Becoming the Whiskey Princess (27 page)

“It’s okay,” Amberlyn whispers in my ear, kissing the lobe. “She’s so strong, Declan. She has this.”

I want to believe her, but my sister looks so frail, so little. Even though she is dressed like a million bucks, not a hair out of place, she still looks like a baby. My wee sister.

“You were there with Mr. Burke the night he allegedly shot Ms. Amberlyn Reilly.”

“He didn’t allegedly shoot her. He did.”

“That hasn’t been determined yet.”

“Only because Amberlyn hasn’t been up here. She has the scar from where she saved my brother.”

I feel Amberlyn move, and I look over to where she is rubbing the spot above her heart. Where a thick scar sits. It’s a constant reminder of what happened, something that has been hard to let go of. It still hurts when I see it. I just want to kiss it away or take it off and put it on me. She is forever scarred, and when I said that to her the other night, she told me it was a badge of honor. It was a sweet way to think of it, but I wish she didn’t have to wear it.

“Why did she ‘save’ your brother? Because he physically and mentally abused Mr. Burke?” he says, and my annoyance grows quickly.

“No, Declan never abused him in any way. They don’t like each other, with good reason. Casey gave more than he took.”

“Okay, can you please explain to me what happened again?”

“I already did for the prosecution.”

“I know, but I want to ask some questions and I want to hear it again.”

Sucking in a deep breath, Lena lets it out before looking back down at her hands. “He texted me. First time in years and it said that he had to speak to me. Told me where he was and I went. Like an idiot, but I did—”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Because you still love him?” he supplies.

She scoffs. “Not in the least.”

“So you didn’t tell him you still loved him out there in the alley?”

Her brows come together as my heart starts to pound louder. “No, I did not. I told him I care for him and probably always will, but I don’t love him.”

“Caring for someone is a form of love,” he states, and Lena looks up, glaring.

“Sure it is, but so is wanting to kill someone. So are you stating that Casey Burke loves my brother, but he could never love me?”

“She’s a spitfire,” Amberlyn observes, her face breaking into a grin. “She’s giving him a run for his money.”

“That’s not what I’m implying at all.”

“Okay, then please don’t imply that I still love the guy who raped me and almost killed my brother, but instead shot my future sister-in-law.”

Looking down, I can see the frustration on the attorney’s face. Amberlyn is right; Lena is driving him mad.

“So you went outside in the alley with him?”

“Yes, and he asked me if I still loved him. I said no, that I care for him and his ma. He asked again, and I told him no, that I don’t feel anything for him. I’m getting married next summer; my fiancé is the only one I love,” she pauses, shaking her head before glancing up at the attorney. “He became very upset, yelling at me, telling me to tell my da to back off since my da was trying to pay him to leave due to the fact he causes havoc everywhere he goes. He couldn’t leave though because of his ma, and I understood. But I wasn’t going to tell my da to stop because I believed he needed to pay for what he did to me or leave me be.”

“But he had left you alone. He hadn’t contacted you in years.”

“No, he hadn’t, but when he saw me out, he made it a point to come to me, talking to me about how we should be together and all. But each time I shot him down.”

The attorney bites his lip before waving her along. “Please continue.”

“My brother Declan came out with his fiancée, and then everything went mad. They were yelling at each other for Casey to get away from me, and Casey was accusing Declan of ruining his life, and then the gun was pulled. It was his grandda’s; I had gone out to the field with him once and watched him fire it. It has a very noticeable big stag on the side of the handle. I shouted for him to put it down, but he didn’t. He shot it off, and I screamed as Amberlyn jumped in front of the bullet, taking it above her heart. He intended to shoot my brother; I saw it with my own two eyes.”

The attorney pinches his nose before turning to the table. “That’s all I have.”

“Judge, permission to reexamine Ms. O’Callaghan please?” the prosecution lawyer asks, and the judge nods as the lawyer rises up, heading toward Lena.

“With your two eyes, ya said?”

She nods. “Yes.”

“So Casey Burke shot Amberlyn Reilly but was aiming for your brother, Declan. Do you think he wanted to kill him?”

She looks out at me, and I hold her gaze as she sucks in a deep breath. I watch then as she looks dead-on at Casey and nods her head. “Without a shadow of doubt, Casey Burke wanted to kill my brother. I could see it in his eyes.”

“See what?”

“The rage. The hatred. He hates us, and his last words before he pulled the trigger were, ‘I’m going to ruin your life, like ya have mine’ and then he shot.”

“Do you think he was in his right mind?”

“Yes, I do.”

“So his insanity plea—”

“Is him trying to cover up his mistakes. He does that a lot.”

