Page 80 of Cowboy Needed
“I do know that, and I’m not mad at it.” He took a deep breath and blew it out. “I guess this kind of blindsided me.”
He got another one of those gentle smiles. “Of course it did. Like I said, I’ve had years to get used to the kind of questions Zane will pop at someone when he’s worried about something. He wasn’t looking for me to say I wasn’t ever going to marry you or that he wasn’t in a place where he could cope with that. He’s a teenager.”
“I know you said you’re not sure where Michael is, but what do you think about Allie and Chrissy?” God, he would love to be their dad. Was he always going to be relegated to being the guy who moved in and ran the ranch and came with the property?
“I think they’re going to think of you as their dad, Ellis, if we let it happen. And why shouldn’t we? I love you. I told you that. And you love me. I believe you when you say it. We can work our way toward that.” Ichabod searched his eyes. “Is that what you want?”
“Yeah, it is what I want. I adore those kids; I just don’t want to be…”
“You’re not. You’re special. You’re not some guy that I hooked up with. I would not have hooked up with any man who ended up working here on the ranch. That’s not how it works.” Ichabod flicked the back of his hand with his finger and thumb, not quite pinching but it stung anyway.
“Now, I was fixing to pinch you to see how you’d react.” He grinned, because he couldn’t not, and because that was how it worked with him. He got over himself pretty quick, usually.
“No pinching.” Ichabod waved a hand at him. “These are not the droids you are trying to pinch.”
“Is that some kind of Star movie-slash-TV show reference?”He knew very well what it was from, but he had to tease because it made Ichabod crazy.
“Now, I am going to beat you.” Ichabod stood up and made like he was about to chase him, and Ellis had to laugh and jump up to run in for the front room.
“Girls, save me!”
Allie squealed and jumped up off the couch, grabbing a pillow to whack Ichabod in the stomach. “I’ve got you, Bell.”
“Oof!” Ichabod came to a screeching stop, looking down at his daughter with his eyebrows raised. “Et tu, Allie?”
“What’s that mean?” She brandished the pillow again.
“Means you’re a traitor taking up for him. He pinched me. Well, he threatened to pinch me. We’ll be fair.”
“See? I didn’t pinch anybody. He’s the one who abused me, Al.” Ellis hid behind her.
“I tect you, Bell.” Chrissy joined her sister, her tiny little hands on her hips as she glared at her dad.
Ellis laughed, scooping Chrissy up in his arms to kiss her on the cheek. “My fierce little girl. I know you got me. It’s okay, your dad and I are just playing.”
“I like to play,” Chrissy said, patting his cheeks. “My own Bell.”
“Do you need me on your team, Daddy?” Allie asked, pillow still held at the ready.
“That would be perfect, baby girl,” Ichabod told her. “Now be gentle with your sister, but let’s have a pillow fight.” Ichabod grabbed a pillow off the couch that was a touch too squishy these days, so it wouldn’t hurt anybody, Ellis figured.
Ellis did the same thing and let the girls have the harder ones. They couldn’t swing with as much strength.
Chrissy wiggled to be let down with a squeal, and Ellis set her on the floor. She grabbed the pillow off the couch and swung at her dad’s legs, whacking him like a mad Chihuahua with a chew toy in its mouth.
Ichabod roared, the sound adorable and bopped Chrissy over the head as gently as he could. Ellis took a swing at Allie, hitting her right in the upper arm, and she giggled madly, going for something more personal with him.
They had a heck of a pillow fight. The girls were running around the couch, him and Ichabod making crazy noises and smacking each other with the pillows while the girls squealed. By the time they were done, he was over his worry that maybe he wasn’t enough for anybody.
They all plopped on the couch. Ichabod was right there next to him, their shoulders rubbing.
The girls swarmed them. Allie sat on his lap and grinned at him. “Love you, Bell.”
“Well, I love you too, Miss Allie.”
Chrissy gave him a glare. “Me too?”
“I love you too, my own Chrissy.”