Finally, the shock of nearly seeing him being blown into a million pieces started to ease off and I managed a small laugh, sagging into his arms for a badly needed hug. Nothing calmed me better than the solid feel of his chest, burying my head against the warmth of him and breathing him in. He was my man and I didn't have to let him go. Not ever, because this really was real.
"...Garrett?"
"Kaitlin?"
"We've had sex before getting married."
Garrett looked down at me, the smallest smirk tipping the corner of his mouth. "Ah. You know yourself the order of everything's all mixed around in my head what with the concussion."
"Did you lie to Father Riley?"
"Well now there's an interesting spiritual conundrum. When you think about it, seeing as you were always my intended and we were living under the same roof, that makes us common law married even before the Church gets involved, doesn't it now?"
"What if I say no?"
Garrett's face turned serious, the gleam fading from his green, green eyes and he took my hand in his, moving it across to his chest where I could feel the beat of his heart beneath my fingertips. "You were always mine, Macushla. I love you and my heart beats because of you and you know it. As far as I'm concerned you've been my wife since the first time I kissed you."
Garrett
Kaitlin held her hand out and I slipped the claddagh ring onto her ring finger of her left hand, right where it was supposed to be.
"The only thing I haven't done is asked you properly."
Dropping down onto one knee, I took out the small red velvet box that held my Grandmother's engagement ring - an emerald circled by diamonds. Kaitlin's eyes widened when I opened it.
"My granddaddy bought this for my granny right after he won his first heavyweight title. I've just won the fight of my life because of you. Will you marry me, Kaitlin Kearney?"
"Yes, Garrett Brannigan I love you, and I will."
EPILOGUE
Kaitlin
One year later
The hairstylist had been battling my unruly locks into beautifully relaxed, tumbling curls all morning and I thought I might pass out in a cloud of hairspray when she finally dubbed me finished. I had to admit, the romantic tumble pinned back from my face was worth the wait.
I picked up my bouquet, giving myself a final look over in the mirror. The dress was even more perfect than it had been in the fittings and French, Ireland based designer, Delphine Grandjouan had come into Dublin especially to make the alterations to fit my growing belly.
Somehow I'd always pictured myself getting married with a beautifully swollen bump and my baby growing inside me. I loved the delicate lace of the strappy bodice and the stylized celtic roses embossed into the lace, hugging my child. The flow of the chiffon skirt swept away in an elegant line, stretching out to a small, narrow train behind me. I felt ethereal and fae. Everything was perfect.
The San Francisco side of me felt like I should be walking barefoot onto a beach with flowers in my hair, but the church wedding Garrett wanted felt more right to me now than that ever would have.
He'd been paranoid for weeks that our little angel was going to come early, but I knew she'd hold out until she could be born in wedlock. I hadn't realised how important that was to him, and how he must have known we were meant to be together right from the start, but I was so glad he'd trusted that we were meant to be, and made our baby with me when he did, so she could be right there with us when we said our vows.
I couldn't wait to see his face when he saw me, and I wasn't going to have to wait much longer.
We just had to cross the street to reach the church.
The building looked like a Roman temple from the outside, but when we'd come to visit it, months ago, Nora had assured me it wasn't nearly as old as that. The tall Gothic spires of the cathedral for the Irish Church were far older than any part of the low, blocky church where our ceremony was taking place. But St Mary's Pro-Cathedral was Catholic, and Catholic it had to be.
She'd sounded disappointed, but I didn't care. There was enough history for me inside these walls. I didn't need the relics of St Patrick or any other saint to make this day special. I'd waited long enough. And now today was finally here.
Just as I remembered, white fluted columns flanked the aisle, with a broad row of pews on either side stretching the length of the barrel-vaulted hall, all the way up to the dome and the cupola at the far end by the altar. The whole space had an air of calm, grounded serenity.
I felt at peace the moment I stepped inside. We'd kept the flowers minimal, but there were flickering candles all around, throwing warm light against the tiles of the floor and the warm terracotta of the walls.
I felt a tingle start across the surface of my skin. This was the place I was going to marry Garrett. Up there, in front of the white marble altar with two carved angels kneeling in awe of a sunburst of light crowned with a cross.
It wasn't the showy space I'd thought it might be, way back when he was determined I took his name so that Kilpatrick and Tiernan's gangs would leave me alone and I was so glad all that was behind us.
Garrett stood up there for reasons beyond wanting to protect me. And I knew that now. He wanted to be everything to me, and when he became my husband in a few minutes time. It would be forever.
