Chapter 51
fifty-one
DAGR
Dagr was nervous about how Bran and Patrick O’Faolain would receive his news. And Bébhinn, of course. He glanced down at the woman walking by his side. She must have felt his hesitation as they neared her family’s front door because she paused her stride and met his eyes.
Her cheeks were still rosy from having sex right before they got into the car that brought them to her family. He’d gone straight to her house from the airport, and the moment they’d laid eyes on one another, clothes had been ripped off.
He’d been out of his mind to have her after she’d teased him with her body over video the night before.
As soon as her bedroom door had closed and they were naked, she’d told him to lie on his back before climbing on top of him.
Remembering that moment had blood rushing to his already throbbing dick.
Watching himself disappear as she’d slowly slid down his length… “Christ, babe, I’ve got to stop thinking about you naked. I really don’t want to eat supper with a hard-on.”
“Yeah, try not to do that,” a man’s voice said behind him. Daniel O’Faolain.
Jonathan stepped up beside his cousin, where Dagr and Bébhinn had turned to greet them. “While you’re at it, never speak about seeing Bébhinn naked in front of me again. I might not be able to eat.”
“Shut up, assholes,” Bébhinn practically growled before looking at Dagr. “I have to have the nosiest family in the world.”
“Don’t be mad at us. Your boyfriend is the one standing in the middle of the walk talking about his dick.” Daniel shrugged and lifted his hands in peace.
The fact that he was trying not to laugh made Dagr want to poke the man back. “You’re right, Daniel. It’s just that your aunt loves it when I talk dirty.”
“You should have heard us over video chat last night,” Bébhinn teased. She gave Dagr a wicked smile. “Right, babe?”
“Still thinking about it, baby,” he replied before leading Bébhinn the rest of the way to the entrance. He heard Jonathan mutter, “And there went my appetite.”
The meal and the company were easy and pleasant. The men seemed to have thawed toward the idea of him being in Bébhinn’s life, which he assumed the women had some influence over. When they retired to the bar downstairs for drinks, he knew it was time to discuss what he’d come for.
Shaking off the nerves and putting on his confident solicitor mien, he began with, “I know your solicitor, Lee Whiten, well.”
He had everyone’s attention with the unexpected segue. “We’ve worked several environmental cases over the years. He always spoke highly of Hugh,” he nodded solemnly toward Rowan and Hugh’s sons.
“Not necessarily related to what I want to speak about, Rowan, but my father was on a few different committees over the years with your husband. They never met in person, but Dad enjoyed their calls.”
Rowan blinked rapidly momentarily, and the whole table held its breath. Dagr was kicking himself for bringing that up when Rowan finally said, “That makes me so happy that your father knew, at least a little bit, of Bébhinn’s father. Thank you for telling us.”
“I’m sure you know that Lee brought me in as a consultant on the conservation guidelines for your new property acquisition.” The four men nodded in confirmation. Bébhinn gave Dagr a quick side eye at the news but didn’t interrupt.
“That case isn’t what I wanted to discuss today. Lee wants to retire. He’s asked me for two years now if I want to take over his firm. He doesn’t have any children or family in the business. If I agreed, Lee’s clients would agree to be integrated into Griffiths & Wallace or find a new firm.
“I told Lee yesterday that I would accept his offer to buy him out. For two reasons. First, I want the challenge, and I want my firm to diversify. The second, and most important reason, is because of Bébhinn.” He turned and briefly gave the woman at his side a look that he hoped showed how much she meant to him.
“Lee has an office in London, which will be integrated with mine, but there is also an office here in Dublin. I plan to take over the Dublin office and leave my partner to head the London division.
“Bébhinn is here. Her family is here. She has a year left at uni and plans to work at Triskelion. I want that for her, and I can make sure that her life goals don’t have to change. I only care about having her. With me.” And then, because he was already in the deep end, he tacked on, “Always.
“There will be no hard feelings if you choose to find another firm to represent the O’Faolain interests. Business is business.
“In that same vein, personal is personal, and since I know family is as important to me as it is to you, I wanted you to know my intentions with Bébhinn. I plan on finding a place for us to live together. Immediately, if she agrees.”
He looked each of the four men listening to his speech in the eye to gauge their reaction. They watched him back with equal intensity.
Bran spoke first. “So basically, what you’re telling us is that we can take your representation or fuck off, and that your relationship to my sister is a done deal, and we can fuck off our opinions on that as well.”
Dagr hadn’t thought he’d been that blunt, but… He clasped Bébhinn’s hand and brought it to rest on his thigh. “Yes.”
Patrick looked at his brother and their sons before breaking into a wide grin. “Dad would have liked you, Dagr, which means so do we.”
He was relieved. He didn’t have to have their approval, but he’d really wanted it. Bébhinn squeezed his hand before leaning over to whisper, “You did have a plan.”
He kissed her cheek softly while running the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip.
“Never doubt a Griffiths in love,” he said quietly back.
As he sat straight again, Rowan watched them with tears in her eyes.
He pretended not to notice, understanding that she wouldn’t appreciate having attention drawn to her while she was emotional.
“Watching you piss all over my niece like a dog in heat has been amazing, don’t get me wrong, but can we get to the good part?” River asked.
“Yeah,” Jonathan chuckled, “according to Mom, you might be my long-lost cousin.”
Dagr pulled his briefcase closer to his chair and dug out the folder that his dad had found. He’d said there didn’t seem to be much information on his birth mother.
“Dad warned me there wasn’t much. My grandmother kept bits of information from the hospital and notes from the adoption agency. There isn’t much, he said. I haven’t looked because Bébhinn wanted a grand reveal without me having any prior knowledge.”
He opened the folder and began reading aloud the notes from his grandmother. “The adoption wasn’t closed, which is odd, but the agent in charge of Dad’s case said the mother and her family didn’t wish to provide any information and never wanted to be contacted.”
“How sad,” Raven said solemnly.
Rowan dabbed her eyes before saying, “I can’t imagine the crushing weight the mother must have been under.”
“The family sounds like assholes. Good on your dad, Dagr, for getting out early,” River scoffed.
“Okay. So, Dad was born in a fancy birthing center in London,” Dagr said as he flipped through the scant notes and hospital papers.
“It looks like a nurse told Gram that the mother was a young American on holiday who hooked up with a fisherman when the girl’s family traveled through Norway.
The notes suggest the family had been in the middle of a European tour for their daughter’s fifteenth birthday. ”
He flipped through more pages, reading the annotations and scribbled thoughts. “The nurse believed that the parents forced their daughter to give up Dad. They extended their holiday so that no one from the States would know she’d ever been pregnant.
“One note says that she had white hair. There is an asterisk with natural by it. The family was from Massachusetts.”
He looked up when the table became unusually still. “What?” he asked, unaware of what part had triggered their unease.
Bébhinn patted his arm. “It’s fine, babe. Keep looking.”
“Okay. Her father was in banking.” He dragged his finger down the remaining page, a lined notecard actually, that was partially stuck to the folder from age, and found… “Oh, her name was Helen.” Jesus. No way.
“No fucking way,” Bran said with absolutely no inflection to go along with his words.
“I knew it,” River said, slapping the table.
“I think you might want to ask your dad to do a DNA test, Dagr,” Rowan said softly.