Disowned

James opened his mouth to speak, but Kieran beat him to it. ‘I’m not done. Nana, if you want to go on another hunger strike, I can’t stop you. But I will tell you this, if you don’t eat, I don’t eat. If you don’t drink, neither will I. But I’m not signing the divorce papers.’ Was it any wonder that I loved this man? I could have kissed him and jumped his bones right then and there if I wasn’t afraid of giving Beata a stroke. As it was, the eighty-year-old woman was barely holding on to her composure. She reached a trembling hand for her walking stick. James hustled over to help. ‘I’ve said what I’ve come to say. Enjoy your breakfast. Good day.’ Kieran turned around. ‘You would do this to me, on my birthday?’ Beata’s cracked, rasping voice stopped us both in our tracks. ‘You would walk out on us, your flesh and blood, for this…this hussy born out of wedlock, worse, born of a criminal? Can’t you see she’s turning you against your own family?’ ‘She’s not turning me against anybody,’ Kiera