Page 30 of Beautiful Trauma
“My baby brother is the same age, and I sure as hell can’t imagine it with him,” he remarked with a smile.
I motioned to the photographs. “Do all these children belong to your family?”
A genuine smile lit up Kellan’s face. “Yes, those are my nephews and niece.”
“They’re stunning each and every one of them.”
“I would have to agree with you.”
“Will you introduce them to me?”
“You really want to know?”
“Of course.”
“Okay.”
When he came over to join me, his heady scent sent a shudder through me. The heat radiating off his body singed the exposed skin on my arms.
“That’s Julianna–she’s four, and the twins, Declan and Donnovan, are eighteen months. They belong to my oldest brother, Callum.”
I tried to act like the reference to the leader of their clan meant nothing to me. That I hadn’t been briefed by Dima about each and every member of the Kavanaugh regime. I knewCallum’s arranged marriage with an Italian woman had turned into one of love.
Turning to the next frame, Kellan pointed to two grinning little boys, “Dario is three, and Matteo is almost a year old. They belong to my sister, Maeve.”
“Like Callum’s children, they look like they have a little Italian in them,” I mused.
Kellan laughed. “Good eye. Callum’s wife, Caterina, is Italian, and then Maeve went and fell in love with Caterina’s brother, Raphael.”
“So, double first cousins?”
Nodding, Kellan replied, “I’d say we like to keep it in the family, but that makes it sound incestuous.”
I laughed. “I would say so.”
He then pointed to a picture of a baby boy wearing an intricate christening gown. “And then this little guy is Rian–he’s my brother, Quinn’s son, and he’s just two months.”
“He’s precious.”
A shadow crossed Kellan’s face. “He’s got some big shoes to follow. He was named after one of our cousins who was more like our brother.”
Turning back to me, he forced the sadness from his face. “We just need to add one more photograph, and all of the children will be represented.
Curiosity flooded me. “Whose had another baby?”
Kellan chuckled. “That would be Dare, and actually, she was born three years ago.” At what must’ve been my genuine shock, he said, “He just recently found out he was a father.”
“That must’ve been a surprise,” I remarked, hoping he would give up more information.
“It was. Besides a teenage love, Ava is really the love of Dare’s life. Now that she’s back in his life, he’ll move mountains to be with her. Especially since he’s a father now.”
At that moment, I wished I hadn’t taken out my earpiece. This development was exactly what we were looking for. After his ex came back into town with his child, no wonder he had ghosted Annika and my father. From the sound of it, he wouldn’t be holding up his end of the contract.
“It sounds like true love.”
“It really is.” He shook his head with a grin. “It’s also kinda karmic retribution since Dare never wanted children. Now he’s got a daughter to pay for all his sins with women.”
“But he’s okay with having a child now?”
