“Oh, wow. Baron’s mother’s here? I hadn’t heard. I’m glad I didn’t run into her,” I grimace, and Kelly nods with a satisfied smile. “Okay, well . . . call me if she burns the place down overnight. Or wait, you’re leaving soon, aren’t you, Kelly?”
“Yes, but I know the night shift manager. No news is good news, Delaney.” Kelly winks at me before I wave goodbye, and I leave the hotel. The damp, night air is refreshing after spending all day in crowded ballrooms. Inhaling deeply, I close my eyes briefly before starting down the sidewalk.
The walk home is swift, and I stare up at the front of the building. The bricks glow from the streetlamps, and a small smile tilts my lips. Taking the front steps, I pull my keys out of my purse before shouldering my way into my apartment. I’d spent last night at Bran’s place, and the peaceful calm that permeates my flat rings in my ears.
“I forgot I’d moved everything around,” I say to myself when I flick on a light. The sitting room is so inviting, and I drop my purse on the table behind the sofa to grab my phone. Dialing my brother’s number, I sit and grab the tv remote off the coffee table before leaning back leisurely with a sigh. “Bran? Hey, I just walked in the door. Where are you?”
“I’m just leaving the grocery store now,” Bran says, and I nod as the television flickers from its mount on the wall. “I just got the basics. I figured you’ll want to do your own grocery shopping on your next day off. That’s . . . Tuesday, right?”
“Tuesday, aye, yes. I appreciate you doing this for me. Is Luna with you?” I ask curiously.
“No, she stayed home. We still have things to unpack from way before her graduation, and she doesn’t want to live like a packrat. Her words, not mine. But she sends her love,” Bran chuckles, and I smile as I open a streaming app. “Luna told me not to come home, that she’d call me when she wanted me to come back. I suppose that means it’s just you and me tonight, Delaney.”
“Ah, it’s like when she was working on her final dissertation. You’d just gotten back f-from where? San Fernando?” I pause, frowning deeply.
“San Francisco, aye. We had a wonderful time. I think her mother warmed up to me a bit,” Bran says with a fond lilt in his tone, and I’m happy for him. “It was a beautiful drive—a beautiful city—a beautiful hotel. Just a lovely place to go. Especially after everything that happened beforehand, I would most definitely go back to San Francisco. Luna and I had talked briefly about making a yearly trip.”
“I’m glad. Alright, I’ll let you go, and we’ll talk when you get here,” I say, and Bran and I say our goodbyes before hanging up. Flipping through shows, I let myself bask in the rightness of the world right now. My palm finds its way to my abdomen, and I take a deep, easy breath. “I only wish I could’ve caught Baron and let him know I was leaving on time for once.”
Everything is good. I’m good. Baron’s good. The new assistant is good.
Flopping my head back, I rub my belly absently as vague scenes float across the ceiling. This baby . . . is good. Baron’s very first thought was that he was going to be a dad. There aren’t enough words to describe how relieved I was. Part of me thought he’d flip out. Maybe, it’d be less about the baby being his but more about it being a thing in the first place.
All in all, I think Baron took it really well. He was smiling and laughing.
“I can’t imagine what’s going to happen next, though,” I mutter. And the not knowing fills me with . . . excitement, not fear. I’m looking forward to this journey with Baron. “He’s such a good man. If only we’d met a year earlier . . . but no. I might not have given him a second glance a year ago, so consumed with my family problems that I can’t see my own hand in front of my face. Things couldn’t have happened any different.”
My doorbell trills insistently, and I stand up to walk to the front door. Bran stands beyond, bags surrounding his feet, and my stomach grumbles as I reach to pick them up. He holds more bags in his hands, and we shuffle toward the kitchen. “You got a lot! What’d you get?”
“Ground beef, some chicken, carrots, apples . . . just easy stuff that’ll tide you over the weekend,” Bran answers with a sheepish grin. “There’s milk and eggs and the usual in here, as well. And bread.”
