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“Here we go,” Ronald said when there was a knock at the door.
My stomach tensed as I walked toward it, expecting Detroit.
But it was Dallas at the door.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, brows scrunching.
“Is that any way to talk to a lady?” Ronald snapped, making his son immediately look sheepish. “She’s gonna be your sister-in-law, you know,” he added as he tried to haul himself out of the chair.
Dallas and I went to him in unison, each grabbing one of his arms and lifting.
It was right then that a shadow passed over all three of us.
And there was Detroit.
I stared at him, knowing I had this whole speech planned, but my mind was suddenly wiped clean.
I watched as confusion and tension moved across his features. Then, as his gaze landed on me, a softness.
“I should have known you were in on this,” he said, gaze moving around. “So, this is where you’ve been when you said you were visiting Della.”
“No! I visited Della too! I wouldn’t lie. Sometimes, Della and I were both here with your dad.”
“Your girl has been an angel,” Ronald declared.
“Can’t argue with that,” Detroit said, nodding. “Dallas,” he said, and there was tension in his voice.
“Detroit,” Dallas said back, eyes and tone cool.
“That’s enough of that,” Ronald said, taking on such a fatherly tone that I missed my own father so much it ached. “Go out, shoot some hoops, and work this shit out once and for all,” he said, waving at the door. “While my future daughter and I finish dinner.”
“Bring Betty,” I told them, waving toward the princess that was sitting on the arm of the couch, sunning in the window.
“When the fuck did you get a pet gremlin?” Dallas asked, getting a laugh out of Detroit as he grabbed her leash and attached it to her collar.
“She might be small, but she bosses around the German Shepherds at the club,” Detroit explained as he led her outside.
Dallas shifted his feet awkwardly before Ronald barked at him to get moving too.
“They’ll work it out,” he assured me.
“You have more faith than I do, I’m afraid,” I admitted.
“They get that stubbornness from me,” Ronald said, shaking his head. “Their ma was an angel like you. All sweet and good. Dunno how she put up with me.”
“Hey, you’re a good guy too,” I insisted, reaching out to give his hand a squeeze.
“So,” he said, eyes bright. “When are you giving me some grand babies?”
“As soon as I am done with school,” I told him.
Though, as it would turn out, fate would have other plans. Ones that meant I was as big as a house when I finally got my degree.
But that was a story for another day.
All I can say about this day was that when I went outside to call the guys to dinner, I found Betty perched in one of the flower beds I’d just planted, and Detroit and Dallas in the middle of a serious-looking game of basketball.
One that ended with laughter.
