by Iris Morland
“Lochlann!” I yelled as I knocked on the door. “Open up! And if you aren’t home I’m going to be super pissed because I need to talk to you!”
I was knocking and yelling so loudly that the neighbor across from Lochlann stuck his head out his door to yell, “Can you keep it down, lady? There are people trying to watch Game of Thrones in here!”
“You should’ve watched it ages ago like everyone else!”
I was looking at the neighbor, my fist up to knock again, when my fist hit something decidedly not door-like. It felt like a chest.
Lochlann’s chest. Thank God. And there was Lochlann, in the flesh, and I was so stupidly happy I could’ve kissed the angry neighbor.
“You’re here. What took you so long?” I said.
Lochlann gave me a strange look. “I was taking a shower.”
His hair was wet, a wet spot on his shirt. I wanted to rub myself against him like a cat. Speaking of cats...
“Clurichaun!” I pushed past Lochlann to pick up his cat. “I missed you!”
Clurichaun meowed in protest, forcing me to let him go.
“Kate, what are you doing here?” said Lochlann.
In the light of his living room, I noticed the dark purple bruise on his jaw. “What happened to your face?”
“Your brother-in-law happened to my face.”
“Oh my God. I knew Liam had been pissed, but I didn’t think he’d beat you up.” I winced as I looked more closely at the bruise. “I’m sorry. Mari and I tried to stop him, but two pregnant women are pretty useless against an angry Irishman.”
“I’m glad he punched me. He knocked some sense into me.”
We both fell silent, the moment now awkward. It was like neither of us knew where to start. Thankfully, our daughter decided to kick me in the ribs. I grabbed Lochlann’s hand and pressed it to my belly.
“This little girl says hello. She missed her dad.”
Lochlann’s smile practically lit up the apartment. Kneeling down, he kissed the spot where she’d kicked me. “I missed her, too. More than I can say.” He looked up at me. “And I missed her mother like hell.”
“I missed you, too.”
Lochlann stood, cupping my face in his hands, brushing away the stray tears that had fallen.
“Why did you resign? And why didn’t you come to Liam’s to tell me?” I choked out.
“I resigned because it was what I should’ve done in the first place. I chose my research over you, and that was wrong. No job is worth losing you.” He brushed the tears from my cheek. “I also realized that I was wrong.”
I sniffled. “I mean, I hoped as much, but you’re going to have to be more specific.”
“I can have my work and have love. It’s a choice, not a piece of my DNA, encoded into my genes.”
“I could’ve told you that, you dummy.”
He smiled, but the smile faded. “I can’t guarantee I won’t ever hurt you, or that I won’t get so caught up in my research that you won’t get frustrated. But I can promise I’ll try my best, because you deserve my best. And so does our daughter.”
“Okay. I’ll try, too.”
Lochlann took a deep breath. “Liam told me about Liz’s threats, too. Kate, why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve done something about it.”
Damn Liam, opening his big mouth. “She wanted your research.”
“I know.”
“Wait, you do? How? Did Liam tell you that?”
Lochlann’s smile was grim. “No, Liz did. I confronted her, and I told her I’d take her down with me if she so much as sniffed in your direction.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to see it.”
“She started crying, but I didn’t care. That should say something.” He scowled as he remembered. “That fucking witch. That backstabbing, evil wagon—”
“Wagon?”
“Hag, bitch, twat.” Lochlann waved a hand. “The most evil of women.”
“Oh, lovely. I’ll keep that insult in my repertoire.” I took Lochlann’s hand in mine. “But don’t you see why I didn’t tell you? I wasn’t going to be the reason you lost everything, and if you’d known, it would’ve all been over.”
I shook my head. “You would’ve done something stupid and made the situation worse. No, it was better that I left the program entirely so I couldn’t give Liz your research. But now you might not be able to stay here in America. What happens then?”
He took a deep breath. “Then I return to Ireland.”
