ChapterTwenty-Eight
When Ronan got to his mother’s house to help set up for Nessa’s party, Chloe’s car was already parked across the street. She’d said she was going to tell her parents about their relationship today. She was making it real to the people she cared about. He fought the urge to go over there to stand with her.
Besides, it was time for him to do the same. He lugged his groceries through the gangway straight to the backyard. When he bumped the gate open, he saw most of his siblings already setting up tables and chairs. Killian was priming the keg. Declan was shoving a cupcake in his mouth while he tried to tell Kieran where to put the long table their mom would use for the food. Gavin was pouring charcoal into the grill.
“Hey,” Declan said with a mouthful of cupcake, frosting still on his lips. “Hope you brought good meat. I’m starving.”
“You’re always starving.” He set the bag on the small card table near the grill. “Can I talk to you guys for a minute?”
They all paused and looked at him suspiciously.
“So...Chloe McCarthy from across the street will be coming to the party.” His comment was met with confusion. “As my date.”
A chorus of “oh”s rang out. Then Gavin said, “We already knew about that. You want to keep secrets, never let Nessa and Declan hear ’em. We’ve known for a long time.”
Ronan looked at his little brother.
“What?” he asked with his arms up. “You didn’t say it was a big secret.”
“I think I said exactly that.”
“Well, for strangers, sure, but this is family. We don’t keep secrets.”
In general, he’d like to believe that, but both he and Declan knew that they’d been keeping a secret. Unless Declan hadn’t. “Does that mean—”
Declan backed away until he was standing behind Kieran. “I might’ve told them that you and Brendan were looking into Dad’s disappearance.”
Ronan shook his head. He shoved the irritation down. Ultimately, it didn’t matter because he and Brendan had already decided to talk to the whole family after the party. “You need to learn to keep your mouth shut when someone tells you to.”
“We have a right to know what happened with our father, don’t you think?” Kieran wanted to know.
“When I started, I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. I didn’t know if I’d be able to find anything out.”
“And now?” Killian asked.
“Not much more. But it’ll keep until after the party. Let’s have fun with Nessa, and Brendan and I will lay it all out after.”
The gate opened then, and Brendan came in with more bags of food. As they continued to set up, he filled Brendan in on his conversation with everyone else.
Before long, haphazard decorations were hanging on the garage. The yard was filled with friends and family. Food was cooking on the grill. People were laughing and talking and drinking. Ronan suddenly realized that he missed this more than he ever thought he could.
Chloe came into the yard and he went to her. “How did things go with your family?”
“Really well,” she said. “Better than I could’ve imagined. They all just want me to be happy.”
“Even if it’s with me?”
“Yep. My dad was okay with it and Erin wanted details.”
“What about your mom?”
“She was surprisingly accepting. Not like she was jumping for joy or anything, but she accepted everything I said without any complaints or threats or anything.” She laced her fingers through his. “I even told her about my naughty cross stitch.”
“Wow. So you went all out. I planned to tell my family about us, too, but Declan and Nessa already told them.”
She smiled up at him. “Family, right?”
“Let’s go eat and get some drinks.”
“I brought cookies.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“I wanted to. Everyone chips in, right?”
They stopped by the food table to drop off the cookies. Ann was there, mixing salads and shifting bowls around. She took the bin of cookies and set them near the end of the line of food.
“Chloe. It’s so good to see you. How’s your family?”
“They’re all good.”
“I’m so glad you and Ronan aren’t sneaking around anymore like a couple of teenagers. Since being with you, he’s come back to the family.”
“I can’t take credit for that.”
“Hush. You might not have prompted it, but being with you has given him balance that he’d been lacking for years.” Ann pulled her into a hug. “Thank you for bringing my boy back.”
Ronan smiled. The Doyles had always been pitied as a family as if since Michael went missing, they lacked something. They never needed pity. Whenever they were together, even at the height of bickering, they were full of love and friendship. How could anyone see that as lacking?
He’d stayed away for too long not because he found them lacking, but because they had been overwhelming. A reminder of what he’d been missing. Now, it just felt right. He was happy to be home.