THE CALLAHANS (A Mafia Romance): The Complete 5 Books Series (60 page)

Amelia

He gave me his credit card and told me to buy anything I wanted. He was off doing whatever it was he did, while I was at the mall looking for some sort of suitable outfit to wear to his family party tonight. I hated to watch him walk away this morning, afraid that when I saw him again there would be more bruises, more damage to his gorgeous body. He assured me that he would be in an office all day, but how could I believe that when he was still sporting the bruises someone had given him yesterday?

Was it always like this? Would it always be like this?

I found myself thinking about the future, the long run, when in reality I wasn’t even sure we had anything like a future. He’d been insistent on an annulment just a few days ago. But, again, he hadn’t asked about the night we got married in a while. Maybe he’d forgotten about it. Maybe he didn’t care anymore how we got married.

And maybe pigs would fly one day.

He was going to ask. And I was going to have to tell him the truth.

I walked slowly through the department store and ran my fingers over the soft material of the dresses. He told me to get something comfortable but nice. I looked at a dozen dresses, tried on one or two, but I couldn’t decide what I should get. In my experience, nice and comfortable could mean any number of things. Should I get a long skirt? Short? Show cleavage? Hide it? Should it be a sober black or a bright red? White? Or maybe a soft green?

There were too many choices.

“May I help you?”

I turned and a tall, older woman I’d noticed when I first came into the store was standing just a few feet away. She looked like a matron from some strict all-girls school. I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and nodded.

“I’m looking for something to wear to a party, but I’m not quite sure what I should get.”

“What kind of party?”

I giggled a little, a nervous giggle. “A meeting your in-laws for the first time kind of party?”

Her eyebrows rose slightly. She looked me over for a long second, her eyes lingering a little uncomfortably on my curves.

“How long have you been married?”

“Just a few days.”

“And your in-laws, do you know much about them? Are they conservative? What has your husband told you about them?”

I tilted my head to the side a little, thinking of what I did know of them.

“Well, my father-in-law is an executive. He’s the CEO of MCorp. And my mother-in-law is—”

“Wait. You’re married to one of the Callahan boys?”

Her whole demeanor seemed to change with that information. She studied me with new interest.

“Yes. Kyle.”

“If you’ll follow me, Mrs. Callahan,” she said, turning to lead the way through the store, “we’ll find you the perfect thing to wear.”

She took me into a private room at the back of the store where she instructed several young women. The next thing I knew, I’m sitting on a low couch, a glass of champagne in my hand, and a succession of models walking past me wearing clothing that might be appropriate to a party at the Callahan home.

I was definitely back to where I’d been ages ago. I was somebody of note, a person that people noticed. Kyle’s name changed my whole life. He put me out there again where my father’s name had become a talisman I was forced to bear.

I could get used to this.

Kyle

We drove around most of the day, conducting business for both the Irish mob and MCorp. Jack was a very busy man. I had no idea how he managed to keep it all straight, or have time for his wife. I watched him, seeing the dark circles under his eyes and the downward tilt to his shoulders that didn’t used to be there. He’d wear himself completely out someday soon and he’d have to name a successor. I wondered if he’d given much thought to it.

“Where’s your wife?” he asked me over lunch.

“Shopping for something to wear tonight.”

“The party.” He looked up. “I nearly forgot about it, but I’m sure Caroline would have reminded me.”

His eyes took in the restaurant around him without any obvious movement. I got a kick out of watching him and my father do things like that. It was the old way, the way things were done when they were young. People these days, they didn’t take notice of anything. They were too busy staring at the screens of their phones. But I noticed. I liked to think I’d learned a little something from Jack and Pops.

“It’s dangerous handing a woman your credit card and telling her to go shopping,” Jack continued. “You should have sent her over to Valentina’s.”

“Yeah?”

“They run a line of credit over there. You could have called, told them what you wanted, and they would have made sure she walked out with only what you wanted.”

“I’ll remember that in the future.”

“You do that.” Jack set down his fork and looked over at me, really looking at me for the first time in a long while. “I can’t imagine you married. I always assumed you’d be the one who’d be smart enough to avoid that particular distraction.”

