Bonus Chapter #2
“How did you know I was in labor?” I ask them. Closely followed by, “Does Declan know that you’re here?”
My mom stays with me. She lets me squeeze her hand, and smooths my hair away from my face, and tells me that I’m doing just great.
“Declan,” I whisper between contractions.
“He’ll be here soon.” Mom’s voice is calm and steady, just like she has always been.
The paramedics transfer me to a wheelchair when we arrive at the antenatal ward of the hospital. Mild panic courses through my veins when I remember that I left my bag at home, but the contractions are coming so quickly that there’s barely time to form a coherent sentence between them.
The midwife checking me in takes one look at me and wheels me straight through to the delivery suite.
“Mom, I need Declan.” The panic is real now.
I can do this without him, but I don’t want to. I know how much it means to him to be here for the birth. He’ll be so disappointed if he misses it, and it will all be my fault…
Then I hear voices outside the room, and Declan bursts through the door carrying the two bags I packed for me and our baby. He rushes to my side and kisses my forehead.
“I’m here, my sweet Amelia. Today is the day we get to meet our son.”
The next contraction comes with the urge to push, and I go with it. Declan and my mom are both here. I’m ready.
The woman in the airport was right when she said that it would be quick.
Twenty minutes later, the midwife places our baby son on my chest, and we’re all crying happy tears.
“He’s beautiful,” Mom says, because Declan and I are overwhelmed by the moment.
“Thank you.” Declan kisses me on the lips. “You’ve made me the happiest man alive.”
And he means it.
This baby is ours. Borne from the kind of love that many people never find in their lifetime. I don’t know how I got so lucky, but I’ve learned not to question it.
“What are you going to call him?” Mom asks.
I smile at Declan. “Ronan Ruairi Byrne.”
“Welcome to the world, son.” Declan kisses our baby’s head, and squeezes my hand, and it feels like a new beginning.
The first day of the rest of our lives.
Thank you for reading Amelia’s story, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did creating it. Please leave me a review to help me grow and continue to write more stories you love.
Love,
Vivy
Continue the Byrne Family Legacy
If Declan and Amelia’s forbidden winter romance broke your heart open, you’ll want the story that defines this family’s darkest secrets.
Read Stolen Mafia Vows next — the hidden mafia princess who changes everything.
She was the secret no one was meant to find.
He was the Irish mob heir born into a violent inheritance.
Their love started a war… and their choices echo through My Ex’s Father in ways no one sees coming.
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Here is a sneak peek…
Emily
“Go and speak to them.”
“What? Who?” Heat rushes into my cheeks, and I wish I had Sienna’s cool.
I know that Sienna met my brother Kyle in a nightclub. I don’t know the exact details of what happened, but the story goes that they met, connected with this immediate fiery spark of attraction, and then drove off into the sunset together.
Literally.
Like characters from a romance novel.
Only I don’t have the balls to do that.
Or maybe I should rephrase that statement. I don’t have the balls to approach the hottest stranger on the entire planet, in the Arrivals lounge of Dublin Airport, Ireland, while I’m waiting for my family to arrive from New York in our private jet.
Why?
Because my brothers would make limb-shaped bunting out of any guy they thought wanted to get inside my panties, and then my dad would use the bunting as a pinata just to be sure that said guy got the message.
“The flight was an hour late leaving New York.” Sienna’s eyebrows slant upward like she already got the mental image of a hot red-haired guy dangling upside down from the rafters of the Arrivals lounge.
She isn’t telling me that I’m wrong about my family’s reaction. She’s telling me to utilize the sixty-minute delay wisely and then make sure that I’m back here before my dad and my brothers can sense my rosy cheeks and racing pulse.
“You know you want to.” Sienna elbows me in the ribs, her eyes darting slyly towards the two men, heads bent over a game of cards on the coffee table between them, like they have no clue that I even exist. “What have you got to lose?”
“Um, have you seen that guy?”
“Sure. When was the last time you looked in a mirror, Em?” Her eyes slide back and forth between me and the hottie again, like she doesn’t understand my point. “I’ve seen the way he’s been watching you.”
My face feels like someone took a blowtorch to it. “Do you even know which one I mean?” I hiss, barely moving my lips.
They’re both actual sex-Gods, and even though they’re obviously brothers, it’s like looking at the sun and the moon sitting side by side. Even though I can’t figure out why, exactly.
“Yep, the one on the right.” Sienna holds my gaze.
