CHAPTER 14
As predicted, Carter was live on Facetime, on a large screen in Liam’s home office. With the bruises they saw in that original text fading to yellow, and new bruises a brilliant purple, the boys teased that Carters stitches weren’t noticeable at all. It was also pointed out that his fat lip appeared barely there because his swollen black eye offset the imbalance.
“Collie, turn away.” Carter instructed, to which she complied, and when she did, he generously flipped the O’Reilly boys the bird. “Okay, you can look now.”
“I’ll give you that one for free, Carter Landry, next time you lose dessert and I’ll make sure it’s a night I make your favorite.” Colleen knew exactly why he asked her to turn away, having raised five rowdy boys, there was no fooling her.
Her tone turned emotional, which translated to bossy. “Get home, boyo! Ya hear me? I’d like to have all my boys home for a change.”
And with that, she left the office to tend to the meal they were about to have. Carter was in good spirits, on the mend, but it was hard to see anyone in the condition he was in. When Colleen called everyone to eat and told them to let him rest so he can get back to Watermark, they each said their goodbyes. Home for Carter was Washington DC these days, but if you asked Colleen O’Reilly, Portland was home for everyone she loved.
“Daisy.” He called out, before the video call was ended. “Can you stay a moment?”
Liam stood, giving her the chair to his desk and left her alone to speak to Carter.
“Hey, Luke?” he said, causing Daisy to look around the empty room. “I know you’re there, man. C’mon in.”
To Daisy’s surprise, Luke popped his head in with a sly smile before he pulled up a chair next to Daisy. “Caught me. Sorry, just…”
“Just doing you, man.” Carter laughed. “It’s fine – you should hear it too.”
Anxiety flooded Daisy, he had some sort of news and for the first time she wasn’t sure which way she wanted it to go. Best case, her days there were numbered because they caught the killer. Worst case…her days were numbered because they caught the killer.
She finally asked, “What is it, Carter?”
“I, uh…” he cleared his throat. Sheridan appeared in the picture, sitting at his side, holding his hand. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?” Daisy looked at Luke with confusion before turning back to the screen. “I don’t understand?”
“They didn’t get anything from me but a couple your mama comments, hence the stitches, and a whole lot of silence. They don’t know who you are.” Carter searched for words, riddled in some sort of hero’s guilt. “I’m sorry I didn’t get him. I was close. I was so damn close, but…”
“Carter, stop.” A force came with Daisy’s words, a scolding pitch that surprised each of them. “You don’t get to be sorry. Look at you. You took everything they threw at you, for me. To protect me. So, you have nothing to be sorry for, other than yourself for being such a…such a…” she looked around the room, as if the word she needed would be written on a wall, then threw up her hands, “for being such a baby.”
Sheridan snickered. Daisy’s tough love needed some work, but she earned points for trying. Carter’s jaw dropped, and Luke laughed.
“I’m sorry, Carter. Oh my God, that was awful to say…you’re in the hospital, looking like that, I’m sure everything hurts, and I just called you a baby.” Palming her face, Daisy collected herself and tried again. “What I mean is, thank you. What you did for me, and everyone else was heroic. So, no apologies. No next time’s. Just get better and come back, okay? No more close calls.”
When Daisy choked on her final words, emotion consuming her, Carter smiled a crooked swollen smile and nodded. Sheridan grabbed Carters hand as tears filled her eyes.
Daisy shook her head, willing her own emotional break to move on. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I owe you so much, Carter. You have no idea how much I owe you.”
When she turned to Luke he put an arm around her and everyone on that call knew what she was thanking Carter for. With emotions high, and brutally raw, there wasn’t anything left to say.
The deep timbre of Carter’s voice was a mere mumble. “See you soon, kid.”
Sheridan blew a kiss at the camera and waved goodbye before hitting the red button and ending the call.
Daisy laid her head on Luke’s shoulder as they sat in silence, staring at the dark screen. “He’s going to be okay.” She whispered.
The afternoon grew long, as it often did when everyone was together. Colleen made enough food to feed an army and that’s exactly what she fed. These were the times the O’Reilly’s loved best, despite the minor protests here and there. Family was everything to them. It had become everything to Daisy now, too.
It was an afternoon of sitting around and catching up. The dogs were the center of attention, then the children, then back to the dogs again. Nobody talked shop, they were just a regular family that didn’t have mysterious villains lurking in the shadows, or assassins to hunt.
