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fifty-four

Rory

“Thanks for grabbing her, Lane,” I say quietly at my hotel door. Lane is standing in front of me with Sage sleeping on his shoulder.

“Sorry that it took me a bit longer to get here. Just needed Lucia to help me loosen up my arm after the game.”

“That’s okay. We weren’t really expecting to have a visitor right now.”

Lane gives me a soft smile. “Good luck. I hope your dad can finally see what you two have.”

“Thanks,” I say lightly. “Good night. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Lane waves before he walks off, and I close the door behind him before returning to where my dad and husband are sitting on opposite beds.

Thankfully, my dad is sitting on Lo’s bed and not the one Cole and I had sex in.

When I sit down next to Cole, my dad lets out a deep breath. “You two are wearing wedding rings.”

Cole places his hand reassuringly on my thigh. “Yes,” I say. “We are.”

When I confirm it for him, he shuts his eyes and takes a breath. When he opens them again, his eyes are glassy, tears threatening to spill out of them. “I missed my only daughter getting married because I was a controlling jackass.”

I don’t know what I expected when my dad showed up here, but admitting that he’s at fault so quickly doesn’t even crack the top ten on things I would’ve guessed.

My dad is prideful and stubborn—he always has been. His admitting this so quickly gives me hope that we can turn this around.

Tears prick my own eyes now. “I’m sor-”

He raises a hand to silence me. “You don’t need to apologize, Rory. I’m the one that needs to apologize. I let my own biases cloud my judgment and thought I was doing what was best for you. But that was never up to me to decide. You’re right; you’re a grown woman. In my head, though, you’re still my baby girl, and I let that part of me take over. I should never have tried to decide who is good enough for you because you did that on your own.”

The words catch me by surprise. “What?”

“Let me finish please. I need to get all of this out before I break down.” He rubs his hands over his eyes, collecting the tears gathered in the corners. “Cole,” he starts, and I feel my husband’s body tense. My dad sighs before starting again. “I don’t think sorry is enough for how I treated you, but it’s all I have. Everything I said last night was out of line. Hell, coming to you after the wedding and asking you to help me was out of line, too. But last night…” He shakes his head as he thinks of everything he said. “I can’t believe how I acted. Berating you, in general, was uncalled for, but doing it in front of the team? And then holding your reputation over your head when Harlow spoke up? I’m deeply sorry. Despite how I acted, I do like you. Knox was right—I had no problem with you until I found out you were dating my daughter. Well, married to my daughter, I guess.”

“We, uh…” Cole clears his throat. “We weren’t married last night.”

“So you took advantage of being in Vegas, I see,” he chuckles lightly, and the tension starts fading from the room.

“Cole proposed on the Strip before we went to the chapel. He bought an engagement ring when we were buying our bands.” I can’t help but smile and spin the rings around my finger.

My dad notices the movement and smiles himself. “He really does love you.”

“I do,” Cole says warmly. “I’ve been falling in love with Rory since I first met her. I’m sorry that we hid from you, but I don’t regret doing it. My only regret is taking almost four years to tell her how I feel.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t see it,” my dad says, shaking his head. “In hindsight, it’s obvious it was you. Hell, she wore your jersey on Opening Day. I just didn’t think anything of it because she has a jersey for every player on the team, and she rotates through them. I watched you two dance together at the wedding. I know you spent time together when she flew down to Florida. I’ve seen you hanging around the girls more often than you did before.”

“We were pretty obvious, weren’t we?” I say with a light laugh.

“Does he make you happy, Rory?”

“Yes,” I smile. “I’ve never been this happy, Dad. Cole is absolutely incredible.”

“And you’re going to take care of my daughter?”

Cole looks at me, love flashing in his eyes as he rubs the rings on my finger. “For as long as I live. She’s my everything, Skip. I love her.”

I press my forehead against his. “I love you, too.”

My dad stands now, holding out his hand for Cole to shake. Cole stands and grips it firmly. My dad smiles and throws an arm around his shoulders. “Welcome to the family, son.”

That word is all I need to completely lose it.

My dad came around. He accepts us being together, Cole being my husband. He accepts Cole as his son-in-law .

The dam breaks, and I can’t stop the tears. Cole quickly pulls me into their hug, planting a kiss on top of my head as I cry into my dad’s shoulder.

“Thank you, Skip,” he says, not afraid to let his own emotion show.

My dad breaks apart from us, but Cole keeps his arm around my shoulder, holding me so tightly that it’s like he’s trying to make sure I don’t float away.

“Cole,” my dad says, wiping the tears from his eyes. “Call me Paul.”

Cole lets out a light, watery laugh as he wipes his own eyes. “You know, Paul,” he says, “you’re my first choice for a father-in-law.”

My dad laughs heartily. “That’s because you’ve apparently been in love with my daughter for four years.”

“That definitely doesn’t hurt,” he says, kissing the top of my head.

I step forward and throw my arms around my dad, tears still falling down my cheeks. “Thank you, Dad. I love you.”

“I love you, too, baby girl. I’m sorry I ever made you feel like you couldn’t take control of your own life.” He looks over at Cole and smiles. “You picked a good one, Rory.”

Cole’s grin is wide as I say, “I picked the absolute best one.”

We all take a few moments to compose ourselves after all the emotions even out.

“So,” my dad says, gazing right at us both. “Do you have pictures you can show me from the wedding?”

He stays for a couple hours more, listening to every story we tell him about us and every picture we have together.

We took pictures of ourselves last night, both out on the Strip and after the ceremony, and the chapel provided pictures as well. We even had some wonderful strangers capture the moment Cole got down on one knee, and they were kind enough to AirDrop them to us.

He and Cole also have a conversation about what happens from here. He’s officially off of the restricted list, and he’ll suit up and be back on the field tomorrow. And at my dad’s suggestion, the two of them are going to do a joint press conference before the game to address everything that happened.

He leaves shortly after midnight, leaving us alone and happier than ever.

When I close the door behind my dad, Cole looks at me with the biggest smile on his face. I squeal and run over to him, jumping into his arms as he spins me around.

“Everything worked out, Cole.”

“It was always going to,” he murmurs against my cheek. “There was no way your dad would be able to miss the way I look at you. See the way I love you. He was always going to come around.”

Cole sets me back on the ground, taking my hands in his, and we press our foreheads together. “After the press conference tomorrow, everyone is going to know we’re together.”

“I can’t fucking wait,” he smiles.

“You should be prepared, though. You married a black woman. People are going to leave some cruel comments.”

“And you married a white man, Starlight.” He smiles at me, completely unbothered about what people are going to say. “Technically, though, my wife is biracial.” I can’t help but laugh. “Rory, I don’t care what they say. If they have a problem with you, they were never fans. Fuck everyone who has anything negative to say about my wife.”

I grin and fist the soft cotton of his T-shirt before kissing him tenderly. “You’re incredible. I love you so much, Cole.”

“I love you, too, Rory. And I’m going to for as long as I live.”

Cole captures my lips again, kissing me deeply and letting every bit of love for me show as our mouths move together.

Any worry I have fades away.

With Cole beside me, there isn’t anything to fear.