Forever Mine: Callaghan Brothers, Book 9

by Abbie Zanders

  Kathleen’s hand rested upon her belly, and he knew she was thinking of the children they would one day have. One that might be growing inside her even now. The thought made him weak in the knees.

  “You’re right. I should have discussed it with you first.” He captured her gaze. “Just like you should have talked to me before offering Danny Finnegan a job. We can’t afford to pay anyone, Kathleen.”

  She grinned. “You don’t have to pay him. Just give him free drinks.”

  “It would be cheaper to put him on payroll and give him a salary.”

  “Good point,” she chuckled. “Best to set a limit.”

  Jack looked into her eyes, hardly daring to hope. “Kathleen, does this mean you want to keep the place?”

  Kathleen bit her bottom lip and nodded. “Aye, Jack, I do.”

  Jack’s heart soared. He would never tire of hearing those words from her lips. And she wanted to keep the Pub. “What changed your mind?”

  “You did,” she said, snaking her hands up around his neck. “Watching you today, seeing how you were with all those people who came in to help. For a little while, you looked... happy.”

  “You make me happy,” he said huskily, brushing his lips over hers. His hand palmed her breast, stroking his thumb over her now-prominent nipple.

  “Yes,” she agreed. “But we can’t do that all the time.”

  Jack nipped her lip, then licked away the sting. His hand was already working at unfastening her jeans. “We could try. I say it’s worth a shot.”

  Kathleen hissed as his hand slipped down into her panties. He couldn’t stop the low groan when he found her wet and ready.

  “We’ve got a full house down there,” she protested weakly.

  “Who already believe we’re getting it on right now,” he pointed out. Her jeans were shoved down to her knees and he freed himself.

  “Well, we wouldn’t want to disappoint them now, would we?”

  “Definitely not.”

  Ten minutes later, Kathleen emerged from the private stairway, eyes sparkling, face glowing with radiance. Jack followed right behind her, a possessive, smug look for anyone who had the courage to make direct eye contact. Knowing smiles and a few chuckles met his ears. One of the women near the sink picked up a glass and tapped it with a piece of silverware – the traditional wedding cue for newlyweds to kiss. Soon others had picked up the cue, and the kitchen was a cacophony of ringing glass.

  Jack pulled Kathleen into a steamy, soul-searing kiss until the clattering faded away. Only then did he release her and smile wickedly at their audience.

  “Atta boy, Jack,” laughed Kathleen’s sister Erin. “Show ‘em how it’s done, Katie.”

  Kathleen blushed to the roots of her hair. Jack gave her an affectionate pat on the backside and a kiss on the forehead. “You’re sure about this?”

  “No,” she admitted. “But it feels right.”

  “Aye,” he agreed. “It does. Now grab another tray, woman. We’ve got guests to tend to.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  September 2015

  Pine Ridge

  “You’ve got a guest.”

  Jack opened his eyes, finding himself once again in his private hospital room. It was getting easier to make the transition from the past to the present. He’d been going back and forth for a couple of days between an alert, wakeful state and floating in a world of what once was. The realism of the dreams was disorienting at first, but he was learning to adjust.

  He focused his gaze past the nurse, onto the tall figure in jeans and a black leather jacket. Jack blinked a few times, thinking maybe he was still caught in the past. But no, this had to be real, because if he was reliving a memory, the man’s black hair wouldn’t be sprinkled with gray and he wouldn’t have crow’s feet around those pitch-black eyes.

  “I’ll be damned. Jed Baker. What the hell are you doing here?”

  Jed grinned down at him. “I came to pay my last respects.”

  Jack snorted, then drew a hand to his chest when even that tiny, sudden movement felt painful. “I’m not dead yet.”

  “Uh huh, I can see that.”

  “Looks like you made the trip for nothing,” he smirked.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t say that.” Jed walked farther into the room, looking a lot older than the first time Jack had seen him. He still had that same swagger, that same no-nonsense glint in his dark eyes that Jack had seen forty years ago when Jed Baker and his team pulled his ass out of that hellhole in Vietnam after two years as a POW.

