Sweet Days (Four Days Book 2)

by A. S. Kelly

  console her.

  That asshole Nate is also here. Okay, he doesn’t

  bother me as much as he did before, and I do feel

  some empathy for him, but he’s still an asshole. He

  stays to the side, looking on from a distance,

  unable to say or do anything.

  I can understand him. He feels out of place, but

  he shouldn’t because Lily is his daughter and

  always will be, no matter what.

  Erin comes out of the room and greets

  everyone, drying her eyes. She’s sad and depressed

  and I’d like to make her laugh like I used to but I

  don’t think one of my jokes would do it.

  I can’t imagine what it means to her to have to

  leave Lily. If it’s really painful for me it must be

  unsustainable for her. I squeeze her gently, giving

  her a kiss on the forehead.

  “Be strong, it’s almost over, you just need to

  hang on a bit longer.”

  She nods, unconvinced and my mother takes her

  in her arms.

  “Oh my dear. You’ll see that she’ll be well soon

  and you’ll be able to bring her home. Come on,

  let’s walk for a bit.” And they set off while

  everyone looks at them sadly.

  “Uh, Patrick, could we talk for a minute?” Nate

  comes over to me.

  “Sure,” I say, shrugging my shoulders.

  We distance ourselves from the group and sit

  down on some plastic chairs in the hallway.

  Nate runs his hand through his hair and sighs.

  “I wanted to ask you something,” he starts

  saying before turning to look at me. “I’d like to ask

  you to take care of them.”

  “Nate, this is not the moment for that.”

  “She has decided,” he says, smiling at me with a

  tight face. “She always has chosen you, even when

  I tried my hardest to convince her we could make

  it. I care for Erin and for Lily’s sake I would have

  tried a million times, but it wouldn’t have been the

  right thing for either of us. And Erin has always

  known that. I wanted you to know that she never

  wanted me, Patrick.” He says this as he looks at

  me again. “I don’t want there to be any doubts

  about that.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “Because I want Erin and Lily to be happy, to

  know that they have a family who love them and

  can always be there for them their whole life.”

  “Nate, you’re her father, of course you’re going

  to be part of her life, no matter what Erin decides,

  whether I am there or not.”

  He smiles crookedly.

  “Of course you’re going to be there.”

  “Nate—”

  “Just … make them happy, okay?” he says

  before standing up and going to the stairs.

  “What did asshole number one want?” Jay asks,

  coming over to me with Aaron.

  “He just wanted to clear a few things up with

  me.”

  “Don’t tell me he’s still trying to convince her

  to play ‘happy families’.”

  “Nah, I think he’s accepted the idea.”

  “Good for him. He wouldn’t have stood a

  chance,” Aaron says.

  I look at him with a raised eyebrow waiting for

  the punchline.

  “Hey, Jay, could you please explain to this idiot

  what the situation is?”

  Jay laughs and sits down next to me, putting a

  hand on my leg.

  “Oh Patrick, what are we going to do with

  you?”

  “Hum?”

  “That girl loves you.”

  29

  Erin

  Patrick came to pick me up to take me to see Lily.

  By now it’s been three weeks that I’ve been doing

  this treck from home to the hospital and back

  every day to stay with her as much as possible.

  Sometimes I go with my parents, sometimes

  with Nate or Patrick, even when the nurse told me

  when he doesn’t come with me he goes by himself

  and stays with the baby as long as she lets him. He

  has not missed one day.

  We don’t talk much in the car because I’m

  always so anxious to see her, afraid that something

  may have happened to her in my absence.

  Patrick brushes my hand and squeezes it lightly.

  I turn to smile at him before looking out the

  window and counting the minutes that separate us

  from seeing her again.

  These weeks have been so frenetic and

  confusing that I still haven’t had time to be alone

  with him to speak and try to clear things up. To tell

  him how I feel.

  I’m afraid that by now the moment has passed

  and that something is broken between us,

  something that can’t be repaired. It’s true, he’s

  always present and told me that he would always

  be there for us, but that doesn’t mean that we’ll be

  a traditional family and we’ll all live under the

  same roof.

  It’s obvious he’s fond of Lily and so is the rest

  of his family but that does not imply that he also

  loves her mother and wants to spend the rest of his

  life with her.

  We go up the stairs: by now I am healed and a

  little bit of movement will help me get back to my

  old shape, if that’s ever going to be possible.

  When I get to the window, I go to look for baby

  number 12 but the bed is empty. I turn to look at

  Patrick but I find him a few steps away holding a

  little bundle. He comes to me and gently folds

  back the cover.

