“Lana,” I said and stood up, feeling Ryder’s hand drop away from me. “Come with me, I want to talk to you.”
We left the room then, and went outside to the front garden where we could speak alone without being heard.
“Don’t bottle it up,” I said. “No good will come from holdin’ it inside. Trust me.”
Alannah’s shoulders slumped. “I know that’s why I told you lot.”
“I’m proud of you for that.”
She wiped her face with her hands. “I can’t tell me ma, this will kill ‘er.”
I didn’t want to tell her what to do so I just listened while she spoke.
“I think… I think I’m goin’ to talk to me da. I don’t know when, I’ll figure it out, but I need to talk to ‘im. Maybe… maybe I can make ‘im stop the affair… I mean, this could have been their first date together, right?”
Her mother said he had been working long hours recently, so I doubted it.
“Lana—”
“I can make ‘im stop,” she continued. “He will pick me and me ma over some little thing. I know he will… he just… he just made a bad decision. That’s all.”
She was killing me.
“Alannah—”
“It’s gettin’ late, I have to get goin’,” she cut me off. “I promised me ma I’d come by and help her bring her old clothes to a few charity shops. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, say bye to everyone for me, will you?”
She gave me a quick hug, and before I could say a word, she was walking down the driveway then across the road to where her car was parked outside Ryder’s house. I saw the damage to the back of her car and how smashed on her boot door was, and I hated that it was just another worry added to her list.
I watched her drive off, and when she was gone out of sight, I re-entered Alec and Keela’s house and went into the sitting room.
“She’s in denial,” I said, getting everyone’s attention. “She thinks she can make ‘er da stop cheatin’ on her ma. She is puttin’ pressure on ‘erself to keep her family together.”
Bronagh rubbed her face with her hands. “What are we goin’ to do?” she asked.
“All we can do,” I replied. “Just be there for her. Tellin’ her what to do will only result in a fight because right now, what she has decided is the only thing that makes sense to ‘er.”
Silence fell upon the room until Damien said, “I have to fix shit with her. I heard what she said to Dominic, and I need to fix it. I hate what I’ve done to her.”
“I understand you better than anyone,” Ryder said, “and my advice is baby steps. You’ve said you’re sorry a million times, and you give her space whenever she is around, but what you need to do now is let her know you’re here, you’re staying, and that you will earn her trust back.”
“How the fuck am I going to do that?” Damien asked on a groan. “She barely looks at me.”
“I can’t answer that, it’s something you’ll have to figure out for yourself, kid, but it’s obvious you do like her, so just stick to your guns.”
Damien nodded, then retreated into the company of his own mind so he could think. We spent the next few hours together and after Keela made us a big feast, we scattered around the house to digest our food.
Kane, Damien and Ryder went upstairs with Alec to look at a new weight set he bought. Dominic didn’t leave Bronagh, which was standard protocol since she hit the thirty-eight week mark in pregnancy. He refused to be away from her side in case she went into labour. He didn’t want her to be without him like Aideen went without Kane for the majority of her labour.
The conversation, as usual, switched back to sex.
“It’s difficult with you sometimes though, babe,” Dominic said to Bronagh. “I’m constantly torn between wanting to fucking destroy you, but I also want to bring you flowers and chocolates and treat you like a princess.”
Bro, TMI!
Bronagh didn’t bat an eyelid. “Why not do both?”
Sis, TMI!
“That right there,” Dominic snapped his fingers, “that’s why I love you.”
I laughed and so did Bronagh as he lowered his head and kissed her. It was adorable.
“I can’t believe you’re both having a little human being.” I said as I gazed at my sister’s extremely swollen stomach.
Bronagh smiled against Dominic’s mouth before turning her head in my direction.
“I know, I wish she’d hurry up. I’m goin’ to be down at the hospital with you first thing in the mornin’ to get induced if nothin’ happens tonight. I’m pregnant nearly forty-two weeks. Enough is enough.”
I knew she was miserable and wanted her baby in her arms, but I couldn’t feel sorry for her when I was so bloody excited.
I clapped my hands together. “I’m goin’ to be the coolest auntie ever.”
“Technically,” Dominic started, “you’re the only auntie since I have no sisters…”
“Finish that sentence, Slater, and you won’t be around long enough to see your child bein’ born.”
I didn’t need to look at the door to know Aideen re-entered the sitting room, her voice was enough for me to move my legs, with a smile on my face, as she dropped down next to me with a still sleeping Jax bundled up against her chest.