Newport/Aftport #2: Danea

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  “You grew up without him?”

  “I grew up living with my mother but I knew him. She wanted me to form my own thoughts. He’s a good person as a father. He’s never committed himself to a woman before. He stayed with them, paid them off and took each sister to his home. He raised them. I spent time with him…with them,” she lifted bits of meat and pita and took a healthy bite of the savory collection. “I don’t hate him,” she said in the silence.

  “And you believe because you kissed us…” Wade sighed. “We don’t believe you’re promiscuous, Danea. And I can offer you a promise that you’ll never be treated with anything less than the most respect I can offer you.”

  “You are not your father,” Noah said firmly. He saw the doubt in eyes she kept on her plate. “And we…we…will never treat you that way. But we can’t back away from you, either, Danea.”

  “Oh, please!” The loud feminine voice echoed through the otherwise quiet restaurant. “I know my daughter is here and I have to speak with her.”

  “Oh, God, can this week get any worse?” Danea groaned and tried to slide low in her seat.

  “You know I can find you anyplace, baby girl,” her chuckle was warm and loving as she approached the table.

  Both men stood up, their eyes traveling from the high heels to the long, silky straight hair, wide brown eyes and full lips tinted an alluring shade of temptation red.

  “Camelia Polnari,” she said with one palm offered politely. She returned their look, her brow arched in appreciation. “Sweetheart, when you finally make up your mind, let me have the left over one.”

  “Mother!” Danea flushed bright red, her cold hands seared by the heat in her cheeks. “Wade Franklin and Noah Decker, this is my mother, Camelia.”

  “Why are you still blushing? I’m far from dead,” she teased.

  “Pleased to meet you, Ms. Polnari. Would you care to join us?” Wade gestured to the empty chair.

  “Ordinarily, I’d be glued to my daughter until I pulled the story from her. However, I can’t stay,” she told them regrettably. “I wanted to speak to my daughter about her father.”

  “I already know he’s looking for me, mom, but thanks for trying,” Danea took a drink of water. “He sent someone to deliver the message.”

  “You hold his power, Danea. I’m sorry…I didn’t know when…” she stopped and looked at the men. “Unless you’ve done something really perfect and found a partner. Or two…”

  “Mother!” She hissed furiously.

  “It would break his hold, Danea. And these two look more than capable of…”

  “Mother, do not…”

  “I can see the auras, Danea. There is an alignment between the three of you that is amazing to see,” Camelia moved closer, touching first one and then the other with her open palm on their face.

  Danea closed her eyes and tried to breathe.

  “Thank you for the warning, mother, but I’m fine and can handle things.”

  Her mother sighed, a little rueful smile tilting her lips. “You’ve always been such an independent little thing. While I would love to get to know you gentlemen better, I have other things to deal with at the moment. Danea,” she held out her hand expectantly. “Walk with me to the door, please.”

  “Of course…”

  “Danea,” Noah touched the side of her face before she rose. “Please come back.”

  Hiding the embarrassment that she’d given running a thought, she nodded and offered a crooked grin.

  “You’re holding my keys prisoner.” She stood up, took her mother’s hand and walked with her toward the entrance. “I really am alright, mom.” Danea took a deep breath. “You can see their auras?” She whispered and tried not to sound interested, her hand up and raking fingers through her hair.

  “Quite clearly,” Camelia looped her arm with her daughters. “And you’re fighting it with everything inside you. Because of your father’s behavior. I can see that in the aura, too. As well as their confusion and frustration.”

  Danea looked ahead of her, saying nothing.

  “I don’t know them, Danea. But I can see it has the possibility of something that stretches long past life,” she patted her hand gently and squeezed. “How long have you known them?” She laughed slightly. “No, how long have they been trying to get to know you?”

  “Since I moved here,” she finally admitted, stepping to the side once they were outside. She let go of her mother’s arm and paced, staring into the last rays that streaked the skies to the west. “They’ve kissed me. Kisses were never that good before,” she admitted with a tiny shiver. “It frightened me…suddenly I was feeling things to my toes. Just from a kiss…and each one of them is so different. But really…really…good different.”

  Camelia laughed at the blush on her daughter’s face. “You are so sweet sometimes I’m really wondering that you’re my daughter. I know you’ve experimented but when it’s the right one…you know yourself, Danea. You know you aren’t the love them and run type. If you don’t want tomorrow, don’t allow them closer, because you have the power to hurt them very deeply.” She met the surprise on her daughter’s face. “They aren’t humans. They’ve chosen you. They aren’t toying with you as other men might.”

  “Would he stop if I mated?”

  Camelia closed her eyes for a long minute. “I don’t know. I know the power he could get from you would be altered. But he doesn’t know, either,” she stared at the conflict on the younger face. “He only has the knowledge and half-truths from ancient texts, Danea. You…” she stepped closer, her hand up and stroking over her daughter’s head. “Should not have been able to be,” she said softly. “The oracles have no explanation. I should not have been capable of conceiving. The elites are claiming it’s a shift in the power on earth. You were born out of the sea and earth with a touch of heaven.”

