Chapter 11
Cullen
We discussed driving in one car, but want to give Starla room to bring as many things as we can get on this first trip. Courtesy coupled with atonement for my indiscretions, I suggested that she ride with Ryker.
My drive's painfully lonely while I watch their silhouettes in the car in front of me. It's funny how I can miss Starla so much already, and also Ryker.
A couple of days ago, when we were bonded as family, I didn't think we could get any tighter. But it happened. Now to convince Ross that we’re serious about each other.
The good thing about not having Starla and Ryker in the car is that I have plenty of time to go over every objection Ross can throw our way.
I pull into the driveway behind them, but get out of my car first and lead the way inside.
Ross is at the wet bar in the entertainment room to the left of the front door when we enter. He must have been watching for our headlights because he’s pouring drinks. His demeanor is more of a smoldering than a raging fire. That’s better than I expected.
He’s a master bartender. It feeds off of his love of culinary skills, which means he’s not completely angry.
That's a good sign, as long as he hasn't poisoned them—that’s nothing more than a silly thought, an attempt at levity. I still trust him, even when we argue. We didn't survive this many years together without arguments.
Ryker wraps his arm around Starla as they step into the entertainment room.
"Hey, Dad, I want to explain." Starla speaks for herself, which isn’t really a surprise. I step to her other side and put my arm around her.
“This will make it easier.” He doesn't look at us. Just shoves three drinks across the bar. “A peace offering.” Anger is gone from his tone, replaced with frustration, and maybe hurt. Interesting.
With any luck, Christmas won’t be totally ruined.
I step forward, grab the drinks, and return to Ryker and Starla. “Thanks.”
Starla says. "No father wants to see what you walked in on, and no daughter wants her father to walk in on any type of intimate relationship. So I'd like to ask that we never speak of that again.”
“Agreed.”
“Please believe me when I say that this thing between us was brewing long before they won me in the auction."
"That explains it. I knew you all lied to me, and I hated that I drove the people I care about to doing that." Ross raises his voice, causing Starla to flinch. I get where she was going with that, but it didn’t come out quite right.
I tighten my grip around her and follow her lead. "I left poker night because I realized Starla had snuck out. It was obvious where she would have gone. Long story short, I went to the auction, and because she’s a consenting adult, it was clear that the easiest way to protect her was to win her."
"Protect her? Is that what you were doing?"
Starla squirms. "Dad."
He ducks his head and holds his hands up.
Ryker adds, "I realized what Cullen had done and talked to him about winning her for the both of us."
"She's like a daughter to you, Cullen, and she's your sister, Ryker."
I don’t fault him for struggling to accept this, but at least he’s talking. I say, "The important word is like, because she's not my daughter, Ross. She's your daughter, and you've raised an incredible woman."
Ryker jumps in, "And she's like a sister to me. She's my stepsister, no blood relationship. We were only connected by your marriage to my mom, a legal arrangement between our parents, and that doesn't even exist anymore.”
“We all tried to resist our feelings, Dad.”
Ryker laughs. “What happened to that pesky little sister who wanted me to have tea parties and play with her Easy Bake Oven?"
Starla chuckles.
Ross finally makes eye contact. "I just don't get it. There are people you can have feelings for and there are people you can't."
"Those aren’t actually rules, Dad. They're not mine, they're not Cullen's, and they're not Ryker's. We don’t get to control our hearts.”
Silence sets in while he pours himself another drink.
“I can’t imagine how hard this is for you, Ross. You’ve fallen head over heels twice and got your heart broken both times. Love can be a bitch.”
Ross scoffs and sets his glass on the bar with a little too much strength.
Ryker whispers, “Where is this headed?”
“All I’m saying is that, love is a leap of faith. No one knows how it will end, we just know how it feels when we’re in it. And Ross, the three of us are in love.”
“Three of you? In love?”
Ryker says, “It’s not something I would have asked for, but I realized that with two of us to provide for Starla, she’s that much safer.”
Starla steers the conversation in a new direction. “It’s going to take all of us some time to get used to this, but I promise, if you'll knock before you come in a room, you never have to see any PDAs between us again."
"PDAs?”
“Public displays of affection."
He rubs his hands over his face. “I thought you meant Penis, Dick, and Ass."
"Dad!"
He bows his head and raises his hands again. And if I can trust my ears, he stifles a laugh.
"I'm going to pack some things and start moving out.” She pauses. “We never intended to hurt you."
"I know." The softness in his tone seems to surprise all of us.
She ducks down to slip under our arms, but I get an idea at the last minute, and I spin around and grab her arm by the elbow before she can get away. I whisper, "Maybe you should stay for this next part about you being part of the business."
