14. Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Callum
I asked Brian, Lenora, and Sabine to meet at Sabine's home.
I knew shit would hit the fan, and when it did, I didn’t want it at my place. I wanted to be able to walk away from the detritus.
I'd had a long conversation with my parents, who were equally angry with Sabine, me, and themselves.
"And I blamed her for staying away from her family," Dad said guiltily.
"How could you treat Fleur so poorly, Callum? We taught you better," Mom accused.
"She should've told me about Sabine," I defended.
"No, she couldn't," Dad was on Fleur's side on this. "She promised Seamus, and this is a girl with integrity, so I can see why she didn't. I'm sure she was dying too, aye , especially when you kept telling her she was too selfish to allow you to take care of Sabine."
"I'll tell you one thing—Seamus must’ve wanted to divorce her," Mom said firmly. "I know my son…" Her voice faltered, and I could see the pain flicker across her face. The wound of losing my older brother, I knew, would never fully heal. "He’d never put up with infidelity."
According to Malone, Sabine had told him time and again that she wanted to leave Seamus but never did. I think, and he agreed, that she was stringing Malone along. It looked like that was her specialty. She'd been stringing me along as well, and like a moron, I'd let her.
"Son, I'm assuming you have an announcement." Brian had absolutely misunderstood why I'd asked to meet all of them.
"Sabine told us that that things were getting serious between the two of you." Lenora held her daughter's hand and smiled broadly.
Sabine looked expectantly at me, and I wondered if I'd been unclear the last time we spoke. I'd told her we were done, hadn't I? How had she misconstrued that?
I recalled the text message she'd sent the day after, one I hadn’t responded to : I know I said some harsh things, and you did as well. Let's forgive and forget. I love you, and you love me. We'll make this work.
Like hell, we'd make this work.
"We're so happy you found each other. We'll always miss Seamus, but having you as our son"—Brian's chest swelled with pride—"means everything to us."
"Our daughter is very lucky to have not one but two men love her," Lenora said, kissing her daughter's cheek.
I wondered what they'd say when I told them I was in love with Fleur, had been since that first night we'd made love. How could I not be? She was just plain fun and funny. She brightened the day for everyone. I didn't blame them for not seeing that—after all, I hadn't admitted it to myself despite experiencing the joy she gave me.
"Sabine, I had a conversation with Malone Collins," I said softly, watching her keenly.
All color fled her face.
Lenora looked at me and then her daughter in confusion. "This was the guy you dated in law school?"
Sabine swallowed and nodded, her eyes filled with fear. "Callum, maybe we should talk in private."
"No." I leaned back on her uncomfortable as fuck designer chair, enjoying myself for the first time since I'd found out how fucked up my brother's marriage had been. "Do your parents know?"
"Know what?" Brian demanded. "Sabine?"
Sabine shrugged and rose. Her lawyer mask was back on. "Malone has been…well, he's been stalking me ever since Seamus died. He's been trying to get back with me. Whatever he told you, Callum, you should take it all with a grain of salt."
She stood tall like she was in court, and I was fucking opposing counsel. Like a good lawyer, I pulled an envelope from the inside pocket of my suit and set it on the table in front of Lenora. "I didn't take anything he said as true unless it was backed by evidence."
"Evidence of what?" Lenora snapped. Before she could reach the envelope, Sabine yanked it away.
"Please, Callum, this is between you and me."
"You can keep that; I can just email all of that to you and your parents," I said condescendingly.
"Mom, Daddy, please go home for now. Once—"
"Sabine was having an affair with Malone while she was married to Seamus," I decided to throw the grenade into the room and blow it all up. "The baby she miscarried was probably his, and she didn't miscarry; she had an abortion."
"What? Impossible." Brian looked at his daughter in shock.
Sabine folded her arms and glared at me. Even now, she was going with misplaced anger rather than humility.
"Seamus knew. That was the last conversation he had with her at your place before he died," I continued, hating that my brother's heart was broken right before the accident that took him from us.
