“You do?” he says.

“Yes. This is a corner of the earth you own. That’s different than just living somewhere.”

He nods slowly.

And of course, there’s the other part of it. I know from what Celia told me that Raylan left here in anger, thinking that he didn’t actually belong to this place. But that was never really true. It was always his home. And he was always meant to come back here, to heal that wound.

I think he’s finally ready to do that.

I shouldn’t say anything to prevent that from happening. I think he needs it. Badly.

I don’t know how to bring up what I know, but I don’t want to keep it secret from him, either.

“Your mom told me what happened right before you enlisted,” I say. “She told me about your father.”

“Waya was my father,” Raylan says at once.

“I know!” I say quickly. “That’s what I meant.”

Raylan looks at me with a strange expression. “I’m surprised she told you,” he says. “She doesn’t like to talk about that. Obviously,” he gives a short, mirthless laugh, totally unlike his usual laugh. “Since I never heard about it for eighteen years.”

“You do belong here,” I say. “I just wanted you to know . . . that I understand that.”

Raylan looks pained. His voice is tight. “Does every family have an ugly history?” he says.

“Mine certainly does.” You could write a thousand-page saga of the pain and bloodshed in the Griffins’ history. Another for the Gallos, too.

I want to ask Raylan what I couldn’t ask Celia, because I didn’t want to seem intrusive, after all she’d told me. But the lawyer in me knows that there’s more to the story. From what she told me about Ellis, he never would have let her get away easily . . .

“Your mom told me what happened,” I say. “But not how she got away from Ellis Burr.”

I don’t say “your father,” or even “your biological father,” because I know Raylan doesn’t view him that way.

Raylan lets out a long breath. “I’ll tell you,” he says. “But not in here. Come for a walk with me.”

* * *

20

Raylan

I walk with Riona down along an avenue of birch trees. Their leaves have fully changed from green to gold, later in the year than usual, as it’s been a warm autumn after a lengthy Indian Summer.

I’m surprised that Mom told Riona about Ellis, but also glad in a way I can’t quite express to her. It’s a story I wouldn’t have told without my mother’s permission. And I want Riona to know it. I want her to know everything about me.

As well, it shows that my mother thinks highly of Riona. She trusted her with our family secrets. She obviously has intuited how I feel about Riona, though I haven’t explicitly told her.

The other part of the story is something that our family has never shared with anyone. I never expected to tell it myself, even to a future partner. But Riona is different. As she said, her family has its own dark secrets, its own history of violence. I know she won’t be shocked by anything I tell her. I can trust her to take the story to her grave. Only a mafia daughter understands true discretion.