“Did you know, J.T., that my father absconded...” She liked the word, enjoyed rolling it off of her tongue.“... with my mother when she was sixteen?”
“Seventeen,” William corrected.
“Not quite.” This from Caroline as she sipped her tea.
He shot her a look. “You were only a couple months shy. And that was entirely different.”
“Naturally,” Sunny agreed.
“It was the times,” William muttered. “It was the sixties.”
Sunny kissed his sore knee. “That explains everything.”
“You had to be there. Besides, we wouldn’t have had to elope if Caro’s father hadn’t been so interfering and unreasonable.”
“I’m sure you’re right.” Sunny fluttered her lashes at him. “There’s nothing worse than a father who pokes his nose in where it doesn’t belong.”
He caught her nose between his two fingers and twisted. “Watch it.”
She just grinned. “Tell me, is Granddad speaking to you yet?”
“Barely.”
“Except when they make fools of themselves over Sam,” Caroline put in. “He’s almost forgiven us for the fact that you and Libby weren’t around for him to spoil when you were babies. Would you like me to take Sam, J.T.?”
“No, he’s fine.” The baby was playing with Jacob’s fingers, gurgling to them and sampling one occasionally. “He looks like you,” he murmured, turning to Sunny.
Her lips curved. She couldn’t have explained how it made her feel to watch him cuddle a baby on his lap. “I like to think so.”
William drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. The Hornblower boys seemed to have some kind of charm that worked on his daughters. Though he’d decided Cal was nearly good enough for Libby, he was reserving judgment on this one.
“So, you’re a scientist.” William had a great deal of respect for scientists, but that didn’t mean he was ready to accept the picture of his daughter snuggled up with one. In his cabin. Without any electricity.
“Yes.”
Talkative son of a gun, William thought, and prodded deeper. “Astrophysics?”
“That’s right.”
“Where did you study?”
“Maybe you’d like his grade point average,” Sunny muttered.
“Shut up.” William patted her head. “I’ve always been fascinated with space, you see.” This time his smile was cautiously friendly. “So I’m interested.”
If this was the game, Jacob decided, he could play it. “I got my law degree from Princeton.”
“Law?” Sunny said. “You never told me—”
“You didn’t ask.” His eyes dipped to her, then zeroed in on her father again. “Physics started out as a hobby.”
“An unusual one,” William mused.
“Yes.” Jacob smiled. “Like growing herbs.”
William had to laugh. “About time travel—”
“Take a break, Will,” Caroline advised him. “You can grill the man more later. Your son needs to be changed.”