  “All these years ya been braggin’ about that Pub of yours, tellin’ me I should come up for a visit,” Jed said, shaking his head. “And when I finally get there, your boy Jake tells me you landed your ass in the hospital.”

  “Wasn’t part of the plan, but shite happens.”

  “Damn straight it does,” Jed agreed. “Seen a fair amount of it myself.”

  Jack nodded. They’d kept in touch over the years. Not often, but enough to know the major events in each other’s lives. Jack knew, for example, that Jed had four sons: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He also knew that like him, Jed had lost his first wife, Ginny, when his kids were still young.

  “How are the boys?”

  “Still wild as hell,” Jed chuckled. “But men now, with families of their own, just like yours.”

  “Time flies.”

  “Hell yeah it does,” Jed agreed.

  “Well, don’t just stand there. Pull up a chair and sit a spell.”

  Jed cocked a brow. “Sit a spell?”

  “Sorry,” Jack said, his eyes glittering with amusement. “My redneck is a little rusty.”

  Jed snorted and sat down, stretching out his booted foot. “Better than that bull shite you speak out your Irish arse.”

  Jack laughed, careful not to pull anything. “It’s damn good to see you, Jed.”

  “You too, Jack.”

  “How long are you in town?”

  “Just the day. Claire and I are doing a cross country train trip. Figured we’d do a little sightseeing, take the scenic route to the station in New York City. She talked me into one of those damn honeymoon suites in the Poconos with the hot tub shaped like a champagne glass.” He grunted, clearly not as thrilled with the idea as his wife.

  Jack sympathized. He’d never quite understood the allure of that either, but apparently a lot of people did. It was novel, different. He and Kathleen had been to places like that often enough, short romantic getaways without the kids. All those special amenities were nice, but it was the time alone with Kathleen that he’d treasured. They might not have made it up there for their honeymoon as originally planned, but Jack made a point of stealing her away for a long weekend every year. Those couple of days, when it was just the two of them, away from the kids and the pub and the rest of the world, were some of the best days of his life.

  If he had only known there would be so few of them... “Treasure every moment, Jed.”

  “Don’t I know it.”

  They talked for over an hour, catching up on things, bragging about their kids and grandkids. By mutual agreement, they never talked about how they’d first met. Some things didn’t need to be spoken of aloud to be shared.

  Jed stood, grasping Jack’s hand in a firm shake. “Remember what we talked about. Soon as you’re up and about, haul your ass down to Lakeside for some Southern hospitality, ya hear?”

  “I will,” Jack said, wondering if he’d be able to make good on that.

  They said their goodbyes, and Jed took his leave. Exhausted from the visit, Jack closed his eyes. He felt old. Tired. He missed Kathleen. Jed was very fortunate; he’d found that special connection with not one, but two women. Unlike Jed, Jack knew there would never be another for him. Kathleen was, and continued to be, the love of his life. That wasn’t going to change.

  The gaping hole left by Kathleen’s untimely death was still there. The edges were a bit smoother than they had been, worn down by the sheer persistence of time
, but when she had gone, she had taken that part of his heart with her and held it still.

  Jack lifted his hand, placing it over the incision that now ran the length of his chest. The part of his heart that remained wasn’t doing so well anymore, either.

  Was his time approaching? Was that why he was dreaming of Kathleen so much? Because he was going to be with her again?

  After her death, he hadn’t wanted to go on. He’d had to be strong for the boys then, but no longer. His sons were grown, fine men with families of their own.

  What did he need to stick around for? Sure, he loved his grandchildren, but what else? He’d long since retired from actively participating in the missions; the boys handled all that now. And as for the Pub, Jake and Ian had been running that for years. They didn’t need him anymore.

  He had done his part. Surely after all this time, he was entitled to a rest, wasn’t he?

