Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 35086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 175(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 175(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
He wasn’t wrong.
Chapter Six
Christmas Day…
“But why?”
Seamus tweaked his daughter’s bright red nose. “Because people don’t marry blood relations.”
Penny put her hands on her hips. “Why?”
“Because then you can’t have babies.” The lie slipped from his lips out of self-preservation. This conversation was way too complicated for a five-year-old. Or the father of a five-year-old.
She scrunched up her face thoughtfully, looking adorably annoyed. “Jake and I have different blood, right? He had a different dad before you. So we could have babies if we wanted to.” She looked so relieved he wanted to laugh.
Seamus sighed and whistled for his brother’s dog again. “Come on, Lucky Penny. We need to grab Bad and get inside.”
She placed her gloved hand in his obediently. “That’s not his name, Daddy. And good. I’m cold and stockings were hours ago, but Gram said we had to wait.”
“Gram is right.” Not always, he silently amended, but often enough. They’d all stayed overnight at Declan Kelley’s hotel-sized house so they could spend Christmas together. Since it was the season of peace and love, when his mother sat him down this morning and asked him to forgive her for not practicing what she preached, he capitulated easily. After the outpouring of love at the wedding, it was hard not to. And he’d noticed Jen and his mother holding each other as Owen and Jeremy exchanged their vows. If his baby sister could start fresh after what happened, so could Seamus.
It bothered him more than he’d thought it would, her treatment of Jennifer. He was as shocked as anyone when Solomon told him the family secret. Stunned because he’d never had a clue. But that wasn’t what truly upset him. After the blind acceptance she gave to Owen and Stephen—hell, to him the first time he came home with a son that wasn’t his—he couldn’t wrap his head around the guilt she’d nearly buried her only girl under. When he realized how complicit he and the others had been by not seeing Jen as a grown woman—not noticing how unhappy she’d been before—he felt pretty damn bad about himself as a brother. And disappointed in his mother for the first time in his life.
He looked down at Penny. He was a protective father too, and there was nothing he wouldn’t do to keep her from harm and heartbreak. But he hoped he’d never load her down with his personal baggage. The last thing he wanted was for her to be afraid to take a chance on love because she’d learned the wrong lessons from him.
“I think I’ll ask Gram.”
“Ask her what, angel?” Seamus finally saw the dog and whistled one more time. Hopefully he’d listen. Penny had been holding the leash when Badass bolted away in the snow, booties and all.
“I bet she thinks it’d be okay if I wedded Jake.”
“Married Jake. And I bet you’re wrong. Don’t bother Gram with that right now. It’s Christmas.” He’d become more open-minded about a lot of things this year, but he drew the line at letting her marry her brother.
Penny muttered under her breath, her little legs stomping beside his.
“What?”
“I want a chocolate state.”
Seamus snorted. “Statue.”
“That’s what I said. And a Jell-O.”
That one took him a minute. “Do you mean a cello? As in the instrument?”
“I said that, Daddy.”
Badass stopped beside them, panting happily with his leash dragging behind him. He grabbed it then picked Penny up in his arms. “We can get you a chocolate statue and cello lessons, I promise. But let’s save the wedding talk for a while. Until you’re twenty-five.”
“But I love him. And everyone says when you love someone you’re supposed to get wedded.” Her breath made clouds in the air and her big blue eyes made her look like a doll. She was so precious.
“Married. And of course you love him, Penny. He’s your family. Remember what the justice of the peace said? There are different kinds of love.”
“Was your married that nice?”
“Wedding?” He kept his tone casual. “Penny you know I never had a wedding. I told you that last night.” And last week. And the week before that. She’d gone just as crazy over the wedding plans as her grandmother. It brought up a lot of hard questions.
Penny nodded, sucking in her lower lip. “She had to move far away and take care of herself.”
She was talking about her mother. “That’s right. But you have Gram and Aunt Jen and Aunt Tasha. And they’re not moving anywhere, I promise. Now are you ready to open some presents?”
Like a flipped switch her mood changed and she wriggled wildly in his arms until he set her down. Her snow boots were a little too big and she waddled precariously as she ran toward the door. “Hurry! Wes will open everything without us.”
Jake wouldn’t let him, Seamus knew. Not until she got there. He was a good big brother. Always the one she turned to if she was hurt or had a question she didn’t want to ask her father. Jake never complained. Sometimes Seamus worried he’d put too much pressure on him, relied on him too much. But he’d always been so damn thoughtful. A wise old man trapped in a child’s body. He hoped that wasn’t what he wanted to see. He prayed Jake wasn’t hiding unhappiness beneath that shy, serious demeanor.