Page 228 of Sky’s Edge

It was so irritating when Dad was awesome after he’d been not-so-awesome.

“How did you know Mom was the one?”

There was a long, loaded silence before he queried, “The one?”

“Yes, Dad, you can read from that I have feelings for Tanyn, which you already knew, and it’s bad form to rub it in. And yes, you can read from me coming to you about it that they’re strong.”

“But you still have concerns?”

“Not really. It’s just…it seems to be happening very fast. And it feels like it’s something more.”

“Falling in love is a lot, my darling,” he said kindly.

Was it just that?

“You know I dated, and I did it quite a bit,” I reminded him.

“I do know that.”

“I tried to find someone. I was open to it.”

“I believe you.”

“They just weren’t…”

“…the one,” he filled in for me.

“So? How did you know about Mom?”

“One afternoon, I text commed her. She didn’t reply. Not unusual, so I left an a-comm. She didn’t return it. She never left it long in getting back to me. But I again texted, just to ask her to reply and let me know she was all right. And when she didn’t, I left another a-comm, sharing the same. As the minutes moved into over an hour, there’s no other way to describe my reaction. I panicked.”

The thought of my father feeling that emotion absolutely stunned me.

He was always a totally together male (when he wasn’t angry, and that was annoying too—the together part, and obviously the angry part).

“Panicked?”

“Fear took hold. Honestly, my lovely girl, it was crippling. I thought something had happened to her. The thought of a life without her in it had me in a stranglehold. I left work, got right in my craft, went to her job and only felt better when I saw her. Of course, after that, we had a wild row. But during it, I learned she’d bought a new Palm, it had a battery glitch and had run out of power. We ended the row with me asking her to marry me.”

Excuse me?

“Wait, I thought you proposed during a picnic in Crimson Park.”

“That’s when I gave her the ring and it became official.” I could hear the humor in his tone when he said, “And it was a much prettier picture to give our daughter than me shouting at Freya that I wanted her to be my wife.”

And I understood his humor.

“Ah,” I said.

“Can I make a suggestion?” he requested.

“Shoot,” I invited.

“Don’t overthink it. Just let it happen. It’s early days, and I’ll admit, in those days, when you’re attracted to someone and it starts to dawn you’re going to fit, emotions are heightened. It can be overwhelming. Exciting, but also frightening. Try to let those go and just let the relationship build naturally.”

“But this feels like something…”

“…more?” Again, he filled in for me.