“Damn,” I heard Gideon mutter behind me. The boys backed up a few steps to give us some space and I held that girl until she finally calmed. When I looked down, her face was tucked against my shoulder but tilted upward. If her eyes hadn’t been closed, I would have stared straight into them.
“Looks like she fell asleep. How about I take her back to her parents before they get worried,” Gideon offered.
I shook my head.
“Come on, Lo, she has to be getting heavy,” Adrian whispered.
“No, leave her alone, she’s sleeping.”
“Okay, buddy,” Gideon finally said to me. His hand reached down and ruffled my hair. “We’ll be over on the couch. When your arms get too tired, just call out and I’ll come help you move her, okay?”
I think I nodded my head. My brothers all walked away as I sat there and held the pretty little girl in my arms. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you. You lost your sister and we lost our mom. We canstick together and then we’ll always have each other. I promise to never stop being your friend, ever.”
“Do you mean that?”
I looked down, startled to see her awake. “I do. We’ll be best friends.”
“Okay.”
“I’m Logan.” Everything I said to her was whisper-quiet. It didn’t need to be louder because she was sitting in my lap with my arms around her.
“I’m Aoife.”
“E-fah?” I sounded out. “Never heard that name before.”
She giggled. “It’s Irish, like my parents.”
“Oh.”
“Are you Irish, too?”
“I don’t think so. Mom was Greek and I don’t know what my Dad is.”
“Do you miss her?”
“I don’t know. She was always sad and hiding in her room a lot and now she’s just not here. It’s kind of the same, but not. I miss the times when she came out and took us places or gave us money. I really miss the times when she would hug me really big, but she hasn’t done that in a long time.”
Aoife snuggled into my chest and closed her arms tight around my waist. “I’ll give you hugs instead.”
I smiled down at her. “Do you miss your sister?”
She shook her head. “I know I should but she was very mean to me.”
“Why are you crying then?”
“Faye was the favorite. She was supposed to grow up to marry some gross old guy. Dad said she had to.” Her voice dropped even lower, as if she was afraid the wind would hear her and tell the secret. “I think he might make me do it now.”
I chuckled. “You’re just a kid. You aren’t allowed to get married.”
“Yeah, maybe.” She snuggled tighter to me as if she was afraid to let go and I liked it a lot.
“Don’t worry, Aoife, I’ll marry you one day so your dad won’t be able to tell some gross man to do it.”
Her eyes shined up at me and the way she smiled made my stomach hurt. “You’re going to be my husband one day, Logan.”
“Yep, and I’ll always be there to rescue you.”
TWO
