Why Not Tonight (Happily Inc. #3)(74)
“Why?” Ronan kept his voice quiet. “Tell me why I should let it go. Because it doesn’t matter? Let’s see—I don’t know who my mother is. I don’t know anything about her side of the family. The woman I thought of as my mother lied to me every single one of those days she was taking care of me. I can see keeping it quiet while I was a kid, but what about when I was older? Didn’t I have the right to know?”
His brothers looked at each other.
“If you’re looking for an asshole in all this,” Nick said, “blame Ceallach. He’s the one who had the affair.”
“Believe me, I’m not letting him off the hook.” Ronan tightened his hands into fists, then consciously relaxed. “But so what? He’ll always be a jerk. None of us cares about him. You’re asking me to say what Elaine did is okay. You’re asking me to just let it go. I’m not going to do that.”
“What does that mean?” Aidan glared at him. “You’re never going to speak to her again? That’s the thanks she gets for taking you in and loving you?”
Ronan turned away only to see one of the volunteers approaching. She waved a clipboard.
“Gentlemen, you’re up.”
Ronan thought about getting in his truck and driving away. Instead he joined his brothers on the edge of the now-crumbling bank.
Nick and Aidan were in front, with Ronan in the middle and Mathias and Del behind. They all grabbed the rope.
“This isn’t over,” Mathias said loudly. “When we’re done here, you and I are going to have this out. How come I never saw until this second our father isn’t the only dick in the family? Who’d have guessed it? Ronan, you’re just as bad as him.”
Of all the things his former twin could have said, that was the worst.
“You don’t know,” Ronan started, his teeth clenched. “You have no idea.”
“Fight later, focus now,” Del yelled as the rope tightened.
But Mathias wasn’t giving up. “Boo hoo. Poor you. Taken in by a good woman and loved as a child. How awful. You need a service dog to help you with that incredible emotional wound?”
“Asshole,” Ronan muttered, pulling.
“Say that to my face. Stand up to me. Oh, wait. No. You’re going to walk away. It’s what you always do. Why bother fighting for something when it’s just so easy to give up?”
Rage exploded. Without thinking, Ronan turned to give Mathias exactly what he was asking for. Mathias must have read his mind because his twin also let go of the rope and started for him.
“No!” Nick yelled, but it was too late. One savage tug on the rope later, all five of them were tumbling into the gully.
The mud might not be very deep but it was wet and cold and humiliating. The other team, all women, stood staring at them. Then they burst into laughter.
“I thought they’d be a lot harder to take,” one of the women said as they began to high-five each other.
“We need to work on our communication skills,” Nick muttered as he climbed out of the gully. “All of us.”
Ronan and Mathias stood and glared at each other, and then Ronan stalked off. He didn’t need any of this. Not anymore.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
ELLEN AND BARRY’S movie-based wedding also had the same theme for their rehearsal dinner and the party that followed. With Pallas still taking things easy so she would be rested for the wedding on Saturday afternoon, Natalie had offered to help the ever-efficient Renee get things organized for the party Friday night. She was slightly overwhelmed by the number of details that went into the evening, but as she wasn’t in charge, she simply did what she was told.
She’d already started on the large flowers she was making for the “Atsuko project” and was also playing with her burned piece in addition to working, so she should have felt as if she were running flat out all the time. Instead she was grateful to be busy, grateful not to have time to think. In truth, she was mostly consumed by whatever was going on with Ronan.
Something had changed. In the past week, he’d worked from home more than he’d been in the studio. The few times she’d seen him, he’d claimed that he was in the home stretch of his commission and needed to get as much done as he could. He’d said all the right things, but she didn’t believe him.
She knew he and his brothers had fought the previous weekend. While she hadn’t heard all that had been said, she’d been able to read the body language and knew that whatever they’d been arguing about had been the reason they’d lost. She’d watched Ronan drive away, his pain obvious with every breath.
Over the past few days, she’d talked to Mathias and Nick and had pieced together what had happened. As far as she could tell, Ronan was once again dealing with his past and everything he didn’t know about himself.
She wasn’t sure how sympathetic she was willing to be with him. On the one hand, he had been dealt a hard blow. On the other hand, really? Really? Wasn’t it time to either find out what he could or start to deal? Did he plan to spend the rest of his life moping?
She wasn’t sure if thinking that made her a bad girlfriend or not. She also wasn’t sure how much she could understand about his situation and his feelings. She tried to imagine what it would be like if she’d found her mother wasn’t her mother—that she’d lied to her all her life. She would be devastated to think all that love and caring and support had been shielding a lie. So maybe accusing him of moping was a bit harsh.