Sweetest Obsessions - Anthology

by Anthony, Jane

  “We’re over here in this room,” Rick told her as he guided her. Rick had been a godsend, and it was divine intervention they’d run into him at the airport all those months ago. She had worried that he might send her case to someone more local, but he had promised he’d stick with her until the end.

  “By the way, Jenny was thrilled with the stuff you sent. It was too much. You shouldn’t have.”

  Dani smiled, remembering the care package she’d sent Rick’s daughter. When they first met Rick, it was because he’d recognized Nate. A couple of weeks ago, Dani had gathered up a lot of stuff from the band and sent it to Jenny. She included things Jenny wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else. When Dani found out her favorite guy in the band was Austin, it was too easy. She took a ton of stuff over to her brother’s house and made him sign it.

  “If she thinks that was cool, she’s going to pee her pants when I have Austin and Nate FaceTime her.”

  Rick groaned. “I won’t be able to hear for a week. She’ll probably scream the whole time they’re on there.”

  “They’ll survive. They’ve lived through worse.”

  “I’m not worried about them as much as I’m worried about my own hearing coming back,” he teased. “But, Dani, you don’t have to do all this stuff for Jenny.”

  “It makes me happy doing stuff for her. Like I told you before, I remember what it was like being that age. If I can make her day a little brighter, I’m happy to do it.”

  “I’d say you’ve made her year.” Rick’s mood sobered up as he looked at his watch. “You ready?”

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  “I’ve got your back. Let’s go in and see what we have to work with here. Remember, they don’t have a leg to stand on with their case.”

  “We assume they don’t, but they’re crazy. You should never underestimate a crazy person,” she told him.

  “This is also true. But we’re not letting this get away from us.”

  Dani followed Rick into the room. In addition to the mediator, she saw Ron, Georgia, and a guy she assumed was their attorney. The guy was young, real young, and looked like he’d rather be anywhere else.

  “Good morning,” Rick said as he entered the room.

  “Good morning,” the other man answered.

  “We’re here to see if we can come to an agreement today,” the mediator said. “I’ll open the floor up and we’re going to work together to see if we can come to a compromise.”

  Everyone looked around the room at each other before Rick said, “I’d like to hear what your client has to say first.”

  “My clients are worried about their grandchild. When they first learned they had a granddaughter, they were unaware of her home life. It wasn’t until they caught Ms. King in the tabloids with Mr. Larson that they realized she was related to Austin King from the band Innominate. They have seen what’s been going on in his life, and they’re worried about what that means for the child. That kind of exposure to Mr. King means she’s around all the unsavory things he’s involved in, and it makes my clients question the values Ms. King is instilling in their granddaughter.”

  Dani was fuming. This was going exactly how she feared, but to hear it laid out like that hurt. She tried so hard to be the best mom she could, and this was a huge slap in the face. Not even wanting to deal with going back and forth, Dani nodded to Rick, giving him the okay to pull out the deal.

  “My client had her reasons for keeping her identity private. Surely you can understand why she might want to do that. She has tried to keep her life as normal as possible for both her and her daughter even though her brother is in the spotlight.”

  “It still doesn’t change the fact.”

  Rick cut their lawyer off before he could continue. “We’re not going to see eye to eye on this matter. This is the second time your clients have filed a case like this. The first time they dropped it after their lawyer talked some sense into them, and your clients only filed again when they realized they weren’t getting their way.”

  “That’s not…”

  Rick held up his hand to stop the guy from speaking. “My client has a very generous offer. She’s willing to pay them five hundred thousand dollars. Today. They would need to sign a document we will have notarized stating that they will never contact my client, her family, to include their grandchild, or her friends. If they do, they will not only be asked to pay back the money they’re receiving, with interest, they’ll open themselves up to a lawsuit.” When no one said anything, Rick nodded. “You can speak now.”

  “I need to talk with my clients.”

  “We’ll take it,” Georgia said before he finished his sentence. “I want proof that the money is there, though. We aren’t talking about a small amount. I don’t want it bouncing.”

  “I can assure you, it’s all there. To prepare for today, my client wrote the check to my firm, so it’s coming from our account. It won’t bounce. I can promise you that.”

  “I guess it’s good to have family in high places,” Georgia muttered under her breath.

  Dani wouldn’t take the bait. She had promised herself she wouldn’t say anything. This jab stung, but it wasn’t worth getting ugly over. She could tell them that the money in that account was hers, but they wouldn’t trust it to be there. There was no arguing with people who always wanted to be right.

  “I guess you have yourself a deal then,” their lawyer said.

  “It looks like we do.”

  As they signed the paperwork and everything became official, Dani felt like something in her life was finally going right. Ron and Georgia would soon be out of her life, and she could move on from the mistake she’d made of ever letting them in. Sure she had to give them her entire savings account, but it was a small price to pay to assure her that she’d never have to deal with them again.

