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Chapter 120 Father to Daughter

As an attorney, TB was trained to look at both sides; it was time to bring that skill to his relationship with his daughter. To help him, the next evening he brought a bottle of brandy and two snifters to Jeeves' apartment on the first floor. Jeeves was a small thin man with thick white hair and black rimmed glasses. He'd come to work for TB as a butler shortly after losing his wife when he was just thirty-five. He ran TB's home and life effortlessly, but couldn't put his own life together and move forward from his wife's tragic car crash death. TB didn't trust easily, but Jeeves had earned his complete trust.

Over brandy and cigars, TB and Jeeves spent half the night talking. When TB returned to his bedroom, he felt like a very different man. He took a couple of days thinking everything over.

He saw the positives in Ava's behavior. She was polite, wasn't a snob, didn't use drugs, had never been arrested and she always came home at night unless she was on vacation or at a spa. Her bad behavior was limited to damaging his property. Jeeves suggested gently that Ava might be angry over how he handled her mother's death and was hitting out at him in the only way she knew how—destroying his property.

He also bore much of the blame for her lack of direction. He'd never expressed any interest in her school work or what she wanted to do with her future. He should have talked to her, discovered what it was she loved to do and given her some encouragement. He wanted Jax to fix Ava when he was the one who needed to fix himself and then he needed to fix things with his daughter while he still had a chance.

TB wasn't an impulsive man. He continued to think things through for a few days before asking to talk to Ava after dinner. She gave Jax a nervous look. He squeezed her shoulder as he went up to their room and they went into TB's study.

They took seats on the opposite sides of his desk. It was a familiar position when Ava was about to be chewed out for some misdeed. She reflexively expected more of the same despite the fact she hadn't done anything wrong.

He went to his wine refrigerator, grabbed a bottle of sweet red Muscadine wine, opened it and poured them each a glass.

"I've really enjoyed the wine you sent. Jeeves now makes sure we always have a supply on hand. It reminds me of the early days when your mom and I were first married before I got seduced by work and money. Your mom and I wouldn't have worked out anyway. We were just too different, but if I hadn't been so focused on my work, I might have noticed her drug addiction after we divorced."

Ava took a sip of wine. It was the first time they had ever shared a glass of wine and it was the first time her father expressed any regret about her mother. Maybe Jax had gotten through to him.

"She told me to keep it a secret or you would be mad. It wasn't all your fault."

"I never wanted to be a father," TB said leaning forward. "I put in a minimal amount of effort and relied on your mother to raise you. When my father died, my mother made it clear to me that she felt like she was stuck with me. I felt the same way with you. I thought I was an adequate father because I gave you things, hired nannies and had dinner with you, but I never took a real interest in what you did. And I wonder why you grew up without having any direction or goals in life."

Ava continued to sip her wine. There wasn't anything to say. She suspected her father hadn't wanted her and he'd just confirmed it. It stung because she'd hoped she was wrong.

"I'm a smart guy. I should have figured out what a good father is and become that man. You didn't ask to be born and I had an obligation to you. In my own way, I loved you, but it wasn't until Jax got hit and almost killed when he was on his bike that I realized just how much I loved you. If you had been with him, you could have been killed."

Ava looked down at her wine, her eyes unexpectedly filling with tears. Her father had never told her that he loved her in her entire life.

"Jax and Jeeves made me understand how wrong I've been in how I treated you. I'm ashamed it took others to tell me what I should have been smart enough to have figured out myself."

"So?" Ava whispered unable to say more without bursting into tears. She didn't want to show her father emotion. That was weakness.

"Jax made me see that you never healed from losing your mother. I didn't think of her as your mother that you loved. I saw her as a junkie you were better off without. That was wrong of me. I sent an assistant to take care of you because I didn't know how to handle the situation. I felt uncomfortable so I had others deal with you when I should have been a father, dealt with being uncomfortable and been there for you. I am profoundly sorry for what I did to you then. I put my career and the biggest case of my life ahead of you because I knew what I was doing with law. I didn't know what to do with a little girl I barely knew so I threw money at the problem and hired people.

"If I could go back in time knowing what I've learned, I would have made you my priority. When I die, my money will buy me a fancy coffin, but how important is that? What I need to leave behind is a daughter who is happy with her life and has a purpose."

