by B. B. Hamel
I was so afraid that we were done.
I was afraid I lost her, that we couldn’t survive this.
Maybe I was wrong.
We break apart and she’s breathing deeply, close against my chest.
“I love you, Avery,” I say softly. “I’ve never said those words to anyone before and I don’t care how improbable or impossible this is. I love you and I need you.”
She looks up at me, a little smile on her lips. “That’s what I came here to say, you ass,” she says. “You beat me to it.”
I laugh and kiss her again. “I love you,” I say. “I love you.”
We kiss for a while. She whispers the words back to me, over and over again. “I love you, big Daddy,” she says in my ear as I pull her close against me.
I hug her tight, her beautiful body, her tiny little frame. Fucking hell, I love this girl. I’ll do anything for her.
Eventually we end up sitting on the couch, her feet in my lap, glasses of wine in our hands. I feel so relieved, like a weight’s been lifted, but we’re not done.
“So what did your mom say to you?” I ask her.
“Well, basically that I’m dishonoring my father, he’s rolling over in his grave, all that stuff. You?”
“That she’d sue me and tell the press how disgusting I am.”
She laughs a little. “Sounds about right.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Tell her the truth.”
I groan. “That sounds awful.”
“I know. But I won’t lie to my mom. That’s… part of this. Part of me being willing to do this.”
“Okay,” I say. “If you need it, you’ll have it.”
She smiles and leans forward. I give her a quick kiss.
“It’s going to suck,” she warns.
“I know.” I hesitate. “What will you do if she won’t forgive you?”
“I don’t know,” she admits. “Cry, probably.”
“Naturally.”
“I just hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“Yeah, me too,” I say softly.
We stay up late, drinking wine and talking about our future. By the time we go to bed around one in the morning, we have a pretty good plan for what we’re going to do.
In the morning, I make coffee and breakfast. She eats, but she looks nervous.
“It’ll be okay,” I say with more confidence than I feel.
“I know. I know. It’s just…”
“You’re afraid. I’m afraid, too.”
“She’s my mother. I just, I don’t know if I’m ready to lose another parent.”
I walk around the counter and hug her tight. I don’t know what else I can do. I can’t imagine what she’s going through right now.
But I do know one thing. No matter what happens today, I’m always going to love her. I’m always going to take care of her. She’s mine, my Avery, my girl.
We finish eating and head out. We have one quick stop in jeweler’s row before we pick up my car from a nearby parking garage. Her mom lives north of the city, about an hour’s drive. It’s not a bad trip but we’re both on edge, worried about how her mother is going to take this.
We park the car out front. I remember this house from all those visits years ago. I can’t believe she still lives here, but it’s that same house.
“Ready?” I ask her.
“I guess.” She looks down at her fingers nervously. “Are you sure about this?”
I lean over and kiss her. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”
She smiles, nods, and we get out of the car.
Sam is waiting for us at the door. She looks like she wants to start screaming.
“Hell, no,” she says.
“Sam,” I say. “We’re just here to talk.”
“No,” she says again. “Avery, honey, you can stay. But he has to go.”
“Mom.” Avery takes my hand and squeezes it. “Please, we need to talk.”
Sam doesn’t move. She looks like she’s about to start screaming.
“You bring this to your father’s house?” Sam asks softly. “Your poor dead father’s house?”
“Mom,” Avery says. “Can we just go inside? You can yell at us there.”
“No. He’s not stepping a foot in my house. That rat bastard is ruining everything, ripping away my baby girl, and you’re all I have left.”
“I’m not going anywhere, mom,” Avery says. She releases my hand and steps forward. “Okay? I love you. You’re my mom. I don’t want to lose another parent.”
That seems to get through to Sam. She looks pained and takes a step toward her daughter.
“Why are you doing this?” she asks softly. “Is it just grief? I can understand if it’s just grief. It drives us to do crazy things, honey, but he’s not worth your time.”
“Mom,” Avery says, firmly this time. “We’re getting married.”
Avery holds up the ring we bought on the way out of the city.
Sam stares at the ring, stares at her daughter, and finally turns to me.
“You bastard,” she whispers. “You bastard.”
“Samantha,” I say, holding up my hands. “I love your daughter. I know this is hard, but it’s real.”
“No,” she says.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” Avery says. “But please listen. I’m in love with Julian and we really are going to get married. It’s very, very real. You’re not losing me. I’m not going anywhere.”
