Chapter 34
thirty-four
GRAY
“Congratulations, Gray. You’re having a boy,” her doctor announced during the ultrasound. Bébhinn, Mags, and Blair stood next to the exam table as the doctor rolled the ultrasound device over her lubed up stomach.
“Oh, Gray,” Mags sighed. “A boy. I’m so excited to embroider something special for him from his Auntie Mags.”
Blair simply touched Gray’s forehead and made the sign for love.
“Mom swore it was a boy. I can’t wait for you to tell everyone. I’m so excited for you, Gray. So excited,” Bébhinn repeated as she blinked back tears.
A boy.
She was going to have a son.
“You nailed your due date. You are right at five months, and baby MacGregor is just the size we want him to be. I’m putting your due date as April thirtieth, though every woman’s body decides the day. He might want to come before that, or he might decide he likes it in your belly and come later.
“You still have a ways to go and plenty of time to prepare. Unless you have any issues, I will see you next month.” The doctor wiped off all the gloop from her belly and clapped her hands in excitement, which made Gray smile.
It was exciting.
“You’re sure he’s the right size? I know she’s tall, but…” Blair trailed off.
Mags translated for the doctor, who laughed at the concern. She made sure to look directly at Blair, so it was easier for her to read her lips.
“Moms come in every shape and size. Think of your baby space like a twin-size bed,” she pointed toward Blair’s middle. “There’s really only one direction the baby can grow, and that’s out.
“Now, Gray’s son,” she pointed to Gray’s middle, “can enjoy a queen-sized bed, more room to stretch. Both are healthy and perfect for mother and child.”
“What size bed are we?” Mags asked, pointing between herself and Bébhinn.
Without missing a beat, the doctor studied the girls. Pointing at Mags, she announced, “A double, smaller than a queen, but bigger than a twin.” She turned to Bébhinn. “Twin.”
They were all hooting with laughter as Gray thanked the doctor, who left the room so that she could get dressed. Her friends were all buzzing with excitement, asking a million questions, and teasing each other about their belly beds.
“Lord, I needed to laugh. My life has been way too serious lately,” Gray admitted.
Blair asked, “How do you feel, Gray? Really?”
How did she feel? Specifically, how did she feel about being a single mother? “I feel like I’ve got this. I know I’ve told you, but I feel peace about telling Ciar. He won’t be in my life, but he will be in our son’s. I can be nothing but okay with that. I don’t have a choice.”
“We’re meeting the boys for lunch,” Mags reminded them.
If they didn’t get a move on, they’d be late. “You’d better call your mom and dad before we meet them, because those tattlers will be calling out the sex of the wee one on street corners the minute they hear.”
“Truth,” Blair grinned, agreeing.
“Dagr might tell his dad, but that grumpy curmudgeon won’t tell anyone.” Bébhinn crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.
They all loved Ulf Griffiths, but he was an acquired taste.
Thirty minutes later, she and her friends were walking into an old-school pub that only locals knew about. The proprietors could fry a cod fillet like no one else.
Normally, Gray could take or leave lunch. A protein shake was good enough for her, but baby boy had been insisting on heartier fare. Who was she to deny a child?
The girls jostled against one another as their feet suddenly stopped moving. The guys—minus Ciar, which she tried to tell herself didn’t hurt—sat there looking like men who made their living in a dark alley. They were sporting swollen eyes, bruised jaws, and split lips.
Gray assumed their bodies were equally roughed up because they winced while lifting their glasses of whiskey. Their attempt at playing it cool failed.
Bébhinn ran forward and clapped her hands on each of Dagr’s cheeks, causing him to moan. “What in the hell happened? You’ve only been gone a day and a night!”
Blair drilled her steady gaze toward Daniel, who swallowed thickly. He hated disappointing Blair, as all the boys did. She signed, “Did you go to London?”
Gray gasped at the implication. “You didn’t,” she gasped. It went without saying that she would love to punch Ciar for his lying, cheating ways, but that didn’t mean she wanted him to be jumped by three men.
“If you went to kick Ciar’s ass, why didn’t you call me?” Mags asked. “I am confused, though, how in the hell are all you beat to smithereens if it was three against one?”
Gray was wondering the same. She shouldn’t care about Ciar’s well-being, but clearly, the baby boy’s father had to have been involved.
“Well?” Bébhinn insisted, looking at her fiancé with a frown.
Jonathan caved first. “We did go to London.”
“And?” Gray prompted.
“Daniel fucked up our plan right off the bat.” Dagr grinned when Daniel flipped him the middle finger.
“In our defense,” Daniel began, “we hated how he handled you, Gray, and we wanted answers. He’s never lied to us before.”
“We wanted answers,” Jonathan finished.
As they sat down, a waitress came to take their order. Once she walked away, Gray asked, “And did you get answers?”
Daniel and Jonathan shook their heads no. Dagr lifted a hand to stop them. “Not necessarily true. We know how he feels about Gray. I think we also know he is struggling greatly with whatever he isn’t saying.”
It took everything in Gray not to ask how he felt about her, but she refused. After his treatment of her and his lies, she wasn’t sure it mattered. She did ask, “Did you tell him about the baby?”
“God, Gray,” Jonathan started, “of course not.”
Gray wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed. She really wasn’t looking forward to that conversation.
“I plan on telling him in a few days over the holiday. I was only waiting to finish the end-of-year tests.”
“In other news,” Dagr looked like he was about to fall on a sword, “Ciar is moving himself and his daughter to Dublin.”
Gray felt her heart begin to pound out of her chest. “Not with you, surely,” she looked desperately toward Daniel and Jonathan. Being neighbors again would be a step too far.
“No,” Daniel told her gently. “He had the building he bought for you both finished. It’s move-in ready, I guess. Not decorated, but well enough to move in.”
She felt her cheeks burn. Yet another thing he’d done behind her back. “I see.”
“What a prick,” Mags sneered. “Why can’t that asshole stay in London? I’m sorry, Gray. Unexpected and not easy news for you.”
Blair signed something quickly to Bébhinn that Gray missed, but Bébhinn cleared her throat and suggested, “Why don’t we drop this conversation for now. Mags is right, it’s unexpected and needs some digesting. Besides, we have something to celebrate.”
Signing slow for Dagr, Blair said, “It’s a boy!”