by Mynx, Sienna
Nina smiled.
Daisy did too. “Okay, maybe a little.”
“Just happened Daisy. He was pretty torn up for awhile. We connected. My cousin thinks I’m crazy to put up with him, but I love him. Sometimes we can’t help who we love.”
Daisy nodded. “That’s the truth.”
“You and Aiden?”
Daisy cut her eyes over to Nina.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”
“I love him. And he loves me.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Nina, Pete deserves to be happy, but so do I. I’m really tired of the blame game. You know? Just isn’t important anymore.”
“I agree. It’s time we all moved on.”
“Congratulations. Seriously, Pete will make an awesome daddy.”
“Well I think so. I was hoping you would too.”
Daisy frowned. “I don’t follow.”
“Today the results come in and Pete, he has this idea of—”
“Ms. Locke, somebody’s at the door.”
“Excuse me, Nina.”
When Daisy stepped out of the kitchen area, she saw her sisters and mother coming through the foyer. Her family. Sandra wore jeans and a silk top. Denise, in a green sundress, screamed when they saw her and ran straight for her. She couldn’t believe the sight of them. They hugged her tight, a crowded hug that had her suffocating. She hugged them back, speechless.
“Look at you!” gushed Denise.
“Look at you!” squealed Sandra.
They spoke at once. Daisy stammered her reply. “I didn’t know you both were coming?”
“What? We got a niece. Are you crazy? And Janette says you some big time hair stylist,” Sandra laughed.
“Yeah, she crazy!” Denise said, narrowing her eyes. “Going off and having a baby and not telling us. She got this big ole fancy place and we think you out there dead or worse. Girl I oughta smack you for scaring us like that. Five years, Daisy?”
A few of the parents that knew her as Danielle looked on confused. Daisy blushed unable to speak. “I, um.”
“Where is she? Where is—” Sandra stopped at the sight of Nina. “Hi, Nina?”
“Where’s that baby-girl?” Janette said walking through. “Time for her to meet her people.”
Nina spoke to everyone. Daisy, however, noticed how her mother hung back. She looked around at her place, never quite looking at her. “Amy is out back. Let me introduce you. Hi momma.”
“Hello, Daisy,” Ms. Johnson answered.
She led them to the door and out of it. Aiden was on the sand standing with a few adults. Pete was flying a kite, and Amy was sliding down her princess chair. “I see her,” Sandra said, pointing.
“Oh, she’s so cute,” Denise said.
Daisy looked back to see her mother coming out on the terrace, last. “Momma, want to meet Amy? My daughter?”
Mrs. Johnson smiled but said nothing.
“I’ll get her,” Janette announced. When her mother didn’t speak, Daisy looked away. Her eyes met with Aiden. He stared at them all curiously. She wasn’t ready to introduce him, especially not to her mother. Then she looked over and saw Pete approaching. Turning, she went back in, escaping the situation altogether.
The phone rang. She went into the kitchen, happy for the reprieve.
“Ms. Locke, this is Dr Macey’s office. We have your test results.”
“Now?”
“Yes, if you can come to the hospital we can go over the results.”
“Jesus.”
“Excuse me?”
“Yes, we’re on our way.” Daisy hung up the phone.
“Daisy?”
She turned to see her mother staring. “Hi, mom.”
“Everything okay?” Aiden asked.
Her mother turned and looked at him. “And you are?”
“I’m Aiden Keane. You must be Daisy’s mother.”
She looked him up and down and then walked out without accepting his hand. Aiden closed his hand and chuckled nervously. “Looks like I lost my touch.”
“The results are in.”
“Now?”
“Yeah… I… I’m scared.”
“What? Why?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know. It’s momma. I just don’t need her here now, Aiden. And don’t say anything to her until… just don’t say anything!”
“What do you mean don’t say anything? I just spoke to her.”
“I don’t know what Janette told her. She’s my mother!”
“Daisy.”
“Leave me alone!” she walked out, avoiding him. Aiden pulled her back. “Hey, look at me. You have nothing to be afraid of. It’s okay.”
She shook her head. “Okay. Okay.”
“Let’s go get the results. The party can keep going. The hospital is just a block away from here. We'll sing happy birthday first. Amy has to be the one to blow out the candles. I told her I’d help.”
Daisy looked up at him and saw his lopsided grin. It melted her heart. “Thank you.” She walked out, refusing his hand. She didn’t want to push him away. She knew how sensitive he was. But she didn’t want to deal with the look her mother shot him and her. When will it ever end?
****
Daisy walked in with Aiden. Pete and Nina were right behind. The party was dwindling. After singing happy birthday and opening presents, Amy was exhausted and only wanted to be held by Aiden. It didn’t go over well with her mother or Pete. They both glared openly at him. But Daisy was impressed at how he handled it. For the most part, he focused on her. She did catch him smirking a couple times at Pete.
