Page 117 of Dirty Padraig: Dirty Dusters

“He’s trapped, Eoin. He wants out. He’s going to agree to the child and also to giving her all of his personal fortune to undo the destructive path his own family set him on.”

I pause. “He was a mess when I saw him, Dylan.”

“In what way?”

“The same way he was when Jaine first left to return to Rising. He thinks she walked away without a backward glance. That it was her choice and her decision.”

“Did you not correct him?”

“He wasn’t receptive to listening. He wanted to get everything off his chest.” I swallow down more rising guilt with the help of the fourth whiskey.

“He needs to know that it wasn’t her choice, Eoin. That it was the family’s decision. That we separated them and pretty much ran her out of town.”

“I realize that.”

“Because Jaine won’t have corrected him. You do know that. That’s our news to spill, not hers.”

“You’re telling me what I already know!” I snap. He ignores my spike in temper.

“You’ll also have to tell him about the other matter. Right now, he thinks you fell in love with Jaine only after you married her. He doesn’t realize that you were infatuated with her for a long time before then. That you kept them apart to suit your own purposes.”

“He’ll never forgive me, Dylan.” Closing my eyes, I run my hand over my face.

“Maybe not, but he still needs to know. Come what may, it’s time for all of the secrets to be revealed. Now that Jaine’s part of the family, and now that Paddy’s back, we’ll start tying ourselves in knots trying to remember what we’ve said and to whom otherwise. If he’s not told, we would also be doing Jaine a disservice. Because you know as well as I do that everything she’s ever done has been for our Padraig, and right now, he doesn’t see it that way.”

He pauses.

“There’s one other thing you should know.”

I’m not sure that I want to know any more. I don’t encourage him, but he continues regardless.

“When Jaine went to the reunion, the girl Paddy cheated on her with was there. It turns out he didn’t cheat after all. The girl lied because she wanted him for herself.”

I didn’t think it could get any worse, but it can and has. The reason they split up twelve years ago no longer exists.

“Does he know that?”

“I’m not sure. They’ve just been locked up together for several days, so they could have spoken about that and much more besides. It was Jaine who told me.”

“You never said.” Again, I don’t know whether to be annoyed or not.

“You and she had gone your separate ways, so there seemed little point. What are you going to do now?”

“Try to sort things out with Jaine.”

“What if she doesn’t want to? Maybe after spending time with Paddy….”

“That’s what he’s worried about, Dylan.” I interrupt. “That he’s confused things with her, and he wants there to be no confusion. He wants her to know there’s no future for him and her.”

“Even if it breaks his own heart?”

“You can’t break something that’s already broken.” Tonight, I witnessed with my own eyes just how broken he is. It’s a visual I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life.

“One other thing. Jaine went to the church on her hog, and now it’s missing.”

“So, they never wanted her to be found, or at least not until it was too late. It was a deliberate setup.”

“It’s certainly looking that way.”

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