Saving a Legend(87)

“Yeah.” Dee sighed, and cradled his face in her hands. “I’m just so glad you’re home, son.”



“Me, too, Ma.”

Letting go, she stepped back. “I’ll go get Fiona. She’s with Shea.”

“I can get her,” he said, but Dee shook her head.

“Probably best you talk to her alone first, not with Shea there. The last month’s been really hard on the little girl, and on all of us. Kids are impressionable, son. If you’re going to be in her life, you need to keep in mind that you’re going to be a father figure to that little girl. She can’t be seeing all the nitty-gritty stuff. And someone like Shea? She needs you there; she needs her people there for her always, you know?”

Kieran didn’t say anything, absorbing the idea of being a father. He hadn’t thought of a future with Fiona and Shea in quite those terms before, and doing so now was equal parts terrifying and exhilarating.

As he waited for his mother to return with Fiona, he walked out onto the back porch of his parents’ house. The weather was warming up—summer wasn’t far off, and the breeze made the yard the perfect place to relax. He leaned against the railing, looking out onto the Van Cortlandt Park trees and pond.

“You’re back.” He turned to find Fiona standing a few feet behind him, her arms crossed over her chest. She looked tough but shaky, as if her confidence was just a facade.

They stared at each other for a moment, neither saying anything. He just wanted to take it all in, how beautiful she looked, and how desperately he had missed her. How badly he wanted to kiss her and make her understand with just his lips exactly how much she meant to him.

“Kieran,” she said slowly, as if she couldn’t figure out where to begin.



“Let me start, Fi.” He closed the distance between them and took her hands in his, pulling her to him.

She seemed to melt forward, like she couldn’t stop herself from wanting to be closer to him. Every part of him wanted to give in to that, to wrap himself around her, run his hands over her curvy hips and flat stomach, right up to her supple breasts. He wanted to possess her as he once had, experience sinking into her again.

He wanted everything, but he waited. He needed to tell her everything first. “Fi, I can’t possibly express how sorry I am. I want to explain—”

“You don’t have to. I’ve already heard the story from your family, and Nora.”

He looked at her steadily. “I’d like to explain it anyway.”

She said nothing, simply nodded her head.

“I should have told you about this from day one,” he admitted. “I tried to a few times, but I never was able to find the right words, or the right moment. Those are really just excuses, though, because the truth is, I was afraid of what you’d say. Of scaring you away before I ever had the chance to get to know you. Then once I did get to know you, I was afraid of losing you.”

“Did you really think I’d leave you because of this? Kieran, I…I really care about you.”

Kieran paused and nodded his head. “I did. If I had mentioned this at the flower shop, or when we went skating, or any of the times we were together at that point…I didn’t think you would have given me a chance. And I knew I wanted that chance with you.”



“Kieran, I understand mistakes,” she said as a guilty look crossed her face. “I can even understand why you were nervous to tell me.”

“I shouldn’t have been,” he added, knowing now that honesty from day one might have been a much better course of action.

“I wish you had been. I told you how important honesty was to me, especially with Shea in my life. I told you how apprehensive I was about dating in general, because I needed to focus on her. But I trusted you…”

“And I broke your trust.” He sighed heavily. “It’s all my fault, Fi. I’m so sorry.”

Fiona shook her head. “It’s not all your fault; we should have talked about our pasts sooner. The truth is, you might be right. When we first met—hell, even still today—I was scared of getting involved with anyone. If you’d been honest about your past back then, I’m not sure I would have given you a chance. I was looking for any excuse to keep the world out. I should have—”

“There’s nothing you did wrong, Fi,” Kieran interrupted her, not wanting her to think for a second that any of this was her fault. “This is all on me. I got so caught up in being with you, in loving the way you looked at me, that I couldn’t bear the thought of that changing. My family was so ashamed when I was convicted. Everything is laced with disappointment in my life. When my family saw us together, saw how amazing you were, they started to see me the same way you saw me. They began to respect me again, to be proud of me. Because of you, Fi.”