“She’s not a distraction.”

“If she isn’t, she isn’t worth the ink the marriage license is written with.” Jack smiled, softening the blow of his words. “I’m not worried about you, Kyle. You’re a good man. You always do what I ask of you.”

“Thank you, Jack.”

“What I meant was that I got married because it was the thing to do. You found a pretty woman who could keep your house, raise your kids, and allow you the freedom to go out and do what you wanted. But these days, all that’s not necessary. There’s not the stigma on a man populating the world outside of marriage anymore, you know?” He smiled again. “I was living vicariously through you, my friend, all those beautiful girls coming and going from your bed.”

“I guess you’ll have to live vicariously through Ian now.”

Jack nodded. “But Ian isn’t quite as…shall we say prolific? He’s been living sort of like a monk these last two or three years.”

I had noticed that Ian didn’t mention women as much recently, but I didn’t think much of it. Ian was a private kind of guy. He didn’t share what he did on his off time with many people.

“I’m looking forward to meeting her. She must be something to take you off the market.”

An image of Amelia lying asleep in my bed flashed through my mind. She was something, but I wasn’t sure she’d really gotten me off the market. In a few months, when things settled down with the Italians, when Pops’ reputation wasn’t so damaged, when things returned to normal, I was sure Amelia would be anxious to return to her own life. Until then, I guess we’d see where things went.

“I heard from Delaney,” Jack suddenly said.

“Yeah?”

Delaney was his daughter from some affair he had years ago. Like my father, Jack got around in the old days. The only difference was, Pops settled down into his marriage to Abigail. Jack never really did. He still cheated on Caroline as if sex was a commodity that he had to collect as quickly and as often as he possibly could…from as many different sources as possible. And, like a true businessman, he made a few mistakes, but he never failed to cover them up.

“She and Sean are in Tuscany as we speak. She said they just wanted to take some time, but they’d be back by the end of the month.”

“That’s good to know.”

Jack nodded. “You ever have a daughter, keep a close eye on her.”

“Sean’s a good guy.”

“He’s your brother, you have to say that. Me? I just see the guy who’s stolen my daughter’s heart and has the power to crush it.”

“He wouldn’t do that. Sean would be the one to get hurt before he’d hurt Delaney.”

“I certainly hope so. I missed out on enough of my daughter’s life.”

My eyebrows rose. Was Jack finally softening around the edges? In a way, I hoped so. But in light of what had been going on lately, I hoped not.

I got home an hour or so before we were due at Pops and Cassidy’s. The loft was quiet downstairs when I walked in. I checked the mail, grabbed an apple from the kitchen, and headed up. Once again, Amelia was in my bedroom. This time, however, she had a half dozen bags spread around her, and she was holding one dress after another in front of her as she studied herself in the mirror.

“The blue one. It brings out the color of your eyes.”

She turned, that all too familiar blush creeping up her face. “I was hoping to be dressed before you came home.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

“I’m not disappointed. I just didn’t want you to see how obviously indecisive I am.”

“You’re a woman. Isn’t that a requirement?”

She tossed a crumpled bit of tissue paper at me, but she was laughing as she did it. Then she turned back to her purchases.

“I’ll send most of them back. I just…they took me into a private room and put on a show, and I felt almost obligated to buy more than one.”

“It’s fine.”

She glanced at me. “Tossing your family name around gets a girl quite a bit of attention.”

“You told people who you were?”

The amusement disappeared from her eyes. “Was I not supposed to?”

I took another bite from my apple and then tossed it into the small trashcan by the bed. I crossed the room and lifted a dress from the bed, holding it out where I could see it. Then another and another. She had good taste, my wife. Expensive taste. Some of the price tags were quite impressive. But I knew each one of these dresses would look fabulous on her gorgeous body.

I gestured to the blue again. “Wear that.”

I ducked into the bathroom and stripped for the shower. I could hear her rustling around out here, putting dresses away and shoving bags out of her way. I knew she was upset, but I didn’t know what to say to fix things. I didn’t know anything about relationships. I had enough trouble keeping myself out of trouble, let alone figuring out how to make someone else safe and happy.

