Broken Submission

Fatherly Wisdom

The sun warmed his face, porch swing swaying beneath him. Derek breathed in the mellow air as he focused on relaxing each of his muscles individually.

"Practicing some of your mother's breathing techniques?"

"Trying," Derek replied, not opening his eyes. He heard his father sigh. "That woman knows what she's talking about."

Hearing the unspoken but, Derek cracked and eyelid. "But?"

His father shrugged, drawing Derek's attention to the thick leather coat he wore. "But I thought you might want to shoot something."

Derek's eyebrows jumped. "I didn't realize that you still hunt."

"Marie likes to make something with fresh meat once in a while."

Standing, Derek nodded. "Lead the way."

They made their way through the yard and grabbed two rifles from the garage. Moving into the woods, the pair stepped as quietly as possible through the brush.

When they came across the blind, Derek glanced at his father. "When did you make this?" he asked, voice pitched low.

His father made of shushing movement and murmured in reply, "This past summer with your sister."

"Eden?"

His father nodded. "When she was here over the summer, waiting for classes to start." He began to make the climb. Derek surveyed the workmanship, impressed. They'd done a damn fine job. At last they settled into what was essentially a small treehouse.

Derek suppressed a laugh when he saw that the blind was stocked with beer and snacks and blankets.

His father followed his gaze. "You'll be glad of those later. Because if you don't tell me why you've been here for the past couple days instead of with that girl, neither one of us is going to be allowed back in the house."

Derek blinked. "Is this an intervention?"

His dad shrugged, "Call it what you will. Call it your mother's interfering nature if you want but all I know," he settled back into a folding chair, "is that I'll be sleeping on the couch tonight if you don't fess up. So out with it."

Derek lowered himself into the upstairs folding chair, leaning his gun up against the wall. "I don't know what you want me to say. You know what happened."

Shaking his head, the older man dismissed a statement. "Do you want pipe? I'm gonna smoke a pipe."

Derek sniffed back his sinuses. "Bourbon maple?"

"Is there any other kind?" Brendan, his father, pulled out two pipes and packed them before handing one to Derek with a lighter.

Brendan puffed on it. "So. She ran into trouble with an ex and ended up taking the man out. Any trouble with the law there?"

"Not so far," Derek said. "It was clearly self-defense. Matthew doesn't think the DA will want to touch it."

"Matthew," his father nodded, "a good boy."

"The best."

They sat in ruminative silence for a few minutes. Derek straightened when he thought he saw movement – like an animal – but the shadow passed.

"I'm just not sure what I'm doing," Derek finally admitted.

"Do you love her?"

He nodded.

His father nursed pipe, musing. "Going to marry her?"

Derek paused with a small frown, turning the idea over in his mind. "I'm not sure. There's—a lot. And we haven't known each other that long." Although, if she was pregnant... A vision of them playing in the grass a small boy running between them flashed through his mind.

Unconsciously, his frown eased, replaced by a certain softness.

His father's sharp eyes picked up on the movement, but he prudently held his peace. "And what does she want?"

Opening his mouth answer, Derek froze. I— I don't know."

A chuckle turned into a round of coughs that likely scared away any wildlife. Eventually, his father calmed, leaning back in his chair with a wheezing laugh. "Well that right there is your problem," he said, voice rough. "Acting like you aren't going to give that woman just exactly what she wants. The man shook his head. 'Didn't know I raised a fool who doesn't know his own heart."