Part 17 (1/2)

”Aye, he's just wailing at whoever will listen,” she said with a shake of her head. ”My father has always done that whenever he feels helpless. It's just his way. You know it's not going to happen.”

”Maybe, but I'm not so willing to rule out an attempt. I think he might be serious about this,” I offered after a moment.

She shook her head again. ”My mother will put an end to it, never you mind.”

”I hope you're right.”

”Don't you know by now, we O'Brien women are the dominant type?”

”Yes, I do, but under the circ.u.mstances I don't think you should joke about that right now.”

”If I don't joke about it, Rowan, I'll just be crying, then.”

”Yeah...” I mumbled.

”So,” she said, giving her head a sideways nod toward my bruised knuckles without actually turning to look. ”When are you going to tell me what happened to your hand?”

I wasn't sure she'd even noticed. She hadn't really looked at me since Jackie and I had arrived, at least, not that I had seen. But, I wasn't going to gripe about it just yet. We now had a dialogue going and that was an improvement.

”Nothing really. An irresistible force met an unmovable object.”

”Aye, so you were venting aggression, then. Do we need a new door or just a patch job on a wall?”

”Neither. Ben's jaw was the object.”

”Oh, Caorthann...” she muttered, using the Gaelic version of my name. It was the first time since she'd entered the room that she had seemed to show any real emotion at all.

”Don't worry about it. He asked for it. Literally.”

”Don't blame him, Rowan. This isn't his fault.”

”Yeah. He keeps saying the same thing.”

”He's right.”

”That remains to be seen.”

”Aye, you don't believe he's responsible for this and you know it.”

”Responsible or not, he's the one who led you out of the house in handcuffs, and I'm afraid that's going to take a lot of forgiving on my part.”

”He was doing his job.”

”Uh-huh.”

”Rowan...”

”I have my reasons, honey,” I cut her off. ”Why don't we move on to something else?”

I didn't think it would be a good idea to let her in on the fact that Ben wasn't convinced of her innocence. However, if we stayed on this subject, I was probably going to screw up and tell her just that. For now, I felt it was better to let her keep on believing he was one of the good guys. Maybe with a little luck he would come around, and she'd never have to know about his doubts.

”All right, then. What would you like to talk about?”

She still wasn't making eye contact with me, and I knew that wasn't good. However, since she'd seemed to open up, I decided to push a little further.

”Your turn to share. Why don't you tell me what your problem is with me?”

”I don't know what you mean.”

”Look at me.”

”What?”

”Look at me, Felicity. You haven't looked me in the face since they brought you into the room.”

She sucked in a deep breath and slowly turned her head the necessary fraction to meet my eyes, but only barely. We held one another's gaze for a long moment before I finally broke the thick silence.

”Would you like to tell me what's wrong? Besides the obvious I mean.”

”Aye, what are you talking about then?”

”Felicity, something's going on here that I'm not being told. Jackie informed me last night that you don't want her discussing your case with me. Then, after she moved the world to get me in here to see you today, we're making small talk about nothing, and I can hardly even get you to look at me. What's going on? Why are you shutting me out?”

”I'm not.”

”Yes, you are.”

”No, I'm not.”

”Give me a break, honey. Yes, you are. h.e.l.l, a blind, deaf mute can tell what's going on here. What I want to know is why?”

”Aye, I don't want to talk about it.”

”Well, guess what? I do.”

”Well I don't. Not now.”

”Dammit, Felicity!” I barked the reply as I pushed back from the table and stood. ”There isn't time for this. If I'm going to help you, I have to know what's going on from all sides. Cutting me off like this isn't going to get either of us anywhere. Least of all you.”

She didn't even flinch at my minor outburst. Her face remained stoic and eyes focused on where I had been sitting. She didn't even bring her gaze up to meet mine.

”Maybe there isn't anywhere for me to get to.”

”What's that supposed to mean?”

”Maybe I'm already there.”