“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she whispered to me when she gave me a cuddle.
I smiled at her when she pulled back. I looked at Nico when he murmured to Kane, “No sign of him.”
Kane’s body tensed. “Keep looking.”
I focused on Kane. “Need... to... talk to... you.”
“We’ll have words, babydoll. Just rest your voice for a bit.” I needed to have a real talk with him about Philip. The man tried to kill me and my baby. I wanted to know what was happening.
Nico nodded his head once to Kane then looked at me and winked. “The kid that helped you is doing good. He is here in the hospital for another twenty-four hours as a precaution.”
Thank God.
The news that Caleb was okay relieved me greatly. He was a little soldier, and without him, I think I would have died in that classroom. Images of Philip’s flashing grin and flames entered my mind.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“What’s wrong?” my brother, Harley, asked me.
I swallowed and winced in pain. “I see his face,” I rasped.
Harley leaned into me and said, “Kane told us what went down, and we’re goin’ to get the bastard. Do you hear me?”
I nodded my head.
Harley smiled at me and wiped the tears from under my eyes with his thumbs. Everyone in the room sat down—the girls on the lads’ laps or on the windowsill. I leaned my head back and looked up at the ceiling.
I gasped when I felt movement inside me.
Once again, I burst into tears as I placed my hands on my stomach. I looked at Kane when he placed his hand on my belly and felt her move, too. I knew he was trying to keep my spirits up by telling me that she was okay, but I saw the relief that crossed his face when he felt her move under his palms.
“Thank God,” he breathed and leaned down to me.
He kissed my mouth, then my cheeks and forehead.
“I love you so much.”
I pressed my face against his. He stayed pressed against me for a few minutes, but when he pulled back, he sat back down and kept his hands on my stomach.
“He’s wide awake,” Kane murmured, looking at my stomach as she turned inside me.
You could see the shape of her elbow or knee poke out as she turned.
“That is freakin’ me the fuck out,” Dante’s voice said from my right.
I looked at my brother and found his eyes, and everyone else’s, on my stomach.
I smiled and shook my head.
He was such a man.
“I think it looks cool,” Bronagh commented.
I smiled at her and found her staring at my stomach like it was the most interesting thing she had ever come across in her life. I frowned then when her face paled, and she suddenly jumped up from Nico’s lap. She ran for the sink in the room and vomited into it. Nico was right up after her, rubbing her back with his hand.
I looked at Kane who looked at me and smiled.
That exact same thing happened to me about twenty odd weeks ago.
“I’m fine, just nauseous,” Bronagh murmured and gargled some water, then wiped her face dry with some tissue Nico handed her.
They sat back down and Nico cuddled her to his body.
“Are you coming down with something?” he asked.
She swallowed and shook her head.
I smiled at her, and she glared at me.
She knew I knew.
“Don’t look at me like that, Collins,” she grunted at me.
I flashed my teeth at her and it pissed her off.
“You’re lucky you’re pregnant and injured.”
I continued to smile.
“Stop!” she snapped.
Kane laughed then groaned, “I’m dreading your hormones. I can barely tolerate Aideen’s.”
Bronagh glared at Kane then looked at Nico when he tensed underneath her.
“Bronagh?”
Bronagh stood up and turned to face him. “I was goin’ to tell you, but you’ve been goin’ on about your stupid fight all week and I didn’t want to distract you.”
Branna was leaning against the door. “Tell him what?”
Bronagh looked at her sister and said, “I’m pregnant.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Alec shouted, throwing his hands in the air. “Is everyone going to have kids before me?”
My brothers laughed at Alec while I watched Nico. He was looking up at Bronagh with a look of love and admiration mixed into one. He stood up and stepped towards her. She looked at him and began to play with her fingers. “Are you mad?”
Nico said nothing.
Bronagh groaned, “Please, Dominic, say somethin’.”
He did.
He said, “I love you.”
“Aww,” Alannah cooed from the windowsill making Kane snicker.
“You... You aren’t mad?”
Nico put his arms around Bronagh. “Mad?” he questioned. “We’ve been trying for a while now. I’m happier than you could ever imagine. We’re going to have a baby, pretty girl.”
I started crying again.
Kane looked at me and smiled as he stroked his thumb over my hand.
“How long have you known?” Branna asked her sister.
Bronagh looked at her and said, “About a week.”
Branna’s face fell. “And you never told me?”
“I didn’t tell anyone apart from Alannah because she was in the house when I took the test, Bran.”
Branna nodded her head, but I could tell she was hurt.
“She’s fine,” Ryder said to Bronagh, who looked guilt-ridden as she looked at her sister. “She’ll get over it.”
Branna looked at Ryder, and I saw the moment her heart broke.
She looked at me then, her eyes filled with tears and said, “I’m sorry, Aideen. I’m glad you’re okay, babe, but I have to leave.”
I barely got a chance to nod my head to show her I understood before she opened the door and fled from the room. Ryder shook his head but made no attempt to go after her. Bronagh, on the other hand, didn’t hesitate, she paused at Ryder and kicked him in the shin.
“Bronagh!” he snapped and grabbed his leg.
She pointed her finger at him and said, “That’s for being an arsehole. Would it fuckin’ kill you to be nice to her?”
Ryder set his jaw. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Bronagh shook her head. “When she plucks up the courage to leave you, and finds someone who truly loves and cares for her, you’ll finally realise how incredible she really is and it’ll be too late. Be a man and fight for her, she is worth it!”
With that said, Bronagh left the room with an annoyed Nico in tow.
Ryder had waited about twenty seconds before he left, too. Alannah sighed from the windowsill and pushed herself to her feet. “I’m goin’ to get some food, anyone comin’ with me?”
My brothers, Keela, and Alec all answered ‘yes’ in unison. They told Kane they would grab him something then they all left the room. It was just me and Kane again.
“Our families are crazy.”
I nodded my head. “Damien is the only normal one.”
Kane snorted. “Dominic called and told him last night what happened.”
I frowned. “You shouldn't have worried him.”
I looked at Kane's face then. I noticed his face looked so good compared to how pale and sullen it was weeks ago without his insulin.
I widened my eyes then.
“Injections,” I rasped.
Kane took my hand in his and smiled. “I did it myself.”
I blinked in astonishment.
“I know,” he chuckled. “When you were still asleep this morning I knew I’d needed it or I would be no good to you when you woke up. I didn’t want my diabetes fighting against me when I needed to fight for you, so I bit the bullet and injected the insulin myself. I wasn’t scared... I’m not scared. Not anymore. I'll never be scared of something so mundane again, not when I experienced almost losing you.”
Tears welled in my eyes and I reached my hands out for him. He smiled and leaned into me, kissing my cheek and snaking his arm around my body.
“I love you,” he whispered.