Chapter Twenty- Five
Grace
I heard King talking to someone, so I continued to hide in the bathroom until I heard the door close. With a deep breath, I opened the door to my room, steeling myself for another fight.
“Maureen?” I looked at the door behind her. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to talk to you.”
I looked down at the sheet I had wrapped around my body. “Um, I’m not really dressed for company,” I said with a nervous chuckle. King’s shirt and cut were still on the floor. King must have been talking to Maureen, which meant she knew he was in here.
“Go ahead and get dressed, honey. I’ll wait.”
Maureen sat on the corner of the bed. She looked uncomfortable, and I asked, “Are you okay, Maureen? You look a little pale.”
“I’m fine. I wasn’t expecting my nephew to open the door buck naked, everything on full display.” Her body gave a little shudder, and she shook her head as if she were trying to shake the vision out of her mind.
I understood that being his aunt, she wouldn’t want to see him that way, but me? That was a picture I would hold on to forever. I loved King’s body. The muscles, the tattoos, the sparse hair on his chest that I loved to run my fingers through.
King was a masterpiece that should be enjoyed by people everywhere. Except I didn’t want to share him. Not even with the club. Not now we’d slept together. I wanted to keep him to myself, in a bubble where nothing could get between us. Except that I was the one coming between us.
But I had to stand up for myself. I couldn’t—no, I wouldn’t become my mother. Pinning after a man who would never claim me.
Except he’s already claimed you!
But for how long? The identity of my father would always be a dark cloud hanging over our heads. Ready to drown us at a moment’s notice.
“What the hell is wrong with him?” I muttered as I grabbed some clothes and scurried back to the bathroom. Once I was dressed, I returned to where Maureen waited for me.
“What did you want to talk about?” I asked Maureen, my eyes on the floor.
“You and King.” She patted the spot next to her on the bed, and when I sat down, she put her arm around my shoulders. “I can’t help but think I’m missing something between you two.”
I didn’t say anything. I knew I couldn’t tell her what had happened two nights before. Club business wasn’t shared with outsiders. And despite being King’s aunt, and sister-in-law in a weird way, she was married to the sheriff. I’d never risk Banshee’s freedom to assuage my own thoughts and fears.
“Grace, I grew up in the Mob. I know there are things you can’t share with me. But give me what you can.”
I took a deep breath and held it for a moment, trying to stave off the tears that I knew were coming. It was at times like this that I missed my mother the most. Since moving to Diamond Creek, Maureen had taken on that role.
Sharing Maureen with Beck and the other old ladies wasn’t hard. But when Colleen moved here, I believed sharing her with her actual daughter would feel like losing another mother. Until the day I met Colleen, and she had put my fears to rest.
“Grace! Over here!” Maureen waved from the corner booth at the diner. She asked me to meet her for lunch so I could finally meet her daughter.
Colleen Murphy was a younger version of her mother. I had spoken to Beck, and she gave me a rundown of what to expect. She said Colleen was sweet and had an innocent quality. But how innocent could she be growing up in the Mob?
I made my way through the tables and sat down opposite the mother and daughter duo. It was hard not to be jealous of how close I knew these two were. Maureen had missed Colleen so much, I knew she had to be happy her daughter lived here now.
“Grace, this is my daughter Colleen. Colleen, this is Grace.”
“Hi,” I offered, my hand hovering over the table. Colleen shook it and bit her lip. Maybe this was awkward for her, too.
“Hi, Grace. It’s nice to meet you. Mom has told me a lot about you.”
“Oh God, that can’t be good,” I said with a nervous laugh.
“Oh, nonsense.” Maureen dismissed my words with a wave of her hand just as Rhoda stopped at our table.
“Hi, Mrs. Murphy. Hi, Grace.”
“Hi, Rhoda. This is my daughter Colleen; she’s staying here for a bit. I’m hoping she’ll fall in love with the town like I did and stick around.”
Colleen shook her head at her mother’s declaration.
“Oh, Diamond Creek is the best. I wish I lived here,” the girl said, slapping her notepad against her hand. She couldn’t be more than seventeen.
“You don’t live here?” I asked.
Diamond Creek was a small town, and I had been living here for over two years, but I still didn’t know all the residents. Mostly just the ones that came into the bar.
“No, I live in Sydney. It’s not far, though.” She lifted her pad and pencil. “What can I get you?”
We ordered drinks and food, and when Rhoda walked away, the awkward feeling returned.
I didn’t know what to say. I’d never been good at small talk.
At the bar, I relied on the customers. The men were easy; they flirted, and I flirted back.
The women could be a little harder, but mostly they asked about drinks and the guys in the bar.
Since we rarely had patrons that weren’t from town, the women relied on me to see how the men were acting on any given night.
Thankfully, Maureen commandeered the conversation, asking both Colleen and I questions that got us talking.
