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Eoghan commented, "You ain't been on vacation in years, Ma."
"Years? More like decades." She straightened her shoulders. "Your da never felt safe enough to leave the city."
"Then you definitely deserve a break."
She shot Paddy a look. "Do you want to come with me, Padraig?"
"Can do, Lena. I don't wanna go to the Caribbean though."
"No?"
"Nah. Been there a couple times. Not my thing. Beautiful islands, don't get me wrong, but I'm not a rum man. Always tastes like suntan oil to me."
Conor retorted, "How much suntan oil have you been drinking?"
Before they could start bickering, Lena asked Paddy, "You want to go to Europe?"
"Yeah."
"I want to go back to Europe," Shay said on a sigh. "Mom took us all over the world, but that’s my favorite place. You can’t imagine seeing an opera in the original opera house it was meant for; the acoustics are heavenly."
Victoria laughed. "I'm not sure that's everyone's dream."
"I agree, Shay," Aela said with a nod as she loaded her fork with chicken and potatoes two ways. "We should go back to Europe. Your dad's never left the States. We need to show him the sights."
"What? Ever?" Shay's eyes bugged. "Europe is awesome. Never mind the museums, but the streets... just everything. It's so old."
Declan curved his arm around the back of Aela's chair as he took a sip of beer. "Not right now, Shay. It's not the time to leave the city."
"Maybe for your birthday," Aidan murmured. "That'd be cool, right? Family vacation to Europe, Shay?"
He shot his dad a look. "Thatwouldbe cool."
Declan cocked a brow at Aidan. "You'd be okay with that?"
"There are six of us. The city can cope with there only being five O’Donnellys in residence. Each of us should go at some point this year. We're all newlyweds, apart from Con, of course."
"My time's coming."
My lips twitched at Conor's droll rejoinder.
"No one's gone on a honeymoon apart from Eoghan," Aidan continued as if Conor hadn't spoken. "Speaking of going away, Ma, this year, we'll be spending Thanksgiving with Savannah's family."
"Invite them here," Lena said with a frown.
"No," Aidan dismissed. Though his declaration came as a surprise, especially after we’d agreed to invite them to our estate, his consideration made me reach over and squeeze his knee in thanks. "She's got her own traditions, and I don't want her to miss out on that."
"I'd love to eat Thanksgiving with Dagger Daniels," Conor muttered, shooting Aidan a glower.
"Yeah, well, tough shit." He huffed. "You'll have everyone else here, Ma; it'll just be us missing."
"It's not right," Lena declared, her hands tightening into fists around her knife and fork.
That was when everyone started darting looks between them as if we were at a game in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
"I don't care if it is or it ain't," Aidan stated, lobbing a serve. "Savvie's got family she cares about. She's entitled to do her thing as much as I am." His words were weighed down with a warning. "We'll alternate holidays so she doesn't miss out too."
"Savannah, surely you can see how unfair it is after Senior—"