I realized then that I no longer needed to feel worthy by attending a prestigious graduate program. That I didn’t need to show I wasn’t just the prankster sister, but one who was smart and ambitious. I was still both of those things, of course. But I could pursue my dreams elsewhere.
And that uh-oh voice? It had fallen silent, because I knew I could trust my own intuition. And Lochlann wasn’t an oops moment for me anymore. He’d become my entire world and the love I thought I’d never find.
“I’ll go with you,” I said suddenly. “If you have to leave, I’ll go with you.”
Lochlann’s eyes flashed. “And give up everything and everyone you know? Leave your family behind? Your sisters?”
“I mean, it’ll be hard, but it’s just Ireland. Not Antarctica.”
His lips twitched with a smile. “I love you. I should’ve said that when I opened the door. It took me too long to realize it, and for that, I’m sorry.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “I want to make a life with you. I want to marry you and raise our daughter together. I don’t care where that is, as long as you both are with me.”
“I love you, too. So much. I’d follow you anywhere.”
Finally, he kissed me. It was one of those kisses for the ages. It felt like we’d never kissed before, while at the same time, it was like coming home. He kissed me, telling me how much he loved me, how he’d resign a million times over to prove how much he loved me.
“You’re exactly what I needed,” he said, his hands delving under my shirt to caress my bare skin. “You’re like some unstoppable force that pushed me to realize what I thought I couldn’t have.”
“Aw, are you saying I’m your gravity? That’s sweet.”
“More like A chroí.” He tossed my shirt to the floor.
“I have no idea what that means, but I’m into it.”
“It means ‘my heart.’”
“Oh well, in that case, I approve.” I sighed as he cupped one of my breasts. “I’ve missed this. You should show me exactly how much you missed me. Over and over. Until I can’t walk.”
He grinned. “Your wish is my command.”
Epilogue
Kate
Once upon a time, there was a girl who had a one-night stand with her professor, got pregnant, and ended up moving to Ireland to be with him.
Lochlann moved back to Ireland after the New Year, and I followed him a month later. Moving to a brand-new country while pregnant wasn’t on the top of my list of fun things to do, but I would’ve followed Lochlann to the ends of the earth. He was pretty much stuck with me for all eternity. He couldn’t get rid of me even if he wanted to.
Lochlann was also able to get a professorship at the University of Dublin, where he’d worked previously. How about that for lucky?
I planned to apply for their materials program when I felt ready after our baby was born. I had enough on my plate with moving to Ireland and having a baby without adding grad school on top of it.
Our daughter, Fainne Lydia, was born at the end of March. (And for all of you who don’t speak Irish—it’s pronounced Fawn-ya. You’re welcome.)
Fainne was due on March 23, but she decided to continue her residence inside me for another week. I tried everything to get my labor started: spicy foods, walking, and sex. So much sex that Lochlann finally had to cry uncle and beg for me to leave him alone.
(Just kidding. He loved it.)
So, labor story. On March 30, I was desperate. Lochlann was working a half-day at my insi
stence. I paced our little house while listening to 2000s pop hits (what’s a little *NSYNC to get your uterus contracting?), walking back and forth, back and forth. Clurichaun sat and stared at me. I occasionally stopped to scratch him behind the ears.
“Bye, Bye, Bye” started playing, and I sang along as I began folding the laundry. With the baby a week overdue, we were pretty over prepared. We’d washed all her clothes. The nursery was furnished. We had enough diapers to last us five years, it felt like. My milk had started to come in, which was seriously the strangest sensation ever. I never thought I’d understand how cows felt, but here we were.
A sharp pain made me stop my folding. I took a deep breath. I’d been having plenty of Braxton Hicks, so I waited to see if I’d have another contraction. I began to time them, soon realizing they were spaced evenly apart.
Well, that must mean I was in labor.
“Fucking finally!” I said to Clurichaun. I grabbed my phone and called Lochlann. He picked up on the first ring. “I’m in labor.”
