Page 133 of Sins of Innocence

"No!" Her eyes widen, like her own denial shocked her. "I mean, I don't know. Why did we go through with the wedding if the threat was gone?"

"Did it feel like the threat was gone when Kenneth grabbed you at the school?" His claim his demotion is temporary is a strong indicator he hasn't given up his plans either.

"That didn't feel any different than the way I've felt around him for the past five plus years."

"You were scared." Or she wouldn't have bitten him.

She looks away and shrugs. "Same old. Same old."

I cup her cheek and turn her face toward me again. Looking into her heterochromatic eyes fills me with a kind of peace that's only a vague memory from early childhood.

"You were afraid because you know he's a danger. To you and to our girls."

"But…"

"His punishment was necessary but it made him more dangerous, not less."

"You think he still wants to use me as his patsy for snitching on Mick to the feds?"

Humor fills me. "You sound like a proper mobbed up wife."

"According to you, that's what I am."

"You're my wife." And that's all that matters.

"Why didn't you tell me the boys had been sent to live with relatives?" Her gaze searches mine.

What does she see there?

"That's the story we gave to the school." I explain the details of the punishment.

"That's a harsh punishment for the parents. I can't imagine anything worse than having my daughters taken away." She absentmindedly kneads my chest. "But if the boys went to juvie they wouldn't be living with their parents either. At least this way, they have a better chance at rehabilitation than if they ended up in a youth correctional facility."

That's Áine, thinking about the boys' futures.

"You still haven't explained why you didn't tell me about any of that."

"I told Sadie the boys wouldn't be returning to school." I'd done it before her first therapy session.

I figured she needed that assurance. Maybe Áine did too.

"I should have told you."

"Yes, you should have."

"I'm not always going to get it right." Not even the stuff I'm expert at and that pisses me off.

But being a husband? That's all new and unchartered territory.

"Me either," Áine says ruefully. "But I need to know about the things that impact me and the girls."

"Kenneth not being a lieutenant any longer doesn't impact you."

"It does if it makes him accost me at Sadie's school and tell me a bunch of stuff meant to scare me."

"What stuff?"

She relays her conversation with Kenneth word for word, her eyes trying to gauge mine for reaction.