He dropped my hand but draped an arm around my shoulders as we waited on the porch at the top of the steps while Mom and Dad made their way to us (“we” meant Deacon and me, Bossy ran out to greet them).
Bossy got love first then they climbed the steps and I got some.
Introductions were awkward. Even though Mom invited Deacon to call her Beth on a warm smile, Dad invited Deacon to call him Obadiah on an assessing look.
We got them in. Mom and I set about filling cups of coffee. Deacon went back out and helped Dad get the bags.
And I got wired again because Dad allowed this but he didn’t hide he was doing it to be polite.
“It’ll be okay, Cassidy,” Mom murmured to me in the kitchen while they (followed by Bossy) took the bags upstairs.
I said nothing.
Mom knew I was wired, reached out, and gave my hand a squeeze before letting it go.
That was reassuring, as Mom could be, but not reassuring enough.
The men came back, we sat around shooting the breeze at the kitchen table, then Deacon sent my freak out into overdrive when he turned to Dad and said, “Obadiah, been cooped up in a car awhile. You wanna take a walk?”
Oh God.
My eyes flew to Mom’s.
She nodded encouragingly.
“It’s cold,” Dad replied and my heart sunk. “But you know, I think I would.”
My gaze went to my father and my heart swelled.
Their chairs scraped as they got up and left the room, Bossy going with them.
I didn’t move a muscle.
Neither did Mom.
I heard the door close.
“You were right, he’s extremely handsome,” she noted.
I looked to Mom and said nothing.
“Rugged.”
She was not wrong.
“Manly,” she went on.
I swallowed.
“Tall,” she kept at me.
I fought wringing my hands.
“Built.”
“Uh-huh,” I mumbled.
“And, Cassie,” she said, her voice going soft. “It is not lost on your father that he’s being respectful to us, this is not easy on him because we know what he put you through, and he looks at you like you’re the only reason on this earth he’s still breathing.”