Blackthorn

Chapter Forty-Two

FORTY-TWO

RONAN

Her hand is so small in mine. So pale and fragile. I stare at it, emotion throbbing in my chest, as machines beep persistently in the background and a doctor and two nurses speak quietly together in the hallway outside the open door.

“Bea,” I murmur. “Open your eyes.”

Lying still on the hospital bed, her narrow chest slowly rising and falling, a cannula with oxygen running through it fastened beneath her nose, she doesn’t respond to my command.

I should’ve known she wouldn’t.

Instead of a request, it was an order, something no Blackthorn woman would ever obey.

My heart aching, I give her limp hand a gentle squeeze, then press a soft kiss to her knuckles.

The doctors tell me she’ll be fine, that there’s nothing to do now but let her rest, but the need to make this better for her—to make everything in her world right—lashes at me like a whip cracking against my skin, over and over.

She’s such a good kid. Bright, brave, charming.

I’m going to spend the rest of my days making sure she knows how special she is. Making sure she knows she can always count on me.

Making sure she’s protected.

Her lashes flutter, then suddenly her lids lift, and she’s staring straight at me.

She doesn’t look surprised to find me sitting beside her bed, holding her hand.

“Hi,” I say softly.

She gazes at me steadily for a moment, then swallows. In a small, raspy voice she says, “Are you my dad?”

Straight to the point, just like her mother. I almost laugh, but exhale in relief instead. “I’d like to be. What do you think about that?”

She glances at our clasped hands, then closes her eyes and nods, whispering, “Okay.”

Her breathing slows, her head lolls to one side, and just like that, she’s asleep again.

The pressure in my chest is crushing. I never thought I could love anyone more than Maven, but this kid has already completely stolen my heart.

“Sir?”

I look up to find one of the nurses has crept close to the bed. Her voice hushed, she says, “There’s a man asking to see Ms. Blackthorn. You said not to allow anyone into her room, so…”

“A man? Who is he?”

“Silas Hawthorne, sir. He said you’d remember him.”

Frowning, I search my memory, but the name doesn’t register. The nurse sees my confusion, because she adds, “He says he was employed by your family, sir, quite a while back.”

Jesus. That’s right—Silas used to be our groundskeeper. But he quit and moved away from Solstice years ago. At least a dozen, maybe more.

Reluctant to leave Bea, I gently release her hand and stand. Then I fix the nurse with a warning glare.

My voice low and steely, I say, “She gets the best of everything, understood? Care, tests, food, everything. I’m holding every one of you personally responsible if she suffers so much as the slightest discomfort—”

“Yes, sir,” the nurse interrupts softly. “So you’ve said, sir. Multiple times. She and Ms. Blackthorn are in excellent hands, I promise you.”

Giving Bea one last look, I nod curtly at the nurse, then walk out to the hallway.

Maven’s room is next to Bea’s. The window shades are drawn and the door is closed.

Outside her door, nervously turning a cowboy hat in his hands, stands a tall man dressed casually in flannel, denim, and boots.

I’d guess he’s somewhere north of sixty now, but he still has a full head of salt-and-pepper hair and a lean yet muscular physique.

He lifts his head, spots me, and stills.

Suspicious of this odd timing for a sudden reappearance, I narrow my eyes at him. “Silas. This is a surprise. What can I do for you?”

He glances nervously at Maven’s door, then looks back at me.

“I … I came to see May.”

I lift my brows, look him up and down challengingly, and fold my arms over my chest. “Did you, now? How interesting. Why the hell would you do that?”

He clears his throat, sending another furtive glance toward Maven’s door. “Is there somewhere we can talk privately?”

On edge, I consider him for a moment before jerking my chin in the direction of the waiting room at the end of the hallway. “Follow me.”

I’m tense as I walk ahead of him, my mind whirring and my nerves alert. When we reach the empty waiting room, I stop and watch as he walks a nervous circle around the middle of the space, turning his hat around and around in his hands.

Finally, he stops and faces me. After a short pause, he blurts, “I’m her father.”

For one horrifying moment, I think he’s talking about Bea. But my confusion clears when he looks at his boots and murmurs, “Elspeth and I were in love.”

“Wait,” I say, my heart pounding. “Hold on. You’re saying you—”

“I wanted to keep us secret,” he interrupts, looking up at me with tortured eyes. “Especially after May was born. I was afraid what people would say, how they’d treat me…”

He trails off into silence, closing his eyes against some bitter memory. When he opens them again, they’re filled with tears.

“I’m ashamed of myself. All these years since Elspeth died, I’ve been trying to screw up the courage to come and talk to May, but … I never could do it. But when your father called me and told me what happened, I knew it was time.”

Reeling, I take a step closer to him. “My father?”

Silas nods. “He knew about us. Caught us together in your old family church one time. It’s where we used to meet, to…

” Clearing his throat, he continues. “We’d go up to the bell tower.

Look at the stars. I was late that night, that last night.

