If somebody had told me even just a week before that Donovan O’Shea would be a beautiful father, I would have laughed in their faces. But from the first moment I watched him carefully take his little girl in his arms, he handled her with so much gentleness that it brought tears to my eyes.
I’d always wondered deep down in the part of my soul that still missed my own dad, whether men were actually capable of that kind of reverent care.
Evan was a good father, but often impatient. He used to shush the kids when they cried and developed tunnel vision on the TV when a football game was on, as if for three hours his children didn’t exist, and it had always made me uncomfortable.
Atlas was an incredible dad. He threw his two girls around like they were indestructible—though they came from his loins, so they probably were. My brother was rough and tumble, fun and playful, a wonderful father and protector, but nobody could call him gentle. Dan just wasn’t that guy, and that was okay because Belle and Lola got all the gentle they needed from Sophie.
In contrast, Donovan handled Imogen as if she were made of the finest glass, and it took my breath away. My tall, muscled, heavily tattooed Army veteran was full of surprises, and I loved that because every one of those surprises was better than the last.
I was ashamed to say I’d judged him harshly. I’d bought into his reputation, which was ignorant of me. Donovan O’Shea ran deeper than anyone knew, and I felt privileged to get to know a different side of him, especially when I suspected it wasn’t a side he let many people see.
After the court hearing, Donovan thanked everyone, and we waved them off.
Callum and Maeve finally left to go on their honeymoon, and John and Abe mounted their bikes and rode away in tandem. Aislynn had to get back to Denver, and Kennedy drove Maureen’s ride back to Hambleton.
That left me and Donovan’s mom.
Donovan had to hang around to wait for Imogen’s birth certificate, so we decided to stay in Scottsbluff for one more night to give him time to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s.
Maureen was adamant that she wouldn’t leave Imogen, and there was no way on earth I would leave Donovan, so we decided to hang with the new addition to the O’Shea family while her dad went and made their family official.
We took her to the park, and then we went to a local restaurant where Donovan eventually met us, smiling like he’d just won the state lottery.
Imogen was officially his.
I meant what I’d said to Donvan during our phone call a few days earlier; I didn’t care that the goalposts had moved because he’d become a father. I could already see the changes in him, and strangely, I could feel it too.
He was calmer and less manic; he was content.
I didn’t know how a man could mature ten years in the space of one week, but he had, and I loved seeing his transformation, made even more profound by the reason it had occurred in the first place.
Donovan was terrified, but I knew he’d find his way. He was instinctive and very natural with Imogen, and there was already a strong connection between them. They constantly studied each other and seemed to communicate through their eyes and facial expressions.
Imogen was a dream, albeit a quiet, watchful girl, no doubt because of what she’d already been through in her short time on earth. Still, once Donovan got over his shellshock at being a dad, I knew he’d bring fun and laughter into her life. After all, he’d brought it into mine.
Donovan’s arm twitched, and I felt his body shift slightly. “You awake, Posy?” he breathed.
My full-body shiver was delicious.
“Yeah,” I whispered. “Just basking in the peace.”
“It won’t last,” he murmured. “Mam’s probably pacing the hall outside, waiting to get to Imogen.”
It was like he’d summoned the Devil himself because a tap sounded from the door and Maureen’s voice drifted through. “Morning, lovelies. It’s only me. Take no heed, I’m coming in.”
Donovan’s body jolted, “What the fuck—?” He tugged the sheet to cover my bare legs just as the door opened.
My shocked stare jerked upward to see Maureen side-stepping toward the crib with one hand covering her eyes. “Don’t mind me,” she called out breezily. “I can’t see a thing. I’ve just come to get my granddaughter, Imogen. I was just telling Rhonda down at reception that she’ll be missing her nanna by now.”
I felt my face burn, and I squeezed my eyes shut because everybody knew if you couldn’t see it, then it never happened, right?
The bed shifted as Donovan went up on one elbow. “Ma! Are you fucking crazy? How did you even get in?”
A little mewl filled the air, and I heard Imogen’s cute, sleepy little voice call out, “Baba.”
“I was telling Rhonda down at reception what a long day you had yesterday, and that you’d no doubt be desperate for a lie-in. She programmed me a card for your room so I could come get my granddaughter, Imogen, and let you two have a break.Wasn’t that just lovely of her? Then she said you’d probably want to give Rosie the business, and I said, well, of course he will. Rosie’s beautiful and my Donovan’s a red-blooded male just like hisathair?—”
“Ma!” Donovan snapped, cutting her off.
