever kissed. The only girl he ever loved."

"They were inseparable." Callum powered on "He used to call her 'Mo chroí,' and she called him her 'wild boy.'"

Gray exhaled sharply, turning his face toward the fire as if bracing himself for what was coming next. He already knew what he was going to say.

Callum's voice turned solemn.

"But when war comes, nothing stays sacred—not even love."

Callum leaned forward, hands clasped together, as though trying to piece the story together in the way it was meant to be told.

"Aisling lost her parents in a bombing when she was still in school. David's mother took her in, and they tried to hold on to what they had. When they married at eighteen, the Callahan family wasn't pleased, but they let it happen. David was already set to join the army, and Aisling had plans to train as a nurse. They were supposed to build their lives together."

Gray's jaw clenched, but he remained silent. He knew that was not how things worked out.

"For a while, everything seemed fine." Callum's voice was quieter now, more careful. "David left for training on the mainland , and Aisling stayed on the estate, waiting for him to come back. But when he finally did... everything had changed."

Gray's fingers dug into the arm of the couch.

Callum looked at him directly now.

"Aisling refused to speak to him. She had shut down. She was three months pregnant."

Callum swallowed hard.

"David ,of course, knew it wasn't his child."

"David came back different," Callum continued, his voice carrying the weight of something unspoken. "Something in him had hardened. The boy who had once called hermo chroíhad changed into a man who carried his anger like a weapon."

The silence thickened, pressing against the walls, against the air between them.

Callum exhaled. "She refused to name the father... until Finn came forward."

Cadi felt her pulse pounding in her throat.

Gray's breathing had slowed, but it was heavy, his chest rising and falling with measured control.

Callum looked down, his hands flexing against his knees.

"My father...and yours."

"No..no, it can't be"

The words were torn from Gray's throat. His eyes darkened, his fingers twitching involuntarily.

Callum forced himself to meet Gray's gaze, and for the first time since he had walked into this house, his voice faltered.

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