Black 21: (Golden Hills Legacy of Black 21 Book 1)

by Nancy Glynn

  After throwing on capris and a halter top, she pulled her hair up into a ponytail and sought out her hero. “Eric, you didn’t have to do that but thank you,” she said, walking up behind him and grabbing a strip of bacon from the plate.

  “Do what?" Curiosity danced in his eyes.

  “You know, clean up my room. I was going to do it but–”

  He shook his head. “Not me, Daisy. I came straight in here to start breakfast. You’re telling me someone cleaned up that mess?" He put the spatula down to look at her.

  “Uh, yeah...I guess so,” she stuttered. They both turned their heads toward her room.

  “Okay, so we have a demon who gets really angry and then feels bad about it?”

  “Stop joking, it’s not funny!" She slapped his arm. “That scares the hell out of me.”

  “I wasn’t joking.”

  “Would Jack really do that? I’m not even sure it’s him anymore." She poured coffee and grabbed three Splendas. “It feels like a different energy.”

  “I never noticed you used that much sugar!” he said, shaking his head.

  “Why does everyone have a problem with that?” she said tersely. She poured the Hazelnut creamer in and sat at the table to stir it.

  “Whoa, who’s everyone? I know you’re shaken up, but calm down there." He rubbed her arm.

  “Sorry, you’re right. Just a little freaked, I guess.”

  “So who’s everyone?” he raised his eyebrows.

  Her eyes caught his over the rim of her cup.

  “Oh, should have known." His lips thinned.

  “No, you don’t know. My dad used to scold me,” she said, a hint of teasing in her eyes.

  “Liar, but I’ll take it." He brought a plate of bacon, lettuce, and tomato and a separate plate of toast over with two smaller plates.

  “I love BLT’s, but for breakfast?" She built her sandwich and bit in.

  “My mom makes them,” he smiled. “Speaking of your dad, are you still going today?" He bit into his and waited for her answer.

  “Oh, yeah. Now more than ever. I just want answers now that he knows I know about his little town he came from and all.”

  “Okay, I’ll probably go to the fitness room downstairs and then maybe shopping or even the beach. You must have loved growing up in Lincoln Park near everything.”

  “I did and still do. Fitness room? You trying to get buff on me?”

  “I need to work out. I’m too skinny,” he said, holding his arm out.

  “No you’re not. You’re perfect the way you are." She really did believe that. Eric was an incredibly sexy guy from the inside out.

  “Skinny,” he said dryly.

  She laughed and drank her coffee, shaking her head.

  After helping him clean up the kitchen, she gave him a deep kiss to remember and then left for the parking garage.

  ***

  This day was too beautiful for a confrontation, but it needed to happen. Lake Michigan sparkled under the sunlight with sailboats bobbing up and down. Cabs peeled in and out of lanes, honking as if they owned the streets.

  She took North Lake Shore Drive pretty much the whole way. It should only take about ten minutes, but maybe more in this mess. Every other person seemed to have the same idea because the traffic was horrendous, probably going to the zoo.

  She used to love going to Lincoln Park Zoo with her dad and Gloria. Well, maybe not with Gloria, but she loved being there. Also going to the Cubs games was a favorite pastime.

  Cars honked at her and she honked back. Her thought was if she could deal with the devil himself, almost being sacrificed...yeah, she could deal with pissed off drivers. And the operative word there was almost. Happiness filled her at escaping something monstrous in a small town. Freedom dominated her world now.

  The Fullerton Parkway Exit loomed ahead of her, taking her to Fullerton Avenue. North Lincoln Park zoomed in on the left and she turned. Her college was not too far.

  Daisy turned on Webster Avenue that led her to Ashland Avenue, driving until the familiar Brownstone appeared. She parked next to the curb in front and got out. Kids kicked a ball down the sidewalk in front of her house, stopping to look at her as she walked to the curb. She smiled and waved as they giggled and scurried to catch the ball.

  A well-dressed woman walked her small, white poodle wearing a diamond collar. The sound of a bike horn tooting for the woman to move, as a serious-looking bicyclist passed her. He glanced at Daisy briefly and smiled.

