[///ON HOLD///] Animal House (Rendezvous #2)

Chapter 12

Nora and Declan stared at each other for a few silent seconds before she looked down. "I didn't mean to see it. But—"

"No, that was my fault," Declan said. "I'm usually awake before my partner, but we were both reckless that night."

She fidgeted with her fingers. "So you really are self-conscious about them."

"Not at all. It's just that I don't want to burden others by having them see the scars. Like you are at the moment." Declan smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "People tend to treat me as if I'm fragile after the discovery. It's understandable, but that doesn't mean I appreciate it."

Nora didn't respond, and the question settled in the back of her throat. She hesitated asking it though because she didn't know if she was dancing on thin ice. Declan saw the conflict by her fidgeting and sighed.

"I don't mind telling you, Nora."

"You don't have to."

"You're right, but I want to," he said. "It's not right of me to hide my past to the woman I proposed to."

She pressed her lips into a thin line, but settled in her seat, signaling to Declan that she was ready and willing to listen. His lips twitched at her docile actions, but his face settled into the usual nonchalant expression before he began.

"I inherited most of my features from my father, Logan, so it's natural to assume that my mother is Ava. But Ava is only the birth mother of Heath. I have a different mother altogether and I lived with her up until I was two years old. After that, my father took custody of me by law because my birth mother had been abusing me...along with her lover, at the time."

Two years old. Nora felt the pit of her stomach churn from the thought of someone beating and hurting a child of two years old. And she could only assume that Declan's real mother abused him even before he was two. A baby Declan reminded Nora of their own daughter, and Nora felt the back of her throat close up from the image it brought.

"The physical beatings left bruises, but they eventually healed. The scars on my back were made from cigarettes though, so they left scars that didn't disappear over time. My blood mother's lover made sure they wouldn't heal easily since he felt resentment towards Logan, the father of his woman's child and a young man more successful and rich than him."

"But...did Logan love your birth mother?"

"No, he didn't. I was born when Dad was only twenty-two years old and my birth mother devised a plan so that she'd successfully get conceived. She wanted Dad's child because he was a young millionaire who'd inherit his father's fortune, no questions asked. My father wasn't always the mature, calculative man he is now. He used to be a spoiled brat who took things for granted."

Nora found it hard to imagine such a young, reckless Logan Bishop. She assumed that he was always a hardworking and ruthless businessman rather than someone who lived on his father's coattails.

"And where is your real mother now?" Nora asked.

Declan smiled. "I consider Ava my real mother. She's the one who raised me to be the one I am now after all. Concerning my birth mother though, I don't know. Dad told me that they made a deal and she swore to never enter my life again. I care nothing for a mother who didn't love me, so I have no interest to find out who she is either. Besides, I'm happy with what I have now. Mom treats me like her real son and I'm not merely a half-brother to Heath."

Nora saw that Declan's mood had lifted from talking about his family, and she realized why he was so persistent with their marriage. Declan was born from unfortunate circumstances, but he gained a family that loved him unlike his birth mother. He probably saw himself in Denora and wanted her to have a full family to call her own.