page58 (1/2)

“Dad—”

“No, it’s true I’m your father, and it’syou from your own mother The friction between you tas a sore spot in our e for years”

“I’m sorry”

“Not your fault Your mother is a piece of work” He exhaled heavily “She set out to make Dillon hers when she was born She wanted that bond with Dillon that I had with you She blames you for Dillon’s death, and that’s not because it is true, and God, dahlin’, you need to get that out of your head Your little sister loved you I know she was angry in the end but that little girl hero-worshipped you If she’s watching over us, her fuckin’ heart is breaking knohat this is doing to you What yourto you

“I love your mom But she wouldn’t talk to someone about what happened to her as a kid, how it affected her as an adult, as a parent, and now everything is so twisted up inside her she can’t see straight Losing Dillon broke so inside of her, and it was easier to blaic, senseless accident This way she has soer

“And now she’s lost everything,” he whispered “She lost irl she had left was Davina, and she didn’t turn out the way Dillon would have so she’s pushed her away too I love your mom, but I love my kids more, and I won’t lose them because of her

&n

bsp; “Our e has been on the rocks for years, and we drifted too far apart But there was a kernel of so the toxic shit she said to you all those years that led to you drinking A her was the right thing—that she was no longer the woo Our divorce is not on you It’s on her and ht?”

Silent tears I didn’t know I had left in me fell down my cheeks as I nodded

“You’ve got to let whatever poison she put in you, out, Bluebell Because I can’t sit back and watchherself for so she did not do”

I fell against hi quietly, because his words, this history lesson about ht there had to be so withthere was a reason for the way she was freed souilt, but so to me

And just like that, I breathed a little easier

Laughter filled Darragh’s house as we sat around his dining table a feeeks after that life-changing discussion with Dad And it was life-changing Between the knowledge he’d given ot fro the guilt that had crippled me emotionally for years

It was alhn was threatening to co with her, content that my family and I would be okay

There was still the thorn in my side that was my relationship with my mother