"Let me know if your mother's coming," I told Axel. He looked over my shoulder, and then his eyes came back to me as he nodded. Those deep blue eyes were intent on mine when I pulled the ring box from the pocket of my jeans and opened it up.
"Pretty!" Ines shrieked, reaching for the ring.
I tugged it back, holding up a finger to let her down gently. "This one is for your Mommy, but if she says yes, then we'll get you one too." It just wouldn't be genuine diamonds, because as much as I wanted to spoil my Princess, that would have been overkill even for me.
"Okay," she pouted, reaching her hand down to fiddle with the grass underneath her legs.
"I'm going to ask your Mommy to marry me," I told her. She lifted her head, studying me.
"Happy after?" she asked, and I shook my head at the thought that Calla had somehow kept her so protected from all the grief of the last year that Ines still lived with her head in a fairytale. I knew she was young, but it seemed like I'd already been cynical even at two.
It was just a testament to how wonderful a mother Calla was.
"Yeah, Princess. Happily ever after. The four of us," I said, touching her head as my eyes went to Axel. "And maybe one more if I can convince your mother. Would you like that? Another sibling to help me look after?" I asked Axel.
"You want to marry Mommy?" he asked, chewing his bottom lip. I'd known it would be difficult for him to give me his permission, given the fact that he remembered his father. He remembered that he had a dad, and he knew that while it would never be my intent or Calla's, in some ways I would take his place. I wanted to be a better father to him than Chad had ever been, but it didn't change the fact that he'd existed. I didn't want to force that memory away from him, both for his sake and Calla's.
I knew the kids giving their permission would ease the way with Calla in terms of getting her to marry me. She'd worry about them first and foremost, and with them showing their support she'd have a lot less justification to her objections.
"Yeah, Little Man. I want to marry her," I said, keeping it simple as I let him think over what that would mean for him.
"What about my Dad?" he asked, his voice going so sad that I couldn't help but sigh.
"He's still your Dad, buddy. I know you love him. I just want to make the three of you happy and take care of you. I won't make you stop loving him or make you call me Dad. If the day comes that you want to do that, then that's great. But I can just be Ryker if you want. Even after your mom and I are married."
He nodded as he thought it over, and I watched his little brain work. "My Dad wasn't a very good father," he said, and my heart broke at what the acknowledgement seemed to take from him. "And he wasn't very good to Mommy," he whispered. He was too young to recognize that, to have to see the way his father had kept Calla at a distance. It made me wish I'd been the one to kill Chad after all.
"No. He wasn't." The words were honest, probably too blunt for how young Axel was. "But he was still your father."
"I didn't see it when he was alive, but I see the way you look at Mommy. It's different. He treated her like a problem. You treat her like she's the answer. No matter what the question is." I clapped a hand around the back of his neck, tugging him in and touching my forehead to his as rage filled me.
Rage that Chad had been so obvious in his disinterest for Calla that their insightful son had seen it at five fucking years old.
"The three of you are everything to me. I love your mommy, just like I love both of you," I said, swallowing against the emotion in my throat.
"Love you," Ines piped up, throwing her weight into my side.
Axel sniffed back his urge to cry, seeming to need to stay strong as he made a very big boy decision for his mom and their future. "You can marry her, as long as you promise that you love her."
"I promise, Little Man. There will never come a day when I don't love your mother."
"Mommy!" Ines squeaked, leaping out of my arms to race to Calla as she stepped out the door from the pool room. Axel and I stood as I discreetly tucked the ring box back in my pocket. We made our way to the girls, one grinning happily and the other narrowing her gaze on me.
I had no clue when I'd ask her or how. I'd wing it. With Calla, I never knew what each day would look like. Who knew when my Hellcat would come back out and dig her claws into my ass?
"What were you three talking about?" Calla asked, suspicion in her voice as she ran a finger through her wet hair.
"Just enjoying the sunshine," I answered before Ines could open her adorable little mouth and likely ruin the surprise. If I waited too long, I might have to do something drastic, like buy her a pony, to bribe her into secrecy.
I wasn't opposed to the idea, even if I knew nothing about horses.
How hard could it be?
Thirty-One
Calla
As soon as the top strap of Ines's bathing suit snapped into place, she looked up at me with terror-filled eyes. “It will be okay, Princess. Mommy and Ryker and Axel will be with you the whole time.”