Page 100 of Irish Betrayal

“Handfasted Wiccans, huh,” the nurse drawled, raising her eyebrows in doubt but relenting. “Fine, follow me.”

Catriona called over her shoulder. “Coll. We’re going to see Blair.”

Barr hesitated, clearly wanting to come as well but hesitated for some reason. “I’ll come back when Jeffreys gets here.”

“Handfasted Wiccans?” Daniel whispered as they were taken to another room beyond the swinging doors.

“Coll almost tried that bullshit on me once. My brother’s idea.” She shrugged and shook her head.

Catriona smiled, small but the first one he’d seen from her since Blair was taken.

Ten minutes went by, fifteen, twenty-five, thirty-eight, forty-five.

Barr and a man who Daniel assumed was Detective Jeffreys were brought back. Catriona shook her head at her husband. Barr pressed his palms into his eyes, visibly shuddering. It was the first break in his stoic demeanor.

Catriona walked to her husband and wrapped her arms around his waist. Coll clasped his wife’s chin and made her look at him. They whispered back and forth before Daniel watched her shoulders raise protectively around her ears.

“Christ, Cat. God, don’t cry. It kills me when you cry. No matter what Blair’s been through, she’s our daughter. She will get through it.”

“You don’t want to see her,” Catriona countered. “Why?”

Barr looked over Catriona’s head, locking eyes with Daniel. He sighed and answered quietly, but Daniel heard.

“I never let anyone near my family that I haven’t personally vetted. Not him though. I handed him our daughter. I did this. I allowed this to happen to my baby girl. She’ll never forgive me.

“I can’t forgive myself.”

Daniel understood the feeling. He left Blair in another country knowing that prick was there for her. Did he think Samson was capable of kidnapping? No. Did it matter in the long run? No.

He left her pregnant and vulnerable. He might not have known about the baby, but it didn’t change facts. Barr thinks he shoulders all of the blame. Not even maybe.

When the nurse came to the waiting room, he felt tears prick his eyes. For Blair to still be willing to see him meant something. Everything.

He walked into her room last, allowing Blair’s parents time. When Blair lifted her head over where Coll and Catriona were holding her, he almost lost control. Her face was black and purple, beaten. Her lips were cracked and bleeding, with her left eye swollen shut.

He didn’t realize he’d tipped back until his spine hit the door frame. Blair closed her eyes, cutting off anything he might wish to tell her.

Coll and Catriona’s hands were flying, speaking to their daughter in the only way they could when their vocal cords were as dead as his own.

What did he say to the person he had let down the most?

fifty-one

COLL BARR

My child, my daughter, my baby girl was hurt, was hurting. Blair hugged him, kissed his cheeks, nodded yes, shook her head no, and nothing else.

Catriona stared at their daughter as if she were afraid Blair would disappear if she blinked. He was scared too. Except his fear was that she would blame him for not protecting her.

Coll finally drummed up the courage to ask, “How badly are you hurt?” Clearly her face was a mess, but Blair’s tiny frame was covered by a hospital gown, a sheet, and a blanket, so he couldn’t tell.

And no one had brought up the elephant in the room, the baby. Daniel was keeping his distance by the door, giving him and Cat time to reunite with their daughter, which Coll appreciated, but damn, the boy looked miserable.

Blair answered. “Some bruising, nothing broken. Abrasions on my wrists and ankles where he had me bound to the bedframe. He drugged me with Rohypnol and a sleep aid. While I was out, he told me he checked to see if I was still a virgin. He realized then that my story about having cysts outside my uterus from endometriosis was a lie. That’s why he hit me. They did a rape kit on me in case he did more.”

As she cataloged her abuse, her expression never changed—and she only signed, her lips sealed shut. She always spoke aloud to her family, and he had learned from Daniel that she spoke aloud all the time now with him, even in front of Ulf, Rowan, and the Stantons.

Coll was gutted at what she’d endured but also frightened by her lack of emotion. He glanced at Catriona. She was barely holding herself together.