“Are they going to hate me?” She turns to me, her gorgeous face full of doubt.
It’s the first time I’ve ever heard this woman be insecure.
I don’t even think. I take her face in my hands and lock our eyes. “Stop. Whatever thoughts are bouncing around in your head, just stop them. They’re going to love you, because you’re you. My dad, he can be a bully. Don’t let him. Mom is a softie, she’ll love you on sight. And you know what? They don’t have a choice. Because you’re a part of my life, always will be now.”
Frankie exhales a shaky breath, and her hands cover mine, holding my gentle grip on her jaw. Her eyes flutter shut, like she’s taking the most comfort possible in my touch. We’re so close, and my gaze drops down to her lips. Slowly, violet eyes flash into mine, and I watch as Frankie’s pupils dilate and lower to look at my mouth.
That’s when I hear the voices, way more than just the intimate dinner I was promised, and my mother is rapidly advancing on us. I drop my hands, and Frankie steps away from me. The spell is broken, but I feel the tingles shooting up my arms from where my fingers were just connected to her.
“Mom, you told me it would just be the four of us,” I whisper-hiss, trying not to alert any one of those people I hear in the kitchen.
She waves me off. “Oh, you know how it goes. Walker wanted to brings the girls for dinner, so I couldn’t say no. Then Whitney decided to bring her brood, which meant Aunt Donna and Uncle Jerry were coming, too. Colleen got wind and Isaiah wanted to hang out with Whitney’s boy. This always happens.”
My mother says that last bit to Frankie as if the two of them are just chummy, and Frankie tries to smile, but I can tell it’s so forced it basically starts sliding off her face.
“Tonight was not the night for this.” I wipe a hand over my jaw.
I feel a hand grasp mine and squeeze in reassurance. Looking over, I realize that Frankie didn’t move nearly as far away as I thought. This is her telling me she’ll be okay, that we’re both going to be okay, even if there is a small village waiting to have dinner with us.
“You must be Frankie.” My mom smiles warmly and moves in to hug the woman I’m in love with but haven’t told.
Though my mom loves expensive things, extravagant vacations, and everything in between, she is not cold. Actually, the opposite. My mom has always been a hugger who has been very involved in my and Walker’s lives despite the resources she could have used as not to have dealt with two rowdy little boys.
“Yes, thank you for having me.” Frankie seems to relax a little as she pulls back from the hug.
“May I?” Mom points to her belly, asking if she can feel.
“Uh, sure.”
I know that Frankie doesn’t love people touching her bump, but Mom was polite and asked, so I think she thinks she can’t say no.
Mom puts her hands on Frankie’s belly, feeling until she gets a little kick. “Oh, what a jumping bean! So, tell me, what colors are we thinking for the nursery?”
She pulls Frankie away by the elbow, tucking her arm in hers, and I’m thrown one last shrugging glance over her shoulder.
Well, I guess I don’t need to make introductions then. Not that Frankie has trouble with them or needs many. She already knows or works with a lot of my family members, and the other ones who are new acquaintances seem smitten with her about an hour or two into the evening. Whitney particularly has the same sense of humor as my Florida girl, and they set a date to go for coffee.
Dinner goes much better than I thought it would, with Frankie blending right into the conversation. She’s snarky, a trait I’ve always loved about her, and I can picture it all as we’re served each course. The daydream of her and I as a family, bringing our bouncing baby boy to family dinners and events. Having her as my wife, wearing each other’s rings, taking her home at the end of the night and wrapping her in my arms in bed. Going through every season of life with her. That’s what I want. And as she sits next to me at my family’s dinner table, I can picture it all laid out before me.
When the meal is over, and the girls pull her into the living room for some gossip, I wander outside for some fresh air.
“Needed a break, too?” Dad’s voice isn’t a surprise, as much as he wants it to be.
Like he said, I have the hearing of a bat.
“Now is the time I would have come out here for a cigarette, maybe a real stiff drink.” I chuckle sardonically.
“And here you are, with none of that,” Dad remarks, keeping his eyes on the darkening sky from where he sits in a lounge chair.
I walk to the marble railing of their ornate patio, the thick columns of stone separating the area from the pool. Leaning against it, I stare up at the sky, too.
“Nope. Just a baby on the way. I see you really put some effort into getting to know Frankie tonight.” Sarcasm drips from my words.
It’s been needling at me all night, how he barely said two words to her. Not only as the owner of the team she works for, but as the future grandfather of her child, it was disrespectful.
Dad pinches the bridge of his nose and looks exasperated.
“What, Dad? What is it now?” My tone is clipped frustration.
He looks up at me, eyes the same color as mine, peering down his nose even though he’s sitting. “I sent you down to Florida to improve your life, not screw it up further.”
I almost stumble backward, that’s how taken aback I am. Since he learned about the baby, that’s what he’s thought of me? Are we back to square one now, with his disappointment in me on full display for the world to see? Rage ignites in my veins.
“I didn’t screw anything up. I met a woman, a woman who has her shit together and is a strong, capable person all on her own. I fell in love with her. I fell in love with her wit, her warmness, her snark. I fell in love with someone so above me it’s not even funny. And yes, I wasn’t careful, that’s on me. But this baby is in no way a mistake. He is already the force that propels me, that drives me to be a better man. Why do you think I haven’t touched my trust fund since I got back from Florida? And that was before I even knew I was going to be a father. I work hard, harder than I’ve ever worked at any job. I’m at the office from sun up to sun down. I want to show my son the man who is deserving of being his father. That’s what I’m trying to do. And I’m trying to show his mother that, too. Even if she can’t love me back, I’ll always love her. She makes me want to be better. So no, Dad, I didn’t go to Florida and screw up my life. If anything, I found the one I was always meant to have.”
Now it’s Dad’s turn to look at me like I’ve just socked him in the jaw. “You … you love her?”
I nod, giving him time to digest the rest of my diatribe.
“The only thing I’ve ever wanted for you is for you to be happy. You and your brother might not believe that, because success is part of my recipe for happiness. That’s why I’ve pushed so hard, but …”
I hear the slightest break in his voice, one tiny glimpse of the humane qualities my father displays.
“Give her a chance. Get to know her. Not as your employee, because don’t you dare think about questioning or challenging her on the position she was hired for. She’s fucking brilliant at her job. No, I mean, get to know her as a person. Take your owner hat, your millionaire hat, your dad hat off, and truly get to know Frankie. You’re going to love her, probably just as much, if not more, than I do. Hell, you’ll love her more than you love me; she’s got the same hard-nose work ethic that you do.”