  “You’ve always said I was special,” Danea mustered a smile.

  “And you’ve always run from it,” came the standard reply when they had this conversation. “They won’t allow you to hide from them, Danea. I can see the determination in them, the need for you. Not because of what you are, but because of who you could be…confident and sensual and alive.”

  “I’m alive now, mom, I love my work. I love the kids,” she turned away but her mother had already seen the tears and turned her daughter, pulling her into her arms.

  “I know you do, baby. And they’re so fortunate to have you,” she stroked her hand gently over her head. “You like them both.”

  “They’re funny and sweet and smart. Wade and I can talk for hours about books and theories and regimes and…” she sighed. “And Noah…he’s more…primal. More earthbound.”

  “He’s a wolf. That would be expected,” her mother said with a warm chuckle. “What does Galileo think of them?”

  “He hasn’t tried to seriously hurt them,” she admitted with a tiny wince.

  Her mother sighed. “I suppose that’s a good sign,” she tipped her daughter’s chin up. “You’re expelling so much energy to fight what is, Danea.”

  “You suppose everyone they call ‘special’ just wants to be normal?”

  “And everyone labeled ‘normal’ wants to be special,” her mother whispered with a kiss on her temple. “And you have two very sexy, handsome and established men in there, wanting to make you very special to them and you’re fighting because of your father’s lack of morals. You are not your father,” she said very firmly.

  “How do you always manage to show up when…” she sighed thickly, swallowing the urge to curl up against her mother like when she was little.

  “When you need me most? It’s a gift,” she teased, hugging her tight and taking her shoulders with both hands. “Now…even if you decided against them, you won’t know what you’re missing if you hide and I did not raise a daughter who hides. Did I?”

  “Not usually,” Danea admitted with a little grudging in her tone.

  “Do you know anything about them?
”

  “I’ve worked very hard to avoid them. I had no idea…” she bit her lip.

  “Please, child, you have friends in triads. But the difference is like what your friend Breanna has,” Camelia smiled at the look she received, a little bit shock, a little bit fear. “It’s more of a circle. They don’t care for each other, but you…something in you pulls at them in ways they’ve never known before. It’s magical.”

  “I hate that word.”

  “Magical,” her mother repeated just to make her grimace. “I have to go. Go finish your dinner. Perhaps half a bottle of wine might help,” her mother winked at her, kissed her on the cheek and headed toward the street. “Have some fun, Danea. It’s not that bad.”

  “Good night, Mother,” Danea pushed a long breath between her lips and went back through the door, her hands sunk thoughtfully in the pockets of her jeans. Her eyes weren’t on her location as much as on the floor; her brain busily trying to make sense of the last twelve hours.

  Chapter Five

  The grip on her shoes paid for themselves when she came to an abrupt stop next to the table, her gaze traveled from the laid out plates, one of which was now a refilled batch of fresh calamari. Then they continued higher because both men had stood up when she came close. She saw the reflection of her oversized t-shirt and jeans in the mirror and looked at them again.

  “She’s got that look again,” Noah said quietly, stepping to the side and letting her slide into her chair.

  “I feel like a little tug boat facing down a giant submarine,” she responded, reaching for a large ring of warm calamari and biting down. “Thank you.” She looked at their empty plates. “You’ve both finished. I’m sorry about my mom. I never really know when she’s going to show up.”

  “She’s worried about you. And the food was good…we ate and aren’t in any hurry, Danea,” Wade turned his chair slightly to look at the two of them.

  “You need to move over here,” Danea frowned and gestured to the chair next to Noah. “Then I can look in one direction at a time.” Her mouth dropped open slightly when Wade stood up, took his glass of tea and relocated.

  “Better?” Wade asked, leaning back and relaxing. He smiled at the hurried nod.

  “Your mother seemed to think there was a problem,” Noah said carefully.

  Danea began eating slowly, biting down on a crunch fry with bits of the dry and tart feta cheese over it. She added a few of the fries to her salad and took a bite.

  “My mother senses when I’m…anxious…I suppose that’s the best word for it.”

  “She can see auras?” Wade accepted her nod with one of his own. “I’ve known a few people like that.”

  “She likes you both. Your auras are honest and real,” she continued eating her salad. “She thinks I’m too reserved. I worry too much about being like my father that I sometimes forget I’m more like my mother than him.”

  “If you changed the color of your hair, you’d look just like her. Has it always been that platinum color?” Noah looked closer at Danea. “Yours is colored.”

  “To hide the color?” Wade asked curiously. “Why would you do that?”

  “Her hair has been that color since she was born, just as mine is and I color it because I don’t want to be stared at,” Danea said purposefully. “It is my hair, after all. Just like I won’t let it grow long again, like my sisters. Always beautiful and down their backs because my…”

  “Your father told them to,” Noah guessed when she stopped speaking. He chuckled. “Fierce and independent.”

  “You don’t want to talk about him or them?” Wade smiled at the reluctant shake of her head. “But you will if we ask.” This time the nod was equally reluctant.

