“You don’t have very many months left to make it, sweetheart. I only want you and the baby safe.”
Her dad’s heartfelt plea pulled at Gray’s heart. Still… “I know. I promise to figure myself out sooner than later. Okay?”
“So, should I cancel the movers?”
“Dad,” she growled.
That was five days ago. Gray was living in fear of what his second battle would look like. Daniel’s mother, Raven, was taking her to look at a gorgeous loft flat that a friend of hers was putting up for lease in January.
Her friends really wanted her to stay at the townhouse. There was an extra bedroom for the baby as Bébhinn had moved out two months prior. Gray struggled with wanting to stay where she was comfortable and not wanting to put her friends on nanny duty.
Blair barged in from the door that led to the back garden. For such a tiny woman, she could make a clatter. She caught her friend’s eye, signing that Blair was covered in her work. Blaironly grinned and swiped her fingers across her cheek, covering herself in even more soil and debris.
“Are you ready for your INCC internship? I hear Dagr’s father is a handful.” Ulf Griffiths, Dagr’s dad, was heading up a new nature and hiking preserve in Wales for the Initiative for Nature Conservation Cymru, and Blair had scored the coveted internship.
“Two months,” Blair grinned. “I can’t wait. They’re doing their conservation process all wrong. I can’t wait to bitch slap them into the twenty-first century. I have so many plans, I can hardly sleep.
“From March on, I’ll be in Wales until graduation. This project will be the groundwork for my thesis over the next two years.”
“The fact that you’re graduating uni a year early and already have your thesis squared away for your master’s disgusts me. Such an overachieving bitch,” Gray teased.
Blair fanned her cheeks like she was overwhelmed with the compliment. “Never fear. I put in vacation days for the birth of baby MacGregor.”
“Since I’ll be finishing my last year’s school projects online, I hope to have a couple of months to still pick up some jobs for O’Connor’s before I need to buckle down and figure out what my new circumstances look like.” Gray smiled, patting her stomach.
“A word of warning,” Blair started, “the Byrne sisters are planning a three-pronged invasion into your life.”
Gray felt her eyes widen. “What does that mean?”
“Bébhinn would have warned you by now, but our friend can’t seem to take the time away from riding Dagr and working, so I’ll do it for her.
“I believe stage one is a party to announce the pregnancy, which means you’d better have spoken to Ciar before that, because his dad will hear about it.”
Gray felt her stomach clench. Every time she felt like she was getting a handle on her new situation, Ciar’s shadow swooped in to ruin it.
“The second stage is a baby shower, of course. The last stage of the Byrne BabyPalooza is finding the perfect home for you and decorating it. I don’t think the last stage will pan out because your parents are fighting hard for you to move home, and your mom is threatening her own war with the Byrnes if they try.”
Gray dropped her head in her hands. Blair touched her head so she would look up and Blair could speak to her.
“I was teasing about Bébhinn, well, kind of. They do have a ton of sex, but she did tell me that she planned on pushing pause on her mom and aunts’ plans until you decide what you want.” She emphasized “you” by bopping Gray’s nose.
“Oh, thank God.” Gray felt her body relax again.
“I’m not joking about Ciar, though. You know it’s time. He’s a complete dick, but if what you said about how he handled his baby is true, he’ll probably be a good father if nothing else.”
Gray had nothing to say to that, only, “Why Imogen, Blair? Why?” Ciar had hurt her in so many ways, but to name his child after Gray was brutal.
Blair shrugged, blowing out a breath of her own frustration over his behavior. “I don’t know. Hopefully, that is one of many things you’ll find out. Nothing that man has done after Colorado makes any sense.”
“He’s never missed Christmas at Murphy’s Pub, and I know he’ll want to make an appearance or two at Gray Eyes.” At least Gray didn’t wince at yet another reference to herself. His pub…his daughter.
“I will ask for a moment of his time over the holiday.”
thirty-three
CIAR
If his lifecould get suctioned any deeper down the shitter, Ciar would be impressed. With Tina’s hateful assistance with Imogen—to be fair, Tina was generous and loving to his daughter. He was managing work and fatherhood well.