The prosecution lawyer nods his head. “Thank you, Ms. O’Callaghan.”

And I know we have it in the bag. As long as Amberlyn does as well as Lena has.

The prosecution lawyer doesn’t sit down as Lena comes down, heading toward us. Instead, he reads from his paper and says, “Your honor, I call to the stand Ms. Amberlyn Reilly.”

She looks at me and smiles before my lips meet hers. Pulling back, I smile as she cups my face and heads up to the stand. Taking her spot is Lena, and I wrap my arm around her, kissing her temple.

“I love you,” she whispers and I smile.

“I love ya more,” I answer, holding her tight to me. I notice that Micah hasn’t moved an inch and hasn’t even tried to hold her hand as Amberlyn is sworn in. Once she is seated, I listen as she replays the night over again. Her story equals up to Lena’s, and I’m not surprised when she tells all.

“Declan tried to take me home to hide the fact that he was embarrassed that his dad had just informed me of his deadline of marriage. That’s why we went out the side door. We were in the middle of our argument when we heard Lena and Casey arguing too.”

She continues to tell how it all went on and my heart just beats for her. She is so strong, sitting up there completely confident as she tells her story. She is dressed in a pantsuit, her hair in a high bun, looking exceptionally beautiful.

“So you are sure he meant to shoot Declan and not you?”

“Yes, he aimed right for him, and I couldn’t let him kill Declan. He has so much to live for. I only have him to live for, so I did what any other girl in love would do. I protected my man.”

A collective aww goes through the courtroom as the lawyer nods. “Thank you, Ms. Reilly.”

She smiles a thanks as the defense lawyer stands. “You dated Mr. Burke, yes?”

“Briefly.”

“Why didn’t it work out?”

“Because I was in love with Declan.”

“So Declan stole you from him?”

Amberlyn laughs, and I can’t hide my grin. “If you know anything about Declan, you would know he is very honorable and would never steal someone’s girlfriend. He may have wanted to, but Declan wouldn’t do that. He instead stood to the side and told me that he’d wait. Since I didn’t feel what I felt with Declan when I was with Casey, I told Casey I couldn’t see him anymore. Casey proceeded to get very angry and put his hands on me, forcing me to kiss him. I had to fight him off and knew that I would never ever trust him again. He tried to speak to me many times after that, but I always tried to get away. He doesn’t do well with rejection, I’ve noticed.”

That must have derailed the lawyer because he turns, reaching for a piece of paper, his brows drawn together.

“Counselor?” the judge asks and the lawyer turns, nodding his head.

“Excuse me,” he says before sitting down. “That’s all I have.”

“Judge, can I please reexamine Ms. Reilly?” the prosecution lawyer asks and again the judge agrees as he rises up, heading to Amberlyn.

“I neglected to ask you the same question I did Ms. O’Callaghan,” he says with apology in his voice. “Do you think Mr. Burke was in his right mind when he pulled the trigger?”

“Yes. He was angry, but he knew what he was doing.”

“Do you forgive him?”

Amberlyn looks up and I smile. She is such a beautiful soul. “Yes, I do.”

The room collectively gasps, and some people start to whisper as the lawyer goes on. “Should the jury forgive his crime?”

She then shakes her head. “No. He needs to pay for the pain he has caused me and my family. Everyone was so distraught ’cause I could have died. While he may not have meant to shoot me, he did mean to shoot my fiancé and ultimately kill him. I, for one, do not want that kind of person walking the same streets I do, or even drinking at the pub I work at.”

“Thank you, Ms. Reilly.”

“Thank you,” she says, and as she comes off the stand, I rise, waiting for her. When she reaches me, I pull her into my arms and press my lips to hers.

“I think I told ya once that my life would have no meaning without ya.”

She grins as she holds to me tighter, her fingers biting into my shoulder blades. “Yeah, I think you did before you asked me to marry you.”

“I did, and those words are still true. I love ya, Amberlyn.”

“Good,” she says with a wink. “Because I still and always will love you.”

I
n the crook of Declan’s arm, I listen as Mr. O’Callaghan boasts about how the trial went. It did go well, but I’m not going to lie and say it was easy. I was a wreck when Declan was up there and they were attacking him, basically saying he caused Casey to go off and try to kill him. Like the man he is though, he kept his cool and didn’t falter at all. When Lena got up there, though, all his strength was gone. He was a nervous mess and I tried to comfort him, pointing out that Lena could hold her own, but the poor guy didn’t see that. He saw that his sister was under scrutiny, reliving the horrible events she went through, and of course, he wanted to save her. Can’t blame him though. I, too, wanted to pull her down and just hug her.