“I would have,” I say. “Done anything to protect you. And I will yet.”
“I know it,” she whispers. “I’m—I’m sorry I…” her voice trails off.
I shake my head. “You’ll not offer any apologies, Aileen. You’ve been through hell, but you’ve come through it stronger. This is no fairy tale. It’s bloody and messy, but in the end we have each other, and that’s what matters. We’ll build a family together, you and I. You’re one of us now.”
“And God, I love that,” she says, her voice trembling again. “So much, Cormac. Your mother and your brothers and Caitlin and Seamus. I’ve never had the love of family like I do here. And I’ll do my best to be as good to all of you as you are to me.”
“You’re already enough, lass.”
She leans up and kisses my cheek. “You’re very sentimental when you’re all drugged up.”
“That what it is?” I say. “Thought it was the near death experience—”
“Near death, is it?” she says, the fire returning to her eyes like a match to tinder. “Just a moment ago it was nothing, now it’s near death because it suits you?”
“Something like,” I grin.
She grins back. “Something like,” she says softly. “And now you’ve gone and done it, Mr. McCarthy.”
“What’s that, lass?”
“Stolen my damn heart,” she says.
“About goddamn time,” I mutter. I weave my fingers through her hair. She giggles and sighs, two of the sweetest bloody sounds I’ve ever heard.
“First the ring, then the baby, then the heart,” she says. “You’ve gone about this all wrong, you know.”
“Aye,” I tell her. “But you’re an unconventional lass, so it only suits that I won you in an unconventional way.”
She laughs her pretty laugh and burrows deeper into my chest.
“Am I hurting you?” she asks.
“Nah, you’re fine.”
“Good,” she says. “Because I’m not going anywhere either way.”
“You’d better not,” I tell her. “You’re here to stay.”
She closes her eyes, inhales deeply, and when she lets her breath out, a sort of peace settles over her. “Here to stay,” she whispers. “I like the sound of that.”EpilogueSeven months laterI’ve experienced pain in my life, but nothing, nothing beats this.
“Oh my God,” I scream, sitting up in the middle of the night. A contraction grips me so hard and fast that I lose my breath. I grip my belly, and Cormac damn near jumps straight out of the bed.
“It’s the baby!” he says. “The baby’s coming?”
He stumbles around in the dark, nearly tripping on his trousers while he pulls them on.
“Aye,” I say, panting between contractions. “But relax, they don’t come in seconds, you know.”
I didn’t tell him contractions were coming all day long, several hours apart. I’d been getting them for weeks, and Sebastian says it’s normal. Caitlin said she had pre-labor contractions for six weeks before baby Seamus came, and I didn’t see the need to tell anyone. But as the night wore on, the contractions came stronger and harder. I texted Megan, and she’s been keeping watch with me on the phone, making sure I got as much rest as I could.
“Call your mother,” I say. I want her by my side before I want Sebastian. The doctor can come in when I’m ready to push. “Sebastian can wait.”
He opens his mouth to protest, then shuts it again. Though he’s a bossy sort and certainly wears the pants around here, it seems he thinks differently when it comes to telling a woman in labor what to do.
Five minutes later, Maeve and Megan are in the room.
“Oh, it’s time, isn’t it?” Maeve asks, resting her hand on my belly when another contraction grips me.
“Breathe, love,” Megan says. She holds my hand through the contraction. “Come here, Cormac. Let her squeeze your hand while I get some things ready for her.”
He looks stricken but determined when he comes to my side. I breathe through the contraction, and it finally fades.
“Two minutes apart,” Maeve says. “How far dilated were you at your last check-up?”
“Four centimeters.”
Maeve grins. “Ah. We’ll have a McCarthy baby by daybreak, I think.”
Thirty minutes later, Sebastian’s joined us, but Maeve and Megan do the bulk of the work. They feed me ice chips and put a cool cloth on my forehead, and Cormac’s gotten over his momentary panic. He’s my rock. I squeeze his hand when I contract.
“That’s my brave girl,” he says encouragingly. “So strong and brave. You can do this, lass.”
“You’re all too good to me.” Apparently, labor’s made me weepy. But I’ve never had anything like this before, and even through the pain of labor, it brings tears to my eyes. Cormac’s love and attention, Maeve and Megan’s guidance, they’re the family every girl wishes she had. And they love me.
It’s five hours and forty-seven minutes of intense, brutal labor, but in the end, Maeve proves prophetic. We bring sweet baby Naimh into the world as the sun rises. I’m sweaty and exhausted when Megan hands me the wee babe, wrapped in a light pink blanket. Her eyes are closed, her lips parted in sleep.