Liam (The O’Sheas Fitheach #3)

EPILOGUE

LIAM

Standing at the bar, I watch Adam and Ally have their father-daughter dance while waiting for my queen to come back from helping Da to his room.

Adam wasn’t taking Ally getting married and moving out very well. Johnny liked to tease him about letting go, but I had a feeling when it came time for Emy to leave home, he’d be falling apart.

We’d each grown our families. Johnny and Maya had Jackson, Emy and Ronan. Adam and Tilly had Ally, Jeanie, and their twins, Cian and Aiden. Sera and I’d followed along with three boys of our own: Lorcan, Sean, and Fionn. Tommy and Lana had their own brood. Our property, for the longest time, has been wild with the children running in and out of our houses. It was as we liked it. We still ate together every evening.

With our constantly growing families, we’d had to extend the main house’s kitchen and dining room to accommodate us all. With our eldest children getting married, I wondered if we’d have to expand again to make room for any children they’d be having. Something to think about. A flash of emerald green catches my eye, and I turned just as Sera walked back into the room, stopping by the table that held her girls’ squad and their respective partners.

Over the years, there had been many changes all round, most of them good. Sera and her girls were as close as ever and in and out of each other’s houses. They never stood on ceremony; luckily, their men understood that they came as a unit. They were sisters not bound by blood but by heart, and I considered them to be ours. Luckily, I liked the men they’d ended up with and considered them family. Sera finished talking and waved her hand at the group as she strode away, her long legs eating up the distance between us. Pushing away from where I’d been leaning against the bar, I waited for her to get to me. Slipping my arm around her waist, I pulled her into my body where she fit like she’d been made for me.

“Da doing okay?” I ask, pressing a kiss to her shoulder.

“Yeah, he’s good. He and a few of the Crow seniors are in the lounge upstairs having a nightcap,” she chuckles, glancing up at me through her lashes, eyes dancing with laughter. “He told me to tell you to stop worrying, that he’s fine, and he’s not dying yet.”

“Cheeky old fucker,” I grumble. Da hadn’t been well for a little while but hated us reminding him that he wasn’t as young as he used to be.

“And you, mo bhanríon ? How are you feeling?” I ask, cupping her belly where our daughter was nestled. We’d thought we were done, but sometimes fate and nature have different ideas. Having three boys already, we were kind of used to just rolling with the punches. This one had been a big one, though, and once we were over the initial shock and surprise, we were both thrilled to be adding to our family. The crowning glory for me was that this time I’d be getting my girl, and I hoped she was the spitting image of her mother, who, to me, was still the most beautiful woman in the world.

Sera leaned into me, and I took her weight, knowing she must be tired after all the standing we’d done today. “I’m good, my love, tired and my feet hurt but good. That’s not saying that I wouldn’t say no to one more dance and then turning in early,” she smirks, wriggling her eyebrows at me.

Snickering, I press my lips to hers, kissing her long and deep. “Mmh, maybe we skip the dance,” Sera says huskily when we pull apart.

“Oh, no, Mrs. O’Shea, you wanted a dance, so you’ll be getting a dance. I’m warning you now, though, it will be a short one, and then I’m taking you upstairs and we can dance all night if you want,” I smirk at her.

“Well now, I’m not going to say no to that offer,” Sera retorts, taking hold of my tie and leading me to the dance floor, where Adam is now dancing with Tilly. Johnny and Maya are walking hand in hand towards us, with Tommy and Lana following them. We all laugh and shake our heads as Johnny swings Maya around in some complicated dance, showboating as usual.

He’d not be Johnny if he didn’t show off some. Just like Adam wouldn’t be Adam without a familiar scowl on his face, and it would be strange not having Tommy stop you in your tracks when he looked at you a certain way, and you just knew he could kill you without a thought.

And me, I guess I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t a little broody now and then. Although since meeting Sera, I hadn’t had many days where I felt the need to get melancholy, and if I did, she handed me my paints and told me to paint it out.

The four of us on the dance floor, holding the most precious gifts we could have been given. With Ally and her new husband starting the next generation’s adventure, it had me wondering what the future held for us, and I hoped that the luck of the Irish held and whatever was coming our way would only be good.

THE END

This is the end of this generation of O’Sheas, but the Second Generation will be coming soon, and there will be a spin-off featuring Sera’s Girls Squad.