Tina came storming out, holding a drowsy Imogen in the crook of her arm. “One more outburst,” she threatened. No one wanted to hear the end of her threat.
“Apologies,” Jonathan shook his head in regret.
Dagr asked, “Can we see your child?”
Tina answered before he could. “I’m not letting this sweet girl anywhere near you streetcorner thugs. Finish your business,” she sneered the word business, “and get out.”
Ciar didn’t bother getting on to the older woman. He wasn’t that brave.
“It’s still weird to see three of you,” Ciar wondered aloud.
They ignored the reminder that Dagr and his dad were new family. “We’re only here to know whether you plan on letting Gray go for good. She is under the impression that you two are long done.” Dagr gave his best badass solicitor’s stare—or as badass as he could give with one functioning eye.
“I’ll never be done with Gray. I understand that I’ve blasted every good intention to hell and beyond and have not done one thing right when it comes to her. I had so many dreams and ideas. I still have them, damn it.
“What can I do? She came here and saw Imogen and thought the worst, and I never got a word in.”
“She thought the worst,” Daniel huffed in fake amusement. “Of course, she thought the fucking worst, you moron.”
“She doesn’t know everything. She actually knows next to nothing of it,” Ciar slung back.
“Did having a child make you a pussy, Murphy? You can’t make one woman listen to you for five minutes?” Jonathan demanded.
Ciar didn’t immediately defend himself. Truly, he didn’t have a leg to stand on, but it did kill him to hear what his best friends thought of his behavior.
“The building you purchased for you and Gray is finished?” Dagr asked, the most even-keeled of the three cousins.
“It is. She doesn’t know.” His dad had encouraged him not to let go of his dream, and even though he didn’t know all the details of what was between him and Gray, he never failed to support his only son.
“Then you have somewhere to move your family and work on getting Gray to hear you out. Christ, Ciar, if this were Bébhinn we were speaking about, I would lock us in together until she agreed to listen. It’s your only chance, and only if you truly have a good reason for all the lies,” Dagr shrugged, giving him some benefit of the doubt.
No one knew why he made the decisions he made, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted them to. Even Gray, as much as he died inside when he thought of never holding her again.
“Your only chance,” Daniel echoed.
A look passed between Daniel and Jonathan that Ciar couldn’t decipher. They were keeping something from him. Could Gray have moved on? He tried to swallow the rage that threatened to erupt.
“I can only move if Tina agrees to come with us. She hates me, but she loves Imogen.”
“I’ll move, you idiot,” Tina announced as she walked out of the hallway, where she’d obviously been eavesdropping. “This apartment is too small. I need my own space.” Sniffing, she disappeared as soon as she’d appeared.
“Well,” was the only thing Ciar could fumble out. “It looks like we’re moving to Dublin.”
thirty-four
GRAY
“Congratulations, Gray. You’re having a boy,”her doctor announced during the ultrasound. Bébhinn, Mags, and Blair stood next to the exam table as the doctor rolled the ultrasound device over her lubed up stomach.
“Oh, Gray,” Mags sighed. “A boy. I’m so excited to embroider something special for him from his Auntie Mags.”
Blair simply touched Gray’s forehead and made the sign for love.
“Mom swore it was a boy. I can’t wait for you to tell everyone. I’m so excited for you, Gray. So excited,” Bébhinn repeated as she blinked back tears.
A boy.
She was going to have a son.
