Page 62 of Myla: The Hawthornes

“I bet.” I reached for my niece, grinning as she squealed. “Hi Ruthie! Did you bring Ari and Diana?”

“No, they’re staying with Esther. I can cart Ruthie around with me, but they would’ve been too much.”

“Good call,” I said. “Ruthie, you’re getting too big.” She grabbed at my cheeks, trying to pull my chin into her mouth. “Stop growing.”

“Stop bossin’ my kid,” Titus teased as he elbowed me in the side.

“Never.”

“Then at least tell her to start sleepin’ through the night.”

“Still?” I asked in amazement.

“Sleep is for the weak apparently,” he replied sarcastically.

“Aren’t you tired?” I asked the baby, dodging her mouth.

“Mom said you were with Cian last night?” Titus asked quietly. “How’s he doin’?”

“He’s hanging in,” I replied, blowing a raspberry on Ruthie’s cheek. “Aoife looks like death, and Dad called Aisling a zombie this morning.”

“He did what?”

“Oh, yeah, a real charmer,” I muttered. “She got the crap beat out of her.”

“Yeah, I heard that already. He said she looked like a zombie?”

“She’s not exactly willing to accept any kind of sympathy,” I conceded, giving my dad a little credit. “He basically told me he wanted to acknowledge the damage without stepping on her toes.”

“Hell of a way to do it.”

“Our father, ladies and gentlemen.”

“Where’s Cian now?” Noel asked.

“I’m not sure,” I replied, giving Ruth to Lou, who’d thrown away her garbage and was making a gimme motion with her hands. She walked away with the baby as I grabbed a breakfast sandwich off the bed. “He was at Aoife’s but said he was going to head up to the hospital soon.”

“Want to meet him up there?” Titus asked Noel.

“Fine with me,” she replied with a small smile.

“I’ll ride with you,” I mumbled around the food in my mouth. I looked through the crowd. “Frank, I’m going to ride back to the hospital with Titus!”

“We’re heading up there, too,” she called back from the other side of the room. “Will and Molly have been there since early this morning, they could probably use some sleep.”

“Jesus, what time did Uncle Will leave Aoife’s?”

“Why was Uncle Will at Aoife’s?” Titus asked in confusion.

“Watching the house.”

“What?”

“Dunno, man,” I muttered, taking another bite. “Talk to your dudes.”

He walked away, probably to pull my dad aside, and Noel looked at me.

“They’re trying to act like everything is fine,” I told her.

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