"Yeah?" she asked.
I nodded to make the point. "Oh, yeah. They also don't care if you wake them up. I think Ash would love it if you needed him for something. Violet keeps waiting for you to be mad at her again. Cy is so proud of you for everything you've overcome. They also tell me when you talk to them. Maybe not everything you say, but they do tell me that it happened."
"Like about the other night?" she asked timidly.
"You mean talking to Ash about sex stuff?" I ducked my head to see her face.
She wrinkled up her nose. "Yeah."
"He told me that you had questions and he had answers. I told him that I was glad you felt comfortable enough to ask, and that I trust him to say the right things."
"So I'm not in trouble?" she asked.
"Not at all," I promised. "Am I in trouble?"
"You're my dad!" she huffed.
"And I was in trouble when I wouldn't break up with Violet," I reminded her. "Faith, I'm serious. I honestly want to know what you think about my mess of a love life. I'm not going to get mad at you. I just want to make sure that I'm not making you feel uncomfortable, ok?"
"So..." She glanced up at me quickly, then back to her dog. "Violet can spend the night with Ash or Cy, right?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Or both. Our rule is that it doesn't matter. Any of us can be with each other in any order we want. Doesn't matter if that's to talk or snuggle or for more."
"Sex," she said, proving that she really was growing up much too fast.
"Yes, sex," I agreed. "If you want to talk to me about that, I'm going to sound like an idiot and blush a lot, but I will answer."
Faith let out a nervous laugh. "It's easier to talk to Ash. Cy talks to me about the other parts, like how to know what I'm feeling."
I waited for her to keep going, but that seemed to be all she had. "Is that a good thing?" I pressed.
"Zeke said that they'd probably tell me how to have sex too," she said matter-of-factly.
I damned near choked on my own spit. "What?" I gasped. "Faith, you're thirteen!"
"I mean later," she insisted. "Dad, the only guy I know likes the same guys I do! None of them like us."
Ok, well at least there was that. As horrible as it was, that actually made me feel better. "Right," I mumbled, trying to get my shit back together. "And I bet they would talk to you about sex. I know that Ash would, and Violet too. Cy might blush like me."
"He really would," she agreed. "Or he'd put on his doctor face where he's too calm-looking."
"That's him," I agreed. But she'd also given me the opening I'd wanted. "So, if you're actually ok with them, then would you get mad if Ash spent the night with Violet again?"
She looked up quickly. "Like, alone?"
"Alone," I agreed. "I was talking to him earlier and said I wanted to spend the night with Cy tonight, and he asked if I thought you'd be mad if he slept in Violet's room."
Her forehead creased and her eyes focused on something in the distance, but she didn't exactly look away. Instead, it seemed like she was thinking just as hard as she could. Her hands even stilled on her dog.
"Cupcake, you can talk to me about what's on your mind," I said softly.
"It seems weird," she said, blinking her eyes back to my face. "Like, I keep thinking that I should be mad at them because I was for so long, but it's not what I thought. Zeke tried to tell me about poly, but I just don't get how it works. I keep thinking that it means Violet doesn't love you, but you said that you wanted to spend the night with Cy, so that should make it ok, right?"
"It makes me happy that she can spend time with her best friend," I explained. "She knew Ash when she was your age, and they never left each other's side. For me to push in and try to keep him from her seems wrong, but it's what she thought would happen. The first time those two kissed in front of me - and yes, it was my idea - they weren't sure. They said it was a bad idea, but I was trying to figure everything out. And when they kissed, I realized that if I love someone, then I should love it when something makes them happy, right? Like you getting that dog. She makes you happy, and I'm not jealous because you have a new thing to spend all your time with."
"But it's a dog," she countered.
"But it's your time," I pointed out. "And Violet loves me. She has proven it in ways that I never thought possible. I mean, she got me an attorney, and she helped us make sure that you were safe from Brody, and so much more. Things that didn't help her at all, but she did them because they helped us. Me and you."
