Chapter 32
When they got back to the main cabin, they sat where Rowan had before. In the same row of seats, not quite touching. Four sets of eyes were watching his and Rowan’s every move. He ignored them.
Rowan cleared her throat, earning Hugh’s attention. She wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“I was thinking, Rave, that I would be better suited to set up the tables with Cormac if you don’t mind switching jobs.”
Hugh couldn’t believe what he was hearing. She was doing this for him. Totally for him. She’d known it would bother him and was trying to rectify the situation. He’d planned on trying to speak to her about it later. He’d been such a giant, jealous ass about that Murphy piece of shit in the past, he hadn’t been looking forward to broaching the subject.
“No problem. You’ve always been the Feng Shui guru of the three of us, and I love planning dinner menus. I should have put you on that in the first place. I’m not sure how I overlooked that.”
Hugh looked at Raven then, something in her tone caught his attention. She smirked at him with a ‘call me out if you’re brave enough’ look. Clearly his devious daughter-in-law had planned to goad him from the beginning with her job assignments. He narrowed his eyes at her, briefly acknowledging that her scheming had worked.
“Oh, well, thank you,” Rowan answered after sending a quick glance his way.
“Are you still planning on going to Nan’s apartment when we land?” River asked. “I want to go with you.”
“Me too,” Raven immediately chimed in.
It was obvious to him and the boys that the girls were going to have a hard time letting Rowan do things on her own for a while.
“You know, all of your stuff is still there,” Raven continued.
Hugh was watching Rowan intently, so he saw her glance in his direction quickly before answering.
“Oh, that’s perfect. I plan on staying there for a bit longer anyway.”
Like hell. She was moving into their apartment in the O Building. Immediately. He wanted to say something, but damn him, he couldn’t bring himself to address the living situation in front of everyone.
He took a deep breath as things deteriorated further. Raven and River sat up and looked at their sister like she’d just told them she was shaving her head and moving to Timbuktu. Bran and Patrick could tell their wives were becoming distressed, and they didn’t like it.
“Oh,” Raven half-whispered, fluttering her hand in front of her uncertainly. “Well then, I?—”
River cut her off. “We’ll stay with you, of course.”
“Exactly. Great idea, Riv,” Raven smiled, clearly relieved. “Nan will think it’s so much fun to have us all to herself. Daniel will come, too, or else she won’t let us in,” Raven laughed softly.
Patrick and Bran were looking at him with identical looks of alarm. Hugh looked to his left wondering what Rowan thought of her sisters’ clinginess. She looked uncomfortable, but Hugh knew she wouldn’t tell them no.
She probably needed them with her. She just wouldn’t have asked. If they needed her, she most definitely needed them, and he wasn’t about to let the woman he loved be distressed after the trial she’d endured.
“No.” Everyone stopped talking since Hugh had managed next to no conversation on the flight so far.
“No, what?” Rowan asked.
“You aren’t staying at Bébhinn’s.” Her eyebrows shot up at the announcement.
“Oh, really,” she said, her eyes round with surprise. “Why is that exactly?”
He gritted his teeth. She was going to make him say something or back down. She would let him retract his statement and not say a word. She wouldn’t make him feel bad. She’d only just agreed to give him grace, and he knew she wouldn’t go back on her word. He was the only asshole here.
In this, he wouldn’t back down. “You already agreed we’d live together. Did you change your mind?” His face was burning. He refused to look at the peanut galley across the aisle and stayed focused on Rowan, who was looking flushed herself now.
“You’re right…memory lapse,” she fluttered her hand self-consciously. “I didn’t change my mind.”
The look of absolute wonder in her eyes wouldn’t let him feel a single ounce of regret at speaking up. He gave her a nod and turned to look at the others. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at them.
“It still freaks me out to see you without a beard,” Patrick admitted, chuckling at Hugh’s scowl. “I knew you, but my brain kept telling me I didn’t.”
“Your brain tells you a lot of irrelevant things,” Hugh countered.
“When I was a kid, and you used to stare at me like that when I did something bad?—”
“Which was all the time,” Hugh interrupted Bran.
Bran smirked back. “Anyway, when you had a beard, I could pretend you might be smiling, and it didn’t seem so bad.”
“Your point?” Hugh asked.
“His point is that now we know you were probably never hiding a smile,” Patrick laughed. “Your hairless face has ruined one of our best childhood fantasies. Now we know you were actually pissed.”
“Of course, I was pissed, you little shits. You and Patrick were a trial. You should be thankful I didn’t sell you at one of those weekend farmer’s markets.”
“You loved us too much to give us up,” Patrick chimed in.
“I did,” was Hugh’s only reply.
The last ofthe flight was uneventful, everyone taking turns napping or reading. They’d landed early in the morning at Dublin’s airport and were about to disembark. Their bags were already being loaded into a waiting SUV.
“Let me take Daniel,” Hugh offered, holding his hands out to Bran. He hadn’t gotten much alone time with his grandson in recent weeks, and he missed him.
“Sure,” Bran yawned, handing his son over. “He just woke up. We’re hoping it isn’t a nightmare to get him back on Dublin time.”
Hugh held him in the crook of his arm. He took Daniel’s tiny hand in his own and rubbed it against his beardless face. “Do you like Papa’s face without his beard? Not so scratchy now, but I think you’ll miss tugging on it, won’t you?” Daniel smiled, his baby laugh pulling a chuckle of his own in response.
“Aunt Row loves Papa’s face with or without a beard,” she said as she walked up to his side, kissing Daniel on his head.
Hugh felt his face flush, pleasure and embarrassment warring for dominance when he heard his sons chuckle behind him. Luckily, Rowan went to grab the rest of her carry-on bags and started to walk off of the plane. Her sisters filed out next, then Hugh, with Bran and Patrick bringing up the rear.
The sisters had stopped, waiting for their men to join them by the SUV. He gave Rowan a small smile to remind her that he loved her. She knew, but he’d promised to try more in public.
“So, Row likes your baby face, Dad?” Patrick joked.
Hugh shifted Daniel to his shoulder, ignoring the jibe.
“I like it when Dad holds Daniel. He can’t tackle us when we make him mad,” Bran laughed.
They were almost to the women. Ignore them, Hugh chanted in his head.
Bran continued speaking. He obviously was in need of an ass-kicking from his father. “Is that why you were in the bathroom so long? Were you and Row talking about beards?”
And that was all he could take. Running a hand down Daniel’s back, he canted his head toward the baby and said, “Did you know Papa is the only member of the Mile High club here? Your Daddy and Uncle Patty have no game.”
At that announcement, he enjoyed watching Raven and River’s mouths drop open. He really enjoyed Rowan’s blush and sparkling, wide eyes when she met his trademark blank face, huffing a laugh when he winked. The best, however, was hearing Bran mutter, “Damn,” and Patrick’s angry, “What the hell? That was my idea!”