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  Cormack frowned as he studied his youngest child. “Yes, well, we’re having an ice cream bar for dinner tonight ... along with grilled scallops, your favorite garlic mashed potatoes, and all the other fattening fixings you so enjoy. I expect you to eat three helpings.”

  “I’ll do my best,” she said dryly.

  Cormack’s eyes shifted to me. “That goes for you, too. You look a little pale for my liking. You had much more color this morning when you were ordering me around the kitchen.”

  For the first time since I’d entered the house, Aisling cracked a smile. “I would’ve paid money to see that. He reenacted it a bit when he brought back the jar of magic ointment — I can never thank you enough for that, by the way. We were all on pins and needles to see if it would work.”

  “Obviously it did.” I cast a look toward Griffin. “She seems comfortable now.”

  “She’s comfortable with her daddy.” Aisling’s smile slipped. “She still cries when I’m holding her.”

  “Oh, that’s not true,” Cormack protested, his eyes flashing with impatience. “She settled down when you were holding her. We barely got the salve on her chest like Izzy told us to do before Griffin took her so you could have a rest. She’s quiet for everybody now ... except when she fills a diaper.”

  “Which happens a lot,” Aidan complained.

  “A heck of a lot,” Redmond agreed, earning a stern look from his father. “What? The kid is a poop factory. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed. Whenever anything goes in one end, something comes out the other. It’s as if she has only so much room inside her and she’s reached her limit or something.”

  “That is a delightful visual,” Cormack drawled, shaking his head. “That won’t give me nightmares or anything.”

  I grinned as I shook my head, sparing a glance for Griffin and the still-slumbering Lily. “I’ll make more of the salve now that I know it works,” I offered Aisling. “That way you won’t run out.”

  She looked so grateful I momentarily worried she would burst into tears. Then I reminded myself that was allowed. It had been only two weeks since she gave birth. Her hormones were still out of whack, which was probably why she was so sensitive regarding the baby. Well ... that and a few other things that I knew better than to bring up in front of a crowd.

  “Thank you,” Cormack offered with heartfelt emotion. “We really appreciate it.”

  “We do,” Redmond agreed. “We’re actually going to be able to get some sleep tonight. At least I hope that’s true.”

  “We need to talk about serious things for a few minutes,” Cillian prodded, sober. “The big one is Ryan Carroll. You said you knew him and only wanted to tell the story once, so spill.”

  Cormack shook his head. “I didn’t really know him. I mean ... I knew him as one of my father’s co-workers. I didn’t know him beyond that.”

  “I kind of forgot that Grandpa was a reaper,” Aisling noted, rubbing her forehead. Her color was back but she was obviously still struggling. “He retired before we all came along.”

  “He was working in the main office when you were born. He was there a few years before retiring.”

  “I kind of remember that,” Redmond noted. “I think you took me to visit him there once or twice. I think Cillian and Braden went, too.”

  “Probably,” Cormack confirmed. “Your mother often wanted me to get you three older boys out of the house when Aisling and Aidan were infants. That was a lot of noise to absorb and she sometimes needed a break.”

  “See.” Cillian poked Aisling’s side. “It’s normal for mothers to need breaks.”

  The look she shot him was withering. “Mom had five kids below the age of six. I have one baby who should be sleeping twenty hours a day. It’s different.”

  “And you’re doing the best you can, Aisling, so I don’t want to hear another self-deprecating word come from your mouth,” Cormack warned. “We’re here for you. Everything will be fine. Don’t I always take care of you?”

  She nodded, sheepish.

  “Then trust me to continue taking care of you,” he ordered. “Right now, we need to talk about Ryan Carroll. He didn’t have the best reputation, as I recall. Cillian, you should probably pull up his personnel record to confirm that.”

  “I’ve tried,” Cillian replied. “The basics are in there. His date of birth, when he was hired, when he was no longer active. You know the drill. There aren’t many specifics. Also, he has several sealed files.”

  Cormack’s eyebrows rose up his forehead. “Sealed?”