"Do you want to give my dad a heart attack?"
She has a point. I’m being overzealous.
"You're right. We'll save that for a different day."
She disappears down the hallway, leaving Ryker, Ross and me.
With total sincerity, I say, "I don't want this to affect us being business partners, but I really don’t want to ruin our friendship."
"How can I ever look you in the eye again?"
"I don't doubt that it will be hard, but you and I are good together. You still have a passion for promoting anything culinary. I still have a knack for knowing what restaurants need to do to regroup."
Ryker adds, "And I still want to do menu analysis. None of that has to change."
"And I suppose you're going to tell me that we should bring Starla in on this." Ross shocks us.
I choke on the sip of alcohol I was swallowing.
Ryker and I look at each other and nod. "She’d be a great addition to the business."
"Then who's going to stay home and raise the kids?"
Ryker chokes on his drink this time.
“She wants kids,” Ross says flatly.
"We all do. We’ll make it work.”
Ross takes a deep breath. “I actually just needed to hear that you'd be willing to have a kid with her, because if you're going to fuck around with my daughter, you're fucking around with me."
We stare at him.
"That didn't come out right. You know what I mean."
I say, "We do, and we’ll take care of her and all of your grandkids."
Starla sets a suitcase down behind us. "Did I just hear what I think I heard?"
"You did." Her dad says, "You picked the best two goddamn guys I know. It'll be on me to come to grips with your decision."
Starla runs to us, and we embrace her in a big hug.
Ross clears his throat. "No PDAs."
We pull away from each other then I extend my hand to Ross. "Thank you for not standing in our way."
He reaches over the bar and shakes my hand. "Damn you for making this so complicated."
Then he releases my hand, circles around the end of the bar, and motions for me to come in for a hug. "You take care of my baby girl."
I don't think he knows that nickname can sound so different, but I'm not going to bring it up. At least I went with Babycakes.
I turn around, give her a wink. "I promise to take very good care of her."
Ryker steps forward, extends a hand. They briefly shake before Ross pulls him in for a hug. "Not going to lie, son, I was starting to get worried when you weren't dating. Is this why?"
Ryker nods reluctantly.
"Give me some time. I can't afford to lose all three of you.” It sounds like he chokes up but he covers it with a cough. “I'd have nothing."
"You're not going to lose us." Starla rushes over, pulling us all in for a group hug.
"Enough.” Ross squirms away. “Go help her pack."
Starla smiles at him and it looks like he softens again.
He says, "You'll always have a home here."
“Thanks, Dad.”
The three of us retreat to Starla's room.
"No funny business under my roof," her dad calls down the hallway.
Starla has another suitcase packed on the bed. She grabs toiletries from the bathroom, then we head to the door, taking the first step into the rest of our lives.
“One last thing,” Ross says.
Starla stops dead in her tracks but doesn’t look at him. I think we were all hoping to get out of here without any more trouble.
“Promise me we’ll still do Christmas dinner together.”
Her shoulders relax. “Promise me you’ll still help decorate the gingerbread men.”
Cookie decorating has been a family tradition ever since I can remember.
The tension is fully broken. “We have a deal.” Ross nods while raising his glass. “Now get out of here.”
On the way down the front path, Starla says, “I can’t believe he’s playing it so cool.”
Ross covered his struggle sufficiently enough that Starla doesn’t feel the intensity of it, but I could see it in his eyes.
This just about broke him. I imagine the only thing worse would be losing all three of us, so he went with the lesser of two evils.
“He’s a long way from cool, but he’s doing his best. We’ll need to keep everything as normal as possible for a while. ”
“Quite a while,” Ryker says.
“Sounds doable, at least until I start showing.”
I wait for her to say what she’s going to show him then realize what she means. “You can’t know that you’re pregnant already.”
She stops between the cars. “If I’m not, then I suspect I will be soon.”
Ryker lights up with excitement and puts a hand on Starla’s belly. “How soon before a pregnancy shows?”
“It varies a lot, but we should have at least four months before he’d be able to tell.”
I join Ryker in rubbing Starla’s belly. “We better get you some baggy shirts and loose pants. I don’t think he’ll be ready in four months.”
Ryker says, “That’s probably true, but at home you can run around naked. I want to see that baby bump as soon as possible. I love you more than I can explain, Starla.”
I double up on his statement and kiss the top of her head. “That’s a good way to put it. There just aren’t words for how much I love you and how happy I am that I can tell you that.”
“I love both of you, too. Now, can we get home? There are more things I want to try.”