Page 99 of Filthy Truth

“You could do that. Or if you could order whatever shit I’ll need when you have the chance and have it sent to us, I’ll love you forever.”

“Sure thing,” she said easily as she guided me into a room that was loaded with photo frames.

I tugged her to a halt as I stared at the pictures, smiling at the sight of Conor wherever I could see him.

There was his graduation ceremony, another of him at the beach with Eoghan and Declan and he had the cutest chubby cheeks.

In another, Aidan had him in a noogie but they both posed for the camera with big grins while maintaining the hold on each other—that one made me laugh.

Another was of him and Brennan eating donuts in a park. I could see that he was plumper than the others until he hit his teen years, and then he shot up like a beanstalk.

There were hundreds of family shots—the six boys together, a motley crew who’d been forced to wear suits when they were kids, not yet men.

When I’d picked out every photo of Conor, I found one of Lena and Aidan Sr. standing together on their wedding day.

She looked hella young and he was hella proud.

“I didn’t realize I was into silver foxes until I realized Aidan would be the spitting image of his da when he gets older.”

Savannah’s wry comment had me shaking my head at her. “Sex on the brain, Vana.”

“With men like ours, where else could it be?”

Though I smirked, I let her tug me into a kitchen where the woman herself was standing.

She hadn’t changed much from her wedding day in all honesty. Sure, she was a touch rounder and her face was crinkled in the usual spots from age, but she was as straight-up as back then, as… commanding.

Yes, even back then, undoubtedly coerced into a marriage with Aidan O’Donnelly, she’d had a presence.

At the moment, that presence was focused on the chicken she was basting.

As Conor’s sisters-in-law ceased their chatter when they saw there was fresh meat in the room, she peered away from the bird and stared at me.

“Star Sullivan?”

“Magdalena O’Donnelly?”

Her eyes narrowed as she slipped the oven mitts on then opened the door to shove one of three chickens I realized she was roasting into the heat.

When that was done, she asked, “Would you like something to drink?”

“Water will be fine, thank you.”

“It’s good to see you again, Star,” Camille greeted. “We didn’t get the chance to talk last week.”

That was being polite. ‘Hello’ and ‘goodbye’ weren’t my idea of sterling conversation.

Inessa straightened up from her seat and moved toward me. She placed her hands on my shoulders and air-kissed my cheeks. Because I wasn’t expecting it, I allowed her to follow through with it.

As for Aela, she just dipped her chin at me while she nursed baby Cameron.

“You know Savannah, Conor tells me,” Lena stated as she passed me a glass of water.

“Practically in the biblical sense.”

Savannah, who’d been on the brink of drinking some coffee, sprayed out what she’d swallowed.

Inessa, Camille, and Aela gaped at me while I just smiled as I sipped my own drink.

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