I showered and shaved. I stepped out of the bathroom and discovered she’d picked a suit for me and set it out, complete with undershirt and shoes. She was nowhere to be found and the shopping bags were all gone. It gave me a little bit of an uneasy feeling in my chest to find her gone.

What was that? What did I care if a woman hung around long enough to ask me how my day was? I hadn’t asked her how her day was, why should I expect her to ask about mine?

But I did.

I dressed quickly and headed downstairs. She was perched on the edge of the couch until she heard my footsteps. Then she stood and turned.

And I stumbled just a little on the stairs.

The dress was made of some sort of nearly translucent material that was layered over and over again until it looked heavy, but delicate. The front pushed her breasts up until they looked like they might simply fall out, making my hands itch with the desire to give them a little help on their fall. The waist was tight, but the skirt fell in this…I don’t know. There were probably fancy words for it all, but all I saw was the long slit up one side that had the potential of showing off one of her long, toned, tan legs.

That dress was almost as good as the panties and undershirt she’d had on last night that nearly drove me over the edge.

She reached up a little self-consciously and tucked a loose hair behind her ear.

“Is this okay?”

That was a complete understatement. It was more than okay. It was fucking awesome.

I crossed to her, ran the back of my fingers over her upper arm. “Beautiful.”

She looked up at me, her eyes bright with pleasure. “Yeah?”

I leaned close and kissed her, my mind already headed back to the stairs as her lips barely brushed mine. Was it just because I’d not lain with her yet? Was it all the teasing we’d been doing, the little make-out sessions? Or was it something more? I wasn’t sure, but I knew I wanted her almost desperately, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to wait much longer.

“We should go,” she whispered.

I groaned, nodding even as I gripped her upper arms and pulled her in tighter against me. But I didn’t touch her again. I breathed deeply of her lovely scent, but I didn’t touch her again. I took a deep breath, nodded again, and then turned. She slipped her hand into mine…and I almost lost it. Again. But, somehow, we made it out the door.

Amelia

He was quiet on the drive to his father’s, both hands gripping the wheel as if he was afraid the small sports car would suddenly lose control. And when we pulled up to the house, we had to park a little bit back on the driveway because of the number of cars that had arrived before us. It looked like half the city had turned out for this party. And, sure enough, when we walked inside the impressive marble entryway, we could hear the rumble of more than two or three dozen voices.

“Just stay by my side and follow my lead,” Kyle said, his lips close to my ear.

“Okay.”

He held my hand tight and led the way into a large sitting room at the back of the house. Conversations taking place close to us suddenly ceased. People turned and stared, so many eyes moving over me I almost felt as though I was a fish in a glass bowl. A tall man with dark hair came over, a crooked smile on his handsome face.

“Well, you must be Amelia,” he said.

“I am.”

“I’m Killian. I’m this one’s oldest brother.”

Kyle tensed, his hand gripping mine a little tighter. I don’t know what he expected, but Killian just leaned close and kissed my cheek lightly.

“Welcome to the family, Amelia.”

And that was the explosion that broke the dam. Dozens of others came over and introduced themselves. I met Killian’s wife, Stacy, and his brother, Ian. Another brother, Kevin, said a shy hello, but he seemed more interested in standing off to the side, observing, Brianna at his side. And Cassidy, of course, came over and welcomed us.

“You look lovely,” she said as she leaned in for a kiss on the cheek herself.

“Thank you.”

Kyle grabbed a drink off a passing tray and drowned it one swallow.

“Do I make you that nervous?”

He looked at me for a long second. “No, not you. But these people…they can be pretty judgmental.”

“They seem pretty open at the moment.”

“Just wait.”