Now they were here and Aiden’s confidence and his arrogance had her rattled. She had answered him truthfully that night. When the doctor put Amy in her arms, she thought of him. When she looked at her child, she saw him. Always. She had to be his. She named Amy after him.
Taking a seat, she looked over to Nina. She appreciated her but resented her presence. She was like some mock example of who her mom would want her to be. It was a reminder of a woman her daddy would be proud of and the one who Pete could compare her to. And she was carrying his child.
“You okay?” Aiden asked.
“Aiden…if Amy isn’t—”
“Ms. Locke?”
She looked up at the doctor. He looked around at the tense faces in his office. Then back to Daisy. She stood. “Yes.”
“We have the results.”
“Okay.”
He opened the envelope. Aiden rose, and so did Pete. Daisy wrung her hands. It was the longest envelope opening she’d ever attended. He unfolded it and then looked up. “The test results indicate with a 99% accuracy that Peter Doyle is the father of Amy Locke.”
Pete let go a sigh of relief. Daisy blinked, stunned. Aiden stood there speechless. She and he both just stared at the doctor. Then things exploded. He charged the doctor and snatched the paper from him, reading for himself. The man backed up, frightened.
“Aiden. Please.”
He didn’t look at her. He just stared at the paper. His hands were tight. His lips forced a thin line of restraint. She felt him, felt his pain and could see what no one else saw. His faith in their new beginning was slipping away. She stepped toward him. “Aiden.”
Pete stepped up. “I told you, playboy. Little girls aren’t for sale. Finally, something ‘The great Aiden Keane’ can’t buy.”
Aiden grabbed Pete by the throat and threw him into the wall with so much force that the women screamed. The results fell to the floor.
“Aiden, stop! Stop it!! Stop!” she said to his choking Pete. “Please!”
He let him go, stepping back, his hands trembling, and his eyes flaming with rage and hurt. Pete recovered quickly. He laughed tauntingly.
“Pete, stop it!” Nina snapped.
Aiden paced like a panther in a cage. He hadn’t spoken a word. The ladies stood between both men. Pete threw his hands up and walked away. But Aiden kept pacing, and pacing. “Aiden, please calm
down.”
Finally, he did look to Daisy. She reached for him, but he turned and walked out.
“Aiden!”
“Why did you do that? Why?” Nina snapped.
“He attacked me. He’s violent, demented, and he won’t be around my child. You hear that, Daisy? Do you hear me? Aiden Keane will never be around her again.”
Daisy walked out, leaving them both behind. In the hall, she looked for him. He was gone.
Chapter Nineteen
"So, you’re not speaking to me?” Pete asked.
Nina tossed her purse. It tumbled over the bed covers and fell off to the floor. She rubbed the pressure points of her temple. The intake of breath did little to stay away her headache. From the center of her skull and reaching to the root of her brain stem, it pulsed and throbbed in a repeated rhythm that left her teary. And this day would never end.
“I’m talking to you, Nina.”
Yes, she knew he was. That didn’t mean she would answer. After the results were read, she and Pete had to drive Daisy home. Aiden was gone.
That ride was the longest and most uncomfortable of her life. Daisy said little to nothing, only offering directions to her house when Pete made a wrong turn. She sat in the back of the car, fingers punching at the number pad on her cell phone. Nina didn’t have to wonder who she was calling. Each time she sighed, it was clear. And Pete played his part. The victor. Each time she glanced at him, she caught the smirk to his lips. This satisfied the I-told-you-so that broke her heart.
He didn’t really understand what this battle for Daisy and Amy was doing to him. And he didn’t understand why it pained her so. Her biggest fear was never that he’d leave her for Daisy. In fact, she kind of expected it, had learned to live with the threat of it and braced for it at every turn when something brought Daisy and the past they shared to the surface. After all, it takes a lot of growing to get ahead of the acne riddled girl in glasses and believe herself worthy of a crush she had since puberty.
No, her biggest fear was Pete being changed and losing hold of all things she loved about him. That scared her to death. The more this battle between him and Aiden Keane waged, the more she felt the Pete she’d known all her life, slip from her.
“Nina?”
“In a minute. You’re right. I don’t want to talk to you now,” she mumbled choosing the outside deck as her retreat. But she heard him behind her. His steps hard and determined. He would have his say whether she liked it or not.
“I didn’t start that fight. I didn’t start any of this. Aiden Keane picked me. He chose this the day he saw us in his hotel. He did. So don’t look at me cross-eyed when I don’t break a sweat because he got what he deserved. Nothing.”
“No, Pete, it’s not your fault,” Nina conceded. Her man had suffered a lot of bruises thanks to Aiden Keane. To be honest, she despised Aiden for the way he mocked Pete. Still, for her, Pete was the better man. She finally looked at him and watched as he paced a short path before her.
