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“But could you…could you turn around please? Please, Daddy? This time? I…I don’t want to disappoint you, but I wasn’t expecting this, and it’s a lot, and I—”
Huxley knew he’d pushed, but the note of panic in her voice was unexpected and he didn’t like how troubled she seemed. He dropped to his knees and cradled her jaw in his hands, pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Shh, shh, babygirl, nothing to get all worked up about. I know I’m asking a lot, but it’s only because I think you can handle it. Sometimes I’m going to get things wrong. While I hope you’ll consider things that make you uncomfortable or push your boundaries, you are always, always free to tell us that it’s too much, too fast, whatever it is. That’s part of your responsibility to us because we’re not actually mind readers. I can guess what’s going on in this pretty little head of yours but that’s all it is, a guess.”
He kissed her forehead again, both cheeks too. Studied her features and was relieved to see she seemed soothed by his assurances.
“You will never disappoint us, you understand me? You’re incredible and we’re so lucky to have you. So yes, this time, I will turn around. But you’ll still need my help and that’s non-negotiable. But after, I’m going to run you a hot bath and then we’re going to get you ready for bed. Want to sleep with both of us tonight?”
“Can I, Daddy?” she breathed, looking like he’d offered her something grand instead of the opportunity to be squished between two men who were like as not to paw at her throughout the night.
“Sure can. That’s where our little girl belongs.”
She nodded, and he tapped her on the nose before pushing to his feet.
“Better do your business because I’m sure Lo will be walking through that door any second now.”
* * *
Lowell
He shouldn’t have looked at his phone after getting himself cleaned up. But years of having the damn thing practically glued to his hand and synched with his brain made it a hard habit to break, even as he itched to get back to Tamsyn.
There was a text from Cabot, which was odd. The middle brother rarely texted him.
He and Hux were in almost constant communication, and his youngest brother, Keaton, seemed to have adopted memes and gifs as his love language. He had to admit he had a soft spot for cats being assholes…
But the text from Cab was short and not at all sweet:
Call me.
He’d just been with Cabot at family dinner, so he wasn’t sure what had come up between now and then. Or maybe it was something he hadn’t wanted Victoria overhearing? That he could sympathize with.
He thought about tossing his phone aside and leaving it til morning, but honestly, that would be invite suspicion. Everyone in the family knew he was always reachable. Most of them had him down as their emergency contact for precisely that reason. Everyone else slept.
Resigned, he called his brother. Just because he called didn’t mean he wanted to spend an hour on the phone. Cabot could be the kind of self-centered that meant he couldn’t tell when other people were over listening to him talk.
“Finally,” Cabot greeted him.
“What do you want?”
Save the manners for outsiders, and hopefully leave it to Hux or Keaton. They were the nice ones.
“I wanted to talk to you outside of Mother’s earshot.”
“Think we’re far enough?” he responded drily, heading downstairs to the kitchen. He’d make himself useful and gather up a few things to eat if he couldn’t be with Hux and their little girl.
“I want to run for Senate.”
There weren’t a whole lot of things that could stop Lowell in his tracks—he prided himself on being imperturbable—but that was one of them. Cabot in the Senate? He’d assumed he would run for the House at some point soon, but going straight to the Senate was gutsy. Or foolhardy. Maybe both.
“You know they’ll be able to tell you aren’t Hux, right?”
“Sure, but do you really think it matters?”
That was fair. It seemed as though as long as they had the Foster-Webb surname, it didn’t much matter which one of them it was.
But also, he would’ve told Hux it was too soon. Serve another few terms as a congressman and then go for the Senate. And Hux had good will built up. Sure Cabot had some name recognition but he didn’t have much in the way of personal political capital.