  “I’d rather know about you…” she swallowed the bite she’d been chewing with a look from one to the other. “I meant both of you…”

  “Are you finished eating? We can go someplace more private and comfortable,” Noah laughed and wondered how long it would take her to relax enough to stop looking so shocked at their suggestions.

  “I am…and thank you for the extra calamari,” she sighed. “I don’t think I’ll ever have enough of it. Mother said I started eating it the instant I could chew.” Her fingers went to her lips as she watched them look at the bill and toss cash on it. “Thank you for dinner.”

  “How about if we make it easy and if we’re both around, the ‘you’ refers to us both,” Wade suggested, standing up and offering his hand to her.

  “Thank you…that would make it easier. I don’t want to offend you. Either of you by letting you think I didn’t mean you…or…you,” her voice dropped to a low sigh.

  “Wade’s right, Dani. We won’t be offended,” Noah walked out beside them, his wrist tipped up.

  “Where are we going? I work early,” Danea felt the well of familiar panic setting in. Then she noticed people watching them. She started thinking about her daycare. She was almost full but what if people thought…what if they didn’t want their children around someone like her?

  “Dani? Where’d we lose you?” Noah stopped outside the entrance, his look of concern shifting to Wade when they realized she wasn’t listening.

  “People were staring. I take care of children,” she said quietly, looking up from one to the other.

  “You believe being seen with us will affect how they view you,” Wade nodded. “I believe the people in town and the area in general are a little more open minded than you might think.”

  “What about your apartment? We can talk there,” Noah suggested. “You live above the daycare, right?”

  “I…yes…”

  “Just talk, Danea.”

  “I mostly was trying to remember if I cleaned up or if you’ll think I’m a pig,” she murmured, sliding her hand free and holding it palm up. “My keys?”

  “We’ve lived with other guys,” Noah commented, dropping the set of keys into her hand. “We’ve become accustomed and I’ve seen the inside of your office and the daycare. I’d be real surprised if you weren’t a little neater than pig status.”

  “Why do you believe they’re open minded?” Danea exhaled and led them toward the private entrance.

  “Because of all the different types we have living in the area. And being a tourist town, patience is invaluable,” Wade commented.

  “I don’t suppose demons bother me until my father uses them as messengers,” she admitted reluctantly, climbing the wide stairs and opening the door at the top. No privacy, she thought, and pushed the door open.

  Her hand struck the rocker panel and lights flooded the large, open room. She closed her eyes and walked to the counter that wrapped around the kitchen, her keys dropping into the small bowl she kept there for them. All the while her eyes scanned to make sure she didn’t leave something unmentionable lying around on the door knob or arm of the sofa.

  “It looks pretty neat, Danea,” Noah commented, selecting the one recliner and leaning back. It faced the sofa and kitchen, so he could see wherever she chose to sit.

  “You’ve done a lot of work here. It never used to look like this,” Wade settled on the sofa, uncertain how to help her relax.

  “The owner was eager to sell and I made it how I wanted it after that,” she moved to the far corner of the sofa where she could see them both. “Why did you start talking to each other? Have you been friends for a long time?”

  Noah laughed. “You threw us both out of the daycare at the same time, Dani. That sort of prompted the talk. And we’ve known each other…” he looked at Wade. “About five years now?”

  “Since I left the Seattle area and set up with the extension to the university here,” Wade nodded thoughtfully.

  “I don’t know what to do,” she blurted out with a growl of frustration. She threw her hands against the sofa and paced to the window. “This…you…are not in my plans. I get testy when people mess with my plans.”

  “Like your father? What’s he want you home for?” Noah asked curiously.
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  “I’m the first born,” she said with a long sigh. “Not only am I his first born, he believes I’m the key to some idiot prophecy his oracles have come up with because of…well…because of things…that weren’t supposed to happen, but…poof, here I am.”

  “You’re human.” Noah said cautiously.

  “Don’t I look human?”

  “That isn’t an answer, Danea,” Wade tried opening his senses but all he felt was humanity.

  Danea shoved her fingers into the back pockets of her jeans and stared out into the darkness. “Is this about sex?”

  Noah and Wade exchanged looks.

  “Our interest?” Noah prompted.

  “Yes.”

  “Would we enjoy sex with you? After kissing you, I’m pretty sure sex would be amazing. Not positive, but I’m a positive kind of guy for the most part,” Noah answered honestly.

  “I have to agree, Danea.”

  “My mother believes it would hurt you both a great deal if…if I ignored what I felt.” Her voice was quiet, filled with concern. “I don’t want that to happen. You don’t deserve to be hurt.”

  “You’ve grown up around different species?” Wade asked in return.

  “Oh, believe me, my mother made certain I was extremely diversified,” she laughed and moved back to sit on the arm of the sofa, looking critically from one to the other. “Why would it hurt you?” She watched as they exchanged a look. “What am I missing?”

  “I’m not sure you’re ready for the answer, Danea,” Noah took the lead, his tone packed with uncertainty.

  “I’d never hurt you deliberately,” she said quietly.

  “We didn’t believe you would,” Wade assured her. “You’re friends with Breanna Cooper?”

  Danea nodded slowly, her mind quickly going over her friends’ life changing events from the previous spring.