Page 73 of Steadfast

“It must’ve been hard,” I said quietly.

“It was for a while,” she agreed. “But you can get used to anything eventually.”

“Saoirse said you needed me?” Richie asked, coming through the door. “More bags to go out?”

“We found the will,” I replied, getting to my feet.

“And?”

My cheeks hurt from the smile that spread across my face. “Guardianship goes to me.”

Richie’s eyes widened. “No fucking way.”

I nodded.

A second later, I was in his arms and his face pressed against my neck as he swung me in a circle.

“They’re ours.”

“Aisling, give me back my Legos,” Ronan bellowed from outside the room. Stomping feet echoed through the doorway as he chased her through the house.

“They’re ours,” I replied happily.

CHAPTER 10

Aoife

5 years later

“He’s here,” Aislingsaid excitedly, smacking at Saoirse’s hands as she burst out of the chair and went running for the door.

Saoirse stared at the empty chair. “I was almost done with her hair.”

“We’ve got time,” I said easily. I’d thought that I would be nervous or anxious on my wedding day, but I wasn’t. There was nothing easier than marrying Richie. If it had been up to him, we would’ve gotten married the year after I got guardianship of the kids when he’d put an engagement ring on my finger.

He’d been able to afford it because we never moved out of my family home. We hadn’t seen the point since it was paid off, and I’d been determined to give the kids as much normalcy as I could. They’d been able to grow up in the same place where they made all of their first memories. I was proud of that.

With the little money left from Dad’s insurance policy, and a surprisingly large policy he’d set up for my mom before he died, I’d been able to go to college and get an accounting degree, and there was enough left over to help any of the kids who decided to go to college after me. It was something that I’d never imagined would be possible for any of us, and I thanked my dad daily for taking care of us long after he was gone.

Saoirse smiled at me as the sounds of Harley engines shut off abruptly outside.

“He brought someone with him.”

“He always does,” I mused.

My heart had stopped when Cian had come home on an old Harley the week after his eighteenth birthday, and he’d nearly broken it when he drove out to Oregon a month later to look up the bikers we’d met on our mad dash to Aunt Ashley. My consolation had been the visits he made at least once a month since then. It wasn’t enough, but I’d made peace with it.

All I wanted was for my kids to be happy, confident, and secure in themselves and the knowledge that Richie and I would always be there for them when they needed us. Cian had all that, so I refused to complain.

At least out loud. In my head, I worried incessantly, but that wasn’t anything new.

“Boys aren’t allowed,” Aisling said from outside the door.

“I think that’s just the groom,” my brother replied, swinging it open.

He took one step inside and froze.

“Ah, Mam,” he said softly. “You’re gorgeous.”

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