Page 47 of A Stable Daddy

Oh, sure, I have spent time with the kids, but I was a shell of myself for most of the year following his death, and then I moved out here away from them.

“I can head out if you all want some time on your own,” Oscar offers. He says it without a hint of resentment or upset, because he’s just that sweet and understanding. But both kids and I deny him in unison: a chorus of horrified “fuck no”s.

“You’re my Daddy,” I tell him, without a trace of the embarrassment I felt when I first let it slip this morning. “And this is your home now, remember? You’re a part of this family now.”

“Oh,” Mak widens her pretty, hazel eyes and then grins evilly. “CanIcall you Daddy, too?” She rakes her gaze over Oscar with an exaggerated predatory glee, and I tug him close against me.

“Nope,” I tell her. “Mine. Find your own.”

“I’m so going to need therapy after this,” Trev moans, then ducks as Mak attempts to smack him upside the head. “Papa, she’ssoviolent.”

“Only ever with you,” she shrugs.

Trev sets his big, brown eyes on Oscar. “This is the insanity you’re getting roped into. You prepared for this?”

“I’m the cowboy,” Oscar says, “I do the roping.” He looks at me with an expression so soft and full of love that it takes my breath away. “And I wouldn’t want to be anywhere or with anyone else.”

Chapter Twenty – Oscar

“You’re going to tell me you’re leaving the station, aren’t you?” Rob asks after dinner on a Friday night nearly a year after I reconnected with Ryan.

I have loved every minute of working here. I have loved being a part of a found family of kinky queer people who love animals and the outdoors as much as I do. I have loved working on a ranch —station,damn it— with people who accept me for who I am, and who don’t push their expectations on me (aside from expectations to keep up the good work, which are totally fair).

But, for all of that, I’ve loved being with Ryan even more.

When I first met him back in Brisbane, I felt a spark of connection. He was every single one of my weaknesses in a sexy, silver fox-shaped package. But the timing was all wrong, and I hadn’t had confidence that I could be trusted to be the Daddy he deserved, not with my track record of impulsive, bad decisions.

Reconnecting with him changed that. I might not believe in fate, but maybe the universe had been trying to tell me to take a chance. And if that beautiful Boy, with his tragic past, could be open to try letting someone new into his life, why couldn’t I?

When we started this thing between us, I didn’t allow myself to dream that I had found my happily ever after. Not after crashing and burning so badly when I first moved to Australia.

But over the past year, I’m convinced that my luck has turned.

Ryan and I love each other. He’s my Boy and I’m his Daddy. He’s also my partner, my lover, and my best friend. Our relationship is sturdy, built on a foundation of trust, communication, and hard work. We’ve had our share of arguments over the past months, as the newness and shininess of being in love settled into something more domestic, but we have always talked them out. Not once have we gone to bed angry with each other, and I’m not so arrogant that I can’t admit when I’m wrong (which, as it turns out, is about eighty percent of the time).

For the first time in my adult life, I’m in a relationship of equal give and take. I’m with a man who grounds me and tempers my impulsive side, but who also encourages me to follow my dreams.

And that’s why I’m sitting across from Rob in his homey living room, each of us nursing a tumbler of whiskey on ice.

My dreams involve spending more time with my Boy. I want to live with him more than a quarter of the time. I want to come home to him after each and every day of work. I can’t do that while I’m here at Wombat Run.

“Yeah,” I answer him with a great deal of sadness. “I love workin’ here, Rob. I really do. But…”

“I get it,” his smile is understanding, and it reaches his sparkling eyes. “There’ll always be a place for you here, but I don’t think you’ll need it.”

“I appreciate that.” He doesn’t ask me what I’m going to do when I leave, and to be honest, I haven’t figured it out entirely yet. But I’ve got an engagement ring burning a hole in my duffel bag, and every vision of my future from here has me spending my nights with Ryan in my arms.

“You’re gonna invite us all to the wedding, I hope,” Rob teases, and I choke a little on my drink.

“How’d you—?”

“Nothing gets by me here, Ozzy. You know that.”

I haven’t told a soul about my plans to propose. Not Dusty, not Jim, not even Rye’s kids. I narrow my gaze, and Rob laughs. “I signed for your package, numb nuts. It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together when I saw it was from a fancy-pants jeweller.”

“Oh. Right.” My cheeks burn and I duck my head. Clearing my throat as the moment of embarrassment passes, I ask, “Can I, uh, borrow the honeymoon cabin for a weekend? And maybe a couple of the horses?”

“Oh, I see how it is. You’re quitting, but you still want the benefits of working here.” Rob winks to let me know he’s joking, not that I could have missed it from the giant smile on his face. “Of course you can.”

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