Knowing that Patrick was working on a solution instead of just staring at the walls made me feel almost optimistic. As long as we were together, we could figure it out, I told myself. We just had to be careful for now, until we knew what we were dealing with.

When I made my way out of our room, Peg was sitting at the kitchen table eating a piece of toast. I couldn’t stop the wide smile that spread across my face as I realized she’d actually gotten dressed and had brushed her hair. It seemed as if both my favorite people had decided to re-join the living that day, and I couldn’t have been happier for the small steps they’d taken.

I spent that morning with a small smile of relief on my face, just knowing that it was going to be a good day.

I’ve often wondered how my instincts could have been so poor.

Chapter 32

Patrick

“I’m sorry.”

My boss’s quiet words followed me out the door. I couldn’t have replied without choking the life out of the weasely little fuck, so I ignored him.

I’d lost my bloody job. Fucking hell.

They’d let me finish work on the car I’d started before my da was killed, but as soon as I’d finished, they’d given me the boot. Fucking bastards were afraid of their own shadows, it was the only way they hadn’t been pulled in to any side of the war that seemed to be tearing my entire life apart. They were sorry, sure, but their fear had been more important than any reservations they had about letting me go.

Mother of God. We were fucked. Mum hadn’t been working, I had no idea when she’d be ready to go back, and now this. My stomach burned at the thought of asking Amy for the cash I knew she kept hidden in our sock drawer, but there was no other way to keep a bloody roof over our heads.

I may as well have just sliced off my balls and handed them to her.

I slammed into the house, letting the door bounce off the wall, and the first thing I saw was Amy standing in the tiny entryway, going through some mail.

“Patrick? Why aren’t you at work?”

“De bastards fuckin’ let me go!”

“What? Why?” Her shoulders slumped and I hated everyone in that moment. Why the fuck couldn’t life ever be fucking easy? Why couldn’t we catch just one break? Just one! I was failing her, and I’d become the man I’d sworn I’d never be, dependent upon my wife’s labors for food on the table and a roof over our heads.

“Dey’re afraid to keep me on. Afraid one of dere cars will blow sky high if dey’re associated wit’ a Gallagher.”

“Shit,” she whispered, her eyes wide and worried in her face. “Baby—”

“I’ll figure it out,” I promised her, my gut burning at her expression.

“I know you will.”

I wrapped my arms around her, and calmed my breathing by huffing in deep breaths of Amy-scented air. My body was practically shaking with anger, but I had to keep it together. I had to figure all of the shit out, and there was no way I could do that intelligently if I was riding on emotion. I needed to be logical.

“You thought any more about my offer?” Charlie asked from where he was watching us on the couch. “It stands.”

“We’ll discuss it later,” I said warningly. I didn’t want to get Amy’s hopes up, but Charlie had offered to bring my family to America. His father owned a big motorcycle shop, and he’d offered me a job there. I was pretty sure his club owned the shop along with the men who worked there, and I didn’t know if I wanted to be beholden to anyone like that.

According to Charlie, it wasn’t like that at all. They were a family whose loyalty was unquestionable. They took care of each other. Woman and children were off limits, always, and they protected each one as if it were their own.

I liked Charlie. During the time he’d been in Ireland, I’d gotten to know the man pretty well, and his word was good. But I’d never seen him under fire. His loyalty hadn’t been tested. My family’s lives couldn’t depend on a man that I’d known for only a couple of weeks.

It did sound wonderful, though. I couldn’t lie and say that it didn’t. It was a new place to build, men who would watch my back, a new life for Mum and me and a place where Amy would feel a little more at home. Still, I was leery. I would be exchanging the devil I knew for one I didn’t.

Someone began knocking on the door and before I could drop my head wearily to Amy’s shoulder, my instincts had kicked in and she was shoved behind me. My gun was pulled out of the back of my jeans and Charlie was on his feet within seconds. He lifted his head toward the door, and I nodded once before stepping forward to open it up.

I’ll never forget the sight that greeted me.

Chapter 33

Amy

She was bloody.

Her curly, golden hair was matted and knotted with it.

She was shorter than me.

She was pregnant.

And her hands were smaller than mine. The one I could see looked tiny clutching the back of my husband’s work shirt.

But she was bloody. I had to focus on that.

Her face was swollen, her lips split in three different spots. There was blood beneath her ear, but I couldn’t tell if it had come from there or had been smeared from one of her other scratches.

She was sobbing. Scared. Holding onto Patrick like he was the only thing that could save her.

“I’ll call my dad and have him send Doc over. Thank Christ the old shit came with us,” Charlie said as he looked out the door and then shut and locked it.