Page 95 of Irish Betrayal

Peter Samson thought he was smarter than he was, which meant Blair could easily out-think him. He liked it when she asked his opinion and got angry if she didn’t take his advice, so she would play on that. According to her journals, Peter had tried for years to get her to distance herself from her friends, which she hadn’t done, causing friction.

They also knew from the journals that he had touched her, and she had touched him. Blair mentioned more than once that she was staying pure and untouched for Samson.

But she wasn’t pure, in Samson’s eyes. Not anymore. Daniel’s child growing in her belly put Blair in even greater danger if she was showing.

In her writing, Blair mentioned twice that her teacher had hit her when she’d done or said something he hadn’t liked. What would he do if he found out about the baby?

Daniel stopped pacing and went to where Catriona sat unmoving in front of the bank of windows.

Blair’s younger brother gave him a death stare that Daniel ignored, sitting next to Catriona.

“I’m sorry this has happened,” he said, knowing the apology wasn’t nearly enough.

Catriona reached out and placed her hand, identical to her daughter’s, and patted his forearm. “I’m sorry, too, Daniel, but my girl is strong. I forgot that for a few hours. Blair is not a wilting flower, and neither am I.”

“Can I,” Daniel hesitated, not wanting to cause Catriona anymore grief but also because Blair’s overgrown brother’s eyes were still drilling into his forehead, “ask you something?” Barely choked that one out, Dan.

“Of course.”

“So, Blair…she’s right over four months gone, and⁠—”

Laith surged at Daniel, leaning over him with a furious, red face. “You fucking, no-good prick. Don’t talk about my sister.”

Lochlann grabbed his best friend and pulled him back, not that Daniel had any plan to retaliate. “Laith, ease off, brother.”

“Laith,” Catriona reprimanded, “calm yourself.” Coll stood and faced his wife, a foreboding look on his face.

Barr wouldn’t care if it was Daniel or his son; that man would protect Catriona no matter what. Thankfully, she waved her husband’s concern away, looking at her son once more.

“Sit down, Laith. Loch, you too.”

The boys knew better than to naysay the woman, and with one more glare shot his way, they sat on the couch facing them.

She patted Daniel’s arm once more, as if the explosion of male testosterone never happened.

He gave Blair’s little brother one more hard look before he focused on Cat. “The girls, Mags, Gray, and Bébhinn, said Blair got…pregnant after our first time, and⁠—”

“Jesus, Laith, I’m beginning to think our family doesn’t understand what birth control is, bro,” Lochlann smarted off.

“No shit,” Laith chimed in, the little asswipe.

“Enough,” Catriona said quietly, but her demeanor, so much like Blair’s, said not to test her patience. Barr’s head whipped around, but she waved his concern away again. He gave his son a look that made Laith swallow and grimace.

“But, Mom,” her son continued, but much quieter. “Dan didn’t care enough about my sister to take care of her.”

“You might consider your parents’ wedding date and your sister’s birthday, young man. We didn’t make a mistake,” Catriona reminded her son, leaving the boy wide-eyed and blinking.

Daniel sat forward, running his fingers through his already tousled hair. “I love Blair. Don’t ever insinuate that I don’t,” he warned Laith. “The condom broke, not that you needed to know that, but I don’t want you to think that Blair and I hadn’t considered this very outcome. Had I known that we’d made a child that night, I wouldn’t have given her the three months that I did to come to me with her worries and followed her to Oklahoma immediately.

“I can’t change the past, but I can assure you that Blair is everything to me. Everything.”

It wasn’t only Laith locked on Daniel. His parents and Coll were as well.

“What do you want to know, Daniel?” Catriona asked him, her voice thick with tears.

Coll got up from the desk. “Bran. Ulf. Take over for me. Cat needs me.” Both men jumped to sit at the desk.

“Coll,” Catriona chided her husband softly, not complaining when he plucked her out of her seat and sat instead, pulling her close.