Page 1 of Honorable Sins

Chapter one

Cocoa and Heartfelt Confessions

KARA

Mick's going to be back from his meeting with da any minute, and it can't come soon enough for me. This Christmas-in-July thing is chaos wrapped in twinkle lights.

It sounded like a good idea at the time.

That's going to be my epitaph because it's entirely possible I'm not going to survive this mayhem.

But how could I tell Fitz no? He wants to do it for his little brother. The year the twins were born on Christmas Eve, Cormac thought they were his special presents.

It didn't take him long to figure out that newborns don't make the best playmates and they demand a lot of attention from the family he was used to being the center of. His acting out was normal and he settled, like mamo said he would.

Until the twins turned one on Christmas Eve and they got both a birthday party, complete with smashing cakes (which Mavie was having none of) and Christmas to celebrate.

Fitz found his little brother crying in his room that night because he wasn't special like the twins. He was only born in July. God must like Mavie and Sorcha more because he gave them a birthday to share with Jesus.

He didn't get that from his da or me, but we're an Irish Catholic family. People say things like that, even mamo, without realizing how hurtful they can be. She would never has said that God likes the girls more than Cormac, but she did say they're special because they share their birthday with the Son of God.

Fitz tried explaining to Cormac that Jesus wasn't really born in December, because even at eight, he was smarter than a lot of adults. Our youngest son wasn't consoled. Not then, and not when Mick talked to him.

Usually Mick can get through to our kids when I can't and vice versa, but this idea had been brewing in our two-and-a-half-year-old's brain for months and it wasn't going anywhere.

While Mick and I tried to figure out how to help our son see how important he is to all of us—and my grandmother, father and even Hope, told us he'd grow out of what they termed his sibling rivalry—Fitz came up with the idea of celebrating Christmas-in-July for Cormac's third birthday.

Loving the holidays, I jumped on board with both feet and not a lot of forethought, but Cormac loved it and his confidence really seemed to come back after his third birthday.

We do the whole thing now. A Christmas tree goes up mid-June, we bake Christmas cookies and one week after Cormac's birthday on July 18th, there are lots of presents on the 25th. That's Mick's favorite part. He loves buying things for me and our children. Although half my presents from him can't be opened in front of them.

Even if the kids didn't love this new family tradition, all the uproar would be worth the creative gifts my obsessed husband comes up with.

But this year? I've got a special gift planned for him that is going to rock his world.

And mine.

MICK

Semi controlled chaos reigns in our pine scented living room when I come in after my meeting with Brogan.

Because Cormac got to feeling wee about it, we celebrate Christmas twice a year now. Brogan thinks it's daft, but the chislers love it and Kara gets all gooey-eyed when I participate. That look is worth everything.

And I will never allow it to dim again.

I inhale deeply, letting the rightness of being with my family in our own space settle over me.

I don't know how Kara is going to react to her father's decision to officially hand over the mantle of boss to me nearly a decade ahead of schedule, but right now, my precious wife is in her element. Softly singing along to carols playing at low volume from the smart speaker, she helps Fitz put the lights on the Christmas tree.

I wince. That's supposed to be my job, but my meeting with Brogan kept me late.

Like a lot of things have been lately and once I take over as boss, it's only going to get worse if I don't do something to change it.

This right here? Is for our chislers.

Two of which are better at causing Mayhem than Gobby. Mavie, our sunshine girl, is giggling as she pulls ornaments from the boxes, tears away their packing wrap and drops them on the ever-growing pile around her on the floor.

She shoves the wrap at her two-year-old twin sister. "Here."