  “Kathleen,” he whispered into the empty room. “Are you coming?”

  June 1975

  Pine Ridge

  “Kathleen, are you coming?” Jack called out. He shifted impatiently, waiting for her to finish brushing her teeth and come to bed. She’d been in there a long time.

  “Yes.” She shuffled out of the bathroom, yawning. He lifted the covers, so she could slide into bed next to him. She did, smelling of peppermint toothpaste and that lightly-scented face cream she put on every night.

  Jack pulled her close and nuzzled her neck. This was his favorite part of the day, the time when they left the rest of the world behind and it was just the two of them. Her warm, fragrant body snuggled up against his. Instantly he began to relax. When Kathleen was in his arms, everything was right with his world.

  “You okay?” he asked, pressing his lips to her forehead, as his hands stroked along the curve of her back.

  “Yeah,” she breathed. “Just a little tired. Mmmm, that feels good. Don’t stop.”

  “You’ve been tired a lot lately.”

  “Yeah.”

  She had been working a lot, spending hours every day trying to straighten out the Pub finances. Danny had made a real mess of things, not only by failing to pay his taxes, but also in keeping shoddy books. It seemed as if every other day, a supplier was showing up at the bar, looking for money Danny owed him.

  When she wasn’t doing that, he’d find her scrubbing or painting or patching one thing or another, trying to make the private living space more livable. She spent her evenings with him at the bar, tending for those few hours they were open each night.

  He loved her enthusiasm, but the frenetic pace she’d set for herself was beginning to take its toll.

  “Tomorrow is supposed to be a gorgeous day,” he said, placing kisses just below her jawline. “Let’s play hooky and go up to the lake.”

  “Sounds wonderful,” she sighed. Her fingers tangled in his hair as she lifted her chin to give him better access. “But I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “I promised Erin I’d help her with the books for Seamus’ construction business.”

  “I thought Erin did all that.”

  “She did, but now that she has the baby, she can use some help, especially since things are really taking off. Seamus is hiring more guys just to keep up with the demand.”

  “Can’t she hire someone?”

  “She did. Me.”

  “But - ”

  “But nothing,” she breathed. “Enough talking. Make love to me, Jack.”

  Jack had the distinct impression she was trying to distract him, but he would not refuse an opportunity to make love to his croie. He settled into the cradle of her thighs. “This discussion isn’t over.”

  Her reply was a lift of her hips and a tug on his hair.

  Mornings were better suited to such discussions anyway, he decided.

  Jack woke the next morning with the certainty that something wasn’t right. For one thing, Kathleen wasn’t wrapped in his arms, snoring softly against his neck. For another, there were muffled sounds of her throwing up in the bathroom.

  “Kathleen?” he called, knocking on the door when he discovered it locked. “What’s wrong? Open the door. Let me in.”

  “Hang on.” The toilet flushed, followed shortly thereafter by the sound of running water and the telltale creak of the ancient towel rack. Kathleen opened the door and smiled at him weakly.

  He took one look at her unusually pale complexion and the dark circles under her eyes and made up his mind. “That’s it, Kathleen. You’re taking the day off and staying in bed.”

  “I told you, I can’t.” Kathleen patted him on the arm and went to the closet.

  “The hell you can’t. You’re sick.”

  “I’m not sick, Jack.”

  “No? Then what do you call that?” he demanded, pointing toward the bathroom.

  “I’m not sick, Jack. I’m pregnant.”

  For a moment, Jack’s heart stopped entirely. Then it began to thunder so hard against the walls of his chest that he felt light-headed. He leaned against the wall for support.

  “What?”

  Her lips quirked slightly. “I’m pregnant.”

  “Are you sure? You’ve been to the doctor?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. And no, I haven’t. But I don’t need to go to the doctor to know. He’s in there.” Kathleen took his hand and laid it over the soft, natural swell of her flat belly. There was just a tiny bit of hardness there beneath her satiny skin. Why hadn’t he noticed it before?

