With All My Heart - Emilia Finn Page 0,49
for a little while, but then I got busy living my life. Time and distance let me forget.
Obviously, Reilly wasn’t so fortunate.
I turn and nod toward Aiden. “That kid over there, the one in the dinosaur shirt; that’s my son, and he was in Nell’s stomach that night.” Reilly’s Adam’s apple bobs as he waits for me to finish. “He came out just fine. Great, even. He’s my most sensible son.” Lifting a hand, I give a quiet chuckle. “He hasn’t jumped off the roof once, so you can relax, everyone’s fine.”
I tilt my head to the side and catch a glimpse of a shaky hand snaking it’s way around her daddy’s belly in search of his. The little girl. The baby Ann-Marie was carrying that night. “She’s yours? I heard Ann-Marie was pregn–”
That little hand snaps away and goes back to hiding, and when I look into Reilly’s red eyes, I frown. Like he did a million times back in the day, he coughs, and when he brings his hand up to catch the cough, he runs his finger along his lips in the universal symbol to shut the fuck up.
So I do.
A decade apart doesn’t negate a simple request to shut the hell up.
I’m not mad anymore.
I’m happy. I have a happy life. A happy family. A happy wife.
So long as that bitch isn’t in another room beating on my wife right now – and even if she was, no one has trained as hard as Nelly, so Nelly’s ass isn’t the ass that’ll be kicked – then we’re good.
Trying again, and nixing the subject of Ann-Marie, I lean around Reilly with a ‘daddy’ smile and wait for bright blue eyes to meet mine.
Well, shit. “You got a baby girl that looks just like you, huh, Reilly?”
He’s wearied. So fucking tired, but he smiles. “My baby girl.” He reaches back to bring her head around. Long blonde hair hangs almost to her butt, and though the ends are combed and kind of straight, there’s somewhat of a rat’s nest on top, as though she’s been sleeping fitfully. “Kit, baby. This is Daddy’s…” He clears his throat. “Um. This is Daddy’s friend from school. Do you wanna say hey?”
She buries her face between his ribs and arm, and though she watches me, she shakes her head and makes me wonder if she’s mute.
Sighing, he jerks out an exhausted shrug. “Sorry, Bry. It’s, ah… well, it’s a shitty time for us. My kids are exhausted, so don’t take it personally.”
“No big deal. I don’t take much personally these days, because I know what kids are like. If I got bent outta shape by mini hellions, my boys would destroy me every damn day.”
Still wary, but with a twitching lip, he looks over my shoulder and watches my kids as they read and play games. He frowns when he counts them out. “You had them close together. You didn’t know how to watch TV and leave her alone?”
I laugh and turn back to him. “Two of those are mine. The two on the end, the boy and girl, they aren’t mine… technically.”
“That your oldest?” The little girl glances around me as Reilly nods toward Bobby. “I met him before.”
“Yeah, that’s him. A lot changes in ten years. I’m not mad, by the way.” I wait for his eyes to meet mine. “You can relax. I’m not gonna hit you.”
Like my words are as powerful as abracadabra, his shoulders come down a fraction. “I was worried.”
Laughing softly, I run a hand across the two-day stubble on my jaw. “Nah, we’re good. I mean, what went down was bad, but I’m not gonna hit you. Where is she?” I look around him. “Can’t say I’d be thrilled about seeing her–”
Again, he coughs and shushes me. “Do you think…” He shrugs. “Maybe we could catch up sometime? Have a beer. Talk.”
Talk… when his kids aren’t right here, listening in.
Nodding, I look around the waiting room in search of a pen. When I find one on the desk twenty feet away, I jog across the room and snatch it up, and when the woman behind the computer scowls at me, I scowl right back. “I’ll return it, Debra. Relax.”
Moving back across the room, I grab Reilly’s arm. “This is my house number. Call up and we’ll hang out. Don’t freak if Nelly answers, she’s not mad at you, either. You can leave a message with her if I’m at work, she’ll pass it along. Or