  “Well, kiddo, looks like everything turned out all right. I wish you’d have let me have more time with them so I could have gotten them to back down,” Rick said as they walked to their cars.

  Dani shook her head. “It wouldn’t have mattered. Even if they had backed down now, they would have come back again later. This was the only way to be done with them once and for all.”

  “Well, you call me if something happens. I’ll make sure it’s taken care of.”

  “You’ll be my first call.”

  “I’ll be in town for another day. I’d love to meet up with everyone before I go.”

  “Nate would like that. How about dinner tonight? I’ll text you my address.”

  “We can go out,” he told her. “Don’t go to any trouble.”

  “It’s no trouble at all. Besides, you’ll get a lot better food at my place than you will going out. Show up around five.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  As Dani got into her car and headed home, she was ready to see her daughter and Nate. She wanted to hug them both and love on them. From here on out, whatever came their way, they would always be together.

  16

  After reports of Nate and his girlfriend splitting hit the news, a photo went viral on social media of the two of them together and looking very much in love. The world also got the first look of him with Danielle’s daughter in his arms. He’s rocking the sexy dad look. Make sure to check out the picture on our site.

  * * *

  It had been more a month since Dani had taken care of everything in regard to custody of her daughter. She’d been trying to imagine what her life would be like once she was free of the worry, and now that it was over, she still wasn’t able to relax. Rick had assured her they wouldn’t be able to bring a case against her again. If they tried, they’d be in a legal mess themselves.

  Dani was also nervous for a whole other reason. The time had come for her to take Reece to meet Tom. She had tried to explain to her daughter who the man was, but it wasn’t easy seeing that Reece was still confused about Ron and Georgia.

  She hadn’t told her daughter what happened with her grandparents
. Dani didn’t think she needed to be in the middle of the situation. She wasn’t old enough to comprehend it all. Hell, Dani didn’t get it all on most days either. Every time she thought about it all, it made her head spin.

  As they drove toward Tom’s, Reece perked up looking around. “We go see Nini and Bing?”

  Nate squeezed her hand, showing his support. “No, baby, we aren’t.”

  “Why we here?”

  “There’s someone I want you to meet.”

  “Who?”

  “He is someone who was very important to your daddy.”

  “Oh.”

  Yeah, Dani felt the same. She trusted Tom to be respectful with her daughter, but she wasn’t sure how this all would go. Knowing how important Chris was to Tom made the decision to bring Reece to meet him easier though. It would be an adjustment on all their parts, but she was sure this was the right thing to do.

  When she pulled up to the house, she saw Tom waiting on the porch. He’d never been out waiting for her before, but she imagined he was excited to finally meet the girl he’d only heard about before.

  They all got out of the car. Dani waved at him and turned to get Reece, but Nate was already there getting her out of her seat. When she was free, she grabbed his hand and held on tightly. Reece was usually outgoing and ready to meet new people, but after what had happened with Chris’ parents, she was more cautious. Reece didn’t have details, but she sensed the rift.

  “How was the trip?” Tom asked as he came to meet them in the driveway.

  “It was good,” she told him.

  “Nice to see you again,” he said to Nate and held out his hand for him to shake. Shifting Reece to his other hip, he shook Tom’s hand and smiled up at him.

  “Good seeing you too.”

  “And this must be Reece. How are you?”

  “Good. Who are you?” she asked.

  “My name is Tom. A few of my close friends call me Tommy. You can call me that if you want.”

  “My momma said you knew my daddy.”

  “I did.”

  “She said you were portant.”

  “Important,” Dani supplied.

  “Ah, yes, your dad was very important to me.” Tom looked around. “You guys want to come in?”

  “That would be great,” Dani said before they followed him into his house and back to his sitting room where they always sat to talk.

  “I got something for Reece,” Tom said.

  Dani winced. She hated that Ron and Georgia always bought Reece stuff. It always came with strings attached.

  Tom walked over to a shelf and pulled out a book. Then he handed it to Dani first. “That was Chris’ book. He loved it when I read it to him at night. I found it in the boxes when I was going through them. I wondered if you might like it for her.”

  “Tom, this is… it’s too much.” Her emotions overwhelmed her as she looked at the book, knowing that Chris held it in his hands. It was perfect.

  “I used to have this book,” Nate said from beside her. “My parents read it to me too.”

  “Now you all can read it together,” Tom said motioning to Reece.

  “Book,” Reece said pointing at it. “I wanna see.”

  Nate grabbed the book from her, took Reece over to the side, and pulled her into his lap. Once they were settled, he opened the book and started quietly reading to her.

  “He’s good with her,” Tom said as he watched Nate and Reece.

  “He is. All the guys in the group have been around her since she was born, and she loves them like crazy. They’re all like uncles to her.”

  “It’s so surreal watching her, knowing that Chris is her father. She looks like you, but the way she takes everything in, I used to watch him do that.”

  “I had a really hard time when he passed away. He was special to me. I’m not sure if we would have stayed together if he were still with us, but he would have loved Reece so much and taken good care of her.”

