Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 89145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
“Don’t take them off until your belly button’s above the surface, son.” Liam swam over too. “If you break the rules, I pay for it when we get home.”
“I can stand, Daddy!” CJ huffed.
“Tell your mum that,” Liam challenged. “It’s her fuckin’ rule.”
I shook my head in amusement. Glad to see he and Luna were a united front.
Reagan and little Kian bobbed closer too, wearing both arm floaties and life jackets, which was the only way Emilia could relax some. ’Cause these kids were wild. Little Eddie was the same. Everyone under four needed two pairs of eyes on them—and all the flotation help.
“Hi!” CJ pulled up his trunks and sat down on the step below the top one. “Are you my uncle?”
Oh shite.
I glanced at Liam, who chuckled under his breath. Then he shrugged and inclined his head a little.
Okay, then.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah. I am. Which means I can throw you in the water whenever I want.”
CJ gasped. “Uncle Kellan protects me!”
I didn’t know about that. Kellan was busy judging the splash jumpers and eating chips.
“Same goes for you, lad,” Liam told Trip. “Right now, only the ice cream saves you.”
I smiled, and it felt like a weight was being lifted off my shoulders.
We were really doing this family thing, weren’t we?
Trip, ever the genius, giggled and rose to his feet. “I’m gonna top this off. Bye!” He ran away with his cone toward the ice cream machine.
“I’mma get ice cream too!” CJ yelled and followed. “Bye-bye! Trip, wait for me!”
Clever boys.
And cute as fuck.
“I was thinkin’,” Liam said. “We fly home on Monday, but do you wanna grab lunch after church tomorrow?”
Absofuckinglutely.
“Yeah, sounds great,” I replied. Even more so because I wouldn’t have to worry about running into Ma. These days, she always attended the second service, and the O’Sheas went to the early one. “Will you let Nessa interact with me?” It was half a joke, which I hoped my smirk showed.
He chuckled and glanced over at where Nessa was watching Cory and Eddie. “Maybe I’m overprotective.”
It was fine. I got it.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “You gotta make sure I’m not some lunatic.”
His smirk mirrored my own. “I can’t say I’ve been that worried. If Kellan vouches for you, I’m good.”
Cheers to Kellan.
“Besides,” he chuckled, “we’re the lunatics here, mate.”
I grinned.
CHAPTER 6
West Scott
Iswallowed dryly and moved on to the next photo on Emilia O’Shea’s account.
Emilia and Alfie grinning in a selfie, with a young child squished between them. Another picture, where I saw Ellie and Trip in the pool with a bunch of other kids. The caption for the ten photos jumped off the screen. Pool day and barbecue fun with the family. The man himself, Finnegan O’Shea, was in some of the photos too. One in particular where he was squeezing his wife to him, kissing her cheek, while Alfie and another man walked by in the background, their half-blurry expressions frozen in laughter.
More photos of children—in the pool, out of the pool, eating hot dogs, ketchup smeared all over, then eating ice cream just as messily. Ellie was laughing her butt off with another boy, and both had ice cream all over their faces.
My ears started ringing.
I went back to Alfie’s account and looked at the counter again.
Four new followers. Emilia O’Shea, Nessa Murray, Autumn O’Shea, and one “Colm Noneya.”
Alfie had posted a single photo, revealing only our kids in the water, and it was impossible to identify the location. It could’ve been any pool.
The caption, though.
A good day to spend with new family.
I swallowed hard and set down my phone on the kitchen island, and then I closed my eyes and scrubbed my hands over my face.
Part of me wanted to text Trip and ask if he was okay.
Another part of me said it was time to give Ellie a phone too.
He would never put the children in harm’s way.
Then there was that part.
It was a blessing and a curse, truth be told. Wanting to rescue the kids didn’t mean I believed they needed to be saved. I’d regretted my words the moment I’d asked Alfie if they were safe with him. But my fucking God, was I furious. I just wasn’t sure why—or rather, for how many reasons.
I let my hands fall, and I stood there in my kitchen. Empty, silent, zero life around.
I clenched my jaw.
His novel of a text series went on a loop in my brain today too.
I tightened my hands into fists and relaxed them again, and they tingled and prickled uncomfortably. This entire weekend had been a quick drop into madness, and I felt myself spinning out of control. I’d lost my footing in some way. I didn’t know what was happening. I’d thought I didn’t know Alfie either anymore, but now it was… Fuck, I really didn’t know him, and it pained me. It hurt more than I could describe, because I was literally raising my children with a stranger.