Page 87 of Dublin Charmer
“But you all came out boys, and the carbon copy of your father,” Laine says.
“And Katherine was your mother’s name,” Finn adds.
Laine meets Finn’s gaze and smiles. “I think she’d approve, don’t you?”
Finn told me that when Laine first got to Dublin, she’d brought her mother’s ashes to spread in her homeland. He’d helped Laine track down her family in Brittas Bay and lay her mother to rest.
“Well, let’s bring her inside, so we can all get to know her.” Without a moment’s hesitation, Brendan takes the carrier from Laine and heads toward the living room.
The family follows, excitement filling the sunken living room, as they arrange themselves on couches still bearing the scars of yesterday’s battle. The furniture has been righted, the glass swept away, but bullet holes pepper the walls as ugly reminders of violence.
Yet somehow, the baby’s presence makes all that fade to background noise.
Baby Q gets passed from uncle to uncle, each brother transformed in her presence. Even Bryan, with his scarred knuckles and fearsome reputation as a violent beast, cradles her with such tenderness it makes my chest ache.
When Finn holds her, it’s as if he’s transfixed. He smiles down at her, and the tectonic plates of my soul shift once again.
It’s been happening more and more lately and is something I’m not ready to examine quite yet.
Harper told me that the Quinns fall hard and fast and that once you’re in their hearts, they are loyal and devoted evermore.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around that.
After twenty minutes of watching the family celebration, I whisper to Finn that I’m heading upstairs and slip away quietly. I’ve got searches running on Gravely’s system, and the sooner we find him, the sooner everyone can breathe easier.
The castle corridors no longer feel like a maze. I navigate them with growing confidence, trailing my fingers along stone walls that have witnessed centuries of Quinn triumphs and tragedies.
It’s bizarre how quickly this place has become comfortable, familiar in a way that makes me uneasy. I’ve never allowed myself to feel at home anywhere since Papa died. For the past decade, home has meant vulnerability, something to lose.
Home is starting to mean something else to me now.
I climb the grand staircase, turning up the corridor toward Finn’s room. Before I get there, I stop by the spare bedroom where Gio has been recovering. He’s slept on and off for two solid days, and that makes me both grateful and furious.
Gravely will pay for everything he did to us.
“Knock, knock.” I rap my knuckles against the solid wood door as I ease it open. My brother is sitting up in bed, scrolling through a tablet Finn gave him. I’m relieved to see that most of his color has returned to his face and his cheeks are starting to fill out again.
“Hey, stranger.” He looks up as I perch on the edge of his bed, his smile genuine but tired. “Did I hear a baby crying earlier?”
“Tag and Laine are home from the hospital.”
“Born in a bloody siege,” he says, setting the tablet onto the mattress. “It makes me wonder what kind of a legacy that will bring to the kid.”
I shrug. “I prefer to think of it as her starting life with a brave and determined entrance despite the hostility in the world.”
He narrows his gaze. “Who are you and what have you done with my sister?”
I chuckle. “You’re not wrong. I’m not the same woman I was. Part of that is because of what we’ve been through, but a bigger part of that is because of Finn. Being with him has opened my eyes, broadened my understanding of what life could be.”
Gio swallows. “Uh, since we’re talking about what life could be, let’s talk about the future. I’ve been thinking...”
I recognize the tone immediately and my stomach sinks.
He takes my wrists in his hands and squeezes. “I’m grateful to the Quinns—more than I can say—but once Gravely is taken care of and I’m back on my feet, I think we should leave Dublin.”
The words hit me like a physical blow. “Leave? Why would we leave?”
“Why wouldn’t we? Dublin has been nothing but torture and blackmail, pain and suffering. Let’s leave it in the rearview mirror and start somewhere fresh.”
