Page 49 of An Angel’s Share (The Greystone Family: Greystone Brothers #1)

Jonno

I pull up to the back of the house in a golf buggy. “Your driver is at your disposal, madam.” Aoife grins and waddles towards me. Sun dress, flip flops, pregnant and beautiful.

“Where are we off to?” she asks as she steps in and gets settled beside me.

“It’s a surprise.” I smirk at her as she continues to stare at me.

My smirk gets more salacious as her breathing starts to pick up.

I don’t think I will ever get used to her reactions to me.

They are magnificent. “Hold tight, baby. This thing is supercharged.” I nod to the buggy and put my foot down.

We get to a fork in the path, and as I turn left, she turns her head towards me. “Not going to the distillery?”

I shake my head as we meander down the path and then split off into the gardens.

Her face starts to beam as we start to go uphill and deeper into the grounds, away from the house.

I get up a head of speed as we push up the hill to the ring of trees, swaying gently in the breeze.

Aoife’s favourite place at Killclery House .

She climbs straight out of the buggy, looking up to the treetops. Their song is like a whisper today. I hear Aoife utter a wondrous sigh in response to them. It’s weird, she actually starts to sway in time with the trees.

I step up behind her and pull her body into mine, wrapping my arms around and under her large pregnant stomach.

Holding both my baby and my wife to be. “Are you ready for tomorrow? Even a small informal ceremony seems to have turned into a circus.” I kiss her earlobe and nibble on it.

She tilts her head to give me better access, and I move the long thick red tresses of her hair out of the way as I nuzzle her neck.

“I know. It’s Mammy. She can’t help herself. I try to rein her in, but…” She shrugs in helplessness. Mae is certainly a force to be reckoned with.

“Why are we here? Have you brought food.” She side eyes me hopefully, trying to crane her neck and check for a picnic basket.

“Yes, food is in the back, but I have a question I need answered first. And know this, whatever you say will not affect how I feel or the fact that you will be my wife tomorrow. But I need to know.”

She spins around, looking so fucking serious. “What is it, Jonno?” She takes my face in her hands. “Why so serious?”

“California.” She goes red instantly. It’s like an unconscious reaction.

“See, that reaction there.” I touch her face and chest that is glowing like a beacon.

“That is why I am asking. I don’t want any secrets between us.

I’ve laid bare all my actions in relation to looking into O’Clerys.

You know everything that has been said and done.

I won’t keep secrets from you, good or bad, but I expect the same. ”

I stand and look into her eyes, shocked to see shame there. She lowers her head, and taking a deep breath in, she starts to talk so quietly, I can hardly hear her over the trees.

“I know that night in the kitchen, when you first confronted me, I confessed about the baby, and not telling you.” She lifts her eyes to mine and speaks straight to my soul, my heart.

“But the shame of my actions has haunted me. The fact that I actually intended to never tell you about having a child. Who does that? And not for any noble reason? Pure selfishness. I am so ashamed. So every time California is mentioned in that context, it brings it all up.” She’s staring at me trying to gauge my reactions.

“I stood outside the pharmacy deciding what to do. Red or black. Russian roulette. A baby or not. To tell you or not. And I decided in that instant, to not do as agreed. And if I had a baby, then it would be mine, and I wouldn’t tell you. ” She pauses. “It’s unforgivable.”

I touch her face with a caress. “Nothing you do is unforgivable to me.” My voice, as low as hers, gentle but steel underneath.

“I’d told everyone I’d been to the cask company, so that I didn’t have to admit to them that I had really been in bars, and attended a sex party where I got pregnant. How embarrassing. And then adding in my actions following on from that. It’s ridiculous.”

I can see how much it’s hurting her. How deeply she feels about it. I need her to know I don’t fucking care about it. I only care about her.

“Fair enough. You may think it wasn’t your finest hour, but I do.

I’m not sure what it says about me. Even my sister, who loves me unconditionally, thinks I’m morally grey.

But I don’t give a shit.” I put two fingers under her chin and gaze deeply into her eyes.

Connecting us. “That party was the best night of my life. Your decisions are the best decisions I never took. I know if the boot was on the other foot, I would have done the same. Whatever kismet in this universe put you in California on that day, both of us heading for a cask company that did not exist, I will be forever grateful.”

I gift her the biggest smile my heart can muster.

“I don’t want you to be ashamed. I want you to be fucking amazed.

O’Clerys brought us together. You were in California for O’Clerys , so was I.

On the same day, in the same place. I fell in love with you that day.

So, no more shame. No more regret. Just the wonder and joy of what that day created.

” I touch her stomach and hold her close, pulsing all my love into her and my son.

“I know, I’ll try. But every time someone says California, my brain short circuits.” She starts to laugh a little. “I still don’t think I can get my head around it. All the coincidences.” She takes hold of my hands.

“I don’t believe in coincidence. But I do believe in fate. Fate and love. It was fate we were both there. And predetermined that I should love you,” I state, changing my stance to one of dominance. Her eyes widen with desire.

“Well who am I to argue with fate? Or love. I give in to both.” She drapes her arms around my neck. “I love you, Jonno Greystone. Morally grey, fate and all. I love you.”