Page 49 of Where Broken Wings Fly

She sucks in a breath, wiping away more gleaming tears. I don’t want to hurt her, but I owe her the truth, at least. Choosing to ignore that desperate letter was the worst mistake I ever made. I had no idea back then where my life was headed.

“I’m so sorry, Willow.” She sniffles loudly. “We failed you. I should’ve searched harder. You were all alone in the world.”

“It isn’t your fault.”

“He was my son, my responsibility.”

I take her hand in mine. “You’re being too hard on yourself.”

“I shouldn’t have accepted him leaving home and cutting all contact with us. We didn’t know you existed until the police told us that he left a child behind.”

The bright, open space of the valley is a cruel taunt compared to the dark memories festering inside of me. Dad was so young, lost and far from home. He couldn’t look after a child. That didn’t stop me from being born and suffering right along with him though.

“How did you survive?” Lola asks quietly.

Pulling my hand free from hers, my own wedding ring is revealed. I still can’t bring myself to remove it. I’m too scared the dream will lift and in the cold light of day, I’ll wake up back in that dreaded mansion again.

“I didn’t survive,” I answer without emotion. “I was married by the time I was sixteen. I had Arianna four years later. She became my reason for surviving each day.”

“Sixteen?” she gasps.

“I didn’t have a whole lot of choice in it.”

Lola doesn’t know quite how to respond, staring at me with a look of pure horror twisting her features. Part of me wants to tell her everything, the whole horrid tale, but I can’t face delving into the past again.

Not yet.

I just want to forget.

Unable to continue the conversation, I walk down the steps to approach Arianna. She’s sitting amongst the blooming flowers, their petals opening with the first whispers of spring in the air. Laying down next to her in the long grass, I stare up at the sky.

Lola doesn’t dare follow. I know she’s watching us both from her perch on the steps, too flabbergasted to wrap her head around the truth of our family. All these years, she’s saved countless families in need of a lifeline. All but her own.

Arianna weaves together a crown of daisies and drapes it over me. “For you.”

“Thanks, baby.”

Her beaming smile grows even bigger as someone approaches us, their intimidatingly loud footsteps making the ground shake. A huge, dark shadow falls over us both.

“Damn, peanut. You’re picking all my flowers.”

Trunk-like legs halt beside me, and I shield my eyes with my hand to stare up at Killian through the beams of sunshine. His long, white-blonde locks are pulled back in a sloppy knot, highlighting his beard and firm jawline.

“You can grow some more,” she replies cheekily.

Killian booms a laugh. It sounds so strange emanating from him. I’m used to every other word from his mouth being a threat or order. For a moment, I think I’m dreaming as he flashes bright-white teeth. He’s smirking down at me.

“What are you smiling at?” I snark.

“You’re covered in daisies.”

“Her fault.”

I narrow my eyes at Arianna, and she giggles even harder. Crouching beside us, Killian struggles to fold his legs beneath him. His quads bulge against the worn denim of his jeans. They’re falling apart, full of holes and in need of a good wash.

To my shock, he stretches out to lie down in the grass next to me. Arianna wastes no time adorning him with his own tiny daisy crown. Killian grumbles a complaint but doesn’t stop her from dressing him in flowers.

“Now we match,” I whisper to him.

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