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Dianna bit back a smile. If only he knew what Brielle had been capable of over the years. “You’ll see. Everything has a way of working out.”
“Like how they’re working out with that Wood fella?”
Her eyes widened and she tore her gaze away from him. Oh that was just great. Grace just couldn’t keep her mouth shut. “I don’t know what Grace told you, but—”
“She didn’t say a thing.”
Dianna risked another look in his direction.
“Yesterday, when you didn’t come down for any of our meals, I had a feeling something was going on. We all knew you were getting close to that man and his son. Heck, that night you didn’t come home—”
She gasped. “You knew about that?”
He offered her a smile. “There’s very little I don’t know about that goes on under my roof. When you didn’t come home, your sisters were in a tizzy. I was the only one who played it cool.”
“But why? I broke curfew. I was supposed to come home—certainly not spend the night with a ma—” Her face flushed despite the freezing air. “I didn’t—you know—do anything—” She swallowed hard, this time unable to meet her father’s studious gaze. “He was a perfect gentleman.”
The silence was unbearable. Whatever he was thinking was probably far worse than what actually happened, and he hadn’t even come to her and asked about it. The restraint he’d had was… unbelievable.
“Dianna.” His soft voice wasn’t enough to force her to meet his gaze.
She wrapped the reins around her hands and pulled them tight until she started to lose feeling in her fingers. This whole situation had gone from bad to worse, and all it had taken was for him to bring up her mother.
“Dianna, will you look at me?”
She lifted her gaze, hating the way her blush deepened.
“Do you think I would have stood by and let that man spend more time with you if I had thought otherwise?”
There was no way to put into words the shock she felt over his confession. She blinked and attempted to make sense of where this conversation had turned.
“Out of all of my daughters, I knew you would be able to fend for yourself. You know how to put up walls and stand your ground.”
That didn’t exactly sound as good as he was probably meaning for it to. From how he described her, she was a fortress and no one was permitted to enter. Mathew had probably weakened her defenses which had allowed Tristan to get close to her. That was the only explanation she could come up with. And even that made her cringe inwardly. Her eyes darted away, searching for a way to convert how he’d described her into something admirable, but she couldn’t. No matter how hard she tried.
“But as with any strength, there comes weaknesses.”
Dianna’s focus shifted once more to her father.
“You are so much like your mother. I see her in you nearly every single day. It’s not just the way you look. It’s in the decisions you make and the foundation of your personality.” He gave her a sad smile. “Your mother was so good at putting up barriers that I had to really work hard to knock them down. But once I did, it opened up a whole new world for both of us. I will always attribute the successes of this ranch to her analytical brain. Sometimes I thought she was magic with the way she could predict certain things.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Dianna’s features pinched. None of what he was saying seemed to fit with the things he was pointing out in her own relationship.
“Your mother loved deeply. She cared a lot about people and helping our ranch prosper. But sometimes she would stand in the way of her own happiness. When I tried to help her realize that, she would remind me that I was smothering her and she wanted to figure things out on her own.”
Understanding dawned in Dianna’s mind and she scowled. “So you think I’m making a bad decision in regard to Mr. Wood. You think I’m standing in the way of my happiness, is that it?”
He chuckled, holding up one hand. “Let me finish. Being with your mother was a learning experience. She could set her boundaries and need a certain amount of time to sort things out. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I learned how to give her that space. But I’m only human. Sometimes I slipped up. Did that mean she walked away from what we had together?” He shook his head. “Granted, I think she was far too stubborn for that. And maybe you got a little of that stubbornness in you, too.”
“I still don’t know why you’re trying to make me run back to Tristan. I made my choice. It’s the right one—”
“It might be right for now. But you have to allow for the variables. Sometimes something that is right in the moment isn’t necessarily right for the long haul.”
She let out a groan. “So youaretelling me that I’m wrong. What are you expecting? That I go apologize and tell him I want him back—” Just like that, her defenses shot up and her heart flipped. She was already worried about how their interaction would go this afternoon. There was no way she’d do what her father was suggesting.
“Relax. I’m not asking you to do any of that.”
“You’re not?”
