He prowls forward, and when he gets about halfway to us, Cohen pats my thigh and indicates that he wants me to shift so he can stand. I do so, mutely, and wait to see how this plays out, knowing that it has to play out for us to be able to move forward.
“You knock up my girl. Demand that she move in. And not even plan on making an honest woman out of her?” he fumes.
Cohen stands toe-to-toe with him, their eyes almost level, but even with Daddy having a few inches on Cohen, he doesn’t back down. His chest heaves, but for the most part, he remains calm.
“I didn’t say that, Axel. I plan on marrying your daughter the first chance I get, but that is something that is between the two of us. I respect you enough that I had planned on coming to you privately to ask for your blessing, but I have to be honest with you—I will be marrying my girl whether you give that to me or not. With all due respect, I love your daughter and I couldn’t really give two shits if you want to bless that or not.”
“What did you just say?” Daddy turns and looks over at my mom. “What did he just say to me?”
“You heard him, honey,” she says with a smile. “I think it’s time you took that alpha male down a few notches, big boy.”
My gaze shoots from my mom to my dad to see his reaction, and then it lands on Melissa when she throws her head back and laughs loudly.
“Hush, beauty,” Greg tells his wife. “Son, I think you need to tread carefully here. I like your head right where it is.”
Melissa snickers even louder at that.
“You don’t care for my blessing?” Daddy tosses back at Cohen, and there’s no mistaking his body language—he’s ready to kill. His hands are flexing and his face is beet red.
“Ax—” Mom tries.
“Don’t you dare ‘Axel’ me, Izzy. Don’t you dare. Did you hear him? He just said he didn’t give two shits!” he roars. “You’re walking a tight line here, Cohen.”
This is getting out of hand. I know there won’t be a good outcome if I let the two men I love the most fight over this. Standing carefully from my seat, I give Melissa a wobbly smile when she nods her head in encouragement before I go to stand in front of Cohen and face my father.
I feel Cohen move, and before I can speak, I’m behind him and he’s once again between my father and me. My eyes go from his solid back to the only two people I can see—his parents. Cohen’s move of dominance and protection is one I know didn’t go unnoticed by my father because I see Greg nod and Melissa smile so huge that it looks unnatural. I grasp his shirt in my hand and try to get his attention.
“Cohen,” I start.
“Not now, Dani. I get you think you need to protect me from your father, but this needs to happen and it needs to happen now.”
I sigh, drop my hands from his shirt, and do the only thing left I can. I wrap my hands around his stomach and spread my palms wide against his abs. It’s another move I know doesn’t go unnoticed because Melissa’s smile gets even larger, and when I move my eyes to Greg’s, I see that his are shining bright and his smile matches Melissa’s in size and happiness.
“Are you going to do anything?” I ask him.
“Nope. My boy knows what he’s doing.” He leans back and pulls his wife to his chest, and they just watch with those big, loopy-loo smiles as Cohen stands his ground with my father.
The father who I know could kill him with his bare hands.
I gulp.
“I’m going to tell you this once, Axel. I love your daughter. I’ve loved her before it was right to feel that way. I fought those feelings until she was ready for me, because I’ll tell you this. It was never a question that I was ready for her. What we have is something I will never feel worthy of. Not of her love. Something she gives me without hesitation. I know she deserves the best that life can hand her. You do not have to remind me of that. But even though I don’t think I’m good enough for her, I’ll spend my life making sure that she knows she’s the best thing I will ever have. Do you understand that? I will make sure there isn’t a day that passes that she doesn’t know how much I love her. I’ll spend every second I have left on this Earth giving her everything I possibly can. I waited, out of respect for you and for her, until I couldn’t wait a second longer, and I will not—not for you—give up even a sliver of time with her now that she is mine.”
I hold my breath and wait. I keep my eyes on Cohen’s parents for some sort of clue of what’s happening beyond the wall of Cohen’s body.
It feels like a lifetime passes before I hear my father’s laughter boom through the room.
What in the hell?
“Well. Why didn’t you just say that to begin with?”
I repeat; What in the hell?
“You didn’t really give me a chance, Axel,” Cohen says.
“Right. Well, now that that is out of the way, let’s talk.”
Jesus Christ. I’ve entered the Twilight Zone.
It doesn’t take long for us to settle back down. Cohen turns and gives me a kiss, and when I hear my father’s growl again, I pull back and look over at him. He throws his arms up and gives me a tired look back.
“What? You don’t expect me to just flip a switch and turn it off, do you?”
“Crazy old man,” I mutter.
Cohen takes his seat again and pulls me back onto his lap. One hand goes to my belly and the other is resting back on my thigh. Without a thought, I wrap my arms around his shoulders and settle in for what promises to be a long chat.
“My dad filled me in on everything that’s happened between the letter, flowers, and . . . yesterday.” He pauses to look down at me. “I want to be fully briefed so that I’m able to understand this from every angle that I’m sure you have worked. My gut tells me that it’s someone she knows. Someone she trusts. But until I have all the intel, I’m not comfortable making that call. I’ve been told that the police also have run into nothing but dead ends?” He looks between my father and his and they all nod. “This bastard is slick, I’ll give him that,” Cohen mutters.
“Slick, but he’ll fuck up. I heard from my contact at the department that there was a print lifted from the bag. Dani’s has been ruled out, so they’re running it through their database to see if they get a match.”
Cohen nods his head at my father’s words but doesn’t speak.