Forcing herself to sit up, she gave them the abbreviated tale of the most recent shitshow episode of Hugh and Rowan. She hit the highlights of the past year, which they knew most of by now. Went on to describe their time in Tulsa. They knew some of that, too, but not everything.
“He wholly committed to me, you guys. Completely. You know how he is, though. He can be quite hilarious, at least in smaller groups, but by and large, he’s reserved and…bad-tempered,” Rowan huffed a laugh. Trying to describe that man’s unpredictable moods was laborious at the best of times.
The Seven Deadly Moods of Hugh.
“Of course, we only had the one night together before I was kidnapped. Then, when we were reunited, you both saw how standoffish he was at the hospital. There but not.
“He didn’t change at the rehabilitation center. No touching and barely any conversation during the day, and then affectionate the minute we were alone at night. We spent hourstalking about everything. However, when I brought up my wanting to have a child, he shut down hard. No discussion.
“The morning we left to drive to the airport, he’d left my room before I was awake and took his bags with him. You guys might have noticed he chose to drive separately from me.”
“I thought it was strange, but you should know, Rowan, that I don’t judge how you and Hugh choose to live your lives,” Raven explained as she picked Daniel up, who was awake and smiling. Once she settled at the big table again, she continued. “It will be a problem with me if you aren’t happy, however.”
“I knew it would take time for him to come to terms with showing you affection, but after last night...” River trailed off, a frown marring her face.
Continuing where she left off, Rowan explained that she’d texted him on the way to the plane. He knew she was upset, that his behavior wasn’t going to work.
“Remember when he followed me to the bathroom?”
“Mile High Club,” River smirked. “Yeah, we recall.”
Raven cooed at her son. “Papa is naughty. Isn’t that right, my sweet boy?”
Raven and River laughed at her blush. “I can’t believe he said that. See! That proves that he’s capable of being public about us. That wasn’t what I was going to talk about, though, assholes,” Rowan shook her head at their big grins.
“Beforewe had sex, we hashed everything out. My expectations, his reservations. I was willing to give him time as long as he tried to show me a few signs of affection in public. I want people to know he’s mine, damn it,” she burst out angrily. “Is that selfish?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Hell no.”
“And then last night happened. I get that Hugh is territorial over me, just as his sons are over you two.” They nodded inunderstanding. The men weren’t big sharers. They could happily stay in an O’Faolain bubble with their women—and after the hardships and trials the six of them had been through together, she understood the impulse.
“He was angry about Davey. I get that too. Hugh’s biggest hangup is our age difference. He hated a man so much younger than him hitting on me. I get all of that. It wasn’t what pissed me off last night. It’s the fact that if he’d treated me like his girlfriend, Davey would have never approached me.” She had to press her fingers to her eyes so the threatening tears wouldn’t fall.
“I slept in the guest bedroom last night. Or tried to sleep. I hated we didn’t resolve things. I was too emotional and too angry to make good decisions and…I wanted to punish him for embarrassing me,” she ended quietly. “It was petty and mean, and I should have been better than that.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. Jesus, Row,” River fumed, “you’ve been through a shitload of shit for weeks. Hugh rejecting you, the shooting, the fu—flipping kidnapping,” she corrected herself, glancing at their nephew. “So you’d had enough last night. It’s okay to have feelings.”
“You had every right to be hurt,” Raven agreed, “but you also knew going into this that Hugh is an extremely complex man with a difficult personality. However, he loves his family andyoufiercely. I understand needing a break after last night to recalibrate, so to speak, but what is up with coming here? I get it’s only two hours from Dublin, and the distance might clear your head faster, but I saw a large suitcase by the door. Are you planning on staying longer than a night?”
River gave her a sharp look. “You haven’t told us everything.”
No, she hadn’t. “I’m working up to that,” she admitted sheepishly. Before she could give them the rest of it, Nan hustledin, carrying a basket of, if her nose was still working after crying, freshly baked scones covered with an embroidered tea towel.
With a quick, “Hello, girls,” she set the basket on the table and went to fill the kettle. “I left some breakfast tea here, and glad I did. You girls need to really keep some staples here.”
She and her sisters smiled at Nan’s no-nonsense attitude. Rowan was relieved to have her here. Nan hadn’t questioned her this morning when she’d asked to bum a ride not forty-five minutes after leaving her apartment that morning. She didn’t ask a single question on the drive to Boyle, even when she had to have heard her sniffing in the truck’s back seat.
Nan would have known she wouldn’t want to speak in front of Devlen. They dropped her at the front door, Devlen grabbed her suitcase, and Nan said she’d be back. And here she was. Thank God.
When she tried to help set the table, Nan shooed her back. Once she had plates, napkins, and four mugs of steaming tea, she joined them, but not before scooping Daniel up and cuddling him close.
“Now then, what’s all this?” She waved a hand around the table, which presumably meant, why had Rowan run to Boyle and dragged her sisters with her.
Clearing her throat, Rowan explained some of the problems she and Hugh had been having. “Last night was particularly difficult,” and she told Nan some of what happened there, as well.
“Hugh is Hugh. It’s never stopped you from loving him, my girl.”