A round of laugher filled the room but was quickly muted when Dick the dog came into the room with toilet paper stuck to his paw and a box in his mouth. Gibson was right behind him, with toilet paper around her neck, trying to get the box from Dick.
“What the hell have those two gotten into now?” Declan chided, following the dogs around, grabbing the loose toilet paper.
“Looks like they were playing in the bathroom again. What is it with the toilet paper roll and those two?” Lydia laughed.
When Declan tried to get the box from Dick, Liam intercepted. “Oh, hey. I got that. Dick, you little shit, give it to me.”
When the dog ran from Declan, it became a game of keep away. A dog that size didn’t go down easy. When Luke finally inserted himself in the contest of wills, simply snapping his fingers at the unruly dog, who promptly sat as did Gibson. He grabbed the box to throw it away, but Liam’s shifty reaction caused him to give it a second look.
“Pregnancy test?” he asked.
An uproar of chatter and excitement filled the room even if they didn’t know who the test belonged to for sure, given whose home they were in, they had a good idea.
“Felicity Nichols…something you want to tell us?” Lydia scolded.
When she smiled, they all cheered, realizing what it meant. Liam and City were having a baby.
“So, we might need to move the wedding up.” City giggled. “Instead of a Christmas wedding, we’re thinking…soon.”
Daisy’s smile faded when she realized that if City was pregnant, she didn’t share a bug with her – nor did she have food poisoning. Was it a big coincidence? She tried to keep her calm and hoped like hell nobody else caught on. Especially Luke because she need time to wrap her mind around all of the possibilities. But when City caught her eye and lifted a single brow, it was clear that she wasn’t the only one that questioned Daisy’s being ill. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be – could it?
What were the odds, really? Daisy didn’t believe in coincidence, everything happened for a reason and had purpose. So, what was the purpose here other than to shock the shit out of everyone, if there was cause for shock? She held her breath, plastered on a fitting smile and joined the festivities passing around hugs and congratulations.
Luke embraced his twin brother, maybe shared a stubborn tear that refused to fall while Daisy pulled City in for a tight hug.
“I’m so happy for you.” Daisy said honestly.
City whispered back in Daisy’s ear, “I was going to tell you tonight after everyone left. We should talk.”
Daisy shrugged. “No need. I’m good, really. I’m feeling much better.”
“Daisy…”
“I’m okay. If we keep hugging and whispering, people might notice.” Daisy pulled away with a weak smile.
As the evening went on the family slowly dwindled until everyone went home for the night promising a formal celebration and new wedding plans in the coming weeks. Daisy now sat on the balcony of Luke’s apartment trying to decide what to do next. As much as she wanted to deny the possibility she was pregnant, she couldn’t.
Leaving the building to get a home pregnancy test herself was out of the question. No matter how she spun it, she was screwed. She needed someone to help. Someone other than Luke. Confirming whether or not she was indeed pregnant needed to become a priority. It would change everything if she was.
Luke didn’t seem to catch on when the news was delivered, or when her mood turned quiet and distant. Daisy was grateful for that. Things were as complicated between them as they were easy, and something like this, even as a scare, could be damaging to their relationship.
Luke was working in his home office for a bit with a promise to watch a movie together when there was a knock at door. Daisy came inside to see who it was, and her stomach sank. Surely, she wouldn’t broach the situation in front of Luke.
“Hey,” she said, eyes floating between Luke and Daisy. “Liam is in the lair working on the program, getting something ready for the big meeting with special committee overseeing the project. He wanted to run something by you.”
Luke gave City a side-eye glance that made Daisy’s heart race with panic. “Why didn’t he just call me?”
Daisy held up a shoe box. “Probably thought he was doing you a favor? Wedding shoes. Forgot to give them out while everyone was at our place, so I thought I’d bring them up.”
“Are you getting rid of me?” he teased.
City shrugged, tossing him a nonchalant grin, “You’re welcome to stay if you want to talk shoes and chiffon.”
“I’ll be in the lair,” he said, before kissing Daisy on head.
The two women took a seat on the living room couch when City opens the shoe box. Below the shoes and tissue paper were a couple of pregnancy tests.
“I know you said you were fine and weren’t worried, but…” City started, then hesitated.
“But?”
“Daisy, I know you must be worried, scared even. If these are negative, you have peace of mind.”
“And if they’re not?”
