Apparently she’s been keeping this secret since she was only twelve years old.”

Troy’s head throbbed. He had enough drama with Trey in jail, and McKenna engaged, and Cormac trying to raise April and Daryl’s baby as if he was daddy material when Cormac was the least likely of all the Sheenans to settle down.

And now Callan was throwing all her family stuff at him, too.

“Hang on,” he said, rubbing at his temple. “Wes and Mattie are separated?”

“On their way to divorced.”

“Too bad.” He’d seen Wes at a few rodeos. The man knew how to ride a bull. But marriage—that could be harder. “So what does that have to do with Sage keeping a secret?”

“She thought Mattie might be more inclined to work out her troubles with Wes if she knew that our mother had an affair. And that it hadn’t ended in divorce for our parents.”

Twisted logic, in Troy’s mind. But he could sort of see the connection. “How did Sage know her mom cheated on your dad?”

“She walked in on them.”

Wow. That was pretty heavy. And life changing for a kid.

Kind of like him walking in and discovering his mom was dead.

“Sorry,” he said gruffly. “That’s shitty. For Sage, and for all of you.”

Callan took another long drink. “Thing is, Troy, our mother was with your father.”

Troy went cold all over.

For a moment he couldn’t think, or speak. For a moment there was just silence, and then a buzzing in his head. The sound a radio station makes when you haven’t dialed in properly to the right channel.

The buzzing continued unabated.

And he thought of his mom. Not his dad.

Was this why?

Was this the reason for her terrible sadness? For her endless loneliness?

Troy stared blindly down into the pale gold of his beer. He couldn’t believe it.

And yet…

He could.

Bev Carrigan and his dad?

“You’re sure?” he asked roughly.

“Yep.” Her voice was quiet, her expression strained.

Shit.

He wished he’d never stopped in at Grey’s. Wished he’d gone straight from dinner to his room. Wished he could have avoided this conversation tonight. Wished he could have avoided this conversation for the rest of his life. “Does everyone know?”

“No one knows. Just you, me, and my sisters.”

He drank, and then set the glass down and pushed the half empty glass away. “Lucky you, me, and your sisters,” he muttered, reaching for his wallet to drop a five and a couple ones on the counter.

He rapped his knuckles on the counter to let Grey know he was leaving and then glanced down at Callan who suddenly looked very small and young on the bar stool. “My dad’s dying,” he said bluntly.

She nodded once, her dark braid slipping across her shoulder. “Dillon told me.”

“But you didn’t tell Dillon about the affair?”

She shook her head. “He’s the one who moved home to take care of your dad. Doesn’t seem fair to lay this on him, too.” She managed a tight, tough-girl smile. “But you’re Troy, the V.C. I figured your big shoulders could handle the truth.”

His big shoulders, he silently repeated, leaving the saloon a few minutes later.