19. Chapter 19
Terri doesn’t know it yet, but I’ve met my future father-in-law.
Nolan
I sit in the living room and play on my phone while Terri finishes getting ready. Knowing women, she’ll need a while.
“Let’s go.”
I stand, turn toward her, and freeze. She’s wearing a sleeveless summer dress that hugs her breasts and falls to her knees. She’s gorgeous and sexy. And she’s carrying my baby.
Protective feelings slam into me. I want to take care of her. I want to ensure she’s never alone again. I want to fight her battles for her.
“You’re gorgeous.”
She rolls her eyes. “I have two black eyes, and my nose is swollen.”
“Your nose is barely swollen, and I can’t see the black eyes.”
“Good. I don’t want Dad freaking out because I was injured.”
“Were you injured a lot as a kid?” I ask as I escort her out of the house to Brock’s SUV. Thank goodness for teammates. There’s no way Terri would be comfortable in my sports car. It’s low to the ground, and the seats are narrow.
“Not really,” Terri answers as I help her into her seat. “But Scott and Ricky…” She shakes her head. “Those two were always getting into fights.”
I kiss her nose before shutting the door and running around to the driver’s seat.
“Listen,” she begins as we drive toward her dad’s house. “We need to set a few things straight before we get there.”
My brow wrinkles. “What things?”
“I don’t want Dad to get the wrong impression.”
“The wrong impression?”
She motions between us. “About us.”
“About us? We’re having a baby together.”
“And that’s it. We’re not a couple.”
Pain hits me with the force of a defensive tackle. I want to be a couple. I want Terri. I thought she was softening toward me.
I glance over at her. She’s fiddling with the hem of her dress and refuses to meet my gaze. She’s uncomfortable. I’d love to dig into why. But we’re nearly at her dad’s house. It’ll have to wait.
“Okay,” I say even though I don’t agree. I want to be half of a couple with Terri. I want to be a team. I want more than to be her baby’s father. But she’s not ready to hear those words. Not yet.
Her shoulders drop as she relaxes. I made the right choice. I don’t like it. But for now, it’s best.
Terri points to a house. “It’s this one.”
I park in the driveway and frown up at it. “Is there a seal lounging in front of the porch steps?”
She scowls. “There is.”
She hurries out and I chase after her. “Wait! It’s a wild animal. You’re pregnant.”
“Don’t worry. It’s only Sammy.”
“Sammy?” I ask as I capture her wrist and pull her to me. “I don’t care what his name is. You’re not going near a wild animal.”
A man steps out on the porch. This must be her dad. “Sammy. You promised to be gone by the time Terri arrived.”
The seal honks.
“Dad!” Terri shouts. “You need to stop feeding him!”
The seal grunts.
She shakes her finger at him. “I wasn’t speaking to you, Sammy.”
He covers his eyes with his flipper.
She sighs. “I’m not mad at you. But I need to be able to use the stairs when I visit my dad.”
He grunts again.
She purses her lips. “Do you want me to call the dog catcher?”
He growls before galumphing away. I pull Terri behind me as he passes. She rolls her eyes. “Sammy won’t hurt me. Dad would stop feeding him if he did.”
Sammy grunts before finding a spot of sun in the yard and making himself comfortable.
Terri nudges past me and climbs the stairs to her dad. He wraps his arms around her and hugs her up tight.
My heart squeezes. How would it feel to have a dad who hugs you? Who’s happy to see you? For more than bragging about how his son is going to be a Super Bowl champion?
I force those thoughts away. Dwelling on Dad’s actions doesn’t change them.
“How are you doing?” her dad asks, and his gaze dips to her stomach.
She sighs. “You know.”
“I know. And I know this man is the baby’s father.” He frowns at me.
I climb the stairs and hold out my hand. “Nolan. Nice to meet you, sir.”
“I know who you are.” He stares at my hand for a long minute. “Charlie,” he finally says before shaking my hand.
Terri glances back and forth between us. “You’re not going to do that thing where you test my dates, are you?”
