He paused and then sighed. “You’re awfully small to take up such a big part of my heart.”

“You say the best things. I love you too.”

“Sleep well. Spike is headbutting my hand where I’m holding the phone so he misses you too.”

“He’s trying to get you to put the phone down so you can pet him.”

“Yeah that’s more likely. But less romantic.”

She laughed. “Goodnight, Royal and Spike.”

“Night. Sweet dreams.”

It had been a great day all around but for the absence of Royal in her bed, and as she’d be seeing him soon enough, it could wait a day or two. If anything the time apart from him always made her realize how much she liked hanging out with him.

He was low maintenance except when it came to sex. Then? Well then he was an exacting taskmaster, which was fine with her. If you wanted something done right you had to practice. A lot.

She fell asleep with a smile on her face, thinking of Royal as her f**king coach. Yeah that worked.

“So, I think you should tell me.” Shep put four slices of pizza on his plate. This, along with a giant bucket-like container of soda, and that was just his first go. She had a lot of sympathy for her grandparents. It must cost so much money to feed a teenage boy.

He settled on one corner of her couch, claiming that end table for his cup and plate, she did the same on the other side.

“What do you mean?”

“About him. About why you think what you do.”

She paused. It wasn’t that she hadn’t endlessly thought about how she should deal with this topic. She spent hours just trying to figure it out. Should she tell him? If yes, should she seek her grandparents’ permission because they were his guardians? If she did tell him, how much to say?

But the reality of that moment happening after so long got to her, and she needed a bit of time to pull herself back together.

“You want to know about our dad. About why I think he’s innocent. Just being super clear.”

He nodded.

“I have long wondered if I should ask Grandma and Grandpa for permission to talk about this with you.”

“I’m almost eighteen! You’re my sister. This is about our parents. Why should you have to ask? You know they’ll refuse.”

She blew out a breath. “Yeah. That’s pretty much what I thought. I think you’re a really mature young man. You’re off to college in like what, four and a half months?”

He nodded.

“I’m proud of you for that. I know I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. You are going to have such great things in your future. Mom and Dad would have been proud. So anyway, you’ll be eighteen in three weeks. You’re my brother. They were our parents and I knew them better than anyone. Which is why I’m going to tell you. Grandma and Grandpa will be angry when they find out, you know. Are you prepared to deal with that?”

“We got into a big fight after you left. Grandma and Grandpa do not agree at all about what went down Saturday. He feels bad. She’s mad at you for embarrassing her in front of Royal and the rest of town with your crusade. Garrett is right up her butt on that. Mindy…well. She wants to support you. She actually argued for you for a while. He doesn’t want her seeing you. I just think that’s bullshit. You’re our sister. This is about our family and our life, and I think we have a right to feel however we damn well feel.”

“That was a few curse words there, Shep.” She gave him an amused warning.

“It makes me feel like cursing. I don’t like secrets. This thing where they want you to shut up about how you feel and what you know about what happened to you? I don’t like it at all. That’s a damned secret. One of those secrets that tears everyone apart. And you’re the one who pays the price. I’m not okay with that. I want you to tell me. So I can make up my mind without secrets.”

She took a deep breath and she told him.

Over the next few hours she spoke, he asked questions, she answered them. Once they finished eating, she let him see the press kit with all the relevant facts about the case and then handed him a black three-ring binder.

“That’s pretty much everything I just went over with you along with supporting legal documentation and case law. Some of those subjects have articles attached. It’s all layers of proof for everything I’ve just told you.”

He dropped onto her couch, an arm thrown over his eyes, and she felt awful for overwhelming him. “Look, let’s stop now.”

“You keep saying that. But I want to know.”

“I know you do. I’m not saying no to giving you the answers, but I think you’re tired and you have school tomorrow and I’ve just told you stuff that you need to find a way to process and deal with. This is enough for the night. I’ll tell you more. You can talk to the other attorneys and people I deal with to see what they think. I just want to say to you, Enrique Mendoza would never, ever have hurt Bianca Mendoza. You were two when this happened. You didn’t get to know either of them and for that I am so sorry. But I did. I saw them both every single day of my life. He didn’t do this. And when, or if, you decide I’m telling you the truth, you’re going to struggle. I’m telling you in advance that you need to give yourself permission not to feel guilt. You couldn’t have known.”

“But I could have! Why didn’t you tell me before now?”

“You were two. Mindy was five. It was made clear to me that I could not stay here if I continued to hold on to the belief that our dad was innocent. So I went with our dad’s family.” Jesus, they’d been so anxious to see her brother and sister all these years. Their grandmother would be so thrilled. But she needed to take it slow and not overwhelm him any more.