by Alex Grayson
“Hey, munchkin. How’s my girl today?”
He leans down and kisses her forehead. I get up from the chair and go to my bed, where my bag is packed and sitting on top. I want to punch the guy, because she’s not his girl. She’s mine.
I’m used to being in control of things, and right now I feel like I’m not. It’s not just Declan, it’s the whole situation. It’s me leaving to go back home once Maisy is settled back at Ellie’s. It’s finding out I have a sick daughter. It’s not knowing if her body will take my kidney. Not knowing when they’ll be able to move to Malus and if Maisy will be happy there. Of not having one fucking clue what I’ll do if she isn’t.
Maisy giggles at something Declan says, and for once the sound grates on my nerves. It’s stupid and petty as fuck, but I want that giggle for myself. It’s my Goddamn giggle.
I crack my neck and get a hold of my irate emotions. I’m going to be around the guy mostly by myself for the next few days. I need to get my shit together. The last thing I want is for a falling out to happen, because I know it’ll upset Maisy. She loves her uncle. I need to remember that.
“You okay?” Ellie asks, coming up beside me.
“Yeah,” I respond shortly.
A line forms between her eyes, and I wait for her to ask me what’s wrong, but the question never comes.
“You ready to get out of here?” she asks instead.
“Yes, but I hate leaving her.” I look over my shoulder to Maisy’s bed, ignoring the stirrings of jealousy at seeing her and Declan whispering.
“She’ll be okay, and you’ll be by tomorrow to visit her, right?”
I nod. “I’ll be here every day she is.”
The frown leaves her face as she turns around and leans against the bed, her arms across her chest and her eyes on our daughter.
“She’s going to miss you being here.” She looks at me. “She cares about you a lot already.”
Before I can respond, a nurse walks in pushing a wheelchair. I stop her before she makes it halfway across the room.
“You can take that back. I’ll walk out.”
This nurse isn’t one of the young, sweet ones I’ve had for most of my stay. She’s older, stocky, and filled with attitude. I met her yesterday when I awoke to her hovering over me, lifting the shirt I had Ellie bring me to check my incision. When I tried to push her away and tell her I could lift my own damn shirt, she slapped my hand and scolded me as if I were a child. We haven’t gotten along the greatest since then, but I keep my mouth shut because she’s great with Maisy.
“Now, Mr. Beckett, you’re not going to give me any troubles in front of little ears, are you?” she asks, her brows lifted and her mouth a straight line.
The bitch knows just where to hit. She’s seen the way I am with Maisy. I’m not sure if she knows I’m her father, but there’s no mistaking how much I care for Maisy. She knows I won’t make a scene in front of her.
I glare at her as I make my way over to Maisy’s bed. I soften my features when I turn to face her. She holds her arms out to me, and the rest of my irritation falls away. Sitting on the side of the bed, I lean over so she doesn’t have to sit up and let her wrap her arms around my neck. The pain in my stomach from bending over is forgotten as I breathe in her floral scent. It’s a smell I’ve come to love, and I hate knowing I’m not going to be able to smell it anytime I want while she’s in the hospital.
“You promise to come back tomorrow?” she whispers.
I kiss her cheek and say in her ear, “There’s nothing that could keep me away.”
The hounds of hell could be on my ass and I’d still come back. How in the fuck am I going to be able to leave Kentucky in a few days?
I pull back and get to my feet. “Give me your hand.” Shoving my hand in my pocket, I pull something out and place it in her palm.
“What is it?”
“It’s an Indian head gold eagle coin. Very rare. There’re only about thirty or forty left in the whole world.” I ignore Ellie’s sharp inhale of breath. That coin is worth a lot of money, easily one million to the right buyer, but it’s not the monetary value of the coin that makes it priceless to me. “I found this coin when I was seven years old. I was out walking in the woods one day and got lost. I was out there for two days with no food and water. Texas has some pretty dangerous predators, so I was lucky I didn’t get bit by a snake, attacked by coyotes or some other wild animal. On the third day, I was tired and getting weak when I saw something shining. The woods I was in were very dense and thick, but I came across a section where there was a break in the trees that let the sun shine through. The shiny thing was that coin. I picked it up and just kept walking in that direction. Two hours later, I was found.”