“Have you forgotten the asshole attacked me?” he whirled. “He’s out of control. Why the hell am I the bad guy?”
“You’re not the bad guy. I never said—”
“Did you see her and how she acted? Standing there in the parking lot looking for him. She actually believes that son-of-a-bitch cares for her. Pathetic!” He paced some more. “It's as if she actually thought he’d stick around. Yeah, she’s selfish, but she—” He stopped and breathed, hands to his waist. “This wasn't about winning. He’s the gambler, not me. He lost.”
“And you won. Right, Pete?”
She said too much and pushed too hard. But she wanted an answer to her question. So she held his gaze and refused to take it back.
“What do you mean I won? Are you even listening to me?”
He didn’t hear her. In defeat, she looked away. She scanned the packed lot and looked at the sinking sun. The tears for her evaporating bond with him burned away from her eyes before they fell. Nina rested her chin on the inside of the palm of her hand and stared directly into the fiery orange ball of light. Dark storm clouds moved in, and the heavy muggy damp smell of a fresh rain filled her lungs.
“Nina, answer me.”
“I’m going home soon, Pete,” she said softly.
“What? Now?”
“Now.” She turned her face to him with an exasperated expression. “I can’t do this. Not with you acting like this.”
“Wait. Wait a damn minute!”
“I told you to make a choice. You obviously have.”
“Not so fast. I did make a choice. I chose you, our child and our life. But I have a daughter who thinks of me as some strange man with a frisbee. My flesh and blood and, Nina, I’m fucking human. Is that okay? I've tried to be the hero in all of this. I’ve played it by the rules, but I want Amy to know who I am and that I want her.”
“Nobody wanted you to be the hero. That game was between you and Aiden, good versus evil. It’s something you two created.”
“We’ve been over this already.”
“There’s a child caught in between. Did you see Daisy and the pain on her face when we dropped her off? She loves that man that you hate so much, and she’s your daughter’s mother. That means Aiden will always be there, Pete.”
“He left.”
“He’ll come back.”
“He’s gone.”
“He’ll come back, and she’ll let him into her life and into Amy’s life. You'll go too far! You’re already down that path.”
“Not going to happen,” Pete said, with forced restraint.
“Yes, it will.”
“Even if Daisy would, he won’t come back. The games are over, Nina. You saw him. He didn’t want anything to do with her. It’s done. I say it’s the last of Aiden Keane.”
“Fine. Then stay here and play daddy. You do what you have to do.” She rose. “And so will I.”
He wouldn’t let her pass. She was forced to look into his eyes, and when he touched her face, she weakened. It never ended. This hold he had over her and her faith in him was bonded even though now it was being tested.
“I love you. I haven’t shown it enough. Blame me for that. I got plans for our life, Nina. I’m gonna buy you that house off Dunwoody, the one we pass on our way to church. The one you keep noticing that no one has bought will soon be yours.”
Nina turned her head, ashamed that he did know her desires. He touched her chin and bought her face back up to look her directly in the eye. The action worked because those blues were clear windows to his soul. And she could see how genuine he was. “I know what you need, and I plan to give you that.”
“It’s not all I need.”
"I’m going to marry you. You will be the mother of my children. You’re the mother I want for Amy.”
She stepped back, but Pete didn’t budge. “We’re going to have it all. You and me.” His hand reached out and his palm opened as it pressed into her lower abdomen. “I’ve been trying to think when we made him, our son. When do you think that was?” he smiled. “I’m sure it was one of those nights when I couldn’t let you go or one of those days when I couldn’t get you out off my mind. Like now.” He leaned in and kissed her. Nina closed her eyes and responded. But she gently pushed back when the kiss became more passionate.
“Then let’s let things cool off. You don’t mean what you’re saying. Everybody is on edge now. Let’s go home and get some perspective.”
“Don’t ask me to choose between you and Amy. I’m doing what I think is best. I’m not leaving here until I’ve worked this out.”
“No, you’re not. If you were, I’d support you a 100%. Now…now you’re acting—”
“Like?”
“Like Aiden Keane. You do hold the power now, Pete. The scale tipped in your favor, but abusing it is not you. Amy doesn’t need you to bulldoze into her life and snatch her from her mother. She just needs you.”
“I’m only trying to protect her.”
“Not this way,
Pete. Please… not this way. Okay?”
She hugged him before he responded, and he hugged her back.
****
He hadn’t called. He wasn’t answering his phone. Once again, Aiden was making her crazy. Daisy dug her nails into the cushion of the sofa. Her gaze bounced off the smiling faces of her sisters. Photo albums were open and displayed out on the coffee table. They’d turn the book to ask a question about Amy, and she’d nod or give a simple reply––half listening and half caring. Her eyes constantly moved around the room, never focusing on one thing too long and all the while she fought the urge to go. But where? She didn’t even know what hotel he was staying in. For all she knew, he was on his jet.
