Seal Daddy (The Single Brothers 5)

“Not yet, though,” he said, and the disappointment was instantly obvious on her face. Even Ben had to laugh. “My own dad is sick right now, and he needs me.”

“Is that why you’ve been gone a lot?”

“Yes, that’s right,” he said, nodding his head. “I need to be with him right now, but after he gets better, we can find a place to live together.”

“You won’t be coming to live with me, Mom and Grandma?” she asked innocently.

Ben and I shared a look.

“No, honey,” I was the one to say it. “We can't, but, once we get a new place, we can get a dog!”

That instantly caught her attention and had her jumping up and down in excitement. Then she went back to playing, leaving Ben and I.

“She actually took it well,” he murmured to himself as he slowly stood up.

I got up right beside him and patted him comfortingly on the shoulder.

“I told you she would be fine.”

“This is the last of it, right?”

I was confused for a moment what he was mumbling about. Then he turned to me, wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. Not too close, though, because we were still in public.

“Nothing else is holding us back, right? Once the issue with my dad is over with…”

“Then we can take care of our family,” I finished for him, smiling warmly up at him. “I love you.”

Ben looked stunned for a moment, then grinned down at me. “That’s the first time you’ve said that to me, you know? Since I came back.”

I thumped his shoulder, ducking my head down.

“You didn’t deserve to hear it before, but now you do,” was my simple explanation.

Ben’s arms moved from around my waist to cup my cheeks, tilting my face up and placing a chaste kiss on my lips. I smiled into the kiss, wrapping my arms loosely around his neck, reveling in our happiness.

Epilogue

Ben

Scarlett and I were just stepping out of the hotel. We were leaving it in the hands of the management, and the new staff we’d managed to hire.

“When do you think Dad will come back?” she asked with a groan. “It should be soon, right?”

“What right do you have to fucking complain,” I retorted. “There are people around to take care of the place, you don’t need to keep going there if you don’t want to.”

“But one of us has to be there,” she said defensively. “To protect the place.”

I just sighed and shook my head at her, rolling my eyes and ignoring her pout.

We broke off as we got into our respective cars. Scarlett was going with her son and husband, while I was driving by myself, out to the house I’d built for Ginger and Fern. It had been an uphill battle just managing that much, and in so short a time. Not even a year after we told Fern that I was her dad, a lot of things had changed. The greatest of all, was that Ginger, Fern and I finally got to live together.

For the past couple weeks, we’d been setting up the house, and it was finally ready for all three of us to move into. I’d had Ginger and Fern go ahead of me so I could finally check myself out of the hotel.

The drive wasn’t so long, and in no time we arrived. The distance from town meant Ginger wouldn’t be making walks at night, and I was all for that. Scarlett and Dan arrived a moment behind me, and they followed me into the house.

“Seriously,” Scarlett persisted. “What did Dad say? He didn’t tell me anything!”

“Right after the doc declared him recovered, he told me he wanted to come back, because his girlfriend, the whole reason he moved so far in the first place, dumped him the moment he had the heart attack because, like you, she was worried about the hospital bills.” The name we’d gotten from the doc had been more complicated, but according to Dad, that was what happened.

Scarlett sighed. “Well, I can't fault her. I thought it too. But it’s fine.”

“You’re okay with him coming back?” I asked to clarify.

She shrugged. “Sure. He’s still Dad, after all.”

“Fine,” I said, nodding. “If you’re okay with it, then I guess I am, too. He’ll probably be back by next week.”

Dan laughed, bouncing little Makas in his arms. “This family sure is growing at a fast pace!”

“No, no,” Scarlett countered. “It’s more like, it’s always been this big, and everyone is just coming together now.”

“True,” I said, shrugging.

We walked into the kitchen, and Fern came in from the backdoor, barreling right at me with Ginger behind her and a puppy on their heels. I picked my little girl up in my arms and twirled her around, holding her up high, before settling her properly in my arms, laughing at the enthusiastic puppy trying to bark at me.

“And how are both of my girls, hmm?”

Ginger walked over to me and gave me a light peck on the mouth. “You girls are doing just fine, but we’re both getting a little hungry.”

I smiled at the subtle prompt, setting Ginger down.

“Dan,” I called, moving over to the fridge. “It’s the guys cooking dinner tonight, so get over here.”

He sighed, resigned, as he handed Makas over to Ginger as he came over to me.

This wasn’t the first time we’d gathered like this, but it was the first time in my new house. While Dan and I got to working, Scarlett was out in the back yard with Ginger and Fern, marveling at all the details we’d put in. I hadn't had a chance to see the full effect yet. We’d set up the porch wide and hung up a bunch of little lights, along with an outdoor dining table. Because it was a warm summer night, one of the few left before we hit the fall and Fern started going to school, we would be dining out.

Once we were done, we set the food up and everybody sat down to eat, dinner table appropriate topics floating around because of the kids. Right afterwards, Scarlett took Makas upstairs to sleep in the extra bed we’d set up in Fern’s room for the times I’d end up looking after him. Fern insisted on staying up a little longer with the adults, and Ginger and I were both fine with it.

As we moved on to the wine drinking stage of dinner—with Fern getting grape juice—Dan and I shared a look.

“Scarlett,” he started, setting down his wine glass, and moving to stand in front of her, taking her glass as well and setting it down for her.

“What?” she muttered, blinking at him in confusion.

Ginger glanced at me, but I just smiled.