“Wow,” she breathes and looks down at the coin in her palm.
“That coin saved my life. Had I not seen it shining, I would have kept going in the wrong direction, which was miles and miles of woods. I want you to have it. Hopefully it’ll bring you the same luck it brought me.”
“Thanks, Judge. I’ll keep it with me all the time.”
I smile and lean down to kiss her forehead. Her eyes stay mesmerized on the coin when I pull back.
“You ready?” Declan asks from the other side of the bed.
I grunt a yes, even though I’m not ready. I’ll never be ready to leave Maisy.
I grab my bag off the bed and go to the dreaded wheelchair. Ellie releases a strained laugh when she sees my expression as I sit down.
“I’m going to walk them outside. I’ll be right back,” she tells Maisy, who’s holding up the coin to inspect it closer.
“I’ll make sure you get the coin back,” she states once we’re out of earshot.
“No. I want her to have it.”
“Judge, that coin must be worth—”
I cut her off. “I don’t care how much it’s worth. I’ve had it long enough. It’s hers now.”
It’s quiet after that, and a few minutes later, the nurse is wheeling me out the doors of the hospital. Declan’s car is already at the curb. When the nurse tries to help me from my seat, I release a low growl, warning her away. We’re no longer with Maisy, so I don’t need to watch my tongue around her. Sensing she’s poking a bear, she wisely backs away after handing me my discharge papers and prescription bag.
I turn to Ellie. “Call me if anything comes up. I can always take a cab here if Declan can’t bring me.”
“I will.”
“I’ll call you tonight and check up on her.”
“Okay. Promise you’ll take it easy when you get home?”
I have the sudden urge to lean down and kiss her. To reacquaint my lips with hers. It’s the same urge I had the day I woke up after surgery, when my fingers grazed the scars on her collarbone. At first, I was filled with a crazy amount of rage at seeing the proof of her attack. I had already noticed the light scars on the underside of her jaw, but knowing where they came from made my anger triple. Then I saw the pulse in her neck jump, and my anger turned to something else. Desire. And it slammed into me hard and fast.
I shake my head and take a step back. Giving her a short nod, I turn to Declan’s car, throw my bag into the back seat, and get inside before I give in to my reckless impulse to kiss her. From the corner of my eye, I watch as Declan hugs Ellie before walking to his side and climbing behind the wheel. Ellie’s form stays in my side mirror until we turn out of the parking lot.
After the first few minutes of silence, I decide to break it with something I’ve been wondering about.
“Do Ellie’s parents know about Maisy’s illness?”
Declan’s hands tighten around the steering wheel. “Yes. She refused to tell them, but I did a couple of months ago.”
My jaw bunches. “So why in the fuck aren’t they at the hospital?”
“Because my asshole brother married a bitch. They’re both so stuck up in their Catholic beliefs that they refuse to acknowledge Maisy a
s their grandchild because Ellie had her out of wedlock. To them, what Ellie did was worse than murder.”
My fingers dig into my thighs as I try to control my temper. Those fucking bastards. I’d love to be left alone in a room with them for fifteen minutes. That’s all the time I would need to beat some sense into them. Or her dad, anyway. I don’t hit women, but I’m damn sure tempted to. Instead, I’d give her mother a set down with just words that would leave her weeping into her husband’s arms.
“No offense to you, but your brother and his wife are cunts.”
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t know. They’ve always been pretentious assholes. After they turned Ellie away when she showed up at their house with a newborn Maisy, she gave up. I only went to them this time to give them the benefit of the doubt, thinking maybe they regretted their decision to shut them out. I was wrong, and that’ll be the last time I give them the time of day. You should never have to work so hard to gain love from family.”
