Chapter 26
twenty-six
JONATHAN
“I need to speak to you. Privately,” Blair pointedly stared at his date, who was wide-eyed at the petite, red-headed devil standing next to their table, signing BSL—a table that had cost him a grand to secure.
The only reason he hadn’t told the fairy to screw off was the fact that she was sporting reddened eyes. Blair had been crying, and nothing short of his dying would allow him to brush off one of his best friends.
“Now?” he signed back.
Blair nodded while sucking in a shuddering breath. Blair would never interrupt one of his dates if it wasn’t important, unlike her brunette banshee friend. Mags interrupted life simply by breathing.
“I didn’t know you sponsored special kids, Jonathan. That’s so nice, but why is she here? Where are the girl’s parents?”
Not again. Not. Fucking. Again. Was it so much to ask that a woman be beautiful, intelligent, and not a discriminatory bigot?
“Our date is over, Samantha.” He waved to the waiter who had been taking care of their table. “Marty, would you mind showing her,” he nodded toward his date, currently sporting a shocked face, “to the cloak room to gather her belongings?”
Focusing his attention back to one of Europe’s hottest international models, he said, “Educate yourself before setting foot out of your flat. Never call me again.”
Samantha finally stumbled to her feet, glaring between himself and Blair before finally, thankfully, walking away.
“Sit, Blair.” He didn’t bother to sign, as she was an expert lip reader. Once she sat in his date’s vacated chair, he did sign, “I’m sorry.” She brushed her hand in front of her body like it wasn’t a big deal.
Blair wore a simple navy dress, capped sleeves, belted at the waist, and paired with navy ballet-style slippers. She did look like a fourteen-year-old and not the brilliant adult scientist that she was.
He wasn’t sure how she’d made it this far into the restaurant without a reservation. “How’d you get in?”
“The hostess asked me if I was meeting anyone? She specifically wanted to know if I was meeting my parents.” She grimaced and shook her head. She hated that she looked so young. “The outfit didn’t help. I had to give a speech in front of several visiting botanists.
“Anyway, once she realized that I’m deaf, she got flustered and instead of offering to write it down, I pointed toward your name on the computer screen, and voila, they led me here. No one wants to be mean to a deaf child,” she smirked.
“And you decided to interrupt my date because?” True to Blair’s personality, she wasn’t remotely embarrassed or apologetic.
“I was late leaving school because I had to endure dinner and cocktails with the visiting scientists. I needed to speak to you, and I didn’t want Daniel to know. Not yet anyway. I found out you were here from Mags.”
“You couldn’t have waited until after the date?” It was clearly no loss, but the principle of it rankled.
“Mags knew who your date was. I looked her up. Her personality on social media is about as pleasing as a puppy kicker, so I knew I was doing you a favor. Anyway, make sure they still bring Samantha’s dinner, I’m starved. The food at my event sucked. I’ll take a Guinness, as well, please.”
Whoever thought Blair Barr was a sweet, softly spoken sort, didn’t know her at all. Knowing when he was beaten, he called Marty over with Blair's instructions. When he asked for Blair’s identification, she rolled her eyes and handed it over.
“What? You don’t look drinking age, especially in that dumpy frock.” He laughed at her outraged gasp.
“Fine. It isn’t a good look for me. If my tits were bigger, it would be a different story.”
When he choked on his whiskey, she made the BSL sign for laughter. Blair never laughed out loud in public. He’d heard her laugh twice in his life. She saved her voice for her girlfriends.
“Jesus. Do you kiss your mother with that dirty mouth?”
Marty brought their meals and new drinks to the table. Once they were alone again, she took a sip of her Guinness and tucked into the salad and grilled salmon Samantha had ordered. Halfway through, she set her utensils down to sign, “At least that woman can order a decent meal.”
Jonathan let dinner play out, not bothering to ask what Blair needed to speak with him about. She’d get there. Once her plate was clean, which he was quite sure his date would never have done even if she were hungry, she focused her attention on him.
“Mags, Bébhinn, and I went to London yesterday.”
“I know. Daniel mentioned you were packing up the rest of Dagr’s flat.”
“That’s not why we went.”
Blair tapped the table linens, a frown marring her expressive face. Whatever was going on, she wasn’t happy to discuss it.
“Why then?” And then his chest squeezed tight. “Is something the matter with one of you girls? And why don’t you want Daniel to know?”
“We went to spy on Ciar.”
“Jesus, Blair. Are you serious? I know he’s been different, and the Gray thing isn’t good,” his jaw clenched at the reminder, “but don’t you think spying is a step too far?”
“He has a baby.”
Jonathan could only blink, blink, blink. “Wha, wha, what now?”
“A baby. We saw him step from his building with an older woman, probably the nanny, and a pram.”
“And you jumped to the conclusion that it was his?”
“He picked the child up and cuddled it, kissing its head. He had the look of a man attached. He handled the infant with confidence. Have you ever known him to pick up other people’s babies for cuddles?”
“But…I don’t know what to say or think, really.”
“The girls and I are undecided as to what to do. Should we tell Gray or not? Should we confront Ciar? There’s a chance, but given his bizarre behavior recently, the chance is slim that it wasn’t his child.
“His best friends live in Dublin. His father and uncle live in Dublin. He’s opened up that swanky pub, and it’s in Dublin.
“He won’t be able to keep himself permanently in London. Gray will have to see him again, and if the baby is his, he won’t be able to hide its existence forever.”
“Why didn’t you want Daniel to know?” he asked again.
“Both of you are compassionate and fiercely loyal, but where you might sit on this information for a few days, dissecting the best course of action, Daniel would immediately fly to London to beat the shit out of Ciar and immediately thereafter, call Gray. His conscience wouldn’t allow him not to.”
Her assessment wasn’t wrong.
However, he didn’t need days to figure out what to do. He knew exactly what needed to happen. He swallowed the last of his shot and sighed, watching Blair finish off her Guinness—how someone so tiny could handle the boldness of that black tar was a mystery.
“I’ll call Ciar tomorrow morning. I’ll tell him he was seen with a baby. He doesn’t have to know it was you three. If I ask him pointblank, he won’t lie.”
“And if he has a baby?” Blair asked.
“I will give him an ultimatum. He can tell Gray, or I will.”
He and Blair took an Uber back to their townhouses, and unfortunately, Daniel was sitting on their front steps smoking a cigar. Blair stiffened next to him. She hated cigars. Passionately.
“He’ll have questions. You go on inside as if you’ve not a care in the world. I’ll handle Nancy Daniel Drew’s inquiries.”
Blair waved to Daniel as she climbed her own stairs. Jonathan leaned against the balustrade close to Daniel. “Nice night for a smoke, huh?”
“Why is Blair with you? Thought you had a date with that smoking hot model.”
“She was terrible. I knew Blair was at school late. Trinity is close to the restaurant, and I asked if she wanted a free meal.
“Food was excellent by the way. Blair loved her salad and salmon. I’m off. I have several reports to go over before I speak to Dad tomorrow. We still meeting for lunch?”
Daniel was silent for a beat. “Yes.”
His cousin was definitely suspicious. By tomorrow, the whole Ciar scandal would hopefully be proved wrong, and he could tell Daniel.