Sweet Harmony

by A. M. Evanston

  As Annamarie ignored him and took another drink, a maid walked into the dining room and looked at her dad.

  "Sir, somebody is calling the house phone for you," the maid said. "The person is quite insistent."

  "The house phone?" Her dad looked up.

  The butler answered the house phone to screen calls. Only those who knew her dad had his cell phone number.

  "Yes, sir." The maid nodded.

  "Did Mr. Johnson say who it was that called?" he asked.

  "No." The maid shook her head. "He just suggests you take the call."

  "Fine." Her dad stood up. "I'll take it. Annamarie, when I get back, you'd better be eating."

  Crap. She looked down at her plate as her dad left the room.

  ****

  Annamarie sat at her desk, hunched over a piece of paper. Mr. Fritz, her newest tutor, sat in a chair with a book in his hands. Right now she was supposed to be doing an assignment on German adjectives, but she couldn't focus no matter how hard she tried. Her brain was in a fog. She chewed on her eraser, even though she knew it was yet another awful habit that she should break.

  Just as she let out a grunt of frustration, the door to the study opened and her dad walked into the room. She wondered if he was coming to check up on her. Instead of greeting her, though, her parent looked first at her aged tutor.

  "Mr. Fritz, you can leave for the day," her dad said. "My daughter will study some other time."

  Her tutor appeared displeased but masked his frown quickly.

  "As you wish." Mr. Fritz bowed his head, seized his briefcase, and then left the study.

  Annamarie leapt to her feet.

  "I told you I'm fine," she said. "You didn't have to send him away."

  Of course, if her dad checked her assignment, he'd see otherwise.

  "You have a visitor," her dad said. "I thought it would do you some good to speak with him."

  "A visitor?" She froze. "Who is it?"

  "It's a surprise." Her dad reached for her arm. "Come on."

  Confused and startled, she allowed her dad to lead her out of the room and down the hall. He stopped at their sitting room door. Her mom used to use the room for entertaining her glamorous friends.

  "Go in." Her dad nodded at the door.

  "Aren't you coming inside too?"

  "Why on earth would I do that?" her dad asked. "It's your guest, not mine."

  She hesitated, suspicious now.

  "Who is it?" she asked for a second time.

  "I told you, it's a surprise," he said.

  Surprise or not, she had a bad feeling about how weird her dad was acting.

  "I won't go in unless you tell me who it is," she said.

  Her dad sighed.

  "I hoped you wouldn't be stubborn, but I should have known you would be." Her dad opened the door. "Sorry about this, sweetie."

  "Sorry about what—AGH!"

  Her dad shoved her into the room and locked the door behind her. What the heck? Her dad had trapped her in here. She pounded at the door until her knuckles burned.

  "Boy, you don't seem too happy to see me," Daniel said from behind her.

  "Of course I'm…I'm…" Wait a second. Daniel?

  She turned around slowly. Sure enough, Daniel sat on the couch, his blue eyes shimmering. Maybe it was the week away from one another, but he looked more handsome now than ever before. And boy was she happy to see him. Unfortunately, that joy was accompanied by misery.

  "You're in so much trouble." Daniel stood up, his eyes crackling with fire. "Do you know how much I had to go through to come here in the middle of the school year? It's a good thing Mrs. Carmichael okayed my absences or else my family would have never let me go."

  "Did you plan this with my dad?" she asked.

  "I called him and asked to see you, yes." Daniel scowled. "Unfortunately, your dad is a hard man to reach. I've been calling the house all week long."

  "You wanted to see me that bad?" she asked.

  "Of course." Daniel nodded. "Didn't I tell you that when I want something, I get it? Well, I want you more than anything else in the world. You and I are staying together."

  The words made it hard for her to think. Daniel approached and her brain turned into soup. She could see her reflection in his blue eyes. No! She was falling under his spell again and she didn't want to. She had to remain strong for Jaiden's sake.

  "You have to understand that I left for a reason," she said.

  "Jay told me exactly why you ran away about six hours after your plane left New York." Daniel's jaw clenched. "I guess he felt guilty, chasing you away. I would have been here sooner if I hadn't needed to have a long discussion with him."