I grunt my agreement as we pull into the driveway. Declan climbs out of the car and makes it to the front door first. Before he opens it, he faces me.
“Ellie and Maisy mean the world to me. They’ve been through enough heartache to last a lifetime. I’d do anything for either of them. Even if that means laying you out if you hurt them.”
I hold his stare and take a step closer to him. “I can respect that and even appreciate it. I’m glad they’ve had someone in their corner all these years when I wasn’t. But don’t think for one fuckin’ second you can stand in my way. You’ll lose. Maisy is my daughter, and as her mother, Ellie is important too. I take care of the people I care about.”
“Sure doesn’t seem like you cared about her when you kicked her out of your apartment to be beaten by those men,” he growls.
In my current condition, I have no doubt he could take me. One quick jab to my stomach and I’d be done for. But I’ll be damned if I’ll allow this man to think he can intimidate me. He has no idea who he’s dealing with.
“I’ll regret my part in that night for the rest of my life, but even then, Ellie was important. I don’t owe you shit for an explanation, but there were things going on that were more than just me and her.”
“Like what?”
I bare my teeth. “That’s not something you need to know. I owe that information only to Ellie. I’m warning you right now, Declan, don’t stand between me and them. You won’t like the outcome.”
His hand turns white on the doorknob as he glares at me. “Is that a threat?”
“Call it what you will. I won’t stand by and let you affect the relationship I have with the daughter I just recently found out I had.”
We stand there and glare at each other, neither wanting to back down, both caring about the two females we just left at the hospital. When he sees the truth in my eyes, he gives me a tight nod. Before he turns back to the door, he adds, “If I find out you’ve hurt either of them, I’ll take you down.”
I tip my chin at him. “That’s something you’ll never have to worry about.”
After another nod, he turns and leaves me to follow him into the house. I can’t blame the guy for being wary, even if it does piss me off. He doesn’t know a thing about me, except for what Ellie’s told him. She and I had some good times together, but I’m sure me kicking her out of my apartment and her attack have overshadowed the good. Had I been in his shoes, I’d be doing more than simply threatening the guy. The unmarked graves back at home can attest to that.
After dropping the keys in the bowl in the kitchen, Declan mutters that he’s going to his office and leaves without another word. I head toward the hallway to drop my bag off in the room and to take a quick shower to wash the stink of the hospital off me, but stop halfway across the room when I see something pink lying on the table in front of the couch. Dropping my bag at the mouth of the hallway, I change directions until I’m standing in front of the table. There’s a stack of picture albums. The top one is pink and has Maisy’s name stenciled on it.
Sitting on the couch, I pick it up and flip it open. The first page has Maisy’s full name, birthdate, and the length and weight she was when she was born.
My hands freeze when I flip to the next page. It’s of two sonograms. The first one is black-and-white and has an arrow pointing to a smeared blob with the words “It’s a girl” typed in white letters. It’s the second one that catches my eyes though. It’s a close-up 3D image of a baby. Maisy. I’m amazed at how clear it is. Even in Ellie’s womb, she looks just the same as she does today. I can even see the small indent in her chin. I look over every facet of the image. The eyes, nose, forehead, cheekbones, every single angle.
Flipping to the next page, I discover all the dates for Maisy’s firsts. Her first tooth, her first word, the first time she rolled over, crawled, stood, and walked. There’s a tuft of hair wrapped in a rubber band and taped to the bottom of the page. Her first haircut. She was four years old.
I thoroughly look through every page of the whole book, which is filled with all kinds of information. Ellie did a good job of documenting every highlight of Maisy’s life, something I’m eternally grateful for because it allows me to know my daughter a little better. It lets me visualize all the important times in her life.
Once I’m done, I pick up the next album, which is the usual picture album. Picture after picture of a baby Maisy dots the pages. Her bundled in a lavender blanket in a bassinet, lying in a bed with pillows surrounding her, her arms outstretched and her mouth wide open as she stretches adorably. Big, beautiful eyes staring innocently at the camera.
