While Hunter patiently held a club meeting to discuss things with them about our new mission, I decided to go ahead and make the phone call.

Now that my fiancé was convinced, or, far more accurately, at least willing to give this desperate thing a solid try, I figured that it was time to sort out the game plan.

After all, it was true that I had no idea when my father was even going to be available. The first step had been to get Hunter onboard, and now I just had to do the same with Dad, although there was no use in getting us blocked off at the start. As much as I hated to do it, deceiving him was the only way he’d let my man step foot on that yard. But I had no idea when to do it.

There was a chance that I’d put Hunter and myself through all that grief for nearly nothing…

Luckily, he picked up on the third ring.

“Hi, Daddy!” I greeted him.

My father replied in his typically guttural voice. After all those years working out in the desert, he always sounded like he kept a handful of gravel in his throat.

“Sarah… sweetheart, how are you?”

I paused, realizing I hadn’t rehearsed this.

“…Sweetie?”

“I’m good! Great, even!” I answered, a little too strongly. I needed to get a grip of myself…

Why am I suddenly afraid of this phone call?

“Listen, Dad, do you have a moment free?”

“For you?” He chuckled. “Always.”

I took a deep breath.

Now or never…

“Well… you see, I was kind of thinking about maybe coming back up to Phoenix for a few days. I’d like to come visit!”

“Is that so…?”

“Whenever’s best for you,” I hastily added. “It doesn’t have to be right now. We can wait a few weeks, if that works out better–”

“Nonsense!” He cut me off. “I’m a retired man, remember? The timing’s good, I was going to call you in the next few days anyway…”

“Oh yeah?”

“That’s right,” he chuckled with that throaty voice of his. “If you’re free, come on up now. Ain’t no reason why you should wait, unless you’ve got something going on down there. A case, maybe…”

I thought to myself for a moment.

I could buy us some time…

But something told me that we needed to nip this thing in the bud sooner as opposed to later. What was the point in delaying the inevitable? Either this was going to work, or not…

“No, I’m between cases right now. We can go ahead and come up, find a motel room nearby–”

“That won’t do. The spare room is still yours, whenever you need it, sweetheart…” He paused, and I felt a small change in the air.

This was it…

“You said ‘we’ a few times there,” my father quietly observed. “Were you planning on bringing company up here, Sarah?”

I swallowed my apprehension.

“Well actually, yes,” I told him. “That’s a lot of why I wanted to come visit now. You see, Dad… I’ve met somebody, and I’d like you to meet him.”

“Is that right?”

“Yeah. Is that okay?”

“Of course!” He laughed mirthfully. “Go on and bring your man up here. Let me get a good look at him.”

I breathed a quick sigh of relief.

However, I had to quickly remind myself that the hard part was still to come...

“Be warned, though. You’re a grown woman, Sarah, but you’re still my daughter. I can’t help but still be a little protective. You’re all I’ve got left in this world, after all…”

“Of course, Daddy.”

I heard him smile into the phone.

“When were you plannin’ on comin’ up?”

My gaze turned. Hunter was standing nearby, hovering quietly. He had a stoic look on his face, but I knew that he was just as apprehensive about this as I was.

“You doing anything tonight?”

“Tonight?” Dad laughed down the line. “Not much, no. Where are you now?”

“El Paso, on the edge of Texas. I figure that we can probably make it in six, maybe seven hours.”

“Just in time for dinner, then.”

I looked at my watch.

Technically, he was right.

I quickly held my hand over the receiver and looked over at Hunter, mouthing Dinner?

He raised a cynical eyebrow.

“Sure!” I answered. “Dinner sounds great.”

Dad sounded pleased. “Well, in that case, I’ll throw a few more potatoes in the pot and make a small homecoming feast of it. I’ll even cook your favorite. How does that sound, sweetheart?”

The longer this went on, the guiltier I felt.

“It sounds wonderful!” I forced a smile.

“Great. Let me know if you’re running late. You’ll have to let me meet the lucky man, and tell me all about your private eye career…”

My heartstrings tugged. “Absolutely.”

“In that case... I’ll see you tonight, sweetie. Drive safe. I love you.”

“Love you too, Dad.”

All too eagerly, I disconnected the call. There was a tremendous pit in my knot-filled stomach. It had been easy to be so sure about this before, but now that it was a done deal…

“Well, that sounded pleasant.”

Hunter placed a finger under my chin.

I searched those dark, handsome eyes. Within them, I found overwhelming love and a deep pool of emotional support. Holding his warm gaze, I drank of it, bathed myself in it, strengthening my resolve for whatever would come of this.

“I love you,” he told me.

“I love you too, babe.”

Hunter planted a sweet, lingering kiss on my lips. I felt his rugged hands slide up my arms until they were massaging my shoulders, and I smiled into his kiss.

This is how I loved us best.

Supporting one another.

Nurturing each other.

Together, we were unstoppable.

“How did it go in there?” I asked.

Hunter sighed. “Not well.”

“I was afraid of that.”

“They’ll get over it with time,” he told me, holding me close. “Even with Grizz swooping in first, playing the diplomatic angle, it was a pretty tough sell. My Devil’s Dragons are a proud bunch.”

“Including you,” I whispered supportively.

The father of my child pulled away, his firm hands still rubbing into my shoulders. “Whether it works or not, they need time to come to terms with the fact that I’m even trying. But I hold their unquestioning loyalty. They trust my judgment, accept my decisions, and follow my lead…”

It seemed that Hunter had been telling me the truth all along, at least about how strongly his men felt about all of this. This entire time I had privately hoped that, out of his own reluctance, Hunter had intentionally overplayed whatever pushback they’d give us.

Apparently, that wasn’t the case. Maybe that was the best I was going to get out of them. At least they hadn’t tried to overthrow him in the middle of the meeting.

“Think they’ll be okay by the wedding?”

“Depends on when the wedding is,” he noted. “But they’ve given me their word that they will try to come to terms with this privately. The club isn’t happy, but they’re not going to fight us, even though they’ve made it clear that they are only supporting this decision out of respect for us.”

Well, better than nothing.

I moved one of my own hands up to hold his strong, rolling fingers against the tense joint, enjoying the feeling of his sympathetic, loving touch.

A sly smile pried up the corner of his lips.

“Well, babe, if we’re gonna make it for dinner, I guess we’d better get a move on…”