  "Jaiden told you?" Stupid Jaiden. She'd done all of this for him.

  "Of course." Daniel nodded. "Believe me, I had some choice words for him for not speaking up sooner. We also came to blows."

  Daniel lifted up his sleeve and revealed a dark bruise the size of a fist on his forearm. She sucked in air.

  "Jaiden did that to you?" She gasped.

  "Yep." Daniel looked pleased. "Of course, I won the fist fight."

  "Is he okay?" she asked.

  "Yep." Daniel nodded. "He just has a black eye."

  "You're best friends." She didn't like that they'd come to blows, even though she was punch happy herself. "You shouldn't hit each other."

  "It's a guy thing," Daniel said. "After Jay relieved some of his anger by landing a few punches, he was actually able to talk. I can't believe he even humored the idea of going to Paris. What's worse, though, is that you didn't talk to me when you heard what he was planning."

  "The two of you were fighting enough as it was," she said. "I didn't want it to get worse. You have the tendency to antagonize people."

  She gave him an accusing stare.

  "That may be so, but I wouldn't have let Jay leave." He shook his head. "Even if he'd gone, I would have brought him back."

  "But he didn't want to be around the two of us," she said.

  "He realized he was being an idiot about that," Daniel said. "We compromised. He won't leave for Paris. In return, you and I can't rub it in his face that we're together. You two can still be friends. End of story."

  "He really agreed to all of that?" She was so relieved she let out a laugh. Maybe she could really return to the academy again. "He wants me to come back?"

  "Yep. See what would have happened if you'd come to me in the beginning instead of running to London like an idiot?" he said. "I'm your boyfriend. We're going to have to work on your trust issues. If you have a problem, you've got to tell me right away."

  "When did we agree to be boyfriend and girlfriend?" She raised an eyebrow. "You're assuming things again."

  "Still playing hard to get, are we?" Daniel chuckled. "I can't believe I've missed your idiotic stubbornness."

  "Hey!" The warrior in her roared. "Don't call me stubborn, you egotistical chauvinist."

  "Yeah, yeah." He winked, then placed his hands on her shoulders. "Is it egotistical to say that you're going to admit I'm your boyfriend in about, oh, thirty seconds?"

  "Says who—"

  Daniel's lips came crashing down on hers. The warmth of his mouth against her own made tingles spread through her entire body. His hard lips chased away all of the pain she'd experienced over the past week. Her heart, which felt so tattered and worn only minutes before, beat with renewed energy. After one second with the right person, all pain was chased away and the world was balanced again. Even though she was annoyed with Daniel already, she pressed herself against him, desperate for more of his blinding heat that forced out the darkness.

  With a grunt, Daniel pushed her against the wall. Her back ached from the pressure of his body pressing roughly against hers, but she didn't care. By the time Daniel pulled back just enough to stare into her eyes, she shivered. His blue irises were hypnotic. She suddenly had a difficult time thinking. What was she irritated about again? She couldn't remember.

  "I'm
your boyfriend," he said. "Admit it."

  "Um…" Think, darn it! Think! She was supposed to be arguing, not mumbling incoherently.

  "Still not going to say it? Fine," Daniel said. "Let me try a little harder."

  Daniel laid kisses along her jaw and journeyed to her neck. A shiver ran down her spine. Any hope she had of regaining control went out the window.

  "Tell me who your boyfriend is," he whispered in her ear.

  Oh, to heck with it. Stubbornness was overrated anyway.

  "You are," she admitted begrudgingly.

  "Good." Daniel stepped back. "Now that we've got that all cleared up, you really need to pack your bags. You're going back to the academy. I talked to your dad and he says he fully approves of my plan."

  After she caught her breath, she realized she was being ordered around by Daniel again.

  "Says who?" Okay, maybe she wanted to go back to the academy, but she didn't want to be told to go.

  "Says me." He smirked at her. "Didn't I tell you I always get what I want?"

  "I've heard it somewhere before," she said dryly.

  "You'll be hearing it a lot more," Daniel said. "I already told Mrs. Carmichael to have your dorm room prepared. She even fixed the lock, which she should have done a lot sooner."

