Ichabod’s lips parted and then he shrugged.
“Okay…” Ichabod admitted, and then everybody started laughing again, including the girls, even though they had no idea what they were laughing at.
Little Chrissy came up to Ellis and held up her arms. “Hold me.”
“All right, baby girl.” Ellis scooped her up. “You okay?”
She nodded, then shook her head. “I have to potty.”
“All right, let’s go.” He waved Ichabod off. He had this. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t been together for a while now.
He got her on the pot and left her there with the door open so he could hear if she called out for him.
Allie came wandering by, heading into her bedroom and coming back out with a baby doll and her little yellow blanket. “I’m gonna go snuggle on the sofa with Daddy. He wants to know if you want coffee.”
“I’ll totally take a cup of coffee, baby girl. Could you tell him yes, please.Thank you.”
“Okie smoky.” She gave him a grin, “It’s just us tonight. You, me, sister, and daddy. It’s like a slobber party.”
“It is. I love that. We’ll have our baby girls time.” He loved that she was so happy. He’d worried about her when he first moved in.
“I like that. I like to have time with just us. I like to have time with everybody too. But it’s kind of neat. Daddy and Bell and us.” She gave him a worried grimace. “Does Santa Claus know you live here now?”
“He does!”
“Oh good!” Her relief was written clear on her face. “It’s important that Santa knows. What did you ask him for?”
“Oh, honey. I asked for everyone to be here for Christmas and to be healthy and happy. And for aftershave.” Since he knew that was what the “kids” had gotten him.
“Boy perfume right? You like boy perfume? The one in the black bottle? I-I-I-” She was panicked for a second, then she took a deep breath. “I will tell Santa that is what you want. We can write a note.”
“I’m done!” Chrissy called.
“I’m coming!” he sing-songed back. He glanced back at Allie. “I would love if you would tell Santa that that’s what I would like — the boy perfume in the black bottle.”
“Okay!” She was so relieved, and he took pity on her.
“I’ll be right back with Sissy.” He winked, then headed in to get Chrissy so Allie could get her wind back.
Chrissy got herself settled, washed her hands, and was hurrying out of the bathroom so he could flush the toilet. She was still a little bit scared of the toilet flushing sound.
He honestly didn’t believe that he’d have been able to fall in love with these kids so fast. These little girls had him wrapped around their little fingers, and Michael was honoring him every day with how he wanted to be a cowboy. And Zane, damn it, that kid was trying. He was giving it his all.
They headed back into the front room where Zane was shrugging on his coat. “…so, is it weird?”
“Is what weird?” Ichabod asked, eyebrows drawing down.
“Well, like, you’re paying your boyfriend to work for you. That’s— I don’t know. I mean, it’s not like y’all are working together. I don’t know how that works. Is it weird?” Zane shrugged, looking confused. “More than anything, I’m curious if you… should I not ask?”
“Hey, you’re my son. That means you’re part of this family. If you have a question, you can ask. If I don’t feel like I can answer, I won’t, but I can answer this one. Ellis is working for the trust — that’s who pays him, not me. He’s not my employee, the trust is his employer, and you know what? It is a weird situation. I mean, think about it. Think about how weird it is for me. What if, once Chrissy is a grown-up, if you all decide that as a group you hate me and you want me off this land? I’ll have no choice but to go. It’ll be yours.”
“We wouldn’t do that! Dad, you have to know that we would never do that. Even when we’re mad at each other. We would never do that to you.” There was nothing quite as passionate as a teenager.
“Well, and I hope that I will always have a place as your dad. I hope that you all have this amazing life here, and when you go off, we make a huge success out of everything. That everybody makes money for a long time to come and has homes for a long time to come and is happy.”
Zane tilted his head. “Are you going to marry him? Do you think that would ever happen?”
“I don’t think that right now we’re in a place to know whether we’re going to get married. But I don’t think we’re in a place where we’re not ever going to get married. I think we have to learn to live together. And when it’s the right time,ifit’s the right time, then we’ll do that.”
