Page 21 of Declan's Hope

"Has anyone ever told you our parents misnamed you?"

"Just you. And only when you know I’m right."

"I don’t want to talk about any of this right now. Okay?"

"Fine, Declan Horatio Carter, then you can listen."

Horatio.

He stared back up at the ceiling again. He should have seen that one coming. She had to be royally pissed at him to use his full name. If she wasn’t careful, he might just pop back at her with hers. Alberta wasn’t much better.

"For a man who has some of the best people in the world as friends, you sure do know how to clear a room. And that woman you’ve been pining after…

Hope?

You had to have done something pretty shitty to keep her from coming back."

He had, but that wasn’t his sister’s damned business either.

"I could see she truly cared about you." He snorted, but she continued. "I never got the chance to speak with her, but she barely left the chair outside your room, and when she was allowed to come in…"

At her silence, he hazarded a glance at her. Mercy held her lips tight before letting out a long, quavering breath. "She reminded me of myself during those days and nights before losing Ryan." She skewered him in place with a look she usually reserved for her daughter, Kara, when she misbehaved. Then she schooled her features and said with some heat, "But you woke up."

He held in a groan. He’d been so caught up in his own misery he hadn’t considered how this might bring up bad memories for his twin. Ryan Goddard had been a good man—a good cop. One whose life had been cut short just months before his and Mercy’s wedding. He’d lingered for days after being shot execution style during a narcotics sting that had gone south. Mercy hadn’t even been aware of being pregnant with Kara at the time.

Now he felt like even more of an asshole than he had before. But he couldn’t help himself and pushed back, knowing before he even spoke he was going too far.

"It’s probably better he didn’t."

Her head snapped back at the verbal slap. "You bastard." Mercy's words came out barely above a whisper, but she might as well have yelled them. "Congratulations." She pushed up from her chair and stuffed her documents and few other things she had laying out into her satchel.

The hurt mixed with anger in her blue glare when she finally looked at him again should have made him apologize. But he wasn't about to do that. Not when he was finally about to get his way.

"Congratulations. If your aim was to push us all out of your life, you've succeeded." She turned away from him and headed for the door. But then stopped with her hand on the doorknob and gave him one final, hate-filled look. "Just be careful you don't choke on your own self-pity. Because no one is going to be there to slap you on the back when you do."

He watched his sister quietly leave, just like he had everyone else in his life. Then he settled back onto his pillow and found that stupid crack in the ceiling again. Now he had exactly what he'd wanted.

He was all alone.

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