I come across one picture that has my body locking tight. It’s of Ellie holding Maisy close to her chest. Her head is bent as she looks at our daughter, but I have a good view of her face. My heart pounds heavily in my chest as I look at her mangled face. Angry red scars slash across her cheeks and forehead. One eye appears to sag at the corner and there’s a big, nasty-looking scar on her temple at her hairline. Even through the pain she endured and had to still be enduring at the time, she was looking down at Maisy with adoration.
Several pages later, which are filled mostly with just Maisy and a few with her and Declan, I come across another of Ellie with an older Maisy. Most of the scars are gone from her face, or maybe hidden. Plastic surgery?
I look through the rest of the book and pick up the next. There are four albums in all, and I look at every picture, getting a better understanding of Maisy and Ellie’s life. Putting the last album on the table, I scrub my hands over my face. Hearing about the extent of her attack was hard enough, but seeing the results is damn near debilitating. I feel like my damn heart is going to beat out of my chest. There’s no way I can take away what happened to her, but I sure as fuck can ensure her attackers regret ever being on that street that night.
With a tiredness I haven’t felt in a long time, I get up and walk to the kitchen, ignoring the pinch of pain in my side. The pain has gotten worse over the last hour, probably from the rigid way I held my body as I looked at the pictures.
Pulling out the few items I need, I set to making chicken noodle soup. The food at the hospital was shit and I need something I’ll actually enjoy in my stomach. The nurse warned me to eat light so as not to overwhelm my body, so chicken noodle soup it is. I make a big pot, not because I’m a nice guy and I’m thinking of Declan, but so I won’t have to cook later. If he eats some, I couldn’t give a shit.
By the time I’m finished with the soup, my body is done for. I only manage to get down a few bites before nausea rolls in my stomach and exhaustion takes over. I leave the dirty dishes in the sink to clean later and grab my bag to take to the room, wanting that hot shower I didn’t take earlier. It’s not the long one I’d like to have, and it’s frustrating being careful of my incision, but it’s enough to make me feel somewhat clean again.
With Ellie and Maisy not here, I don’t have to worry as I leave the bathroom in only a towel wrapped aroun
d my waist. I don’t give a shit if Declan sees me, but I doubt he’ll emerge from his office anyway. He seems to be in there a lot when he’s home. Ellie said his work keeps him busy, whether he’s at the office or here at home.
Setting my towel on the end of the bed, I gingerly sit down. The pain pills the doctor prescribed me call my name, but I push the need away. I pick up my phone and check my notifications.
There’s a missed call from JW.
Pressing his name, I lie back against the pillows as it begins to ring.
“We have a situation,” he says by way of answering.
“What do you have?”
“You remember my buddy Patrick Donahay?”
“He was the guy you were in the academy with. Yeah, I remember him.”
“I just got off the phone with him. A janitor at one of the local elementary schools near you was arrested a couple of days ago for molesting some of the handicapped kids. He was released this morning on bail.”
“How in the fuck did he make bail?” I growl.
“Apparently, the guy has some big-time lawyer as an uncle. Patrick seems to think the janitor won’t get much time, if any at all. The uncle is ruthless in the courtroom. He’s already gotten off several suspected sexual offenders.”
A growl rumbles in my throat, but I muffle the sound. “You said he’s local?”
“Yes.” He pauses. “I know you just had surgery, so you handling it is out, but I wanted to let you know I’ll be sending Emo.”
“No,” I bark. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Judge, I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re still recovering, and Emo’s due.”
“I don’t give a fuck. There’s no sense sending him when I’m already out here. Is the guy a flight risk?”
JW blows out a breath that crackles across the line. “Patrick doesn’t think so. The guy is staying with his uncle so he can keep an eye on him until his court appearance in a few days.”
“That gives me time. I’ll be fine by then. I’ll make it quick to avoid any problems from him.”
