Chapter 17 #2
“I know Ian taught ye better. Every cause has an effect. Removing O’Brien comes with consequences. Ireland remains balanced with him where he is.
“He is feared and with good reason. His replacement has to be as feared and steadfast as he is. Not someone who’s all talk, but someone who’s going to get the job done.
“Yer da has already expressed he doesn’t want to return to handle the job. Yer brother has plans of his own, and from yer words, he’s not currently available. Who does that leave?
“Ye? Every family in Ireland and Scotland who’s ever wanted to be at the top will become volatile. That’s a war many aren’t in a position to fight right now, but will find irresistible to deny.
“It’s not worth the blood of our people. We chop off his head, all the bullshit that follows rolls downhill. That becomes our problem.
“That affects more than our clan or his. Some things have a bigger answer and solution. Our solution has been discussed. We’re doing our part for now.”
“You’re talking in circles. I see a problem, I handle it. My da is the only reason I haven’t handled my granda. He owes me,” I snare.
Ewan throws his hands up. “Ye don’t understand a thing. Why am I wasting my time? Ye need to go.”
“Not before ya tell me where I can find yer nephew’s daughter.”
Ken narrows his eyes at me. “Aye, ye don’t understand what ye have stepped into. Stop asking questions and leave.
“We shouldn’t have said this much. We don’t know if we can trust ye. Weren’t ye the grandson Oland wanted to leave things to?”
I snarl and get to my feet. “You know nothing about me. I would kill that bastard sooner than I would join him. I will not return here if that means Deja remains safe, but I’m not leaving Scotland until she and I have an understanding.”
“Then ye be making a mistake. Don’t say we didn’t warn ye and when ye get her hurt, we’ll be the ones ye have to answer to,” Ewan snarls.
“So be it.”
I storm out, pissed off. I now have more questions than answers. The one thing I do know is that I won’t put Deja in danger.
However, it’s not an option for me to leave her alone. I need to think through my options and how to move forward with all of this.
The one thing that’s been loud and clear is that Deja has been here for her own safety. What that has to do with my brother, I have no idea. It’s not like I can get answers with him lost in a prison where we can’t contact him.
It’s time to do things the Brooklyn way.
Deja
I’m so mad fire could come out of my ears. This is the first time my mother’s words about not trusting my uncles have rung true for me. I’m both confused and lost about what I should do next.
I had to come home to clear my head. I begin to play what was said today over in my head and then my mind begins to replay what happened all those years ago to bring me here.
It’s been eleven years, but I still have no clear idea of what happened. I’m angry with Cole for showing up and opening all those wounds. I take a breath and begin to play over the things Cole said when he first came here.
Missing?
Why the hell did he think I was missing? Finlay had always known where to find me. As I push into the house where I stay with my great-grandmother, my head hurts from trying to put it all together.
“Deja.” Cough, cough. “Come here, love. I’ve missed ye today,” my great-gran says between a coughing fit.
I move into the sitting room where she is sitting on the sofa under her favorite blanket. I smile as she looks a bit better today. There is color to her cheeks.
I guess it’s best that I now know I can’t trust Cole. It doesn’t look like I’ll be taking off anytime soon. At least not with him.
I enter the room and take a seat on the sofa with her. Gran lifts the blanket and covers me with it as I settle in beside her. I smile and move into her side.
“How are ya, Gran?”
“I’ve been better. How are ye, Deja?” She cups the side of my face and turns her head to kiss my forehead.
“I’m grand. No need to worry about me.”
“Och, but I do. I worry about ye a lot. Especially when yer name comes up from auld friends,” she says as she looks at me.
I lift my head and sit up a little. She’s looking back at me searchingly. I have no idea who she’s talking about.
“Auld friends?” I lift a questioning brow.
“Aye, there’s an auld gypsy named Phoebe Romaine. She lives in America now. Years ago, she told me some things I had a hard time believing.
“I wish I would have listened back then. Your da’ would still be here and ye would have had the life ye wanted instead of being stuck here with an auld dying woman.” Her words are cut off by another coughing fit.
“I’m not stuck here. I love it here with ya.”
“That’s a load o’ mince. Blaeflummery ye speak. Yer a young lass, ye don’t date, ye work in that crumby auld pub when ye are smarter than most the people in this village and ye never bring friends around.
“What type of life is this? Ye should be off with a young lad of ye own. I feel like I’m robbing ye of yer life.”
“Now that’s rubbish. I could date if I wanted to. I just don’t want to. Friends are overrated. I love being here to look after ya and soak in yer wisdom,” I say with a smile.
“Wisdom,” she snorts. “Wisdom would have been holding Archie’s head under water until he stopped breathing or telling Lennox to take him out back to put a bullet in his head before the blood of the innocent rained down on our heads.”
“Huh?”
“Those were Phoebe’s words: ‘The blood of the innocent will rain down on your heads’. Archie was a bad egg. She warned me, but what mother wants to be responsible for taking her own son’s life?
“Instead, I’m responsible for the deaths of my two grandsons and the love of my life. I will take that pain to the grave, but I’ll tell ye what guilt I can’t bear.
“I will not hold ye here with me until my death. Ye will leave me soon and I want ye to know yer supposed to. It will be fine.”
“Gran, I’m confused. What are ya talking about?”
“Phoebe has sent a letter. In it, she has told me ye don’t belong here anymore. Ah dinnae ken everything she has said, but the one thing that’s clear is that ye will be leaving and greater things await ye.”
My mind is racing as I try to follow what she’s saying. This day is only getting stranger by the second. I think everyone has lost their noodles.
I lick my lips as I think to ask my gran what in the world my uncles were talking about. I have no idea what this old woman could gain from lying to me. I’ve been good to her.
“Gran, I have a question. Why did my mum send me here? What am I hiding from?”
She smiles and her eyes mist up. “Aye, Phoebe said this would be the beginning. Once ye asked after ye mum, it would all fall into place. The lad who loves ye is already here, isn’t he?”
I jerk my head back. My mouth is flapping open and closed. I feel like I’ve stepped out of my body as an observer at this point.
“I’m not sure I know what yer talking about.”
“Aye, ye do. Ye will see. Phoebe says ye have to unlearn a thing or two, but ye will. Ye will have friends and comfort and family.
“Just not here with me. Deja yer journey is coming. Ye have the gift the old man wanted ye to have, now it’s time ye use it. ‘A mother will be scorned, but the child of the lions will rise to roar.’”
“What are ya talking about, Gran?”
“Those were her words. Yer mum and da …” She begins to cough again.
I’m on the edge of my seat to hear what she is about to say. However, after a few moments pass and her coughing spell doesn’t, I snap out of it and get her a glass of water. Gran finishes the water and waves me off as she closes her eyes.
I sit beside her once again, staring into space as I replay her words. When her snores begin to fill the room, I sigh. I don’t know how to feel about any of this, and I still don’t have any answers.