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I chuckled and ate the rest of my lunch.
When I got up to clean and took the dishes to the sink, my dad coughed, clearing his throat.“You didn’t answer my question.”
I shoved the dishes in the dishwasher and turned around to face him.“Oh, sorry, Dad.What did I miss?”
I didn’t remember him asking me a question, but I’d been wrong before.
“How are Mason and Leo… and you?How are the three of you going?”
My jaw dropped, then I slammed it shut before he noticed my shock.How did he know?“Um… what do you mean, Dad?”
“Look, I don’t want to have this conversation either.But I’ve been told I have to ask, and I have to give you permission to love whoever you want to… and all that jazz.”He ran his hand through his hair, groaning.“As if I need to tell you that.You’re the strongest woman I know.You could have ten husbands and still run circles around them.”
I pulled the elastic out of my ponytail to distract myself from the super awkward conversation, then lifted it again to wrap my hair into a bun on top of my hair.“I’m really not getting what you’re saying, Dad.”
He groaned again.“Seriously, Tania?I can smell them both in the apartment.”
My face flamed with heat.“Dad!”
“Well, tell the truth then, Tania.And I won’t have to point out the obvious.”
I pressed my hands into the kitchen counter and leaned forward, “I’m not used to talking to you about guys, Dad.We never have before.”Which made me curious.“So why now?”
Dad sighed.“Your mother had a premonition, the day she met your shifters.She said they were going to be your husbands, which of course I didn’t believe at first.But they’re good guys and when I walked in here and smelt their… well… them, I realized that you’d obviously progressed your relationship.So yeah.I just wanted to tell you that we support you, baby.One hundred percent.”
I didn’t know what to say.Mom thought Mason and Leo were meant to be my husbands?I dismissed the idea without a second thought.Mom was wrong.She had to be.What Dad had just said was ridiculous.
He shoved his hands into his pockets, looking for all the world like a sullen teenager.
I rounded the counter and gave him a hug, needing to reassure him, as much as myself, that we were okay.“Thanks, Dad.”
He kissed my head and squeezed me tight.“I know you’ve had asshole guys before now.But these two are different.”
I nodded and closed my eyes, listening to the sound of his heart beating in his chest.“I know.I just…”
“What?”
Now that I wasn’t looking at him, it felt easier to say what I needed to.“There’re two of them, which is weird enough.And they’re shifters which, according to all the magicals, are little better than animals.”
Dad hugged me tighter and I wouldn’t have been able to get away, even if I wanted to.“It’s not just that, is it?I know you used to wish you were like your mother.Powerful in magic, tiny in body.”
I groaned and pushed against him.“Dad!”
“No.”He pulled me back into the hug.“Let me say this once, okay?I know my size worked for me as a player, and as a man.But I know you’ve struggled your whole life to feel comfortable in your skin.You took after me, and I celebrated that, even if you didn’t.”
I didn’t answer, the lump in my throat was too great.
He continued.“But you’re beautiful, baby.You are.And these men… they look at you the way they should.With desire, and love, and awe.So don’t give up on them, okay?Don’t push them away.God knows I pushed enough women away thinking I didn’t deserve them.”
I pulled back enough so I could glare up at him.“Seriously?”
He shrugged.“I wasn’t always this comfortable, or confident.Your mother changed a lot of things for me.All good.So yeah.I said what I came here to say, so I can go home with a clear conscience.”
He turned away to head downstairs again and I called out.“You wanna put in a training session while you’re here?I just got a new butterfly press in today.”
Dad twisted back around.“How heavy can your bars go?”
I laughed as I headed toward the stairs with him.“Let’s go find out.”