  She missed the sounds of her old neighborhood, the noisiness unlike the quiet of the country. If only she felt the same about her father.

  Taking one slow step at a time, she touched her cross and moved toward the front door, using her key.

  ***

  Eric worked out in the gym for a while, working hard on his arms and chest. A pretty blonde girl flirted with him, but he politely smiled and returned to lifting.

  She got off the abdominal press machine and walked over to him. “I’m Jessica if you’re interested. I come here the same time every day,” she said. She gave him a card with her information on it and walked to the showers in her sweat-soaked shorts and tank top.

  He rolled it up without looking at it and threw it in the garbage can. One more set of shoulder lifts and he was done. Daisy flitted through his mind. He worried for her and hoped she got the answers she needed. The heart on his hand caught his attention and he grinned.

  He decided to take a shower in their hotel room instead of here. The elevator took him up and he found Room 222. Everything seemed in place. No more unwanted visits. He got undressed in the bathroom, admiring the veins popping out of his biceps from the workout in the mirror.

  “Looking good, Eric.”

  Eric turned to find Jack standing there. He wrapped a towel around his waist. “What the hell, Jack!”

  “Oh, feeling shy?" Jack clicked his tongue a few times, grinning like the Joker.

  He put his glasses on and folded his arms, waiting for Jack to speak.

  “Why do I feel like our deal is changing in terms, Eric?” he mocked, eyeing the drawn heart.

  “It’s just...why did you write mine on the mirror last night?”

  “Mine?” he scoffed. “That sounds juvenile, not something I would do. I haven’t begun to get into her mind yet, was hoping you would bring her down that road for me first. I really want her with Christian and not that harlot Charlotte. Daisy and Christian are the powerful couple.”

  “What if I wanted her for my birthday?”

  “You’ll never have the powers Christian has. No, no, no. Maybe I’ll let you play with her every so often after she has the baby, but until then, hands off. You’re not fucking her now, are you?”

  Eric stood straight and eyed Jack, clenching his jaw. “Don’t speak of her like that.”

  “Calm down, boy. Just making sure. She wears that damned cross that you’re supposed to get off her. It blinds me whenever I try to go near her. I need her to start to weaken, and she won’t if she feels like her god is with her.”

  Eric’s voice dropped low in defeat. “She said she wants to go to Christian’s party.”

  “Perfect! Then you can play along and bring her as a date, not knowing she’s going to be an eternal date in hell,” he said, laughing, nearly foaming at the mouth.

  Eric looked down before looking back at him. “I don’t want her to get hurt. Does Christian know about this?”

  “No. The poor boy is sick with love, always moping around, sort of like you. Even with Charlotte’s ways, he doesn’t want her, can’t even get it up. Poor boy is broken, even with the beast bubbling in his veins. So I guess it’s a good thing because he’ll be getting the best birthday present ever. I really do love giving,” he chuckled. “Oh, and you might want to look up Jessica to take care of some sexual frustration you’ll have. Here’s her card…again. Don’t throw it away this time,” he snapped.

  “You set that up?” he said, taking the card.

  “
I just put you in her line of vision. She really wants you, could see her nipples harden watching you work out. It was rather enjoyable for me. I wanted to take her in the showers, but restrained myself,” he said, buffing his nails on his shirt and looking at them.

  “Disgusting. Is that all you think about?”

  He inhaled deeply. “No. I also like good food and drink. It all goes together, really,” he mocked.

  “But Daisy is so happy here. She wants to be a teacher and–”

  “Have babies with you? I see that heart on your hand, a gift of her affection?”

  Eric hid it behind his back against the sink.

  His blue eyes flared. “Don’t get too attached, my lad. It’ll only hurt when you have to let her go. That was the deal we made when I told you to go with her. You agreed because you wanted so much to be with her you didn’t really think about what it all meant, did you? That I would pay for all this until you got her back home. So, no more mushy, lovey stuff, got it? Unless you just want to inflict self-punishment.”

