“Problem is, she was already my family. Part of my heart. And I was part of hers,” Mac said, his words rippling through the drawing room. “And clearly you didn’t care one bit. You just wanted to bury me six feet under and throw dirt on my grave.”
Callie began to sob. She twisted away from her mother’s grip and ran to Mac’s side. She buried her face against his chest. “I’ll never forgive you. Not ever!”
Delilah watched as Mac wrapped his arms around Callie. Big brother. Protector. Together at last. Suddenly, within a matter of minutes Mac’s life had gotten much more complicated. Judging by the drama unfolding before their very eyes, the Duvall family was now fractured. Perhaps permanently. How could a person forgive such a grand deception? Callie would need Mac more than ever now. Her heart rejoiced at the notion that despite this turmoil the two would grow ever closer. And hopefully their sibling bond would be fully restored.
Things were moving and shifting so fast for Mac and Callie. She couldn’t help but wonder if there was still room for her in Mac’s ever-changing world. Perhaps guarding her heart had been a good idea after all.
**
Things were moving so quickly in his restored relationship with Callie. By day’s end Callie had left Duvall house with a few bags and headed to Belle Reve with them. She vowed not to return home until she could sort out her feelings about her adoption and her father’s deception. All Mac could do was be supportive. It was up to Callie to decide where she wanted to go from here. And if she could move toward forgiveness. At this point Callie was facing the grim reality that her life had been based on a huge lie.
That night after they ordered in some dinner for the three of them, Delilah retired to her room after complaining of a headache. For a moment he had been worried about her being a little on the quiet side, but she had reassured him that it was nothing more than a migraine.
He and Callie stayed up until the wee hours of the night reminiscing about the good moments from their childhood and the memories that they would hold on to for a lifetime. Despite their fractured family and the rampant abuse, there still had been precious moments shared between them. Love. Affection. Mischief. Adoration. And above all, an unbreakable bond.
“And Mama. What happened to her? Did you ever see her again?” Callie asked. “Were they ever brought up on charges?”
Mac didn’t know how to deliver such awful news to Callie about their mother’s death, but he knew he had to give it to her straight. After all the lies she’d been told in her lifetime, she deserved it.
He steepled his fingers in front of him. “Callie, this isn’t easy to say, but Frank killed her before killing himself. It was a murder-suicide. This happened weeks after we left the house the night you disappeared.”
Callie let out a shocked squeal. “Oh, that’s terrible!” She clapped her hand over her mouth. Tears ran down her face. “I-I’m going to be praying for the mother we knew before she got messed up with Frank. The one who wiped our tears, made our lunches and tucked us in to bed at night.” She shook her head fiercely. “In the end she was no longer that woman. She was just Frank’s puppet.”
“Did he ever…hurt you in other ways?” Mac asked, gently probing.
At first Callie didn’t seem to understand his question. He hated to ask it, but as he grew older he had always wonder if Frank had tried to touch Callie in an appropriate way.
Callie’s eyes widened. “No! Never. Thankfully, he never tried anything like that. His abuse was verbal and with that leather belt he always had in his hand. You spared me from anything more brutal. I can never thank you enough for that, Mac. You saved me over and over again.”
“That’s what big brothers do. What I’ll continue to do if you ever need me to step in. I’m your big brother for life, Callie.”
She smiled at him—a big goofy grin that reminded him of a five year old version of herself.
“You’re not going anywhere, Mac. From this moment forward we are going to be in each other’s lives. For always. I’m going to be a permanent fixture in Cape Cod, and I expect Savannah to be your favorite city from now on.”
Callie’s bossiness made him laugh. Some things truly never changed. She had retained the essence of who she had always been. A firecracker. His baby sister.
“So, what about Delilah? What’s brewing between the two of you?” Callie asked with a pretty smile that lit up her whole face. Call him biased, but his baby sister was a stunning woman.
“Delilah is…everything I’ve ever hoped for in a woman. She’s amazing,” he gushed. He looked down for a moment. “I don’t know how she feels about me. We haven’t really reached that point yet. I want to tell her how I feel, but I don’t know if it’s too soon.”