“So, are you going to sit here for the next hour making excuses not to speak to him, or are you going to stand up, march right over there, and teach them how to play properly? Cards,” she adds quickly when I open my mouth to protest. “How to play cards.”
I suck my top lip to suppress a smile. “I don’t even know what game they’re playing.”
“Who cares?” Sienna shrugs. “I don’t think either of you have set a game of poker at the top of your agenda.”
“Sienna!” I can’t help smiling though. “You’re a bad influence, you know that? And when my dad arrives, I’ll tell him this was all your idea.”
“Some might say I’m exactly the influence you need right now.” I open my mouth again, and she shuts me down. Again. “Go. Before I speak to them myself, because, believe me, your cheeks will need a ton of ice to cool down if I go over there.”
I suck in a deep breath, expanding my diaphragm. It does nothing to calm the heavy drumbeat of my heart. “What about you? What will—”
“Go! I’m Googling sexy lingerie for pregnant women.” She laughs when my smile fades rapidly. “I’m getting married in two days. I might be seven and a half months pregnant, but I still want to f—”
“I’m going.” I’m on my feet before she can finish. “I’ll try not to complete that sentence in my head.”
Her laughter follows me across the Arrivals lounge towards the two men, who both turn their heads and stare at me like I’m the enemy approaching their territory.
But I only have eyes for one of them. I didn’t believe Sienna when she said that he’d been watching me too, but his gaze is so intense that the world seems to slow down while I cover the distance between us floating six inches above the ground.
I feel like I’m in a dream scene from a movie when I sit beside him, and he smiles at me, his gray eyes stormy.
All he needs now is a flash of lightning to strike me dead in his lap.
His brother says something that doesn’t connect inside my brain.
“I’m going to lay a card.” Gray eyes don’t leave mine as the sex-God slides a card from his hand and tosses it onto the table.
“I win.” His brother gathers the cards on the table into a pile, taps them on the surface, and performs a professional shuffle between both hands. “Maybe you can get the introductions over with so that I can get a soda.”
“I’m Emily.” I surprise myself by sounding normal.
He blinks in slow motion, and I can’t figure out if it’s me or if he always moves this way. “Eoghan. Eoghan Byrne.”
“Cool. Great.” His brother stands up, leaving the deck of cards behind.
“I’m here with my brother’s fiancée, Sienna.” The words spill out of their own accord like I’m a marionette, and someone else is pulling the strings. “They’re getting married in two days. My family is flying in from New York.”
“You’re American.” Eoghan’s Irish accent makes my heart perform somersaults.
“I was born in New York, but we have family in Ireland. I’ve always loved it here.”
I’m starting to feel a little more regular.
I can feel my teeth with the tip of my tongue, and I don’t know why I look at his mouth when I think about it, but I do.
I can see a smattering of freckles across his nose and cheekbones, which makes my heart choose now to attempt a back flip.
His shoulders are even broader now that we’re this close, and his pecs seem to flex under my gaze.
Keep cool, Emily. He’s a human being not an actual God with a golden aura and a toga draped across his loins.
“Irish wedding, huh?” his brother’s voice cuts in, dragging my attention away from Eoghan. He offers me his hand in a formal greeting. “I’m Ruairi.”
I can tell by his smile that he feels like a spare part in this conversation, and I’m flooded with guilt for making it so obvious. “Can I join in?”
“Depends.” Ruairi shrugs and winks at his brother without sitting back down. “Would you let me win a game,” he pauses, “if my life depended on it?”
“Since when would your life depend upon a game of cards?” I don’t realize I’m licking my lips until I catch Eoghan watching my mouth.
“He’s messing with you.” Eoghan doesn’t glance at his brother, so maybe this is some kind of private joke, a game they play whenever they meet a woman one of them likes. Maybe my answer will be code for something else that only the two of them know about.
“Answer the question,” Ruairi presses.
“Okay.” I sit back in my seat, and my shoulder accidentally brushes Eoghan’s because, let’s face it, his shoulders need more than one airport seat to accommodate them. “Of course, I’d let you win if your life depended on it. Who wouldn’t?”
Ruairi shrugs. “Good to know.”
He walks off then towards the bar, leaving me alone with Eoghan.
An intense silence settles between us. It’s heavy, weighted down with something that I don’t quite understand, but which I think is down to Eoghan’s eyes on my lips. Heavy but not awkward.
“What’s your favorite song?” he asks.