  Then Eric remembered something. “What about the mess you made in her room? The glass breaking in the kitchen?”

  “Again, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he arched his brow. “I don’t play silly games like that. I have pawns, or I mean people, to do my dirty work." He turned and disappeared.

  Eric pulled his hand out and stared at the heart before washing it off with a rag.

  ***

  “Dad, you home?" Daisy laid her keys and purse on the overstuffed, off-white ottoman. Her voice echoed in the quiet rooms.

  She walked down the hall to the stainless steel kitchen. A note for Gloria sat on the brown-spotted, granite countertop in her father’s writing stating he would be back around two-thirty.

  “Gloria?" Nothing.

  She chewed her right index fingernail and looked around, taking in the immaculate home. Memories sprang up of her being scolded if dirtying something...the floor, the walls, the countertops, the dishes. Gloria would sometimes put her in the corner for an hour at a time if she didn’t finish her dinner or clean her room.

  Her dad’s office was off to the left of the kitchen, with its enormous mahogany desk and bookshelves lined behind his leather chair. Cigar smells filled the air as if rooted in the furniture. She sat in the chair and ran her fingers over the smooth wood.

  Another flash of memory of her sitting on her dad’s lap while he worked on some client’s case. Gloria would walk in with his tea and glare at her, grabbing her hand and pulling her out.

  She turned to the file cabinet and opened the bottom drawer, remembering all the colorful tabs that kept his papers organized. One particular black tab stood out that said ROSE. She pulled it out and opened it on the desk. Marriage certificate, death certificate, college graduation degree.

  Going back to the death certificate, her heart froze. It said nothing about dying in childbirth but of dying in a car accident in 1993, one year after she was born. “What?" She shook her head in disbelief. She delved more into the files and found a newspaper article with a picture of her mother.

  ‘Rose McAdams-Lock, an upstanding citizen and active church member of St. Mary’s Star of the Sea, died Saturday, September 5, 1993. Her one-year-old daughter, Daisy, escaped without a scratch.’ It went on, but those words burned in her brain.

  Her eyes glued to the date. Why was that familiar? And without a scratch? Her back healing after that beating, her chest healing after the cross had burned her...without a scratch.

  The pounding of her heart thumped in her ears. Staring at the twenty-one-year-old fading article, her mother’s beautiful smiling face, her copper red hair, and the cross that now belonged to her.

  The vision she had on the hayride when she met Jack had to be of her mother! It killed her to think she had died that way. Did Jack put that in her mind? His flashy smile after it ended said he did.

  She folded the article and closed the manila folder, placing it back in the cabinet. Searching deeper in the front of the cabinet, she found a picture still in its frame of her mother holding her on her lap.

  But Daisy wasn’t looking into her mother’s adoring eyes, she was fascinated with something else. Her chubby little hand was grabbing the sparkling cross...her cross.

  She looked down at it and felt sadness. “How could he lie to me all these years?” she whispered to her late mother’s picture.

  An anxiety took over her and she put everything away except for the article. She couldn’t trust her father and decided to get out before he came home. She walked back through the kitchen and toward the living room to get her things. The ottoman was empty. She knew she had put them there.

  “Looking for these?”

  Spinning around, she nearly collided with Gloria. She held Daisy’s keys and purse in each hand, smiling.

  “Oh...hi, Gloria. I was just leaving because no one was home,” she said breathlessly. Sweat pooled down her back.

  “Really? I was all ready to have a nice visit with you. Why the rush?” Gloria asked.

  Daisy grabbed her things and straightened her shoulders. “You and a nice visit don’t go together, Gloria. I would rather visit with ten Alligators in a pond. How my father ever stayed with you, much less loved you...” she spoke in a low tone.

  She sneered back. “Well, he does...more than he did your mother.”

  Daisy sucked in her breath and stepped forward, cracking her across the face. “Don’t you ever speak of my mother in front of me again. And I know she didn’t die in childbirth, either.”

