Jeremy growled. “Let’s not.”
“Why don’t you just give in and have it by the lake?” Jen asked. “It’s so beautiful there. I know Stephen and Tasha had their wedding there, but what does it matter? That’s where you two finally got together.”
“Tell Owen,” Jeremy said, still frowning in frustration. “I would marry that man in a closet or a Christmas canoe, he just has to make up his mind.”
“Ellen was planning something more elaborate,” Tasha warned. “She loves you both, and she wants you to have a special day to remember.”
Her mother was pretty hung up on Owen’s wedding. Jen knew it was for them, so they would both know she was proud of them and overjoyed that they’d found each other. She also knew how many friends her mother had lost when the news about the engagement went out.
“They were never my friends,” Ellen had assured her stiffly when Jen helped her cross names off the invitation list. “Because I don’t associate with narrow-minded bigots.”
Those rejections had only made her more determined to give Owen and Jeremy the wedding of the century. If she could, she would invite the entire city and have it televised like the St. Patrick’s Day parade.
Owen would probably love that.
Jeremy grabbed a large salad bowl from the cupboard and sighed loudly. “Between Tasha’s pregnancy, this wedding disaster and new and exciting secret-keeping, I’m thinking we should cancel family nights and Finn Agains until things are safe and boring again.”
Ken laughed at that. “From what I’ve seen, things are never boring in this family. Just varying degrees of crazy.”
What degree of crazy was she, Jen wondered. She was in a relationship with two men. At least, it felt like a relationship. She and Trick had been practically living at Declan’s house, and no one was saying anything about ending it.
The only people who knew were Tasha and Alicia. She’d had to tell her roommate where she was disappearing to every night. They hadn’t known each other too long but, other than Tasha, Alicia was one of the few friends she trusted. After seeing the shocked look on her face, Jen could only hope she hadn’t made a mistake.
Jen was in shock, too. She hadn’t realized it would be like this. That the need would keep growing. That they’d treat her like an equal and make her feel safe and protected at the same time. Precious, but not fragile.
She’d never known a relationship could be this good. Hell, she’d never known sex could be this good. Now she understood what all the fuss was about. Why Owen and Stephen acted like they’d lost their minds and publically declared themselves for Jeremy and Tasha.
Oh God. Now she knew? Was she in love…with Trick and Declan?
She couldn’t be. It was sex. Great sex. Phenomenal, mind-blowing, Guinness Book of World Records-breaking sex. It wasn’t love. Love would be a disaster.
“We’ve lost her again,” Ken said, amused. “Someone grab the knife.”
“God,” she groaned to no one in particular. “Why does everything have to be so complicated?”
Jeremy laughed. “Believe me, I feel your pain.”
“I’m not so sure,” Tasha muttered. “I feel sick, but that should pass in a minute.” She slid off the stool carefully, but before she could take a step her beautiful face contorted in pain and she doubled over, clutching her stomach.
Jen and Jeremy were both beside her before her scream brought the rest of the family.
“Damn it,” Tasha cried, clutching Jen’s hand so tightly she lost all circulation. “This hurts so much. I’m scared, Jen.”
“I’m here.” She looked up in time to see Stephen turn white as a sheet and collapse on his knees beside his wife. “Stephen’s here, Tasha. We’re taking you to the hospital.”
A moment later her cousin Rory moved Jeremy out of the way and started checking Tasha’s vitals and asking questions. “I radioed in. The ambulance is right around the corner. Just breathe, Natasha.”
But Tasha was too busy screaming in pain to hear him.
***
“It’s been hours. Jennifer. We should go and find a doctor.”
Shawn Finn put his arm around his wife and pulled her back down when she tried to get out of her seat. “It’s been two hours and Stephen and Rory are both back there with her, sweetheart. We’ll have news as soon as they do.”
Jen hugged herself, smiled weakly at her father and continued her walk around the waiting room. There almost weren’t enough seats to accommodate all of them. Brady and Ken. Wyatt and Noah. Solomon, James, Owen and Jeremy. Seamus had to take his kids home, but he was on his way to the hospital now.
It was too soon. That’s what everyone was thinking, but they were too afraid to say it out loud. Tasha was only six months pregnant with twins and it was too soon for them to arrive. Which meant that something was wrong.