  “He?” he whispered.

  “Yep. He.”

  “Maybe it’s a girl.”

  “It’s not.” The confidence in her voice nearly had him convinced.

  “And you know this how?”

  “I just know. He’s going to be big and strong, a force of nature just like his daddy.”

  Jack chuckled, then went down on his knees and pressed tender kisses to her abdomen. “A boy. A son. My son. I can’t believe it. You are amazing, Kathleen.”

  She laughed at that, cupping his head with her hands. “It’s not like I did it alone, Jack Callaghan. But don’t go bragging to the world just yet.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s bad luck to say anything before twelve weeks.”

  Bad luck? Jack’s strong protective instincts rushed to the surface. His wife had just told him they were going to have a baby. He would allow nothing, including bad luck or any other force in the universe, to threaten their happiness.

  “How far along are you?”

  “Nearly three months. You probably knocked me up on our wedding night,” she told him, amusement evident in her voice.

  Or the night of the break-in, he thought. That night, things had changed. A new connection had snapped into place. At the time, he’d thought that the danger had made them appreciate each other more, but what if it had been the spark of new life?

  “Why bad luck?” he asked.

  “Because most miscarriages occur in the first trimester. Announcing anything before three months is tempting fate.”

  Jack’s head snapped up. “Miscarriage?” The word sent shards of icy fear into his chest. His mother had had several. After each one, she would be inconsolable for weeks, and his father would grow quiet and distant. Was that kind of thing hereditary, he wondered? Did he carry something in his genes that put Kathleen at risk?

  He got to his feet and folded her in his arms, as if to shield her from the possibility of anything bad. He’d experienced enough bad for the both of them.

  “I’m sure everything is fine,” Kathleen told him, sensing his thoughts. “I feel wonderful, except for maybe being a bit more tired than usual.”

  “And vomiting.”

  “And vomiting,” she conceded. “But only first thing in the morning. I feel fine once I get something on my stomach.”

  Jack made a mental note to have crackers and a glass of water on the nightstand for her from here on out.

  “You should see a doctor,” he said firmly. “Today
.”

  She laughed softly and stroked his hair. “No, Jack. There’s not much a doctor can do at this point except confirm what I already know.”

  Was that true? Shite, he didn’t know. But going to the doctor seemed like something they should do. Her sister just had a baby not too long ago. She would know.

  “What does Erin say?”

  “Nothing, because I haven’t told her yet.”

  “Why not?” Surely the twelve-week rule didn’t apply to close family.

  Hurt flashed in her eyes. “Because I wasn’t going to tell anyone before I told you, Jack.”

  His heart did that stutter thing again, the same as it did every time he felt the awe and wonder of the fact that this amazing woman loved him.

  “And why didn’t you tell me?” She said she thought she was about three months ago, which meant she must have known for a while. He should have realized it sooner as well. Not a day had gone by that they hadn’t made love at least once.

  She averted her eyes. “I was waiting for the right moment. I was going to tell you so many times, but things kept getting in the way.”

  Things. What could possibly get in the way of something as important as that? His mind flew back to the previous week, when Kathleen had prepared a surprise candlelight dinner for him. That was the night the pipe under the sink burst, and ruined her plans.

  And the week before that, when she’d asked him to hurry along the nightly close-up because she wanted to talk to him about something important. Danny had been deep in his cups (an old-fashioned way of saying he was falling down drunk), and Jack had ended up driving him home. By the time he got back to the Pub, Kathleen was asleep and he’d forgotten all about it.

  A few more instances of similar circumstances came to mind when something had unexpectedly arisen, ruining what might have been ‘the right moment’. Hell. How many times had she tried to tell him?

  Jack ran his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, Kathleen.”

  “It’s okay.”

  No, it wasn’t. Kathleen was the most important thing in his life, any time, any place, and he needed to do a better job of showing her. Starting now.