He Sacrificed My Father for His First Love novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Old Deal

Rory's POV

My mother had gone to church for the Thursday rosary, and I was alone in her kitchen when I heard a key in the back door.

I hadn't told Daphne she could keep one.

She had never given hers back, either, and in ten years I had never asked.

She came in wearing the cream coat and set her bag on the table where we had both done our homework.

"Hi, Ror."

"Hi."

"You look terrible."

"I've been on shift."

"You've been with her." She sat down across from me. "That's fine. I'm not here to fight."

I waited.

She had her thumb on the table, rubbing a nick in the wood that she had made herself with a fork when she was nine.

She had cried about it for an hour, and I had told our father I did it.

"I've been thinking about us," she said. "Do you remember what Dad used to say? That we're the only two people in the world who have to forgive each other?"

"He said that to me, Daph. He said it about you."

"Same thing."

"It wasn't."

She smiled and let that go.

"Here's what I want to offer," she said. "It's a good deal. It's the best one you've ever had."

"Go on."

"On Saturday, you stand next to me at Hope Night. You don't say a word. You just stand there, and you look like my brother."

"And?"

"And I tell the room the truth." She leaned in, glowing. "The doctors made a mistake about Mom. The scans were read wrong. She's been given a second chance, a miracle, and the fund is going to spend every cent on other families. It's perfect. Nobody's a liar. Nobody's ruined."

I looked at her for a while.

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