"Have you ever seen them so civil?" I heard Keela murmur to everyone.
"Nope," Ryder replied back. "Twenty euros it only lasts till morning."
"Hey," I said and pulled back from Kane and turned to face my family, "don't jinx this. This is a rare event."
Everyone chuckled.
"Okay, so you and Kane are havin' a baby. Do your brothers know?" Bronagh asked me.
My good mood was instantly squashed. I surprisingly didn't think of telling my family about the baby... and I wished Bronagh had never brought them up.
I shook my head and groaned out loud, "I don't want to think about tellin' them."
Branna widened her eyes. "Your brothers don't know... Does your da know?"
I winced. "No... I was hopin' I wouldn't have to tell any of them either."
Kane came to my side and frowned. "Why not? You're twenty-eight."
I said nothing so Branna filled him in for me. "Being pregnant isn't the problem; it's who her baby daddy is that will be the problem."
"Why would they have a problem with me? They don't even know me," Kane asked, his tone confused.
Keela snorted and said, "That's not exactly true."
All the brothers looked at Keela and in unison they said, "Explain."
Keela looked at me for permission and I shrugged my shoulders. "Go ahead, they'll find out sooner or later."
"A year or so after Nico and Bronagh started datin', at one of Nico's fights in some club in town, Aideen's eldest brother beat the shite out of Ryder for accidentally knocking a drink out of his hand. You three proceeded to beat the shite out of him and his brothers which had to be broken up by her da, who tagged along to watch the fight. Her family is really into UFC."
Kane snapped his head my way. "Your older brothers are James, Harley, and Dante Collins?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "Yep."
All the brothers glared at their girlfriends.
"Why did you never mention that?" Nico snapped at Bronagh.
Bronagh shrugged. "After they almost bested you four that night, you told us never to talk about them or even mention the fight again, so we didn't. What good would it have done to know we were friends with the sister of the brothers you hate?"
Kane put his face in his hands and groaned.
I placed a hand on his shoulder. "It won't be that bad."
"Yeah, it will," Nico sighed and shook his head. "If your brothers don't kill him for getting you pregnant, your dad will."
"Are you okay?" Kane asked me the next morning as I sat in the passenger seat of his car.
Was I okay?
I was on my way to tell my father and brothers that I was pregnant and that the baby's father belonged to a group of brothers they hated with a passion.
Why would I be okay with any of that?
I gently shook my head. "I was up all night thinkin' about this and I'm pretty sure I'm currently havin' a silent panic attack. Outside I'm calm, but inside I'm freakin' the fuck out."
Kane snorted, "It's goin' to be okay."
I glanced over my shoulder and groaned, "If it's goin' to be okay, why are your brothers in the car behind us?"
Kane shrugged and glanced in his rear view mirror. "They don't trust your brothers."
I growled, "I do. They will be pissed at first, but they'll get over it... eventually."
"Well, let's call them worried shadows just until this meeting is over."
The word ‘meeting' translated to ‘death sentence.'
I shook my head. "Their presence will only make things worse."
"It will be fine."
That phrase was starting to piss me off.
"Stop sayin' that to me. Everyone keeps sayin' that to me."
Kane opened his mouth but closed it before any words escaped.
I thought of my brothers during the silence and I figured it would be best to ring and call them around to my father's house for a family meeting. I dug my phone out of my bag, unlocked it, found Harley's number and pressed it.
"Who are you calling?" Kane inquisitively asked.
I looked straight ahead as I answered, "Me brother."
Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Kane nod his head in understanding. I refocused on my phone when I heard a voice say, "Hello."
"Hey, are you with James and Dante by any chance?" I asked my brother, Harley, when he answered his phone.
Harley chortled, "Good morning to you too, little sister."
I rolled my eyes. "Are you with them or not, Harley?"
He clicked his tongue at me. "Temper, sister. They're both round in mine. Why?"
