All three pairs of Donovan eyes came to me.

“Come again, baby?” Mickey asked cautiously.

I told them the story of her taking a stroll in the cold rain on a warm sunny day and then shared, “So before I left today, I went into her room and stole that umbrella.” I looked to Cillian. “I had no idea why I did it until you said what you said, kiddo. Now I know I did it because when she did what she did, it made me smile. But I’d wanted to laugh. And I wanted to remember that about her. I took that umbrella because I never want to forget her and I always want to remember how she made me want to laugh.”

“See?” Cillian said to Aisling.

Before Ash could retort, I told them something they knew. “She thought I was a Nazi.”

And then I started giggling.

Uncontrollably.

“She told me you had a poison pill in your tooth,” Cillian shared through my giggles, smiling at me. “And you better use it because she’d told the Office of Strategic Services on you.”

I started laughing harder.

“She told me your cell phone was some secret Nazi coding machine and you were sending messages direct to Joseph Goebbels,” Aisling added.

At that, I was forced to fall sideways because Mickey’s arm curved around me and he pulled me into him as I started laughing hysterically.

“One thing can be said, the woman knew her history,” Mickey observed drolly and I curled my face into his chest to mute my cackles.

And I loved to feel his chuckles, hear them and his children laughing with me.

It took a while and I was just sobering when Ash asked, “I’m pretty sure Mrs. McMurphy liked Rice Krispie treats because everyone likes Rice Krispie treats so we should celebrate her life with Rice Krispie treats. Who’s with me?”

“Totally!” Cillian cried. “With peanut butter.”

“No, darlin’,” Mickey put in and I shifted my face so my cheek was to his shoulder as he went on, directing this at his daughter, “Chocolate chips.”

“Chocolate chips and peanut butter,” Cillian bargained.

Mickey sent an easy grin to his boy. “Good compromise, son.”

“Cill, you’re on marshmallow duty,” Aisling ordered, pushing out of the couch.

Cillian didn’t push out of the couch. He vaulted over the back.

Mickey’s arm around me gave me a squeeze and I tipped my head to look up at him. I also noticed how he grabbed his girl’s hand as she walked by him and gave that a squeeze too. And through this, I didn’t miss her looking down at her dad and giving him a sweet smile.

When she was gone and the kids were in the kitchen making Rice Krispie treats, he turned his attention to me.

“Better?” he asked.

I loved him.

Totally loved him.