Her brother's words were harsher than Arabella's, but it was Tristan's way. If her father wanted to stay in their lives, he'd have to learn to accept both of them as they were in the present.
Looking back at Arabella, her dad murmured, "Can I see their pictures again?"
She unlocked the phone and found one of the few photos with all the children together and handed it to him.
A minute or more passed before he whispered, "Jocelyn would've loved to spoil them all."
Pushing past the sadness at her mum's absence, she pointed to Freya. "My daughter's full name is Freya Anne Jocelyn Stewart. Finn's mother was killed, too, like Mum. So I thought our daughter should have both of her grandmothers' names as part of her own, to remember where she came from."
A tear rolled down her father's face. He quickly wiped it away and met her gaze. "I want to know them, Ara. If you'll let me."
Emotion choked her throat. Rather than tell him how she felt with words, she hugged her father. It took a second for him to hug her back.
In that moment, the years apart didn't matter. Her father's hug and warm presence were a comfort she thought she'd never have again.
There may be a lot of work to do, but she was happy to have her dad back again. The question was whether he'd keep up the fight or not.
When she finally released her dad, she turned toward Finn and asked with her eyes if they could show him their triplets. Finn nodded, moved to pick up her dad's crutches, and held them out. "Aye, well, you'll be staying here for the foreseeable future. You and I will have our own chat later. But for now, I think we should introduce you to our bairns as well as Aunt Lorna." As her dad took his crutches and stood, Finn added, "But just know that if you do anything to upset my family, you'll deal with me."
Her father nodded, but remained silent. Arabella chimed in. "Right, then let's go." She looked at Tristan and Melanie. "You two should come, too. I know you'll have to return to Stonefire soon enough, but hopefully, you can at least spend the night."
Melanie smiled. "Since the DDA granted my parents a few weeks’ leave to stay on Stonefire, they're watching the twins. I'm sure Jack and Annabel will be spoiled enough to forget they even have parents for a few days."
Humans that weren't mated to a dragon-shifter had to possess a special pass from the UK Home Office before they could stay on a clan's land. Melanie had been instrumental in convincing the Home Office to issue more passes, especially for family members.
"Good," Arabella stated. "Then you can spend a day or two with the triplets. As it is, we have a lot going on right now. And I'll admit, we could use all the help we can get."
Melanie didn't miss a beat. "Ask anytime for our help and we'll give it. You know that, Ara."
Arabella owed much of her recovery to her sister-in-law, both with Melanie's influence on Tristan as well as the Department of Dragon Affairs. Without her sister-in-law's book on dragon-shifters, Bram and Finn may never have reached a foster candidate agreement. Meaning Arabella never would've found and mated Finn.
Yes, she was going to work on seeing her family on Stonefire more often, if she could manage it.
As they all filed out of the room, Arabella waved hello to Brenna Rossi, who had been standing guard, and then kept pace with her father's slower one. She had so many questions, but most of them would have to wait. Not just because of Freya, but also because she wanted to ensure Holly survived the delivery of her twins without a hitch. All signs pointed to routine births, but Arabella never dismissed outliers.
Especially since if anything happened to Holly, she had no idea how her true mate, Fraser, would react.
Her dragon spoke up. Don't think like that. Holly will be fine.
Rather than argue, she merely took the time to steal glances at her dad. He had more wrinkles than before, and grayer hair.
But he was still her father. Him meeting her children was hopefully the first step on his long recovery, both with himself and her family
~~~
Finn watched Arabella as she walked alongside her father. He would normally have Fergus reach out to his contacts to find out everything he could about George MacLeod. However, with his cousin in the throes of a mate-claim frenzy, Finn had asked one of the other Protectors, Brodie, to do so.
His dragon spoke up. You trust Brodie, too.
I know, but this is extremely important. I want to trust Ara's father, but for all we know, he could secretly be working for the rogue dragon-shifters.
Not long after Finn had won control of the clan, a group of disgruntled clan members had put his mate in danger. As a result, he'd exiled them and any others who didn't want to follow his leadership. The rogue pack of dragon-shifters now hid in the wilds somewhere in Scotland, planning who knew what. They had already troubled his family before, when they'd kidnapped Holly. Ever since, he'd vowed that he would do whatever it took to disband them and ensure they received justice for their crimes.
His dragon said, But we have a plan in place. Soon, we'll have a spy inside their ranks.
He and Bram had a long-term strategy, which they could finally enact in the coming months. Aye, I know, but it's not soon enough.
Arabella paused at the door to the nursery and glanced at him. Once he nodded, she entered, her father at her side, Finn and the others close on her heels.