Fall For My Ex’s Mafia Dad
Chapter 152

Fay gives a gasp and then a loud whoop of joy that makes Kent laugh, pleased to see her reaction. Daniel gasps "no!" and then drains his glass of champagne, likewise laughing before wrapping his dad in a hug that makes Kent stumble back a step. And then Daniel lets Kent free and Fay takes his place, wrapping her arms around Kent's waist and giving him a squeeze before dancing away from him, laughing and spinning as she holds her glass of champagne above her head, threatening to spill it everywhere. But for once, Kent doesn't care.

It's enough to see her happy.

"What happened, dad?!" Daniel asks, beaming at Kent excitedly.

Kent just shrugs. "They had business in Italy," he says. "I convinced them that they were needed there immediately and got them a flight." Fay catches his eye then, laughing a little, because she knows what that business is, but Kent only lets a little smile come to his lips.

Daniel looks between them, rolling his eyes when he realizes that Fay knows something he doesn't. But he lets it pass. "Business in Italy? And they're...not coming back?"

"Well," Kent says with a little sigh, running a hand through his hair. "They probably will come back. But for a few weeks, at least," he says, smiling at the two of them, "we've got the house back to ourselves."

"We have to celebrate!" Fay declares, holding her glass up and spinning again with joy. "We need to have a party! And get sloppy, delicious take out for dinner! Nothing Italian - Chinese! We need to get lots of Chinese food!"

"If that's what you want," Kent says as he leans back against his desk, "you order it. As much as you want." And then he smiles as he watches her dance around the room, singing a little victory song about Italians going back to Europe, or hell, whichever they can get to faster.

Daniel moves to Kent's side as Fay continues to sing and dance, crossing his arms over his chest and watching Kent as Kent watches Fay.

"She loves you too, you know," Daniel says quietly to his father, who turns to him in surprise.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about, dad," Daniel says with a smirk, nodding towards Fay.

"No, I don't," Kent murmurs, though he smiles a little.

"You forget that we have the same face," Daniel continues, gesturing towards his own features which Kent knows are very nearly an exact replica of his own. "I know its expressions. I know what you feel when you look at her. I can read you, even if no one else can." Kent looks thoughtfully at his son for a moment. "You know," he says, "you suggesting that you can see love on my face means that you've seen it on your own."

Daniel blushes at this, looking down at his empty champagne glass and saying nothing as Fay, across the room, pulls the curtains open and takes a long swig of her champagne. "Let's get some sun in here!" she shouts. "Get all the bad Natalia energy out!" Daniel, grateful for the interruption, looks back at Kent curiously. "So?" he asks, and Kent turns his face back to his son. "Do you love her?"

And Kent's lips curl into a wry little half-smile as he turns to look at Fay. "Do you even need to ask?" he answers.

Before Daniel can reply Fay crosses the room back to them, wrapping her arms around Kent's waist again. "Do we get Chinese now?" she asks, smiling up at him as Kent runs his palm down the length of her hair, unable to tear his eyes away from her beautiful, perfect face. "Or do we wait till tonight?"

"Tonight," Kent murmurs, dipping his head to place a simple kiss on Fay's lips. Neither he nor Fay notice, but Daniel blinks in shock at the sight of it. It's the first time he's seen them do it. Well, he's known for a long time that they are...together. But this? Daniel's almost bowled over by it, the simplicity of them - by how much it very suddenly makes sense.

"Why?" Fay asks, pouting.

"Because," Kent says, standing straight with a sigh and unwrapping her arms from around him. "I've got some things to finish up today. But tonight I'll clear my books. We'll celebrate then," he says, smiling between them. "Just the three of us." "Or...four?" Fay says excitedly, smiling at Daniel with an eager expression.

Daniel gapes at Fay, his eyes darting between her and his father.

"Oh, he knows you have a boyfriend," Fay says, rolling her eyes. "You should bring him!"

Daniel goes a little pale then, realizing that this post-Natalia era was one in which all of their secrets were apparently going to be laid bare.

"You should," Kent says evenly, looking seriously at his son. "If there's someone who is...important to you, who you'd like to introduce to me...you should bring them."

Wary, Daniel takes a deep breath, not sure how he feels about this. "All right," he says slowly. "I'll...think about it."

"And I'll go to the barn!" Fay declares, grinning and standing on her tiptoes to give Kent another kiss before heading for the door. "Jerome will take me. See you tonight!"

Daniel makes some excuse, heading out on Fay's heels, but Kent barely hears his son as he watches Fay go. Because he is very, very excited for this new era.

Good things, he knows, are just around the corner for all of them.

I chatter almost unceasingly to Jerome in the car, telling him all about the absence of the Italians and begging him to consider coming to the little family party tonight. He refuses immediately, letting me know that Kent is going to cut his head off when he finds out that its him a low-level Mafia lackey - dating Daniel, and not some Ivy-league rich boy like Daniel should be dating.

As we move into the stable and the riding ring I protest, arguing that it's not going to be like that - that Kent was, after all, very accepting of Daniel being gay despite all of the ideas everyone has long had about what happens to gay men in Mafia families. So why would he care at all who Daniel is dating?

The debate continues in snatched conversation as I put Heathcliff through his paces and Jerome rides behind me on his own borrowed steed, a pretty white mare named Butterfly. But after about an hour of it, when the horses are happily exercised and Jerome and I still haven't come to an agreement, we both laugh and decide to move on from it all.

"I hope you'll come," I murmur to Jerome, knocking my shoulder playfully against his arm as we lead the horses back into the stables. "I like you. I like you and Daniel. Kent will like you too."

"Kent does like me," he sighs, "as the guy who reliably chases down the people who owe him money and as his girlfriend's chauffer. As the guy sneaking into his son's bedroom?" Jerome just shakes his head at me, still not convinced.

I laugh again, opening my mouth to object, but I turn away when I hear a banging from a stall at the other side of the stable. Butterfly lifts her head then and nickers loudly towards it. "What's that?" I ask as I turn Heathcliff into his stall.

"No big deal," Jerome replies as he starts to move away. "Our sweet Butterfly is in heat," he tells me over his shoulder as he leads her to her own stall across the aisle. "The stallion at the end of the row is...unsettled by it."

"Oh," I say curiously as I tie Heathcliff's lead rope to the little ring on the wall and start to unhook his saddle. Then, as I put the saddle on the door and start to brush my horse, I let my mind start to wander. How often do mares even go into heat? And I didn't notice any physical sign of it from Butterfly - do horses just...not get their periods?

And quite suddenly, as I think it, I realize something.

And I go absolutely perfectly still as my mind races.

Quickly, desperately, I flick through my mental calendar, trying to remember when the last time I...

And then my hands begin to shake, just a little bit, as I look down at my stomach in horror.

Because as far as I can remember?

It's been about...six weeks since I last had my own period.