Chapter 12
DONOVAN
The second we hit the road heading into Hambleton, my shoulders sagged.
It had taken us just under six hours to drive from Scottsbluff, and I was relieved to finally get home and settle my baby girl in.
None of it seemed real. So much shit had gone down in such a short amount of time that my brain was still playing catch-up. Imogen was mine and exactly where she was supposed to be, but that didn’t stop my heart from pounding every time I tried to imagine what life was going to throw at us.
I hadn’t planned for this, and I knew fatherhood would throw me some curveballs, but I was excited to see what the future held, not just with Imogen, but also Rosie, DJ, and Gabby, and all that would entail.
“Look, baby Imogen,” Mam crooned from the back seat where she sat next to her granddaughter.
“That’s the Welcome to Hambleton sign. Your grandpa Lorcan helped raise a lot of money for it to be restored to its former glory back in the day, which was a feat in itself seeing as that man was so tight, his arse squeaked when he walked. ”
My fingers reached for Rosie’s hand and pulled it to rest on my leg.
She glanced at me, silently laughing at Mam and Imogen’s conversation.
I shook my head slightly, rolling my eyes as we drove past the outskirts of town and around a cluster of buildings.
“And there’s Hambleton High School, Imogen,” Ma pointed out.
“You’ll go there one day and have a lovely time.
I bet you’ll be an ologist, won’t you, love?
Not like your da. He had a terrible time there, he did.
You know, the teachers were very hard on him in that school, and he always tried his best.”
I grimaced because we all knew I was a little asshole at school. They kicked me out twice because I kept getting into fights, but even now, Mam wouldn’t have a bar of it.
“I’ll need you to stop at the shops on the way, please, Son,” Mam requested. “I’m sure half the town will be coming around to meet my granddaughter, Imogen. I’ve got nothing in and I can hardly give our friends and neighbors Tayto sandwiches, can I?”
“Bullshit,” I shot back, glancing at her in the rearview. “I bet you’ve got a larder full of food.”
“Of course I’ve got a larder full of food,” she said indignantly.
“But nothing for picky bits. I can hardly offer up a bowl of colcannon now. I’ll need to make some sausage rolls, a barmbrack, and some soda bread.
I can hardly have people around and not offer them a snack. What kind of host would that make me?”
“Jesus Christ, Ma,” I groused.
“Stop taking the Lord's name in vain, ya little fecker, or I’ll give you a clip around the earhole,” she warned. “Now do as your mammy tells you.”
Rosie rolled her lips together to stop herself from laughing, while I sighed heavily and turned the car toward Main Street.
“You’re a good boy,” Ma said proudly, looking down at the kiddo. “Your daddy’s a good boy, isn’t he, Imogen? Yes, he is... he’s lovely to his mammy.”
I glanced at Rosie to see her shoulders shaking in silent laughter.
Fuck my life.
—————
Mam was right; the entire town did descend on her house.
In fact, by five o’clock, you couldn’t move in her kitchen; every chair and stool had an ass parked on it, so she sent me out to the back yard to grab the stack of plastic garden chairs she kept in the shed.
Ma and Rosie, the Speed Demons’ old ladies, Martha from the bakery slash coffee shop, Tristan, and Emmie were in the kitchen cooing over Imogen, so I decided to head into the yard, where the men stood around drinking beer and shooting the shit.
After checking on Imogen, I grabbed some water from the fridge and headed out back, where somebody had the bright idea of lighting the grill.
The officers, along with John and Abe, stood with Atlas, who had his phone to his ear and a hand on his hip as he surveyed the grill.
“We need steaks, brisket, chicken, ribs, and hot dogs,” he ordered.
“And stop at the Shamrock and pick up a few crates of beer and cider.” He paused while whoever he had on the line said something before barking, “Well go see Arrow then. Jesus, Cub, use some gumption. If you’ve got no green, get it outta petty cash.
We’re Speed Demons; we can afford a few hundred bucks to get some fuckin’ meat, boy.
” Another pause, then Atlas growled, “If he gives you any shit, tell him to call me. Get it? Got it? Good.” And with that, he disconnected, shaking his head, obviously pissed.
“That new prospect needs to get off his momma’s tit.
I’m surprised he doesn’t break a finger wipin’ his own ass. ”
“Cub’s okay,” Bowie protested good-naturedly. “He’s just young for his age. A few months with us and he’ll soon mature.”
“That’s debatable,” Abe muttered. “You’re all like fuckin’ toddlers.”
“You’re not wrong,” John agreed. “We’ve seen these shitheads do some bullshit over the years, right, Abe?”
“Right, Dagger,” Abe concurred.
