up?â Emma asked. âDidnât anyone ask how Riley ended up having Jockâs baby when he was supposed to be my boyfriend?â
âI only recall once or twice. Riley said you and Jock had broken up when you went away to school, which was at least partially true. Itâs been a long timeâI just want to be sure Maddie always feels secure.â
How lucky, Emma thought. Since she was just a kid she had known two things about the Kerrigan family. They had very obvious struggles; life for them had never been easy. But they had enough familial loyalty and love to glue them together. Emma had always envied that because sheâd never had it.
Emmaâs problems began long before she lost her boyfriend to her best friend.
* * *
Emma was a bit too young to understand her placement in the family when her father married Rosemary Caliban, but it didnât take her long to instinctively know she was only loved by her father, and her father was a lonely, unhappy, broken man.
His wife gone, John Shay married someone who appeared, on the surface, to be a good match. A woman who was willing to help raise Emma. But Rosemary was a stern woman with a mean side and a streak of jealousy a mile wide. She brought a daughter to the marriage, produced a second and clearly preferred both of them to Emma. Once Emma was an adult and could look back on it she supposed it didnât help that people often remarked on how pretty she was. And her daddy couldnât stop himself from commenting on how much she resembled her late mother, with her chestnut hair and large dark eyes. Rosemary undoubtedly despised hearing that, and who wouldnât?
Emma remembered Rosemary doing subtle things to show her favoritism. Sheâd fold Annaâs and Laurenâs clothes and toss Emmaâs on the bed, took her two girls shopping and to lunch while Emma was with Riley, never inviting her. Emma even suspected the gifts she got at Christmas were of lesser value and almost never fit. Rosemary would help her daughters with the kitchen cleanup when it was their turn but Emma was left on her own. When John Shay stepped in to help Emma, she knew he had noticed and that made her feel worse, not better. When her father died it was the Kerrigan family that comforted her more than her own. It was obvious Rosemary didnât miss John much.
It wasnât long before a man moved inâher new stepfather, Vince Kingston. Vince wasnât gentle and sweet like her father had been. He was a crass idiot who made crude and suggestive remarks to his new stepdaughters, but Rosemary just ignored him. Emma gave him a wide berth, as did Anna and Lauren. Emma wasnât quite sure where she belonged. Or if she belonged anywhere at all.
That was always an issue with her, that she had no real family. This seemed especially important during her high school years, and when her father died...it seemed hopeless. She felt so self-conscious, as if everyone at school knew she was basically an orphan. And who was there for her through the confusion and sadness? Riley, Adam, their mother, June, and Rileyâs grandparents. They were the family she always longed for.
It was like Adam was always watching over them all.
* * *
On her second glass of wine, fortified with a little cheese and fruit, she asked him about his grandparents. She knew they had passed away, but hadnât heard until theyâd been gone awhile.
âWell, Grandpa died when I was twenty-two. He wasnât sick long. Cancer took him quickly. Gram just went along, died in her sleep a year later. I was twenty-three and had just finished my teaching degree. My grandparents left the house to Mom, of course. It took me five more years to move out, get my own place. Riley and Maddie took a little longer and for the life of me Iâm not sure why they even botheredâtheyâre at Momâs all the time.â He laughed. âBut then, so am I. I check on her a lot. I do
âI only recall once or twice. Riley said you and Jock had broken up when you went away to school, which was at least partially true. Itâs been a long timeâI just want to be sure Maddie always feels secure.â
How lucky, Emma thought. Since she was just a kid she had known two things about the Kerrigan family. They had very obvious struggles; life for them had never been easy. But they had enough familial loyalty and love to glue them together. Emma had always envied that because sheâd never had it.
Emmaâs problems began long before she lost her boyfriend to her best friend.
* * *
Emma was a bit too young to understand her placement in the family when her father married Rosemary Caliban, but it didnât take her long to instinctively know she was only loved by her father, and her father was a lonely, unhappy, broken man.
His wife gone, John Shay married someone who appeared, on the surface, to be a good match. A woman who was willing to help raise Emma. But Rosemary was a stern woman with a mean side and a streak of jealousy a mile wide. She brought a daughter to the marriage, produced a second and clearly preferred both of them to Emma. Once Emma was an adult and could look back on it she supposed it didnât help that people often remarked on how pretty she was. And her daddy couldnât stop himself from commenting on how much she resembled her late mother, with her chestnut hair and large dark eyes. Rosemary undoubtedly despised hearing that, and who wouldnât?
Emma remembered Rosemary doing subtle things to show her favoritism. Sheâd fold Annaâs and Laurenâs clothes and toss Emmaâs on the bed, took her two girls shopping and to lunch while Emma was with Riley, never inviting her. Emma even suspected the gifts she got at Christmas were of lesser value and almost never fit. Rosemary would help her daughters with the kitchen cleanup when it was their turn but Emma was left on her own. When John Shay stepped in to help Emma, she knew he had noticed and that made her feel worse, not better. When her father died it was the Kerrigan family that comforted her more than her own. It was obvious Rosemary didnât miss John much.
It wasnât long before a man moved inâher new stepfather, Vince Kingston. Vince wasnât gentle and sweet like her father had been. He was a crass idiot who made crude and suggestive remarks to his new stepdaughters, but Rosemary just ignored him. Emma gave him a wide berth, as did Anna and Lauren. Emma wasnât quite sure where she belonged. Or if she belonged anywhere at all.
That was always an issue with her, that she had no real family. This seemed especially important during her high school years, and when her father died...it seemed hopeless. She felt so self-conscious, as if everyone at school knew she was basically an orphan. And who was there for her through the confusion and sadness? Riley, Adam, their mother, June, and Rileyâs grandparents. They were the family she always longed for.
It was like Adam was always watching over them all.
* * *
On her second glass of wine, fortified with a little cheese and fruit, she asked him about his grandparents. She knew they had passed away, but hadnât heard until theyâd been gone awhile.
âWell, Grandpa died when I was twenty-two. He wasnât sick long. Cancer took him quickly. Gram just went along, died in her sleep a year later. I was twenty-three and had just finished my teaching degree. My grandparents left the house to Mom, of course. It took me five more years to move out, get my own place. Riley and Maddie took a little longer and for the life of me Iâm not sure why they even botheredâtheyâre at Momâs all the time.â He laughed. âBut then, so am I. I check on her a lot. I do
Similar Books
