Daisy's Choice (A Tale of Three Hearts) (60 page)

“
Don’t worry. I’ll handle mama and them. You just go do what you have to. I don’t know if this man is right for you, Daisy. It ain’t for me to say. But I know you won’t be happy unless you figure that out. You got to stop all of this running and hiding. Face him and just get it all out on the table. Get your answers. Then you can move on.”

“
What about mama?”

“
Trust me, girl. Mama understands more than you think.”

“
I should just go?”

“
Yep.”

“
What if he—” Daisy sighed. She smiled. “You know, he’s been chasing me all over the place for five years. He won’t expect to see me.”

“
There you go. Do it. What do you have to lose?”

She rose. “Okay. I’ma do it. I’m going to Vegas and I’m telling Aiden to his face that if he wants Amy and me, he’s going to have to fight with more than his fists. He’s going to have to prove it.”

“
Tonight?”

“
It’s not that far. I can drive it in two hours.”

“
Um, you gonna fix your hair, though?”

Daisy looked in the mirror. Her hair was a knotty frizzy mess of tangles. She laughed. “Maybe I should go in the morning.”

“
Yeah, ya think?”

Daisy turned on Denise. “This family makes me crazy. And so happy like always.”

They embraced. “Don’t you tell nobody what I told you, Daisy.”

Daisy laughed. “I won’t. Mama, a blues singer with some possible convict white man? Nah, I’m taking that to my grave.”

They both laughed until Sandra was knocking at the door wanting to know what was so funny. Daisy was ready for her last roll of the dice. Let the chips fall where they may.

Chapter Twenty-one

“
You can’t! Someone stop him! God no! Don’t do this!”

“
Get off me!” he shouted, throwing his shoulders back, shirking her hold. He winced as her nails dug into his skin through his shirt. Amy, terrified, had her arms locked around his neck, holding. The little girl was frightened by her mother's screams. She reached for Daisy, unsure of whom she was to hold. He had to save her. He was the only one. Nina ran around Amy’s room, almost in circles, grabbing things: clothes, shoes, whatever she could fit into a bag.

“
Give me my baby! Put her down now, damn it!”

Daisy clawed at his back, neck and arms, trying to pry Amy free of his clutches. Everyone was yelling at once. The Johnson sisters tried to talk her down and reason with him. Mrs. Johnson pleaded for everyone to be calm––to be reasonable. The time for reason was over. Pete felt he had to take action. He blocked them all out. It wasn’t easily done since Daisy’s screams could be heard above all: “I won’t let you take her!”

“
You don’t have a choice! I can’t trust you! I won’t! Not anymore, not after… you were going to take her to him. To him! She’s mine! He can buy you, but he won’t buy my daughter!”

His throat still burned from Aiden’s attack. How could she even consider a child safe with the dirty bastard? She was out of her mind. Lucky for him, he got there early and caught her off guard. She’d been prepared to leave again. Her family was going to sit back and watch her leave and cut him out of Amy’s life. With Aiden Keane’s money, he could take them out of the state, out of the country. Hell, he could take them to the moon. The bastard would do it just to get back at him. He was sure of it. He wouldn’t win! He wouldn’t!

“
Ma-ma-mom…my
!” Amy’s voice broke between her sobs, her fingers reaching desperately for her mother. Daisy grabbed the little girl by the hands, tugging hard. Pete yanked harder, holding to her torso, and Amy’s screams rose, causing all the adults to react in panic. Daisy was maniacal near hysterics. She wouldn’t stop. He shoved her hard to the center of her chest forcing her back. She fell into the arms of her sisters. He shouldered past her mother, who surprisingly let him pass as Janette got ahead of him trying to cut him off with her lips moving, head shaking, hands up like a traffic cop. He couldn’t, wouldn’t hear her or be slowed. Refused too. “Nina, let’s go. Now!”

“
Call the police!” Sandra yelled.

“
Pete, are you insane! You can’t take that child!” Denise yelled.

“
You bastard! Give her back!” Daisy shrieked.

“
Pete, I don’t think—” Nina began.

“
Now!” he said shoving Janette out of his way heading for the stairs.

“
Nooo!” Daisy went on attack. Her reaction was so wild she swung blindly striking both Pete and Amy. Her sister's tried to hold her back for her own safety and the child’s. Neither worked. With her locks in her face, crazed with panic, she grabbed his shirt pulling so hard the collar began choking him as he was dragged back. “Get off,” He struggled, dragging her behind him as he went to the stairs. Daisy’s feet tangled beneath her and she fell to her knees. “I won't see him again! Don't do this! Don't!” she begged.

“
Nina, leave it! Let’s go!” he called now at the top of the stairs. When he looked back, he saw Daisy charging straight at him, shocking her sisters and mother. He turned too quick, and to his horror, Amy tried to break free of his hold at that moment. Something he didn’t anticipate. The little girl’s twisting broke free and Daisy’s shove sent her falling from his arms, rolling down the stairs, her small body bouncing off each like a rag doll. Screams. The guttural sounds were all coming from Daisy and Pete. The family was suspended in time as Amy landed with a thud at the bottom of the stairs. Her neck was broken
.

Pete sat up quickly in bed

With his heart racing and his face slick with sweat, he batted his eyes rapidly. The scream of his nightmare still caught in his throat. Chilling icy fright gripped him. It was so real. He could still see her. Amy lay broken at the bottom of the stairs. He could hear her mother's screams and hear his own screams. Pete began to shake all over as the replay of the nightmare began to build in his mind.

So real. Too real.

Did it happen?

