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“Darren.”
“What did you do?” His attention flicked to Edel. “You know he doesn’t want to see her.”
Ouch.
I couldn’t hide how badly hearing that hurt me.
My sharp intake of breath was proof of that.
“Shannon has Johnny, and you have Alex,” Edel explained calmly, reaching out a hand to stroke my back reassuringly. “Joey has Aoife.”
“She’s not good for him right now.”
“I’ll show you something not good for you if you don’t shut up,” a little old lady ordered from her perch on an armchair by the fire. “The cheek of ya, laying down the law in this kind woman’s house.”
“But Nanny—”
“Don’t you ‘but Nanny’ me,” she chastised, holding up a wrinkly finger. “You’re not too big for a clip around the ear, young man.”
I watched as she turned her attention to where I was standing and smiled. “Aoife.” Looking withered and worn from the knocks she had taken, but with kindness still shining from her eyes, she held out a hand to me. “It’s been too long.”
We’d only met a handful of times down through the years, but this woman meant a great deal to Joey, which meant that I held her in the highest regard.
“Hi, Nanny,” I replied, closing the space between us, attention flicking to her adorable, cloudy white perm. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“Come here to me and let me see you,” she instructed, catching hold of my hand in both of hers and squeezing. “One of my grandsons tells me that you’re in the family way with another one of my grandsons.”
Jesus Christ.
I cast a scathing look in Darren’s direction before reluctantly nodding. “Listen, Joey really wanted to tell you about the baby himself, but his parents didn’t want the younger children finding out, and then everything just sort of spiraled these past few months. I mean we’ve never openly announced it or anything—”
“You’ll have a fine son,” she cut me off by saying, as a strange wave of warmth flushed through me. “Strong like his mother.” I could feel the tremor of old age running through her when she placed her hand on my stomach. “Loving like his father.”
“We don’t know what we’re having,” I heard myself whisper.
“You’ll have a boy,” she told me. “And he’ll be just like his father.”
“I hope so.”
“You’re a good girl.” Her eyes burned with emotion. “With a heart of gold.”
I shrugged in response because I didn’t know what to say.
“You should take her to him and watch her work her magic,” Nanny said then, turning to Edel. “Return my grandson’s heart to him, and he’ll start living again.”
______________________
“He’s in here,” Edel said, knocking lightly on a closed bedroom door at the far end of the right wing of the house. “Just give me a second to coax Shannon out.”
Nodding, I clasped my hands together, barely able to contain my emotions.
“Hello, Shannon love,” Edel said when she pushed the door inward and stepped inside. “You have two visitors here to see you. Claire and Lizzie. They’re downstairs in the sitting room, pet.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t leave him on his—”
“And I have a visitor for you, too, Joey,” Edel interrupted, gesturing for me to follow her inside. “Go on in, love.”
With my heart hammering violently in my chest, I stepped inside, immediately taking in the sight of my boyfriend curled up on his side in the fetal position. Clutching a pillow to his chest, he remained still as a statue on the plush bed, facing the window.
