“You nailed your due date. You are right at five months, and baby MacGregor is just the size we want him to be. I’m putting your due date as April thirtieth, though every woman’s body decides the day. He might want to come before that, or he might decide he likes it in your belly and come later.
“You still have a ways to go and plenty of time to prepare. Unless you have any issues, I will see you next month.” The doctor wiped off all the gloop from her belly and clapped her hands in excitement, which made Gray smile.
It was exciting.
“You’re sure he’s the right size? I know she’s tall, but…” Blair trailed off.
Mags translated for the doctor, who laughed at the concern. She made sure to look directly at Blair, so it was easier for her to read her lips.
“Moms come in every shape and size. Think of your baby space like a twin-size bed,” she pointed toward Blair’s middle. “There’s really only one direction the baby can grow, and that’s out.
“Now, Gray’s son,” she pointed to Gray’s middle, “can enjoy a queen-sized bed, more room to stretch. Both are healthy and perfect for mother and child.”
“What size bed are we?” Mags asked, pointing between herself and Bébhinn.
Without missing a beat, the doctor studied the girls. Pointing at Mags, she announced, “A double, smaller than a queen, but bigger than a twin.” She turned to Bébhinn. “Twin.”
They were all hooting with laughter as Gray thanked the doctor, who left the room so that she could get dressed. Her friends were all buzzing with excitement, asking a million questions, and teasing each other about their belly beds.
“Lord, I needed to laugh. My life has been way too serious lately,” Gray admitted.
Blair asked, “How do you feel, Gray? Really?”
How did she feel? Specifically, how did she feel about being a single mother? “I feel like I’ve got this. I know I’ve told you, but I feel peace about telling Ciar. He won’t be in my life, but he willbe in our son’s. I can be nothing but okay with that. I don’t have a choice.”
“We’re meeting the boys for lunch,” Mags reminded them.
If they didn’t get a move on, they’d be late. “You’d better call your mom and dad before we meet them, because those tattlers will be calling out the sex of the wee one on street corners the minute they hear.”
“Truth,” Blair grinned, agreeing.
“Dagr might tell his dad, but that grumpy curmudgeon won’t tell anyone.” Bébhinn crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.
They all loved Ulf Griffiths, but he was an acquired taste.
Thirty minutes later, she and her friends were walking into an old-school pub that only locals knew about. The proprietors could fry a cod fillet like no one else.
Normally, Gray could take or leave lunch. A protein shake was good enough for her, but baby boy had been insisting on heartier fare. Who was she to deny a child?
The girls jostled against one another as their feet suddenly stopped moving. The guys—minus Ciar, which she tried to tell herself didn’t hurt—sat there looking like men who made their living in a dark alley. They were sporting swollen eyes, bruised jaws, and split lips.
Gray assumed their bodies were equally roughed up because they winced while lifting their glasses of whiskey. Their attempt at playing it cool failed.
Bébhinn ran forward and clapped her hands on each of Dagr’s cheeks, causing him to moan. “What in the hell happened? You’ve only been gone a day and a night!”
Blair drilled her steady gaze toward Daniel, who swallowed thickly. He hated disappointing Blair, as all the boys did. She signed, “Did you go to London?”
Gray gasped at the implication. “You didn’t,” she gasped. It went without saying that she would love to punch Ciar for hislying, cheating ways, but that didn’t mean she wanted him to be jumped by three men.
“If you went to kick Ciar’s ass, why didn’t you call me?” Mags asked. “I am confused, though, how in the hell are all you beat to smithereens if it was three against one?”
Gray was wondering the same. She shouldn’t care about Ciar’s well-being, but clearly, the baby boy’s father had to have been involved.
“Well?” Bébhinn insisted, looking at her fiancé with a frown.
Jonathan caved first. “We did go to London.”
“And?” Gray prompted.
