Daisy's Choice (A Tale of Three Hearts) (49 page)

“
What are you doing here?” Daisy coughed, her voice husky and grave.

“
I came to, um. These are for you.”

She looked at the flowers and then at him. The gesture seemed not only unwanted but to agitate her. Daisy fiddled with the top of her robe, chewing on her chapped lips. Whatever kept her from slamming the door in his face, he seized. “You look beautiful,” he stammered.

Daisy frowned.

He stooped to Amy’s level. “Do you like flowers?” he asked.

She nodded.

“
Then these are for you.” He handed the bouquet to her to which she held with both hands before she disappeared inside. Daisy coughed, watching her go, but when he tried to enter, she gave him a look that stopped him. “I asked you—” she coughed, and swallowed, which looked to have pained her. “What are you doing here?”

He touched her face, finger grazing her chin when her head turned. She cut her eyes back at him, but he caught that look in her eye. Aiden gave a small smile. “I was passing by.”

“
Go,” she said closing the door.

“
Wait.” He put up his hand. She evidently didn't get his joke. “Is your sister here? Is someone taking care of you and Amy?”

“
No,” Daisy admitted.

“
Then let me in. Today… well we both said… no… I was wrong. I shouldn’t have sent for Pete’s woman, and I should’ve told you.” He wiped his chin. So an apology wouldn’t be enough? He smiled trying to lighten her mood. “I’m an idiot.”

She sighed.

“
I fucked up. Okay? I’m sorry. Let me come, in and I’ll take care of you. If not, then let me call someone to come over and help. Tell me who. You can’t do it alone with Amy. You know I am right. ”

****

“
There’s nobody,” she said weakly. Her hand went to her eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was cry. The day had exhausted her. She felt like a butterfly trapped in a magnifying glass under his piercing stare. His arrival was the final straw. She just couldn’t escape her life, not even long enough to be sick.

Daisy tried everything to get Amy to lie down so that she could have a few minutes. Mostly, she heard her in her room dragging out more toys. Unaware of how sick her mommy was, Amy had a question every five minutes. She hadn’t even fed her baby. If she could just get twenty minutes of uninterrupted sleep, she could deal. And the medicine the doctor gave her only made her feel worse. Now this. She was too tired, too weak to fight with him.

Aiden reached for her but she flapped her hand at his to ward it away. He caught it, pulled it to his chest, lifted it and brought it to his face, kissing the inside of her palm. Daisy opened her eyes.

“
You going to let me in? I can take care of you,” he said. He came in before she answered. Daisy stepped back and his hand reached to steady her, then drew her nearer. She stumbled, weak from the fever. Closing the door behind him, he walked her back into her place.

“
It’s okay; I have you.”

She tried to resist but he only tugged back, sliding one arm around her waist. He pressed her against the full length of him while he used his other hand and closed the door.

“
I don’t want to fight,” she said into his chest.

“
We won’t. I don’t want anything from you. Just blame me. It’s my fault anyway.”

She could feel the pulse beat strong and fast under his shirt and beneath his ribs. Hers soon altered to match the beat. She sniffed. Barely able to breathe, her throat burned and so did her lungs. Her bones felt like sponges. She wanted to drop so bad. Instead, she leaned against him.

“
Daddy, come see. It’s pretty!” Amy called out from the living room. Daisy drew the last of her strength to let go of him and looked back. Amy had managed to pull out some flowers and arrange them on the coffee table.

“
Why did you give her those?” she asked with exhaustion in her voice.

He hugged her from behind. “Because she wanted them. I’ll give her whatever she wants. You too.”

Another wave of weakness had her swaying. “I got to sit down. All I need is a few minutes, then you can go. Just a few,” she said, allowing him to hold her up. Her lids sagged to the point of closing. Suddenly she felt her feet leave the ground once more. She thought possibly she had fainted, which was her biggest fear with Amy on her watch. But the lifting had her pressed against his chest securely. Her eyes fluttered and she relaxed. He was climbing the stairs. Everything was dull and muted. Her sense of smell, sound, taste, and even her vision was gone. She heard him. He called Amy ‘squirt’. He told her to follow.

By the time her mind fully accepted his presence, he was placing her in bed. Finally, the medicine took over. Sleep she’d been fighting since they arrived home pulled her under, and she drifted willingly.

“
Just a few minutes… then you go… a few minutes to sleep,” she mumbled dragging in a deep breath. He pulled the covers up and she was gone.

****

“
What’s wrong with mommy?”

“
She’s tired,” Aiden said, staring at Daisy.

“
I not,” Amy announced.

He frowned and looked down to see her walking out of the room. Was that a warning or a challenge? He hadn’t really considered what it would take to watch a little version of Daisy. It couldn’t be hard. The kid was four. What could she get into?

Aiden pulled off his sports coat and tossed it on the lounger in the room. He rolled up his sleeve and stared at Daisy for a minute longer. She needed him. He wouldn't let her down. Closing the door, he headed down the hall to Amy’s room.

He could watch that DVD with her maybe or put on the charm and make her go to sleep. Kids took naps. He remembered several times when he visited Donovan his daughter was always taking a ‘nap’.

“
Amy?”

