CHAPTER 40
After most of the party guests had gone home, Liv jumped up from the sofa. “It’s karaoke time.”
Irene, Jean and Sadie had agreed to judge. “Okay, who wants to go first?”
“Let’s toss a coin,” Ben suggested.
Liv lost the toss so the girls ended up going first. “Places,” Liv ordered. As Cate got up from the sofa, Kian squeezed her hand. “You’ll do great, I love you.”
The girls had chosen to sing “We Are Family” by Sister Sledge. Erin sang lead vocals; her voice had a lovely, smoky quality to it. Liv, Sinead and Cate only had to sing the chorus. When Cate looked down the line at her sisters in blood and law, she came close to crying again at just how much they’d overcome this year. There was an empty space in the room, where Eamon should have been.
When the song finished, the boys were really supportive, clapping and whooping.
“You’ve got a lot to beat,” Irene said, as the boys took up their places.
Erin went and switched off the lights, plunging the basement into darkness. A torch light shone on Fabrizio. In broken English, he sang the first line before the spotlight moved on to Ryan and then Ben.
When Kian sang the line about the only girl in town he’d marry, he winked at Cate.
For the chorus at the end of the song, they got their wives and girlfriends up to dance.
“I think we need a cup of tea while we decide,” Irene said, leading Jean and Sadie upstairs to the kitchen. “We were so much better,” Liv started the trash-talking. “Even Mum had a little tear in her eye.”
“Can’t Help Falling in Love with You” by Elvis came on and Kian wrapped Cate up in his arms, swaying them with the music. He whispered the lyrics softly in her ear.
She held his face in her hands, looking into those intense, dark-brown eyes. “I love you too.”
They were interrupted by Irene, Jean and Sadie. “Although, we were very impressed with both songs” Jean started. “The winners tonight are the girls – I loved the sentiment of your song and Erin, your voice is incredible.”
“Yes,” Liv punched the air, “in your face.”
“You only won because of Erin,” Ben taunted. “My wife.”
Later than night, they were sat on the sofa in the basement, watching Ben pretend to be Elvis again. “I’m tired,” Cate whispered to Kian. He started to get up but she put her hand on his knee. “You stay, I don’t mind.”
“Nah,” he shook his head. “I’ll come up with you.”
When they got upstairs to the attic, Kian saw the package on her dresser. “What’s this?”
“Sadie gave it to me earlier this evening; it’s a belated wedding present.”
“Do you know what it is?”
Cate shook her head. “She just said that it’s a Warner family tradition and that I should wait to open it until we’re alone.”
“Perhaps it’s lingerie,” Kian’s eyes lit up.
“Kian,” Cate whacked him. “That would be really gross if your aunt gave us lingerie as a wedding present.”
“Yeah,” Kian said. “She doesn’t realise I prefer you wearing nothing at all.”
They sat down on the mattress and opened the package; inside was a patchwork quilt, similar to the one draped across the daybed on their back porch. Cate thought back to the night of The Ryders concert; when Sinead had ditched her to go meet Jake and Kian had waited for her. That was the first time she’d slept with Kian in the true sense of the word. She remembered feeling his body wrapped around hers as they fell asleep covered by that patchwork quilt.
“Ouch,” Cate winced, rubbing her lower back.
“Is it bad again?” Kian looked concerned.
“Mm,” Cate nodded.
“Take your top off,” Kian said.
Cate raised her eyebrows at him. “Really?”
“It’s not like that, I promise,” Kian laughed, holding his hands up. “I was going to give you a massage.”
Cate still looked dubious, “so this isn’t just an excuse for you to see my boobs?”
“That’s just an added benefit,” Kian smirked. Cate took off her vest top, keeping her back to Kian.
He instructed her to kneel at the side of the bed, leaning forward on to the mattress. “You’d better be serious about this?” Cate said, looking over her shoulder at him.
“I am,” Kian said. “Put your head back on the mattress.”
She heard him pop open the cap and then rub his hands together. She started a little when his hands touched her shoulders, expecting them to feel cold but they didn’t; he’d warmed the oil up with his hands. After a few strokes, Cate started to relax, feeling him work out all of the tension in her muscles.
“You’re actually good at this,” she teased. “You’ve been holding out on me.”
“You sound surprised,” Kian nuzzled the back of her neck. “I can’t give you the good stuff all at once.”
“I love you,” Cate murmured. It still felt weird saying it out loud. Before she’d always held back, not sure whether Kian felt the same way; she hadn’t wanted to guilt-trip him into saying it.