"It's beautiful," I whispered to Nora, not wanting to raise my voice and draw attention to us before the organ music changed and the flower girl and ring bearer started the procession ahead of her, my maid of honour.
Nora nodded. "It really is. I thought it'd be a bit austere, but it's not."
"I love it."
Simple and grounded and far more real than some extended parade down an overly long aisle that I'd thought Garrett had wanted.
After the arrests O'Rourke made, we didn't have to rush into anything any longer, and I'd been enjoying being engaged but now I was impatient to be Garrett's wife.
The church wasn't packed. We'd only invited a small group of friends and relatives and I loved that however well respected and revered Garrett was, this was private. It wasn't an opportunity for him to show his power in this city, it was a time for us to show each other that our love was set to last.
So much had changed since he'd turned in everything he had on the gangs in this city, and all of it was for the better.
The notes of the organ shifted and the wedding march started, making the nerves I'd been holding off rise to the surface.
Nora gave me one last hug and turned to go through the doors ahead of me.
I barely remembered the walk down the length of the church. Garrett was the only thing that I could see.
His smile made me certain that I had found my place. No one else had ever looked at me the way he did. Love glowed out of him and I hoped he saw the same in me. There was nothing I wanted more than to be joined with him forever.
"Garrett Brannigan, do you take Kaitlin Kearney, as your wife, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, all the days of your life?"
"I do."
"Kaitlin Kearney do you take Garrett Brannigan, as your husband, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, all the days of your life?"
"I do."
I couldn't keep the smile from my face or the tears from my eyes. Those two small words were the most profound I'd ever spoken or ever heard all at once, I felt the world shift.
Garrett Brannigan was my man and that was never going to change.
"I now declare you man and wife."
My husband didn't wait to be told he could kiss me and I clung to him as his tongue tangled with mine. Deep in my belly, our baby kicked.
EXTENDED EPILOGUE
Garrett
Five years later
Kaitlin waved at me from the edge of the stage. Her black robe billowed slightly in the breeze from the door at the side of the auditorium. The voluminous thing was coming right off her just as soon as we had the pictures taken
with her holding her degree in her mortarboard.
The deep emerald dress she had on underneath was much more to my liking, and I was looking forward to seeing her in it at the party I'd arranged to celebrate afterwards.
She was always a stunner, but today she was by far the most beautiful woman in the room.
No one else on that stage held a candle to her. My wife had raised our daughter and carried our twins to term while gaining her law degree at Trinity and I couldn't have been prouder.
I had our newborn twins cradled one in each arm and they'd slept soundly through the ceremony, as good as gold. Just like I knew they would for their daddy.
Nora had our little girl bouncing on her knee, letting her use her phone to take pictures. Kiera was so proud of her mammy. The past few years, every time Kaitlin headed off to class, Kiera would pack a bag of her own to take to nursery and tell us all she had lessons to go to as well.
I thought Kaitlin was the one to make my life complete, but the children we'd made together had stretched my heart and filled it so full of love, it had to be overflowing.
Our little boy, named for Kaitlin's father, Donovan, had his mother's deep red-brown hair and our little girl, Orla, was a sandy mix of blonde and copper. Kiera's hair had the same dark tones as mine.
All three of them were as perfect as I could have ever pictured them, and it was Kaitlin who'd made them that way.
She tempered the roughness in me, shining it up so it shone out in them.
Since I'd married her, she'd continued to astound me. Once we decided to stay in Ireland, after Kiera's birth, her application to Trinity College was an obvious choice, but managing her final year alongside the birth of our twins had made me all the more certain I'd married a superwoman.
Seeing her with them latched to her breasts and feeding our children filled me with more pride than I could have imagined.
Aside from me, they were the only ones to ever touch her breasts and it was always going to stay that way. No one else in the world had a claim on them for all of eternity.
She came down from the stage, flushed and smiling and I beamed back at her, full of pride.
There wasn't a day that went by when I regretted the deal I'd done with O'Rourke. Dublin was my city again, and the boxing gyms were doing their job, like they always had back in the old days. Giving people like my father and Kaitlin's dad a chance at a life that didn't involve guns and drugs and violence.
Last month, we opened our fourth in Ireland and Kaitlin had been going over the legal contracts for our first venture across the pond. In San Francisco, right where her father had intended it to be.
Kaitlin was the catalyst for that, and I couldn't have loved her more for it. She was my love and my life.
She took Donovan out of my arms, cooing over him, and I leaned over, pulling her into a deep kiss.
"I just remembered, we've got to get home as soon as possible Mrs Brannigan. There's an emergency with a tow rope in our bedroom."