Brian forcefully took the envelope from Sabine and opened it.
"Daddy don't," Sabine cried out.
But it was too late. Brian and Lenora went through the report that Malone's PI had put together. It had dates and times of when Malone and Sabine met and where—which he'd done to prove paternity if the situation arose, he'd told me. There was the illegally acquired medical report about Sabine's abortion. There were printed text messages between Sabine and Malone.
"Sabine," Lenora whispered.
Brian shook his head.
Their favorite daughter was falling from grace. A part of me felt triumph, revenge for what these people had done to Fleur—but a larger part just felt sorry. I knew that Fleur would not approve of what I'd done and how I did it. She wouldn't want to hurt her family because she had a big fucking heart, one I'd not taken care of.
Sabine’s eyes filled with tears, and her voice broke. "It was a mistake. Seamus was so kind about it, and we were going to make it work. We were. And then...he died."
"Liar," I snapped. "He told you that he wanted to divorce your fine ass ."
She sobbed hard, but this time, neither Brian nor Lenora comforted her. In the past, the waterworks always worked with me, with Seamus, with her parents, and probably with Malone as well.
"I can't believe this," Brian spoke softly. "How could you do this to Seamus? My God! He loved you. He must have been broken up about this and—"
"This is all Fleur's fault," Sabine burst out.
"How do you figure?" I asked, positively curious about how she was going to blame her sister for her cheating on her marriage.
"She was always hanging around Seamus, trying to steal him, and I was just acting out to get his attention."
My eyebrows rose. This was pretty far-fetched, and even her parents, who usually accepted and ate up all her bullshit, had trouble with it.
"Seamus would never cheat on you," Lenora murmured. "And Fleur could never steal your man."
Brian ran a hand through his hair. "I'm disappointed, Sabine."
"And, I'd like to let you all know that Fleur knew. She overheard Seamus and Sabine talking. Seamus asked her to promise him not to tell anyone, that he'd deal with this his way."
I left that out there for everyone to know that Fleur had known this horrible thing about Sabine and had not revealed it because she'd made a promise to a dead man. That was a spine of steel and platinum-strong integrity.
"She knew?" Lenora's eyes were wide with shock.
Sabine wasn’t shocked. Malone had mentioned that Sabine suspected Fleur knew, and I figured that was why she’d tried so hard to isolate her from her parents.
"Yeah, and she never told me—not even when you were trying to take me from her."
Self-loathing twisted inside me. Fleur was soft, loving, and I had bulldozed right over her feelings. But I’d do better. When she got back from D.C., I’d love her hard every single day, show her how much she meant to me, and make sure she knew I’d never let her down again.
"It appears we owe Fleur an apology." Brian looked at me, remembering the time when he'd almost hit his youngest daughter because he thought she was being selfish and not supporting Sabine.
"What?" Sabine screeched. "I told you she was trying to come between me and Seamus, and this proves it. She knew about the affair, and—"
"Stop, Sabine." Lenora sounded tired and sad. "Just stop it. You've been blaming Fleur for everything for years, and we've done the same. I think it's time for all of us to think about who we are as a family and how we've been behaving."
Sabine looked at me accusatorily. "This is all your fault."
"I wasn't fucking Malone Collins without protection," I smirked. "Now that we're done with this part of the conversation, I want y'all to know that I'm in love with Fleur."
I really, really hoped Fleur would give us a chance to be us again because she made me happy, and I knew I could be a better man who did the same for her.
Sabine rushed to me and slapped me hard. "How dare you?"
"Sabine!" Her father pulled her away from me. She embraced him and began to cry.
"Oh, baby girl, don't cry," Brian comforted his daughter.
I sighed and didn't even bother to rub my cheek.
"I'm done with all of you," I spoke calmly and clearly so they'd understand. "Just like Fleur. Sabine, I can never forgive you and never will. Brian, Lenora, if you both start to treat Fleur with the love and respect she deserves, we could someday become friendly."