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“Yer welcome. Have a good night.”

CHAPTER7

Business Trip

Ronan

Two months later …

I sitin the dining room in my parents’ house as we have dinner. I have a ton on my mind after the meeting I had with my da, brothers, and their sons. Things are moving along.

Rumors are getting out about Logan’s release. Changes are coming for everyone. Carrick is a good choice to head to California. Especially now that Toby has gotten himself involved in all this.

Carrick has shadowed Jonah enough to know the family business. He and Brooklyn also have a relationship that will prove beneficial. I’ll be able to transition him into our West Coast operation effortlessly on da’s timeline.

Jonah was right, the others will want to follow. Toby will have a force behind him. I’m lost in thought about all the changes and moves I’ll need to make as I stab at my steak and potatoes.

“I ran into Keira at the market earlier,” Ma says, breaking into my thoughts. “Ro, she told me she ran into ya at the pub a few times.”

“Aye, a time or two,” I grumble, still sorting through my thoughts.

“Ach, I don’t see why ya never settled down with the lass. It’s clear to see she has a thing for ya.”

I grunt. “Maybe because she has a head like a bag of spuds.”

“Ronan,” Ma chides.

“What? We all know she didn’t get on the line for looks when the good Lord was handing them out. I was going to say she has a face like a blind cobbler’s thumb, but that would be too kind.”

“She’s a nice girl. At yer age, ya should be looking at the heart, not the face. She’s still young enough to give me a grand or two if ya stop fucking around.”

“I don’t know how the hell that’s supposed to happen. She has the body of a rawny banjaxed lad. Nothing about her gets me excited.”

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, who raised ya? It wasn’t me. I failed ya, I did.”

I shake my head to myself. Keira is too skinny for me. I don’t tell a fib. She looks like a skinny, broken boy, not a grown woman.

“Ya didn’t fail me at all. Not everyone needs to be married and settled down. I have bigger things to worry about.”

“Cianán, will ya talk to the lad? He’s too oul to be fucking about.”

I look to the oul man to see his shoulders shaking as he tries to hide his laughter. Anytime I come home, it’s the same. Ma wants me to find a wife.

I never told her about Sasha and the baby. The only reason I told Da and my brothers was because I wanted to make Oland O’Brien pay for what he had done. Helping the Murphys almost cost me my nephews and my sister.

It did cost me the woman I loved and my unborn child. Oland should have paid for that then. I grind my teeth as I think of how I never got the chance to make things right.

“Laoise, Ronan is a grown man. I don’t think Keira is right for him. She’s a nice lass, but she does have a hard bake to look at and she talks too much.”

“Thank ya. I was trying to spare her a wee bit. I didn’t want to say her gub runs like a river, so it is.”

“Ya know what the problem is, Cianán? Ya spoiled the big oul brat. Ya should have arranged his marriage like the others,” Ma huffs with a scowl thrown at me.

“I’d like to see how that would have worked for ye,” I scoff.

“Keira wouldn’t have made the list. That family is full of chancers and melters,” Da mutters.

“Keira is a nice girl, she is.”