“Just a selection of cakes I thought you might like,” he said, hoping that would encourage Lottie’s sisters to keep their questions short.
“Okay, hang on just a second.”
Carri and Tilly retreated to just outside the door to the hallway where they conferred for a few minutes. Lottie began clearing the table, piling the dishes by the sink. She then refilled everyone’s glasses with iced tea before bringing more forks to the table.
A few minutes later, her sisters returned to the table and Lottie stepped back, knowing Travis would not appreciate her trying to shield him from her sisters’ questions. He was, after all, a retired warrior. Surely he could handle anything her sisters could throw at him. Instead of sitting, she retreated to the sink where she began rinsing the dishes and loading them into the dishwasher.
“All right, ladies. What would you like to know?”
Carri started. “So, Captain Williams… what are your intentions toward our Charlotte?”
He could not help smiling when he heard Lottie groan behind him. “I am hoping she’ll do me the honor of allowing me to Daddy her for the rest of my life.”
His inquisitors shared a glance and a sigh before Tilly asked her question. “Do you have a job or are you expecting Lottie to support you?”
He had to swallow down a growl before he could answer this question. Not only was it insulting to him as a Daddy, but also as a man. What man would ever ask a woman to support him?
“I recently retired from the Navy and have more than enough income to support myself, and your sister if she never wants to work again. I lived frugally and have a healthy investment portfolio and plan on working for another twenty or more years, once I decide what that business will be.”
The questions shifted from his finances on to other aspects of his life. From the sounds Lottie made as she finished cleaning up the dishes, they were questions that she’d heard before. They were also personal, invasive, and possibly embarrassing, but he found himself more amused than insulted by how much these sisters cared about one another.
By the time Lottie finally sat down again, her sisters had finished their questioning.
“I approve,” Tilly said with a smile. “But just know that if you hurt our sister, you’ll have us to deal with. Us and our men.”
Travis nodded with appreciation for the not-so-veiled threat. “I would expect nothing less.”
With that, Carri and Lottie picked up their half-eaten desserts and glasses of tea and said good night.
At the doorway, Carri stopped and turned back. She looked deadly serious as she said, “You have fifteen minutes to saygoodnight. Then you need to leave and not come back until Sunday. No calls, no texts, no emails, no contact at all.”
Travis nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
And then they were alone. Travis pushed his chair away from the table and pulled Lottie onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her and brushing a kiss on her temple. “You okay, Lottie-love?”
She looked up at him, her eyes glassy with unshed tears. She looked so sad it hurt his heart. “I’m sorry.”
“They love you just like you love them. They only want the best for you. Besides, it’s better you know the answers to all those questions now rather than learn them in six months. But you might also want to know that I also like to exercise first thing in the morning and I have been known to eat in bed.”
Lottie giggled and buried her face into the side of his neck. She breathed deep and released it on a long sigh, relaxing completely into his body. “I love you, Captain Daddy.”
“I love you, too, Lottie-love.”
“And I really do love the building we visited this afternoon.”
“Good, because I have an appointment tomorrow with the realtor to buy it,” he said, chuckling when she lifted her head and gave him a wide-eyed look of surprise.
“You do?”
“Yes, my sweet little candymaker, I do. And I’m going to talk them into letting us move in before we close, so expect to move into the apartment on Sunday. We’ll be living without any furniture until we can go shopping next week.”
Lottie smiled. “I have a house full of furniture we could shop through for now since I don’t think Carri or Tilly will be taking any of it. That is, if you don’t mind living with used furniture.”
“I’ve slept on airport floors and in rooms no bigger than this table. I’d be honored to use your furniture until we decide if we want something different.”
“Time’s up!” Tilly and Carri called from the living room.
“I guess that’s my cue to head out,” he said, helping Lottie stand before rising himself.
