Page 43 of A Deeper Blue
“I am informed that she is mostly Fae and only partially human,” said Albert primly.
“I maintain my point,” said Rafe, taking a sip of coffee.
Albert rumbled a growl of discontent. “Those girls weren’t right for you,” Albert said. “They couldn’t give you what you needed. This one can. Besides, you were only dating humans because I told you that you couldn’t.”
Rafe’s first instinct was to stomp off in a huff, but he took a breath and tried to remember that being home didn’t mean he had to fall into the same old patterns. What did he want from this conversation? What did his father want?
“Why did you call me?” Rafe asked. “You could have sent someone else to get the Lady in the… water bottle.”
Albert eyed him sidelong.
“I knew you would be strong enough to getherhere. And… I… wanted to see you.”
The words were pushed out as if Albert were having to drive them out with whips. It was an enormous admission, and Rafe’s first instinct was to capitalize on the exposed weakness, to spit out something quick and hurtful in return.
“If I’m strong, it’s because I’ve had to be,” said Rafe, trying to keep his tone measured, but he couldn’t stop the bitterness from coloring every word. “I’ve had no one to watch my back for sixty years.”
Albert’s shoulders slumped, and Rafe felt disturbed at how much age this move added to his father. He didn’t like it. His father was the alpha of the Portland pack. Albert couldn’t be beaten by anyone.
“I made a mistake, Rafe. I shouldn’t have kicked you out. You were right.”
Rafe stared at his father, trying to process the words. It was literally everything he’d wanted his father to say, and he had no idea how to deal with it.
“Mom had died, and I was acting out,” said Rafe, offering a concession of his own. “I was annoying.”
“So annoying,” said Albert.
“But I was still right,” snapped Rafe.
“You were early,” said Albert. “We couldn’t have got there on your timeline.”
“You needed sixty years to learn how to use the phone?” demanded Rafe.
“No, it was more like thirty,” said Albert, completely missing the sarcasm.
Rafe found himself laughing and trying not to let tears well up in his eyes.
“What? They’re tricky. And I kept yanking the old ones out of the wall on accident. The new ones with no cords are better. Although, they have too many buttons.”
“Yeah,” agreed Rafe. “They can be complicated. Azure has one that is basically a tiny computer in her hand.”
“Moira, Maggie’s girl, has one of those. She shows me how to use it.” Albert paused. “Your sister had pups,” he added as an afterthought.
“I know,” said Rafe. “Because Maggie still talks to me.”
“Yeah, I figured. She yelled at me a lot after you left. It was her kids that started me down this path.”
“What do you mean?” asked Rafe. His father had never been this open. Were sixty years enough to change a person?
“Well, they were born, and I found myself saying all the bullshit that my father used to say—wait and see, things will get better, that’s the way things are. I hated it when I was a pup, and I hated it coming out of my mouth. And then I started thinking about what would make it better, and then I started to think about how to do those things, and the answers I came up with were the same ones that you had been yelling about.”
“You could have called,” said Rafe, trying not to be hostile.
“I was thinking about it, but you ran into your cousin about that time and clocked him the face.”
“He’s such a little fucker,” said Rafe.
“I know, I know,” said Albert, his tone empathetic. “But I couldn’t call after that. And then you ran off to Cambodia or wherever. It just never seemed like the right time.”
