Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
ANDIE
“The poor delivery guy thought he was being punked.”
Rafe snickers.
The guy who brought our food thought he was lost when he drove up to a field and not a house. If I knew that was where Rafe and Liam were taking me, I would’ve made Mickey find a fast-food joint to stop at.
“The yam fries were good,” Keane says.
“Sweet potato,” Liam corrects.
“That’s what I said.”
“Yams and sweet potatoes are not the same.”
“Yes, they are.”
“Seriously?” I ask, needing the elevator ride to be over with before I pull my hair out.
Jax flips his phone around, showing an infographic from online. “Liam is right.”
Keane grabs the phone. “Then why the hell does the grocery store say they’re yams?”
“Why does America still use feet instead of meters, or Fahrenheit instead of Celsius?” Liam quips.
Rafe looks at Keane quizzically. “When in the hell have you ever bought a yam, let alone stepped foot in a grocery store?”
Oh, my God . I mash the button for my floor in rapid succession, willing the elevator doors to open.
Jax pushes me back against the wall.
“What are you doing?” I ask, even though I’m already climbing him.
“Distracting you.” He states the obvious, right before his lips meet mine just as the elevator dings and the doors whoosh open.
I cling to him, not breaking our kiss, as he hefts me up and carries me out of the lift.
I briefly register that no one is standing guard, but I’ll deal with that later.
“Bedroom,” I whisper against his mouth, just as a small, familiar voice asks, “Why is Auntie Andie kissing Unkie Jax?”
Jax freezes in place. I go rigid. Keane and Liam looked stunned.
“ Mariposita! ”
Sarah squeals and runs over to jump into Rafe’s outstretched arms.
And then my eyes slide past Pearson and land on the man sitting on the couch ten feet away from me.
“Dad?”
“Shoot! I’m so sorry,” I yelp, when I walk in on Pearson and Declan in a lip lock. “Your door was open, and I wanted to check on you before I turned in, and… shit.” I quickly turn on my heel to leave.
“Get back here,” Declan says with a chuckle. When I come back into the room, he pats the bedcovers. “Come. Sit with me.”
I glance at Pearson. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I can come back.”
Declan pats the bed again. “Stay, sweetheart.”
Pearson nudges me forward when he passes by to leave. “Mike just left. I’ll be back with his pain meds,” he says, and it only serves to remind me that Declan was shot. Four times.
I nod and look over at my father. The stubborn man. He looks frailer. Thinner. But he’s alive. And he’s here. Back home. I’ve missed him.
The flight from Boston took a toll on him. He had Cillian bring Sarah from Ireland once Pearson informed him Julio and Alejandro were dead.
I still can’t believe he and Sarah are here .
Padding barefoot over to the bed, I carefully slide in next to him. He opens an arm for me, and I snuggle in, resting my head on his good shoulder.
“We’re quite the pair,” he says.
Declan was livid when he saw the new bruises I’d acquired. He wasn’t pleased about the back tattoo either.
“Do you need anything?”
“Just some alone time with my daughter,” he replies.
My daughter.
“Thank you for bringing Sarah.”
He kisses the top of my head. “My pleasure. I’m proud of you, Andie.”
I’m not a crier, but tears gather as his words slam right into my heart. My whole life, I never received praise from Cecelia or Max. Hearing it from my real father is overwhelming, in the best way.
He lifts my right hand, inspecting the names inked on my fingers. “I think it’s time we had that talk now.”
I feel like a teenager who just got caught sneaking back into the house after midnight on a school night.
“I love them,” I blurt. Fuck me. Shut up, Andie .
“I know.”
What?
“You do?”
He kisses the tips of my fingers and places my hand in my lap. “A father knows these things.”
“You don’t hate me or think it’s wrong?” Or think I’m a slut? But I don’t voice that out loud.
He tips my chin up. “Loving someone is never wrong, Andie.”
He taps Keane’s mother’s rings. I had to transfer them over to the middle finger of my left hand. It’s a tight fit, but nothing I can do about it. My ring finger on my left hand is broken, and four of my fingers on my right are freshly inked.
“Which one is the lucky man?”
Oh, dear lord. “All of them.”
His sharp bark of laughter echoes in the room. “That’s going to be an interesting wedding ceremony.”
“Uhh…”
Taking pity on me, he says, “I think we’ll postpone the rest of this conversation for the morning, after I have a talk with my future sons-in-law.”
I’m going to make sure to wake up nice and early and take Sarah out to the park.
Sliding his family crest off my thumb, I hold it out to him. With him back, it’s time for me to step down.
“Thank you for trusting me with this.”
He covers my hand and gently pushes it back. “Keep it. It belongs to the head of the family.”
Brows furrowed, not understanding, I reply, “Exactly. That’s you.”
With a small shake of his head and a soft smile, he looks me dead in the eyes and says, “No, Andie. You’re the future of this family. If you want it,” he quietly adds.
Do I want it?
“Can I think about it?”
He kisses me on the forehead. “Take as long as you need. I love you, my sweet, precious girl. No matter your choice, I’ll always love you. Your happiness is my first priority. Not this job, or the money, or the power. You are what matters most.”
He couldn’t have said anything more perfect.
“I love you, too, Dad.”
He breathes in deeply and smiles broadly, as I slide the ring back onto my thumb.
“That means everything to me, Andie.”
We lie in silence for a minute and enjoy the peace of being reunited. I try to memorize this moment and how it feels. It feels pretty fucking good. I came home with a singular goal in mind: avenge Kellan’s death. I never expected to find love and family along the way.
Stirring slightly, I sit up and face Declan. “I’d like to talk to you about something.”
“Is it about Mexico and how you slit that bastard’s throat open? Now that’s a story I’d love to hear over and over.”
His smile drops when I don’t return it.
“I found out something about Kellan.”
Declan’s blond brow hikes in interest, then dips when he sees the intensity on my face. “You know about the deal he made with me?”
I nod slowly. “I do.”
He rubs his thumb across his mouth in contemplation. Declan could lie or try to evade, but instead says, “Do you have any questions about it?”
I nod again. “Not about that, but about something else.”
My father joins our hands together between us, his warmth seeping into me and giving me strength.
“Kellan kept a journal. A coded journal that Keane and I found. There was a lot of… stuff in it. Bad stuff.”
Declan’s grip tightens but his expression remains impassive. “Anything you’d like to talk about?”
“No… yes. It’s going to be difficult to say. It was difficult to hear when Rafe read it to me.” I don’t go into detail about how the guys knew Kellan’s code or that Keane and Jax tried to keep it from me.
“Whenever you’re ready. If that time is never, that’s alright too.”
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to his unconditional support. His trust. Two things I wanted so badly my entire life that Declan now gives to me so easily.
Just to confirm what Kellan wrote, I ask, “He never told you that I was your daughter, did he?”
Declan’s entire demeanor transforms before my eyes. He is the ruthless king of an empire and wears it well.
“No. Fecking hell, Andie, I wish he did tell me. I would have come for you sooner and taken immense pleasure in gutting that lowlife son of a bitch,” he vehemently states about Max.
“Kellan knew.”
Declan’s heated violet gaze snaps to mine. “What do you mean, he knew?”
“He knew I was yours. That’s why he never told you. He didn’t want you to take me away from him.”
“Tell me everything,” Declan declares.
He’s not going to like hearing it. Hell, I don’t even want to repeat a lot of it. But I do because both Declan and I need closure. To acknowledge it, then lock it away where it belongs, never to see the light of day again. I’m not going to live in the past any longer. For the first time, I’m looking forward to the future.