My father waves a hand. “Out with it, Ira,” he says with a laugh.
I nod, taking a breath. “Okay, but first…” I tap the last empty seat next to my father, “we’re gonna need another chair.”
Jonah hops up. “I got it.”
He pats my shoulder as he passes and I nod a thank you.
“Another chair?” my mother asks, squinting as he disappears behind the partition. “For who?”
“My…” I hesitate, still stuck on what word to use. “Well…”
“You brought a date?”
“Yes!” I point at her. “Date. Good word. Yes, I brought a date.”
“Well, the more the merrier, as I always say.” She smiles and glances around. “Where is she?”
Jonah returns and squeezes a second chair in next to mine. “Good to go,” he whispers, once again patting my shoulder as he returns to his own seat.
“Thanks.” I clear my throat. “Now, before I bring her out, there’s something you need to know.”
My mother grunts. “You didn’t elope, did you?”
Graham and Jen both cringe.
“No,” I answer with an awkward laugh. “No, we definitely didn’t do that.”
“Engaged?” my father asks.
“No. Not there yet.”
“Is it someone we know?” she asks.
“Stella?” Dad guesses.
My mother’s jaw drops. “What?”
“No!” I hold up a hand. “No. It’s not Stella.”
He shrugs. “I saw the two of them getting extra cozy at breakfast the other day.”
She ticks her tongue. “Well, I’m going to have to have a talk with her about appropriate client interactions.”
“It’s not Stella!” I say, ignoring my brothers’ laughter. “Her name is Veronica.”
“Oh, that’s pretty,” Mom says.
“Ironica!” Hayden blurts out, drawing silent stares from across the table. “Sorry. It just came to me and I wanted to coin it before anyone else could.”
“Ira,” my father says with an even, nonsensical tone.
I exhale hard. “Okay, I guess the best way to tell you would be to just show you, so…”
I step back toward the partition and wave at Veronica. She nods and slinks forward with Michelle still hanging from her arm in the car seat.
My mother instantly looks down, noticing the little baby and she smiles.
“Mom, Dad,” I say, standing beside them. “This is Veronica.”
Veronica waves a hand. “Hi. It’s nice to meet you.”
I open my hand for the handle and she slides the car seat over to me. “And this is Michelle,” I say, pausing. “Our daughter.”
My mother’s smile drops. My father sits back, his spine forming a straight line against his chair but his stoic face doesn’t budge.
“Your what?” Mom asks.
I walk to the empty chairs and set the car seat down. “It’s a long story, but…” I detach the strap holding her in place and carefully pick her up, finding the action a little easier now after my brief night of daddy experience. “This is your granddaughter.”
My mother stands up out of her chair and walks over. “Oh, my god…” she coos, her mouth open wide as she stares at Michelle.
“Son…” My father squints. “Are you sure?”
“Kingston,” she scolds him.
“Yes,” I say. “We’re sure.”
“Of course, they’re sure. Look at those big eyes!” Mom opens her hands. “May I?”
Veronica chuckles. “Yes, by all means.”
Mom easily takes hold of Michelle and holds her up, drawing her in to balance on her arm like a damn professional. The two of them quietly admire each other while the rest of the table leans in. Jen gives Graham a slap on the arm, no doubt appalled he didn’t leak this information earlier, and he just laughs and kisses her shoulder. Hayden nudges Penelope’s ribs and she promptly shakes her head, shooting down any hints he might be dropping. Jonah just smiles and bows his head at me, more than happy to let me win this year’s award for Mom’s best birthday gift.
Veronica and I take our seats in the two empty chairs between Jonah and my father. I feel a strong hand on my back and my father leans in with a smile.
“Congratulations, Ira,” he says.
“Thanks, Dad,” I say.
“Make sure you follow up with Stella,” he adds with a sharp edge to his voice. “The sooner the better.”
