Page 94 of The Celtic Resolution
I come with a scream, clawing at his shoulders as pleasure consumes me and my eyes roll back hard into the darkness of my mind.
As I fall apart in his arms, Bruno’s own grunts of desire mingle with mine and a rush of heat inside me signals his own release which leaves me riding such a delightful high.
“I love you, Saoirse,” Bruno murmurs against my lips as he kisses me repeatedly.
“Good,” I gasp tiredly as my body twitches with pleasure. “’Cause I love you too.”
39
BRUNO
December arrives with a significant amount of snow, which sends most of the city into a frenzy about the transportation difficulties it causes. For Saoirse and me, it’s bliss. Sitting in the NICU watching our baby boy get stronger day by day while snow drifts past the window and paints the world white like a pretty postcard.
Since our date on the roof just before Thanksgiving, things have been good. There’s no need to hide my feelings for her any longer and the only time I’m not holding her hand or kissing her is during the hours we sit beside Liam and watch him grow.
Day after day, night after night, we share the same fear and the same celebration. Each day he gets stronger is one step closer toward finally taking him home but each night has the same fear that lingers like a burn in the back of my throat. All it takes is one thing to go wrong and everything we’ve been working toward fails. It’s hard to sleep, so we take alternating shifts as Christmas approaches so that Liam is never alone. I let Saoirse sleep the most because she’s still recovering from her ordeal but each time she sleeps late, she wakes like the fury of a storm and curses me out but there’s never any heat in her words.
She needs her rest and Liam is always there waiting for her when she wakes up.
Meeting her family is a different story.
Cian and I haven’t exactly seen eye to eye since he broke my nose after Halloween but I don’t blame him. He’s got a lot on his plate with his own recovery and he went through hell. But one evening on a particularly cold, stormy night where the snow whips through the air as a blizzard descends, Cian is right there with coffee for me and enough food to keep me filled for weeks.
We don’t talk about it but from that moment on, I know I’m forgiven. I’ll still keep working at it though and proving to Cian, and everyone else, that I’m worthy of their forgiveness. I’ll do it for the rest of my life.
Rocky and Sarah visit often to check in on me and keep me updated on the latest developments in the business world. It’s strange how little it all matters when you have a baby that needs hospital and tubes to survive but I enjoy their visits. Rocky spends a lot of time talking with Cormac in the cafeteria and Sarah spends a lot of time with Sarah, but they both make sure to come say goodbye before they leave.
It’s odd to think I used to be so jealous of Rocky and now I see him for the leader he is. After my father’s actions completely destroyed a lot of good faith and trust in the Italian’s reputation, Rocky has his work cut out for him mending all of that, but luckily, Cormac is in his corner.
Even Saoirse is happy to do what she can since she’s of the belief that the Italians' bad luck isn’t a good enough reason to write off everything good Rocky has ever done for us.
Reputations take a second to destroy and a lifetime to build but if anyone can do it, Rocky can.
The Mafia world remains as turbulent as ever as multiple smaller families push the boundaries, testing the strength not only of Rocky’s will but Cormac’s as well. Some see Saoirse’sinvolvement in the treaty dismantling as proof that the Giffords no longer deserve to be in power and the truth doesn’t matter to those people. They’re greedy and hungry for power of their own.
Cian stamps that out pretty quickly, and he’s not gentle about it either. From my understanding of the Irish Hierarchy, it’s a hard thing to kill some of their own, but Cian has no patience for insurrection and his family comes first.
I get him a new cane for Christmas, one that lights up as he walks, and he’s so amused that he laughs for a good ten minutes while hobbling around to test it out. Cormac tries it out for a while too and then Cian sheepishly hands me a sack of coal for Christmas with a promise to get me something much better next year.
I’m happy with it, although no one believes me.
Mary hits it off wit everyone as expected and she’s welcomed into the Gifford clan as if she’d been born Irish from the very beginning. It’s my first Christmas in ten years and I’m surrounded by people who view me as one of their own while my son grows in leaps and bounds, and the woman I love sits on my lap and sings Christmas carols with her mother. There’s nowhere I’d rather be and no gift too terrible in this moment.
Christmas ends much the same as Thanksgiving, with everyone fat and happy and passed out in various places around the staff room. It’s too kind of the hospital to even allow us to do this until I learn that the Russians basically own the hospital and have been covering the cost of Liam’s stay here.
It’s their way of apologizing for not better stamping out the stain of the skin trade after their entire business overhaul several years ago. An unnecessary apology in my eyes since my father was determined to be a scumbag one way or another. If it weren’t human trafficking, it would have been something else. Cormac also assures me that the Russians have an internal program for tracking down human trafficking victims, which has beenoperational since their current Godmother, Anastasia, took over. With her eyes all over the world and my shipping information, several of the people caught up in my father’s schemes have already been rescued.
That’s the best Christmas present. Deep down, I know not everyone will be saved, but some is better than none. With the Russians on our side and Cian’s bloodthirsty determination, it won’t be long until the silent backer of that terrible trip is brought to their knees.
“Here.” Saoirse drops into the seat next to me a few days later and hands me the last of the Christmas candy. “I know you like the minty ones so I saved you the last one from Cian’s hungry paws.”
“Thanks.” Unwrapping the candy, I pop it into my mouth and chew quickly. “Do you know what this is about?”
She shoots me a nervous glance and shakes her head. “Nurse only told me it was important.”
“Same.” Twenty minutes ago, a nurse fetched me from the NICU and brought me to the doctor’s office with very little information. Learning that they woke Saoirse from her sleep as well sets the worry time bomb off in my mind and I replay my last moments with Liam. He looked fine. Completely peaceful as he slept the hours away. There were no alerts on the machines and no alarms that I recall.
“Do you think it’s bad?” Saoirse leans forward and slides her hand into mine, gripping tightly. “Maybe we missed something.”
