Page 66 of Iron Blade

“I’ll have the car come and take you someplace that will be open. Pick a dress. Get your jewels. You have my card.” He leaned in, until his mouth was just a hair’s breadth from mine.

I thought he was going to kiss me. Hell, I wanted him to kiss me. But he pivoted at the last minute and planted a kiss on my forehead. It was gentle, and sweet. Not at all what I expected from him. “I’ll be waiting at the church, whenever you are ready.”

Chapter twenty-two

Morelli

Eoghan

“You saw your woman?” Dairo asked, his leg crossed with an ankle over his knee as he leaned back in the town car.

O’Malley sat in the front seat. His head didn’t turn to acknowledge us, even though I knew he was listening. The kid was always listening. I kept him around for his quiet discretion.

“Aye,” I said, breathlessly.

She had said yes. I almost jumped up and down the moment she told me. Planting that ring securely on her hand - the fact that it fit so perfectly, without any adjustment - was all part of the grand plan. More signs that she and I were fated.

I wanted to kiss her mouth but had barely refrained. I wanted to save it until the fateful hour, when she’d be mine.

“We’ll get Morelli, and then…” I bit my tongue, unsure what he would think.

On Dairo’s phone screen was a young woman with a black crown of braids around her head. She had the gloves of an MMA fighter near her face, and the outfit of a volleyball player - it was nothing more than a bikini.

“What’s that then?” I nodded to his phone, grateful for the small distraction.

I needed a moment to think. Not about the wedding but about how I would tell everyone.

He clicked his phone off, and the woman fighter was replaced by black, as he put his phone back into his pocket.

Dairo let out a long, pained sigh. “Good lord, you’re really getting married, aren’t you?”

He knew me well. I clenched my fists, trying to contain my excitement. I didn’t answer his question. I didn’t need to. “Will you officiate?”

“Are you handfasting?”

“No.” I almost laughed. “Christ alive, I’ve barely gotten her to agree to marriage. I’m not going to terrify her by bringing out my knife.”

O’Malley in the driver’s seat started the engine and pulled out into traffic. The New York City streets were alive, despite the winter chill. People mingled up and down the street, their collars pulled up against the wind that wove through the canyon of buildings.

Dairo looked at me with those cold baby blues and was very careful with what he said next. “Eoghan, this all seems quite… irregular. I like the girl fine, but you must know that this is madness.”

I could understand his point, but he was wrong.

Marrying her was the most brilliant idea I had ever had. It was fate! I couldn’t fight it even if I wanted to. And I absolutely did not want to.

“It’s the sanest thing I’ve ever done.” I knew that down to my core. “Insanity is other people. Insanity is my father. The world of Green Fields Enterprises, the Mafia and the Bratva. Sanity is Kira.”

I took a deep breath, letting thoughts of her wash over me. I pictured her in a white gown, walking down an aisle. I didn’t know what dress she’d pick. I didn’t care. She could walk down wearing black, for all I cared.

I would take her in all her stubbornness, flaws, warts, and all.

Every imperfection only added to her grace.

“She is where the world makes sense.”

When I lifted my eyes back to Dairo, he was contemplative.

“That might be so, Eoghan,” he said, slowly. There would be a purpose to his words. “But you’re bringing her into our world.” He looked away and smiled. “I mean… your world.”

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