Page 14 of Steadfast

“Don’t do it,” I yelled, pushing at Richie’s arms. “I’m an innocent bystander!”

Saoirse grinned and turned the hose on us, completely unrepentant.

I gasped as the cold water hit me in the chest. Ronan roared with laughter.

“Muah-ha-ha,” Saoirse roared.

The only consolation was that Richie was just as wet as I was by the time we wrestled the hose out of her hands. Unfortunately, Cian had rounded the house carrying the front yard hose, and it turned into an all-out war.

By the time we’d turned off the hoses, my fingers were like little prunes, the kids were sprawled out breathless in the yard around me, and I could feel my shoulders sizzling from the sun.

“I’m guessing it went okay?” Saoirse asked quietly from beside me, her eyes on the sky.

“All good, sister,” I assured her. “Mom did great.”

“Thank the good Lord,” she murmured. My eyes widened as she smiled. “Remember when he used to say that?”

“Of course,” I whispered. She’d copied our dad’s accent and inflections perfectly. “Friday night and no work until Monday. Thank the good Lord,” I said, mimicking him, too.

She giggled. “I miss him.”

“Me too.” I reached for her hand and squeezed it. “Every day.”

“Table fit through the door,” Cian said from her other side. “Thank the good Lord.” His accent was perfect, too.

“Aoife brought home perfect marks from school,” Saoirse said. “Thank the good Lord.”

“Cian didn’t fail a single class.” I kept it going. “Thank the good Lord.”

We laughed.

“Saoirse’s got my eyes,” Cian said, his voice a little lower. “Thank the good Lord.”

“Did he really say that?” Saoirse asked, turning her head toward Cian.

“More than once,” I answered for him. “He was pissed that me and Cian got Mom’s.”

“Ronan has the same eyes as me,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, but you’re the only one who looked like a little fairy.”

“The rest of us are sturdy folk,” I joked as Richie turned on his side to watch us. “Thank the good Lord.”

We were quiet, lost in our memories of Dad.

“What did he say about me?” Aisling demanded, sitting up.

“He said that you looked like a bobblehead,” Cian joked.

Aisling scowled.

“You did.” I snorted. “But you grew into your head.”

“He said you were the sweetest baby he’d ever seen,” Saoirse said, smiling up at our baby sister.

“He did?”

“Yep,” I confirmed. Saoirse was right. I hadn’t remembered it until that moment, but our dadhadcalled Aisling the sweetest baby he’d ever seen. “He said he loved coming home because the minute you saw him, you’d start smiling. He didn’t even have to look at you, and you were grinning at him.”

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