When A Man Loves A Woman(51)

Tears ran down her face. Her shoulders began to shake. “I told my family about you, Mac. I begged them to bring you to me. They told me you were dead, Mac.”

Dead? The Duvalls had told Callie that he was deceased? And all these years she had believed he was no longer among the living. It was shocking. And it enraged him. He could only pray the Duvall family had been duped as well. To believe anything else would be shattering.

He ran a hand over his face. “I can’t believe that. All this time…we could have been together. It just blows my mind that someone wanted you to believe that you were all alone in the world.”

“Who would do that, Mac? And why?” Callie asked, her green eyes flashing with anger and hurt.

“I don’t know,” he seethed. “But I intend to find out. And God help whoever was behind this!”

**

Delilah watched the reunion   unfold between Mac and Callie as they lovingly reconnected. She couldn’t help but shed a few tears as they bonded and shared memories of their childhood. Callie kept reaching out and pressing her head against Mac’s chest. It seemed as if she was seeking the protection he had always given her as a child. Their sibling relationship was still intact.

“Hey Callie. I’d like you to meet someone very special to me. My girlfriend, Delilah Dalton.”

Girlfriend? Delilah felt a tightening sensation in her chest as the words rolled off Mac’s tongue.

Callie stepped over to where she was standing and enveloped her in a hug. “Oh, it’s so nice to meet you. The two of you make quite a handsome pair.”

“Nice to meet you, Callie. I’m so thrilled that the two of you have found each other. Mac has talked of nothing else for quite some time now.”

Callie couldn’t seem to take her eyes off her brother for long. It was almost as if she was constantly checking to see if he was really here in the flesh. Delilah couldn’t blame her. Twenty years was a long time to miss someone.

The door to the drawing room burst open with a crash. A man with jet black hair with graying at the temples stood in the doorway. He was dressed in a light linen suit the color of oatmeal. His appearance was striking. The expression on his face was surprise mixed with discomfort. Delilah watched as he smoothly tried to cover it up.

“Callie. I didn’t know you were expecting visitors. Who do we have here?”

Callie glared at the man. Her eyes blazed with fury. “This is my brother, Daddy. Mac Donahue. You may know him as Mac Monahan. But something tells me you might already know who he is.”

Callie’s father tried to mask his face, but it was obvious that he knew Mac’s identity.

“Now, Callie, why don’t we go somewhere private and discuss this? It’s a family matter,” he said curtly, his southern accent on full display.

She walked toward him with power in her stride. “Mac is family,” she cried out. My family!”

A shocked gasp rang out in the room. A beautiful woman stood in the doorway leaning heavily on a cane. Her rich auburn hair was similar to Callie’s vibrant hair color. Her hazel eyes were wide and blinking furiously.

“We’re your family, Callie,” she cried out.

Callie’s face crumpled. “Mama of course you are. But Mac..he’s my brother. My biological brother. You told me he was dead. You allowed me to believe that. Why?”

“Lionel,” her mother said, pleading with her husband with her eyes.

He stepped forward and shielded his wife. “Blame me. Hate me. Punish me. But your mother had nothing to do with the deception. We wanted a child. We’d lost our only daughter a few months earlier in a swimming pool accident. Davinia wasn’t progressing any in her grief. We hired an agency to find us a child of a similar age—”

Callie let out a wounded cry. “So I was the replacement child? Is that it?”

Davinia swept in and took Callie by the shoulders. “Never that Callie. On my life it was never that. You filled a hole in us that was gaping like an open wound.”

She shook her head in her father’s direction. “And you were willing to separate me from my brother to fill that hole. Weren’t you?

Lionel’s complexion was ashen. “I’m ashamed to say yes. I learned about Mac before we adopted you.” He looked away from Callie’s scornful gaze. “I couldn’t break your mother’s heart by putting a stop to the adoption. She’d already met you. We’d already fallen in love. So had Luke.”

Luke? Was Luke Callie’s Duvall sibling? She glanced over at Mac. He seemed to barely be holding it all in. His body bristled with rage. She quietly joined him at his side and leaned in to him, wanting more than ever to show her quiet support.