  "Why are you so confident I'll go back with you?" she asked.

  "Because you like me." He winked. "You act all ornery, but you'd do anything for me."

  Outside the door, her dad called, "Annamarie, quit being so stubborn. Just go with him. He likes you and you're miserable here without him."

  "Dad, be quiet," Yuri hissed. "You're acting so juvenile."

  "Eavesdropping was your idea," her dad said.

  "It most certainly was not." The door rattled. "I happened to be passing by with tea when I saw you pressing your head against the door. I just stopped to see what you were doing."

  "And you just happened to stand with your head against the wall for five minutes?" her dad asked.

  "Hmph," Yuri said.

  They had been listening the whole time? Suddenly, she remembered Daniel making her admit he was her boyfriend. It was embarrassing her dad and little brother had heard the exchange. Why, why, why? She started banging her head against the wall. It hurt more than usual because of her bruises.

  "Don't do that." Daniel pulled her back. "You're going to get another concussion."

  "Good. Maybe then I'll forget about this whole conversation," she muttered.

  "I don't think you want to do that." He grinned at her. "By the way, I really like your family. They're strange just like you."

  What was with the name calling? She kicked Daniel in the shin. He howled, gripping his leg.

  "I'll go back to the academy," she said, placing her hands on her hips. "While I'm packing, you might want to put some ice on your leg."

  Daniel let out a string of curse words that made her dad groan from outside the door.

  ****

  Annamarie stood in her room and looked down at her suitcase on the bed. Even though she felt rejuvenated, she was also a little sad too. Over the past week, she'd gotten to know her dad a lot more. Now that he was finally spending time with her, she was leaving. Somehow that didn't seem right. Frowning, she headed over to her closet and grabbed a stack of t-shirts from her shelf. She was packing them in her bag when her dad darkened her door. It was like he'd been summoned by her thoughts.

  "You kicked Daniel pretty hard," her dad said. "He has a bruise the size of Oxford on his shin."

  "Just a little reminder not to get too full of himself." She shrugged. "A kick now and then is healthy for him."

  "The bruise says otherwise." Her dad chuckled despite his words. "Annamarie?"

  "Yep?" She met his eyes, cocking her head.

  "I'm glad you're back to normal," her dad said. "Will everything be okay with that Jaiden guy?"

  "I hope so." She still wasn't sure going back to the academy was the right thing. "I just don't want to torture Jaiden."

  "It'll probably take him a little time, but he'll move on." Her dad twiddled his thumbs. "If the two of you weren't meant for each other, then he can't force it. You can't make somebody love you the way you want them to."

  "Daniel would beg to differ." She chewed her bottom lip.

  "If you didn't like Daniel, then all the force in the world wouldn't make a difference," her dad said.

  "I suppose you're right." She sat on the bed.

  Her dad sat next to her and their knees brushed.

  "I like Daniel, you know." Her dad smiled. "He'll keep you from getting bored. I also have a feeling he'll stick to you like glue."

  "Don't tell him I admitted it so easily, but I like him too." She nudged her parent playfully, then sobered. "Hey, Dad?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Are you disappointed that I'm leaving now?" she asked. "You put your music career on hold to spend time with me. If you asked me to stay home…"

  "I wouldn't do that." Her dad wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You should go back to the academy. Besides, you'll get to come home over summer break. Yuri will get some one-on-one time with me too, which will be good for him. Do you want to know a secret?"

  "What's that?" She leaned in closer.

  "When Yuri acts all uptight and adult, it annoys me more than when you blow up the kitchen sink or fill my socks with jelly," he said. "I think I'm going to try to get him to act more his age."

  "When I'm home during breaks, I'll do my best to help with the cause." Harassing Yuri would be the best task in the world.

  "I thought you'd be up for it." He nodded, his eyes twinkling.

  Normally she evaded hugging at all costs, but this felt like an occasion for it. She embraced her parent and smelled his sweet aftershave lotion.

  "You're a good dad." She gave him a squeeze. "Don't beat yourself up so much."

