Her speech barely finished when the pressure on Daniel’s back vanished. A few pairs of hands pulled at his clothing and then he was propped up against something hard. Head pounding and blood stinging his eyes, he concentrated on trying to breathe without that sharp ache from what he could only assume was a broken rib.
“I want everyone in here to take a good look at what you’ve done here,” Amelia continued. “And I’ll be taking all of your names, with identification, on this sheet of paper. Do it now.”
Shuffling feet sounded in the room. If anyone could get people to do things they really did not want to do, Amelia was the girl for the job. He had to smile through his haze of pain at that. God, what an amazing girl.
“Daniel? Is that you?” The voice, belonging to a female, was oddly familiar to him, but it hadn’t come from Amelia.
“’Tis,” he answered, trying to wipe the blood from his eyes to see. “Who’s that then?”
“Roisin Delaney,” the voice replied while someone gently dabbed his face. “There, that should be better then, hmm?”
It was, and he opened his eyes to the smiling face of his childhood sweetheart. The same sweetheart who flung foul and terrible words his way over the telephone when he tried to explain what happened all those years ago. What the hell did she want from him now?
“You’ve grown into a fine looking man, Daniel Byrne.” Roisin smiled, tucking a strand of glossy red hair behind her ear. “Of course, we’ll have to get these cuts seen to before I can make a proper assessment!”
There she sat, laughing in the same musical way she used to, the same way that drew him in when he was a young lad, and all he wanted was for her to leave him alone. Now that he had his vision back, Daniel swept his eyes around until they landed on Amelia. She offered a sad smile before turning her attention back to the list, making sure she got those names.
Now there was a real woman, someone who cared, who gave her trust and friendship without any strings attached.
“Daniel, are you listening to me?”
“Leave off.” He pushed Roisin’s hand away from his face. That must be the reason for Amelia’s tense and guarded expression. If she chewed on the inside of that cheek any more, she’d bite a hole right through it.
“What d’you mean, ‘leave off’? I’m telling you that I want to give us another chance, Daniel!”
“And why all of a sudden? I’ve not heard hide nor hair from you since that phone call fourteen years past, where you told me how much you wished I’d just die already. So why do you want to give us another chance? Hmm? I’m listening.” If he could’ve crossed his arms, he would have. One of them might be broken.
When she stared at him, open mouthed, Daniel had his answer. “Ah, I see. So you’re thinking that, if Amelia can prove my innocence, the government might feel obligated to pay me a nice tidy sum of money for falsely accusing me and sending me off to prison for a quarter of a century. And then what? You want some of it? I’ll tell you what, Roisin. If they do offer me anything, I’ll send it to you just so you’ll keep away from me. I want nothing at all to do with you, have you got that?”
Christ it hurt to breathe, to talk, but he had to get that out. The fire in her eyes proved that he’d gotten it right. She wanted some money, same as all women. But not Amelia. His mind replayed every missed opportunity on their trip, every chance he’d had and not taken to say how he was beginning to feel. How he felt now. What truly resided in his heart for her.
The truth of it all, Daniel had, in twenty days, fallen in love with Amelia. Even though he realised that he hardly knew that much about her life, such as what she did for a living. She had money, but he didn’t know where it came from, what she did for a living or how long she planned on being in Ireland for. That was the hardest pill to swallow. Eventually, she would have to leave, to go back to Canada.
She’d leave and take his heart with her. That agonizing thought hurt more than his body at the moment. And in that moment, his eyes drifted shut and the world turned dark and silent. And then, he was alone.
Amelia had called for police and ambulance as soon as she saw the gun pulled. Just in case. And where did that guy even get a gun? To her knowledge firearms weren’t given to police in Ireland. Aside from that, she knew little about their gun laws, so how did the Gardaí have a gun and where did he get the weapon from?
Then she tried not to watch Daniel with the woman crouched down next to him. She wanted to be the one comforting him. Holding him. Loving him.
The other woman was beautiful. Older, too. She looked closer to Daniel’s age. What gouged a hole in her chest was how familiar they seemed. He must have known her from before. Maybe they were even dating when it happened.