and I decided to stop my thoughts from going past the next two days and the storm that threatened the O’Sheas and our home.
Brendan and Mickey were in a discussion about moving their equipment inland for safety while Tommy was on the live weather app and updating everyone.
“Even if it veers off course and doesn’t make direct landfall, the sideswipe will be enough of a hit to knock out power and do serious damage on our side of the island,” he reported. “So even though our resort isn’t directly on the beach, it has beach access and it’s not safe to remain there.”
Elise chimed in, “One of our clients has a gated estate further inland outside the city. The only thing it’s really near is his private airfield. We’d be safe there. His wife runs an engineering firm and designed it to withstand hurricane-force winds. He’s said we could use it since they’re not in residence right now.”
“You asked a client if we could use his house?” Brendan asked.
“I went to college with his wife, honey,” she said. “So dial back the jealousy. I messaged her, see,” she held out her phone, laughing at Brendan for getting his hackles up. “The place is enormous, and there’s room for the kids to run around. Which clearly they need. Also there’s a wine cellar.”
“For a panic room if the storm hits?” Brandi asked.
“No, for the moms. We need our mommy juice if we’re holed up with these wild animals,” she laughed, indicating the kids who were weaving in between tables and knocking things over.
“I’m still breastfeeding this sloth,” Karin chimed in, “so I’ll be the designated sober one.”
“You being our designated sober person is literally the funniest part about this,” Elise teased.
“Connor,” Brandi said. He jumped out of his seat, actually jumped up and hurried to her side.
“What, baby?” he said, bending over her, his hulking form folding nearly in half as he hovered over her.
“Pack up some of the fruit you use for the bar. This mama’s making sangria at the mansion,” she laughed.
He nodded, bent and kissed her more passionately than I cared to see, but I should have been used to it by now. Connor was so possessive of her, so besotted, that he always looked like he was on the verge of tossing her over his shoulder and taking her into the backroom to have his way with her, which had happened on more than one occasion, in fact.
“Bren,” he said, straightening up, “put fruit on the list, and grab the local rum, too. And the case of juice that Lilly likes.”
“Are you giving me a grocery list, Con?” Brendan asked.
“Yes, so write it the hell down or you’ll forget,” Connor growled.
I grinned and looked at Morgan who sighed. “They are so damn cute,” she said.
“So are you,” I said, kissing her cheek.
She got up to join Brandi and the other women while I discussed the plans with my brothers. I glanced at her from time to time and saw that she was talking and laughing with Elise especially, that she seemed to fit right in. I scrolled my phone for weather forecasts as we talked about provisions and the generator at this house and what kind of baby gear needed to be transported. There was no way in hell I was listening to Mickey go on about safe sleep spaces again. I’d carry the damn pack and plays myself and go there on foot before I listened to those stats about babies suffocating in their parents’ beds again.
Not a lot got to me, but even this SEAL vet couldn’t handle hearing about dead babies. Brendan mentioned some kind of special butt cream he’d have to pick up at the pharmacy while Mickey suggested trying one with botanicals in it because it didn’t irritate Lucas’s sensitive skin.
“Can we stop with the butt cream?” I asked. “We have a storm coming. Lives hang in the balance. Diaper rash can wait.”
“You have obviously never seen a baby suffering from it,” Brendan said gravely. “It’s hell like you can’t imagine. Angry and red and they can’t get comfortable even to sleep.” He looked haunted, visibly distressed to talk about it, and I knew better than to laugh about him talking so seriously about a kid with a butt rash. I didn’t want to spend the next hour brawling with my brothers.
“It’s decided then. We board up the pub and the cabins, move the women and kids inland to this estate,” Connor