Page 64 of Sins of Innocence

After I had to move in with my stepfather and mom, I heard that word a lot. From him, the other Albanian Boys and their kids. I'll be damned if I allow my new daughter to go through the same thing.

She's sweet. Vulnerable.

I was neither.

"Do you know what a bastard is?" I ask her.

"I thought it was a mean guy and told them I'm not mean, but Lily told me it means I don't have a daddy." Neeve's lower lip trembles and she ducks her head. "I don't have one. My daddy died."

What the actual fuck? There's no way Áine is the only single mother with children at St. Patrick's Elementary.

"Who's Lily?"

"She's my friend. She tripped Owen Casey in gym class after he said it." Neeve lifts her head again, her little face filled with satisfaction.

"Did she get in trouble?" I ask, filing Owen Casey's name away for later.

One of the boys that attacked Sadie was a Casey. It's a common enough name in New York, but I don't trust coincidences.

"No. She learned how to trip kids by accident on purpose in soccer." Neeve sounds proud of her friend.

I put the last hot cocoa in the microwave for Sadie and then sit across from Neeve at the table. "Good skill to have."

I'm surprised Joy hasn't returned yet for her honey bun.

"Do you know how to do it?" Neeve asks.

"I do." Accidental physical encounters play their role in covert ops.

"Would you teach me?" She pauses, sucking her lips in. "Mom might not like it. Lily's mom got real mad at her brother for teaching her, but I'm glad he did."

"Does her brother play on her soccer team too?" I take a sip of my black coffee and wince. Should have heated it in the microwave while I was at it.

Neeve shakes her head, a look of hero worship coming over her quiet features. "He's the coach."

"Must be a lot older than Lily then." If he's the team's coach.

"He's twenty," Neeve says with awe. Like achieving that age is a major milestone on its own.

I'll have to look into Lily's brother if my daughter admires him this much. "What's Lily's last name?"

"Kennedy," Neeve says. "So, will you teach me?"

"Yes." A girl needs to be able to defend herself.

All the girls, including Áine, will be taking lessons in self-defense.

But the first lesson I'm going to give my daughter is one in vocabulary. "Bastard can mean illegitimate."

"Fake?" Neeve asks, her nose squinching in her little face.

"No. It means the person's parents weren't married."

"But my mom and dad were married." Neeve frowns.

"They were. Him being dead now doesn't change that."

"Then why do the kids call me that?"