He frowned. “I was referring to business when I said it. Now, I’m talking about relationships. Love. You can be … not as adept at learning in that arena.”
I simply stared at my father. Anyone else would have gotten afuck youbut he was the man who’d raised me.
“How do you know what I need to speak to you about is concerning my relationship?”
He shook his head, as if knowing that was my next question. “See? You don’t even know how obvious you are sometimes. It’s after six o’clock at night. It’s getting dark. And you’ve put in a full day of work. You would’ve let anything business related wait until tomorrow while in the office. Personal, on the other hand, that is the only thing that would keep you from getting home to your wife and kids on a Friday evening.”
Taking a step back from the doorway, he let me enter.
“Mother?” I questioned.
“She’s over Joshua and Kayla’s, helping with Victoria and Kennedy.”
I nodded. Kennedy was sleeping over Joshua’s that night to spend some time with her cousin.
I followed behind my father as he strolled down the long hallway of the main floor of Townsend Manor, toward his home office. As we entered, I glanced around the room, taking in the ways it’d changed over the years. Instead of the huge, cherrywood desk, he’d replaced it with a sleeker, glass desk, which had a phone, laptop, and a few books, business magazines, and papers on top. Of course, there were pictures of the entire family, prominently displayed.
I watched as he picked one of the photos up. From what I could make out it was the photo we’d taken only a few months prior, at a Fourth of July picnic in the backyard of the manor. The image was of all of us, including all ten grandchildren.
“This is my legacy. What I spent years building, long before you were even born.” His eyes moved from the framed picture in his hand to me. He turned the photo around so I could clearly see it. “Now tell me how you’re fucking it all up?”
I grunted and the scowl I usually wore deepened. I didn’t respond as I sat down, still glaring at my father.
“I’m waiting for an answer.”
Again, my gaze bounced around the room. “Remember that day I told you and Mother I wanted to learn to read?”
His eyes squinted, forehead wrinkled as he stretched his memory back all of those years to recall that scene. “Yes.” He nodded finally. “You came in here while your mother and I were talking. It was the day—”
“I met my wife for the first time.”
He looked at me, eyes widening just a small amount as he took in what I’d said. “I’ll be damned. So it was.”
“She was my inspiration. I thought then it was because I was embarrassed by a girl five years younger than me, barely able to climb up onto the couch by herself, teaching me how to read. But …” I broke off, sighing.
“It was more than that.”
I nodded.
There was a long pause.
“So tell me how you’re fucking it all up.”
“You sound just like Carter,” I grunted.
My father smirked. “He’s a chip off the old block. Just like you.”
I turned to my father.
“Since you won’t talk, let me take a guess. Patience is pregnant.”
He held his hand up, cutting off what I’d been about to say.
“She didn’t tell me, not directly anyway. But it’s hard for anyone to keep a secret around here. Especially, when she’s running to the bathroom every hour to throw up.”
I glared at my father, alarmed. “It isn’t that often.”
“How do you know?” He quickly shot back. “My guess is you’ve been completely checked out of this pregnancy, because you’re scared shitless of losing your wife.”
