Declan: Steamy Friends to Lovers Romance (Lucky Irish Book 4)

by Anna Castor

  Declan stood from the couch and pulled her up by her hands.

  “For you, Love… only for you, I’ll tolerate her. I know she’s not a bad person. But I don’t like the way she treats you. I never have. After your dad left, she became some bitter version of Joan Ryan that I find hard to get along with.”

  “I get it, Dec. But I’m happy to be spending my Christmas with you.”

  He kissed the top of her head and she felt him nuzzling her coconut hair.

  “Hmmm, I just love the way you smell…”

  “Oh, so now you’re just fucking with me,” she said as she fisted her hands beside her.

  “You just throw it out there, don’t you?” Now he loves the way she smelled. Pfff.

  He bit his lip from laughing. “Throw what out?”

  “Never mind. Are you going with me or what?”

  “Okay, Dec, you can do this. It’s only hormones. She doesn’t really want to stick your eyeballs out with a fork…” he joked as Bree turned red in the face with irritation.

  “No. I want to scoop them out of their sockets with a spoon!”

  His laughter rolled over her, and she had to admit she was being silly. Well, more precisely: admit to herself. She definitely wouldn’t cop up to being hormonal to Dec. He was having way too much fun messing with her about it.

  “Let’s go, Love. After we grab some dinner at your mom’s house, I’m taking you with me to my place.”

  “I’ll probably be asleep by the time dessert is served, but sure… I’m game.”

  “I’ve read somewhere that the coming weeks are going to improve on nausea and tiredness, Love. Anyway, you wouldn’t miss this for the world. I promise,” he said with a gleam in his eye.

  “If you say so,” Bree said, yawning.

  “When’s the rest coming? I’m hungry,” Gwenn said.

  “They could be here any moment,” Joan said, placing the last plate on the festive table.

  Homemade decorations and centerpieces decorated Joan’s Christmas table. She intertwined sprigs of the same red flowers at the table with the enormous tree in the living room.

  Joan loved to go all out during the holidays. He’s been to almost every Christmas celebration at the Ryan’s since they moved next doors. Normally, Joan’s decorations made you feel the warmth of the season the moment you walked through the door. How very contradictory to Bree's mother’s attitude today.

  Joan still gave them both her famous cold shoulder. While he studied Bree’s mother with her cropped up anger, he suddenly felt sorry for all that Joan had been through that made her this way.

  The picture of Rob Walker with his ‘new’ family popped into his head. By the look of things, Rob’s other family wasn’t so new at all… He wasn’t sure, but it seemed like Rob had first two sons with Brenda even before Cait had been born.

  “Shots fired!”

  Declan jumped from his seat on the couch at Gwenn’s voice. He’d zoned out a bit and now Gwenn was handing him his arse. He worked his thumbs over his controller, but he was too late.

  “Yes. I win! Want a rematch?” She quirked her brow and her eyes sparkled.

  “Yeah, okay.” Declan smiled at the youngest Ryan girl. He was glad she was back safe and sound. Not only because now he had someone to play video games with so, he could avoid Bree’s mother.

  “Mom, it’s Christmas Eve…. Don’t you think it’s time to talk things out? I’ve been losing sleep about what we said.” Bree said. Declan looked over his shoulder and listened in on their conversation, not caring if it was rude.

  “There is nothing to talk about, Bree. You made your choice. Declan is here, isn’t he? Even though I’m not happy about the way he talked back to me, I still invited him into my home for a Christmas celebration. So please, I’ve taken a big step here. Don’t expect me to be all cheery. It’s going to take some time to get back to how things were.”

  He made a move to get off the couch, but Gwenn’s hand on his shoulder placed him back in his seat.

  “Let them have this talk. It’s long overdue,” Gwenn said.

  He nodded at Gwenn and watched again over his shoulder to see if Bree needed his help.

  “I don’t want to talk about it today… it’s Christmas. Can’t we be civil for one day?” Joan glared over her thick-rimmed glasses to Bree and walked out of the dining area into the hallway. Bree walked over to Declan and he tugged her onto his lap.

