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“Did I ever tell you how proud I am of you?” he asked, kissing her neck.
“Not tonight,” she answered, taking his hand and bringing it to her lips. “I’m proud of you, too.”
“I mean it’s more than that. You work full time; you’re a wonderful mother. You always look great. I hear the guys talking at work, I mean, it’s kind of crappy of them, saying their wives sit around all day and complain about being a mother. I’ve never heard you complain once about taking care of Flynn.”
“I love being his mother,” she said. “I miss having complete control though. I can’t wait to get into our own house so I can be the lady of the house. I remember Mam saying that to Da. ‘I’m deciding what’s for dinner tonight because I’m the lady of the house, and we can’t eat hot dogs every night.’”
“That’s funny. Yes, you are definitely my lady and you’ll be the lady of our house.”
“Now we just need to get through Christmas. I have a feeling it’s going to be wild.”
“I won’t be there, remember.”
“Yeah, don’t remind me. There is something I need to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“The night I was out shopping, I ran into Patty. I tried to call you, but you were on a call.”
“Ugh. No way. I’m so sorry.”
“It was fine, it really was. She was upset about this…” She patted his hand over her belly. “But we talked it out, and when she left, she seemed okay.”
“Bridget, I’m really sorry. You don’t deserve that, but unless we move out of the area, I’m not sure how to circumvent running into her.”
“I’m fine. It was bound to happen, and now that it has, next time she’ll either keep going or we’ll chat.”
“As long as she doesn’t cause any trouble.”
“She won’t for me. Is it a possibility she will for you?”
“I hope not,” Tony mumbled.
Christmas did turn out crazy. The younger brothers brought their girlfriends to the house on Christmas Eve, all but Marty. Bridget’s mom and dad, Alice and Emmett, were there as well, and Alice whispered, “How do you tell the brothers apart? They’re all gorgeous.”
It was true. Joey was the oldest at thirty-two. Then there was Tony at twenty-six; Mike almost twenty-four; Leon, twenty-two; Jack, twenty; and Marty, nineteen.
They were all tall, dark and handsome except for Leon, who was tall, blond and handsome. “I got at least one who looks like me,” Roberta said.
“Yeah, but the last time I looked, that hair color came out of a bottle,” Roberta’s sister Carol said.
The night dragged by for Bridget, who was out of sorts, just wanting to get into bed and watch television. Everyone but Bridget and Roberta seemed to be drinking too much, which seemed awfully un-Christmas-like. Then thecoup de grâce. Around ten, the phones of the firefighters in the room started to alert.
Big Mike read out loud, “Structure fire at 257 Seacrest Drive.” He looked up from his phone. “Why does that sound familiar?”
A second later, his phone rang. “It’s Tony.” Everyone listened in. “Let’s go. It’s Tony and Bridget’s house.”
“Holy crap! I thought that sounded like a familiar address,” Joey said.
“We’ll meet the truck at the house. No time to change clothes.”
The men ran out the door while Bridget sat paralyzed.
“Could someone have left a piece of equipment on?” Roberta asked.
“I have no idea,” Bridget replied.
Her parents surrounded her, Alice smoothing her hair and murmuring to her.