Aiden looked in her room. Toys covered the floor. This little girl had more toys than probably every kid on the block. He figured that while Daisy battled her cold, Amy entertained herself here. But she wasn’t there now.

“
Amy?”

He heard a crash down below. It scared the crap out of him. He hurried down the stairs, two at a time, eyes searching.

“
Amy?”

She came running. He nearly stepped on her. “I didn’t do it,” she panted, eyes welling with tears. Aiden looked past her and then down at her again. “Do what?”

“
I didn’t.”

He took her hand and pulled her with him. Walking into the kitchen, he saw a container had fallen from the counter and rice had spilled all over the floor.

“
It fell. By accident.”

Aiden nodded. “Well, okay.”

He noticed the small step stool pushed to the counter. At the back of the counter was a glass jar of cookies.

“
Accident, huh?”

Amy nodded.

“
I’m hungry.”

“
Yeah, me too. How about we order some Thai?”

“
I want cereal.” She walked into the kitchen and pointed up at the box of cereal at the top of the fridge. “Cocoa-Puffs!”

“
Cereal? For dinner? I’m sure your mother wouldn’t allow it.”

“
Yes she would. She give it to me all the time.”

Aiden frowned. He could see Daisy in bed and imagined that she would be hungry when she woke. It was time to prove to her that he was ready to be a dad. Maybe prove that she could count on him. Prove it. “Okay, cereal.”

Amy threw her hands up as if she scored a goal. Then she broke out into a little dance, rocking her hips from side to side with her shoulders dipping. Aiden stared at her for a moment. She grinned, and danced for him. She was so beautiful. He pulled down the box of cereal and she cheered. When he went to the counter, she was on his heel, giving him the merits of Cocoa-puffs. He had no clue why a box of cereal would mean more than a million dollars to a kid, but he liked the idea of making her smile. Aiden poured a bowl full of chocolate-coated sugar balls. Amy went to the fridge and got a gallon of milk half her size. She heaved it in her small arms trying to walk it over to him.

“
I got it,” he winked.

He poured the milk. The cereal reached the rim of the bowl, some spilling over. Shrugging, he found a spoon for her but she was already gone. When he went into the dining room, he saw her in the chair with the padded cushion, waiting.

Aiden placed it in front of her. “Eat up, kid.”

“
Thanks, daddy.”

He watched her for a few minutes scooping cereal and spilling some out of the bowl. Then he turned and went back into the kitchen. In the cabinets, he found cans of vegetables, stewed tomatoes, and boxes of pasta. Living on the street, he ate from different kitchens and did a lot of improvising. For all his hustling, he never quite learned to cook, but everybody knew how to make spaghetti.

****

"Hey, you okay out here?” Nina asked. She stepped out on the lanai. The sun, now disappearing from the night sky, had moved in. Pete sat there drinking a beer and staring at nothing.

“
Yeah, I guess,” he mumbled.

Nina went over to the balcony and leaned on the rail. She looked back at him, concerned. “Talk to me.”

“
Tomorrow is her birthday.”

“
Who?”

“
Amy. I want to… Daisy’s throwing a party and… well I want to go.”

“
Okay. We can.”

“
Doubt she’ll let me in the door after what I said to her. I don’t get her, Nina. Was it always about money for her? I mean back in Hollow Creek, money just wasn’t that important. Everybody wanted it, but nobody was miserable because of it.”

“
I don’t know what to say, Pete. Daisy and I were never friends.”

“
That’s because you’re better than her.”

“
Don’t do that,” Nina sighed.

“
Do what?”

“
Put her down to try to build me up. It’s insulting.”

He lowered his beer, confused. Nina turned from him and looked down into the parking lot. A man struggled with a cooler while trying to remove it from the trunk of his car. His back was sunburned and his swim trunks were riding low, showing the crack of his ass. She stared at the wife impatiently tapping her foot and holding beach blankets.

“
It’s not about putting her down. I’m just stating the obvious. It’s the reason I love you. It's why I feel safe with you. I can trust and believe in us. I never really could with her. I was an idiot for not seeing it sooner. She used me. She never cared about me.”

“
And that still hurts, right, Pete?” she said softly.

The man was now yelling at his wife and blaming her for the cooler not budging. The woman, exasperated, tried to tell him what to do to make it work.

“
I don’t know what you mean by hurt. I just feel so stupid at times. And I…I just wish I could take it all back. Then I think of that little girl and I know she needs me. Daisy is with a man that should never be around a child.”

He went on and on, just like the man below. Pete ranted about the wrongs and injustices in the world that were all aimed at him. The woman below was forced to listen to her husband’s version of the same ole song. Nina, however, was reaching her limit.

Nina considered herself patient and understanding. But she realized that patience and understanding with men blinded by their pride did nothing for a woman blinded by her love. She was an enabler.

“
I wouldn’t let her be raised in Mango Grove either. Nina, I’m saying I want custody, and I know when I show a judge who Daisy and Aiden Keane are, I’ll get it.”

Nina dropped her head. “That’s because you already judged and sentenced them both. Am I right, Pete?”

“
Huh? I’m just stating the facts. She’s back with him and he’s around my daughter. She has Amy calling him daddy. When the test results come back, how confused is that kid going to be? You would never do that! Daisy is—”