He looked between Gray and her mom, deflating when he saw their tears. “I’m an idiot. I spoke without thinking.” He tugged Gray close, wrapping an arm around her back to bring her close for a hug, using one of his beefy hands to push her head to his chest.
Gray hadn’t realized how badly she needed a hug from her dad until that moment, feeling silent tears trickling down her cheeks to soak his shirt.
“Jo. Please.” He motioned to his wife. She hesitated a moment before joining Gray on her dad’s other side. “Will you girls forgive me? It was one of the best days of my life when youtold me you were pregnant, Jo, and Gray, I forget sometimes that you aren’t a little girl anymore.”
“Clearly,” Laith snorted, “since she’s knocked up.”
“Shut the hell up,” Lochlann started to say something else, but Laith wasn’t finished.
“I can’t believe your folks are part of the mile high cl—” Loch’s fist to his best friend’s stomach finally shut Laith up.
“And how do you know your parents aren’t members?” Cat asked her son sweetly, who moaned something about needing to vomit.
Her dad kept talking, ignoring the company. “I’m mad at Ciar, not about the pregnancy. I think he’s shit and doesn’t deserve you. I took my anger at him out on you. It won’t happen again. Forgiven?”
Gray sighed in relief. “Of course. Grandpa.”
“Too soon, Gray,” her dad grumbled. “And you, Jo? I’ve never regretted the plane or anything that came after. Forgiven?”
Her mom smiled at Gray across the expanse of her husband’s chest. “Men can be so dumb,” she announced before twisting from his arms to reach up and kiss him gently. “I love you.”
Cat clapped her hands and grinned. “Now that’s over, how far along are you, Gray?”
“The test said eighteen weeks.”
“Christ Almighty,” her dad spluttered, “she is definitely your daughter, Josephine.”
Her mom giggled and elbowed his side. It was kind of funny that her mom found out she was pregnant with Gray at around the same time.
“It’s because you both are so lovely and tall with so much more room for a baby to grow than simply out. I swear, Coll caught me a million times from tipping over face-first. Having that heavy belly threw my equilibrium off something terrible.”Cat smiled at her husband, who grinned back. The memory was a fond one.
“What now?” Lochlann asked.
“I’m changing my flight. I’m going to London in the morning and see what’s really going on with Ciar, and then once I’m back to Dublin, I’ll find a doctor. The rest is TBD.”
Lochlann stepped forward, looming almost as large as their dad, and said, “I’ll go with you. To London. For moral support, that is.”
She gave him a big hug where he awkwardly patted her back. “Thanks Loch, but I’m not letting you or Dad anywhere near this child’s father until things are sorted.” She knew she’d made the right call when her dad and brother exchanged looks of disappointment.
“Oh, and Cat, please don’t say anything to Blair. I’ll tell the girls when I get home.”
“The sooner the better, because as soon as the girls know, we can call the Byrne sisters to get their recommendations for doctors,” Catriona grinned, excited about the baby.
“Also,” her mom added, “would you mind, Gray, if we had Aileen and Charles come over so you can tell them the big news? She would never tell Mags if we ask her not to.”
“Of course we should,” Gray agreed.
Twenty minutes later, the kitchen was more crowded, including Mirren on a video call. Aileen cried and congratulated Gray. “I’d better not get news like this from Mags for several years, though,” she laughed.
“Do you remember calling me when you found out, Jo?”
“You listened to me bawling in my car in the doctor’s parking lot for what felt like hours. You made me feel like I could conquer the world or at least your ex-husband,” her mom joked.
Gray felt lightheaded at the speed with which the day had escalated. It started with a relaxing barbecue with the family,led to a positive pregnancy test, and finished with a big family reveal.
Her mom was right. It was a relief that her father knew. Waiting would have been stressful, and worse than that, it would have hurt his feelings.
Before she went to bed, Gray booked an early flight to London in the hopes of cornering Ciar before he went to work for the day.
