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“Victim?” Mom finally spoke up. “Your daughter finding love makes you a victim?”
“It’s Ash!” he barked back.
“Then shouldn’t that give you some relief? You know him. You know that he’s a good, honest, loyal and principled man. What more could you ask for from a man your daughter loves?”
Dad looked absolutely appalled.
“It certainly wouldn’t be the man I served with and raised her to think of as an uncle!”
“I never thought of him as an uncle!” I butted in.
“Nothing from you,” he hissed, pointing at me.
“She’s not a child for you to shush, Tom,” Ashton barked.
“Unlike you, I can see the reality of the fact that she is a child. She’s my child.”
Ash looked so frustrated. He dragged his hands through his hair and pulled it, then pressed his cheek onto his fist and looked at me.
“I don’t know if he’s ever going to get it,” he mumbled, looking dejected.
“He’s going to have to, because this isn’t temporary.”
Watching the melancholy on his face, it gave me the courage I needed to look my father in the eye and say what needed to be said.
“And what happens,” I whisper, hoping that my words didn’t scare Ash off, “when I need someone to walk me down the aisle?”
The room went silent, and I knew he was watching me, but I had to say it. I had to.
“What happens when we have a baby? Will you refuse to see us because it’s his baby?”
A hand reached out and squeezed my fisted fingers. I hadn’t realized how much I’d been wringing them until he’d gently framed them with his own.
“We love each other, Dad. I mean, sure, anything can happen, but we want this to work. I honestly and truly feel like he’s the one for me. The beginning and the end. If I have any say in things at all, then we will end up getting married, and we will start a family. Are you willing to miss out on those things because you’re too stubborn to detach your pride from this?”
“Who the fuck it talking about weddings?” Dad balked.
“I am,” I pressed. “Not tomorrow or next month, but in a year? Maybe two?”
He sputtered, but Ash seemed to take it in stride.
“It’s certainly not out of the question,” he added in such a soft voice, meeting my eyes with a sparkle of hope in his. “If I could be so Goddamn lucky…”
Dad stood, throwing himself to his feet before storming out of the room.
“This is insanity!” he hissed before going down the hall and locking himself into his office.
“Well, that went well,” Mom drawled.
“I don’t know how we’re supposed to talk with him if he’s going to be like this. He’s refusing to see reason.” I took my hand from Ashton’s, but scooted closer to him before adding, “You get it, right, Mom?”
She nodded, propping up her chin on her fist much like Ash had done, and sighed deep from her gut.
“I get it. And I have to say, I’ve never seen either of you so happy. Despite your father.”
“I am happy,” I promised.
Ash nodded and put his arm around me again. “So am I.”
