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I breathed in her scent.
Sweet honeysuckle.
Slap.
Avaleigh gasped in horror behind her mother, whose aim was still spot on. Stretching my jaw to ease the pain, I brought my hand up to massage the area, chuckling beneath my breath.
“Haven’t lost your power behind that swing, I see.”
She didn’t say anything, just stared up at me with tears of anger in her eyes. I doubted they were tears of happiness and joy. We definitely wouldn’t be falling into old times together anytime soon, as much as my dick jumped at the thought.
“Do it again!” one of the boys shouted from behind me. I let out a long sigh, my eyes falling closed as I counted to ten. “We would love to get a video of that for our TikTok.”
Startled, Katherine stepped back, eyes wide as she took in my twin sons, who were only months younger than their sister. Funny thing was, they didn’t look anything like Marianne with their ginger locks and green eyes. The only thing they seemed to inherit was her ability to turn up at the worst possible moment.
“I…”
Seamus strolled up next to me and smiled down at her. His charming smile disarmed her for a moment, and she simply stared at him, mouth parted slightly in surprise. “Hi.” He held out his hand for her to shake. “I’m Seamus, the better-looking twin, as you can clearly see.”
Katherine barked a laugh, her body jumping slightly, as if she was surprised by her reaction. Gingerly, she took his hand and gave him a weary smile.
“Katherine.”
“Oh, we know who you are.” Kiernan smirked next to his brother.
“Our da has been telling us stories about you since we were in diapers.” Seamus chuckled.
“Like about the time you put Mentos in his toilet before he sat down to take a shit.” He grinned. “Or the time you dragged his air mattress out to the lake, and he woke up the next morning in the middle of it.”
Ava was nervously biting her lip behind her mother, afraid of the reaction she might have to the sudden bombardment of memories and my oldest sons—Marianne’s oldest sons. None of us had bothered to factor them in to the equation when we built out the plan to bring her here. To bring her home.
Her face was drawn in sorrow as she stared at my sons, but I could see a glimmer of affection sitting just beneath the surface. These may be the children of the woman who nearly murdered her, but unlike her…sister—Jaysus, that was still odd to say—there was no hostility to be found.
Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, and I went to shoo the two boys away, but someone beat me to it.
“Seamus and Kiernan Kavanaugh, what in blazes do you think you’re doing?” My mam hustled her way into the entertainment room, hands on her hips, staring at her grandsons. “Honestly, making such a ruckus when she just arrived. The poor girl will think you were raised in a barn.”
“Technically, the compound was an old barn, so…”
“Get out with you.” My mother snapped her towel at the two as she stomped our way. “Out. Out.” Seamus laughed wildly, winking at Katherine before he and Kiernan hopped off to meet their girlfriend.
My mother shook her head in disbelief as she stared after the twins. “Honestly, now.” She sighed and turned toward us. Her smile brightened when she saw Katherine, eyes brimming with raw emotion as she gazed at the woman before her. “Well,” she took a quick breath, “you’re just as beautiful as the last day I saw you.” My mother opened her arms. “Welcome home,iníon.”
At the word, daughter, the tears Katherine had been holding back fell from her eyes like a dam breaking. She fell forward into Mam’s warm embrace, crying into her shoulder, while my mother whispered into her hair.
“It’s all right now, love,” she cooed at her, running a hand up and down her back. “You’re home. You’re safe, and you’re family.”
It was at that moment right there that I decided I would slay every last one of Katherine’s demons, no matter the cost. Even if it never made things completely right between us again.
I had to at least try.
She didn’t know it yet, but Katherine McDonough was mine.
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
Things had become uncharacteristically quiet over the past few weeks. There had been no sign of Christian. Even Kenzi hadn’t heard from him, and that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
A storm was brewing, and we needed to be prepared for what was going to bring. The cleanup of the Dashkov building had commenced over a month ago and was nearly finished. Soon, we could start on the new construction. An eco-friendly high-rise without the added explosives.
