Page 191 of Brutal Collateral

I clear my throat. “Babies are insideme. I’m the one who dropped more than one egg. I’d call that an accomplishment.”

“You’re my overachiever,” Griffin says, kissing my forehead.

“Hurry up,” Cormac barks to the driver.

“Now, please, I want you to rest.” Griffin pushes his face into mine. “We did it. It’s all going to work out.”

Streetlights shine into the transport as we pick up speed. I can’t believe this is really my life. This dangerous, unpredictable life with Griffin is exactly where I was meant to be.

Even if it means fighting more battles, I’ll face them with Griffin head-on.

And knife anyone in the heart who tries to takehimaway fromme.

EPILOGUE

Ava – One Year Later

My finicky son Alexfinally falls asleep in his crib. I turn and bend down over his brother’s crib and lay a tender kiss on his sweet-smelling skin. “Good night, Luce.”

The name Alexander for my brother was never questioned, but I got flack for naming my other son Lucien after my father. True, he wanted to use me to pay his debts, but it’s tradition, and I didn’t want to be haunted by that name for the rest of my life. Aunt Helena approved since my cousin Lucia is a derivative of his name, too.

Griffin didn’t insist on an Irish name for his sons, as I thought he would. There are so many Irish males in our world between his brothers, his cousins, and his best friends the O’Rourkes.

All the good names have been taken.

Griffin’s father sadly passed away right after Alexander and Lucien were born. He got to hold my sons one time. Da Quinlan left this world with three granddaughters, four if you include Darcy, and three grandsons, one with his name.

Ma Norah refuses to move out of the Astoria mansion, even though her sons don’t like her living there alone. Personally, I think she loves the break and having the place to herself after raising six kids and then spending many years tending to her sick husband.

Norah Sullivan Quinlan isn’t going down a grieving widow. She, Clara O’Rourke, and Griffin’s Aunt Freye, Trace and Rhys’ mother, are going on a cruise next month!

We never had a honeymoon, but we’re traveling to Ireland as a family next summer with his mother. Griffin threatened that if I didn’t learn to drive by then, he was kidnapping me for a few days and teaching me on those windy roads in the Irish countryside.

A cruise, Ireland, right now, I just want my bed. And my husband.

Exhausted and drained, I amble up one flight of stairs to our primary suite. We converted the bedroom right below ours into a nursery with cornflower blue walls and thick white molding. I furnished it with a combination of modern black and white wooden furniture.

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