Page 18 of Whiskey & Witches

“You’re the one who mentioned my thick head, darlin’. Clearly, it’s heavy on your mind.”

She punched him lightly in the belly. “Go on with you!”

Abruptly, he became serious, and her stomach lurched.

“Ro, please come home with me. It’s not safe for you here now.”

“You don’t seem to understand.”

“Then explain it. Because for a long while, you’ve been wanting to be where you belong, to tell Aeden the truth, and I’ve been the eejit who thought you should stay out here. I’ll gladly admit I was wrong and that our plan might’ve been a bad one.” He touched his nose to hers. “I’m sorry I stole all this time from you. It was for him. You had to know that.”

“And you,” she couldn’t resist adding.

“What?No!” He drew back in his astonishment. “Neverfor me. Why would you say such a thing?”

“Many a night, I laid right there—” she gestured feebly to the bed “—and wondered why we couldn’t make it work. Why we couldn’t sit Aeden down and explain his mam was scarred but not a monster.” She swallowed hard. “And whenever I brought it up, you were adamant that I remain here,” she ended on a choked cry.

“Oh, Ro. No, darlin’. No.” He gathered her close, but she made no attempt to return his embrace. “I’ve loved you from the first. You, with your hair in ponytails and wearing your wildly mismatched socks. And I’ll love ya ’til the day I’m toes up in my grave. Then, I’ll love you longer still.”

With a gentle smile and tender eyes, he used the sleeve of his jumper to dry the tears she didn’t realize were cascading down her cheeks. “The reason I was adamant was because you needed time to heal without the demands of a family to care for. But mainly because when Aeden reacted as he did after seeing your… well,after…” He sighed and rested his forehead against hers. “Jaysus, Ro. You don’t know what it was like. You were unconscious, and he was screaming his fecking head off. They had to give him medication to calm him, and still he sobbed in his sleep.” His voice was an aching whisper as he said, “And his nightmares have spilled into the daylight hours. He’s seeing evil in strangers’ faces.”

She’d heard the first part before. After she woke from her coma and demanded to know about Aeden, Carrick broke the news to her. Twice more he tried to bring their son by, each with a similar result.

“But I woke up, Carrick. I woke up, and we should’ve explained to him nine months ago. He thought he was looking at a corpse, for St. Peter’s sake!”

Her husband’s expression tightened, but he didn’t speak.

“All these months! All these months, he’s believed me to be in stasis, and he’s feared the Witch in the Woods. He’s missed his mam to kiss his hurts and singing him his favorite lullabies.” Her anger grew with every word, and she was startled when he grabbed her balled fists to stop her from striking his chest another time. She hadn’t realized she was physically taking her anger out on him. “It was torture for us both, Carrick. But not for you. You had our son at home and, whenever you remembered, me here on the side.I had nothing.”

“What we have is not nothin’,” he retorted emphatically.

“It is now.”

His shock was complete, displayed in his wide, hurt eyes and slack-jawed response. The sight made her a little ill. Her temper had gotten the better of her—again. It seemed to happen a lot more frequently since the accident.

Carrick’s body went cold,hot, then cold again. And if her harsh words weren’t evidence enough, the fierce anger on Roisin’s face left him in little doubt of her feelings.

He dropped her hands and stepped back, but he was unable to stop staring at her. She wasn’t the woman he’d known. His Ro was kind and loving, not twisted with hate. If he didn’t know better, he’d believe it was her sister Meg standing before him.

“Car—”

He lifted his hand to prevent whatever excuses or accusations she intended to spout. Most likely, it would pour salt on his already raw wounds. “You’ve said what you’ve said, and it’s all I can take for tonight, Roisin. I understand you don’t want to sleep in my bed, and I’ll not ask you to. When we return, you’ll have a room at the Black Cat until we figure out our next steps.”

“I—”

“Jaysus, Mary, and Joseph!I’m bleedin’ here, Ro. Please, stop fighting me on this. Would you have us all sit here in this fucking house and freeze to death? I’m sure as hell not leavin’ ya here alone.”

He turned away at her lack of response and noticed Aeden was awake and watching them from the bed, wide-eyed and wary. Carrick felt lower than low. Nothing he did lately was right for anyone he loved. He tried to offer up a reassuring smile, but he suspected his son saw right through him.

“Mam,” Aeden signed. “She’ll come home?”

Carrick felt a hundred years old and weary down to his soul. “You’ll have to ask her,” he said aloud and headed for the door.

“Yes.”

He stopped short when Roisin’s hesitant confirmation registered, but he didn’t turn back. “Yes, what?”

“Yes, I’ll come home,” she replied hoarsely.

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