"No, I don't understand!" Faith insisted.
Violet just smoothed down her hair. "I know, Faith. I do know, but it's complicated."
"Will you tell me?" she asked.
I squatted down before her and pulled her closer, looking up into her face. "I promise, but I need you to believe me about something, ok?"
"Ok," she said without hesitation.
"Violet and Ash did not cheat. I'm not denying what you saw. I'm saying your definition is wrong, and we're going to talk about it. We will answer all of your questions, and I am probably going to blush and feel stupid, but I will do that if you will believe me about this one thing. I'm not mad at Violet. I love her - almost as much as I love you."
"Almost?" she asked.
I nodded. "Yeah, but they kinda feel the same. They love me almost as much as they love you, and we all agreed that no matter what, you will always come first."
She threw her arms around my neck and hugged me with everything she had. "I love you too, Daddy. Can we go home now?"
Darnell just lifted his keys. "I brought the SUV if you want to trade."
"And let you drive my truck?" I asked.
"What? It's big. It's black. Pretty sure I know how to deal with both those things," he joked.
So I dug into my pocket and found my keys, then traded. "I would've let you just because you're my brother, but I like your reason better."
"Me too," Darnell agreed. "And I'm gonna take Cess out for dinner, so y'all get a couple of hours to deal with..." He made a circle with his hand indicating all of us. "...That."
"Then pick up burgers for the grill," Violet told him. "I'm going to eat a whole one by myself tonight."
"And a little champagne," Cessily said, "because we need to celebrate!"
"Yes, we do," I agreed. "Today, my family is all together."
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Luke made sure that Meredith knew he had Faith and then the group of us headed out. Ash dropped his arm over Luke's shoulder, steering him in the right direction to Darnell's SUV, and we all listened to Faith talking about how her grandfather freaked out about the pictures, saying it was disgusting, and that he used the bad words.
I wasn't shocked. Meredith had learned them from somewhere, but at least Faith was breaking the cycle. When we reached the vehicle, Cy snagged the keys and said he was driving. Ash took the passenger seat, leaving me, Faith, and Luke to sit in the back. The best part, however, was that Faith kept smiling at me. It was as if seeing those pictures had made something click in her head, and I was no longer in trouble.
And still, I had to ask. "Do you still hate me, Faith?"
She shook her head. "I never hated you, Violet."
"You made me feel like it," I told her.
She turned to face me, her expression overly serious. "I hated that Dad was second place. He does so much for everyone, but you're a model, and Ash is a fashion designer, and Cy's a doctor. Everyone acts like Dad isn't good enough, but he is! He doesn't deserve to be second."
"There's no second," I promised her.
"And your dad is an engineer," Ash said. "More than that, he's self-taught. Those are good things, Faith. A whole lot of people can manage to memorize a few things from books, but there's not a lot who are smart enough to do the things your dad does."
"Ash," Luke groaned.
"I'm being serious, Luke. You make the damned tools you need. You can look at something and know how to fix it."
"You knew about the bolt right away," Cy added.
"I heard it," Luke explained. "The swather gets off-balance because - "