  “Here’s your mama, Lily.” He says to me setting

  her in my arms. “Today we’re all going home

  together.”

  “Today?” I say, holding her to me. “Really?”

  “I wanted it to be a surprise,” he says, smiling at

  me.

  “Oh, Patrick,” I exclaim, before his strong

  tattooed arms embrace us both.

  ~ ~ ~

  “Why are we here?” I ask him. “I thought we were

  going home.”

  Patrick opens the automatic gate of the villa

  where he lives with the other guys. He gets back in

  beside me and parks next to Liam’s car and then

  comes round to open the door for us. He takes Lily

  in his arms and waits for me to get my feet on the

  ground.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Come on,” he says, leading me inside.

  Still confused I follow him into the house. I’ve

  been here other times, I know it well, but I can’t

  understand why this time crossing the threshold

  it’s different.

  It’s intimate.

  We climb up two flights of stairs and get to the

  attic door.

  “Patrick?”

  “Welcome home,” he says, smiling at me and

  opening the door.

  I peek my head inside and what I see literally

  takes my breath away.

  Rain’s mini apartment has been turned

  completely upside down. The walls have been

  painted green and yellow. In the middle of the

  main room is a king-size bed and next to it is a


  white wooden crib. There’s a changing table full of

  accessories, diapers, baby creams and lotions.

  “I thought in the beginning she could stay here

  with us until she gets big enough to have her own

  room. That would be … uh, this one here,” he

  says, opening a door on his right.

  I cover my mouth with my hand to stop the sobs

  that are coming. The walls are pink and white and

  the room is full of pictures of all of the family. My

  parents are there, her mom and Carl, his brothers

  and sisters, the guys, and Nate.

  In the middle of the room there’s a little bed and

  it looks like it’s been painted by fairies with a

  dozen stuffed animals on it in every size and

  shape.

  Under the window there’s an armchair with a

  colored blanket on it. I go to it and run my hand

  over the surface, discovering a corner where her

  initials have been embroidered.

  L.D.

  I look up to ask Patrick what it means.

  “Lily Doyle,” he says, looking at me with a

  tenderness that opens my heart and my mind and

  makes me understand that we really are at home.

  ~ ~ ~

  Patrick brings Lily to her new crib. She is

  sleeping blessedly as I stay on the terrace enjoying

  this strange spring sun and looking at the beautiful

  countryside in front of the sea, the hills and the

  lighthouse in the distance.

  Patrick comes up behind me but I don’t turn

  around because my heart is beating like crazy and

  because I could faint with joy in his arms. He gets

  closer and takes my hand, inviting me to sit.

  “I know we haven’t talked about this, and

  maybe it seems crazy. But Erin, I am sure. I’ve

  never been so sure of anything in my life.”

  I nod, continuing to shake.

  “I believe that for every man, there exists just

  one woman able to make him lose his head, make

  him set aside all of his previous ideologies and

  convictions. Only one woman who is able to teach

  him how to love. But I thought that for me it was

  different, that for me there was no one, that they

  were all the same: all indiscriminate and fuckable

  but not lovable. I was sure that for me that train

  would not be passing and I was okay with it. But

  it’s not like that anymore and I could never think

  about going back to how things were.”

  “N-no?”

  He shakes his head.

  “For every man there’s only one exception. And

  you, Erin, you’re mine.”

  Patrick

  Erin remains speechless. Maybe I exaggerated a

  bit, but come on, I’m Patrick and that’s how I do

  things.

  And yes, all right, I didn’t ask for her opinion

  but to tell the truth, I did not want to waste a

  second. I want her and Lily here with me every

  day to bring in light, color, sound and love.

  Because these women are my whole life now.

  “Erin O’Neill, you’ve known me for a while

  now and you know that, well, I was an asshole and

  an idiot for thirty years, until you looked at me and

  extended your hand, pulling me out of the

  emptiness of my life which did not have any

  meaning before you came along. Now I feel that

  everything is in the right place, and we, together,

  are right and that this is our future. We are a

  family.”

  “Patrick—”

  “I want this life with you, with both of you and

  I want it right now, I don’t want to wait another

  second.”

  “Patrick.” She gets up and lets go of my hands.

  “You don’t need to do all of this for us. It isn’t

  necessary. You don’t have to do this because Lily’s

  here now and you feel like you’re responsible.”

  “Erin.” I look for eye contact. “Look at me. I’m

  nothing without you. Nothing. The time we spent

  apart was un-livable and I never want to feel that

  way again. And when I thought I could have lost

  you…” I hold back the tears. “My heart

  completely stopped. I would have given anything

  to have you back with me, I would have traded my

  life for yours.”