I pause, wondering if he happened to just put two and two together in the moment or if Stella briefed him on our impromptu chat a few days ago. Either way, I can’t say he’s wrong.
Rather than answer, I give him a sincere nod instead. I don’t blame him for saying it. Protecting his family is what a father does.
Still, it makes me wonder just how far Kingston Botsford would go to do that.
My mother sits down beside him and holds Michelle in both hands, softly bouncing her on her knees. “She’s beautiful,” she says. “Isn’t she, Kingston?”
“Very much,” he answers, his tone light and jovial now.
Graham gestures at her. “All right. Stop hogging the cutie. Pass her over.”
We laugh as Mom reluctantly obeys, though she does so with a hopeful glimmer in her eyes as baby fever washes over her sons.
She turns toward me and Veronica and leans forward. “Okay. Start from the beginning. How did this happen?”
Veronica and I share an awkward glance.
“Uh,” I say, lost on where to even begin. “Well, we met overseas a few years ago and—”
“Oh!” She slaps the table. “You’re Towel Girl!”
Hayden snorts into his glass.
I deflate. “Even you knew heard that?”
“Of course,” she simply says. “I know everything, Ira. It’s my job.”
“Who told you?”
Hayden feigns impatience. “No one cares. Is it my turn yet?” he asks Graham.
“No,” he answers, shielding the baby in Jen’s lap.
“I call dibs,” Jonah says. “I get her next.”
“No, you’re the youngest,” Hayden says. “You go last.”
“I don’t really see how birth order is relevant here.”
“Says the favorite.”
I look at Veronica as my brothers continue their squabble over our baby. Her smile deepens as her eyes glisten and her shoulders relax. If she didn’t believe me about them before, then she does now.
I take her hand and raise it to my lips, planting a soft kiss on her knuckles. It gets her attention and she looks at me, her eyes gazing right through me as they always do.
Yes.
Of course, I’m going to work something out.
Of course, I’m going to be in my daughter’s life.
Of course, I’m going to be a good father.
Yes, I said.
And I’m glad I did.
Eighteen
Veronica
“Hey, man! Watch my foot!”
“Hold up!”
“Where’s Ira?”
“I don’t know. He’d said he’d be right back.”
Ira chuckles. His beard tickles my chin as he kisses me again, blatantly ignoring the voices of his brothers echoing throughout my house. I sink a little deeper into the bare mattress on the floor of my bedroom, keeping one ear on the hallway for stomping feet.
“Shouldn’t you go help them?” I ask.
“Eh,” Ira grunts with his lips on mine. “They’ll figure it out.”
I laugh, unable to resist a few more stolen moments with him. “Surely they’ll get suspicious soon,” I say. “It does not take twenty minutes to carry a mattress inside.”
“V, one does not simply drop a mattress on the floor,” he argues with a hand inching toward my breast. “One must properly inspect it to ensure minimum damage occurred during cross-country transportation.”
I snort. “Is that right?”
“Common knowledge, honey.”
<
br /> “And this inspection must happen now?” I ask. “With more than half the moving truck still to go?”
“See, now…” his hand reaches my breast, “that’s why my three strong, manly brothers are here to help.”
“So you and I can properly inspect my mattress?”
“Exactly.”
He attacks my neck, kissing hard and I melt beneath the heat of his touch.
“Oh,” I hum. “I get it now.”
“Then why are you still talking?”
His lips find mine with a wild kiss, officially silencing me while his brothers continue to fade off somewhere in the driveway.
A sharp cry cuts through the quiet house and Ira turns his head, breaking our kiss.
“That’s Michelle,” he says, flexing to push himself up.
I hook a finger through his shirt collar and pull him back down. “But that’s what the strong, manly nanny is for,” I say, smiling.
He narrows his eyes with his focus split between me and his baby girl in the next room but her cry quickly fades away, overtaken by Derrick’s soothing voice.
“See?” I say as I successfully seduce him back down.