  After regaining her composure, Gloria smiled. “I wonder how you know that. Oh right, maybe it’s your powers everyone is so scared of. Well, I’m not. But you are correct. She died in a car wreck, smashed into a tree due to some silly thing being wrong with her engine. I’m still amazed and saddened you made it out of there at all,” she scoffed.

  Daisy inhaled heavily and narrowed her eyes. Her fists balled to her sides. “Tell me more,” she gritted.

  “Hmm, let’s see. Oh yes, Christian was born that day. Your beloved was born the day your mother died. Very tragic and sweet at the same time, really,” she purred, folding her arms in front of her with pleasure.

  That’s why the date jumped out at her. But why? It didn’t make any sense. “Was that a coincidence?”

  “Coincidence?” she gave a belly laugh. “No, darling. It was in the great plan of Jack. When Rose found out what they were trying to do, she tried to escape with you to a church and hide out. She thought God would help her, silly woman. That was her destiny to die that day after Christian was born...that was the deal your father made and to hand you over to Christian on his birthday after the seed of the beast was planted in you.”

  “But why would Jack take that chance with me in the car?”

  “He knew you would survive because of who you are, dear girl.”

  “And who am I?”

  “Why, you’re your mother’s and Father Mark Paul’s daughter. You were conceived in a church by a man of God.”

  Daisy’s eyes bulged. “What? I don’t believe you." Her mouth dried up and blood pounded in her ears.

  “Well, it’s true. It seems God really took a shining to you, like you were his special little angel. Nothing could hurt you. You would fall badly at times and get right back up without a bruise or cut. We were astonished,” she said, laughing at the memory.

  “My father knew about the affair?”

  “He didn’t want to believe that his perfect Rose would do such a thing. I would be there comforting him and whispering in his ear that his wife was a whore. In reality, Jack brought your mother and Mark together. He wanted you to be born. Your father couldn’t have children, and he wanted a red-haired girl just like his Suzanna. Your mother had that same red hair. Christian came a year later,” she smirked. “He didn’t have to work too hard to put thoughts into Rose’s head because she already fell in love with the handsome Father Paul, and he was harder because of his vow, but soon
they were both drooling over each other in the back of the church. It was quite magical,” she said, running out of breath.

  “I really hate you." Tears stung her eyes.

  “Really? I never knew. Your eyes would turn black when I entered the room even as a toddler. It was like you knew. Sometimes I don’t think you’re godly at all but of Jack’s loins. I think you and Christian both have the same issues, both trying to be good when there’s a darkness corroding your souls. You’re meant for one another and will eventually find your way back again,” she said glibly. Her eyes lower to Daisy’s chest. “I see you’re wearing the cross Father Paul gave your mother.”

  Her hand flew to her throat. “He did?”

  “Oh, yeah. He used that cross many times for exorcisms. You got your psychic gift from him. He wanted to protect her from the demons in her so-called dreams, but they were real. So, Rose left it at home after her shower, to Jack’s delight. Richard made her forget it by distracting her. Jack’s not particularly fond of it.”

  She turned to the door. “Don’t tell my father I was here. I think he’s had enough pain in his life, especially living with you every day,” she said.

  Gloria laughed and clapped her hands. “Oh, that’s good. He’s been in pain? He reminds me every day I’m not his perfect Rose or even his perfect Daisy, his flowers. He hasn’t touched me in years,” her voice cracked. “I hate that we made this deal with Jack, and I can’t leave because I know too much. I drink just to get through another day." Her bottom lip quivered.

  For a moment, Daisy felt something other than contempt for this woman, almost an understanding. But then it passed.

  She walked to the door and turned to her. “I feel sorry for you, which is worse than the hatred I felt. I would rather someone hate me for something they don’t understand than pity me for something they do.”

  Gloria sniffled and cleared her throat. “Wait. I never asked but how’re you here?”

  “Didn’t you hear? I finally got away from Jack. I’m free now to do as I please.”

  “You’ll never get away from Jack Red, sweetheart. You have a calling in this life, and it’s with Jack. You’ll see,” she laughed all the way through the door as Daisy closed it. She could still hear her cackling in front of the house.