He really wants to spend his life with me. . .
“Why do you think I'm here? I didn't just come because of the storm, I came because I had to see it for myself.” My father strokes his chin and looks back at me over his shoulder. “What am I supposed to think, huh? I thought you took me seriously, I thought you respected me, but you don't give a shit about our name, do you? You'd rather just shit all over the Dean name, right? You want to make a fool of me? Is that why you're doing this?”
I can feel myself shrinking, my shoulders roll forward, and my body is getting smaller. But this isn't going to help, I can't shy away from a confrontation. I need to be honest with him. I need to stand up for myself.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I inhale a deep breath and straighten my back. “No.”
“Excuse me?” he asks.
“I said no. No, I don't want to shit all over our name. No, I'm not doing this to embarrass you or make you look bad. News flash, Dad, not everything is about you.” Side stepping around my father, I hold the sheet up high, and tuck myself into Kent's side. “I love him, and I'm not going to pretend I don't. I'm a grown woman, not a damn child, and you need to stop treating me like I'm one.”
“You promised me you'd take this seriously, Perri. Sleeping with the tenant is doing the exact opposite.”
“What about you?” I ask, crooking my jaw. “What about you planting him here to spy on me? How is that taking me seriously? To me, that was you shitting on me. By planting him here, you told me that you don’t respect me or trust me. So, what am I supposed to think of that?”
“I did it to protect you. I did it to make sure you did your job right.”
“And she did,” Kent says right away. “She took care of the pool, she got a plumber out here to fix the clog in the shower, she made sure the lawn was cut and those gorgeous flowers out front, yeah, she planted those herself. This woman knows design, Bryce, and you've been too blinded by your own misconceptions that you haven't even seen how amazing your own daughter is. Everything I told you on the phone was true. I didn't lie to you about that. And I'm not lying to you now. I love this girl, and one day I'm going to marry her, with or without your blessing.”
My father looks between us, and his eyes stiffen. “Why are you doing this to me?” he asks, shaking his head. “Is it because you want me to fail?”
“No, Dad, I don't want you to fail. I want you to realize that I know what I'm doing. I want you to see who you've raised, and it's not a stupid kid. Kent's helped me to see how much value I have, and you know what, I don't want this. I don't want to run your business. I want to run my own. I think I'm going to open up my own interior design company.”
“Really?” Kent asks, taking the chance to look down at me.
“Yeah, really.” Pushing up on the tips of my toes, I kiss him softly. Dropping back down, I turn to look at my dad. “So, do you think you're ready to let me lead something for once in my life, and not try to hold me back?”
My dad sways on his feet, and I can see the wheels turning in his head. “I've never seen this side of you before. You remind me of myself when I told your grandfather I wasn't going to be a lawyer like him, and that I wanted to be an electrician. He hated it. He didn't talk to me for over five years because of it.” He takes a step back and throws his arms up behind his head, laying his head against his hands. “I can't believe I've been doing the same thing to you, the same cold shoulder my father gave me. I've held you back, I refused to let you breathe. I'm sorry, Perri.”
“Dad, I just want you to see me for who I am, see what I've done, see where I want to go, see who I love. . .” I take Kent's hand in mine and squeeze it tight. “Life isn't planned, it isn't written in a daily schedule book, or plotted on a graph. Life is full of risk, it's full of choice, and it's also full of failure. I'm not perfect, Dad, and I never will be. But I'm not wrong either, I know what I want, and you can't change my mind about it.”
Kent wraps his arm around my shoulder and kisses the top of my head. “You have an amazing daughter, Bryce, and you know me, you know I'm going to treat her right.”
My father lets his eyes drift over each of us. He nods his head and runs his hand down his face. “Get dressed, maybe the three of us can go check the damage from the storm together, and then go grab something to eat.”
“Really?” I ask, unable to hide my surprise.
“Yeah, I'd like to hear more about this design company. The way you worked this living room is perfect. Maybe we can walk through the other properties too, see what you can do.”
“That would be amazing.” I'm smiling as I speak, and in awe over his offer. “I'd love to bring something else to the table here.”
“Good, I'll be waiting out front.” My father walks out of the room and closes the door behind him.
I look up at Kent, and my grin turns giddy. “Did you hear that? Was that my father or was he abducted by aliens?”
“I think you finally did what he was always waiting for. You took charge.”
Kent wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me in a for a kiss. His lips are electric, they spark against my mouth, and make my heart skip a beat.
“I have something for you,” he says.
“You do? What is it?”
“One second,” he says, stepping away and digging around in his dresser. Walking back to me, he has this smile on his face. “When I told your dad I was going to marry you one day, I meant it.” Dropping to one knee, he holds up a small black box, and pulls back the lid. “Perri Dean, will you marry me?”
Throwing both hands to my face, the sheet drops off my body and I start to cry. “Are you serious?” I ask quietly between tears. He nods, his smile big and broad. “Yes, I'll marry you.” Shaking my head up and down, the tears fall effortlessly down my cheeks.
Kent slips the ring over my finger, and swoops me off my feet, spinning me around, and kissing me hard. “I love you, and I promise I'll always love you.”
And as I stare into his eyes, I know he means it.
I found the one, the person I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with.
Men like Kent only come once in a lifetime, and I'm never going to let him go.
10
Perri
“Knock, knock,” my father says, sticking his head into the room. “How you feeling? Are you nervous?”
Rocking my head back and forth, I smile. “Yeah, a little.”
“Of course you are, you're getting married.”
It’s only been a few months, but as Kent always says, “Why wait for tomorrow for what you can do today?” So days after he proposed, we started planning our wedding.
Dad steps up behind me and drapes a necklace across my chest. “I brought you something. It can be your something old.”
“My what?” I ask.
“You never heard of the saying that on your wedding day you need something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue?”
“Um, no.”
“Don't worry, I got you covered.” He clips the necklace around my neck. “This was your grandmother's. She wore it on her wedding day when she married my father. This is your something old, your dress is something new. . .” Pausing, he looks around the room and grins. Going to a small bouquet of flowers on the table, he plucks the blue ribbon off the vase. Coming back to me, he wraps it around the messy bun in my hair, and ties it into a bow. “Something blue,” he says.
“What about something borrowed?” I asked.
Pulling the pin out of one of the cuffs on his sleeves, he attaches it to the ribbon in my hair. “You can give it back to me later.” Kissing my forehead, he steps back and looks me up and down. “You look amazing,” he says.
“Thanks, Dad.” I let out a deep breath and I can feel my stomach as it tumbles. “I'm so nervous.”
“Don't be, the second you see him, you won't see anyone else.” My dad chuckles and looks off out the window. “I, uh, I saw your mother outside.”
“Be nice, please. I just want everyone to get along today.”
My father folds his lips down and nods. “Don't worry, honey, I won't ruin your day. But her rock star boyfriend,” he says making air quotes and chuckling, “put on a few pounds. I don't think he'll be squeezing into those leather pants he once had.”
Laughing out loud, my eyes start to water. Snatching a tissue from the box, I dab my face. “Stop it, you're going to mess up my makeup.”