“Oh, Raven...” River’s eyes were blinking back tears. “I’m so glad you’re pleased. We’re all going to rock this pregnancy.”
River jumped off the couch and started running to the bedrooms. Rowan yelled after her. “Where are you going, weirdo?”
As River skidded across the wood floors, she answered without turning around. “Laptop. We have some serious adjustments to make to our future projection charts.”
Raven chuckled but was swallowing past a suddenly dry throat. Her first nugget of fear wormed its way into her head. They’d just made an offer on the property in Dublin, and they had to move forward insomecapacity to start making money again. But the building’s living quarters... she barely held in her groan.
Adjustments indeed.
Four hours later,they’d eaten an amazing dinner of grilled fish and roasted vegetables, thanks to their fancy chef, stopped Nan from looking up baby names four times, and hammered out a new and improved life plan for themselves personally and professionally.
The housekeeper even sourced some ginger and honey drops to suck on. She swore it would head off the worst of the nausea and hopefully stop it altogether. She was sucking on one now. Since she wasn’t a fan of laying her face where her ass usually held court, she’d suck on these drops ’til the cows came home if necessary.
“Nan, the three of us aren’t knocked up,” River smirked at Raven. “How about I pour us a nice glass of Jameson, and we go over the plans once more all the way through.”
Rowan accepted her glass. “Sounds good. We may have missed something.”
They probably did miss a few things, but not from a lack of trying. It was impossible to think of all the variables with so many moving parts.
Saoirse Kennedy called them before dinner to say the offer had been accepted. She’d send the initial paperwork tomorrow morning. It was a bank foreclosure, so the process would go more quickly.
To spare the expense of long-term vehicle parking at the airport, Nan’s good friend had driven her. The same friend was scheduled to pick her up. They only had two more weeks in paradise.
“Okay,” Raven began. “I’ll start with short-term personal goals that should cover the last big Switzerland To-Do’s. Wehave less than two weeks before we fly to Dublin.” She looked at her grandma and smiled. “A private O’Connor jet for you this time, Nan.”
She shook her head in wonder. “That Jo. I can’t wait to hug her.”
“We’ve got tickets purchased for the Funicular, seriously guys, I hope it’s more awesome than its name. Funicular sounds like a weird surgery... on private parts. We do that in two days. We may all want to Dramamine up before that one. It’s a mountain tram ride, and I don’t want to scare anyone, but it was built in 1908.”
“Older equals better built,” Nan sniffed with attitude.
“When you’re snuggled in a leather recliner with someone offering your favorite foods, drinks, and a facial on the ‘not old’ private jet— remind me about ancient things, Nan,” River teased.
Ignoring the banter, Raven looked over her list. “We will choose between the two summit restaurants for a late lunch before tramming back.
“Next Tuesday, we’ve booked a crossing to The Swiss Customs and Smuggler Museum in Gandria. It’s located at the base of Monte Brè. We’ll be crossing Lake Lugano by a lakeboat they call them. Dramamine again?”
River and Rowan touched each other’s stomachs. “Nope. Not pregnant. No nausea meds needed here, sis.”
“Assholes.” Secretly, Raven was pleased beyond measure that her ‘Baby on Board’ news was being digested into normal Byrne chitchat. The normalcy had a way of making Raven feel like this was the course she was always meant to be on.
River ignored Raven flipping her off outside of Nan’s field of vision, as she ticked off the third biggest thing they wanted to do before going to Ireland.
“Next week, one of the last things, and most important things, we have left to do is drive into Lugano to their historic shopping district, Via Nassa. It has super posh boutiques, bookstores, jewelers, and, if the hype is to be believed, which I do of course, the best restaurants. This is the day we find theperfectthank-you gift for Jo.”
So far, they’d been unsuccessful at finding—it. Jo was too special to grab the first thing they laid eyes on. Raven knew that when they saw it, they wouldknow.
“Those are the highlights. Nan, if there is anything else you want to do, you’d better speak up. We are free agents and here to please you.”
Laughing, Nan patted each of her granddaughters on the knee. “You three have given me a gift I will never forget. Truly. I thought I was just an old widow. Adventures only for the young. Now, I realize that... Though the two men I loved most in this world are gone— I’m still here, and damn it, not a word River, I’m going to stop dreaming and start doing. You girls have taught me to go after what I want.”
Was Raven a giant blubbering boob as a rule, or, please God, just the pregnant version? Tears again.
“Brava, Nan.”
“Is your widowed neighbor one of those things?”
River looked smug at Nan’s gasp and touched her throat to grasp her nonexistent pearls.
