“Believe it, my love. It’s the first of many.”
“Is that so?” I tease, kissing the corner of her lips. “Then I guess it’s a good thing I’ll have Shay and Col to help me then.”
The genuine smile that crests her lips and the utter devotion that twinkles in her eyes fill my cold heart with bursting light, warming me from the inside out. If all I had was a sliver of her love, then this shows me what a fool I’d be to not be content with it.
“Tell you what? After the doctor has made sure that you and the baby are okay and gives you something to ease your nausea, how about we go over to my parents and tell them the good news? Shay will be thrilled with the groveling I’m about to do, and I suspect Colin will, too.”
“I sure don’t mind seeing you sweat for a while, husband,” she teases, rubbing her nose against mine.
“Aye, I guess you wouldn’t. But make a note of this day, wife. I doubt I’ll grovel like I’m about to ever again.”
“We’ll see about that. Don’t think you’re off the hook for the hell you put us through this month, husband. I expect a lot of groveling in the near future.”
“If that’s what I need to do, then so be it. As long as you forgive me.”
“You’re already forgiven. Doesn’t mean I won’t make you work for it.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less from you, acushla.”
When Rosa steps inside my parents’ house, Shay rushes towards us, wrapping his arms around my wife, afraid that she’s some false mirage sprung from his heartache. He breathes her in, coming close to tears at how much he’s missed her and how happy he is that they are now reunited. Colin leans against the door frame, biding his time until Shay lets go and he can have his turn.
Guilt rears its ugly head again at how cruel I was to keep her from the both of them. If the roles had been reversed, I don’t know how I would have handled it.
Fuck.
If I wasn’t their boss and blood, I’m sure the fuckers would have killed me just to get to her.
That’s what I would have done.
Shame like I’ve never felt before pollutes my bloodstream with the realization that my selfishness was causing pain for not only my wife, but also for my baby brother and beloved cousin.
“I’m sorry,” I say in the way of an apology, but it feels too unworthy of a word to make amends for what I’ve done.
“What are you sorry about?” I hear Ma ask as she comes out of the dining room, Athair and Father Doyle right at her heel. “If you’re apologizing for not showing your mug here for over a month, and keeping my daughter-in law-away from the rest of us, then aye, apologize all you want, but I’m still cross at ye.” My mother slants her eyes at me and then pulls Colin’s arms off my wife to give her a hug of her own. “Let me look at you, child. I was almost certain my wicked son had you tied up to his bedpost just to keep ye from straying. Kelly men have always had an obsessive streak about ‘em. After I married my Niall, my own mother didn’t set eyes on me for almost half a year. Man damn near killed me trying to put Tiernan in my belly.”
“Geez, woman. Don’t go telling our boys our business. Father Doyle also doesn’t want to know such things.
“Our boys have been sniffing up skirts since their balls dropped. I doubt them knowing they take after their Da in the bedroom is news to them. And Father Doyle, I mean no offense, but you’ve baptized enough babies to know where they come from.”
She laughs, pretending to give the evil eye to my pink-cheeked father, and then turns her attention to my rose once more.
“Now let me look at ye,” she coos, staring at my wife and scanning her every facial feature.
“Well, I guess my Tiernan one-upped his Da. It took six months for my Niall to get me pregnant, whereas Tiernan only took three.
One, but who’s counting.
“You’re pregnant?” Shay asks in utter shock.
“Aye, she is,” I confirm.
“So, it’s yours?” he rebukes, pissed.
“What kind of question is that?” my mother interrupts, confused. “Of course it’s Tiernan’s. Whose did you think it was? Another miraculous conception?”
We all stare at each other, my brother’s resentment and my cousin’s sadness making the air in the room so thick you could cut it with a knife.
“Saoirse, do you mind if Tiernan and I talk to Shay and Colin in private? There’s some things we need to discuss.”