  “I’m sorry, Love.”

  He placed his arm around her waist so he could stroke her belly with his thumb. It was a new thing to do. It hit him he wanted to do this with Bree every day. Stroking her tummy. Watching it grow with his children inside.

  She shrugged and said, “I don’t know how to deal with any of this. She’s my mom, and I just want her to be happy for me. For us.”

  “She’ll turn around. You know she always does,” Gwenn said from beside them.

  The doorbell rang, and Joan opened the door for Kera, Caitlin and Fianna. Since Cait had both sisters living with her at her apartment, they’d carpooled. If it hadn’t been such a sad day for Cait, he would have laughed at her for entering the house with her sunglasses on, and her hair sticking out to all sides.

  “Finally. Can we eat now?” Gwenn threw her controller on the couch and stood.

  “Phsst, you know you don’t need to worry someone is going to steal your bowl of porridge if you don’t scarf it down immediately?” Fianna said.

  “I was in the military, Fi. Not in prison, Geez.” Gwenn rolled her eyes as she took a seat at the table.

  “Just checking,” Fi said as she winked at Bree.

  He sat down at the dinner table and held Bree’s hand under the table, on top of her thigh.

  Being the only guy at this flowery Christmas table wasn’t something he’d recommend to any of his brothers or friends. What a bunch of cackling, loud talking chicks. And he was being nice, because he loved them.

  Seeing Bree surrounded by her sisters made him smile, though. Their babies were going to be engulfed by love. True, Joan still had to warm up to the fact she was going to be a grandma.

  He was glad he could convince Bree to tell their families about the twins tomorrow.

  Both families will be at his dad’s house tomorrow, supposedly for a gender reveal. Bree and him don’t want to find out the baby's gender, but they would surprise their families by revealing they were having twins. Bree had joked that it gave everyone time to amend the bets in the Baby Pool.

  He also had an entirely different surprise planned, especially for Bree. He smiled as he looked over his shoulder to his love. She had no clue.

  He peered across the table and studied Joan, talking with Fianna about her duties at the farm. As if she’d felt his eyes on him, she shot him a look that could make the best of man piss his pants.

  After contemplating the facts that turned up today with the picture he’d got from Jessie, he now also had inside information on Joan’s history. It made him see why Joan was so adamant to teach her girls to never rely on any man.

  Declan nudged Cait’s knee with his. After the day they’d had, he was glad to still be able to sit next to her. Things could have been a lot worse.

  But he understood Cait didn’t see it that way. She’d shuffled through the door tonight smelling like Lucky at a Friday night. Every loud laugh made Cait cringe like her head would explode.

  Cait looked up from her stacked white and ruby red plates, topped with half eaten entrees. She took the matching napkin from the linen table runner and wiped her mouth.

  “I’m so happy for you both, Dec. You know I kept rooting for you two.”

  “Thanks, Cait.”

  “There’s one upside to all this, you know… When we’re no longer partnered up, I don’t have to listen to you calling me ‘Ryan’ all the time.”

  He knew what she was trying to do, and he gave in to her need to make light of the situation. He nudged her shoulder with his and said, “Damn. Well, maybe if it’s a boy,
we’re naming him Ryan. That way I can still yell at one Ryan to move it along…”

  “You wouldn’t! Pfff. Ryan Ryan. That’s awful.”

  He laughed. “No child of mine is having another surname than Mills, Cait. Get your facts straight.”

  “I always wondered why my father had a different surname…” Cait said as she mindlessly whirled the water around in her glass.

  The conversations at the table all stopped at Cait’s words.

  “We’re not doing this today. It’s Christmas,” Joan said in a final tone. She picked up her plate and made a show out of picking up Fianna’s plate, sitting next to her.

  “Hey! I was still eating that!”

  “Ah, hush child. Your horse will thank me for this.”

  Fianna rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

  Joan walked behind Fianna’s chair and reached out to take Gwenn’s plate, but Gwenn snatched it from the table and fully extended her arm in the other direction, out of her mother’s reach.