She was already there, waiting for me. Waving at me from the tower like an angel, like a fairy-tale princess, Rapunzel waiting for her prince. ”

His mouth quivers. His breath hitches. A lone tear crests his lower lid and straggles down his cheek.

“But she wasn’t careful,” he whispers. “She was always so fearless. She decided to step out onto the roof. She was waving at me when she slipped, Ronan, she was smiling and waving and it’s my fault, it’s all my fault, I was late, I made her wait for me—”

His voice breaks, his face crumples, and he bursts into chest-wracking sobs.

I’m so astonished, I can’t move. I just stand stock-still and stare at him with my mouth hanging open, replaying that phone conversation with my father in my mind.

As I recall it word for word, I realize that he never actually said he was Maven’s father.

He said he wouldn’t speak about it, that I was dead to him if I brought it up again, and in my shock and dismay, in my hurry to jump to what seemed an obvious conclusion, I overlooked the fact that my father never actually admitted anything at all.

And that he frequently acts like a complete asshole when questioned.

About things far less insulting than his son accusing him of siring a bastard child and cheating on his wife in the process.

I cover my face with my hands and scrub them up and down a few times until my brain fog clears, and I can think straight again.

I wondered about that heart attack Silas had. It seemed a little dramatic, your heart giving out when you come across a body in the snow and subsequently spending weeks in the hospital recovering from it, but with this new information, it doesn’t seem so dramatic at all.

If it were me watching Maven fall to her death, I never would have recovered.

“Does anyone else know?” I say gruffly.

Silas shakes his head.

“I assume you’d be willing to take a DNA test to confirm your claim.”

Startled, he looks up at me. “What?”

“I’ve learned not to take anyone at their word. Before we go any further with this, you’ll have to prove you are who you say you are.”

He nods, dashing away the tears from his face. “Yes. I’ll take a test. I’ll do anything.”

“Good.”

After an awkward pause, he says tentatively, “So, are you and May…?”

“She’s going to be my wife,” I say bluntly. “You have a problem with that?”

“No.”

I nod, satisfied by the sincerity of his answer. Because father or not, anyone who has one negative fucking word to say about Maven and me will regret it.

They’ll quickly be introduced to a side of me they don’t want to see.

“Sir?”

We turn to look at the young nurse in lavender scrubs standing out in the hallway. She gestures toward Maven’s room. “Ms. Blackthorn is asking for you.”

“Thank you. Question—do you do paternity tests here?”

She doesn’t miss a beat. “Yes, sir. All we need is a cheek swab or blood sample. The results are usually back in five to seven days.”

I turn back to Silas. “Give her your contact information, too. I’ll talk to you in a week.”

I leave him with the nurse and head to Maven’s room. She’s awake, sitting up in the hospital bed, gazing out the window into the gray, gathering dusk.

When she turns her head and our eyes meet, I feel the jolt of connection all the way to my toes.

She wordlessly holds out a hand. I cross to her quickly, taking her outstretched hand and kissing it as I lean over the metal bed rail.

“Hi, baby,” I murmur. “I was just checking on Bea again.”

“How is she?”

“Everything’s looking good.”

She exhales a soft, ragged breath, sinking back against the pillow. I study her, my heart expanding with love but my mind filled with worry. She’s tough, but even the toughest person has a breaking point.

Her face when I told her that her aunts didn’t make it out of the fire …

I’ve never seen such agony.

“Do you need anything? How are you feeling? What can I get you?”

A ghost of a smile lifts the corners of her mouth. She murmurs, “Stop fussing. You’ll spoil me.”

“That’s the plan.”

I don’t tell her that the plan also includes an immediate change of her home address to mine, a fat-ass diamond ring on her left ring finger, and a speedy walk down the aisle at our wedding, because I don’t want to overwhelm her.

But she and I are going to end that whole Blackthorns-don’t-marry bullshit once and for all.

I know she’ll object, but I’ll wear her down. Making this woman my wife and being a good father to Bea is my new life’s mission.

Frowning at me, she says, “Why do you look so smug?”

Pressing the smile from my lips, I reply, “I told you, baby. That’s just my default setting.”

Then I lean over and claim her mouth before she can agree.

The kiss is sweet and lingering. When it’s over, I whisper vehemently against her lips, “I love you, Maven. I love you. Nothing will ever come between us again.”

Her laugh is soft and husky. “Why does that sound like a threat?”

“It’s a promise. It’s a vow. From this moment on, we’re a family.

It’s you, me, and Bea, and that’s it. Nobody can break us apart.

Nothing can separate us. Anybody who so much as inconveniences either of you will have to answer to me.

And God fucking help them, because I’ll tear them limb from limb and pile their bodies at your feet. ”

She stares at me a moment, her eyes welling, then blows out a breath. “You’re unhinged.”

That makes me chuckle. “So I’ve been told. Rest now, baby. Close your eyes. I’ll be here when you wake up.” I press a gentle kiss to her lips, then settle into the uncomfortable plastic chair beside her bed.

I’ll always be beside her.

It’s the only place I want to be for the rest of both our lives.