He slid his arm around my waist and led the way deeper into the room. I found myself waiting and watching for the one member of Kyle’s family that I wasn’t in a hurry to meet. Brian Callahan didn’t appear to be anywhere in attendance. I wasn’t sure how it would go when we came face to face, if he would even know who I was. A part of me hoped he would know. But there was this small part who really hoped he wouldn’t. When this was all over, when the mechanical voice on the phone got what he wanted, I was sort of hoping that maybe Kyle and I…it was stupid, really. If he ever learned the truth of how we came to be married, he wouldn’t want to have anything to do with me. But I could always hope.

“This is Jack coming toward us,” Kyle bent close and whispered.

Jack was a tall, thin man. He had gray hair and his face was a maze of wrinkles, but I could see what a handsome man he must have been once upon a time. The woman beside him was tall, almost regal in her bearing. She was blond, clearly a decade or so younger than Jack. But there was this weariness about her that made me wonder about the relationship the two of them shared.

“Kyle,” Jack called boisterously. “This must be your beautiful bride.”

“This is Amelia,” Kyle said, actually tugging me closer to his side as Jack approached.

“It’s nice to meet you, Amelia,” Jack said. “This is my wife, Caroline.”

“Lovely to meet you,” Caroline said, her voice a little dreamy, as though she’d met a lot of people over the years that she never really cared much about.

But Jack, he was clearly a bit more interested in the situation than his wife was. His eyes moved over me, lingering on my bodice a little longer than it should have. And then he smiled, and there was something in his eyes that made me feel a little uncomfortable.

“You did well, Kyle,” he said without asking me a single question. “I think I understand everything now.”

The man walked away and began to laugh, a low laugh that sent shivers of disgust up and down my spine.

“What was that about?”

Kyle shook his head. “Ignore him. He’s just acting like a dirty old man.”

“The way he looked at me…”

“I know, babe.” Kyle lifted my chin and kissed me lightly. “Don’t let him upset you. He’s been drinking.”

A second ago, I didn’t think I could ignore such behavior. But now, with the way Kyle was looking at me, and the promise in his kiss, it became the easiest thing in the world. He started to turn away, but I grabbed his lapel and pulled him back into me. There was surprise in his eyes, but then he was kissing me, his lips moving slowly over mine, his body slowly swallowing me up. He ran his hand down my back, his exploration taking him briefly over my hip. There was a deep slit in the side of the dress that was only revealed when I took long strides—which I’d been trying not to do—but his fingers found it and slipped underneath, moving to places where it was probably not advisable to visit in such a crowded room. And what he found made him gasp a little as he pulled back to look me in the eye.

“You’re not wearing…”

“You told me not to.”

He stared at me for a long minute. Then a long, pleased smile slipped over his face.

“I like when you obey me.”

“Obey?”

He moved closer and pulled my bottom lip between his teeth, nibbling for a long second. I think he might have said something else, but we were interrupted by more well-wishers who wanted to welcome me into the fold.

He was right about the judgmental thing. I overheard a couple of women complaining that I wasn’t his type. And some older woman said something about the trashiness of my dress. But, for the most part, they all seemed really pleased to see Kyle married and settled down.

I snuck away after an hour or so to find a bathroom. I didn’t need to use the facilities, I just needed a minute to catch my breath. I washed my hands just to have something to do. Then I looked at myself in the mirror and barely recognized the woman who looked back at me. The dark shadows that had been so persistent under my eyes these last few years were gone. And there was color on my cheeks where I was pale almost constantly. The frown lines weren’t as permanent as I’d been afraid they would be and the dark cloud that had been following me around wasn’t as persistent as it could have been.

I was looking into the face of a woman who was happy. I couldn’t remember the last time this face had been truly happy.

I wanted to tell Kyle that. I wanted to tell Kyle that he was the reason I no longer looked like death warmed over. I wanted him to know how much I adored him and how good I felt whenever he looked at me the way he did. There were so many things I wanted to tell him. But there was this little part of me that was afraid that if I told him these things, I would lose the money that would solve all my problems and I would lose the man I was quickly falling in love with. I wasn’t sure I could survive the loss of both.

I stepped out of the bathroom and nearly walked into someone coming up the short hallway.

“Sorry,” I said, stepping back just as he reached out to catch my arms.