“If you marry that man, I’m losing you. My husband and now my only daughter.”
“Mom, you’re being dramatic.”
I’m surprised at how well Avery is handling this. The longer it goes on, the stronger she seems to get.
“Excuse me?”
“Seriously,” Avery says, stepping toward her mother. “You’re a grown woman. Stop acting like a baby. Dad died a year ago. I miss him like crazy and I have a hole in my heart but I’m still a person. I have to live my life. And I want to live that life with Julian, whether you like it or not.”
Sam gapes at her daughter and I’m so fucking proud of Avery right now I can barely stand it.
“Listen, I love you, Mom,” Avery says softly. “If you choose to lose me, that’s your decision. But I’m not going anywhere.”
Sam is silent for a long time, staring at her daughter like she’s never seen her before.
“Okay,” she says, suddenly deflating. “Okay, let’s go inside and talk about it.”
Samantha turns back to the house and slowly walks back in through the front door.
Avery turns to me. I stare at her in total surprise.
“Do you think…?” I ask, trailing off.
“Not by a long shot,” Avery says. “But it’s a start.”
I grin at her and walk over. I kiss her and pull her against me.
“I love you. I can’t wait to marry you.”
“I love you too. I can’t wait either.”
We kiss one last time and we walk into the house.
It won’t be easy. It won’t be simple. Convincing Avery’s mother to stop hating me will probably take years, if she ever does.
But it doesn’t matter.
This is the future we talked about. We both want something real, a real family, a real life. And getting married is the first step.
Avery is going to be my business partner, my life partner, my wife. And I’m going to be her husband and her Daddy. I’m going to protect her always. Take care of her always.
Maybe her mother won’t approve. But that won’t stop anything.
Nothing’s going to be easy for us, but I don’t care about that. I have my Avery, I have my love. I finally feel like a piece of my life is clicking into place, and I don’t need to feel restless anymore.
I can be at peace with my new wife.
I love her, and I’m finally home.
17
Avery
One Year Later
I look down at the ring on my fing
er and wonder, for the millionth time, how I got so lucky.
The light coming in through my office window is long and pretty this early in the morning. I love getting in before anyone else does, even before Julian gets out of bed.
“You’re nuts,” he grumbled to me as I slipped out from under the covers. “It’s still dark.”
“I’ll see you later, sleepy.” I kissed him, took a shower, and left.
There’s something peaceful about this. I guess I just like being in the one place where I know I belong, where I have a voice and some authority.
Avery Publishing is already killing it, all thanks to our superstar author, Haylee Price.
The first book in her new series came out a few months ago, and sales have already doubled what we expected, and we expected a lot. It’s a sensation, selling like crazy, and I’m working insane hours with Haylee trying to get the next book ready to go as soon as possible. She’s writing like a demon, barely sleeping, and I can hardly keep up with her pace.
I absolutely love it.
Julian keeps warning me to take it easy, but I think he’s jealous. He can’t keep up with this fast pace anymore. Well, he can, but he doesn’t want to.
“I’m too old for this shit,” he keeps grumbling, as if I’ve never seen Lethal Weapon before.
I sip some coffee and watch the office fill up. I should probably get some work done but I just don’t feel like it. I’m too busy enjoying this quiet, peaceful time.
Until the phone rings, of course.
“Hello?”
“Hello yourself.”
I smile to myself. “Are you calling from home or from your office?”
“Home,” he grunts. “Still haven’t left. How’s it going there?”
“Fine,” I say. “We don’t need you.”
“I know, don’t rub it in.”
I laugh lightly. “Come on. I want to see you. Get your ass out the door.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbles. “Love you.”
“Love you too.”
I hang up, smiling. My receptionist pokes her head in through the door. “Haylee’s here,” she says.
“Really?” I ask, standing. “She’s early.”
“She looks like she hasn’t slept.”
I sigh. “Okay, thanks.”
I head out of my office, a stack of notes under one arm. Haylee is in the conference room like always, her stuff spread out in front of her, big bags under her eyes.
“Morning,” I say, sitting across from her.
“Did you get the pages?”
I nod and pull them from my file folder. Haylee emailed her new pages last night at three in the morning, which of course I didn’t see until I woke up.
“Haven’t read them yet,” I say.
She sighs. “Get to work. We don’t have much time.”
“Haylee, relax. The first book is still killing it. You can sleep at night, you know.”
