“And I need you to know first, so when I tell Blake, you can be over the initial shock of it and be there for her,” Ned went on.
Forcing himself to move, Dair resumed his trek to the kitchen as he grunted, “Right,” into the phone.
“As you well know, there’s no love lost, but the woman was still her mother,” Ned said.
“She was,” Dair replied unnecessarily.
“And I know you knew her all your life and especially with what happened recently, you must be having conflicting emotions too, but it’s going to be all about Blake and Alex for a while.”
“Agreed. Absolutely,” Dair told him as he grabbed two bottles of still water from his fridge and moved back to the stairs. “I’m heading back to her. We doing this now?”
“I think we should.”
“Agreed on that as well,” Dair muttered, and he took the steps two at a time.
“I hate this for her,” Ned stated bitterly. “She’s happy. I’ve never seen her this happy. Both of them. Both of my daughters are finally happy, and now this.”
Even in this situation, Ned’s words weren’t lost on him, and they felt good because he knew he played a part in making Blake happy.
But he was still dreading what was about to happen.
Blake was lying in bed, scrolling on her phone, which made Dair uneasy she might run into the news about her mother, but the minute Dair and Sorcha made the room, she set it aside and shot a tentative, still curious smile Dair’s way but she reached to Sorcha.
Sorcha went to her side and got a head rub.
Dair went to his side, dumped the waters and got in bed with her.
“I’m back with her,” he told Ned. “Ready?”
“As I can be,” Ned muttered.
“Speaker?” Dair asked, and he hoped like fuck Ned agreed because he wanted to hear this and monitor how Blake responded it so he knew all he was dealing with.
“Yes, that’s perfect, Dair,” Ned agreed.
“Here we go then,” he murmured and looked to Blake. “It’s your dad, love.”
Her brows pinched.
This was her expression for mere seconds before a post-midnight call from her father penetrated and panic hit her face.
Quickly, he hit the speaker button on his screen and announced, “You’re on speaker, Ned.”
“Blake?” Ned called.
“Daddy?” Blake asked tremulously.
Dair wrapped an arm around her waist and yanked her close so her stiff body was fitted to his side.
“Oh, sweetheart,” Ned said. “I’m so sorry to interrupt your visit with this news.”
“What is it?” she asked, and then she jumped to the same conclusion he did. “Is Alex okay?”
“It’s not Alex, darling. It’s your mum.”
Dair was studying her face, and he watched what was left of the color drain out of it.
“Mum?”