“It’s not a bad thing to catch a beautiful woman in my arms.”

I smiled, but the smile faltered as I focused on my savior’s face and realized I recognized it. This was Brian Callahan.

The man who destroyed my family.

I think the realization of who he was holding hit him about the same moment.

“Wallace,” he said softly. “You’re April’s daughter.”

I pulled away and started to turn, but he grabbed my arm again.

“You are her, aren’t you?”

“Amelia,” I said softly. “Daughter of Robert and April Clark Wallace.”

He nodded. “Your mother was a friend of mine.”

His use of the word friend hit me hard in the stomach. I stared at him, aware that my eyes were narrowing, aware that he could see the anger building inside of me.

“Is that what you call it? Friendship?”

He tilted his head slightly. “I don’t know what you’ve been told—”

“You ruined my family. If not for you, my parents would still be together and my father would be healthy and happy.”

Confusion danced in his green eyes. I watched him, aware on some level that he was a handsome man. I could see what would attract my mother to him. But that was on a level that was far behind the ratcheting anger in my chest. I’d imagined what I would say to the man who destroyed my family. Rehearsed in mirrors, actually. Even whispered it to my father during some of the most difficult moments in his healthcare these last few years. But now that I was actually face to face with him, I didn’t know what to say.

“You’re Kyle’s new bride, right?” He let go of my arm, but he moved closer, looking at me as though he’d just realized that I was a human being who demanded some attention. “Amelia. He told us about you.”

“But he wouldn’t have mentioned who my mother was because I haven’t told him what you did.”

“What did I do?”

My mouth fell open. I stared at him, wondering how he could ask such a question.

“You had an affair with my mother.”

Brian’s eyebrows rose. “Where did you get that idea?”

“From my mother. She told my father and they got divorced over it.”

He cocked his head slightly, the wheels clearly turning quite quickly in his head. Then he did the last thing I expected him to do. He threw his head back and laughed.

“This is funny to you?”

“Of course not,” he said, catching himself, but still indulging a few chuckles. “I just…your mother worked for me for a brief time six years ago. Just after my wife died. She was staying here with a friend.”

“She said she met you on a business trip.”

“She met me while she was here visiting a friend. She stood in for my personal assistant a couple of times and we became friends.”

“More than friends.”

He shook his head. “I hate to be the one to tell you, sweetheart, but I wasn’t your mother’s type.” He took my arm again and leaned close to me. “My wife had just died. I hadn’t been with anyone but Abigail in a long time and I wasn’t in a hurry to move on. An affair was the last thing I was thinking about.”

“No…”

“Maybe she used me as an excuse to get out of a marriage gone bad?”

“No!” The anger was back with a rush, pushing away the confusion his words had introduced. “My mother wouldn’t have done that. She loved us.”

“You can love the people in your life and still need to have something for yourself. You should go talk to her, child. Go find out why she lied to you.”

I started to shake my head even as his words penetrated a wall I’d put up long ago. I didn’t want to remember my mom, the sadness I saw in her, the dark days of depression when she would go lock herself in her room and not come out for weeks at a time. I locked all of that away because I wanted to be angry with her. I wanted to blame her for everything that went wrong because someone other than my frail father had to be to blame.

“I don’t know where she is,” I finally said, the words coming slowly.

Brian’s expression softened. “Was it really that bad?”

I didn’t want him to console me, not this man whom I’d blamed for the destruction of my family for so long. I stepped back from him, from the possibility of his touch.

“She lives here in Boston.”

I shook my head, shook it so hard I could feel some of the pins coming loose in my hair. “That’s not possible.”

“When you’re ready, you come find me, and I’ll give you the address.” He came close to me again, touching my arm just ever so lightly. “Kyle’s happy. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him quite this happy in all the time I’ve known him. For that, I owe you just about anything you could possibly ask for. So, if you want to blame me for your parents’ divorce, you do that. If you want to blame for the sky being blue, you do that, too. But believe me when I say that there is a bigger explanation to all this that only your mother can offer you.”

He walked away, humming under his breath.

I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry.

And I wanted to believe him.