Frowning, and a little surprised that Mr. James hadn’t swung at him, he looked over at the man just as Mr. James tossed his old beer in one of the trash cans that someone placed near the water’s edge, not that it was really needed since everyone was still back at the main campsite eating. He hadn’t seen anyone in over an hour and he’d been hoping to keep it that way for the rest of the night.
“I know it’s hard to believe,” Mr. James said, staring out at the water, “but I love that little girl more than anything and I’m damn proud of her.”
“You have a funny way of showing it,” Connor bit out, taking a sip of his beer and joining Mr. James in staring out at the lake.
Mr. James chuckled. “You were a hell of a lot nicer the last time we had this talk,” he said, taking a sip of his beer.
“This talk?” Connor asked, wondering if Mr. James was drunk. He looked over his shoulder to see if he could find one of the man’s sons to help him walk it off, but everyone was still off enjoying the party.
“The talk we had when you showed up on my front doorstep on Rory’s eighteenth birthday and asked permission to marry my daughter,” Mr. James said, reminding him of another humiliating experience that he’d really like to forget.
“Are you going to tell me to fuck off again?” Connor asked, taking a sip of his beer as he did his damndest to ignore the memories of that conversation and how close he’d come to pissing himself.
“That’s not exactly what I said,” Mr. James said, sounding amused.
“Are you gonna go for your gun again?” Connor demanded, still pissed that he’d refused to hear him out. Connor had fucking begged for his permission to marry Rory. Instead, Mr. James had gone for his gun and fired.
“You weren’t ready to get married, Connor,” Mr. James said quietly. “And Rory deserved better than that.”
“I would have taken care of her.”
“I know you would have, Connor,” Mr. James said, surprising him. “You would have worked your ass off and taken damn good care of her as best as any eighteen-year-old boy could, but it wouldn’t have been enough, and it wouldn’t have been fair to either one of you.”
When Connor didn’t say anything, Mr. James continued. “You would have both struggled. Rory probably would have dropped out of college because she’s so damn stubborn and wouldn’t have felt right about you working your ass off to support her. You wouldn’t be where you are today if you’d had a family to hold you back. I know the type of man that you are, Connor. You never would have taken a chance at starting a business that could go belly up if you had a family to support. You both had a lot of growing up to do.”
Connor chuckled without humor because that’s probably what would have happened, but it still hurt thinking about what could have been. “You’re right. We probably would have started a family too soon and would have struggled to get by.”
“You were too young and headstrong to see that,” Mr. James said, nodding in agreement.
He turned a glare on the older man. “You could have just said that instead of going for the gun!”
“My way was easier,” Mr. James said, his lips twitching with amusement.
“For who?” Connor asked, glaring at the man.
“For me,” Mr. James said, chuckling as he took another sip of his beer.
“And that’s really all that mattered?” Connor demanded, seeing so much of Rory’s Bradford cousins in the man at the moment that it actually frightened him a little bit.
Mr. James chuckled. “It’s the family way,” he said with a wink.
Connor took a sip of his beer as he returned his attention to the lake. For a few minutes, neither one of them spoke and he should have been fine with that, but he had to ask, “Do you have a problem with me marrying your daughter now?”
“Absolutely none,” Mr. James said, sounding like he meant it.
“Then why have you been glaring at me and ignoring Rory since you found out?” Connor demanded, wondering if he’d ever understand this man.
“I can’t let Rory know that I’m actually pleased,” Mr. James scoffed.
“Why not?” Connor asked, thinking that Rory would probably be happy to hear that her father was pleased about something in her life.
Mr. James sighed heavily. “And here I thought you knew my daughter.”
“I know her better than anyone,” Connor argued, finishing off his beer and chucked it into the barrel.
“Then you know that she’s stubborn as hell and will become suspicious if she knows that I liked you,” Mr. James explained, once again shocking him into silence.
The man actually liked him? That was surprising since he’d done nothing but glare at him since they first met. Of course, he couldn’t forget those times that their little misunderstandings went to court, the man had volunteered to beat some sense into him, at no charge, of course.
