I followed him down into the warm living room to sit in front of the fireplace. The heat of it washed over me when I took a seat with Gabriel’s arm draped over my shoulders like a protective cloak. I leaned back against his strength, and my eyes closed.
“How can you be so calm right now?” I asked quietly. “Your daughter thinks that we’ve betrayed her in the worst way possible. She hates me.”
“She doesn’t hate you,” he replied, rubbing my shoulder. “Alyssa does not have the ability to hate a single person in this world. She doesn’t even hate her own mother for abandoning her. I don’t know how I raised a kid to not have hate in her heart, but I’m pretty damn proud of that fact.”
“I just keep picturing the look on her face. She was so hurt. We did that to her,” I said, tears once again falling from my eyes. Gabriel pressed a kiss to the side of my head. “I know,” he said with a sigh. “And it kills me that I hurt my daughter like that. But I also know her, and I know that she will eventually come around.”
I tried to take comfort in those words, but it didn’t do any good. I wouldn’t feel right until I talked to Alyssa. I debated calling her myself, but I knew the call would go straight to voicemail. I had no choice but to sit and wait for whatever miracles my mother could work.
She entered the living room ten minutes later with her phone and coat in hand.
“I managed to convince her to come back,” she said. “The only thing I could get her to agree to was to talk to me first, before coming up to talk to you two.”
I sagged in relief at that, and Gabriel let out a pent-up breath of relief as well.
“Thank you,” Gabriel said, nodding up at her. “I really do appreciate it. Everything that you are doing, Nikki. You’ve always been a good friend to me. Too good of a friend.”
“You were a good friend to me, too, for a long time, Gabriel,” she replied, slipping into her coat. “And to my husband.”
I straightened up to move away from the fire when the fabric of my jeans burned against my skin. “What did you do for my mom that earned so much of her trust? Clearly it’s the only thing that is getting her to accept the situation.”
“After your father’s death, she informed me that most of his money was tied up in the bank because of old debts. She didn’t know how she was going to pay for anything, so I went to the bank to pay off the mortgage on your condo. It gave her time to figure out where she wanted to go.”
“You did that?” I asked, floored by the compassionate gesture. “My mom never said a word about that.”
“She was upset at the time over a lot of things. We worked it out in the end.”
This man continued to amaze me. I leaned forward to press a kiss against his lips.
His hands fluttered up to grasp my shoulders while he returned the kiss. I pulled back after a few minutes before it could go further.
“Did you really mean what you said?” I asked softly. “That you love me, and that you want to be with me?”
Gabriel’s eyes went tender as he gently brushed a hand along my cheek. “Of course, I meant it.”
I reached up to grasp his hand. Pressing a kiss against his palm, I relished the quiet moment between the two of us. It was near midnight when the door finally opened. I immediately dropped Gabriel’s hand. I didn’t think shoving public displays of affection in Alyssa’s face was the way to go right now.
Alyssa walked into the living room with my mother right behind her. She came to stand in front of us. Anger still glittered in her eyes as she swept a glance between the two of us sitting close to each other.
“I don’t like the fact that the both of you were sneaking around behind my back,” she said. “No matter what you say, it doesn’t excuse the both of you lying to my face about it.”
“It just happened,” Gabriel said. “We weren’t trying to hide it from you. We were trying to understand it ourselves before we talked it over with everyone.”
“And this is really what you want, Dad?” Alyssa continued, shaking her head at me. “Because you know how awkward this is going to be from this point on?”
Gabriel reached across to lay a hand on my bouncing knee. “It’s exactly what I want, Alyssa. I am happy with Penny. There’s nothing wrong with me wanting to be happy, just like how you want to be happy with Scott.”
Alyssa’s lips thinned.
“Then, I suppose I have to accept it for what it is,” she said. “I’m not going to stand in the way of you two if this is really what you want to do.”
“It’s what we want. Nothing is going to change, Alyssa. You’re still my daughter. As far as I know, Penny still wants to be your friend.”
“More than anything,” I added, staring up at Alyssa with pleading eyes. “I never meant to hurt you. I told your father that if this was going to cost you heartache, then it wasn’t worth it to me at all.”
“It’s just--” Alyssa let out a heavy sigh as exhaustion fell over her face. “It’s going to take some time to get used to it. I need some time to figure things out, is all.”
“Take all the time you need,” Gabriel said.