  “I’ve got everything set up for her trust fund,” Tom mentioned.

  “I’ve already told you I don’t want or need your money.”

  “You have, but I have it on good authority you wrote my son and his wife a large check recently. You don’t have to take it, but it will be there for her. I would have given that money to Chris when he turned twenty-five. Now I want to give it to his daughter. I know you are more than capable of taking care of her, but it would do this old man good to give this to her.”

  Dani was glad the conversation they were having was between the two of them. She hoped Nate couldn’t hear it, anyway. She hadn’t told him about the money, and she didn’t plan on it. It was hers, and she had spent it how she saw fit. If she told him, Nate would either want to give her money to replace it or talk to her about why she did it. It was over. There was no need for any of it.

  “Mr. Tom?” Reece said from Nate’s lap.

  “Dear, just call me Tom.”

  “You have Daddy’s mommies and daddies?”

  Reece pointed to a figure on a shelf, the same one Dani had in her house of a couple embracing. “Momma said it’s Daddy’s.”

  “Chris had that in his room. I wasn’t sure why because it seemed so girlie. I figured it had to be important to him so I kept it,” Tom told Dani.

  “He sent that to me after I found out I was pregnant. I was worried about what would happen, but he told me everything was going to be okay. Then he said he bought another one to keep in his room so he would have one too. He said when I got lonely I just had to look at it and know he was there with me. I didn’t have it in me to get rid of it after he passed away.”

  Tom shrugged. “Me either.”

  “Mr. Tom?” Reece asked. Dani noticed him smiling at the fact that she hadn’t called him Tom like he asked. “Do you want to come to my house and see my room?”

  Dani smiled at Reece’s question. She wanted everyone to come see her room. Dani had let her pick out new bedding again, and they had painted the walls. Sure they’d done it a year ago when they had the house built after the tornado ripped their other house down, but Dani loved redecorating.

  “I’d like that. But only if your mom says it’s okay,” he added on with a smile.

  “Please, Mommy,” Reece pleaded.

  “I’m sure we can work something out.”

  Reece gave a cheer and then went back to her book while Dani and Tom watched on as they started reading again.

  “She seems to move on rather quickly,” Tom said.

  “You have no idea.”

  “I don’t have to come up if you’d rather I not,” he told her.

  Dani smiled. “It’s time for you to meet the family… all of them.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  “Not sure you’ll be saying that after you meet them,” she said with a smile.

  17

  “You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.” ~Oprah Winfrey

  Nate looked around the bar that had changed his and Dani’s relationship and wondered what would have happened if that night not so long ago hadn’t taken place. Looking back, he remembered how she told him the rumor was he was gay, but she didn’t believe it. Nope, she had a crazy idea that he was BDSM master. They were all wrong. He had been a virgin that night, but since then, he had been with Dani many times, and each time was better than the last.

  He had to stop thinking about her like that or he was going to have a lot of issues.

  “Oh, I like that look,” Dani said as she hoisted herself up on the stool in front of him.

  “What look?” he asked.

  “The look that says you want to rip my clothes off and do naughty things. I totally approve, by the way.”

  The waitress came over and dropped off their drink orders, and that earned him another smile. “You ordered me a drink?” she asked.

  “I figured you’d be ready for one.”

  “You have no idea. Things at the daycare are insane. If I didn’t get such a great discount for Reec
e, I’d find another job.”

  “I could watch her so you can,” he offered.

  “That’s all fine and dandy while you’re around, but what happens when you guys start recording again or go on tour? I’ll be stuck, that’s what.”

  “I’ll find her a nanny for those times,” he said.

  “This is the craziest idea ever,” she said rolling her eyes. “Why rock the boat?”

  “With that kind of attitude, we wouldn’t even be together. I mean we didn’t make sense when we started either. Sometimes you just have to take a leap and go for it, crazy or not.”

  “Take a leap?” she questioned.

  “Let your hair down, have some fun?”

  “Really?”

  “Would you prefer untwist your panties?”

  “You did not just tell me to untwist my panties.”

  “I believe I did,” he told her with a smile. “Listen, you don’t have to tell me you like to take care of yourself, and you don’t need anyone. You’re strong and independent, and I love that about you.”

  “I sense a ‘but’ coming,” she said with a small smile.

  “But I want to take care of and provide for you and Reece. Being there for you, giving you what you need, makes me feel good, makes me feel like I’m loving you the right way.”

  “Nate Larson, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “Danielle King, you’re so stubborn.”

  “It’s one of my better qualities.”

  “Just think about it. You’re going to be my wife. There’s no reason for you to work in a job if you’d rather do something else. Hell, I’d tell you to quit, but I’m sure that would get me booted to your brother’s garage apartment, so I’m not telling you to do that.”

  “Smart man,” she told him as she tipped her drink in his direction. “So, what are we going to do tonight? Reece is with Mom, and you have me all to yourself.”