I shook my head, lacing my fingers together in front of my face like I was praying for the answer I wanted to hear.
‘Fine. Yes. He’s thinking about proposing…I think it’s too soon.’
‘I don’t think it’s too soon.’
‘It’s only been six months.’
‘That’s longer than a lot of people. When you know, you know.’
‘That’s what he said too.’ A wrinkle formed between his eyebrows. ‘But how do you know? Do you have an epiphany? Is there a secret message that gets sent to your phone or their name appears tattooed on your ar— bottom?’
I laughed at the cute way he avoided swearing around the baby. ‘I may not have experienced that moment myself, but I’ve spoken to enough happy couples to believe that when they find the person who suits them best on a biological and psychological level, it just feels right.’
‘Hmm…’ he grunted.
‘Hang on. You’re not thinking of dissuading him, are you?’
‘No. I mean. I’ve spoken to him about it, but I can’t stop him—’
‘No. You can’t. Don’t you dare try and put any spanners in the works, d’you hear me?’
He stood up straighter, stepping back from beside me. ‘Look, you were right to do what you did at Christmas. I’m pleased you got involved and they’re still together. But he’s my first priority, Noelle. He’s my brother and I’ll do what I think is best for him. Always.’
‘What’s best is that he proposes to the woman he loves, and they are left to live happily ever after without your interference,’ I said, but my tone was softer. Maybe Beth had been right after all. Maybe he’d just interfered because he read the situation wrong and wanted to look after his little brother. ‘Take it from me, I have a lot of siblings: no good ever comes of thinking you know what’s best for them, and he won’t thank you for it.’
‘It’s not that I don’t want the happily ever after for him. Of course, I do. I just…’
‘You worry.’
‘No.’
‘Yes. You do. You worry and you try and protect him. But he’s a grown man, Stephen.’
We lapsed into silence. The baby was asleep despite the tension in our conversation. What spell had she just put over us anyhow? This little bundle of fluff had just had us spilling all kinds of deep and meaningful secrets. She was dangerous.
‘When Lucy comes back, we’ll go talk to my dad.’
‘IsLucy coming back?’
‘Yeah, she’s probably just kicking Quinn’s ass for being useless about something.’
‘Will that take long?’
‘You want me to take the baby?’
‘No. Better not disturb her, I mean.’ His arms tightened a little, cradling the baby in close and my belly flipped.
‘Oh yeah, sure.’ I stroked my hand over Brigid’s hair once more and stole another glance at Stephen.
I really hoped Dad would help him out, because he deserved to resolve this for himself and his mother’s memory. But also because then there’d be no excuse for me to keep seeing him. I wasn’t sure I could keep spending time with him and not end up doing something self-destructive, like kissing him.
Noelle’s sister Lucy finally returned, holding a baby bottle, but her shoulders slumped when she saw Brigid was asleep. ‘Dammit.’
‘Sorry.’ I winced. ‘Did you not want her to sleep?’
‘Hey, it’s not your fault. If Quinn hadn’t been distracted in the kitchen, I would’ve been able to get the bottle into her first. Instead,he’sthe one who’s had too many bottles.’ She put it on the table and opened her arms for me to pass the baby over. ‘You did well to get her off without a feed. He’s good with the little ones eh?’ She winked at Noelle, who only gave a half-smile. ‘Oooh, how’s this for an idea? Why don’t you two babysit together tonight? You’re over this way anyhow and you’ll have some company. What d’you say Noelley? Pur-lease?’ Lucy batted her eyelashes at Noelle.
‘Fine. I’ll babysit, but that’s it for the rest of the month. I have work to do you know.’ I saw the tension creep in around her forehead and lips when she spoke about her book. She’d said a lot about her helping her family and them helping her back, but all I’d seen today was her running around doing jobs and catching up with people. I knew that spending one afternoon with them didn’t make me an expert but between that and what she said about the men in her life who didn’t respect her career, I suspected this was more of an issue than she was prepared to admit to me.
