Page 37 of My Boyfriend's Possessive Daddy

“You look wonderful, baby,” I say.

His smile is shaky. “Thanks.”

“Are you ready?”

“Don’t think I have much of a choice anymore.”

“Fair point,” I reply with a laugh. “Come on. Let’s do this together.”

Taking his hand in mine, I lead him over to the door and we open it to find Ben and a beautiful, dark-haired woman standing with him, hand in hand. There’s a moment’s pause and a crackling sense of anticipation in the air, but it’s Ben, surprisingly, who breaks it by stepping forward and embracing his father. I cover my mouth with my hands and try to beat back the waves of emotion washing over me as I watch Ethan hugging his son with a look of absolute joy on his face.

I share a glance with Ben’s girl, and she has a smile on her face that matches my own. She steps forward and offers me her hand.

“Hi. I’m Liz,” she says. “And you must be Elodie.”

“I am. It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you too.”

We look at the two men who are still embracing and speaking in low tones to one another then turn back to each other. I can already see a difference in Ben. He is not the same man who stormed into my grandmother’s house in what feels like a different lifetime.

“This has been quite the journey,” I say.

“It really has.”

Ethan finally steps back but puts his hands on Ben’s shoulders and just looks at him. “It’s really good to see you. Thank you for coming.”

“It’s good to see you too, Dad.” Ben takes Liz by the hand. “This is Liz.”

“It’s lovely to meet you, Liz,” Ethan says.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” she replies. “Ben has told me a lot about you.”

“I’m sure he has,” Ethan says with a grin. “But we’re trying to move past all that.”

They share a laugh and Ethan takes her hand, leading her into the living room where I see my grandmother greeting her. Ben and I stand in the foyer together, watching for a moment, and he turns to me.

“She’s beautiful,” I say. “And she’s really nice.”

“She is. She’s helped me really take a hard look at myself, and I have to say, I didn’t like what I saw,” he tells me. “Liz helped me make a lot of changes.”

“I can tell. You seem a lot happier and more settled.”

“I am. And I needed to say that I’m sorry. For everything,” he says. “I was an asshole to you. I was horrible. And I hope you can forgive me, but if you can’t?—”

“Everything is forgiven, Ben. We’re good.”

“Yeah?”

I nod. “Yeah. We’re good,” I tell him. “I’m just glad to see you happy. I really am.”

He gives me a shy smile. “Honestly, it feels good to be happy and not carry around all that anger anymore. I feel good.”

“Well, happiness looks good on you.”

“Thanks, Elodie. I mean it.”

“Thank you,” I tell him. “I don’t think you know how happy you’ve made your dad.”

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