Page 187 of Dirty Padraig: Dirty Dusters

Normally, he’d start talking and expect everyone just to listen without interruption. This time, he’s actually considering what he’s going to say. Then again, maybe that has nothing to do with Jaine and more to do with the matter at hand.

“I need to apologize, Paddy.”

I stare at him. There’s only one thing he would have to apologize over. Jaine.

“Go on.”

“The first apology is on behalf of the whole family.” He pauses. “When you were entered into the marriage with Sophia, I was asked to pay Jaine a visit.”

My blood runs cold in my veins because I now know what he’s going to say. I’m finally going to get an answer to my niggle.

“We had no idea who she was or that you shared a past with her. All we knew was that you were in love with her, and she you. Da signed the contract with Luciano before we even knew about her. If it hadn’t been entered into, we could have considered her, but it had. There was no going back at that stage. Any subsequent indication that you were involved with someone else would have resulted in war. You know that. You would have had a price on your head, and so would Jaine.”

“What did the family do, Eoin?”

“Da asked me to warn her off.”

I close my eyes, then slowly reopen them. “What did you ask of her?”

“To cease all communication with you until your marriage to Sophia had taken place.”

I swallow as I try to digest what it is that he’s saying. It tastes bitter. He told her not to speak to me for two years. Two fucking years.

“So, she lied when she told me that she didn’t love me. She said it so I’d walk away, and then, to make doubly sure I knew there was no future for us, she left town.”

“Yes. She stood her ground quite determinedly. She didn’t want to let you go. In the end, I had to use her love for you against her.”

“In what way?”

“I suggested that if you thought there was any hope of a future for you and her, you might refuse to go through with the arranged marriage, that it could then see you come to harm having disrespected the Sicilians.”

“So, she backed down and returned to Rising. Where she’d be out of sight and mind.”

“Yes. She did it for you, Padraig. Everything Jaine ever did, she did for you. I need you to know that.”

“She was pregnant with my child.”

“No one was aware of that. Even Jaine herself didn’t know who the father was. Not until after Finian was born.”

“And why would she have bothered to find out when you ran her out of town? She had my baby in her fucking belly!”

“I’m sorry, Paddy.”

“You’re sorry.” I snort. “But my loss was your gain, wasn’t it, brother? You got to marry the love ofmylife, and then you fell in love with her.”

An even more pronounced delay. I know this is now the piece de resistance.

“Tell me.”

He glances at Dylan and then looks back at me. “When you told me about Jaine, about you messaging her when she was headed to Nevada….”

“When she was about to give birth to my fucking son, you mean?” I interrupt.

He frowns and nods slowly. “I should have allowed you to be open with each other about who you were conversing with.”

“And why didn’t you, Eoin?”

I close my eyes in disbelief as I wait. Again, I know what he’s about to say. Why the fuck didn’t I see what was going on right under my nose? He was messaging her. He was talking to her. He even admitted to missing her when she didn’t communicate with him.

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