“I’m not big on the alpha male tendency to club a woman over the head and carry her to his cave until she agrees to his demands.”
“I have no intention of clubbing you.”
“Oh, no?”
“Nope. I’m going to walk into that house and wow you with food and family. After an hour with the rest of the Grimlocks you’ll be begging me to take you someplace quiet where we can be alone.”
He was full of himself. Still, there was something appealing about the glint in his eyes. “Let’s just eat,” I suggested. “You’re right about me wanting to talk to your father. After that, you can take me home and we’ll forget the rest of this … nonsense.”
“Sure. That sounds exactly how I pictured things in my head.”
I couldn’t stop myself from chuckling. “I’m sure things will work out for both of us.”
“Oh, I’m sure they will, too.”
ONE STEP INTO GRIMLOCK Manor told me he was right about the noise level. We were barely inside the door when I heard an infant wailing as if she was about to die. There was only one baby in the house, so I didn’t need to ask who was making the noise.
“Lily doesn’t sound happy,” I noted as I shrugged out of my coat.
Braden shook his head as he collected it. “I’m starting to think she’s possessed.”
I pursed my lips as I followed him through the house. “What’s wrong with her?”
“She’s already spoiled rotten, that’s what’s wrong with her. Just prepare yourself. She’s even louder up close and personal. She was staying here, but then Aisling got self-conscious and went back home. That doesn’t stop her from visiting constantly, though, and she brings the noise with her.” Braden held open the door that led to the parlor and I cringed when I walked inside and found Aisling pacing the floor with the squalling infant.
“Hello,” I offered, my eyes going wide when I saw the circles under Aisling’s eyes. She looked like death warmed over ... and then run over ... and perhaps set on fire after that. “How are you?”
Aisling, never one for pleasantries, was more caustic than ever. “How do you think?”
I recoiled when the baby screeched at the top of her lungs. “She doesn’t sound ... happy.”
“She’s never happy.”
“Give her to me,” Griffin instructed, appearing from behind me. He had a fresh bottle in his hand and a spit blanket on his shoulder. “Just ... take a walk around the house, baby. I’ll take care of Lily.”
Aisling happily handed over her only child. She did not, however, leave the room. “I think I’m going to drink instead.”
I spoke before I thought better of it. “Can you do that and breastfeed?”
The look she shot me was withering. “I’m not breastfeeding. Apparently I’m bad at it.”
I looked to Braden for help. “Um ... .”
He merely shrugged. “She has a low supply of breast milk. The doctor says it’s rare, but happens. None of us like talking about it.”
“That’s because it’s gross,” the oldest Grimlock child, Redmond, said as he scooted past us. “We should not be talking about our sister’s breast milk. Hello, Izzy.” He beamed at me, the full Grimlock charm on display. “I’m glad to see you’re back to visiting. I thought about stopping in to see you and make sure you were okay after the big hoopla a few weeks ago, but I was warned to keep away.” His gaze was heavy on Braden, whose cheeks flushed. “ I’m a good brother, so I decided to do as I was told.”
“Oh, really?” I pinned Braden with a dark look. “You warned your brother to stay away?”
“He’s a pervert. I did what was necessary.” Braden gestured for me to move to one of the settees. “What would you like to drink?”
The baby’s shrieks as Griffin tried to feed her made me wonder if they were handing out fifths of whiskey to cut through the noise. “Um ... a Jack and Coke is fine.” I focused on Griffin as he bounced the baby. He looked as tired as Aisling, which wasn’t good. “Do you mind if I hold her?”
Griffin cast me a surprised look. “What? Why would you possibly want to hold her? She won’t shut up.”
“She definitely won’t shut up,” Aidan agreed, skirting into the room with his fiancé Jerry right behind him. “We share a wall with her at the townhouses and had to move into the guest room to get any sleep.”
“Try living with her,” Aisling muttered, rubbing her forehead. She’d looked healthier when she was nine months pregnant. Now her hair was dull and listless, and she was unbelievably pale.
“Please. Let me hold her.”
Griffin arched an eyebrow but willingly handed Lily over. “She never stops screaming unless she’s asleep ... and she doesn’t sleep anywhere near as much as the doctor told us she would. She’s up the entire night … and the morning … and the afternoon.”
“And you’ve had her checked out?” I smiled at the baby as she continued to wail in my arms, adjusting her so I could rest her against my lap with one arm and press my free hand to her forehead.
“The doctor says there’s nothing wrong with her,” Aisling said dully. “He says some babies simply need to cry and she’ll settle down when she’s ready.” She accepted the drink Redmond brought her and downed half of it in one gulp. I wasn’t sure how healthy that was given her current state, but now was not the time to question her decision-making skills.
“When was the last time you slept?” I asked, adjusting the baby so I could feed her. Lily automatically took the bottle and started vigorously sucking.
“I don’t even remember what sleep is,” Aisling said. “That’s a thing, right?” She looked to Griffin for confirmation as he sat next to her. Together, they looked like the walking dead. “I don’t think we’re ever going to be able to sleep again.”
She was in a bad place mentally, that much was certain. I turned back to the baby, who seemed perfectly fine sucking her bottle. “Is she quiet only when she eats and sleeps?” I asked.
Griffin nodded. “Yup. Otherwise she’s constantly screaming.”
I turned my attention to Cormack as he walked through the door. Compared to his children, he didn’t seem bothered by Lily in the least. “Have you considered hiring a nanny for them?” It was a pointed question, but I couldn’t stand seeing Griffin and Aisling so run down.
“I have,” Cormack confirmed. “The first thing I offered was a baby nurse. Aisling said she wanted to do it herself.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she noted. “The townhouse is so small that we’d be able to hear her no matter what. Even if someone else was with her all night, we would hear her. She’d make sure of that.”
“Yeah, but you could stay here,” I suggested. “I know you have your own home, but you need sleep. In fact ... your aura is way too yellow. It was magenta before. The change is … jarring. You can’t keep on like this.”
Cormack tilted his head toward me, his eyes alert. “What do you mean? Is she sick?”