Thirteen
Erin
Oscar and I are driving back to the mansion, and he is rubbing his thumb over my knuckles with our fingers interlaced. He always finds a way to have his hands on me now, running his fingers through my hair, holding me, holding my hand.
“You, okay?”
“Yeah, I guess just nervous to face your family.”
“Don’t be. They are all worried about you but have been warned by Ma not to bombard you.”
“She didn’t need to do that.”
“I told her to. As much as I love my family they can be a bit much at times.”
“It just shows how much they love each other.”
“Yes and they love you. You are family.”
“I know Charlie makes us family.”
“No, you were family long before that,”
he says as he parks the car.
“What?”
He doesn’t answer me but gets out and walks to my side of the car and helps me out of the car.
“What do you mean, Oscar?”
He kisses my cheek. “I will explain it later. Let’s go see our boy.”
I want to protest, but seeing Charlie outweighs finding out what is behind Oscar’s cryptic answer. Oscar leads me into the house nodding at the butler and maids we pass. We head straight for the kids’ playroom and I see Charlie and Brayden playing with Bia.
“Charlie. Look who is home.”
Oscar calls him, Charlie looks over and with one smile on Charlie’s face that stretches from ear to ear melts my heart instantly.
“BABA!”
he yells as he toddles over to me. I meet him across the room and lift him into my arms. I kiss all over his face, hugging him close to me. Charlie snuggles me for a few moments before Oscar walks up to me and wraps his arm around both of us from behind.
“Hi, bud. Were you good while we were gone?”
We listen as we try to understand what he says, a lot of it is toddler babble. Charlie lives for his cookies, and the kitchen staff make sure he always has some available. Oscar stays with us for about ten minutes before he says he has to meet with Cillian and Peter.
“When I’m done, if you want to have a quiet day with just the three of us in our wing we can. Or whatever you want to do. Okay?”
“Okay.”
I nod while I watch as Brayden and Charlie are playing with the blocks together. He gives me a kiss on my cheek before he leaves.
Bia and Brayden didn’t stay much longer after Oscar left. I stayed with Charlie, playing with him and just enjoy spending time with him. We played, had lunch, and then it was time to put him down for a nap. While I was cleaning up the door opened. I assumed it was Oscar, but I see Chloe, Charlie’s nanny. The moment she the door shuts behind her, Chloe turned to me with a sneer.
“Why are you here?”
“Excuse me?”
“Why are you here? You don’t belong here.”
“I’m here to be with my son.”
“Well, enjoy your free ticket. If Oscar had any sense he would take custody of Charlie and divorce you and leave you with nothing. Cause that’s all you will ever will be and all you ever be worth.”
“Thanks for your opinion, but you can leave.”
Fuck this bitch, until Oscar kicks me out she doesn’t get to walk in here and act like I’m the homewrecker.
“Oscar paid me to take care of Charlie.”
“And where were you when we showed up earlier, sucking a cock?”
I ask, raising an eyebrow.
“How dare you? You can’t talk to me like that.”
“I can talk to you however I want when you walk in here acting like I am some homewrecker slut. Oscar hired you to take care of Charlie… not to get on your knees or on your back.”
She slaps me across the face, and she goes to hit me again but this time, Aiden steps in the room and grabs her wrist.
“What the fuck do you think you are doing hitting Erin?”
he yells in her face. Unfortunately, his yelling wakes Charlie up.
“I’m sorry, Erin.”
He gives me a sympathetic smile.
“It’s okay, he should fall back asleep.”
I turn and walk back into Charlie’s room.
“Hi, baby, did you wake up?”
He whines and reaches up from his crib. I pick him up and sit down in the rocking chair, humming while I rock him back to sleep.
Not long later, I hear Oscar’s voice. “Where is she?”
“I hear your Daidí.”
I whisper to Charlie. Oscar comes into the room and to my side.
“Hi,”
I say quietly. He doesn’t respond for a minute, but then he gently grabs my chin in between his fingers and moves my head to the side.
“I’m guessing you know about Chloe slapping me.”
“Yes and she will be dealt with.”
“Oscar, it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. You are my wife and her boss. She has no right to lay a hand on you.”
“She’s just mad because I’m your wife. And wanted me to know I’m only your wife because of my free ticket as Charlie’s mom.”
“You were always going to be my wife, regardless.”
“You and your cryptic messages,”
I say, shaking my head. He smirks he as he picks up a sleeping Charlie from my arms and gently lays him back in his crib. Oscar grabs my hand and leads me out of the room, grabbing the baby monitor before we leave our wing. When we get to Peter’s office, Aiden is standing behind Chloe with his arms crossed and is glaring at her. Bia is sitting across the room with Cillian standing behind her, and Peter and Grace are behind his desk. Oscar has me sit in the chair next to Bia, and he leans down and kisses my cheek before he addresses the room.
“Chloe, would you like to tell us why you thought you had the right to put your hands on my wife?”
“She accused me of being inappropriate.”
“What did she accuse you of?”
Peter demands.
“Umm…”
she starts to stutter.
“I asked why she wasn’t with Charlie when we showed up, and if she was sucking dick like I have caught her doing before and overheard her tell some of the maids that she does.”
I state raising my eyebrow at her.
“Is that true?”
Grace asks politely, but knowing her I can see the anger in the way she is tapping her fingers on her leg.
“Of course not,”
she starts to say but Aiden cuts her off.
“So, you offering to fuck me was what exactly?”
Aiden asks.
She goes to respond, but Oscar cuts her off. “Obviously your word means absolutely nothing. You are finished.”
“Please don’t fire me. I promise I will do better,”
she says with crocodile tears running down her face.
“Oh no. I’m not firing you. You will be killed for putting your hands on Erin.”
“Oscar, that isn’t necessary,”
I tell him, but he just smiles down at me.
“It is absolutely necessary. No one is going to put their hands on you ever again.”
“But…”
“But nothing,”
he says as he lifts his gun and shoots Chloe between the eyes.
I jump, but Oscar just sticks his gun in the back of his pants before scooping me up in his arms and sitting us in my seat. He runs his hand up and down my arm soothing my erratic heartbeat and kisses the side of my head.
Peter glares at him. “Did you have to do it in my office?”
“She was wasting Erin’s oxygen,”
he states.
Peter shakes his head and picks up the phone ordering someone to come in to clean up the mess.
“Come on, aingeal.”
Oscar says to me as he guides me out of his office, but before we can get out the door, Peter calls my name.
“Erin, never let anyone tell you your worth. You are an O’Sullivan, and I’m proud to call you my daughter-in-law.”
I smile at him, “thank you.”
The smile stays on my face long after we leave the room. To get a compliment like that from a man like Peter isn’t something that happens very often.