I shrugged. “Kane, you don’t have to share every aspect of your life with me. We are just havin’ a baby together. We don’t need to know one another on a deep personal level.”

My reply made him frown, but he said nothing.

“Are you ready to show everyone the DVD?” I asked, hoping to get out of his room and away from the sudden awkwardness and lingering silence.

Kane nodded his head and held his hand out to me and pulled me up to my feet.

“They’re all in the living room waiting.”

I snorted, “It’s so weird you have your sittin’ room on the second floor.”

He raised his eyebrows at me. “The two most important rooms have to be next to one another, the kitchen and the gym.”

I snorted. “My two favourite rooms right now are me bedroom and the bathroom. Luckily they’re next to each other in me apartment.”

“That’s only because you pee more than you eat right now.”

My stomach rumbled and it caused me to grunt, “Damn you for mentionin’ the kitchen.”

Kane lightly smiled. “Come on, we’ll get you something to eat before we play the DVD.”

I was down for that.

“I’ll give you your injection, too.”

“Great,” Kane grumbled.

I walked by Kane and tried to ignore how different he was being. He looked deep in thought, a million miles away even though he was right next to me.

“Are you okay?” I asked as we walked down the stairs.

Kane glanced at me. “Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m fine, babydoll.”

I didn’t believe him.

Mentioning this Big Phil person changed him.

“Okay,” I said, not wanting to the press the issue.

We walked down the stairs side by side, but Kane let me go first into the kitchen. I checked his blood sugar level then gave him his second and final injection of the day. When that was done, I made myself a bowl of cereal because I didn’t want to wait around for something to cook. Kane sat and played around with his phone while I ate my food.

I didn’t exactly feel awkward, but I did feel a little uneasy. Something was bothering Kane, I could tell. He was avoiding eye contact with me and playing with his phone, his shoulders slumped and his head bowed. He looked like one of my students when they were hiding something from me.

I thought of something to talk about, and my flowers at school quickly entered my mind.

“Thank you for my flowers.”

Kane looked at me. “What flowers?”

I frowned. “The flowers I received at school today… you sent them, right?”

Kane shook his head. “No.”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “Who sent them then?”

“I have no idea, but it wasn’t me.”

Huh.

That was weird.

I stood up when I finished my cereal and Kane followed suit. He walked over to the kitchen door and waited for me to put my bowl in the sink. I walked out ahead of him and sighed when I got to the stairs. “I wish there was a lift in this house.”

Kane snorted behind me and placed his hands on my hips. “Let’s go, babydoll.”

I huffed and puffed up the stairs and sighed in relief when I got to the second floor and headed for the sitting room. Kane was still behind me, but his hands were no longer on my hips. I kind of missed his touch, but I forced myself to believe that was because he gave me a boost and made moving around easier.

That was my story and I was sticking to it.

“Finally!” Bronagh stated when Kane and I entered the room.

I held up my hands. “Sorry, I was hungry.”

Bronagh waved me off. “Play the DVD. I wanna see me niece.”

“Nephew,” Nico mumbled.

I rolled my eyes at him and picked up the remote to the television. “Is the disc loaded?”

“Duh,” Bronagh and Alannah said in unison before they high-fived.

I snorted and hit play. I walked over to the largest settee in the room and sat down next to Kane, who apparently had the spot saved for me.

“It’s a boy!” Nico stated proudly six or seven minutes into the DVD.

I rolled my eyes. “We don’t know the gender so pipe down, you.”

“I can see that the baby is Slater boy,” Nico cheered, ignoring me.

I pulled a face and looked at the television and instantly laughed when I saw what he saw. “That is a leg, not a penis, you freak.”

“Whatever. It’s a boy. I can tell.”

Everyone laughed at Nico.

Bronagh looked at her sister. “Do you know what the gender is?”

Branna tilted her head as she looked at the screen. “Not from this video. The legs are crossed so it’s too hard for me to tell. Then again, I’m a midwife, not an ultrasound technician.”

I was glad she couldn’t tell because I really wanted the gender to be a surprise at the birth. It made everything more exciting for me, and hopefully for Kane.

“How cool would it be if you were on a shift when I go into labour.” I smiled to Branna.

Branna squealed, “I’ll swap patients to make sure I have you in me care.”

I leaned over and high-fived her. “I’m holdin’ you to that.”

We sat back then and watched the rest of the DVD, which was just the most amazing thing ever. The girls awed when the baby’s four-dimensional face came on screen, and the lads smiled when the heartbeat played.

“This child is goin’ to be so spoiled,” Alannah commented as she stared at the screen.

I snorted, “You’re tellin’ me. Me brothers are already fightin’ over which football team she will support.”

“He,” Kane murmured.

I looked at him and glared. “Stop that.”

He smiled. “Can’t help it, feels like ‘he’ is the right thing to say.”

“Bro. Yes. We’re on the same wavelength.” Nico beamed.

I rolled my eyes at the brothers and smiled as I looked around the room. I felt happy and content with how everything was turning out for me. I was no longer terrified of having this baby. Sure I was scared, but I was also excited now, and so was everyone else.

I jumped when Dominic’s phone rang. I glanced at him when he dug his phone from his pocket and looked at the screen. He smiled wide.

“Damien is FaceTiming me.”

I squealed, “Answer it so he can see the video too.”

Dominic tapped on the screen of his phone.

“Dominic,” Damien’s voice chirped. “What’s up, man?”

I loved how Damien spoke like he hadn’t spoken to Dominic in a long time even though they spoke every day. He always got really excited, just like Dominic did—it was beautiful to watch.

“Watching the DVD of Kane’s baby. Look,” Dominic said and stood up from his seated position. He tapped on the screen of his phone and aimed it at the sixty-inch plasma screen in front of us.

“Can you see?” Dominic asked.

How could he not?

The screen was sixty bloody inches wide.

Not a second later Damien said, “It’s a boy!”

Us females groaned, while the males cheered.

“He’s right,” Kane smirked. “Us men know what we’re talking about.”

I rolled my eyes. “She will not like being called a lad you know.”

“Let me see Aideen,” Damien asked Dominic.

Dominic pointed his phone at me so I smiled and waved. “Heya, cutie.”

Kane put his arm around my shoulder and tugged me into him. “Really?”

I laughed and so did the girls.

“Do you remember on movin’ day you said Damien could be your f—”

“Friend,” I cut Bronagh off. “Me best friend.”

Keela snickered to herself and it caused me to glare at her.

“Right,” Bronagh laughed. “Your friend.”

I shook my head at her and looked at Kane when I felt his eyes on me.

“Don’t look at me like that, I didn’t say anythin’ about him. I swear.”

Kane didn’t believe me, I could tell by the look on his face.

“Stand up, friend,” Damien laughed. “I want to see you. Do you have a baby bump yet?”

I nodded and leaned onto Kane’s arm as I got up off the chair. I flattened my t-shirt to my stomach, but it was black so didn’t really look like I had a bump from the front. I lifted my t-shirt up, tucked it under my breasts and turned to the side.