Page 92 of Beyond Rosy Irish Twilight

I couldn’t just sit up here and pretend nothing was going on downstairs. I’d waited long enough, and I was going to get answers before I went insane. I headed for the door just as it swung open and Asher stepped inside.

I clenched my fists at my side, ready to let him have a piece of my mind for leaving me out in the cold. But before I could unleash my anger at him, he frowned at me, stepping forward.

“We need to talk.”

“Now you want to talk?” I snapped.

“I’m sorry. I know I said I was going to fill you in—”

“That was two days ago. You came out of my father’s house pissed as hell, and you’re just now filling me in?” I couldn’t contain my anger any longer. It was bad enough being left in the dark, but I thought we had come to some sort of understanding about our relationship, and then he disappeared. It hurt more than I wanted to admit, even if he at no time said that he was making a commitment to me.

“I know, and I’m sorry. There were things that needed to be worked out.”

“Such as?” I asked angrily, crossing my arms over my chest.

His lips thinned the more attitude I shot his way. I should have tempered my reaction. After all, he was still recovering, but that didn’t give him the right to just forget about me.

“I bugged your father’s study. We’ve been waiting for him to make calls so we could really understand where he stands. As it is, I’m still not sure he won’t double-cross me. And then there’s the issue of your mother.”

My anger faded to worry as soon as he said that. “What about her?”

“I’d like to bring in a doctor to look her over.”

My hope deflated at his words. “What’s the point? I’ve already talked to them all. I know what’s wrong with her. There’s nothing more we can do but make her comfortable.”

He licked his lips and stared at me for a moment, almost as if he was trying to figure out how to ask me something. “How…how would you feel about her coming to stay with us?”

My eyes widened at his suggestion and my heart kicked into overdrive. To have my mother with me again, where I could keep an eye on her and talk to her was more than I ever hoped or wished for. Since leaving the house, I’d been worried about her, that Margaret wasn’t enough. The nurses were kind, but they didn’t spend hours talking with her like I did.

“Is that a possibility?”

“Maybe,” he said hesitantly. “I haven’t discussed it with your father yet. I’m not sure he’d allow her to leave, or if it would even be good for her. That’s why I’d like to bring in a doctor of my own.”

“Would my father allow that? He might take it the wrong way.”

He nodded. “I considered that. The best way would be to tell him that I’m doing it to appease you. Your father thinks that I’m keeping you in check. He knows that I know about what you did. I had to play it off like I don’t trust you, that you’re always being watched. And I considered that one of the ways I could keep you in line is to hold your mother over your head—from his perspective.”

My stomach churned at the thought of being used in such a way. I wanted my father to know that I was loved by a good man and not being ordered around. There would be a small victory in knowing that he was no longer controlling me and that I had someone better than him looking out for me.

But at the same time, I understood what Asher was getting at. He had to play the game to get my father to trust him, and I was a pawn in that game. “Have you found a doctor already?”

“We have.”

“Why not use one of the doctors who already knows her history?”

“The way I’ll present it to him is that you’re holding onto hope that she can still recover. The doctor I’ll bring in is a specialist.”

“Is he?”

“She,” he corrected. “No, she’s not, but she’ll pass all the qualifications to make it appear that she is. She’ll give your father a few lines about keeping her comfortable, but she’s sorry, there’s nothing else that can be done.”

A few lines…that was a punch to the gut. He talked about my mother’s health like it was simply part of his mission, but it was so much more to me than that. Specialist or not, I knew the moment she arrived, my anxiety would shoot through the roof and there would be nothing but hope filling me up that maybe this doctor would find something helpful. That is, until the crushing reality set in and she told me what every other doctor out there said.

I blinked rapidly as tears filled my eyes. I was trying to be strong, but it hurt so badly to go through this again after I had already made peace with the reality of the situation.

“Jade, I’m not trying to hurt you.”

“No, I know,” I smiled, trying desperately not to cry. I hated crying so fucking much.

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