  Redmond shifted on his chair as Cillian nodded. “What does that mean?” he asked. “I’ve never heard of reapers having sealed files.”

  “It means some sort of disciplinary action,” Cormack answered, his expression thoughtful. “You’re allowed only so many strikes before you’re kicked out of the order.”

  “How many strikes do I have?” Aisling asked. “It has to be a lot. I’ve gotten us in trouble a good five times in the past two years alone.”

  Cormack winked at her. “Believe it or not, you only have two black marks in your file. You also have six gold stars for going above and beyond to solve certain issues. I know, because I was worried and checked your file. You’re a reaper in high standing. In fact, you’re in higher standing than three of your brothers.”

  The room fell into silence ... and then all four Grimlock brothers started talking at once.

  “Excuse me? I better be the one higher than her,” Redmond complained.

  “I’m definitely higher than her,” Braden argued. “I never get in trouble and always follow the rules.”

  Cillian snorted derisively. “Please. I do all the heavy research we need ... and I always come through no matter how many hours I’ve worked. I’m definitely higher than her.”

  “It has to be me,” Aidan argued. “I’ve saved her from trouble at least three times that I can recall off the top of my head. That has to count for something.”

  For her part, Aisling looked smug. “I’m coming for whatever brother is ahead of me,” she warned, dramatically jabbing a finger in the direction of her siblings one at a time. “I will be victorious.”

  Instead of admonishing his daughter, Cormack smiled. He clearly enjoyed seeing the spark return to her eyes. So did I. She looked so much better I almost forgot what she was going through.

  Almost.

  Then her expression fell when Griffin shifted and opened an eye. He kept Lily pressed against his chest, the baby’s head over his heartbeat, and glanced around the room as he got his bearings. “Was I snoring?” he asked finally.

  Aisling shook her head and got to her feet. Her footsteps were heavy as she trudged to the sofa and knelt next to her husband. She looked genuinely happy to see him, but it was obvious the baby made her wary ... which hurt to witness.

  “You were fine.” She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, causing him to smile. Her fingers were shaky as she briefly reached out to touch the baby’s head, which was covered with a mat of dark hair. “She’s been quiet all afternoon.”

  “She has,” Griffin agreed, grabbing Aisling’s fingers when she pulled them away from Lily and pressing a kiss to the tips. “It’s okay. She’s settling. Izzy gave us a miracle and things are going to be better now.” He winked at me, causing me to smile in return even as I watched Aisling stare at the baby. “You know what you need? You need some dinner.”

  “She definitely does,” Cormack agreed. “We’ll move things into the dining room. The night nurse should be here shortly. She’ll take care of Lily while everyone eats. Then we’ll discuss the Ryan Carroll situation further.”

  Griffin blinked several times in rapid succession. “Who is Ryan Carroll?”

  That was the question of the evening. It didn’t sound like we had an answer.

  “I ONLY KNOW WHAT I already told you,” Cormack stressed an hour later, waiting until everyone was settled around the table and the night nurse took charge of Lily. The baby wasn’t squawking
and complaining — at least as far as I could tell – which I took as a sign that things were turning around on that front.

  “Carroll worked with my father,” he continued. “He had a poor reputation, was known for carousing and cheating on his wife. He also was known as something of a brawler. He enjoyed going out to the bar every night, and it was commonplace for him to get into a physical confrontation during those outings.”

  “I’m surprised he was allowed to remain with the company,” I noted as I cut into my prime rib. It was like butter and made my mouth water just looking at it. Cormack clearly knew how to plan a dinner, and his children obviously agreed, because they were shoveling food into their mouths rather than talking. “I thought you had to stay out of trouble to remain with the outfit.”

  “That’s a rule now,” Cormack conceded. “Back then, it wasn’t enforced. You have to remember, this was a good sixty years ago. During that time, there was a general ‘boys will be boys’ attitude around the office.”

  “What about the women?” Aisling asked, slathering a dinner roll with butter. “How did they feel about that?”

  Cormack cleared his throat, discomfort rolling off him in waves. “Well ... .”

