Chapter 18 #2
His hair was damp and spiked and water clung to his insanely long lashes, and when he smiled, Zayne could see exactly why he had become a household name.
“ Bonjour,” Julien said, gesturing for them to come inside. “What a wonderful surprise.”
“ Bonjour, ” they said in return as they stepped inside and Ethan shut the door behind them.
“We were hoping we might have a few minutes of your time this morning if you’re all here.”
“Of course.” A knowing light flickered in Julien’s eyes, then he led them up to the main floor. “We were just up in the hot tub having a morning soak. If you don’t mind waiting a few minutes, we’ll make ourselves decent and be right out.”
“No rush,” Zayne assured him, as Julien disappeared up another set of stairs.
They headed into the living room to wait, and Zayne stopped by the stereo console and picked up the photo there.
He’d seen it before. It was a snapshot of the three men, arms wrapped around each other’s waist, and in the middle, up on Priest’s shoulders, was Chloé, all russet curls and apple cheeks as she smiled brightly for the camera.
“This is such a cute photo. How old do you think she is here?”
Ethan walked over and looked at the picture. “Three, maybe?”
“Actually, she’d just turned four.”
They whirled around at the sound of Priest’s voice, and Zayne quickly put the photo back as though he’d been caught stealing a precious jewel.
In a way, he guessed they kinda had.
Priest looked relaxed in a pair of black sweat pants and grey knit sweater, and like Julien, his hair was damp from his time in the hot tub.
“It’s a great shot,” Ethan said.
Priest nodded and looked at the frame Zayne had just put back on the stereo. “It’s one of my favorites. She is one of my favorites.”
So don’t ever hurt her was the underlying message there.
“Can I get you gentlemen a coffee…? Or something stronger?”
“A coffee would be great,” Ethan said, as the three of them headed toward the kitchen. “We’re sorry if we’re interrupting your morning.”
“You’re not. We’d just finished.” Priest turned on the cappuccino machine, and Zayne had a feeling he wasn’t talking about a soak in the tub. “Plus, we figured you’d show up eventually.”
“Then you know why we’re here,” Ethan said as Priest set five coffee cups out on the counter.
He eyed the two of them as he walked over to the fridge and pulled out the milk. “Well, since Chloé has yet to give us an answer to our offer last week, I’m assuming it has something to do with that.”
“That’s right.”
Priest looked between the two of them for what felt like an eternity. “Tell me the truth. Did you tell her not to go?”
“No. We would never do that,” Zayne said, immediately on the defensive. “We did the exact opposite.”
Priest’s eyes narrowed. “You told her to go.”
“We didn’t tell her anything,” Ethan said. “This is her choice, all we did was let her know that no matter what she decides, we support her.”
Zayne nodded. “And that if she goes, we go too.”
“Good.” Priest’s lips twitched. “That’s the right answer.”
“It’s the only answer,” Ethan said. “We love her.”
Priest shut the fridge door and nodded. “Yes, I believe you do.”
“Believe they do what?” Robbie walked into the kitchen in a pair of white sweats and a light pink crochet sweater, Julien right behind him still in his robe.
“Love our Chloé,” Priest said, and the look on Robbie’s face went from curious to overwhelming joy as his eyes began to well.
“I knew it.” He sniffed and looked back to Julien. “Did you hear that, Jules? They love our little angel.”
“Of course they do.” Julien put a hand on Robbie’s shoulder. “She’s parfaite .”
“She really is,” Ethan agreed. “You’ve raised an incredible woman. One we want to do everything in our power to make happy, which is why we’re here.”
Priest placed the milk down on the counter and joined the rest of them. “What do you mean?”
“Well…” Zayne shrugged. “We all know how much Chloé loves Paris. So the fact she’s not jumping over the moon about this sent up some red flags.”
“It is a little strange,” Julien said, worry crossing his handsome face. “We noticed that too but chalked it up to shock, and maybe a few nerves.”
“It could be,” Ethan said, finally getting to the main reason they were there. “But we think it’s more than that. We think it’s the idea of leaving all of you.”
* * *
ETHAN LOOKED BETWEEN the three men standing across from him and Zayne, and couldn’t believe it had taken them this long to figure out what was really holding Chloé back from making this decision—her family.
Unlike the two of them, Chloé came from a very close one. Her fathers and brother were the most important things in the world to her—until they’d come along.
“Look.” Ethan thought carefully about his next words. “We all know that Chloé wants to say yes to you. That what you’re offering her is everything she’s every wanted. But she’s scared.”
“Scared?” A baffled expression crossed Robbie’s face. “Chloé’s Miss Independent. She’s always talked about going to Paris.”
“I don’t doubt it.” But Ethan knew how stressful it could be when everything you knew suddenly changed, and that was exactly what was happening with Chloé.
“But talking about it and actually doing it are very different things. She knows how Zayne and I feel, that we’re with her all the way.
But still, she hesitates, because this isn’t about us. It’s about you.”
“You think we pushed too hard.”
“No.” Ethan looked at Priest. “I think you gave your daughter the gift of a lifetime. But that gift is four thousand miles away from everyone she loves.”
Robbie brought his hand to his mouth and shook his head. “I didn’t even think about it like that. I just figured she’d be so excited she’d jump on the next plane.”
Zayne scoffed. “I mean, we haven’t heard from her all morning—maybe she has.”
Julien hugged Robbie into his side. “Clearly we misjudged this situation.”
Ethan thought about that, thought about the excitement he’d seen behind the hesitation when she told them, and shook his head.
“I don’t think you did. I just think she needs a little bit of reassurance.”
Priest eyed him closely. “Such as?”
Ethan wasn’t about to beat around the bush. Priest had never asked them for advice—he doubted he ever asked anyone—but he wanted the truth now. So Ethan was going to give it to him.
“Such as—how often will she see you? Will you still be as close as you are now? Will you miss her? Will you still love her, even though she’s not here?”
“That’s crazy,” Robbie said, but Ethan didn’t take his eyes off Priest. “Of course we’re still going to love her. We’ll miss her terribly.”
“But she needs to hear it.” Priest looked to Julien and Robbie. “We were so excited to tell her about Paris because we knew how much she wanted it. But they’re right—somewhere in amongst our excitement, we forgot to tell her how hard it would be to watch her go.”
Julien sighed. “ Oui . What must she be thinking?”
“I think she’s over thinking,” Ethan said.
Robbie glanced at Julien. “We need to talk to her.”
Ethan agreed. “I think that’s a great idea. In fact, once we put together what was going on with Chloé, Zayne and I set up a little surprise for her.”
“A surprise? She does love a good surprise.”
Priest chuckled and rubbed his husband’s back. “Like father, like daughter.”
Zayne grinned. “We think it’ll help with the transition. We set it up for tomorrow morning hoping that you could maybe help us out.”
“Definitely,” the three of them said, and Ethan nodded.
“Great. Then let me tell you what we have planned…”