“Well, then we figure it out. You’re not alone anymore. You have a whole bunch of shoulders to lean on, even cry on if you need to.”
Tears suddenly flooded as hours of pent up emotion gave way, causing Daisy’s voice to crack when she spoke, “I don’t know. Luke…he’s so complicated. I think he’s finally opening up. If I drop this on him…”
“He’ll still be Luke. He may surprise you, Daisy.”
“Surprises go both ways, you know…they aren’t always a good thing.” Daisy laughed.
“Luke is one of the best men I know, he’ll do the right thing. I’m married to his other half – they aren’t as different as they may seem.”
“Oh my God…twins. They’re twins. I always forget that. What if…”
“Yeah,” City sighed, “I already thought about that. There are twins everywhere in this family. Ronan and Ryker are twins – of course Luke and Liam – their dad, Magnus is a twin.”
“Are you kidding me? Magnus?”
“Ronan and Ryker’s dad is his twin.” City confirmed.
Daisy fell back against a pile of couch pillows, “I’m feeling nauseous again.”
“Then let’s get this over with.” City said, holding up several pregnancy sticks.
“Why do you have so many? Does it really take that many to know?”
“I wanted to be sure.” City shrugged, “These things have been known to give false positives.”
“But there’s like five here. How many did you use?”
“Seven.”
Daisy’s eyes went wide, and mouth fell open, “Were they all…positive?”
“Six were positive, one was ehhhh.” City pulled Daisy from the couch and led her to the bathroom.
“Shouldn’t we do this like, in the morning? Isn’t that a thing?” Daisy questioned, nerves taking over.
“It’s better in the morning, but you can do it any time. Right now, the guys think we’re talking shoes and chiffon, remember? This is our chance.”
“I don’t know. I’ve only been here a few months. I think this is overkill. It was the taco’s…”
“Honey, mother nature doesn’t discriminate or have a clause that says you have to live somewhere for any length of time first. She just does her thang.” City was going to make a great mother the way her hands went right to her hips.
Daisy was still searching for excuses. “But a few months?”
“Have you done the deed with Mr. Dark and Mysterious at least once?”
“More than once.” Daisy felt her face turn crimson as she palmed her face in an even mix of disbelief and embarrassment, “We were up in that vault for so long there wasn’t much else to do…he isn’t into Scrabble, ya know?”
“Then pee on the stick – all five.” City flipped her wrist outward, presenting the sticks in question.
Daisy’s voice went high and pitchy, as she frantically waved her hands up in down. “All at once? How?”
“Just, you know, control it. Don’t go all at once. Set up a little station and rotate the sticks. You’re smart – get creative.” City turned Daisy on her heels toward the bathroom and swatted her ass to shoo her in the right direction.
Looking over her shoulder, Daisy tossed a bewildered look at City. “A station…is everything you do so methodical?”
“Yes. It’s part of my charm. Go pee before Luke figures out Liam never asked for him in the first place.”
It turned out Daisy’s voice had an ear-piercing range, and nerves made her say everything in song, “What? You lied? He’s going to come back! No. I can’t, what if he sees?”
With an unsympathetic eyeroll, Daisy placed her hands-on Daisy’s shoulders and gently pushed her in the bathroom, “You have to tell him anyway – no harm no foul if he stumbles in.”
Arms awkwardly crossed due to the pregnancy tests in hand, Daisy continued to protest, “City, this is ridiculous. I’ll wait.”
“Waiting won’t make it go away. Just do it. It will drive you crazy if you don’t. It will drive me crazy. Then I’ll drive you crazy. It’ll be a disaster. Now go.” City gave Daisy a gentle push back and grabbed the door, shutting her in the bathroom. “Hurry up. Get to pee’ing.”
Daisy carefully set up a clean hand towel, making her station as sterile as possible, leaving nothing to chance. With one deep breath and a quick prayer, she placed all the little sticks in a row.
After a few minutes City knocks on the door, “Well??”
Daisy cracked open the door, still hidden in the confines of the bathroom, giving nothing away. “You did seven?”
“Yes.”
“Then, I think we need two more.” Daisy reasoned.
“They didn’t work? Oh no did I screw them up tossing them in the shoe box?”
Daisy opened the door completely, revealing tear streaked cheeks, holding up all five tests.
City gasped out loud as her jaw fell open and she read each little screen, one at a time, “Oh Jesus. All five. Okay, I think it’s safe to say…”
“I’m pregnant.”
“You’re what?”