Gray wiped her tears himself. "Are you going to tell me what she had?"
"A boy." Brianna sniffled. "The most beautiful boy. He has black hair, like Rogan's. It curls around his little head like a halo. And he has Maggie's eyes. They're blue now, of course, but the shape of them's Maggie's. And he wailed so, like he was cursing the lot of us for bringing him into this mess. His little fingers all clenched into fists. Liam, they named him. Liam Matthew Sweeney. They let me hold him." She rested her head on Gray's shoulder. "He looked at me."
"Are you going to tell me he smiled at you?"
"No." But she smiled. "No, that he didn't. He looked at me, very serious like, as if he was after wondering what he was to make of all this business. I've never held a life so new before. It's like nothing else, nothing else in the world." She turned her face into his throat. "I wish you could have been there."
To his amazement, he found he wished the same. "Well, somebody had to mind the ranch. Your Mrs. O'Malley came on the fly."
"Bless her. I'll call her up tomorrow to give her the news and thank her."
"She doesn't cook as well as you."
"You don't think so?" She grinned to herself, delighted. "I hope you didn't say so."
"I'm the s
oul of diplomacy. So." He kissed Brianna's temple. "She had a boy. What's the weight?"
"Seven pounds, one ounce."
"And the time-you know, when she had it?"
"Oh, it was about half one."
"Shit, looks like the German copped the pool."
"Pardon?"
"The pool. We had a baby pool going. Sex, weight, time of birth. I'm pretty sure the German guy-Krause-hit the closest."
"A betting pool, is it? And whose idea was that?"
Gray ran his tongue around his teeth. "Murphy's," he said. "The man'll bet on anything."
"And what was your guess?"
"Girl, seven and a half pounds, straight up midnight." He kissed her again. "Where's my cigar?"
"Rogan sent you along a fine one. It's in my purse."
"I'll take it down to the pub tomorrow. Somebody's bound to be handing out free drinks."
"Oh, you can bet on that as well." She took a little breath, locked her fingers together. "Grayson, about this afternoon. My mother."
"You don't have to say anything about that. I walked in at a bad moment, that's all."
"It's not all, and it's foolish to pretend it is."
"All right." He'd known she'd insist on hashing it out, but he couldn't bear to see her mood lowered. "We won't pretend. Let's not think about it tonight, though. We'll talk about it later, as much as you need to. Tonight's for celebrating, don't you think?"
Relief warmed her. Her emotions had ridden on a roller coaster long enough that day. "I do, yes."
"I bet you haven't eaten." "I haven't."
"Why don't I get us some of the cold chicken that's left over from dinner? We'll eat in bed."
Chapter Fifteen
It was easy enough to avoid serious subjects over the next week. Gray buried himself in his work, and Brianna's time was stretched thin between her guests and her new nephew. Whenever she had a spare minute, she found some excuse to dart down to Maggie's cottage and fuss over the new mother and baby. Maggie was too enraptured with her son to do more than give a few token complaints about missing the opening of her new gallery.
Gray had to admit the kid was a winner. He'd wandered down to the cottage himself a time or two when he needed to stretch his legs and clear his mind.
Early evening was the best time, when the light took on that luminous glow so special to Ireland, and the air was so clear he could see for miles across the emerald hills with the sun striking down on the thin ribbon of river in the distance making it flash like a silver sword.
He found Rogan, dressed in a T-shirt and old jeans, in the front garden, plucking industriously at weeds. An interesting look, Gray mused, for a man who could likely afford a platoon of gardeners.
"Hiya, Pop." Grinning, Gray leaned on the garden gate.
Rogan shifted back on the worn heels of his boots. "Ah, a man. Come in and join me. I've been evicted. Women." He jerked his head toward the cottage. "Maggie and Brie and Murphy's sister Kate up for a visit, and some of the village ladies. Discussing breast feeding and delivery room war stories."
"Yeah." Gray gave the cottage a pained look as he swung through the gate. "It sounds to me more like you escaped than got kicked out."
"True enough. Being outnumbered I can't get near Liam. And Brianna pointed out that Maggie shouldn't be doing the gardening yet, and it's getting overrun. Then she lifted her brow at me in that way of hers. So I took the hint." He looked longingly back at the cottage. "We could try sneaking into the kitchen for a beer."
"It's safer out here." Gray sat down, folded his legs. Companionably, he reached out and pulled a weed. At least it looked like a weed. "I've been wanting to talk to you anyway. About that stock certificate."
"Which stock certificate is that?"
"The Triquarter Mining thing."
"Ah, yes. That business slipped my mind with all that's been going on. Brianna heard from them, didn't she?"
"She heard from someone." Gray scratched his chin. "I had my broker do a little digging. It's interesting."