Dinner was atrociously awkward. While Colt’s steak and potatoes called to me, everyone was quiet at the table. My father kept his face down in his plate and Colton wasn’t breaking the silence with any updates from work. I didn’t have anything to say. Well, other than the fact that I was beyond excited that the charges had been dropped. But, they both knew that. I’d been dancing around with my father all day and the second Colt walked through the door I threw my arms around his neck.

A gesture my father saw with both of his eyes.

Still, with every bite of my steak, I stole glances at Colt. And every time he caught my stare, he tossed me a wink that made my stomach do flips. However, every time I looked over at my father, the flutters went away and anxiety set in. I knew something was on his mind. I always knew that look on him. Lips pursed a little more than usual. Brow furrowed a little deeper than normal. His movements, rigid. His jaw, tense.

I wish he’d just spit it out so we could all talk about it.

“I want to say something,” my father said.

Thank you, Lord.

“What is it, Dad?” I asked.

“I’m all ears, Clay.”

My father wiped his mouth with his napkin and sighed. “I want to start off by saying I still don’t understand it.”

“Understand what?” Colt asked.

My father and I both flashed him a look at that question.

“But,” my father sighed, “just because I don’t understand it doesn’t necessarily means it’s a bad thing.”

My eyebrows rose on my face as my father turned his attention to me.

“Sweetheart, when your mother was in the hospital, she knew she was dying. There came a point where even she grasped the fact that the doctors couldn't do anything else, and honestly? I think she accepted it quicker than any of us did. And she made me promise to look after you as if you were my own,” he said.

He reached out and took my hand, and I quickly slid my palm against his.

“There was never a question in my mind, Callie. When I got the phone call from the hospital, somewhere in the back of my mind I knew it was the end. I wasn't ready to admit it, and my heart wasn’t ready to let go, but I knew something terrible had forever altered the course of our worlds. It was… the way the doctor sounded on the phone. It was somber, with a hint of urgency. And when I walked into that ICU room and saw all of those tubes, I know.”

Tears filled my eyes as my father’s hand began to tremble.

“I knew it was the end,” he said breathlessly, “and the first thing that hit me was how I was going to take care of you. Provide for you. Care for you, like the daughter you’d always been to me. You are my little girl, blood or not. And I’ve always tried to give you everything you could ever have, just as if we were blood related. I wanted to give you everything you could possibly have to succeed in this world. In this lifetime, Callie.”

“You’re my Daddy, Clay,” I said, sniffling.

My father’s thumb slid across the top of my hand. “It’s going to take some time for me to come to terms with what’s happened between you and my brother. It’s going to take time to… digest. Unpack. Accept, if this is something you really want. But there are two things I already know. Two unwavering truths that never faltered throughout the course of my relationship with your mother.”

“And what are those?” I asked.

“One, she loved you. More than life itself, Callie. The only thing she ever wanted for you was for you to be happy, healthy, and safe.”

“And the other?”

Clay brought my hand to his lips to kiss before nuzzling his cheek against it. “She trusted us with you.”

My eyes flickered over to Colt, watching as he leaned back into his chair.

“She trusted me and my brother with you, Callie. Myself, and Colton. And if being with him is what you want--if the man you want to be with is him--then I’ve already been given the one thing I could ever of a man who comes into your life. I already know you’re protected with him. I already know you’re provided for with him, even though you can take care of yourself.”

I let out the breath I was holding before my eyes fluttered over to Colt again.

“It’ll take time, Callie. And that’s the best I can do. I can’t tell you I won’t get angry at time. All of us will have many talks about this. Lots of talks, so I can try and understand it. But if Colton is who you want, I want you to know that I’m not going to stand in your way.”

My body shuddered at the words. I launched myself at him, wrapping my arms around the neck of the only man I’d ever called ‘Dad’. I sobbed into his neck. It was the best gift anyone could have given me. I didn’t know when the turnover happened. I didn’t know when I stopped loving Matthew and started loving Colton. Hell, I didn’t know if I had ever loved Matthew and ever not loved Colton. I didn’t have those answers. I didn’t have dates. I didn’t have hard lines.

All I had was how I felt.

And what I felt was a searing, throbbing, desperate need to call Colton ‘mine’.

“It’s okay. I’m right here,” my father whispered.

He kissed the top of my head before I sat back down, my hand wiping at my tears. Then, I watched my father turn to Colton and time seemed to slow down.

“All right, Colt.”

“Hello, Clay.”

“I’m going to give you the same damn rundown. You ready?”

“I’ve been ready for five years now,” Colt said.

I saw my father’s eye twitch, but he kept good on his word. He didn’t lash out in anger and he didn’t turn his nose up at the statement. Instead, he drew in a deep breath and spoke.

“If you hurt her, Colt--if you harm her in any way--you are done. If you abuse her in any fashion, we are done. And if you do anything that warrants her tears or breaks her heart, I will bury you with a smile on my face. You won’t have to draw up an agreement that protects your half of the business because you won’t be alive to see it through. Are we clear?” my father asked.

I looked between my father and his brother. My stepfather, and my step-uncle. Clay, and Colt. And the two of them shared an unspoken moment with one another. I’d seen them do it a lot growing up. Twins who could communicate with just the lock of their eyes. They held one another’s gaze as the tension in the room grew, then Colt crossed his leg over his knee and nodded. With that nod, Clay got up and put his plates in the sink, which started a cascade of effects that ended with the table being cleared.

And as I carried my glass to the sink, I felt my father press a kiss to the top of my head.

I whipped around one last time and hugged him. Wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him close. He held onto my tightly, burying his face into the crook of my neck. The way he always did when we were crossing over massive bridges that forever altered our family. He did it when I first started high school, and when I graduated. He did it when I first went off to college and when I first came home. He did it the first time I ever went out on a date and after the first time I ever got my heart broken.

And now, he was doing it again. After I had found the man I was really meant to spend the rest of my days with.

“You’ve grown into the most beautiful, most intelligent, most outstanding young woman I’ve ever known, Callie.”

Tears streamed down my cheeks as my father drew in a shaky breath.

“And she would be so, so very proud of your choice.”