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I laugh, and pull her toward the door, leading her down the corridor back to the main room where our friends and family wait. I stop just before we enter the room. “You know how much I like pulling on your hair. But now you’ll have to slow dance while you’re all hot and horny.”
Our friends and family laugh and cheer as we walk into the room, and I watch Bella’s cheeks start to flush with embarrassment. My woman has no objection to fucking in risky places, but she hates being called out on it, even after all this time.
I pull her to the middle of the dance floor, grabbing hold of one hand and wrapping my other one around her waist.At Last, by Etta Jamesbegins to play as we finally have our first dance as husband and wife.
Epilogue
I consciously rub up and down on Bella’s stomach as we watch Finn run around the garden with Maddie, Shannon and RJ, his little boy Lennon crawling along behind them all trying to keep up.
It’s been a hard few years. We have lost so much, but in that time, we have also gained so much. I never thought we’d be sitting here a brother short. I’ll never not miss Rory. And there are days that I still struggle with the idea that we lost him, that I failed to save him. But if he was here, then Nora may not have been, and nor would RJ and Shannon.
I smile as Ma and Ronan argue over the BBQ, Liv tucked Into Ronan’s side as she laughs at them going at it about who’s the better cook. I let them argue it out knowing Ma and I are the chefs in the family, but Ronan likes to think he’s good at grilling.
Cara and Nora sit on the grass watching Finn run around with the kids, they have gotten close over the last few months, and I’m glad they both feel like they belong. Finn races over to Cara, pushing her back to the floor as he kisses her like he hasn’t seen her for months. Then as quickly as he went to her, he’s up and running after the kids again.
I watch Maddie run around, a smile on her face. Bella told us about the trouble she was having at school, and while my brothers and I were ready to race in there and kill some unsuspecting parents. It was Cara who helped her. Thanks to her, Maddie is now the cool kid in school with a tonne of kids who follow her around wanting to be her friend.
I look across from us, Connor has Alex in his lap. His eyes focussed on hers as they whisper amongst themselves. Something is going on with those two, but I don’t push. They’ll tell us when they are ready. Connor catches me watching them and winks before pulling Alex up and dragging her into the house. Bella laughs beside me and leans into me.
I place a gentle kiss on top of her head then turn to see RJ watching us. He’s a quiet little boy who is always watching everyone and everything around him. He reminds me so much of Ronan when he was younger. My brothers and I have talked to about the similarities, and even Ronan agrees. We vowed to do better by him though. We made a promise that we wouldn’t treat him the way Da treat Ronan. Despite his demeanour, RJ will be raised as a little boy and if he decides when he’s older that he wants to be a part of this life then we’ll teach him. We won’t force him the way Ronan was. Satisfied Bella and I are ok, he turns to look at his Ma, then his eyes narrow and fix on Dan our former bar manager turned security guard. He was placed on Maddie detail for a while, but then we moved him over to Nora. They’ve been getting pretty close the last couple of months. They try to hide but I’ve seen it, we all have. We still haven’t worked out why they keep it quiet, so we’ve not said anything. We figure if they want us to know then they’ll tell us.
The kid aint happy though. Whenever Dan gets too close, RJ always inserts himself in between them. He’s suspicious, and way too protective of his Ma. Especially for a two-year-old.
I look around the garden, around my family and smile. This is what we’ve worked so hard for. This is what we’ve always wanted. But there’s someone else missing from the gathering though. We asked her to come, but she said she was busy with work. She thinks living in another country she can lie to me, lie to us. She isn’t working. She hasn’t since she left five months ago. I tried to help her, tried to be there for her. But I guess she just wasn’t ready for it. She pushed us so hard and then took off, we were frantic for three weeks looking for her. Until we got a call from Seamus to tell us he’d found her. She refused to come home though, even refused to go back with him. We still keep tabs on her. We have to when she’s running around the world drinking and partying every damn night. I’m giving her the freedom she so desperately craves. I just hope that she’ll reach out before she lands herself in some serious trouble.
I look down to see Bella watching me. Her hands subconsciously rubbing at her necklace. I’d asked her about them at the wedding. And she explained that she had bought them for each of the women. She had wanted something to symbolise the fact that they were bonded. That they are family. That we are family. We’ve been married for six months, and it’s been the best six months of my life. It was a long hard road getting here. But we made it. She stretches up and kisses me before standing and grabbing her glass to grab another water. I pull her into me before she has a chance to move. Resting my forehead on her stomach I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I didn’t think anything could top our wedding day. But I was wrong, in about three months she’ll give me something that will change my world forever. Change our world forever. In about three months, she’s going to make me a father.
The End