  “You’re not taking my plate, Mom,” Gwenn said. “Nobody’s even finished yet.”

  “This is ridiculous. You’re eating like you’ve been living on the streets for the past couple weeks. Doesn’t Bree give you any food at her place?”

  “Mom! Stop making us all feel like shit just because you do. We’ve had enough!” Cait said as she stood from her chair. She banged both fists on the dinner table, making the liquid in the glasses ripple.

  “No need to be so violent. No surprise they suspended you from your job.”

  Caitlin took her hand to her back pocket. She was the only one wearing jeans during Christmas Eve. She looked like she’d just rolled out of bed with her hair sticking out on all sides. She probably slept her buzz off in these clothes.

  It hadn’t surprised him that not one sister had made a remark like they normally would. Cait had informed her sisters about the events of the day that led up to her suspension. They all had understood.

  Except for Joan. She just had to make a remark.

  “What I hadn’t told you all about today was this,” Cait said as she took her copy of the picture of Rob Walker and his second family out of her back pocket. She laid it in the middle of the table.

  Joan leaned over Gwenn’s shoulder to snatch it off the table, but Fianna had been faster.

  “What’s this?” Fianna said with her brows drawn.

  “That is our dad, Fi.” Fianna’s emerald eyes shot to Cait above the picture and back down again.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me…” Fianna said.

  “Language…” Joan singsonged.

  “How you can still give etiquette lessons is beyond me. Tell me something, mother… Did you know that Rob Walker was fucking another woman at the same time he was with you?”

  “Cait! I will not stand for this. I’m going to the kitchen and when I return, there will be no more talk about any of this. Do you understand?”

  Nobody replied Joan. She turned on her heel and stormed into the hallway.

  “Let me see,” Gwenn said as she leaned in over Fianna’s shoulder.

  “Damn. Are those our half-brothers?” Gwenn said.

  “Yes. And sisters,” Bree said.

  “Too bad we’re related. Look at them…” Gwenn whistled.

  Declan stretched out his arm and placed it on the back of Bree’s chair. He ran his fingers through her curls and played with her hair. She looked up at him and gave a small smile.

  Declan leaned in. “You know they had to know, Bree,” he whispered. “This is good. Now your family can finally get some answers. Maybe even closure.”

  She nodded and gave him a peck on the lips. “I know,” she said.

  Kera had walked over from her side of the table and hovered over Gwenn’s shoulder. She looked up at Cait with tears in her eyes.

  “I don’t understand…” she said.

  Cait got up and placed her arm around Kera.

  “I know, Ker. Look at those two men. They’re probably my age or even older,” Cait said.

  “But… how?” Fianna asked.

  Like a whirlwind, Joan speed walked her way back into the dining room. She held her heavy, ceramic gratin dish in between her crimson oven mitts and clanked it on the table.

  “Who wants a roasted rack of lamb?”

  Nobody reacted.

  “No? Nobody? Fine!” Joan picked up the red dish and threw it on the floor.

  The dish exploded into several red and white pieces, flying around the floor. Pieces of lamb got stuck under the nearest Christmas tree.

  Gasps from all around the table followed. Declan looked around and the Ryan sisters all sat back, flabbergasted, staring at Joan losing her shit.

  “Mom!” Kera said and hurried her way over to her mother.

  “So much for etiquette lessons,” Gwenn mumbled as she sat wide-eyed in her chair.

  “Oh, you want some lessons, do you?” Joan sneered. She eyed her daughters and held out one oven mitt when Kera tried to put an arm around her shoulders.

  “Lesson number one,” Joan said as she picked up a side dish with parsnip and carrots. “Never let a man screw with your head.”

  She held the white dish with a Christmas tree decoration on the side above her head and smashed it on the floor in front of her. Parsnip and carrots skidded to a halt against Bree’s chair leg.

  That was enough. Declan needed to protect Bree and their babies from this crazy person. In the utmost calm fashion, Declan stood from his chair. He turned to Joan with both hands up. His shoe crunched something underneath, and he winced. Probably a rack of lamb.

