Page 27 of Love Everlasting

“Conditions?” Jack frowned, the male in him obviously balking like Ben had.

“Yeah.” Ben set his beer aside, hands clasped between parted knees. “She wants me to clear the air with Cam.”

Lacey winced, shoulders in a scrunch as she gritted her teeth in a commiserative smile. “Gosh, Daddy, that won’t be easy. Uncle Cam thinks your middle name is Lucifer.”

It was Ben’s turn to wince, well aware there was plenty of bad blood between Cam and him over the miserable husband he’d been to Cam’s sister, ruining her life. His jaw hardened. And given the way Phillips was hanging all over Tess when they’d entered Marv’s office, he could probably times that by two. His mouth shifted sideways. “Thanks, Lace—good to know, although it’s not much of a surprise.”

“You said ‘conditions.’” Jack absently raked his nails up and down Lacey’s arm, brows knit over eyes dark with concern. “More than one?”

Ben upended his O’Doul’s, almost wishing it were a real brew rather than the non-beer Tess had badgered him into. “Yep, only two, but the second one is a real doozy.” His smile tasted as flat as the beer. “She wants us to be friends.”

Lacey’s brows shot straight up. “You and Uncle Cam?”

“Yep, ol’ Lucifer and the Admiral,” Ben said with a hoist of his bottle, “as thick as the noose Tess put around my neck.”

“Oh, Daddy …” Lacey tugged her lower lip with her teeth, hazel eyes so like his own warm with sympathy. “I’m sure Tess will be fine with you just forgiving him and clearing the air, don’t you think?”

“Ha!” Jack’s jibe said it all. “Not the Tess I know.” He shook his head with a grimace. “Mom’s like a steel trap when it comes to ‘conditions.’ Just try and slip out, and you’re likely to lose a leg.”

“Or your heart,” Ben muttered, his gaze drifting out over the water in a dead stare.

“Yeah, knowing Mom, she’s probably playing hardball.” Jack’s sigh carried on the breeze. “No compliance? No dinner, fishing, friends, or whatever else we wanted. Growing up, it was Mom’s way or the highway, so I don’t envy you, sir.”

Ben managed a faint smile at Jack still calling him “sir” after almost nine months of marriage to Lacey. But then Ben hadn’t been around since the wedding when Jack and Lacey moved into his house to dog-sit Beau. “Me either, Jack.” His smile took a twist. “She’s sticking to her guns on no dating or official get-togethers till her conditions are met, which relegates me to phone calls, texts, or stolen moments if I’m lucky enough to catch her out on the patio. Which is why I need your help—both of you.”

“Anything,” Jack said, their relationship considerably warmer now than years ago when Ben considered Jack no more than a punk who dated his rebellious daughter. “Just name it.”

Head bowed, Ben peered up beneath a half-lidded gaze. “I know you two probably see Mamaw and Cam on a regular basis, so I was hoping Lacey could enlist Mamaw’s help in both praying I can clear the air with Cam and putting a bug in Cam’s ear that he needs to do the same.”

“Sure, Daddy, Mamaw will be glad to do that, I’m sure.” Lacey’s smile was tender, reminding Ben of the miracle God had performed in healing his relationship with his estranged daughter. “And, of course, Jack and I will be praying about it too.”

The edge of Ben’s mouth lifted the slightest bit. “I’m counting on it, sweetheart.”

“What else?” Jack wanted to know, his eagerness to help easing Ben’s smile into a near grin.

Ben reached to scratch Beau’s head while the black lab slept at his feet. “I have no earthly idea how I should go about this. Tess gave me Cam’s cell number and I’ve left several messages, but he refuses to call me back.” Sucking in a deep draw of air, he expelled it again as he sagged back in his seat. “And it’d be too awkward for me to just show up on his front door, so I figured I’d wait to run into him this week at the marina. Marv says he has an appointment on Saturday to test-run another boat.”

“That’s a good plan,” Lacey said with a nod of her head.

Ben’s smile zagged sideways. “If it works. I’m worried he’s going to take a swing at me or just plain tick me off with his bullheaded stubbornness before I can even get him to talk.”

“Oh, you’ll manage, Daddy.” The assurance in Lacey’s tone was tempered by a squirm of a smile. “After all, you’re both mule-headed Irishmen, so you have a lot in common.”

Jack pinched Lacey’s waist. “Including a certain mule-headed Irish daughter and niece.”

Ben grunted. “Who pales in comparison to a certain mule-headed Irishwoman holding a gun to my head.”

Lacey giggled, the sound winging in the air along with the seagulls above. “Try to look at it as a loving incentive, Daddy, instead of a gun, for a man Tess knows all too well.”

Ben shot her a narrow gaze. “Hey, whose side you on, kiddo?”

A tender look of love welled in her eyes, along with a sheen of tears. “Yours, Daddy, the father I love with my whole heart and soul,” she whispered, “and one of God’s greatest blessings in my life.”

Emotion clogged in Ben’s throat as he battled the sting of moisture beneath his own lids. “Right back at you, sweetheart.” He deflected his gaze to the glimmering waves, which rolled as much as his stomach. “Well, I guess if you and Tess got through to a hardhead like me, I suppose there’s hope for me and Cam. But it sure won’t be easy.”

Lacey scrambled out of Jack’s arms to sit next to her father, looping a gentle arm to his waist. “No, it won’t. But we’re Carmichaels, Daddy—we’re big on grit and God, so all you have to do is talk to him.” Her eyes sparkled with tease. “And maybe grovel a tiny bit.” She ducked to smile into his eyes. “You know, like I had to do with you?”

Ben groaned, kneading the bridge of his nose. “Don’t remind me.”