AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I hold Dara’s hand as the visits continue, the baby being passed around, and for the first time in my life, I feel warmth.
Real, true warmth.
Chapter50
Dara
Cillian shuffles toward me on his hands and knees, crawling along like a maniac. “Easy there,” I say, laughing as he makes some grunting happy noises. I help him stand, holding his hands, and we walk together. He takes hesitant little steps, but at one year old, he’s so close to walking. “You can slow down, you know,” I whisper to him. “No need to hurry. We’ve got your whole life.”
He beams at me, my beautiful boy.
“What’s going on in here?” Finn appears at the door. Cillian makes a little squealing sound, this adorable thing he does whenever his father comes into the room, and immediately drops down to all fours. He crawls over like a maniac and Finn scoops him up. “My lovely boy and my lovely wife.”
“How was work?” I ask, standing to give him a kiss.
“Work was work and now I’m home.” The same thing he says every time. “How are my two favorite people in the world doing?”
“Thriving,” I say, my traditional response.
He sits with us in the playroom on the padded floor, rolling a ball with Cillian, making silly faces, tickling his boy and crawling around on the floor. It’s incredible, the change in him, how he went from cold-blooded mobster to a dad over the course of days. He’s still the insatiable Finn I fell in love with, but there’s something new in him now, something I never imagined I’d see.
Softness. Love. Growth.
The nanny, Sara, takes over and I join Finn in the kitchen. He pours wine and we talk about our days for real. Slowly, he drifts over toward me, like my gravity pulls him closer and closer, and I end up sitting in his lap on the couch, his lips on my neck.
“Father says he wants to expand. He’s thinking about Chicago.”
“Aren’t there families there already?” I ask, frowning.
“He doesn’t give a damn, but yes, there are.”
“It’ll be violent.”
“Yes, wife, it will be.” He beams at me. “Got a problem with that?”
“Weirdly, no.” I kiss him. “How’s Genna?”
“Busy. Ever since she opened her own club, she’s been pushing for another location.”
“Animal,” I say, grinning as he pulls me down for another long kiss.
“And as for you,” he murmurs, hands exploring my body.
“Easy there.” I slap him away. “I wanted to talk to you about something and I need you to save all this—” I gesture at him vaguely. “—for later.”
“All right, love,” he says with a big sigh. “What’s so important you’re making me keep my hands to myself?”
“Another baby.”
His eyes widen. “Now you want to talk about it?”
“You’ve been bugging me about it for months,” I say, shaking my head. “I wasn’t ready, but Cillian turned one yesterday, and now—” I lean down and run my fingers through his hair. “I want another baby. I already miss it.”
“You miss waking up in the middle of the night to do feedings?”
“Well—”
“And the crying? The fucking crying?”