  “There were no women in the general reaper ranks back then, Ais,” Cillian offered, smiling indulgently at his girlfriend Maya as she enthusiastically dug into her food. She’d arrived following a shift at the hospital not long before dinner started and she hadn’t said much, seemingly happy just to listen to the conversation as it swirled around her.

  “What do you mean?” Aisling was instantly suspicious. “There had to be women. I mean ... it couldn’t have been all men.”

  “There were women performing clerical work,” Cormack explained. “The filing ... answering calls ... busywork. Women didn’t start working in the field until almost forty years ago. Even then there were very few of them. It’s only been in the past twenty years that female reapers have started equaling their male counterparts.”

  Aisling furrowed her brow. “That’s a bunch of sexist crap.”

  “Totally,” Griffin agreed, tapping the side of her plate. “Eat your dinner. I want to see you clean two plates.” He was serious and didn’t as much as cringe when she glared at him. “Baby, you’re too thin. I need you to eat.”

  “I said she had to clean three plates,” Cormack interjected. “I stand by that. She’s so skinny she looks as if a stiff breeze could blow her over.”

  “Which is the opposite of how she’s supposed to look,” Aidan noted. “Jerry did a lot of research on losing baby weight when Aisling was pregnant — he was worried she would never reclaim her girlish figure and be forced to wear muumuus the rest of her life — and he says it should take months to lose all the weight. Aisling has lost it in two weeks ... and she’s even thinner now than when she got pregnant.”

  “Thank you so much for paying so much attention to my body, Aidan,” she drawled. “That’s not weird at all.”

  “You’re too thin,” Cormack stressed. “We’re going to fatten you up whether you like it or not.”

  “We are,” Griffin agreed. “Starting right now. Eat.”

  Aisling narrowed her eyes to dangerous lavender slits. “And what if I don’t want to eat?”

  “Then I’ll hold you on my lap and let your father feed you. You’ll be mad and it will be undignified, but I’m not allowing you to lose another ounce.”

  “Well ... I’m so glad I’m living with a bunch of Neanderthals,” she muttered as she stabbed a piece of prime rib and shoved it in her mouth. She vigorously chewed, and then spoke without swallowing. “Happy?”

  Griffin grinned at her. “I’m ecstatic.”

  “So am I,” Cormack noted. “In fact, I’m so ecstatic, I’m arranging for you to have a spa day with Jerry tomorrow. I’m paying for the works, so you can get a massage ... and a pedicure ... and a haircut ...and whatever your heart desires. I’ve already talked to the owner. I was going to surprise you at breakfast tomorrow, but I think now is as good a time as any.”

  Aisling was taken aback. “But ... I can’t leave.”

  “Why not?”

  “I have a baby.” She was matter-of-fact. “Lily needs me here. New mothers don’t just take off to the spa and abandon their babies for a day.”

  “Who says?” Cormack refused to back down. “Lily needs her mother to be at the top of her game. You’re still exhausted. You need a few hours away to regroup.”

  “I have to watch the baby,” Aisling persisted. “That’s my job.”

  “I’ll watch her,” Griffin interjected quickly. “I’m on paternity leave for a reason, remember? I’ll take her all day. A spa outing is a great idea. You and Jerry can be buffed, powdered and pampered. You need to get your mind off things for a little bit.”

  Aisling didn’t look convinced. “I don’t know.”

  Braden ultimately sold her on the idea. “I think you should take Izzy with you,” he suggested. “She made the salve. She also had a trying day seeing the ghost in the kid’s head. She’s as fried as you are.”

  I shot him a dirty look. “Thanks for that.”

  He ignored me. “You’d really be doing her a favor. She won’t agree to go unless you make her. She needs a day off, too.”

  Aisling pursed her lips and turned her thoughtful eyes to me. “You do look kind of rundown.”

  I was fairly certain that wasn’t a compliment. “Yes, well ... .”

