Page 45 of Dane

“Your club,” she gasped. “Your fucking club, Dane. I love them so much.”

“Your club too, now, sweetheart.”

She continued to laugh, turning her face into my shoulder. I felt the dampness of her tears through my shirt. Happy tears. Very happy tears.

Brielle’s laughter had just started to ease, her breath still coming in little catches against my shoulder when the door opened, admitting someone. The blast of cool air chilled the immediate area and I turned to see who the newcomer was… and froze.

“Mághnus.”

I felt like I’d been kicked in the balls. The air left my lungs in a whoosh and had Brielle not been standing beside me, I might have fallen on my ass.

“Ma?” What the fuck was she doing here? Why was she here? Brielle pressed closer to me, looking around in confusion until she spotted the woman who’d captured my attention.

“Dane, is that…”

Brielle spoke so softly I barely heard her. But I nodded in answer.

Áine. My mother.

She started walking toward me, Knight leading her with a gentle hand at her elbow. Everyone backed away, going back to quiet conversations to give us privacy. It was just one of the many reasons these people were my family. They knew when to back off and when to stand at your side.

She stopped in front of me. Her eyes were wet, and I saw the fear she didn’t try to hide. She wasn’t afraid of the people in this room. My mother was afraid of me. Or, more aptly, what my reaction to her would be, and I could tell I had the power to devastate her. “I’m so sorry, Mághnus,” she said, her voice catching.

“Ma, what’s going on?” I wasn’t sure I could trust my eyes. My mother was the very last person on earth I expected to see. Not after the way we’d left things.

“Month after they took you,” she said. “I found a lump. The doctors gave me less than a year. Maybe eight months if the treatment didn’t take.” She paused, wringing her hands before clasping them tightly together. “I sat in that visiting room and I looked at you, my boy, and I didn’t want you to watch me get sicker and sicker. And wonder if I missed a week, if I was just having a bad day, or if I’d finally passed.”

“What?”

“I know it was stupid.” She looked down at her hands, looking more than a little ashamed. “I tried to tell myself it was for you, but I think, now, maybe it was for me. I thought a clean, harsh break would make you hate me and possibly give you the push you needed to get through your sentence. I knew you’d worry about me, and I needed you to concentrate on staying alive. That’s all that mattered.”

I finally had to sit before I passed out. Brielle stayed by my side protectively, her hand gripping my shoulder hard.

“I didn’t just get out yesterday,” I said, still in a daze. “When did you find out?”

“Not long after your release. It took me a long time to recover, but when I got word of your release, I’d completed my treatment and the rehab afterward. Travel restrictions to the States made it difficult to get an extended travel visa, especially with…” She trailed off and winced, a fresh wave of tears overflowing. Beside me Brielle sniffled, obviously as affected as I was. I doubt she knew exactly what to think about the situation. I know I sure as fuck didn’t.

“With ties to a felon out on parole,” I finished. My emotions were wild, but more than anything, I felt a bubbling hope I hadn’t realized still lived inside me.

“Knight found her,” Lavender said from somewhere to my left. I hadn’t heard her approach. Her voice was soft. Careful and kind. “Digging into the trouble with your parole officer, he found where the prison had called you. He said for some reason he went digging and saw where you’d applied for a travel visa. He didn’t tell anyone until he knew why she wanted to see you because he knew about your last visit together.”

“After that,” Knight continued, “I had Ethan reach out to Antonio Miles. Tonio pulled some strings and got her visa pushed through. Then he chartered a flight from Ireland the second he could.”

“And I,” Áine said, with something almost like her old dryness, “have been speaking with Lavender every few days since, learning what kind of man my son has become.”

I hadn’t been lying when I told Brielle the disappointment and abandonment from my mother hurt worse than anything in my life ever had. But what I’d done hurt her just as badly. Any anger or resentment I might have felt evaporated in the space of a breath. I stood and pulled my mother into my arms. “You stupid woman,” I said to my mother, my voice thick with emotion. “You stupid, brave, unbearable woman. I’ve missed you, Ma.”

She laughed as she hugged me back. “That’s my boy.”

“You should have told me,” I said into her hair.

“What could you have done, hmm?” She pulled back to look up at me, love shining in her eyes. Love and pride. “Nothing but worry. What good is worry? You needed to focus, so I gave you what you needed to get you through. If I was wrong, and you hate me, I’ll accept the consequences for my actions.”

“Fuckin’ hell, Ma,” I muttered.

Instantly, my mother’s expression hardened. “None of that, young man.”

More than one brother guffawed at that. I couldn’t help myself. I did too. After that, the three of us moved to a quiet corner while the rest of the club continued celebrating, albeit more sedately. Also, they dimmed the lights but left them on.