“Hey, Ira!” Graham shouts from the foyer. “The second truck is here!”
I lean away. “Second truck?” I repeat, confused. “But there’s only one truck.”
Ira smiles and pushes off the mattress. “Come with me,” he says as he grabs my hand.
“Why is there a second truck?” I ask.
“Just come on.”
He leads me out of the bedroom and down the hallway. We reach the foyer as Jonah and Hayden ease through the front door with an armchair balanced between them.
“Living room?” Jonah asks me as we pass.
“Yes, please!” I answer.
Hayden sways to the left but Jonah sways back.
“Dude, it’s this way,” Hayden says.
“No, it’s faster that way.”
“But I wanna go this way—”
“Only if you want to run into those boxes you still haven’t moved—”
“Watch it—!”
I laugh at Ira’s rolling eyes as he tugs me toward the door. The moving truck still sits in place but now a very large pick-up truck with a full bed of boxes is parked at the curb with Fiona Botsford behind the wheel.
“Hey, Mom,” Ira greets as she hops down from the driver’s seat.
I hold in a gasp. How this woman manages to look impossibly elegant in a tank top and sweatpants is beyond me.
“Hello,” she says as she slides her thick sunglasses off. “I did my part. Now, where’s my reward?”
Ira gestures behind us. “Down the hall. Second door on the right,” he says, describing the way to the nursery.
Fiona bows. “Thank you.” She smiles at me. “Lovely neighborhood, Veronica.”
“Thanks,” I say, letting her pass into the house. “Ira, what—”
He’s already gone by the time I turn back, halfway across the lawn toward the truck. I step off the stoop and follow him, veering out of Graham’s way as he single-handed carries a box the size of my whole body.
“Ira…” I stop beside him. “What’s going on? What is this stuff?”
Ira opens the truck bed and grabs the first box. “It’s my stuff,” he answers.
“Your stuff?”
“Yeah, just some stuff I had in storage back home. I asked Mom to gather it up and bring it over.”
I blink. “Okay, but what is it doing here?”
“Because I’m…,” he picks up the box and quickly turns, “moving in.”
My mouth opens as he bolts around me and makes his way back to the house. “Excuse me. What?” I ask as I follow close behind him.
Ira heads inside and takes a wide step out of the way as Hayden passes over the threshold.
“Ira.” I hop around Hayden, determined to get an answer. “You’re moving in?”
“Yes,” he answers as he plops the box down on the dining room table.
I put my hands on my hips. “And what exactly is wrong with your hotel room?” I ask.
“Nothing,” he says. “Except that it’s not here with you and my baby girl.”
A throat clears from the kitchen behind us.
“And Derrick,” Ira adds.
I glance over his shoulder, finding Derrick standing in the kitchen doorway with a fresh bottle of milk in his hand.
“Thanks, man,” he says.
Ira flashes a thumbs up at Derrick and steps forward to leave. I jolt out in front of him to block his path.
“Hold on,” I say. “We should talk about this first.”
“I don’t want to miss this, V,” Ira says. “I want the short days and long nights. Every first. Every milestone. I want those memories and that means being here. Not there.”
My heart skips twice. “Okay, but—”
“And…” he smiles, “the more villagers around to help raise our baby, the better. Right?”
I bite down, completely unable to think of a suitable counter-argument as fire itself sparks in my chest.
“Ah, hell,” Derrick says, grinning. “He’s got my vote.”
I glower at him and he backs away. The sound of his stride quickly disappears down the hall toward the nursery as I focus my attention back on Ira.
“Ira, if you move in, then what does that make us?” I ask.
“Well, I slept on that,” he says. “Just like we said we would and, honestly, V…” He pauses and shrugs his wide shoulders. “I don’t think it matters right now.”
“Really?”
“I’m her father. You’re her mother. Everything else will fall into place eventually.”
“But what if they fall out of place?” I ask.