  “Okay, we’ll do it.” Aisling bobbed her head decisively. “We’ll spend the day at the spa. I’ll text Griffin every so often to make sure everything is okay. Maybe you’re right; I might feel better if I get a massage.”

  “More than that, you’ve been locked away in the townhouse and here since you gave birth,” Cormack noted. “It will be good for you to get out. In fact, I’ll arrange for that Lebanese place you love so much to deliver lunch there for you.

  “It will be a great way for you and Izzy to talk about things,” he continued, his gaze pointed when it landed on me. “She’s very wise, and if you have anything you’re worrying about, anything at all, she’s the one to talk to.”

  I understood what he was saying. He wasn’t exactly subtle. I told him Aisling was anxious about being a mother and he wanted me to fix it so she was no longer anxious, as if I could magically somehow make that happen. Now that I’d fixed one thing — er, well, two things if you included her swollen pregnancy feet — he expected me to fix everything.

  That was a real kick in the pants.

  “This is going to be great,” Aisling announced, brightening. “I bet I’ll feel loads better after a day at the spa.”

  Cormack smiled at her. “I bet you will, too.” The look he cast me was pleading. “You’re going, right?”

  I felt put on the spot but didn’t see where I had a choice. “I’m going,” I confirmed. “I can’t wait. I’ve never had a spa day.”

  “You’re in for a treat.” Aisling was almost bubbly as she attacked her mashed potatoes. “We’ll get hot stone massages. Those are relaxing ... and pedicures ... oh, and I haven’t had my hair trimmed in months. It’s going to be good.”

  I could only hope she was right.

  Eleven

  Braden was waiting for me when I left the restroom after dinner. I was absolutely stuffed — two servings of prime rib and a trip to the ice cream bar managed to make me consider buying larger jeans — and all I could think about was taking a walk to burn off some of the excess calories.

  “Thanks for doing this,” Braden announced, taking me by surprise when he swooped in. “You have no idea how important it is to my father to get Aisling acting like her old self.”

  Obviously Cormack wasn’t the only one eager for Aisling to return to normal. “It’s not a big deal.” I rubbed the back of my neck and forced a smile. “I’ve never been to a spa, but I’ve seen plenty of television shows depicting the ritual. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

  “It’s fun. They’ll tell you what to
do, show you how to lay and even pick out an oil you like.”

  I knit my eyebrows. “I ... you’ve been to the spa?”

  “It’s a family activity,” he said defensively. “Aisling and Jerry forced it on us.”

  I wanted to laugh ... except it sounded like an interesting bonding exercise. “Well, I’m looking forward to it. Is your father going to send a car for me in the morning? I still don’t have my own vehicle. I should probably get on that.”

  “Um ... I can pick you up.”

  He didn’t sound as if that was something he wanted to undertake. “Or I can get an Uber,” I offered. “Just get me the address of the spa and a time and I promise to meet Aisling and Jerry there. Where is Jerry? I haven’t spent any time with him. I only met him the night the baby was born, and after that, well, things changed.”

  Braden’s expression was sheepish. “They didn’t change,” he stressed. “It was work. My father apologized for having to send someone, but these things sometimes happen. Obviously Aisling couldn’t go. Cillian and Aidan had other things going on, too. It came down to Redmond and me, and I lost the coin toss. I didn’t want to leave.”

  I bit back a sigh. He was trying. Really hard. He was trying so hard, in fact, he was wearing me down. At one point I was adamant our interaction would lead nowhere and was a waste of time. Now I wasn’t so sure.

  I was still wary. He had the potential to steal my heart, and I wasn’t certain that was the smart move to make.

  “I’m not blaming you. In fact, maybe it was meant to be. I mean ... perhaps that was the universe’s way of telling us we should just be friends.”

  Braden immediately started shaking his head. “No. I don’t believe that.”

  “No?” I cocked a challenging eyebrow. “You don’t believe in signs?”

  “Oh, I believe in signs. I just think you’re reading this one incorrectly. It wasn’t a sign that I got sent to Florida for ten days to attend a workshop. It’s a sign that all I could do was think about you until I got back.”