Page 61 of Celtic Dragon
“Take it easy, man. We’re on our way home,” I tell him.
“Ari?”
Before I can answer, Ari chimes in, “I’m right here, babe.” Pushing her way past me so she can get to him, she repeats, “I’m right here.”
He smiles and closes his eyes again. I look over at Doc. “You got anything you can give him to make him more comfortable?”
“I think so. Ari, do you know where our bags are?”
“Yeah, Emma had Damon and Patrick put them in the back of the plane.”Damon and Patrick, where the fuck are they?
Doc gets up and heads toward the back. A few minutes later he comes back with a bottle of water and a couple of pills. “What’s that?” Ari asks.
“Something to help him with the pain and something to coagulate his blood and keep the bleeding to a minimum. He’ll sleep most of the flight.” She nods and plops herself down into the chair next to him. I can tell that she’s not planning to leave that seat until we land.
Now that Rebel is situated, I take the seat next to Emma and buckle in. The plane begins to move and before I know it we’ve taken off.Finally, we are on our way home.
“Where are we going?” Connor asks. It’s the first opportunity that we’ve had to speak to each other.
“We’re taking you to the US.” He nods silently. He knows that he and his wife are fugitives now. He knows without asking that there isn’t another way and what we’re doing is the only chance for them to survive. “I’ve arranged for new identities for you both,” I add.
“Thank you. Really, Caden, we are so grateful for this,” Conner says.
“No thanks necessary. You’re family. It’s what we do.”
“I know, but you don’t know us. I’m guessing you just recently found out that we are related. There was nothing, no ties other than blood, that would convince you to help us.”
“That’s where you are wrong,” I say. “Rebel was the tie. Rebel is the reason you are not waiting to be executed.”
“You saved our lives,” Conner says. “That just doesn’t go without some type of thanks.”
I nod, but before I can respond, Aillise says, “You look like your da. I can’t tell you how long I’ve waited to meet you, Caden. Ace loved you very much. He loved your mother too.” She pauses and then adds, “He truly believed he did the right thing by not raising you.”
“He may have thought it was the right thing, but I’m still trying to process that.” I don’t want to be rude to her, but I’m still dealing with all the shit I learned about Ace and my fucked up psycho brothers.
“He thought he was giving you a better life. A life without violence,” she says defensively.
“And you call what happened tonight violence-free?” I reply. When she doesn’t say anything, I continue, “You see, I believe he could’ve saved us all from a lot of heartache. You say he loved my mother, but what about how much my mother loved him? I always knew that Tyler Jackson was not the man for her. I knew he was not her soul mate and the only good thing that resulted from that marriage is right over there with your son.” I point at Ari, who’s now holding Rebel’s hand.
She looks at me in shock, clearly not expecting my anger. Hell, I didn’t expect to be this angry either, but something inside me snapped when she said how much Ace loved me.
I continue, “The man that raised me continually made me feel like I was worthless and I never knew why. He always made remarks that I would never amount to anything and referred to ‘my kind’ on numerous occasions. Growing up, I had no idea what he was talking about and sometimes I believed what he said. And then he died and I was forced to make a life for my sister and myself. So, I land on Ace’s front door, having no clue who he was to me. It was the perfect opportunity for him to tell me and what does he do? He doesn’t say a fucking word.”
“But Caden …” she interrupts and I hold up my hand. For some reason, she doesn’t push and lets me go on.
“Now don’t get me wrong, I idolized the man. He was, in the short time I spent with him, more of a father to me than Tyler Jackson ever was. And, with the help of your son, I’ve avenged his death. But it really pisses me off that so much heartache could have been avoided if he had just acted on his love for my mom and me. ‘Cause as you can see, no matter what he did to try to keep me away from the club that he thought would ruin my life, I still ended up exactly where I belong.”
Emma, who is sitting next to me, grabs my hand and holds it. Aillise says, “I’m sorry, Caden, truly I am. I just wanted you to know that your father loved you the only way he knew how.”
“I know.” I turn toward Emma. “What happened to Damon and Patrick?”
“They left.”
“They left? They didn’t even want to see their parents?”
“I guess not. We had only been at the airfield a half hour when they abruptly said they had something to take of and that they had to leave.”
“That’s fucked up,” I say. I look over at Connor and Aillise and ask, “Any reason why Damon and Patrick wouldn’t want to see you?”
