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CHAPTER 1
DARBY
The end.
I held my breath as I stared at those words, as if a single exhalation could blow them right off the screen. They were so small—just six little letters—but their significance was enormous. Time seemed to stand still as I admired the very shape of that sentence—tall letters on the outside, short letters on the inside, a space right in the middle. It looked like a smile that was missing a front tooth. I smiled back at it, lost in the moment, until the subtle blink of the cursor at the end of that sentence reminded me that time was most definitely not standing still, and based on the encroaching darkness of the woods and the pinks and corals sliding down the sky behind them, I didn’t have much of it left.
Once I saved my final edits in at least fifteen different places and emailed them to my publisher, I closed my laptop and waited for my bleary, aching eyes to adjust to the soft lighting and dreamy colors of Glenshire Lough at sunset. The view was stunning on a regular day, but after staring at the harsh blue glow of a computer for hours on end, it was absolutely delicious.
Perfect really. I was in my favorite place, sitting on my favorite bench, which had been carved for me by my favorite person, doing my favorite thing—okay, maybe my second-favorite thing—and thanks to my agent, I was actually going to get paid for it.
I could still see the announcement in Publishers Weekly.
Ableman Publishing Group bought Darby Donovan’s debut middle-grades series, Legend Has It, in a preemptive four-book agreement. The series is a collection of spooky fairy tales based on the folklore of Glenshire, a mysterious farming village in County Kerry, Ireland.
Kate, Kellen’s mom, had been so excited that she printed it out and framed it for me … causing me to immediately burst into tears. No one had celebrated an achievement of mine since my own mother had passed away. I’d forgotten how amazing it felt.
Kellen, on the other hand, was having a much harder time accepting Kate’s love. After she’d abandoned him at the age of five—leaving him in the care of the sick, sadistic priest who’d impregnated her—Kellen would never fully trust Kate again. He couldn’t. It didn’t matter that she had been a child herself, with no one to turn to and no idea that Father Henry would actually keep him rather than put him up for adoption. After everything he’d been through, the damage was done. But Kate kept showing up, week after week, with a smile on her face and a fresh box of pastries in her trembling hands.
I knew the hug she wanted was from him, but the one she got was always from me. She’d lost a child, and I’d lost a mother, so whenever we embraced, it felt like a fresh bandage being wrapped around an old wound.
Plus, having a bakery owner for a mother-in-law was a nice perk, especially considering the sugar cravings I’d been having recently.
I smiled, picturing the white stick with two pink lines on it that I’d hidden in my bathroom drawer that morning.
I’d wanted to tell Kellen right away, but he was out, making deliveries at the time, and I had edits to finish, so I’d decided to wait until I could tell him in person.
When I’d told him that I wanted to try for a baby once I graduated from college, I’d expected him to ask for more time. We were still young, and after everything he’d been through with both of his parents, I didn’t expect him to be too eager to become a parent himself. But much to my surprise, Kellen had said yes.
Actually, he’d pulled me into his arms, kissed the top of my head, and held me like that for what felt like an eternity. So, it hadn’t been a yes exactly, but it hadn’t been a no either.
I knew Kellen was scared to be a father, but the past was finally behind us. We’d finished turning the barn into a workshop for him. He was making good money with his custom wood-carving business. I had my first book deal. He’d severed all ties with the United Irish Brotherhood. The Bratva kingpin who’d wanted him dead was behind bars. And Kellen’s hacker friend, The Butcher, was making sure we stayed untraceable online in case any other enemies of Kellen’s might come looking for us. After a lifetime of struggle, of pain and terror and powerlessness and violence, we were finally free from it all. We were safe. We were settled.
And now, before the ink was even dry on my creative writing degree, we were pregnant.
As thrilled as I was, a little part of me worried about how Kellen would react. He’d seemed paranoid lately, more so than usual, and I wondered if it was because there was a possibility that I might be pregnant or if maybe something else was going on.
My joints creaked and muscles groaned as I stood and stretched. Kellen’s bench wasn’t nearly as comfortable as it was beautiful, but there was no better place to go when I really needed to concentrate. The woods behind my grandfather’s house had a way of transporting me into a completely different world.
Plus, I thought Saoirse might like the company.
Plucking a handful of blackberries off one of the bushes next to the bench, I popped one into my mouth and tossed the rest into the water. The thousand-year-old lake spirit was partial to much shinier gifts, but honestly, I thought she liked the attention that came with getting a present more than anything. She had a pretty lonely existence down there, and her only friend, other than me, was a creepy old forest witch that I’d only seen once.
Walking up to the edge of the lake, I clutched the laptop to my chest and smiled down at the berries floating on the surface. “I finished my final edits, Saoirse. All four books are done. Can you believe it? I’ll bring you a set once they’re published. They’re gonna turn them into fancy hardbacks with gold foiling. You’ll love them.”
As excited as I was about the books, it was my next piece of news that had me grinning like an idiot. Crouching down next to the water, I dropped my voice to a whisper and added, “Also … I’m pregnant.”
I knew that would get her attention. An iridescent blue sheen rippled across the darkening lake, shimmering like the northern lights in January.
I ran my fingertips over the glowing water, grinning as the light brightened beneath my touch. It reminded me of the way a cat arched its back against your hand when you petted it … when it wasn’t trying to bite your fingers off. That was Saoirse.
“We’re gonna have a baby.”
I laughed, tears pricking my eyes as I placed my palm flat on the cool surface. Cobalt energy pulsed and bubbled beneath it, tickling my hand with the same giddy effervescence as the butterflies in my stomach.
I’d never seen her so happy.
After saying my goodbyes, I hauled ass up the hill, hoping to make it out of the woods before it got too dark to see the trail. Past the crumbling stone cottage Kellen and I had played in as kids, through the patch of bluebells I’d once thought was a field of fairy hats, and past a thousand mushrooms and moss-covered trees, I finally made it to the pasture behind our blue farmhouse, where Vlad was grazing by the gate, waiting for me to return.
