Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Instead of taking her home, Lottie had Travis drop her at her car. After giving him a hug and a kiss that bordered on pornographic, she climbed into her car and headed home. By the time she parked in front of the farmhouse her family had lived in for generations, she was beyond exhausted.
She was just happy that neither of her sisters were at home.
Hanging her purse on its assigned hook by the front door, she headed straight to her bedroom.
After changing into her favorite soft leggings with dancing cows all over them, and an oversized t-shirt, she crawled into bed.
Curling in the middle of the mattress, she hugged Molly Moo tight, cried a few tears of overwhelmed exhaustion, and allowed sleep to carry her away.
She woke up to the feeling of someone sitting on the bed and a hand being pressed against her forehead.
“She doesn’t have a fever. Maybe last weekend finally caught up with her.”
“Maybe. But she also hasn’t been sleeping,” Tilly said from the other side of the bed. “Maybe being away from Travis is taking its toll, too.”
“Maybe. Should we call him?” Carri asked, sounding worried.
“No, you shouldn’t call him,” Lottie said before she opened her eyes and looked at her sisters. “I’m fine.”
“But you’re home early,” Carri stated as she stood up.
“And you’re sleeping in the middle of the day,” Tilly added.
Taking a deep breath, Lottie sighed and pushed herself up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She sat for a moment before she said, “I had a … rough day at work and came home early.”
Before she could go into detail, the doorbell sounded, it’s bong-bong-bong echoing throughout the house thanks to the crazy doorbell their father had installed when they were teenagers.
Lottie stood and took a moment to stretch before following her sisters out of her room and down the stairs to the front door.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” Carri said once she’d opened it. “Not until Sunday.”
“I know. But I thought I’d bring you ladies dinner, and allow you to ask whatever questions you might have about me and my character and intentions toward your sister.
” Travis stepped inside with several large bags from the local steakhouse.
“I wasn’t sure what you all liked, so I may have gone overboard on the choices. ”
Her sisters turned to where she’d stopped on the bottom step. “Did you know he was coming?”
Lottie’s brain was still sleep-fogged, so she slowly shook her head. “No, but he mentioned he might stop by so you could interrogate him like I did with Rooker and Carter.”
“When did he mention that?” Tilly asked, her frown deepening.
“I saw her at her office this morning when I was visiting my friends,” Travis answered for her.
Lottie blinked again, wishing she hadn’t woken up so groggy. This fuzzy-headed state was why she did not nap during the day. Though she woke up sharp and clear in the morning, napping always left brain running at half speed.
Her sisters apparently accepted Travis’s explanation since they closed the front door and guided the man into the kitchen.
Lottie followed slowly, half afraid that what had happened that morning would come to light while at the same time afraid it would remain a secret between her and Travis.
She’d rarely kept secrets from her sisters, especially since their parents had died and she’d had to take on their responsibilities.
Being triplets meant they could read one another like no one else could. They were also able to hold full conversations just by reading the twitches of eyebrows or nose scrunches.
By the time she entered the kitchen, Carri and Tilly had the table set while Travis was busy pulling the various dishes he’d brought out of bags.
She moved to the refrigerator and pulled out the pitcher of iced tea she’d fixed that morning.
Setting it on the table, she returned to the freezer and filled the cups Carri placed on the counter.
Tilly grabbed a handful of servings spoons and then it appeared they were ready for dinner.
Carri and Tilly sat on one side of the table, allowing Travis to sit beside her on the other.
“Could we please hold the inquisition until after dinner?” she asked once they were all settled and studying the many dishes on the table between them.
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Travis said before taking a sip of his tea.
“Okay,” Carri agreed as she grabbed a serving spoon and dug into the macaroni and cheese.
“Agreed,” Tilly said as she reached for the platter of cheesy fries.
With that, Lottie was finally able to turn her attention to the food. From the looks of the table, Travis had bought everything on Comfort’s menu. Though she was hungry, she wasn’t sure where to start.
“Want me to fix your plate?” Travis asked softly.
She looked from him to her sisters who were ignoring them, before she nodded. “Yes, please.”
“Anything you don’t like? Won’t eat? Are allergic to?” he asked as he took her plate.
“Vegetables,” she said with a giggle.
“She’s not allergic to anything, just doesn’t like vegetables.
None of us do really. Well, except potatoes, carrots and green beans,” Carri answered as she grabbed a roll and then reached for one of the small servings of butter that had been included along with bowls of ketchup, ranch dressing and other sauces.
“They didn’t have green beans, so how about a couple of stalks of broccoli, and some chicken fingers, and some coleslaw?” He added a spoonful of potato salad and a roll on her plate before placing it in front of her. “How’s that look?”
“It looks good,” she said softly. “Thank you.”
He filled his plate and silence descended over the table until they began to eat. Then the moans and appreciative noises of the delicious food broke the silence.
There were only scraps left when the sisters laid down their forks and settled back in their chairs, patting overly full tummies.