By the time our food arrived, I was more relaxed. Until Colleen brought up King.
“I had a nice talk with him this morning. I never had cousins growing up, with my aunt Darcy gone and Ducky never being with someone long enough. Though I love Freyja. She is amazing. The only thing disappointing about being here is not being able to spend more time getting to know her. But she promised to call.” Colleen talked on about Boston and her uncle’s new girlfriend.
Maureen ate up every word with a smile that told me how happy she was to have her daughter here. I tried to keep my feelings of inadequacy hidden, but Maureen wasn’t fooled.
When Colleen ran to the restroom, Maureen reached across the table and held my hand. “You know she is his cousin, right? You don’t have to be jealous of Colleen.”
“It’s that obvious, huh?” I asked, pulling my hand away. It wasn’t just her budding relationship with King I was jealous of. But if Maureen wanted to focus on that, I’d let her. I would be mortified if she realized what I was really jealous of—the relationship between mother and daughter.
I wouldn’t give up my mother for anything. And if she were still alive, I think Colleen and I could be great friends. Then again, if she were still alive, I likely wouldn’t be here.
Colleen returned to the table. She sat beside me and asked about doing a little shopping.
“I can’t. I have an early shift tonight.”
“Grace works too hard. She doesn’t spend nearly enough time goofing off,” Maureen joked.
I did work too hard. I had to, because if I didn’t, I would wallow in the shitshow of what my life had become. I didn’t need the money, not really. When we left Arkansas, my mother had put everything in my name, hoping Uncle Stephen wouldn’t find us.
She never said why, just that he couldn’t be in our lives any longer.
Maureen went to pay the check, despite my objections, and Colleen said quietly, “Grace?”
I looked at the girl next to me, and my nose burned at the thought of losing a second mom. One I’d only had for a few months.
“I grew up as an only child.” She looked over at Maureen before continuing, “I always wanted sisters. Now I have Beck. But there’s always room for one more.” She smiled at me. Reading me better than Maureen had.
I scrunched my lips to the side, hoping to stave off the tears. I nodded and whispered, “Thank you.”
Maureen returned as I swiped away an errant tear. “Grace, are you okay?”
I nodded, and Colleen came to my rescue. “I was telling her about the time Ducky and Dad were trying to paint my room. No one gets away from that story without tears from laughing.”
Maureen laughed, and Colleen winked at me. She was letting me know she had my back.
“I always wanted sisters, too,” I whispered.
I told Maureen what I could. I talked about my mom and how she died. I told her about finding the picture of Steele and who he was to King. About how I believed he was my father and that I’d told King the first night we met.
I even confessed what my plan had been when I came here. I saw the disappointment on Maureen’s face when I confessed what I’d tried to do. Of course, now I knew it wouldn’t have been successful. The sheriff never would have believed me, and he would have found a way to make it go away.
Declan wasn’t a dirty cop, but he loved his brother as if King were his son. He would have helped him, and he would have been right to. I would have been the villain in that story, and the shame I felt for even considering it would be something I had to live with forever.
I shared what I could from the other night. How Steele was here, and how the club had voted to remove him as president. I didn’t mention Banshee or his sister. But I told Maureen that Steele had confessed to sleeping with my mother, but not until after she was pregnant.
She let me cry on her shoulder when I expressed my fears of never knowing who my father was. And she held me the way a mother would when her daughter was heartbroken.
She didn’t immediately take King’s side, despite him being family. I’d reasoned it out in my mind that it was because she’d met both of us at the same time. But the truth was, Maureen didn’t pick sides based on family ties. She was impartial and listened to the facts.
I told Maureen everything from the moment King threw me over his shoulder to him joining me in the shower. And how he held me all night while I slept, and the argument that we’d had just before she knocked on the door.
“I blame his parents for this,” she said.
“It’s that damn Irish temper. We all have it, but my parents made sure we talked shit out.
Duane’s parents weren’t the same. I loved my father-in-law, but he was old school.
His word was law, and you didn’t question it.
If you didn’t understand, then tough shit. You did what you were told anyway.”
Maureen shook her head. “And Sal’s father?
He was a bastard and a son of a bitch. When he ruled, it was a dictatorship.
If you disagreed, you were kicked out of the family.
And by kicked out I mean dirt kicked over your grave.
If you were lucky enough to get one. Sal isn’t quite as bad.
He has Duncan, Cian, and Mac. He trusts them. They keep him level-headed.
“King is just like Declan. Declan shut me out when I came here. He tried to make me move back to Boston. Then, once we learned the truth about King, and the secret Dec had been keeping was out, he said we could finally be together. As if nothing had happened.” She blew out a frustrated breath and added, “I’ll talk to King. ”
She stood up, and I tried to stop her, but her mind was made up. All I could do was follow her downstairs.