The Virgin Next Door (Stud Ranch 3)

41

LIAM

“I had to find out from the fecking paparazzi where me own son was. They’re flocked outside like buzzards over a kill.” Ciarán looked Liam up and down. “Well, you look a bit waterlogged but not too much worse for wear. Now let’s end this nonsense and come home with me on the private jet.”

Liam could only stare at him in disbelief. Did he not see the woman in the hospital bed whose hand he was holding?

He stood up straighter. Enough. “Da, this is me girl, Calla. And that there,” he pointed to the ultrasound picture that had been printed off, “may or not be me biological son or daughter. Either way, I’m going to love them as if they were.”

His father’s back stiffened. “You have to find out. You can do a test before its born. If I would have had that chance, it would have changed everything.” Emotion choked his father’s voice.

Liam could only blink in disbelief at the man he’d spent his whole life either worshiping or hating. “So you coulda kicked me and ma to the curb if you found out I was the stablemaster’s bastard before I was even born? Is that what you’re sayin’ straight to me face?”

Ciarán shook his head. “If you would have let me get two words in the other day, you would’ve heard me when I told you I did a DNA test. With some hairs from your comb you left behind. You’d only been gone a month at the time, but I realized it was time to know. To put this behind us once and for all.” Liam couldn’t be sure, but it looked like there might be a sheen to Ciarán’s eye. “You’re mine after all. You’re me son. But then I didn’t know where you were. Not until that woman got in touch with us. You have to believe me, lad, if I’d known all along, it would have been different.”

He shook his head. “But learning about the affair when you were still a boy and knowing there was a chance you weren’t mine—”

“So Ma was right,” Liam huffed out a short mirthless laugh. “I didn’t believe her at first when she told me the reason you’d never tested me DNA against yours was ‘cause you didn’t trust yourself not to throw me out like last week’s garbage if you found out I wasn’t yours.”

“But you are mine—”

“It shouldn’t have mattered!” Liam shouted, hands going to the sides of his head. “Jaysus, I’ve spent the last two years ever since ma told me the truth trying to prove to meself that I was your son. People only ever wanted me for what I could give them. If you disinherited me and I lost it all, where’d that leave me?”

“Son, I—”

“Don’t,” Liam bit out, running a hand roughly down the back of his neck and staring at the floor. There was silence for a second before Liam looked back up. “It wasn’t ever about the money to me.” He stared Da down. “All I ever wanted was you. I didn’t even realize it, either. Not ‘til the last few months.”

He looked at Calla and then Mack. “I didn’t know what it meant to love someone who loved you back. Not because of what you could do for them. But just for you. Just because you made each other happy.”

He focused on Mack. “I’m sorry for how I’ve been to you. But you gotta know everything you just said was complete shite. Here I was trying to prove I was better than you, like it meant I was his son somehow.”

He shook his head, pain tightening his gut as Mack frowned. “But every step of the way, you’ve proved you’re a better man than me. You’re the best man I’ve ever met.” Mack took a step

back at that, but Liam followed him, getting right up in front of him. “Seems the only place I could admit that was the bedroom. But you took me as I am. It’s just one of the reasons I love you.”

Then he kissed Mack in front of God, his dad, and anyone who happened to be passing by.

His father made a disgusted noise and turned around. “When you’re done with these juvenile stunts, call me office.” He headed for the door.

“This is all I’ve got to say to ya.” Liam gave his dad the middle finger, never taking his eyes off Mackenzie. Then he intertwined his fingers with Mack’s and pulled him back toward Calla on the bed.

Calla had tears in her eyes.

Liam’s neck heated but he didn’t let go of Mack’s hand. “So. If you didn’t hear, I’m not interested in ever findin’ out which one of us donated to make the little sprout.”

Calla laughed and this time when she reached for their hands and put them to her belly, Mack didn’t pull away. The look on his face was priceless, Liam wished he had a camera to capture it. It was full of shock and awe while he also looked a little like he was about to pass out.

“Family,” Mack finally whispered, echoing Calla’s earlier sentiment. He squeezed both their hands and bowed his head to Calla’s stomach.

Epilogue

MACK

“Is the blindfold really necessary?” Calla asked, tilting her head toward Mack. He was driving and he frowned her way. Liam reached up from the back seat and waved his hand right in front of her face, but she didn’t react. Mack smiled.

“You bet your arse it’s necessary. What’s the point of a grand gesture if it isn’t grand?”

Mack pulled onto the long gravel driveway and Calla grabbed for the door to steady herself when the truck started bouncing up and down.