“Bet you’ve done worse,” Breaker muttered from his place next to Bowie and Cash.
John folded his arms across his chest. “I was sent to fuckin’ war at the age of twenty-one.
Went MIA, presumed dead, and imprisoned in a fuckin’ cave for months on end.
Then I came back and began buying land and setting up what you affectionately call the clubhouse.
Believe me, the shithole that your grandpa Bandit ran the club from before I stepped in would make your damned hair curl.
You’re all pampered pussies compared to what Abe and I had to put up with back in the day. ”
“Your pop’s been known to exaggerate his shit at times,” Abe put in. “But he’s not wrong. That place was a fuckin’ dump, and once your grandma Connie, God rest her soul, passed away, it only got worse.”
“Why d’ya think I bought the industrial estate and all the land down by the creek?” Dagger muttered. “Wouldn’t have put a fucking dog in that old barn, let alone my boys.”
“It’s the reason why all the brothers at the time helped ya build, Dag,” Abe returned.
“We wanted more and we wanted better. It’s why we retired the old timers along with the one percent diamond and opened legit businesses.
We didn’t wanna live like outlaws. It was destructive.
Too many wars, and too many brothers either dead or incarcerated, and their families torn apart. ”
John studied Abe and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “We did good, didn’t we, Abe?”
Abe raised a hand to clasp John’s shoulder, his voice husky when he replied, “Yeah, Dagger. We did good.”
Cash gazed at the two men, his eyes shining with hero-worship.
Breaker clutched the back of his neck, looking down at his boots.
Bowie ran a thumb across his lip absentmindedly as he took in the scene.
“Yo! Maureen!” Atlas bellowed. “You’re lookin’ pretty as a picture. Bein’ a grandma suits ya. Now, come over here with that girl and let her meet her uncle Atlas. Haven’t managed to get a fuckin’ look-in with all you women going nuts over her.”
I craned my neck to see Mam approaching us with Imogen in her arms. Her cheeks warmed, and she let out a girlish giggle as she looked up at Atlas through her lashes. “Now behave yourself, Daniel. You’re such a charmer.”
I tipped my head back, gazing at the sky, and muttered, “Fuck me!”
“Only with the beautiful ones, Maureen,” Atlas shot back.
Mam giggled again, and I lowered my eyes in time to watch her face flush pinker.
Mumbling under my breath, I reached for my baby girl, who immediately held her little arms out for me to take her and murmured, “Baba.”
“Hey, beauty,” I whispered. “Da missed you.”
She immediately found her little nook under my chin and rested her cheek there. Then her little chest heaved, and she gave me her contented sigh.
She felt so warm in my arms and so right, like she was born to fit there perfectly. Every time she snuggled into my neck, my chest turned to goo, and my throat heated with emotion.
Grinning, I turned back toward my friends and simply stated, “Boys, this is Imogen.”
Atlas’s face grew soft as he leaned over and softly stroked Imogen’s hair with his calloused palm. “She’s a beauty, O’Shea. She’s got your eyes.”
I chuckled. “Yeah. That’s been mentioned before.”
“Wish Lorcan could’ve been here to see this,” John said quietly.
He reached out to touch Imogen’s tiny hand and watched, mesmerized, as she gripped his finger.
“Lorc would’ve loved her. Your old man always said Aislynn was the apple of his eye, and Callum was his mini-me.
Tadhg, well, he was always your pop’s wildcard, but out of all his kids, he always had the most respect for you.
He always said that you were your own man. ”
I cleared my throat, trying to dislodge the ball of emotion forming there. “I always thought he hated that about me.”
John’s eyes flicked to mine, and he grinned. “He did hate it. Still respected the fuck out of it though.”
My stare slid to Mam, who gave me a knowing look.
She’d told me more or less the same thing during her pep-talk outside the hotel in Scottsbluff.
At the time, I appreciated the sentiment, but a part of me believed she was playing it up to make me feel better about myself and about Da.
Still, I should’ve known better. Maureen O’Shea wasn’t a woman to blow smoke up anyone’s arse, even mine. Hell, especially mine.
“I came out to tell you all that we’re having a knees-up to welcome my granddaughter Imogen into the family and to the town,” Ma advised.
“Kennedy and Rosie have called all the kids to tell them to come over, and Kai said he’ll bring his big speaker thingy so we can play some music in the garden.
Now come and get those plastic chairs back out, they won’t be much good sitting in the kitchen now, will they? ”
Breaker laughed, “It’s okay, Mrs. O. I’ll get them. Donovan’s got Imogen.”
Ma huffed quietly. “Well, I can take her.”