It took minutes, long drawn out minutes for reality to sharpen and the dream to fade. But the terror remained. Pete closed his eyes. A prayer came off his lips. Tears formed behind closed lids. He felt such a heavy sadness and so much guilt that he nearly broke into a sob. Never in his life had he felt so lost. Well, once before and it killed him with self-loathing. How did he go full circle and return to that empty place again? When did he let it happen?

He dropped his head and sucked in deep breaths in a vain attempt to calm him self. He’d never felt more out of control. Anxiety cooled the fear and he swallowed several times to steady his erratic heartbeat.

“
Nina, baby, I had a nightmare.” Pete reached for her, needing her. His hand fell flat on the spread over the cool empty spot where she could usually be found. Pete’s eyes opened slowly, focus returning, and a flicker of apprehension passed through him. “Nina?”

His cell phone vibrated across the nightstand. The little silver contraption bounced, with the LG window blinking a neon blue. Pete stared at the empty spot in the bed a moment longer, his feelings still out of sorts.

Bzzzzzzzz

Pete’s sight shifted over to the phone and he looked at the digital clock display. It was just after eight in the morning. The curtains, drawn, kept the sun away. He imagined Nina in the bathroom dealing with her morning pukes. Trapped in a nightmare of his own making, he didn’t even feel her leave his side. How she could stand his antics was beyond him. He reached for the phone and flipped the cover, pressing it to his ear. “Hello?”

“
Pete, it’s Daisy.”

“
Daisy?”

“
Sorry to call so early.”

“
I… yeah… it’s okay. I was going… I had plan... yeah… I um was gonna call you.” He swallowed hard. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he lowered his hand to find it trembling. He clenched it to a fist to stop the shakes.

“
You okay?” Daisy asked. He could hear the wind in the receiver, the sound of her in motion. The dream accusation of her leaving with Amy resurfaced. He closed his eyes and tried to focus. He was coming apart at the seams and this time he knew it, felt it and it scared the shit out of him.

Pete could barely find the answer, considering what he’d threatened her with just last night and mainly considering the dream. “No. Things are out of control. About last night and what I said. Daisy, I don’t want to war with you."

“
I know, Pete. I was calling to tell you that we need to meet. Before we tell Amy, you and I need to sit down and try really hard to hear each other. But um… I have to leave town. Something, it can’t be helped.”

“
I understand,” he said.

“
You do?”

“
I need a few days too. Things are… I just got to get my head right. Things aren’t good for me right now.”

“
You sound strange. What is it?”

He sighed. “I can’t stop being angry.” He rubbed his eyes. “I told you I was over the things that happened, but it’s not true. This thing with you and me is out of hand and I want it to stop. It has to stop, for Amy.”

“
It’s okay. We can’t help the way we feel. I know you have a lot of reasons to be angry.”

“
Nah, it’s not you. And it’s not
just
Aiden Keane, though I want to think it is.” He looked back over his shoulder at the door where Nina was probably hiding from him. He needed to talk this out with Nina. Tell her how he was sorry for being such a jackass. “I don’t want to hurt Amy or you. I just got to work through some stuff. Then we can talk. Cool?”

She didn’t speak at first. He could sense the suspicion in the silence coming through the line. He’d called truces before with her, only to go on attack when that cold storage of anger was unlocked by his pride and his blind hatred of Aiden Keane. “Daisy, I’m serious. I want to do this right. For Amy. This thing with Aiden and me, it should have nothing to do with my daughter. Maybe I need to step back and get… get some perspective. I’ve been acting like a jackass and treating you like the villain; blaming everyone. I want it to end: for Amy, for me, for my new life with Nina. Does that make sense?”

“
I’ll call you when I get back. I should be gone just for the day. We will talk. Okay?”

“
Yeah, cool.” He hung up. Tossing the covers back, he dropped the flats of his feet to the carpeted floor. “Nina, babe… you okay?” he muttered, rolling his head back and working the kinks of anxiety from his neck. There was an empty silence that followed his question. He waited for her to respond, staying the rotation of the muscles in his neck. He looked back once more to the wall of the bathroom and to the side off the bed. “Nina?"

After the umpteenth time calling her name, he got up, staggered, straightened and walked around the bed toward the bathroom. “Babe, what’s going on?”

He found the door ajar, the light off. His hand went to the front of it and pushed it wide open. It was empty. Pete stepped back and looked in the suite. Everything was there but her things.
Her purse and suitcase were gone
. “Shit! Shit!” he said. Pete hurried back around the bed to the phone and pounded her numbers into the keypad. Her soft voice responded immediately, asking the caller to leave a message. “Damn it!”

****

Daisy left early. Beforehand, she crept into Amy’s room. There she sat on the edge of her daughter’s small bed, stroking, her locks and wondering why she still felt that Amy belonged to Aiden. She believed it as strongly as she knew that Amy belonged to her. How strange she found it, the lies she told herself, and the time wasted. For years she ran, only to return exactly where she started, heart abandoned and completely at a lost as to what to do.

In came the tide of memories. A mind blow of flashes from every milestone in her daughter’s short life: her first smile, first tooth, first word, and first step. Amy had said Daddy before mama. It pained her then that she didn’t know who her father was, just as it pained her now that she did.

Still, all of the cherished memories that she guarded, she kept close to her heart. Last night she could barely sleep for thinking of the things she’d say and the things she’d want him to say. Aiden hadn’t walked away from her since this began. He never threw in the towel, even when she begged him to. His silence, now, unnerved her.

So when she chose her outfit for her trip, she paid particular attention to the style of dress that would paint the seductive picture of her that caused his eyes to change colors. He liked her in greens and yellows. The season called for something light. Daisy settled on a mint green strapless summer dress that zipped down the back. Cut from a light silk-linen blend, it fit snug to her hips giving a swirl just at the knees. Everything down to the accessory was fretted over.