I got a beer from the bar fridge and opened it, taking a few sips before I turned to Jade’s old man. “Owen, let me refill your glass,” I said, building up the courage to talk to him, man to man. He held out his glass and I poured chilled wine into it. He was onto his third glass and pretty relaxed, so this was my chance.
I cleared my throat. “This is a bit backwards . . . I kinda asked Jade already . . . but I know it would mean a lot to her if you gave us your blessing. I want to marry your daughter, Owen. Then we’ll try for a family.”
He lifted a brow. “Are you asking for my daughter’s hand?”
I nodded. This was fucking awkward. Thank fuck I only had to do it once. “Yeah, if that’s how you want to put it.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “She kinda already said yes. That was before I knew you. She’d feel better, though, if you and Sylvia were okay with it.”
He thought about it for a while, swirling the wine in his glass. He took a sip, savoring it, making me wait for his answer. If he was trying to make me sweat, he was doing a fine fucking job.
Finally he looked straight at me. “Look, I’ll be honest here. You . . . aren’t exactly the kind of man we thought Jade would end up with. You don’t have an education like she does, or a decent, stable job. Who knows when you’ll get the urge to get on your bike for a long ride—”
I shrugged. “I can’t help my childhood. It is what it is. But I sure can work on my future. I have some ideas for a legitimate business. One my wife and kids can be proud of. Yes, it will still include the MC club, because those people are my family and I don’t quit on them. But Jade and our kids will be safe. I will take care of her and our family.”
“Hmmm, noble words, Ryder. But how do I know you won’t renege on that? Leave her in the lurch?” He stroked his chin, his narrowed eyes pinned on me.
I took another sip of my beer. “Look, Owen, I'm going to be brutally honest with you too. My mother left my brother and me when we were just boys. I know what it feels like. There is no way in hell I’d do that to the woman I love, or my kids. That’s a fucking guarantee.”
Owen stared into the distance, deep in thought. “You are now aware of Jade’s . . . condition—the defect in her heart? It's possible her babies could have it too. And Jade will always be a lot more fragile than most people. She hates to admit it or make a scene about it, but it's reality. How will you handle that?”
I leaned toward him, looking him straight in the eyes. He had to see how serious I was about this. “Jade is perfect to me. Her condition is something we will work around. Now I know about it, I will take extra care that she doesn’t place herself in danger.” If he thought it was going to scare me off, I had a surprise for him. “Jade is my woman. I love her. There is no other way.”
The women’s chattering became louder. They were headed this way, and Owen still hadn’t said what I wanted to hear. “So what’s it to be, Owen? Are you going to make Jade happy?” He didn’t understand that asking for his blessing was simply a courtesy from my side—something to make Jade feel better. I was marrying her regardless of the outcome of this conversation.
He looked me squarely in the eye. “You make my baby girl happy. So I guess that’s a yes. But . . . believe me, if you don’t keep your promises, I will be the one cutting your balls off. Just so we totally understand one another.”
“I like my balls. I plan on keeping them.”
My gaze was trained on Jade’s ass as she set the plates on the table. Fuck—the lengths I was willing to go to for her . . . but she was worth it. Yeah.
She came to stand in front of me and placed her arms around my neck and kissed me sweetly. “Why the frown, baby?”
“Man talk,” I muttered. Fuck me. At least that was out of the way.
We dished up and ate the spread that Mia had organized. I had to remember to thank her again for doing this. She’d made me look good, so I really owed her.
Before we had dessert, I pulled Jade into my lap, taking care for her not to sit on the wound, and hugged her. Harrison was so busy talking to Eva that he didn’t even give me the stink-eye like he usually did. Good. If Eva was going to keep his attention off Jade and me, maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea for them to date after all.
I wonder how long it will take Eva to realize what a dipshit Summers is and to kick his ass to the curb? She was smart. I didn’t have high hopes for Summers being with her for long.
I cleared my throat. “Princess, you’ve already said you’d marry me, so you don’t have any chance of escape now. I asked your ol . . . dad for his blessing, and he said yeah, he’d love for me to take you off his hands. I had to promise to pay him big money of course.” I laughed at her pouty expression, loving that I could tease her.