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“But it’s the truth,” I say, unable to hide the passion in my voice. “I felt it the moment I saw her. But I’m sorry too, Fiona. We shouldn’t have gone behind your back.”
“So what happened, exactly?” she murmurs. “I mean, I don’t need all the details, but just the gist of it.”
I take a deep breath, wondering how I can put this into words. Then I tell her, as best I can, about laying eyes on Sadie and knowing that I had to claim her, about the closeness that erupted between us. I keep all the sexual aspects out of it, which does a disservice to the effect Sadie has on me, the potent sexuality that my princess possesses. But I can’t go into that with my daughter.
“And you’re happy?” she says. “Both of you?”
“Yes,” Sadie and I say at the same time, with so much conviction that Jasper snaps his head up, glancing between us.
Fiona laughs, the last thing I expected her to do.
The laughter goes on and on, taking on a shaky quality, almost manic, and for a dread-filled moment, I wonder if this has turned my daughter insane.
“I’m so glad,” she whispers.
“What!” Sadie and I say, again at the same time.
We exchange a glance at each other. She smiles for a beat, before remembering how serious this all is and wipes her expression clean.
“Glad?” I mutter a moment later.
“Well, I thought it might just be a hookup, and that would’ve been weird. I don’t know, maybe it’s crazy. But I think that would be way worse than this. The way you two are looking at each other right now, it’s so cute, it’s so real. I’ve never seen you like this before dad—either of you.”
“Wait a second,” I say.
“You knew?” Sadie says, getting in there before me.
“Sort of,” she says. “Well, I knew that something was going on.”
“When? How?”
“The night I came home drunk,” she says, taking a deep breath and leaning forward. “I didn’t accidentally set the alarm off that night. I found you two in the study. You were sitting in Dad’s lap, Sadie, and you didn’t exactly look like you were hating it, you know? I didn’t know what to do. I acted on instinct. I ran to the door and I put in the wrong code for the alarm a few times, setting it off.”
“Why?” I say, disbelief sizzling.
“Because I wanted you to tell me in your own time,” she says. “Whatever this is … Dad, you’ve spent so long on your own. I’ve never even seen you look at another woman after Mom left. And that’s always seemed weird to me. I mean, no offense, but it’s not like you and Mom had this fairytale relationship. Even when I was a kid I could tell how distant you two were. But when I caught you in the study, you looked so damned focused on Sadie. And afterward, the little looks you were giving each other …”
“You saw those?” Sadie whispers.
“Goldilocks,” Fiona says, rolling her eyes, smiling now in a way that tells me perhaps this is all going to be okay. “It was hard not to see. I did try and give you a chance to tell me in the cab on the way to the airport, remember?”
“I thought I might be imagining it,” Sadie says.
“Pfft,” Fiona laughs. “You know me better than that. When you didn’t tell me, I just thought, hey, she’s going to do it in her own time.”
“I thought you were going to go crazy when you found out,” Sadie says, rising from her chair – the blanket falling away – and walking over to Fiona. She sits down next to her, tentatively taking her hand. “I thought you were going to freak big time, honestly.”
“Me too,” I admit.
Fiona mock glares at us, first Sadie and then me. “Is that really how you see me?”
“Well, yeah,” I smirk, testing the waters.
“I love you both,” Fiona says. “I want you to be happy. Sure, it isn’t exactly conventional. But if you’re both happy if you really want to try and have a relationship, then who am I to get in the way?”
“Jesus, Fiona,” I say. “Do you have any idea how proud of you I am right now? You sound so goddamned grownup.”
“Newsflash, Dad,” she says. “I am grown up. I’m definitely more mature than you little lovebirds, sneaking around like a couple of teenagers.”
“Okay, okay,” I laugh. “I didn’t realize we were at the joking stage already.”
“It’s real, Sadie?” Fiona asks, turning to her friend. “You really feel something for him?”
Sadie bites her lip, nodding. “At first I tried to explain it away. I mean, it’s only been a few days. It makes no sense. But then I realized that something that feels as magical as this doesn’t have to make sense.”
