Page 93 of Sin With Me

“So it’s true, then. Father John is my father, and he doesn’t know it. Why did my mother burn that house?”

“Anna held Ben Cortez responsible for your little brother’s death. He was dragged by a bull across the city. Anna said that Ben had tampered with the gates that broke and let the bulls into a market full of people.”

“About that…” I interjected. “There’s nobody.”

“What?” Kate whipped her body sideways, toward me, the quick bounce of her breasts briefly diverting my attention elsewhere before I caught the question again in hereyes.

“In that small coffin in the chapel,” I explained. “There was no body. I opened the coffin and checked. There was only a note: My blood, my flesh, my bones. It was signed by Ben Cortez.”

“When this this happen? And why would youeven…”

She was looking at me as if she didn’t know me; which truthfully, she did and didn’t at the same time. I saw a spark of curiosity in hereyes.

“The morning I came to get you at church. The day after our potluck.”

Watching her cheeks turn a brighter shade would never getold.

“I had a hunch from my conversation with Father John, and it checked out. It was the same day Aaron Cortez arrived inPace.”

“And you didn’t tellme?”

“We didn’t exactly have a lot of time. I was trying to save your life. I was looking out foryou.”

“Maybe you should have tried telling me the truth about being a priest instead of kissing me in a confessional.”

I saw regret in her eyes as soon as she said the words.

“Cameron?” My father raised his voice.

Shit!

“It was the only way to get full access to the town’s papers.”

“No, it wasn’t. I had access as well. You could have askedme.”

Was she seriously throwing me under the bus? I wished we were alone. I wished I could tell her how much she infuriatedme.

“You were a secretary,” I said between my teeth. “I didn’t know if I could trust you. God, I didn’t even know you existed.”

“All right, you two. Stop it,” my mother interjected. “You can bicker some more after we have all the facts. Now, Hope, where are your mother and Xavier?”

“My father disappeared ten years ago. He was legally declared dead. I think Lola may have more information on him than I do. As soon as my mother realized he wasn’t coming back, she got scared, but she wouldn’t tell me why. She just told me that there were bad people looking for him and for us and she didn’t want them to find me. We moved to Long Island because she said it was one of the few places she’d ever feltsafe.”

My mother smiled. “You’ve been living here the past ten years?”

“Yes.”

“I told you, Jack. I told you we didn’t have to cut our ties to the point of no return. We could have helped Anna and Xavier. For goodness sake, Xavier’s like a brother to you, and if I know him the way I do, then he’s alive. He’s alive somewhere and needs our help. I never understood why you’d give up on your brother; but then again, you give up on everyone in the family, one by one, don’t you? Is that a trademark of yours, or do you purposefully try to screw up everything in yourlife?”

I felt my muscles spasm in my jaw and my neck stiffen. I loved my mother because she loved us to the bone, but sometimes I wasn’t surprised that my parents were no longer together.

“We did what we had to at the time,” my father replied. “So Anna’s on Long Island? We need to call her. I have to make sure she’ssafe.”

“She’s fine.” Lola’s voice sounded from the front door. Brook stood besideher.

My mother eyed her carefully and smiled. I immediately knew that the two of them would get along.

“You must be Lola. Brook has told me so much aboutyou.”

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