Oh shit.

There it was. Proof that my daughters were soaking up all things Joe.

We hit the living room and Theresa was standing behind Kate like a sentry. Bea was close too, though not as close as Theresa. Vinnie was standing by the television, his eyes on the scene playing out in front of him. Keira was sitting on her knees in the couch, facing the door. I felt Gary come up behind Joe and I but the minute we hit the room, Dane’s eyes shot to Joe and his face paled.

I was thinking there were a lot of good reasons to have Joe around but at that moment his putting the fear of God into pipsqueak boy-men (no matter how cute they were) who hurt my daughter was at the top of my list.

I crossed my arms on my chest and stared at Dane as he swallowed and his Adam’s apple bobbed. Then Dane plucked up the courage and stepped forward.

“Mr. Callahan,” his eyes came to me, “Miz Winters, I need to talk to Katy.”

“You need to talk to Kate, why you talkin’ to us?” Joe enquired and I looked at him to see his arms crossed on his chest in a new sinister, scary pose. This one was both alpha-male and man-of-the-house-slash-father-figure-you-did-not-mess-with.

“Uh…” Dane muttered, struck dumb by Joe’s sinister, scary pose.

“Your girl’s standin’ right in front of you, kid,” Joe prompted when Dane seemed frozen to the spot and this lasted awhile and that while included a number of people as his audience, all eyes on him. “You came to make a move, make it.”

Dane swallowed again, nodded and looked at Kate. “Can we talk?”

“Only one thing I want to hear you say,” Kate replied and I was proud of my girl for sticking to her guns and not letting some boy-man (no matter how cute he was) treat her like dirt.

“Can I say it out on the back deck?” Dane asked.

Kate looked over her shoulder at Joe and Joe tipped his chin at her.

This was when I realized that I’d lost a little bit of both my daughters. They’d taken it from me and given it to Joe.

Other women might be jealous of this or they might be alarmed.

I wasn’t.

Joe had given us everything. It was just our way of giving back. Not a lot of men would appreciate the gifts Keira and Kate were giving him and doing it so freely, but I reckoned Joe did.

“Back deck,” Kate agreed and turned, leading a flush-faced Dane through the living room and study and out the back sliding glass door.

“That’s Dane,” Keira announced to the room unnecessarily when the sliding door closed. “He’s Kate’s boyfriend and he’s in the dog house.”

Vinnie chuckled in the direction of Gary who was pressing his lips together.

“I need more coffee,” Theresa declared. “Bea, do you need more coffee?”

“Yes, yes, I think I do,” Bea said softly.

“I’ll make another pot,” I offered.

“No, cara mia, you sit, relax or better yet, find a place to eavesdrop.” Theresa’s eyes went to the back deck. “I’ll make it.”

“I’ll help,” Bea moved with Theresa to the kitchen.

“I can make it, that’s okay. I don’t eavesdrop on the girls,” I told them and Theresa and Bea stopped dead and turned to me.

“You don’t?” Theresa asked, her voice horrified.

“I trust my girls,” I said carefully, not wanting to be insulting by intimating she hadn’t done the same with her children.

“Well,” Theresa threw a hand out, “I guess I can see that, bein’ girls and all. My Carmella was an angel but I also had three boys. Three hot-blooded Italian boys with more hormones than the Chicago metropolitan area could contain. If they weren’t gettin’ in trouble with girls, they were fightin’ with boys. Bloody knuckles. Bras in their beds. Did my head in.”

Bea just stared at me, knowing that hormones weren’t exclusive to hot-blooded Italian boys. Hormones went both ways and they didn’t discriminate by culture, they just ran rampant through teenagers as a whole.

“It’ll be okay, Bea,” I assured her. “I had a talk with Kate and Joe had a talk with Dane.”

“Yeah,” Keira put in, “and Joe scares the crap outta Dane.”

I watched as Gary came forward and clapped Joe on the shoulder. “Saw that,” he muttered. “Liked it,” he went on, looking at his wife not at Joe and my heart turned over with happiness. Joe had Gary’s seal of approval or at least it was heading that way. “Hon, could seriously use another cup,” he said to Bea.

“Right, love,” Bea whispered and moved to the kitchen, Theresa on her heels.

Joe was looking out the sliding glass doors, seemingly oblivious to everything going on around him, his mind on what was happening on the back deck. I walked to him, put my hands on his chest and pressed him down in the armchair. He resisted but not much, especially when I climbed into his lap once I got him seated. Maybe sitting in his lap was a bit too much but I figured since we’d already had a variety of dramas, the best way forward was just to be ourselves.

If Bea and Gary didn’t like it, I couldn’t help that.

Then again with all the dramas, I reckoned they wouldn’t have any problem with it.

“We don’t eavesdrop,” I told him as his arms came around me.

“Don’t have to, buddy.”

I cocked my head to the side. “We don’t?”

“Dane isn’t stupid. He’ll do right by Kate. He doesn’t, Kate isn’t stupid. She’ll dump his ass,” he paused before finishing, “again.”

I got closer to his face and whispered, “You ready for at least four straight years of teenage girl boy drama?”

Joe’s face shifted to tender then his eyes moved to Keira and I saw humor light them.

Then he looked at me. “Keira’s up next so we might need to talk to Doc about Valium.”

“You think you’ll need Valium?” I asked, surprised.

“Was thinkin’ for you.”

“I’ll be all right.”

“Keirry’s a bit wild, baby.”

I got closer. “That’s okay, I’ve got you to help me deal.”

The humor left his eyes and they went intense. I held my breath because I was certain he was going to kiss me and do it hard. I was certain of this because he’d looked that way before, right when he kissed me and did it hard.

To stop Joe kissing me hard in front of Gary and Bea (and Theresa), something I figured they might have a problem with (especially the way Joe did it), I continued. “And to scare the bejeezus out of any boy who gets ideas.”