“Ah, well, I can make something. Cheeseburgers?” I glance over my shoulder at my brother as he pauses, his eyes widening in alarm. “You didn’t get cheese? That’s alright. I can make grilled chicken sandwiches?”
“That sounds delicious,” Bran and I reach the kitchen and pile bags onto the counters before I start to go through them. He grabs a chair and sits, not getting in my way. “So, did you tell Baron?”
“Yes, I did, and h-he laughed and cried a bit,” I reveal, fire licking up my neck and into my cheeks. My eyes ache at the memory, my heart growing too big for its spot between my lungs. “He took it better than I expected. I know part of me was worried for no reason, but it still . . . was nerve-wracking. And when I told him about the prenatal vitamins, he thought it was for renal failure. It was so adorable.”
“If Luna told me she was pregnant, I’d probably fall over,” Bran quips, and I giggle as I open the fridge to start filling it.
“I feel so much better now that it’s out there. I’m also grateful I told him in the morning, right as work was starting. It gave me time to collect my thoughts,” I pause to look over at my brother as he smiles warmly. “I realized . . . all this time, I never mentioned I had two other brothers and a sister. That I have a lot of money, too. After telling him, I was able to think clearly, aye? And it made me wonder . . . what if my association with the mafia is something beyond his capabilities? That’s not even considering the fact that Petra Frey is after me? I know Liam put a bounty on her, but I just . . . don’t understand why this is the hill she wants to die on? What if it’s too much for Baron? His hotel is just getting off the ground, and maybe he doesn’t want anything to do with dirty money?”
“Woah, woah, you’re reading way too much into it, Delaney,” Bran holds up his hands to shake, a frown cresting his lips. Holding my breath, I fight a frown of my own as apprehension balls in my gut. “One thing at a time, aye? So what if you’ve never mentioned Eamon or Keenan or Keeva? Keeva, maybe less so, but our brothers basically did worse than Hans Frey did to you. He was a stranger, and Eamon and Keenan are your brothers. Or they were. Eamon asks me about you sometimes, but it always seems to me like he wants to know for his own sake, not yours.”
“Everyone’s busy with their own lives, I know that. It’s hard to keep together when they’re in Seattle, and we’re here, and Keenan’s in Ireland . . . I just feel bad for, for feeling like maintaining the relationship isn’t worth it, you know?” I pause after putting the eggs in the refrigerator to look back at Bran. Understanding blazes from his eyes and softens his grimace. “I blame them. After what happened with Delilah’s father, I didn’t want anything to do with the internal machinations of the Irish mafia, and yet . . . look at what happened.”
“I believe you, and I don’t think you’re wrong, Delaney,” Bran rubs his mouth with his palm and sighs. “Trust me, I know very well how it feels to want to feel those things but also feeling like it’s poisoning you. But that’s why we came to London, Delaney, to get some distance and be by ourselves and heal together. Away from the stress and pressure. You were the one that had to kick me in the arse, remember? I can’t decline to return the favor if you want me to.”
“I appreciate it, Bran,” I smile warmly at my brother, and he leans back in the chair to stretch out his legs with a grumbling sigh. “Did you get a salad?”
“Aye, it’s in there,” he says, and I go hunting before deciding to just take everything out of the bags. Cluttering the countertop with food, I stuff the bags one into another before the faint sound of my phone ringing catches my attention. Bran stands up swiftly, waving me off, and I crumple up the bags to toss them into the empty, dry sink carelessly.
“It’s Baron,” Bran says, holding out my phone as it rings insistently. “Do you want me to hang around, or?”
“Oh, right. I invited him over tonight,” I blush fiercely at my blunder before swiping the screen and holding my phone to my ear. “Hey, Baron.”
“Tom told me you left on time. I could barely believe it,” he jokes lightly, and I giggle in embarrassment. “Is the invitation still open? I’m leaving the hotel now.”
“Um, yes, it is,” I say, glancing back at Bran. “My brother just dropped off some groceries for me, so I can make dinner if you’re hungry.”
