Swink (Landry Family 5)

Dad

stands up and shakes his head, not looking nearly as shocked as I would’ve imagined. “It’s nice to meet you.”

He moves to my mother, who remains sitting. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Landry.”

“It’s Vivian, dear. But, yes, it’s a pleasure to meet you as well.”

Alison giggles, looking at me. Barrett glares at her.

Dom nods to Mom, retreating a few feet back closer to the doorway.

With each movement, he flinches. He’s trying hard to seem like he’s not in pain, but I can tell by the way he favors his side. The way his teeth clench. The way his eyes lack the spark I’m used to seeing.

He takes a deep breath and blows it out. “I didn’t expect so many of you,” he admits, looking a little bewildered. Finally, he looks at me again.

His eyes soften, his shoulders sag, and I can tell he wants to tell me to, “Come here,” like he always does.

“What are you doing here?” I ask softly.

“Good question. A lot of judgements have been passed—from you about me, me about some of you. It’s easy to do that, I guess, when you don’t really know the other people or anything about them.”

“Your brother still owes me a bottle of Patrón,” Lincoln says.

“Lincoln, now isn’t the time,” my father says, bending forward to look at his youngest son. “I’m sorry, Dominic. Go on.”

“Yeah, um, you all love her a lot. And I didn’t understand that for a long time. Not why you love her—that’s obvious,” he blushes. “But this big interaction you all have. I just have a brother and it’s been the two of us for a long time. This whole thing,” he says, moving his arm in a circle indicating us, “is new to me.”

“It gets easier,” Alison chimes in. “Trust me. I’m not from this sort of family either.”

This seems to settle Dom a bit. He looks at me, his eyes completely sober. “I’ve worried a lot that I wouldn’t be able to take care of her. Not like she’s used to. I mean, look around. I can’t give her these things.”

“I’m her father,” Dad says calmly. “I’ll give her these things. You don’t have to worry about that. I’ve worked my tail off for decades to give my children this. It’s your job, if you choose to take it, to give her the things I can’t.”

Tears trickle down my cheeks as my father stands.

“Son, having a family, whether it’s two people or twenty, is a team effort. I couldn’t have done it without Vivian. We couldn’t have done it without our parents and now without our children, Alison, Danielle, Ellie, Mallory, and even Huxley and Ryan. It’s all of us, working together, filling in where the others fall. Take, for instance, Lincoln. I can bail that boy out of all kinds of legal issues, but who is going to make sure his head is on the pillow at night? Who’s going to give him children? Who is going to make sure he gets a hair cut—which you need, by the way,” Dad says, looking at Linc. “Dani does those things, God love her.”

We all laugh while Lincoln just shakes his head, pretending to cover Ryan’s ears. “Always me. It’s always me.”

“You’re too easy,” Ford tells him.

“I don’t ask my children to vet their significant others. We have Graham for that,” Dad deadpans, making us all laugh. “But I do ask them to pick someone that makes them happy. That puts them first. If they have a skill I can use in the family business, that’s a plus,” Dad laughs.

“Sir, with all due respect,” Dominic begins, “I understand that. But I want to be transparent with you. There are things about me that you might not know, and I . . . I don’t want any secrets. Before I ask your daughter to forgive all the things I said and implied, I wanted to come to you and lay all this out there. I don’t want it coming back to bite me in the ass later.”

“Language, Dominic,” Mom grins.

His eyes go wide. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Lincoln sighs. “I get it all the time.”

“Let’s hope Dominic is more fearful of me than you are.”

“Being that you sign my birthday cards ‘Mommy,’ there’s probably a good chance.”

We laugh again, but my eyes are on Dominic.

“I know a lot about you. I knew of your father years back,” Dad says, alluding to the accident but not bringing it specifically. “I know of the infamous loan that was paid back,” he says, emphasizing the last part and looking at Graham. “I also know you’re related to Nolan, and for that, I give you my deepest sympathies.”