I exhaled a nervous breath, "Meet me at Da's house in ten minutes, I need to tell you all somethin'."
Silence.
"Are you okay?" Harley asked apprehensively.
I glanced at Kane, who was driving and swallowed. "Yes, I'm fine."
Kind of.
"Okay, see you in ten," Harley quipped.
I put my phone back into my bag when my brother hung up. I busied myself with closing my bag just so I wouldn't have to look up. I didn't want my eyes to drift to Kane because I still couldn't believe the situation we were both in.
"Before we tell your family about the baby... can we talk about it first? After you had told me last night, we talked a little but not much."
That caught me off guard.
"Sure... wh-what do you want to talk about exactly?"
"Okay." Kane nodded more to himself than me. "Be honest with me... are you happy you're pregnant?"
I blinked. "Why are you askin' me that?"
Kane sighed, "Because I don't want you to carry on with the pregnancy if you don't want to."
I stared at Kane. Hard.
"I'm not havin' an abortion Kane, not even if you want me to. I will not murder an innocent child because we were too stupid to use protection!"
"Hey!" Kane snapped. "I am not suggesting that at all. I swear I'm not. I was just putting the option on the table in case you felt pressured into having the baby. Honestly, I'm fucking thrilled you feel the way you do because I feel the exact same way."
I swallowed. "You do? Really? You aren't just sayin' that?"
"Really, sweetheart. I never thought I'd have kids, but surprisingly I'm really excited about it. I can't begin to explain why. I'm scared shitless, but I'm very happy at the same time and I want you to be happy about it too."
I blew out a big breath. "I'm happy now. At first I wasn't because I thought of the worst possible things like how you would react, would I be able to be a good mother, things like that, but now that I've had a little time to think about it, I'm happy. I haven't fully processed it all yet, but I'm excited."
"I don't feel as sick now," Kane chuckled.
I laughed and rested my head back against the headrest.
"I'm not going to flake on you, you know that, right?" he said a few moments later.
I had to look up because his question confused me.
"Huh?"
Kane glanced at me and nodded to my stomach before returning his eyes to the road. "You and the baby. I won't flake-I'll be there every step of the way. I won't be a deadbeat dad, I promise."
The comfort that gave me shocked me and I tried to play it off like it was nothing.
"Oh, yeah, sure. I know you'll be a good father."
It was my ability to be a good mother that was still worrying me.
"It's all going to be okay. I know the girls have been repeating that to you, but it really will be okay. I'll look after you. The both of you."
That made me curious.
"How?" I asked.
Kane glanced at me for a moment. "What?"
"How are you goin' to look after me and the baby?" I clarified.
I sounded snippy and rude. I didn't mean to, I was generally interested in this discussion.
"By supporting you-"
"In what way?" I cut in and probed.
Kane's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "Financially, emotionally... whatever way you need my support, you've got it."
I blinked. "You don't have a job, and we aren't in a relationship so how can you support me financially and emotionally?"
Kane shook his head. "I don't need to be dating you to be there for you... and you let me worry about my money, okay?"
"No," I answered. "I'll give on the emotional aspect, but if this is goin' to work, if you want to raise this baby together then I want to know where the financial support is comin' from."
"Aideen," Kane said, his tone firm.
I straightened up. "Kane."
"Do we have to do this right now?" he asked, irritated.
"Yes," I replied. "You may think we have all the time in the world to have this conversation, but this baby will be here before we know it and babies require a lot of things before they even get here. I'm three months gone, so that leaves me six months to find somewhere else to live because me current apartment is too small for a party bigger than one. I'll need to go out and buy a cot, a pram, a changin' table, a whole wardrobe of clothes, nappies-a lot of nappies-wet wipes, creams, lotions, powders, linen, blankets, a car seat-"
"Aideen!" Kane cut me off with a shout. "I get it! I know there is a lot of things that we will need to buy and a lot of things that need to be done, but I'll make sure it gets done. Okay? Just trust that I can take care of you."