Charlie grins. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She crosses her arms over her chest. “You asked my date to the senior prom if he had protection ‘just in case’. When he admitted he had a condom, you bitched him out for making assumptions about his daughter.”
He chuckles. “Little squirt nearly peed his pants.”
“He didn’t pee his pants, but he did dump me at prom and go to the after-party with another girl.”
He scowls. “He didn’t deserve you.”
She throws her arms in the air. “He was seventeen. A kid.”
He narrows his eyes on me. “This one’s not a kid, and he didn’t use protection.”
I clear my throat. “Actually, we did.”
Terri’s face darkens until it’s bright red. “Nolan,” she hisses.
“What?” I shrug. “I’m not lying to your dad. He’s going to be the little mermaid’s grandpa. I’m not starting our relationship out on a lie.”
Charlie grins. “Little mermaid. It’s a girl?”
“We don’t know yet. It’s too early to tell.”
He wraps an arm around her. “Let’s discuss this inside.”
He leads her into the house and I follow. He helps her to settle on the sofa before sitting on a chair across from her. I don’t hesitate. I claim a spot next to Terri.
“How are you doing with all of this, kiddo?”
“I’m fine.”
I press my leg against hers. “Don’t lie to your dad.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Don’t be a tattletale.”
“It’s your dad. He loves you. He’s trying to help. Be honest with him.”
“I hate it when you’re reasonable.”
“I like him,” Charlie declares. “I was prepared to hate him on your behalf. Despite his ability to drop a football into someone’s hands from half a field away. But anyone who supports one of my kiddos is okay in my books.”
I grin. Terri’s dad likes me. I bet I can get him on my side. To help me make Terri realize we’d be a good couple, a good family.
“I am okay.” She pauses. “Now.”
I decide to fill her dad in since getting Terri to admit her fears is more difficult than getting Tanner to shut up.
“She was worried, but the doctor reassured her yesterday.”
Charlie’s eyes narrow on me. “When you were at the hospital because you nailed her with a football.”
I feel my cheeks warm but I speak anyway. “It was an accident. I was showing off for some locals and overthrew.” I grasp Terri’s hand and meet her gaze. “It won’t happen again.”
She snorts. “Of course, it won’t. I don’t plan to be anywhere near you and a football ever again.”
I frown. My life is football. And she doesn’t want to be near me and a football again? Will she not support me at the Super Bowl? Will she not be in the stands cheering me on?
It’s the fear talking. I’ll convince her to change her mind.
I clear my throat. “Anyway, Dr. Allens said her mom having a miscarriage doesn’t automatically mean she’ll have complications. There’s no reason to assume the worst.”
Charlie stares at Terri. “Which is what I’ve been trying to tell her for years.”
She sighs. “I’m trying to be positive and believe it.”
I wrap my arm around her shoulders and kiss her forehead. “That’s all I ask for.”
“It sounds as if Nolan has things covered.”
“Dad,” Terri whines. “We’re not a couple.”
“Sure, you aren’t.” He winks.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Terri spits daggers out of her eyes at me. “Don’t make things worse.”
“How am I making things worse?”
“Is this how it’s going to be? You and Dad are going to gang up on me from now on? It’ll be high school all over again when Dad, Scott, and Ricky ganged up on me and Olivia. Except Olivia isn’t here.”
“We didn’t gang up on you.”
She lifts her eyebrow. “You didn’t ask Scott and Ricky to distract me while you nailed my bedroom window shut?”
Charlie shrugs. “You shouldn’t have been sneaking out.”
“Scott and Ricky snuck out all the time. You didn’t nail their windows shut.”
“Because they would have broken the glass and snuck out anyway.” He wags a finger at her. “And don’t think I don’t know about you sneaking out the front door while Olivia distracted me.”
“I did what I had to do,” she mutters.
I laugh. “You had your hands full with the four of them.”
He grins. “And I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
This is how it should be. This is how a dad should act. Instead of worrying I’m going to repeat my dad’s mistakes, I should use Charlie as my role model.
I glance over at Terri. She’s kind and sweet and stubborn. He obviously did a great job raising her after her mother died. It’s settled. Charlie is my new role model.