Page 41 of Intolerable Bishop

I hated it when Devin came home. It was as if he saved up all his anger and meanness to torture me over the summer. Tonight had been exceptionally bad. Ma heard me screaming from the barn as he scraped the pitchfork down my back.

“Owen, we cannie let this continue. We have to turn him in to the police,” Ma said and then cried out as Da smacked her across the face. I’d already been ordered to stay in my seat, but I jumped up and ran to her.

“Look at this, ya have made Myles weak,” Da growled and grabbed me by the scruff of my sweater and dragged me away. He tossed me into the wooden chair, and I sucked in a sharp breath as the cuts from Devin stung. Da gripped my jaw, and I screamed as he squeezed so hard I thought he was going to break the bone.

“Let him go, Owen! Now,” Ma yelled and pulled Da away by his arm.

“Don’t touch me, woman,” he said, yanking his arm away. Filip began to wail in this carrier. Ma looked at my baby brother and then me. “Shut him up!”

Ma rushed to Filip and picked him up, trying to console him.

“See ya make all the men in this house weak, but not Devin. He is the only one with any backbone,” Da said.

“Does that include you,” Ma said, her eyes angrier than I’d ever seen them. I’d never heard Ma talk back to Da before.

“What did ya just say to me?”

“Ya heard me. If anyone in this house has no backbone, it’s you. Owen McCoy. Lettin’ yer bastard son live here and torture yer other sons. Disgraceful. Yer legitimate sons should be the ones yer standin’ up fir. Devin belongs in a cage. He has the devil in him, and ya know it. He almost killed Myles today. Ya say yer a man, but yer pathetic.”

I covered my mouth as Ma spit on my Da’s shirt. He growled and pulled a gun from the back of his pants. I yelled as he put it to Ma’s head.

“Don’t ya ever say that to me again, woman, or it will be the last thing ya say,” he snarled, sounding like an animal.

“Ya can kill me all ya want, Owen, but the blood tests dinnie lie, and I made sure that they are in a safe spot. One ya cannie be gettin’ to. So do it or no, but I’ll not allow that monster to hurt me boys, anymore.”

“Da stormed out. He was as mad as I’d ever seen him.” I held onto Ren’s hand like it was the only thing solid in this world holding me together, and maybe she was.

“What happened,” she asked, snuggling closer to my side.

“She told me that if somethin’ ever happened to her that I was to protect Lip and that I should run to the police station. She said that they would take care of things. I didn’t know what that meant. It was also the last conversation I had with her.” Looking down at the present Ren gave me, she couldn’t have known how much this meant to me, and yet, she somehow knew that I needed this. “He pulled me from bed before the sun was up and had me go out to the barn with him. He said that she had an accident and fell, but I knew he killed her. He had her wrapped in a sheet and made me help dig her grave. She died standing up to him for me.” I shook my head. “I’ll never forgive myself. If I’d just not screamed…if….”

Ren grabbed me and hugged my head to her chest as she kissed the top of my head. Years of tears that I’d never allowed myself to shed over the loss tore free from my throat.

“Don’t say that. Your mum knew what a monster your father was and was brave to stand up to him. She did what any mother would do and protected her children. Don’t blame yourself. She’d never want that.”

Closing my eyes, I gripped her as hard as I dared. Snowflake was the life preserver in my soul, and as long as I didn’t let go, then I wouldn’t sink.

I slowly sat up, my lips touching Ren’s softly, and my salty tears mingled with the kiss.

“I went to the police like Ma told me to, and I don’t know what she’d set up, but Da left for the U.S. the next day. Lip and I went to live with my grandparents until I left for the States. That’s when Da insisted that Lip go to Golden Oak Prep while I was at Wayward. Ya know, it’s funny, I never slept through the night until I arrived at school. I’d heard the legends of what happened to those who tried to attack students on property. I secretly wished that Devin or my da would try.”

I wiped away the tears that were trickling down Ren’s cheeks. “I love ya, Snowflake, more than words could ever say. Thank you for this. I love it.”

She smiled and hugged me again. “I love you too, Myles, and I hope you like dark chocolate and strawberry cake because I made one of those as well.”

I would not let my father turn another person I loved into a ghost to torment my soul. He was never touching a single hair on her head.

JUNE 4 – SUNDAY 2:33 AM

Ren

“Ugh!” I tossed the sponge down in the tub and ripped the rubber gloves off in frustration.

“Ren, I say this knowing I’m taking my life in my hands, but you need to calm down,” Blake said as I stormed out of the bathroom. I shot him a glare.

“How am I supposed to calm down? My aunt has been lying to me for years and is refusing to tell me the truth,” I said, grabbing the mirror cleaner and a rag before stomping back into the bathroom. “And I still don’t know how she fits into all of this. Did she come to Canada with my mum? Had she left a long time ago? Is she still in danger? I hate this.”

Nadia had been dodging my calls and making up excuses all week for why she couldn’t see me, so I showed up at her door. I hadn’t wanted to believe that my aunt could be lying when Theo said it, but now I knew, and my blood was boiling.