Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 79462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
“Is this why you asked about London?” He glances up at me, frowning. “You want to have the baby over there?”
“I don’t know what I want, but I was thinking it was a possibility.”
“How about this. We stay here for the pregnancy. You’ll give birth surrounded by the best doctors in the world. Then we’ll go to Dublin.”
I tilt my head side to side. “That could work.”
“Casey will be here to help you along, and I’m going to dote on you. I promise, your pregnancy will be as comfortable as it possibly can be.”
“Then home?”
“Then home,” he agrees.
“Alright.” I lean forward and kiss him gently. “Now, my beautiful man, shall we celebrate? I was thinking you’d get me off one more time then we’d have a nice meal.”
“Works for me,” he says, pushing me back onto the bed.
Chapter 45
Jayson
One Year Later
I watch the sun rise from the balcony with my baby daughter in my arms, a bottle in her mouth, her little hands on either side. She feeds slowly, mostly finished at this point, but drifting in and out of sleep.
I let her go. There could be a dozen nurses here watching over my beautiful daughter, Neve, but this is my favorite time of the day. Fallon’s getting some extra sleep and everything is quiet, the world’s starting to wake up, and I’m alone with my daughter.
“You’re going to learn to ride a bike,” I whisper to her, smiling to myself. “You’ll walk for the first time. You’ll run for the first time. You’ll meet a boy, he’ll break your heart, and I’ll break his knees, all for the first time. I’ll kiss you every day. You’ll get annoyed with my kisses for the first time. You’ll get so angry at me you scream for the first time, but I’ll always forgive you, and I’ll always try to do right by you.” This is my little ritual: I whisper to my girl everything she’ll do, the story of her life in a litany of firsts.
First car, first date, first school day, first bus ride, first broken bone, first bloody nose, first skinned knee.
“You’ll have so many cousins,” I tell her. “Brothers and sisters too. A big family of people that love you on both sides of the Atlantic. An Irish family and an American family. So much love for you.” I kiss her and she stirs, still in Neverland. “You’ll have a big, protective father, but you’ll get used to me, I promise. I’ll always keep you safe, no matter what. That will probably get annoying. I’m sorry in advance.”
The sliding door opens.
“You’re still doing that, huh?”
I turn around as Fallon steps onto the balcony wrapped in a blanket, two mugs of coffee in her hand. She places one down at my elbow as she sits in the chair next to mine.
“I thought you were sleeping.”
“Eh, I woke up when you got up and I couldn’t get back down. So here I am.”
“I’d offer her to you, but I’m selfish.”
“That’s okay. Watching you with her is pretty damn good.” She sips the coffee and smiles, and my world is complete. My beautiful wife, my beautiful daughter. The sun coming up over the city, the ocean in the distance, the smell of salt in the air, gulls in the wind.
“I booked the private plane last night.”
Her eyebrows raise. “Sorry?”
“To Dublin, with Adler’s blessing.”
“Really? Seriously?”
“We can stay as long as you like.”
“Oh, Jayson, this is perfect. I can’t believe it.”
“We’re leaving in a week. I’ll take care of the logistics. We’ll bring Candy along—”
“Do you really think she’ll need a nurse? My whole family’s going to be obsessed with the baby.”
“Then it’ll be an easy trip for Candy.”
Fallon grins and shakes her head, but doesn’t argue. It’ll be nice to have some extra help on an ocean-crossing flight and she knows it.
“Alright, fine. But what then? Are we finally moving to London?”
“Once we’re done in Dublin, we’ll swing through my old haunts and take a look at my house. You can decide if we should live there or buy a new place.”
Her excitement is palpable. She sits up straighter, her eyes shining. “You’re serious? It’s really happening?”
“I’m going to make frequent trips back here,” I warn her. “And Neve will come with me.”
“I’m coming too. Casey would never forgive me if I didn’t.”
“I was thinking we’d live eight months of the year in London, the rest here. But we’ll work it out.”
“Perfect.” She leans her head on my shoulder. Neve stirs a bit as if she’s aware of her mother and begins drinking from the bottle again.
I hold my baby tight to my chest, my wife on my shoulder, smiling out over the vast ocean. The world is right.
Chapter 46
Fallon
Neve disappears into a sea of family the moment we step into Rian’s house. It’s incredible how at ease I feel all of a sudden, the long trip forgotten, the time away like it never happened. “Look at you, skinny as a fucking twig like always,” Aunt Mary says and jabs at my stomach. “You’re lovely though and so is the baby. Congrats to you.”