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I’d dealt with the matriarch and patriarch of the clan, had stuck my fingers in their face and told them where to go, and I’d begun to come to terms with my new reality, as well as what beckoned. While I was still finding my way, seeing Declan cemented things somehow.
The house no longer felt like a strange hybrid, it was no longer cold and clinical, and I no longer felt like I was an unwanted guest, shoved away here.
With him in the penthouse now, it was like what I’d wanted when we were together. A home. Our home.
“Shay?” I prompted softly when the staring looked set to carry on for a while. And I got it—they were learning each other, but I guessed an introduction was needed. “This is your father, Declan. Declan O’Donnelly.”
Seamus surprised me by sticking out his hand, and Declan accepted it, taking it in his callused one and shaking it with a strength that I knew would have Seamus cringing if he wasn’t trying to look manly.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, son,” Declan rumbled, and when he gulped, his emotions on full display, I’d admit to being stunned.
Maybe it was because he’d been so close to death, maybe it was because he was still weak, but Declan revealed more in that moment than I thought he’d ever revealed to me before.
Unsure what to do with that knowledge, of what to say and how to act, I just sat there, feeling like a third wheel who was somehow pivotal. I figured I was the only thing keeping Shay in place, but I knew Declan wanted to talk to him as well.
Because it was awkward, and because I had to start things off, I decided to be candid. Maybe Declan wouldn’t like it, but it was time he learned a few things.
One, I kept very little back from Seamus.
Two, I wasn’t the same timid mouse I’d been when I was a kid, when he’d first known me, and when we’d first broken up.
“Seamus, I left your father because of a few misunderstandings and a desire to give you the best I could.” Shay twisted to look at me. “You can be angry at me, you can be resentful at your father, but the decisions we both made are in the past. We can’t undo them. We can’t even rectify them. What we can do is move on from this point.
“We’re all here. We’re a family. I’m certain there will be a transitional period where things are a little on edge, but you can see your father is sick. He needs rest, some R and R time, and we’ll give him that.”
Shay nodded, but Declan’s confusion was clear. I figured I knew why too, because I couldn’t see Aidan Sr. and Lena having this kind of discussion in front of their kid. I couldn’t imagine them telling him what I’d just shared with Shay.
I hadn’t gone into the gruesome details, hadn’t discussed the minutiae behind the breakup and my fleeing the States for Ireland, but he didn’t need to know those things. At least not today.
In time, I knew he’d have questions, and I’d give him answers. When he was ready.
Now was not the time for raking up the past. It was for celebrating the future.
It surprised me when Declan seemed to read my mind, because he simply asked, “You like sports, son?”
And that was how I ended up watching a football game.
Even though I hated the sport, I sat through it, wedged at the edge of the sofa by Declan’s feet, sandwiched between him and Shay who, for the first time in years, was glued to my side.
It wasn’t how I’d expected the day to roll, not with Declan almost collapsing or with the football game, but it was better than a shouting match, that was for damn sure.
It gave me hope that we could make the transition easy on Shay… but then again, hope had always fucked me over in the past.
I just prayed that this time, that wasn’t the case.
