Page 109 of Love Thief

“Oh God, he’s on a recruitment drive again. Let’s go get some biscuits,” chuckles Xander.

We walk slowly up to the house, and, once inside, we settle comfortably into the speak-a-word room. I take off my jacket, laying it across the back of the chair I’m sitting in, grateful I had the foresight to wear a thin T-shirt and leggings. I get so hot, the best planning I can do is layer and hope for the best.

Xan cannot stop looking at my tummy, and when the babies start to move, as Eamonn sings to them, he comes over to touch me.

“May I?” he asks before he puts his hands on me.

“It’s a free-for-all. A pregnant woman’s stomach seems to be public property.” I’m laughing, trying to keep my tone light. But I feel anything but. His facial expression is so intense. He’s laser focused on me and the babies. The intensity pouring from him, to me.

He gets on his knees in front of me. “Hi, boys,” he says to my stomach, getting really close. “It’s Uncle Xan. I missed you. Can’t wait to meet you. I’ve been looking after your daddy.” He kisses my tummy twice, three, four times. “That’s from your daddy, and the other two are from me.”

Everyone is silent, Tarron watching his son closely. Xan looks really tired and emotional. He sits next to me on the sofa and leaves his hands on me. “Is that ok to do? I can’t take my hands off them, or you, I feel weird.” He looks over at his dad. “Have you put a blessing on these kids, so you can recruit them too?” he asks him, tears in his voice.

Tarron just grins. “You know I can’t give away my secrets,” he whispers to Eamonn, and Eamonn taps the side of his nose and nods his head solemnly.

“His daddy will stop him coming up here if you fill his head with Fairies, water horses, Kelpies and sprites,” Xan tells him.

“We know, don't we, Eamonn,” he says conspiratorially to the little boy.

“We do, Grandpa.”

They sit together eating biscuits. Xan and I look at each other. “I think Eamonn has been here before,” I say quietly as Xan rubs my stomach. “Definitely.”

Chapter

Thirty-Four

MARCUS

“You need to come home, and now,” he tells me. He’s been back in Scotland for a few days, but this is the first time we’ve talked.

He’s quiet for a few moments before he hits me with the gut shot. “She’s here. Now, Kellen. I mean it. She’s going to give birth anytime. My dad is saying it won’t be long, and he is a bit strange sometimes, but he is seldom wrong. Please, Kell, I’m begging you. Get on that fucking plane.”

“I’ll come after. If anything happens to her, I won’t survive it.”

“You won’t survive it if you’re there, so just be here.” His voice rises as he gets more annoyed with me. Then he gives me an ultimatum. “If you’re not here when she goes into labour, and I’m in that room and deliver your babies without you, I promise you I will never forgive you for it. You have the chance to make it right, Kellen. Do it.” And then he goes from exasperated to demanding with the final dagger strike. “She wants you here.”

My head is spinning. “I’ll think about it.”

He sighs. “Well, think fast. You need to be here.”

I’m a mess. I told her no one loved her. God, what a piece of shit I am. How could I have spoken so many lies? My phone pings. Oh, no. Not James.

James

Come home Dad

Attachment

recording and audio file

Apparently I’m also a glutton for punishment, because I open the damn attachment. Someone’s recorded her walking around in a hard hat, looking at some renovations of the old stable block in Devon. I recognise the building. She has shorts on and a T-shirt that looks like one of Jackson’s, a heavy metal band on the front. Boots, long socks, and her fucking goggles. She’s grinning and going through a checklist of what she wants. She waves at the camera operator, rubbing at her huge stomach.

“You helping today?” she asks the person, and I close my eyes and pray it’s not Kasey Becker she’s talking to.

“No,” answers Jonno, “I’m busy. When are you going to Scotland? Marshall’s up a height over it.”

“Tomorrow. I’ve told Tarron I’ll go up there, but I’ll have to be quick. Not long left to go. What are you doing? Nothing?” She’s scolding him.

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