I heard shuffling on the other end. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
He hung up before I could tell him goodbye, or God speed, or “don’t drive like a crazy person because first babies took forever.”
Lochlann arrived in exactly ten minutes, his expression harried, his hair a windblown mess.
“How far apart are they now? Has your water broke?” he asked in a rush.
“Dude, it’s been ten minutes. The only thing I’ve done is eat some gummy bears and pee for the millionth time today.”
Lochlann drove about ten miles per hour—or whatever the equivalent was in kilometers—to the hospital. An old couple even passed us, honking in irritation.
“You know, I know I said first babies are slow, but we might need to get there before it’s, like, the summertime,” I said.
Lochlann scowled. “I’m not driving fast with you in labor.”
I made him speed up when a contraction hit me hard and fast. I made him speed up even faster when my water broke, wetting my leggings and the seat. Lovely. I couldn’t have broken my water in the hospital where some nurse could’ve cleaned it up?
Lochlann’s eyes bugged out when he heard me yelp. “What is it? Kate!”
I was torn between groaning and laughing. “My fucking water broke! Ugh, I’m all wet. I just got baby pee all over the car.”
He glanced at my lap, his eyes bugging out. He promptly stepped on the accelerator.
Despite my water breaking so spectacularly, Fainne wasn’t born for another twelve hours. She made us wait until the wee hours of March 31, the little bugger.
But when the nurse placed her on my chest, screaming like she was possessed, all red and squishy, I loved her so much my heart just about exploded.
“You did it, sweetheart. I’m so proud of you.” Lochlann kissed me, brushing back the sweaty strands of hair stuck to my forehead. “She’s finally here.”
“God, she has your head.” I groaned. “No wonder it took so long to push her out.”
That night in the hospital, after eating my weight in pizza that I’d made Lochlann go get, Lochlann and I curled up in the hospital bed with Fainne on my chest. She’d nursed, peed, and had promptly fallen asleep. She was definitely my daughter.
Lochlann traced the delicate shell of her ear. “We made her. Can you believe it?”
“She’s pretty much your clone. I don’t know if she got any of my DNA.” Along with her giant head, she had dark hair and was excessively long (or tall, depending on how you looked at it). There was definitely no reason for us to go on Maury, that was for sure.
“She has your personality,” said Lochlann. “She peed on your chest right after she was born. She refused to come out when we wanted her to. I’d say she got more of you than me.”
“Excuse me, you’re just as stubborn as me. As far as the peeing thing, well, I’m sure there are some kinks of yours I’ve yet to discover.”
Lochlann coughed, laughing, which made Fainne open and close her mouth. How was something like that so adorable? Now I understood why people gushed over their kids. They really were amazing.
I kissed her soft, fuzzy head, feeling exhaustion take over the adrenaline of the day. “I don’t want to fall asleep, but I’m also so tired I feel like death.”
“You need to sleep. I’ll watch over you both.” Lochlann kissed my temple a moment before sleep claimed me.
Three months passed quickly, or as quickly as time can pass when you have a newborn. Fainne was generally a good baby: she ate, she cried when she needed to eat, she pooped, she slept. She grew like a weed. She thought the cat was the most fascinating creature in existence and had gotten close to pulling on Clurichaun’s tail multiple times already.
I was getting dinner ready when Lochlann came home from work, Fainne on her play-mat in the living room where I could keep an eye on her. Clurichaun had already curled up near her. He’d taken to watching over her despite her grasping little fingers. I called him her guard cat.
“Smells good,” said Lochlann. He wrapped an arm around my waist and kissed my temple. “You look gorgeous as always.”
“I have baby puke on my shirt and I forgot to put on deodorant, but you’re sweet.” I patted his cheek. “I think you just want to make sure you get some booty tonight.”
He squeezed my ass. “Always.”