  "And you're a good daughter." He chuckled into her hair. "I never told you because I thought it would encourage your troublemaking, but I always laughed whenever you tormented somebody with your pranks."

  I don't feel so lonely anymore, she thought, smiling.

  "Good to see you're having a good time," Daniel muttered as he entered the room, interrupting their conversation. "I'm critically injured over here."

  Both she and her dad broke a part. Daniel hobbled toward her, acting like he had a broken leg instead of a bruise.

  "Stop being such a baby," she said.

  "I'm not a baby!"

  She seized a pillow and hurled it at his face.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Annamarie stood in the airport next to Daniel as she prepared to say goodbye to her dad and little brother. Even though she was glad she was going back to the academy, she'd miss her family as well as the sprawling city of London.

  "I'm going to miss you." She hugged her dad.

  "You too," he said. "But you'll be home for summer in just a few months."

  "Yep." She stepped back, grinning.

  "Daniel, you're welcome to stay with us over the break," her dad said. "It'll be nice to see you around."

  "Dad, don't," she muttered, embarrassed. Shouldn't she be the one inviting Daniel to spend the summer?

  "I'll take you up on that offer, Mr. Chadwick." Daniel wrapped an arm around her waist. "It's important that Annamarie and I spend as much time together as possible before we get married. Besides, I've always wanted to explore London."

  "Who says I'm marrying you?" she muttered.

  Daniel chuckled, pleased he'd irritated her.

  "I hate to end such an emotional moment, but you're going to miss your flight." Yuri frowned as he checked his wristwatch. "You'd better say goodbye to me and then go."

  "Right." She was grateful for anything to change the subject, even if leaving made her sad.

  "See you soon, Yuri." Daniel nodded at him.

  Yuri nodded back, appearing smug and, yes, gentlemanly. Geez.

  She bent down and hugged her little brother. Immediately she
smelled cologne and aftershave. Why was an eleven-year-old wearing aftershave? The only way he'd have facial hair was if he drew it on with a pen.

  "I approve of Daniel," Yuri said as she patted his back. "Act a little more ladylike so he'll stick around."

  That was it. She was officially irritated.

  "Sure thing, little bro." She grinned wickedly.

  "Don't call me that," Yuri cried.

  She pulled away, wet her finger in her mouth, and jammed it in his ear.

  "Gross!" Yuri immediately lost all maturity and started dancing around like he had to pee. "Did you see what she did, Dad? It was so unsanitary."

  "Annamarie, that wasn't very nice," her dad said, even as he hid his grin behind his hand.

  She smirked and ruffled her brother's slicked back hair. That only made him glare and squirm more.

  "You're such a child," Yuri muttered.

  "Loosen up, little bro." She winked. "Are we ready to head through security, Daniel?"

  "Yeah." Daniel snorted. "It might be a good idea to leave before you torture your little brother to death."

  Good thing she'd have Daniel to torture on the plane.

  The two of them made it through security and found their gate with a half an hour to spare. Daniel sat down and stared out the window, not saying a word. Was he a nervous flier or something? She sunk into the seat next to him, recalling how she'd attempted to calm a nervous flier on her flight to New York. It felt like ages had passed since then.

  "You scared of airplanes?" she asked.

  "Me?" He laughed bitterly. "Of course not. My dad does most of his work in Osaka, Japan. If I ever want to see him, I have to fly."

  "You're awfully quiet, though," she said. "Well, for you, anyway."

  "I'm going to pretend that didn't sound like an insult." He frowned at her. "It's just…"

  "Just what?" she asked.

  "You say you're envious of me for having friends, but I'm envious of you for having a little brother and a dad who cares," Daniel said.

  Daniel, the superrich, ultra attractive guy, was jealous of her? No way.

  "You serious?" She studied his face, trying to see if he was joking or not.

  "Yeah." He blew out a sigh and stretched. "Ridiculous, huh?"

  Not at all, she thought.

  "We weren't always like that. My mom leaving seems to have made us a closer family." She shrugged. "Besides, you're my boyfriend now, aren't you? My dad has practically already adopted you as a Chadwick. My family is your family."