Page 99 of Break My Fall

Granny and Aunt Rhonda made no attempt to hide their glee. “Well, I do believe Minnie’s got the right of it.” Aunt Rhonda nudged Granny. “How many grandmother-of-the-bride dresses do you have to buy this year?”

Meredith grabbed Gray’s hand and indicated that Aunt Minnie should lead the way to the kitchen before her grandmother and aunt had them going to the chapel before they had their second date.

They made it into the house and hit a wall of heat and people. “Now I understand why they’re sitting on the porch.” Meredith saw her dad and he saw them.

“Minnie. Bring my baby girl over here, won’t you, sweetheart?”

Aunt Minnie tugged on Meredith’s hand, and Meredith clung to Gray with her other hand. This was so not how she’d envisioned introducing Gray to the family. Not that everyone hadn’t already met him, of course.

But in the Quinn family, if you showed up with a date, thatperson had to be prepared. Everyone was always welcome at the Quinn table, but if your relationship status had moved beyond friendship, an entirely different level of scrutiny was brought to bear.

Aunt Minnie reached her brother first, and he grabbed his older sister and pressed a kiss to her temple. “There’s my first girl. How are you today? You didn’t even speak to me at church.”

Aunt Minnie preened under his attention. “I helped in children’s church.”

“Well, then that’s okay.” He looked at Meredith and very obviously allowed his gaze to linger on her hand, firmly clasped in Gray’s. He returned his attention to Minnie. “Could I borrow Meredith and Gray for a minute?”

Aunt Minnie grinned. “I’m taking Merry into the kitchen for some ham.”

“Minnie, you haven’t been sneaking ham, have you?”

She giggled and ran off.

Meredith faced her father. Gray stood straight at her back, and she got the sense that if he could stand beside her, or even in front of her, he would. But they were in a corner, and there wasn’t anywhere to go.

She wasn’t sure what to say. She had nothing to be ashamed of. She’d done nothing wrong. And for that matter, neither had Gray. Well, okay, so he’d broken her heart. But he was sorry.

Yeah. That was not the argument to use with her dad. But how could she explain it? Gray had hurt her. But he apologized. And he explained. And she believed him. And she cared about him—okay, fine, she’d been in love with him for a while. So she was willing to see where things went.

If her family couldn’t get on board with that, then they were going to have a problem. And by “they,” she meant her family. She and Gray would be fine. “Hi, Dad.”

“Hey, baby girl.” Her father pointedly looked over her shoulder. “Gray.”

“Sir.” Gray didn’t sound nervous.

“You hurt her again, you’d better not show up for lunch. You hear me?”

“Dad—”

“Won’t happen, sir.”

“Better not.”

“Dad—”

“Glad we got that straight. One of the kids messed with the thermostat and it’s hot as blazes in here. Dad opened a few windows. Should cool off soon enough. Granny and Rhonda went to the front porch, but it’s too cold for your mom. She went to the sunroom. Go see her before lunch. She’s got it in her head that you and Mo are fighting.”

He kissed her cheek, slapped Gray on the shoulder, and maneuvered through the crowd. He called out, “All the little hooligans, let’s go outside and burn off some energy.” And like some kind of mountain-man pied piper, he led most of her cousins under the age of fifteen into the yard.

Meredith turned to face Gray. “I’m so sorry.”

“For what?” He seemed genuinely confused.

“My dad. He’s usually nicer than that.”

“He’s looking out for his daughter. I respect that. If some man treated my daughter the way I treated you? I don’t know that I would be so forgiving.”

“That wasn’t forgiving. That was putting you on notice.”

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