  Erin shakes her head and hides her face and her

  tears.

  “Erin O’Neill, I am in love with you, and I

  should have told you before, I know. I was wrong.

  Because you deserve to hear it, to hear it every day

  of your fucking life, and I’m going to say it every

  day. To love you every moment and with every

  breath and to tell you again and again until it

  makes you nauseous. I will demonstrate it in every

  way I can. And I do not promise you that I will not

  commit some random act of bullshit or that I will

  stop swearing because I don’t want to lie to you,

  ever. But, I can promise you that I will always love

  you, that I will love Lily as my own, because that

  baby, Erin, has been mine since the first day I

  knew of her existence. Erin, I promise to love you

  and respect you and to never withhold my support

  and my love. I will try to make you happy, I will

  make myself lovable, I swear. I will try with all of

  my strength because I am indisputably and fucking

  yours.”

  I get down on my knee to do this thing right.

  What the fuck. And I pull out the ring I bought the

  day Erin opened her eyes again and I was reborn.

  “Erin O’Neill.” I breathe in as deeply as I can

  and smile at her with all I’ve got. “Marry me and

  make me a man. ”

  She laughs, she cries and then laughs again and

  cries again. Something tells me I hit the nail on the

  head.

  “Patrick Doyle,” she says, drying her face with

  the back of her hand and looking me in the eyes.

  “You are the most wonderful man that there is on

  the earth. There’s nothing you need to do to make

  us love you, because we already do, we have

  always loved you and could never love any other

  hothead.” As she talks she caresses my face. “And

  if you want us, if you really want us, then we’ll be

  yours unconditionally. Because you, Patrick, are a

  man who stays, the morning after and the days that

  follow. Forever.”

  I’m a man who stays.

  This woman has given me hope, dreams and a

  future. And I intend to love her and the child for

  the rest of my life.

  I take her in my arms and hold her to me. And I

  kiss her, finally, and I will continue to do so all my

  fucking life. And she rubs my nape and laughs and

  cries and I don’t let her up for a breath.

  “Did she say yes?”

  Rain’s voice calls up and we burst out laughing

  like two idiots. I look at her carefully because

  honestly, she didn’t answer at all.

  She nods and I yell like a madman.

  “She said yes!”

  And I squeeze her again, spinning her in the air.

  Everyone breaks into ou
r room and, yes, I know

  that’s going to happen frequently. More than I’d

  like really, but okay, that’s how this house is: full

  of chaos and crowds.

  Aaron is going to go certified crazy now.

  “We’ve stolen Rain’s room.”

  “You haven’t stolen anything from me. We will

  be very comfortable downstairs; we don’t need all

  of this space. And then Liam and I will be forced

  to be even closer to each other.” She smiles as

  Aaron makes a gagging gesture.

  “Everyone helped. We worked night and day for

  five days to get this all ready for today. We wanted

  your return home to be memorable.”

  “Everyone?”

  “Everyone.” I smile at her. “All the family.”

  The family.

  The most important thing in the world.

  30

  Erin

  I take a deep breath and look in the mirror again.

  For today, I decided to go back to my old look.

  I’ve chosen a black tailleur and a pink blouse in

  honor of Lily.

  “Ready, dear?”

  “Ready,” I say as I smooth down my skirt and

  look at the most beautiful image in the world.

  A father with his daughter.

  Patrick smiles at me and gives me his hand, and

  I take it and squeeze it because he is my strength.

  Lily never leaves her daddy. She loves him like all

  daughters adore their fathers. And I adore this

  about the two of them, their exclusive relationship,

  intimate and almost secret.

  Patrick jumps to his feet at the first sign of

  movement or a little cry. He takes her, cuddles her,

  sings to her, even when it would be better for her

  to calm herself on her own, it’s always better in

  daddy’s arms.

  Sometimes I wake up in the night and Patrick

  isn’t there next to me. And so I tiptoe to her room

  where I find them sleeping peacefully in the

  armchair. He holding her in his strong tattoed arms

  and she with her head resting on his shoulder,

  dreaming the sweetest dreams because with a man

  like that next to you, nothing else is possible.

  We get in the car and head towards the

  university where the commission is waiting for me

  to discuss my thesis.

  Six months have passed since Lily and I came

  to live in our new home and since then, Patrick has

  done everything to give me the time and space to

  concentrate on my future.

  I applied for the PHD program as well and I

  think my chances of getting accepted are pretty