“Aye,” McKenna says with a smile. “I bet.”
Maeve beams. “Caitlin was the first, then Aileen. Aileen’s was a difficult story. She was pregnant with Cormac’s baby, but she suffered amnesia from a head injury and couldn’t remember who he was at first.”
“Are you bloody kidding me?” McKenna says, her jaw unhinged.
“No,” Maeve says with a laugh. “Fiona was the last, of course, but being who she is, she studied everything she could to prepare for childbirth and had a ready supply of remedies and supplements before she found she was with child.”
I chuckle. “Course she did. Didn’t need Gran’s help?”
She grins, her chest expanding. “They always need Gran, though I have to admit, Lachlan was prepared himself, as well.” Though Lachlan and Fiona aren’t related to Maeve, she’s adopted all of the brotherhood as her children.
McKenna looks troubled.
“Are you feeling better?”
She nods. “That medicine works wonders, doesn’t it?”
“Oh, aye. They didn’t have that when I had my babies.” Her eyes grow a little wistful, and I remember the little graves that sit in the cemetery of St. Albert’s. I suspect they have remedies these days to prevent the many miscarriages she suffered as well.
“Now, I hear today’s a special day, McKenna? Let’s make our plan for your mum’s visit, and we have about nine more months to worry about the baby.”
McKenna smiles, but the smile doesn’t reach her eyes. “Aye. Absolutely. But I have to ask you two to please keep this quiet for now?”
“Of course,” Maeve says. “And Sebastian will as well.”
I have to be honest with her. “The only person I’ll have to tell is Keenan. He’ll want to know what our plans are. In fact, I’ll ask for a meeting now.”
She pauses for a few seconds, then nods.
I shoot him a text. Need to speak to you soon.
“You’ll tell him we need to discuss our plans, Tully?”
What?
“What do you mean?”
She blinks, her pretty eyes magnified behind her glasses, and I recognize that little splotch of pink on her cheeks that frequently indicates she’s getting riled up about something.
“Our plans,” she says. “How we’ll handle the baby, given that I’m not a claimed woman of the Clan, and how that impacts your brotherhood.”
I look at her in confusion. “But you will be a claimed woman, of course.”
“What do you mean by that?” she asks, her hands on her hips.
Her eyes flash, and my own temper ignites.
Is she out of her mind? “McKenna. You’re carrying my child.”
“So?”
So?
Maeve walks with Sebastian to the door. “I’ll just be letting myself out then—”
“What exactly does that mean?” she asks, glaring at me now. “You didn’t ask me to carry your child. You never even asked me to be your girlfriend, never mind a claimed woman!”
The door shuts. Maeve and Sebastian are gone.
I shake my head, half furious, half shocked. “Well, what the bloody hell do you plan on doing? Raising your child as a single mum and relying on my check to be the father figure?”
She blinks. “I didn’t say that!”
“Not two minutes ago you were sobbing and saying how you’re eager to be one of us, and now you’re acting like I just sprouted a second head!”
We argue like this for full minutes, neither of us really saying anything new. We’re at an impasse. I think she has no choice, carrying my baby. She’s to be a claimed woman of the Clan, no question. It’s the only way both she and our baby will receive full Clan protection, and all the benefits the Clan has to offer. Even if we didn’t have strict code we adhere to, the citizens of Ballyhock and our rivals need to be considered as well. She’ll be so much more heavily protected as a claimed woman, married to me.
She’s convinced that we don’t live within the rules of the Clan, that she can walk away from this and raise our child as “co-parents,” whatever the fuck that is.
“What if I don’t want to be a claimed woman of the Clan?!” she shouts, literally standing in front of me with her hands on her hips like a furious little sprite.
“And what if I don’t want my woman and child to be wandering the streets of Ballyhock and teaching at the goddamn school without Clan protection?”
Another, much louder knock comes at the door and McKenna fumes. “Bloody hell! Who’s that?”
“Probably Keenan,” I say, pointing a finger at her. “And let me tell you this right now, woman. You’ll speak to the Chief with respect or land yourself belly down over my knee with my palm across your arse.”
She fumes. “You cannot spank a pregnant woman!”
“Watch me.”
I stomp to the door, actually not at all sure if I can spank a pregnant woman, but hell if she isn’t tempting the fuck out of me.
I open the door to find Keenan standing on the other side. His brows are raised slightly.