“Not really.”
“Yes, really. Now, to the second reason I came to find you. These past months have been a bit of a farewell to my freedom tour, in a way. I want you to be a better father than I was. In my case, staying away from you and Arabella was probably the right thing, but you’re different. You’ll be a wonderful father, and because of that your children will need you near. I’ve decided to take back the reins and...well...reign.” He stands and nods. “And don’t worry. I won’t fuck it up.”
He turns and starts for the door, and I find myself wishing he wouldn’t go, which is strange because I’ve pretty much hated him since I was ten. I stand. “Dad, hang on.”
He turns back and smiles. “What is it?”
“Just this.” I take a couple of steps and hug him. A long, sweaty hug that neither of us was expecting.
He wraps his arms around me and hugs me back, and even though he’s shorter than me, I somehow feel small again, but not in a bad way.
The door swings open, and my father’s senior adviser, Phillip, walks in. “Your Majes...” His voice trails off.
We break apart and give each other a quick, formal nod before he pivots on his heel. “Yes, Phillip, what do you need?”
They walk out the door, and I find myself standing in the middle of the gym, trying to sort out what the fuck just happened. The story about my mother sinks in, and I’m rocked by the sadness of it all. I’m all at once filled with a sense of hope as well, knowing I love my grouchy, enormously swollen Hobbit wife with everything in me and she loves me right back with an intensity that’s sometimes frightening. I toss my towel in the ‘used’ bin and set off to go fix everything.
***
IRENE ANSWERS THE DOOR, her face spreading into a wide smile when she sees who it is. "Prince Arthur, what are you doing here?" A look of understanding crosses her face, and she lowers her voice. "Oh, you came to make up with Evi and Ruben.”
"I'm here to try."
She steps aside, giving me barely enough room to get into the apartment, then says, "Good luck. They’re really pissed at you."
“Brilliant.”
"I'll go get them." Irene walks down the hall, and I stand awkwardly in the doorway, taking a look around. It's a nice apartment with a view of the park across the street, but I can see how there wouldn't be enough room for four adults to live comfortably here—especially if two of those adults are Evi and Ruben Sharpe. But I suppose thoughts like that aren’t going to be useful for me if I intend to patch things up. My hands feel clammy, and I wipe them along the sides of my suit jacket as I wait. A moment later, I hear Evi's voice getting closer.
"Well, just give him a chance. You have no idea what he’s going to say."
"I don't care what he’s going to say."
When they walk into the living room, Ruben gives me a solid glare, then folds his arms across his chest. "I suppose you're here with a bill for the damage."
"No. I'm here to apologize and beg you to move back in with us," I say, feeling like an absolute cad when I see the hurt in their eyes. "I never should've spoken to you like I did. I was completely out of turn, and I'm truly sorry."
Evi smiles and nods. “Good enough for me, I'll go pack."
Spinning on her heel, she disappears down the hall, leaving me alone with Ruben and Irene (who is seated on the couch, pretending to watch a daytime talk show when in actual fact, she's eavesdropping).
Ruben shakes his head at me. “Youreallyhurt Evi's feelings. Not mine, mind you, but I won't tolerate people speaking to my wife the way you did.”
“Nor should you. It was quite unforgivable for me to lose my temper like that,” I say. “I wouldn’t blame you if you never had a good feeling toward me again. You don’t ever have to talk to me again, but Tessa needs you and Evi right now. She’s a mess. She’s also completely furious with me, and she’s scared.” Sighing, I say, "So am I.”
His face softens a bit so I take the opportunity to try and explain.
“I'm not sure if you'll be able to relate to this at all," I say, looking Ruben straight in the eye. "But as soon as I found out we were expecting, something just happened to me—I can’t exactly explain it, but I suddenly found myself a bit of a nervous wreck, to be honest. And I've been making some shockingly bad decisions, not the least of which was how I overreacted to what happened the other day.”
“That you have.”
“But...I think I got it out of my system, and I'm going to be okay now."
"You better be. Because in a matter of days you're going to have the responsibility of a lifetime, and you had better bloody well step up."
"I will. I promise you I will take the best possible care of Tessa and our children,” I swallow my emotions and keep talking. “I’d do anything for them. Take any risk necessary, lay down my life if I had to...”
He gives a conciliatory nod. "I've never doubted you would.”