“Not until this is done.” She sighs and rubs her eyes. “Seriously, Avery. I feel like I can’t sleep until it’s done.”
I frown and stand up. “Listen, you need to take care of yourself. This is a marathon, not a sprint. You have a lot of books ahead of you.”
“I know,” she grumbles.
I grin at her. “How about I turn out the light and you take a nap in here?” I gesture at the couch against the far wall. “You can sleep on that.”
She hesitates. “That’d be weird.”
“Yep. But you really need sleep. I’ll make sure nobody comes in.”
She frowns. “Are you sure?”
“Seriously. Go take a nap for a couple hours and then we’ll dive in.”
She yawns and stands. “I am exhausted…”
“Go nap.” I gather my stuff again. “I’ll check on you in a couple hours.”
She mumbles something, walks over to the couch, and collapses into it.
I smile and flip off the lights. I shut the door and track down the office manager. “Don’t let anyone in the main conference room,” I tell her.
“We have some meetings scheduled,” she says.
“Move them. I’m sorry.”
She sighs but nods and heads off to take care of it.
I make myself some more coffee and go into Julian’s office. Of course, he’s not in yet. I sit down in a chair in front of his desk, take out Haylee’s new pages, and start reading.
The second book is shaping up to be even better than the first. I’m so engrossed in it that I don’t even hear Julian’s door open and shut.
“You can sit behind the desk, you know.”
I jump a little. “Shit.”
He laughs and kisses my neck. “Sorry.”
“Good morning,” I say, standing up. I press myself against my husband’s body and give him a proper kiss.
“Good morning.” Julian grins at me, looking as perfectly handsome as he always does. Even when he’s tired and stressed, he still looks incredible.
We kiss again, not afraid if anyone sees. We’re married now, after all. A big, beautiful ceremony held right in the middle of Fairmount Park.
Everyone was there, all of his old friends, work colleagues, politicians, everyone.
Even my mom.
We break off our embrace and he sits down behind the desk.
“How’s she doing?” he asks me.
“Sleeping in the conference room,” I say.
He laughs. “Really?”
“Seriously. She was practically sleepwalking when I got in there, so I made her take a nap.”
“That girl is insane.”
“I know, but talented. Now we just need to make sure she doesn’t burn herself out.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll take care of her.”
“Just like you take care of me, Daddy?”
He grins. “Just like that.”
I lean over his desk and kiss him one last time.
“Better get back to it. I should finish these pages and mark them up before she wakes.”
“Good luck. Lunch later?”
“See you then.”
He watches me leave and I blow him a kiss on the way out.
I head back into my office and finish the pages. I spend the next hour marking it up, and when I’m finished, I pick up the phone and make a quick call.
“Hi, Avery, dear,” Mom says when she answers. “How are you?”
“I’m good. Just checking that we’re still on for dinner?”
“We’re still on,” she says. “Will, uh, Julian be coming?”
“Nope,” I say, grinning. “Just the two of us.”
“Oh, okay.” She tries not to sound relieved but I’m sure she’s happy.
Mom accepts my relationship with Julian. She hates it, still hates him, but she’s accepting it at least. I see her as often as I can and basically keep Julian away from her in order to make sure there are no more fights or blowups. I don’t talk about my relationship with him and she basically doesn’t ask.
It works. I don’t love it, but for now, it works. She’ll come around, sooner or later. I think we’ll have to have some kids first, but she’ll come around.
I finish with my mom and get up, smiling to myself.
I’m married, a partner at a publishing company, and practically mother to this crazy author girl who used to hate me but now seems to like me. My life has changed so much in the last year, and it’s all thanks to my new Daddy.
He took my virginity and he gave me a new life. I love him more than I can even express.
I walk over to the conference room, still smiling. I can’t wait for lunch. I can’t wait to see him, kiss him, touch him. And tonight, we get to go back to his place, to the apartment we share together, and just live. We get to live together, fuck when we want, do what we want. It’s the sort of bliss I never expected for myself.
I enter the conference room quietly. Haylee is snoring softly on the couch. I sit down at the table and can’t bring myself to wake her up.
There’s time for working. There’s going to be so much more time.
For now, I’ll let her sleep. Then we’ll get back to it.
And later, I’ll get back to my Julian.
I smile to myself, happier than I ever expected to be, and every day a little bit happier than the last.
THE END
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