“I love you too,” Kian smiled. He loved feeling her like this, her warm skin underneath his hands.
“Hello.” They both heard the door creak open at the bottom of the stairs.
“Hi,” Sinead said, peering over the banister. Cate sat up quickly, trying to cover her bare chest with the duvet.
“Ew,” Sinead wrinkled her nose. “Did I just interrupt you two…?”
“Fortunately,” Kian scowled at his sister, “I was just giving my wife a back massage. What the hell are you doing up here?”
Sinead looked embarrassed. “I just wanted to see how the quilt turned out?”
“And you couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”
“I didn’t think.”
Acutely aware that she was still topless, Cate wrapped the duvet around her and went into the bathroom to put her vest back on.
When she came back, Kian had spread the patchwork quilt back out on the floor. “Sorry again,” Sinead said to Cate.
“It’s OK,” Cate smiled.
“You might want to knock next time though,” Kian grumbled.
“That’s Dad’s shirt,” Sinead said, touching one of the panels on the quilt. “I hated it; it was just so pink. “Pink to make the boys wink,” he’d say in this really camp voice, fluttering his eyelashes. I think he started wearing it just to wind me up. I kept trying to find it so I could burn the damn thing. He wore it last year on Christmas Eve.”
Sinead looked teary, “I, um… I asked Sadie to put it in. I wanted you to remember how funny Dad was.”
“Your Dad was great,” Cate patted Sinead’s hand. “Thank you.”
“That’s my 1st ever football shirt,” Kian said, touching a patch of green and navy blue nylon.
There was a square of red and white checked cotton with gold embroidery. “I think this is from a dress I had when I was a baby,” Cate said, touching the fabric. “Remy used to make me wear little red socks with it and a red headband with a flower.”
“I vaguely remember that,” Kian said. “It’s weird to think that I remember you being born. Dad was looking after us all; me, Ben, Remy and Liv while our Mums were in the hospital having the two of you. He was freaking out looking after all those kids but he didn’t want Mum to know so he said if we behaved ourselves, he’d buy us whatever we wanted from the newsagents. I think Remy wanted one of those plastic princess wands.”
“Like Remy needs any more power,” Sinead laughed. “She scares the crap out of me sometimes.”
“When we got to the ward, our Mums were in beds next to each other. Mum was there holding you,” Kian nodded at Sinead. “No offence sis, but you were the ugliest baby I’ve ever seen.”
“Hey,” Sinead whacked him. “I’ve seen your baby pictures, you weren’t all that.”
“You were completely bald, your face was all red and you were crying so loudly. Seriously, it was like a freaking car alarm.”
“What a lovely trip down memory lane,” Sinead said, getting up from the floor. “I’m going to bed.”
“Remember to knock next time,” Kian called after her.
Kian pulled Cate so she was sat between his knees, her back against his chest. “Irene was in the bed next to Mum’s and she was holding you. You were so quiet. When Dad brought us all round to meet you, you looked at us curiously, as if you were sizing us all up. You kept opening and closing your fists. I asked Dad on the way home if we could switch the cots and bring you home instead.”
“That’s terrible,” Cate said. “You didn’t say that.”
“I did,” Kian laughed. “But Dad said that wasn’t fair. Your Mum had three other kids and she was on her own so she should have the nice, quiet baby whereas Mum had me and Dad so we were stuck with the bald, red-faced baby that screamed a lot.”
“I wonder what our baby will be like?” Cate mused.
She found a piece of black fabric with lace overlap in the far corner of the quilt. “Oh my goodness,” she gasped, “this is from the dress I was wearing when we had our 1st kiss. It was Liv’s dress. How did they know?”
“A year ago today,” Kian smiled, gently touching the lace. “I love it.”
They carefully folded away the quilt and climbed into bed. Cate rested her head on his chest and he gently stroked his fingers through her hair.
“This time last year, I was lying in bed and I couldn’t sleep because I kept thinking that maybe you’d only kissed me as a joke. Now we’re lying here together and we’re married.”
Cate lifted up her hand and looked at her wedding ring.
“And we’re having a baby,” Kian smiled. “Don’t forget about Lola.”
“What if it’s a boy?” Cate laughed.
“It’s not.”
Cate turned over so she had her back to him and he curled up around her. He slid a hand up her vest and pressed it against her swollen belly. The clock above their heads showed that it was midnight. “This time next year, it’ll be our baby’s first Christmas.”