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Joyce O&039;Neal Rafferty lare on her face As Mike stood on the cold side of the welco double shifts on the T, but she couldn&039;t have cared less "I got a telephone call today from my brother Butch You told him about the baptism, didn&039;t you"

Her husband kissed Sean, but didn&039;t try it with her "Come on, honey¡ª"

"This is not your business!"

Mike shut the door "Why do you all hate hi there with you"

As she wheeled away, he said, "He didn&039;t kill your sister, Jo He elve What could he have done?"

She shifted her son in her arms and didn&039;t turn around "This is not about Janie Butch turned his back on the fa to do hat happened"

"Maybe all of you turned your back on hilared over her shoulder "Why are you defending him?"

"He was my friend Before I met and married you, he was my friend"

"Some friend When was the last time you heard froood toheart" She headed for the stairs "I&039;e"

Joyce marched up to the second floor, and when she hit the top landing, she glared at the crucifix that hung on the wall Turning away from the cross, she went into Sean&039;s roo her breast, she brought her son up and he latched on, his hand squeezing the flesh that was next to his face As he fed, his little body ary with health, his lashes down on his rosy cheeks

Joyce took a number of deep breaths

Crap Now she felt bad for yelling And for forsaking the Savior&039;s cross She said a Hail Mary and then tried to cal Sean&039;s perfect toes

God if anything happened to him, she would die, her heart would literally never beat the saain How had her h the loss of a child?

And Odell had lost two, hadn&039;t she First Janie Then Butch Thank God the wo soft The relief fro

Joyce stroked Sean&039;s fine dark hair and realized that her ood-bye to Janie The body had been too ruined to fix up for an open casket and Eddie O&039;Neal, as the father, had done the ID at the ue

God, on that horrible fall afternoon, if only Butch had followed through and run into the house and told a grown-up that Janie had just left maybe they could have saved her Janie hadn&039;t been allowed to get in cars with boys and everyone knew the rules Butch knew the rules If only

Ah, hell Her husband was right The whole family hated Butch No wonder he&039;d taken off and all but disappeared

With a whiffle, Sean&039;s mouth went slack and his little hand eased up But then he jerked awake again and got back with the progra Good Lord, her ood-bye with Butch, either, was she? Her lucid moments were so few and far between Even if Butch showed up at the church this Sunday, she nize hi up the stairs, his footfalls slow

"Mike?" she called out

The man she loved and had ed belly, and he was losing the hair at the crown of his head even though he was only thirty-seven But as she stared at hih school jock The friend of her older brother Butch The hotshot football player that she&039;d had a crush on for years

"Yeah?" he said

"I&039; so pissed off"

He sh stuff I understand"

"And you&039;re right Butch probably should have been invited I just¡ªI want the day of the baptisinning and I don&039;t want any shadows Butch he carries that shadow around and everyone would get tense, and with Mother being so sick, I don&039;t want to deal"

"Did he say he was coht about the conversation Funny, he&039;d sounded the saest voice, so husky and hoarse Like either his throat was defor "He said he was happy for us Thanked you for the call Said he hoped Molanced down at Sean, who had ain "Butch doesn&039;t know your inning, when Odell had just been forgetful, Joyce and her sister had decided to wait until they kneas wrong to tell Butch But that had been two years ago, hadn&039;t it And they kneas wrong, didn&039;t they Alzheier Mother was going to be around The disease was progressing relentlessly

"I am a thief not to tell Butch," she said softly "Aren&039;t I"

"I love you," Mike murmured

Her eyes watered as she looked from her son&039;s face up to his father&039;s Michael Rafferty was a good h Jackland powerful But he was hers and he was Sean&039;s and that wasconversations like this "I love you, too," she said

Vishous materialized behind ZeroSum and walked down the alley to the front of the club When he saw the Escalade curbed on Tenth Street, he was relieved Phury had said Butch had split from the uy

V went into the club and headed straight for the VIP section But he didn&039;t make it

That female head of security stepped in front of hiave her a quick onceover, he wondered what it would be like to tie her up She&039;d probably leave scars in the process, and wouldn&039;t that be a fun way to kill an hour or two

"Your boy needs to leave," she said

"He at our table?"

"Yeah, and you better get hie?"

"None yet" They both took off for the VIP area "But I don&039;t want things to get that far, and we&039;re right on the edge"

As they weeded in and out of the crowd, V glanced at those ht about the job she had in the club Hard-core for anyone, but especially a feet off cracking males?" he said