Kaitlin's eyes cut to mine and she slid her hand up along my thigh, teasing over the outline of my cock. When it came to her, she always had me hard in seconds and that would never change.
"Is that so, Mr Brannigan? I guess we'd better hurry then."
A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS
Book 1: Baby Lust
Book 2: Veteran
Book 3: Built
Book 4: Bambino
Book 5: Rescued
Book 6: Leader
Book 7: Professor
Book 8: Burned
Book 9: Worldly
Book 10: Pistol
Book 11: Policed
Book 12: Driven
Book 13: Lucky 13
Book 14: Lumberjacked
Book 15: Protector
Book 16: Carpenter
Book 17: Italian Stallion
Book 18: Gardener
Book 19: Budapest Billionaire’s Virgin
Book 20: Billionaire’s Babysitter
Book 21: Cocky CFO
Book 22: Fireman’s Filthy 4th
Book 23: Mechanic
Book 24: SEAL’s Secret
Book 25: Police, Pooch, and Smooch
Book 26: Fireman’s Fake Fiancée
Book 27: Billionaire’s Virgin Ballerina
Book 28: Bitcoin Billionaire’s Babysitter
Book 29: Veterans Day Daddy
Book 30: Cowboy’s Christmas Carol
Book 31: Police Officer’s Princess
Book 32: Statham
Book 33: Bodyguard
Book 34: Greek God
Book 35: Billionaire Single Dad's Babysitter
Book 36: Mountain Man
Book 37: SEAL’s Justice
Book 38: Royal Romance
Book 39: Doctor Mountain Man’s Special Delivery
Book 40: Crocodile Dan D
Book 41: Mountain Man’s Secret Baby
Book 42: Doctor Bad Boy’s Secret Baby
Book 43: Cop’s Babysitter
Book 44: Nanny for the Cop Next Door
Book 45: Small Town SEAL’s Saving Grace
Book 46: Cop’s Fake Fiancée
Book 47: Billionaire’s Nanny
Book 48: Cowboy’s Babysitter
Book 49: Steamy
Book 50: Brother’s Best Friend
Book 51: Possessive Professor
Book 52: Firefighter’s Babysitter
Book 53: Soldier’s Secret Baby
Book 54: Ward’s Independence Day
Book 55: Doctor Next Door
Book 56: Possessive Policeman
Book 57: Coached by the MMA Fighter
Book 58: Boss’s Babysitter
Book 59: Virgin in New York
Book 60: Rock Star’s Baby
Book 61: Possessive Protector
Book 62: Possessive Australian
Book 63: Best Friend’s Brother
Book 64: Possessive Cowboy
Book 65: Summer Romanced
Book 66: Possessive Prince
Book 67: Lovers’s Enemy
Book 68: Cop’s Best Friend
Book 69: Possessive Firefighter
Book 70: Football Next Door
Book 71: Doctor December
Book 72: Possessive Canadian
Book 73: Blue Collar Billionaire
Book 74: Possessive K-9 Cop
Book 75: Possessive Brazilian
Book 76: Hockey Obsession
Book 77: Possessive Boston Irish American MMA Fighter
Book 78: Halloween Next Door
Book 79: Possessive Russian
Book 80: Baseball Mine
Book 81: Cop’s Caribbean Captive
Book 82: Instalove Island
Book 83: Dad’s Best Friend
Book 84: Thanksgiving with Dad’s Boss
Book 85: Possessive Italian Neighbor
Book 86: Possessive Portuguese
Book 87: Possessive Christmas Cop
Book 88: Russian’s Obsession
Book 89: Possessive Doctor’s Christmas
Book 90: Possessive Parisian Pilot
Book 91: U.K. Boxing Day
Book 92: Jealous Russian Stalker
Book 93: Italian Mountain Man
Book 94: Aggressive Russian
Book 95: Possessive Valentine
Book 96: Possessive Hunter
Book 97: Dad’s Russian Mafia Friend
Book 98: Russian Teacher
Book 99: Australian Obsession
Book 100: Russian Next Door
Book 101: Dad’s Irish Friend
Book 102: Nanny for the Russian Mafia
Book 103: Best Friend’s Dad
Book 104: Basketball Babymaker
Book 105: Possessive Veterinarian
Book 106: Brother’s Fireman Friend
Book 107: Brother’s Canadian Cowboy Friend
Book 108: Summer Vacation with Dad’s Best Friend
Book 109: Dad’s Italian Mafia Friend
Book 110: Dad’s Irish Ma
fia Friend
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Dad's Irish Mafia Friend (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 110) Page 20
