Shaking herself, Athena sent her father a small smile. “Nay, I am decided.” She spread the orange gown across her chest and swayed slightly, sending the silk rippling.
Her father’s nose wrinkled above his mustache, and she had to hide her giggle. It seemed he agreed with the rest of Creation when it came to redheads looking ridiculous in orange, but didn’t know how to tell her she was making a poor choice.
On purpose, Da.
“He’s aduke,” Da finally sighed. “Could ye at leasttryno’ to piss him off, ‘Thena? For Melanie’s sake? And mine.”
Latching onto that plaintive little plea, Athena dropped the gown atop the others—her maid would be in shortly to help cram her into it—and smiled at her father as she turned to her jewelry case.
“Melanie, eh?” she teased. “Ye and Lady Dumpkins are becoming quite close.”
Heharumphedlightly. “Aye, well, she’s a good lass. Same as ye. Says she doesnae want to get married, but I’ve been wearing her down.”
Athena glanced over her shoulder, brow lifted in surprise. “Ye have proposed marriage, and she turned ye down?”
“I’m destined to be surrounded by stubborn women,” he moaned theatrically, scratching at his beard. “She says shelikesliving in sin with me.”
Athena didn’t bother hiding her giggle as she pulled out a simple string of pearls. “I agree with her. No’ every lady needs ahappily ever after.”
Her father straightened, his frown only visible by the way his beard moved. “Ye do, lassie.”
“Oh, Da…” With a sigh, Athena shook her head at him, fiddling with the necklace. “I am happy, I swear.”
“Are ye? Just being a man’s…doxy?”
Oh, shite.
Athena stilled, stomach twisting. Her father had obviously heard the rumors about her daily adventures to the river. His tone had gone quite serious, the embarrassment gone. Wasthiswhy he’d come to see her? To chastise her for her choices, like everyone else?
He sighed. “I hear the whispers about ye, lassie, and it breaks my heart.”
Her hackles rose. “I amhappy, Da.”And that is all that should matter, aye?“And so is Callan!”
To her surprise, her father didn’t back down, but shook his head and planted his palms on the arms of the chair. “That boy is running wild.”
Glad for a reason to be angry, Athena gasped. “Are ye saying I am inadequate as a mother?”
“Ye’re a wonderful mother.” Her father glared. “I see so much ofyermother—God rest her—in ye. She loved with all her heart too, ye ken, and was never happier than when she was playing with the three—fourof ye, since she saw Lyon as hers as well.” Her father settled back slightly, his feathers un-ruffling. “She was the best of the lot.”
The lotbeing the women Da had loved and lost over the years. His first wife birthed Lyon before passing on, then he married a viscount’s daughter to produce Lysander, Phineas and Athena. Keith and Max had been surprises from his various affairs, but to Da’s credit, he’d done right by both of them as well.
He was a good man, and he only wanted what was best for those he loved.
So, with a sigh, Athena dropped the pearls on her dressing table and crossed to him, choosing to focus on his previous words.
“Da, Callan has all of us.” She placed a hand on her father’s arm. “He is happy, I swear.”
Moreso this summer, but she didn’t want to dwell on that.
“He needs a man, lassie,” her father harumphed, not looking up at her. “A man who’ll treat him ashis.”
“And ye do no’?”
Finally, Da twisted to place his hand atop hers and look up at her. “I do, Athena. That lad of yers has been a highlight of my life, keeping me young. I cherish his laughter, I do, but…” He sighed and looked away. “I willnae be around forever. He needs a real father.”
A stab of hurt—resentment? Defensiveness?—shot through Athena, and she pulled her hand away from her father and turned to step away from him.A real father. Callan hadher, and she was enough. She’d spent yearsbeing enough. She’d gone on a quest to collect clan memorabilia so that the Oliphants, this family, wouldbe enough.
And now she was hearing Da say that she wasn’t.