“Then, we’ll work something out,” he says, “but the former will never change. She’ll always be a Botsford.” His brow bounces. “You, too. One day. If that’s… what we want.”
My lips curl. “We’ll talk about it.”
“Oh, definitely,” he says, shaking his head. “But later, though. Not now.”
I laugh. “Yeah, we’re not ready for that.”
“Nope.” He bites his lip, chuckling.
“Of course, you do realize this means no more room service?” I ask. “You’ll have to cook your own meals, do your own laundry, get your own towels…”
Ira winces. “Well, I did not think this one though.”
“You’ll have to drive to work every day like a normal person.”
“You mean we get to carpool to work every day,” he says with excitement. “That’ll be fun.”
“Will it?”
“Yeah! We’ll get up early, have breakfast with the kiddo. Then, the nanny takes over, we drive to work, come home at the end of the day, and do it all over again. I can get used to that.”
I chuckle at his enthusiasm. “That does sound pretty doable. Maybe even a little fun.”
He nods and steps closer to wrap his arms around me. “It sounds perfect,” he says.
I tilt my head upward as his finger guides my chin.
“Hey.”
We pause as Derrick rushes in from the hallway. I grow tense, my gut twisting with sudden panic at his wide eyes.
“What is it?” I ask.
He points over his shoulder toward the nursery. “Have you seen your mother’s swaddling technique?” he asks Ira.
Ira nods. “I believe I’ve experienced it firsthand…”
“She’s amazing.” His eyes grow wider. “I think I love her.”
Derrick spins back down the hall.
Ira squints uncomfortably. “Hey, stay away from my mom, man…” he says after him.
I laugh out loud and he glares at me for a moment before shaking it off.
“So, what do you say?” he asks. “Let me join my daughter’s village?”
I gaze into his playful eyes and smile. “Yes,” I answer. “Yes, you can stay.”
“Yeah?”
I nod. “Ye
ah.”
He cups my face and draws me closer.
“Hey, dick! Slow down!”
“No, you speed up.”
“Why am on the heavy end?”
“Because you’ve been skipping leg day since 2007.”
We pause, holding back chuckles as Hayden and Jonah bicker back and forth in the driveway.
“Every village needs an idiot, I suppose,” Ira jokes.
“Usually not more than one…” I say.
He laughs and pulls me closer.
This was a good idea.
We kiss again, ignoring the voices outside.
A very good idea.
Epilogue
Ira
I glance at the clock on my desk. 5:45 PM.
Three hours, fifteen minutes to go.
“So, you and Penny will be here on Thursday?” I ask into the phone.
“Yes,” Hayden answers. “We’ll be announcing the news at Mom’s birthday dinner.”
“I’m happy for you, Hayden. Congrats.”
“You and Veronica aren’t engaged, too, are you?” he asks. “Because I don’t want you guys stealing our thunder again like last year.”
“No,” I say with a laugh. “We are not engaged. And unless Graham and Jen have some news to drop, I think your thunder is secure.”
“What about Jonah?”
I shake my head. “Last I heard, they were taking things slow. I doubt he’s looking to settle down anytime soon. And I know she’s not, so…”
“Excellent…” he whispers, his voice sly and warm. “This is my year.”
I laugh. “Congrats, man. It’s about time.”
An email notification pops up on my laptop. I tap it open with my free hand and scan the short, simple email from Nigel.
RE: Randall Wood
Nothing to report.
Good.
“Anyway,” Hayden says, “I gotta get going. We’re having dinner with Penny’s parents tonight.”
“Gonna break the news to them?” I ask as I close the laptop.
He exhales hard. “Yeah.”
“Don’t worry about it. No one in the history of the world has ever muttered the phrase, ‘Oh, no. My daughter is marrying a famous rich guy.’”
“You got a source for that?”
I laugh. “Deep breaths, brother. I believe in you.”
Just a Fling: A Heartthrob Hotel Novella Page 13