“Thank you, Travis, that was delicious,” Tilly said with a happy sigh.
Carri nodded. “Yes, it was so good. Thank you.”
Lottie reached under the table and patted his thigh. “It was wonderful.”
Travis relaxed in his seat with a smile. “You are all very welcome. Now, shall we get the inquisition out of the way before I pull out the dessert bag?”
The three women looked from him to the back on the counter he had not unpacked. “Dessert?”
“Just a selection of cakes I thought you might like,” he said, hoping that would encourage Lottie’s sisters to keep their questions short.
“Okay, hang on just a second.”
Carri and Tilly retreated to just outside the door to the hallway where they conferred for a few minutes. Lottie began clearing the table, piling the dishes by the sink. She then refilled everyone’s glasses with iced tea before bringing more forks to the table.
A few minutes later, her sisters returned to the table and Lottie stepped back, knowing Travis would not appreciate her trying to shield him from her sisters’ questions.
He was, after all, a retired warrior. Surely he could handle anything her sisters could throw at him.
Instead of sitting, she retreated to the sink where she began rinsing the dishes and loading them into the dishwasher.
“All right, ladies. What would you like to know?”
Carri started. “So, Captain Williams… what are your intentions toward our Charlotte?”
He could not help smiling when he heard Lottie groan behind him. “I am hoping she’ll do me the honor of allowing me to Daddy her for the rest of my life.”
His inquisitors shared a glance and a sigh before Tilly asked her question. “Do you have a job or are you expecting Lottie to support you?”
He had to swallow down a growl before he could answer this question. Not only was it insulting to him as a Daddy, but also as a man. What man would ever ask a woman to support him?
“I recently retired from the Navy and have more than enough income to support myself, and your sister if she never wants to work again. I lived frugally and have a healthy investment portfolio and plan on working for another twenty or more years, once I decide what that business will be.”
The questions shifted from his finances on to other aspects of his life.
From the sounds Lottie made as she finished cleaning up the dishes, they were questions that she’d heard before.
They were also personal, invasive, and possibly embarrassing, but he found himself more amused than insulted by how much these sisters cared about one another.
By the time Lottie finally sat down again, her sisters had finished their questioning.
“I approve,” Tilly said with a smile. “But just know that if you hurt our sister, you’ll have us to deal with. Us and our men.”
Travis nodded with appreciation for the not-so-veiled threat. “I would expect nothing less.”
With that, Carri and Lottie picked up their half-eaten desserts and glasses of tea and said good night.
At the doorway, Carri stopped and turned back. She looked deadly serious as she said, “You have fifteen minutes to say goodnight. Then you need to leave and not come back until Sunday. No calls, no texts, no emails, no contact at all.”
Travis nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
And then they were alone. Travis pushed his chair away from the table and pulled Lottie onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her and brushing a kiss on her temple. “You okay, Lottie-love?”
She looked up at him, her eyes glassy with unshed tears. She looked so sad it hurt his heart. “I’m sorry.”
“They love you just like you love them. They only want the best for you. Besides, it’s better you know the answers to all those questions now rather than learn them in six months.
But you might also want to know that I also like to exercise first thing in the morning and I have been known to eat in bed. ”
Lottie giggled and buried her face into the side of his neck. She breathed deep and released it on a long sigh, relaxing completely into his body. “I love you, Captain Daddy.”
“I love you, too, Lottie-love.”
“And I really do love the building we visited this afternoon.”
“Good, because I have an appointment tomorrow with the realtor to buy it,” he said, chuckling when she lifted her head and gave him a wide-eyed look of surprise.
“You do?”
“Yes, my sweet little candymaker, I do. And I’m going to talk them into letting us move in before we close, so expect to move into the apartment on Sunday. We’ll be living without any furniture until we can go shopping next week.”
Lottie smiled. “I have a house full of furniture we could shop through for now since I don’t think Carri or Tilly will be taking any of it. That is, if you don’t mind living with used furniture.”
“I’ve slept on airport floors and in rooms no bigger than this table. I’d be honored to use your furniture until we decide if we want something different.”
“Time’s up!” Tilly and Carri called from the living room.
“I guess that’s my cue to head out,” he said, helping Lottie stand before rising himself.
“I’ll walk you out,” Lottie said, taking his hand and leading him to the front door.
Once they were in the yard standing beside his car, he pulled her in for a kiss. One kiss turned into three and more, but Travis found he could not let her go.
“Charlotte Isabelle Smith, get yourself into this house!” Carri shouted from the front porch as the lights on the porch and in the yard began to flash off and on.
After one last quick kiss, Travis set her away from him and climbed into his car. “Behave yourself, Lottie-love, and I’ll see you on Sunday.”
She sighed but took another step back. “I miss you already, Daddy.”
“Love you, sweet girl.”
“Love you, Daddy.”
Travis drove away from the Smith family farm slowly. Though his mind was already thinking about all he needed to do before Sunday, his heart was hurting at having to stay away from his Little for the next three days.