Page 42 of Delivery After Dark (Gansett Island #28)

“Stop that, Ned,” Francine said. “They were angels. The babies slept all night.”

“Don’t tell Maddie that,” Tiffany said to her mother as she held baby Adrian as Ashleigh and Addie ran around with the other kids. “She’ll make you stay there every night.”

“My lips are sealed,” Francine said with a smirk.

“Here comes the boat!” Thomas said. “I see it!”

Grant took a visual headcount and saw that everyone was there except for Mac and Maddie. He texted his older brother. Earth to the lovebirds. Are you coming to meet the ferry?

He hoped the boat got there soon because it was fucking freezing, and he wanted to get Stephanie—and Grace—out of the cold. “Do you want to wait in the car, hon?”

“Hell no,” Steph said. “I don’t want to miss a second of this.”

Her dad, Charlie, arrived with his wife, Sarah.

“We didn’t want to miss the fun,” Charlie said as he hugged Steph like he hadn’t seen her in weeks.

They never missed a chance to hug each other now that they could any time they wanted after he’d spent fourteen years in prison for a crime he hadn’t committed—and she’d spent every minute of that time trying to get him out.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Dan Torrington said from behind Grant. “We heard there was a party happening today.”

Kara held baby Dylan, who, like Adrian, was bundled to within an inch of her life in a snowsuit. “I told him it was too cold to take her out, but he said it’s only for a few minutes, and I so want to see those babies.”

“I hear you, Mama,” Tiffany said. “I couldn’t miss this either. Adrian promised me he’d be fine if we came.”

“Funny that Dylan promised me the same thing,” Kara said. “How’re you feeling?”

“Like I got run over, but so happy he’s here. His daddy is over the moon to have a little testosterone to offset all the estrogen in our house.”

“That’s right,” Blaine said as he slipped an arm around his wife from behind.

“Oh, you made it,” Tiffany said to him.

“Just in time.”

“How about you?” Tiffany asked Kara.

“Same—like I got hit by a bus, but I’m elated to have her here finally.”

“I love that our babies will grow up together,” Tiffany said.

“ All our babies,” Stephanie said.

“That’s right,” Kara said. “More coming soon.”

“Who else is thankful to be having them one at a time?” Stephanie asked as the others laughed.

“Me, too,” Tiffany said.

“Me, three,” Grace said.

“Me, four,” Katie said with a smile for her husband, Shane.

“Wait, what?” the others said as one.

“Are you holding out on me, little brother?” Laura asked.

“Yep,” Shane said. “We’re pregnant and almost through the first trimester.” He held up crossed fingers. “We’re hoping for the best this time.” Katie had suffered a miscarriage with her first pregnancy.

The others swarmed around them, offering hugs and congratulations.

“Today is not about us,” Katie said. “It’s about the quads.”

“It’s about all of us,” Grant said. “The whole damned family.”

“Yer derned right about that,” Ned said.

When the ferry cleared the South Harbor breakwater, Captain Seamus gave the horn four long blows to herald the arrival of the quadruplets.

Mac and Maddie ran up to the group just as the ferry backed up to the pier.

“Nice of you to join us, bro,” Grant said.

“We overslept,” Mac replied, using his thumb to point at Maddie. “She kept me up half the night.”

Maddie punched his arm. “Shut your mouth, or it’ll never happen again.”

The other guys lost it laughing.

“He never learns.” Ned shook his head as he grinned. “Yer daddy needs ta take ya out ta the woodshed.”

“I’m incorrigible,” Mac said with a grin for his wife.

Maddie rolled her eyes as she and Mac were mobbed by their children, who’d just noticed their arrival.

“Mommy, Thomas wouldn’t go to bed last night,” Hailey said.

“That’s not true!” Thomas said, sputtering. “I went to bed. Eventually.”

“Hailey, don’t be a tattletale.” Mac picked up his little girl while Maddie hugged Thomas and little Mac. “The other kids won’t appreciate that.”

“But it’s true. You told me not to lie.”

“That’s right, I did. But it’s not a lie to not tell us what Thomas didn’t do.”

Her cute little face twisted into a confused expression as she tried to make sense of that.

“How did our little ladies do overnight?” Maddie asked her parents.

They exchanged a guilty glance that said it all.

“If you tell me they slept through the night, I’m never coming home again.”

“No, Mommy!” Mac said. “Come home!”

“I will, honey. Mommy is just kidding.”

“We won’t tell ya they slept through the night, then,” Ned said.

“I don’t believe this,” Maddie said. “All I had to do was leave for the night?”

“Or we gots the magic touch,” Ned said, smiling as he cuddled the sleeping Emma.

Not even the loud horn from the ferry could wake those two girls when they were asleep. Mac had told Grant that it was because they’d been listening to noise since before they were born.

Adrian and Dylan weren’t at all happy about the horn, however.

“The new babies are coming home to the chaos they’ll grow up in,” Grant said as Big Mac drove his truck off the ferry, tooting the horn as he went.

Adam was right behind him, also on the horn.

The older kids were out of their minds with excitement as the two vehicles parked and were swarmed by family members and friends, straining for a look at the new arrivals.

“Oh my gosh,” Stephanie said as she hugged Abby. “Look at those little faces.”

“They’re so cute!” Grace said from the other side of Big Mac’s truck. “How’d they do on the boat?”

“Better than I did. Adam made me puke.”

“That’s not true.” Adam handed Liam to Grace, who was one of his favorite people. “She always pukes when it’s rough.”

“Let’s get these boys home,” Big Mac said.

“Can we come?” Grant asked his brother.

“We’d be bummed if you didn’t, right, Abs?”

“Absolutely. Everyone is welcome as long as you’re willing to change diapers. We need all the help we can get.”

“Let’s roll, citizens,” Mac said. “We’ve got diapers to change!”

Grant laughed as he held hands with his wife and followed his older brother to their vehicles for the ride to Adam and Abby’s house.

This might go down as one of his top ten best days on Gansett Island, the day they welcomed home four new McCarthy boys. He just hoped they grew up to be more like him than Mac.