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When I took a seat that was meant for me, I tugged Savannah onto my lap, loving that she was careful with my leg, and loving, even more, that she snuggled sleepily into me.
Conor passed out gifts, handing them out according to the tags. Most of us only had one apiece, whereas the kids had several. Shay and Victoria in particular had a few larger boxes which they opened, snuggled up together, as they conferred over their gifts, while Jake had lots of little ones I knew would be toys, but he was fast asleep on Aoife’s chest, his mouth still curled around her breast from feeding, and even Conor had the wherewithal not to wake him up again.
When Finn opened his box, he frowned. "You gave me the wrong box, Kid. This is Jake’s.”
"I did not," Conor retorted, his tone insulted. "Look at the tag."
Finn squinted. "Don’t know how you can see anything. Can’t we turn on a fucking light?"
"Not my fault you need glasses," Conor sniped.
Aoife laughed. "Stop arguing you two." To Finn, she murmured, "It’s for you."
I watched Finn frown, then his eyes widened as they looked at one another. Neither speaking. Neither saying a word while somehow communicating a whole lot.
"Would someone explain what’s going on?" Inessa grumbled. "We’re not all mind readers. Did Finn get Jake’s gift or not?"
"Not," Conor inserted, his tone confident.
"Really, baby?" Finn breathed, and if I wasn’t mistaken, he sounded pretty choked up which had me frowning at him too.
Aoife smiled, and nodded.
"Congratulations," Savannah murmured drowsily.
"Congratulations?" I asked.
She yawned. "She’s obviously pregnant."
As the family bombarded Finn and Aoife with questions, which Aoife laughed at and smiled through and Finn, looking at her like she’d just conquered the moon, held her as close to him as possible, it settled something inside me to know how happy she made him. To see, with my own eyes, how right they were for one another.
"Mind reader," I whispered in Savannah’s ear.
She hummed. "I’ll take that title. But she’s drinking nothing but peppermint or ginger tea." She made a gagging noise. "Plus, last night, I heard her puking in the safe room."
"Observation is everything," I intoned with a smile. "Open your gift."
Amid the cacophony of the family celebrating, something I was glad for because Ma and Da looked a little less like walking skeletons, even if Da’s head was bruised and bandaged in patches, she tugged on the wrapping paper, revealing a jewelry box that was flat and square in shape.
She arched a brow at the sight of the Harry Winston logo, then popped it open. Inside, there was a bracelet with a single charm on it. Her smile peeped up at me.
"For the woman whose Dad can buy her anything she wants, who has her own fortune to buy her own jewelry, why not get something that we can load with our own memories."
Eyes sparkling, she murmured, "I love it." Her nose crinkled as she told me in an assured tone, "You won’t like my gift."
"No? You sure? I mean, all I want for Christmas is for you to do as you’re fucking told—"
She snorted. "Not going to happen."
I mean, I already knew that. I had a lifetime ahead of me, a lifetime’s worth of her pain-in-the-ass self driving me crazy, but Christ, I needed that.
Even through the grimmest of gray skies, with thunder in the distance, and rain falling, a sliver of sunlight could peek through.
That was my Savannah.
Anyway, I already knew she’d disobeyed me. Having seen what Brennan had to collect from Conor’s apartment, it didn’t take a genius to work out what she’d bought me as a gift.
Amused by her honesty, however, I picked up the smaller of the two boxes. When I opened it, I found a handle that I knew would screw onto a cane. L-shaped, if the tongue of the L was pointing down, it was adorned by a skull with a crown on his head. The crown was tipped with two fleur-de-lys and two crosses, each one decorated with emeralds.