Ava wondered if she was hallucinating because she was hearing words from her father that she never in her wildest dreams thought she would hear.

"I like my life now," Ava said softly. "Jax and I have fun studying law together. I help with his review of the cases from people who say they are innocent."

"It makes me happy to see you studying law not because it's law but because you have found a direction for your life. If you get to the point where you don't want to study law, it's OK. If you want to start a business or a charity or whatever, I'll help you do that. I really want nothing more than your happiness."

This was the first heart to heart talk they had ever had and Ava found it a little terrifying because it was new. She wasn't used to talking about her feelings.

"I have been angry about how you treated me when my mom died. You never said you were sorry and now you have."

"I can't fix the past, but I want to try to fix our future. I would like it if we could have dinner together just the two of us every week where I can get to know you. You talk and I'll listen. I know our dinners in the past were me telling you about legal things, but now I want to know what you are interested in. Jax asked me if I knew what your favorite subject was in school and I had no idea. I don't think I ever saw any of your report cards. I want to know about your childhood and everything about you."

"And how is your fiancée going to feel about that? She hates me and she and Jax are done."

"Gemma isn't going to be an issue. I'd like us to have family dinners, but that's as far as I expect you and Jax to interact with her. I don't want her upsetting you or Jax."

"And if she does?"

"I'll deal with her." TB hoped that by having regular dinners Jax would eventually give his mother another chance. He knew it could take a long time, but he was confident that it would happen.

"I guess we can play happy families once a week."

"Thank you. You want to start our dinners tomorrow? Tell Chef what you want to eat."

"Really?" Ava asked not hiding her surprise. She only got to pick what to eat with her father on her birthday and when he wasn't eating with her.

"I'm going to be doing my best to change and be the father you deserve. Now, give me a hug and go up to your husband. You made a good choice when you married him."

Ava had never hugged her father in her life. So many firsts all at once. It was a lot overwhelming.

TB got up and went to Ava who had just stood up. He hugged her awkwardly.

"I'll work on that," he said with a smile.

"I'm sorry I broke your stuff," Ava said. She'd never apologized before for breaking his stuff or trashing his homes.

"Stuff can be replaced."

Ava returned to her and Jax's room with tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe that she had a chance to have a real father like the ones on TV.

Jax was buried in case files when she walked in. He immediately put the file aside he'd been reviewing and went to her.

"Hey, what's wrong, darlin'?" Jax asked. Tears spilled down Ava's cheeks. He gently brushed them away. "I'll go deal with him." As much as he liked TB, he wouldn't stand for him hurting Ava.

She shook her head fighting to regain control.

"No. It's good," she said looking at him through tears. "He apologized for being a terrible father. He even apologized for the way he treated me when my mom died because you got him to understand. We're going to have dinner every week starting tomorrow just him and me so he can get to know me. I never dreamed this would happen and it's all thanks to you," Ava said. Fresh tears rolled down her face as Jax wrapped his arms around her.

He was delighted that he helped reconcile TB and Ava. He and Gemma were finished; there relationship was beyond repair. He didn't want that for Ava when she and TB had a chance to put their relationship back together.

Ava hugged Jax fiercely then quickly released him.

"Oh, no, did I hurt your ribs?"

Jax thought quickly before clutching his ribs dramatically.

"I'm in agony. It hurts."

For a split second Ava felt terrible before noticing the twinkle in his blue eyes and realized he was playing her.

"What can I do to make up for it?"

"I need Nurse Ava to put some of that cool gel on my ribs while wearing stockings."

"I better help you off with your shirt."

Jax nodded his head sadly due to all the pain he was pretending to feel.

Ava gently helped him off with his shirt before grabbing her nurse's costume and heading into the bathroom to change.

"

Special thanks to hateme101 for the suggestion of Ava and her father talking. I knew that Ava and her father would not just suddenly have a heart to heart talk on their own, so I wrote an arc that had Jax encouraging Ava to talk to her father and then talking to TB and calling him out on how he failed as a father and then Ava and her father could talk. I think it's made the story better so thanks to you!

I do listen to readers and incorporate suggestions because that's the best part of fan fic when you get feedback that helps a story be better.