When he didn’t leave to play with Fainne as he usually did as I made dinner, I turned to look at him. “Why do I feel like you need to tell me something?”
His expression turned serious. I was about to demand that he spill the beans when he went down on one knee, right in the middle of our kitchen. He then pulled a ring box from his pocket.
“Katherine Lydia Wright, today was the day we first met, one year ago. One year ago, you stormed into my life and never left it, and for that, I’m so thankful. Without you, we’d never have our amazing daughter.” He opened the ring box to reveal a pink sapphire ring. “Kate, I love you. Will you finally make an honest man of me and marry me?”
“Oh, you’re going to get so lucky tonight,” I choked out.
“Is that a yes?”
“Of course it’s a yes. It’s a yes times a million.”
Lochlann beamed, placed the ring on my finger, and then we joined our daughter to show her Mommy’s new engagement ring.
And we, of course, lived happily ever after.
The End
Thank you for reading Oopsie Daisy! I hope you loved Kate and Lochlann’s story.
* * *
And don’t miss my across-the-tracks romance, The Nearness of You, free on all platforms!
Everyone wants to tear them apart. But he's not giving up without a fight.
The last thing Sara Flannigan needs is a man in her life. When she returns to her hometown, she vows to create a happy life for her son and to rebuild her life after a painful divorce. Yet when she meets her son’s new doctor, she can’t deny the spark of attraction that heats between them.
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From The Nearness of You
Generally Harrison found that dates went two ways: either there was no chemistry and it ended without pursuing anything further, or there was chemistry and they went another date, then maybe another, before ending up in bed together. Rarely did any date stray from those two results.
Tonight was the exception. It wasn’t that there was no chemistry—there was an overabundance of chemistry. So much chemistry that he was surprised the table wasn’t vibrating from the electricity sparking between him and Sara. She kept looking up at him through her eyelashes, smiling a mysterious smile that sent him into a tailspin. Had he ever found a woman eating a salad erotic? Well, tonight he was discovering that watching Sara do just that was ca
using him to be crazed with need.
And they hadn’t even kissed.
Maybe it was the way her cheeks flushed when he complimented her, or the way her breasts pushed against the buttons of her blouse. Maybe it was how her slim fingers held her glass of cider, or even worse, how they traced patterns on the glass itself—patterns that Harrison wanted to feel on his skin.
He wanted her. He wanted her badly. If this night didn’t end with him at least kissing her, he’d probably explode from unabated lust.
“How’s James? Has he been practicing any basketball lately?” he asked.
Sara smiled that warm smile she had solely for her son. “He’s only asked me about twenty times when he can sign up for basketball, conveniently forgetting that I’ve told him that the season doesn’t start until later this year. But yes, he’s doing great. I can’t tell you again how much I appreciate your taking my concerns seriously. I’ve had other physicians who tended to think I was hysterical.”
She said the words with a shrug, but they made Harrison clench his fist underneath the table. What asshole had waved away her legitimate concerns about her son? Made her feel like she was overreacting when her son had suffered from cancer, one of the worst things a parent could face in regards to their child?
“You don’t have to thank me. I’m just glad that he’s healthy. That’s the best result any physician can ask for,” he said.
“When he was sick, I imagined him growing up. Going to college, getting married, having children of his own. I thought about him being a rebellious teenager, sneaking out of the house at night to see his girlfriend. Or boyfriend.” She smiled, lost in thought. “I celebrated when he misbehaved. Weird, right? But that meant he had the energy to disobey. I prayed so many nights that I’d get the chance to see him grow up and see him do good things. And maybe a few bad, but not too many. A mother has to draw the line somewhere.”
“Considering his history, when he was diagnosed, and his prognosis now, there’s no reason he won’t grow up to be that annoying teenager.” Harrison grinned. “But maybe don’t wish for a teenager who sneaks out of the house. I did that and my mom tanned my hide when I got home. One time I was grounded for an entire month.”