'No offense to Trev, but I'll give Jude the prize tonight. I hope I'm half as sturdy when my time comes.'
Trevor raised his glass, then caught the sparkling look that ran between them. 'Are you pregnant?'
'We just announced it tonight at the pub, which is why I've tea in my glass instead of whiskey. But you needn't worry, as I'm not due till February, and we'll be done with all but the fancy work on the theater.'
'We should have ours at home as well, Brenna. It was lovely this way.'
'That's fine, we'll do just that. As soon as you figure out how to give birth.'
'Either way,' Trevor said, 'congratulations.' He touched his glass to hers again, and Shawn's. 'Just do me a favor and try not to work as fast as your sister-in-law. Managing the whole business in under two hours is just a little too nerve-wracking.'
'With the loveliest of endings. You did a fine job.'
'That you did,' Shawn agreed. 'Now we'd best get over to the pub, spread the word. If you're up for it, come and join the celebration. I can promise you won't buy another drink in Gallagher's in your lifetime.'
To Trevor's numb shock, Shawn took him by the shoulders and kissed him with great enthusiasm. 'God bless you. Let's be off, Brenna.'
Trevor stood alone in the kitchen and laughed.
'It's a happy night,' Darcy said as she stepped in.
'Shawn kissed me, right on the mouth.'
'Well, then, I can't be outdone by my own brother.' She leaped, sent him staggering back, and kissed him hard and long. 'There, now, that should do it.'
But the humor faded out of her eyes as they went soft, as she laid her hand on his cheek. 'You're a hero. No, don't shake your head at me. We might've fumbled through that without you, but I don't like thinking of it.'
'You kept your head.'
'I wanted to run screaming.'
'Me, too.'
She blinked at that, hopped down. 'Is that the truth? You looked so competent, so calm. Laying down orders, then taking charge like you delivered babies as a hobby every Saturday.'
'I was terrified.'
'Then you're even more of a hero.'
'It wasn't heroics, it was stark terror.' And now he could admit it. 'It was nothing like my sister. All I had to do with her was be there, hold her hand, listen to her curse my brother-in-law, maybe breathe with her. And there's doctors and monitors and- stuff,' he said, running down. 'This was- Jesus. This was primitive. It was fantastic.'
He finished off the rest of his whiskey. 'Nothing was the way it should've been. The storm, the power, Jude sprinting through labor like that. Nothing was the way it should've been, yet it was all exactly right. Like it was meant.'
'All of us together this way, in this house.' She touched a hand to his arm. 'Yes, it was exactly right. I feel I was part of a miracle tonight. The baby, our Ailish, she looked healthy, didn't she?'
'She looked perfect. Don't worry.'
'You're right, of course. Bellowing like that on the way out, and already nursing. What could be better? And Jude's just glowing. So, let's have ourselves a toast to our perfect little miracle.'
He eyed the whiskey bottle. 'I've already had two, with Brenna and Shawn.'
'And your point would be?' she asked as she got another glass and poured.
'Nothing. Don't know what I was thinking. To our miracle, then. The newest Gallagher.'
'Slainte.' She brought the glass to her lips, tipped her head back, and swallowed in a way that made him feel obliged to do the same. 'I'm going to make the new mother some tea, then tidy up. Will you be at the pub?'
'I'll wait for you here.'
'That would be lovely.' She turned to put the kettle on, spied the pot staying warm under a cozy. 'Shawn's beat me to this as well as to kisses. Sit down and take a load off,' she suggested as she arranged cups on a tray. 'Miracles aside, delivering babies is an exhausting business.'
'You're telling me.'
He started to sit when she went out, then felt guilty. He should go up, make sure, see if anything else was needed. Besides, he couldn't sit. He was too full of that brilliant wash of energy.
Then he heard the front door open, and Darcy's voice cheerfully greeting Mollie O'Toole.
Thank you, Jesus, Trevor thought fervently, and for the first time in his life was thrilled to pass the reins of control into the hands of another. He'd wandered around the kitchen, glanced out the dark window, and was just thinking about making coffee, if he could find it, when Aidan came in, all but dancing.
'There's the man of the hour.'
This time Trevor was braced, but still didn't manage to evade the hearty kiss. 'That's three for three,' he muttered. 'I'm getting used to it. How's Jude?'
'She's glowing. Sitting up in bed, pretty as you please, and drinking tea while Darcy cuddles the baby.'
'Darcy?'
'Kicked me out of the room,' Aidan said as he got yet another glass. 'Said I was to come down here and drink like a new father so she could start her auntie's privilege and spoil the baby.'
'Auntie?' Try as he might, he couldn't visualize Darcy as auntie.
'Mollie O'Toole's fussing around, and says she's staying the night. They've already got Ailish dressed up in a little sleeping gown with lace on it. She looks-'
He trailed off, just leaned forward and laid his palms on the counter. 'Christ. Christ! What this does to a man! My soul's shaking, I swear to you. I never knew there was more to feel than I've already felt. That I could love like this in a heartbeat's time. There she is, not an hour old, and I'd kill for her. Die for her. When I think I might have missed them if fate hadn't opened the door for me.'
Trevor said nothing, could say nothing.
'I'll owe you all of my life for this one night.'
'No.'
'I will. If one day you're blessed with a child of your own, you'll know just how much is owed.' Aidan shook himself, turned back. Any more, he thought, and he'd embarrass the man beyond redemption. 'The Irish are sentimental sorts. Let's have a drink here, so I can get my legs back under me.'
Trevor figured that if the toasting kept up at this pace, he would not only lose his legs, he'd fall on his face. But he raised his glass with Aidan to the new mother, and then to the child.
By the time Aidan went back up and Darcy came back down, he felt that he was watching a revolving door through the deep amber haze of Jameson's. And that seemed perfectly fine.
It only took one look at his face, at the cheerful and decidedly sloppy grin that was as endearing as a boy's, the tousled hair and the loose body stretched out in the chair, to clue her in.
Since the look of him had her wanting to cuddle him just as she'd cuddled her niece, she walked over and patted his cheek. 'Sure and you're on your way to being piss-faced, aren't you, darling?'
'I never drink more than two. You lose focus.'
'Of course you do, and that's a fine and upstanding rule just begging to be broken on such a night.'
'It would've been rude not to toast the baby.'
'Unforgivably.'
'Are we toasting the baby again?' There was just enough sweet hope in his tone to make her chuckle.
'I think it's time we made our way over to the pub, then we'll see about that. Let's get you to your feet. You can lean on me.'
'I can stand up.' Vaguely insulted, he pushed back from the table. The minute he was upright, the room took one slow, rather lovely spin. 'Whoa.' He put a hand out. 'I'm all right. Just finding my balance.'
'Well, let me know when you've located it.' She glanced toward the bottle, winced at the level. She hadn't realized how much they'd gotten into the poor man between them. 'We've abused you sorely, and after all your heroics, too.' Gently, she slipped an arm around his waist. 'We'll go over and get you a meal. I bet you'd like something hot in your belly.'
'You. I've already got you there, and in my head. Every damn place. Aidan kissed me, so it's your turn.'
'We'll get to that, by and by.' With her arm around his waist and his tucked companionably around her