  “I’m not one of your perps, Declan Mills. You don’t need to intervene here….” Joan warned before she eyed the table for her next dish.

  “Joan… I just want to talk to you. We all want to hear your side. Nobody is judging you, Joan. We all love you—”

  Joan snorted and pointed a red oven mitt at him. “Pssht. I don’t believe for a minute you love me. You hate my guts. Like I hate yours!”

  “Mom!” Bree gasped from behind Declan.

  He cocked his head at Joan, admitting she’d hated him. Bree’s mother seemed shocked by her own words and placed her mitt against her mouth. She shook her head.

  “Sorry, Dec. I don’t mean that. I don’t mean that at all. I don’t know what’s gotten into me…”

  Joan looked around her and started crying. “Oh, my lamb racks!”

  Gwenn busted out laughing and said, “This Christmas is epic. I can’t wait for next year with all our half brothers and sisters around.”

  Her mother sniffed. “I’m not spending my Christmas with Brenda Walker. Or any of her children. Over my dead body!”

  “So you know her then?” Cait said.

  Declan smiled as he witnessed Cait in action. How was she going to handle not being a cop anymore?

  “Yes. I know her.”

  Joan stepped over the broken dishes and plopped down in a vacant chair. She took off the mitts and held out a hand.

  “I know you girls want answers. I’ve been putting this off because I know that after tonight… you’ll never look at me the same.”

  Joan brought a shaky hand to her glass of wine and drank from it like it was her lifeline. She peered over the rim of her glass at each daughter. Bree held her breath for what was to come.

  “When I was eighteen, I fell in love with a boy who was everything I’ve always dreamt of. You girls know what I mean. Tall, dark and oh so handsome.

  “And we could talk for hours. He told me about his Irish granda and how he’d loved to see my belly swell with his kids someday.” Joan snorted.

  “I was looking for love in all the wrong places. My parents had died in a car crash. They left me some money and because I was eighteen, I was on my own. I stayed in my parents' home and Rob quickly moved in with me.”

  She shook her head and traced the crimson table runner over the white tablecloth. Joan smiled as if remembering something.

  “R
ob said, ‘I’m your family now. It’s you and me, kid.’”

  Bree took a drink from her water to take care of her dry throat. Her sisters all sat stock-still, listening closely to each word their mother said. Joan was finally giving them the answers they all been craving for, ever since their father had left them.

  “After a while, I ehm, noticed things… you know, him coming home late. Staying away all night. We fought all the time.”

  Joan shook her head and sought Bree’s eyes across the table. “I got pregnant with Cait, even though I knew in my heart that something wasn’t right between us. That’s why I reacted the way I did. And I’m sorry, Bree. Thinking back to our conversations…. I shouldn’t have said all the things I did.”

  Bree stood from her chair and hugged her mom. She gave Joan a kiss on her cheek. “It’s okay. I’m so glad you see that now. And I want you to know that we’re here for you. No matter what you tell us about the past, okay? We love you.”

  “Yeah, we love you, Mom,” Fianna said.

  Gwenn, Kera and Cait held still and waited the rest of Joan’s story out.

  Bree took her seat next to Declan, who laid his hand on her thigh under the table. He squeezed once, and she smiled up at him. She was so grateful he was here with her tonight. She couldn’t imagine going through this night without her best friend. Without the love of her life.

  Declan had always known every single thing there was to know about her. She needed him to hear this part of her life too.

  “I got this call one day when I was eight months pregnant with Cait… a woman named Brenda shouted and called me every name she could think of… ‘home wrecker’, ‘whore’…”

  Joan cringed at the last word.

  “I should have suspected something earlier. Asked questions. Or, I don’t know, followed him around. I knew in my gut Rob was unfaithful. But I never expected that someone would call my home to call me out for being ‘the other woman’.”

  “What an asshole,” Gwenn said. Bree gave a small smile and watched how her mother slumped in her seat.

  “It broke my heart. But I was eighteen years old, had no family left and was pregnant with my first child. And I was so in love with Rob. That man could walk the moon in my eyes. He was the one who took care of me. Sure, he lived in my house, but he also provided for me.