“Please, stay,” I say. “Help me out here, Haley. This is… this is fucking…” I sigh. “You know, right?”
“Know what?” Callum asks.
Haley turns toward him, her lips pursed. Then she turns back to me. “This is something you have to do yourself, Murph.”
Callum’s eyes narrow. “Have you been keeping secrets from me, Doc?”
“It wasn’t my secret to tell, Cal.”
Callum clears his throat. His eyes widen as he registers what’s happening. He stands, hugging Haley. “I’ll see you in a bit?”
Haley nods, offering me a comforting smile. After he presses a kiss to her forehead, she leaves, closing the door behind her. Callum’s refilling our drinks before I can even stand. “How long?” He asks, sitting in the empty chair beside me, instead of his usual spot behind the desk.
“Excuse me?”
“How long have you known about the baby?”
“Three months or so.”
“And what’s your plan, Paddy? It doesn’t seem feasible to leave a Murphy child in New York. Especially without a marriage contract. I don’t trust the Italians. They’re always out for their own gain. They don’t care about blood the way we do.”
After a long pause, he exhales a shaky laugh. “I have a nephew or niece on the way.”
I smirk, punching his shoulder. “Yeah, you do. A nephew.” Leaning forward, I rest my elbows on my knees. “For the record, Callum. I tried. I attempted to work it out with her. I took her on a date and it just felt wrong.”
He sits silently while I gather my thoughts. “I spent the entire evening thinking about someone else. What kind of life is that? I mean. What if...what if you were out with someone else while you were in love with Haley? Wanting her, missing her. It’s fucking horrible.”
My throat dries just thinking of the horrible way I treated Griffin in order to do the right thing. I deserve the misery of not having him, but it’s just too painful to deal with any longer.
Callum rolls his lip between his fingers. “I imagine that would be shitty. And that’s fine, but what are your plans, Paddy?”
“I’ve talked to Camille about this. And she agrees that the safest place for the baby is Boston. I was hoping Saoirse could find us homes close together. So that I can be there quickly if anything is wrong. And so I can help raise him. That’s what I want. I want to be his father. And we’ll need to bring on a few guards for both of them. She may not be my wife, Cal. But this puts a target on her back, too. Our child deserves both of his parents.”
He grins widely. “A boy.”
My chest swells with pride. “Yeah.” The jokester comes out in me, and I smirk. “Better get to it. You don’t have any kids, my boy will take over your place.”
A boisterous laugh escapes, lightening the mood. It’s been ages since we’ve joked, and I love having my older brother being just that. No rank pulling or bossing around. Just two brothers enjoying a glass of whiskey together and celebrating a new child being brought into our family.
Cal’s hand clasps my shoulder. “Thank you for sharing this with me. When do you want to bring them here?”
“This week. I want them here before she tells her father. I’m worried about how he’ll react when he realizes we won't be getting married.”
“The only way to do that is to marry this other person first, Paddy. You and I both know that.”
I suck air between my teeth. “Yeah. That’s going to be a little impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because Griffin is still pretty pissed at me for cheating on him. Can barely get him to take my calls, let alone get him to marry me.”
I study my brother for a reaction. For any inkling of disappointment, or disapproval, or whatever it is that I’ve been expecting him to respond with. None of that comes. Not even a flinch before he smiles and squeezes my shoulder.
“You’re not mad?” I ask.
“Mad?” He shrugs. “Paddy. You’ve been in love with Michael Griffin since you were kids. I always wondered how this would play out.”
“What?” I’m genuinely surprised that he ever knew. I always thought I kept a good wrap on my feelings for Griffin. Hell, I didn’t even fully understand them myself until recently.
