Daisy's Choice (A Tale of Three Hearts) (37 page)

Daisy pushed at him, turning her face so he could rain kisses on her cheek and neck. “Amy could be Pete’s. Do you understand? You have no control over it, Aiden, and no control over me. I need you to give me some space. I can’t breathe when you do this. Stop it." She shoved him off. He was forced to step back. "It’s to intense. This is no longer about you and me. It’s about Amy.”

"I know. I believe that."

She closed her eyes. “Then stop pressuring me. Think of her.”

"I have, Daisy. I do," he said returning to her space. She tried to object, but he pressed a single finger to her lips. “She’s ours, and I’ll do it, Daisy, whatever it takes to be a good father to her. Tell me what to do because I keep getting it wrong. How can I prove to you that I can be… good for her, good for you?”

She heaved a deep sigh. He knew she was talking herself out of his arms again; he touched her chin and lifted her face to gaze into her eyes once more. “You were with Pete all day. Look at me. I wasn’t even upset that you were with him. I'm not all bad.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “You don’t have a say in where I go or with whom.”

“
Right. Okay, fine. I don’t, but… you can’t keep pushing me away. Deal with me.”

“
How? By sleeping with you? Five minutes and you’re touching me. You’re all over me. That kiss? I didn't ask for it."

"You didn't stop it."

"That's not the point."

"Maybe it is. Maybe when you stop trying to convince yourself that I'm the devil, you can feel me as a man; a man that desires you."

"Or maybe I'm self destructing all over again."

He stepped back with her hands up. She pressed her lips together, still feeling the heat of his kiss on her lips.

“
Maybe we should just get the test first and then take things slow," he said.

“
I don’t trust you. You won’t be handling the paternity test.”

“
What does that mean? Are you accusing me of something?”

Daisy crossed her arms. “As if you're above reaching into your wallet to make things go your way.”

“
I was wrong to buy your company, for all of it, but I wouldn’t manipulate this.”

“
Fine. Then we’ll go through Amy’s doctor. I’ll arrange the test.”

Aiden nodded.

Daisy sucked down a deep breath. She came up from the wall. “Janette has cooked something I’m sure. If… if you want to stay for dinner, then fine.”

Aiden smiled. She could barely maintain eye contact when he did so. “I just want you to stop trying to control things, Aiden. Stop trying to manipulate everyone with your money. If you can’t do it for me, then do it for Amy.”

“
I can do it for you both. I haven’t tried to control anything. I’ve been good,” he winked.

Daisy shook her head, “Then stay for dinner.”

She walked off, leaving him behind, but when her gaze lifted, she saw her sister on the deck above. Janette had been watching them. Their eyes met briefly, and then her sister slipped back inside. Daisy wiped Aiden's kiss from her lips. He came behind her and hugged her. “I want to know your sister.” He kissed her cheek. “I think she likes me,” he said, walking around her and going inside.

Daisy stood there for a moment, unsure. “Damn, I must be crazy,” she mumbled.

****

Pete tossed the beer in the trashcan near the armoire. He fell back on the bed. Take out food and a six-pack of beer was it for the night. She had offered dinner. He was tempted. Very tempted. A day with her and Amy had his head swelling. Suddenly, he had what he wanted from Daisy since they graduated and left the Hollow. A kid. Their own kid, and each other. Now alone in the rusty hotel room, he couldn’t stop thinking about their day together. He thought about Amy and the old Daisy. She had returned to him. He saw it and she felt it.

His cell phone buzzed against his ass in his back pocket. He removed it and noticed the caller was Nina. A pang of guilt hit him. “Nina?”

“
Hi, Pete.”

“
Yeah, what’s up?”

“
We need to talk.”

“
Yeah we do. I called you and—”

“
Now.”

He stopped. “Okay, let’s talk.”

“
I’m in Mango Grove. I'm staying at the Hampton Inn near the beach. Call me when you’re in the lobby.”

The phone clicked off. He sat upright with his heart thundering. He looked at the phone, her words echoing in his ear. She’d come to him. Now? “Fuck.”

****

“
Excuse me,” Aiden said, pushing from the table. Amy was wailing because Janette forced her to remain in her chair and eat. Daisy looked up when he indicated he had a phone call and signaled it was okay. Dinner was relatively calm. Mostly everyone at the table focused on Amy. When she talked about his magic, he shared with Janette the story of his coin. Daisy watched him closely, knowing how hard it was for him to tell the tale.

Janette asked a few questions and then apologized for his loss, her eyes darting between him and Daisy the entire time. It was strange, but he didn’t feel like the interloper and Daisy didn’t apologize for their history. They just sat and ate.

Walking out through the terrace doors, he pulled them shut to make sure he wasn’t heard. The sun was so low in the sky that it cast a brilliant display of red and purples over the rolling in blue waves of the sea. “Speak to me.”

“
It’s done. She’s here.”

“
Shit,” Aiden said, dropping his free hand in his pocket.

“
Shit? What does that mean?” Donovan asked.

“
Did you pay her? Tell me you didn’t pay her?”

“
Well… no.”

“
Good.”

“
I offered.”

“
Fuck.” Aiden looked back to the sounds of Daisy laughing beyond the glass door, to the scene of her babying Amy who had enough of her overbearing auntie.

“
Aiden? What’s going on?”

“
I shouldn’t have bought her here.”

“
No kidding. I told you, but you wouldn't listen.”

“
I don’t want Daisy to know I had a hand in it. Make sure of it. I'm making progress with her. If she thinks I'm manipulating things, I could lose it all.”

“
I can’t! She didn’t take the money, Aiden. Look, this has to stop. First you want me to pay her to come. Now you don’t. You missed the conference call with the Commissioner we had set up today. How do you expect me—”

“
Listen to me! Clean it up. Make sure she doesn’t tell Pete about my involvement.”

“
It’s too late!”

Aiden stopped. “Then what the fuck do I pay you for!” He closed the phone and walked to the edge of the sun deck. He wasn’t sure what he was doing anymore. He was all over the place. He was making mistakes, making wrong choices, begging a woman for her heart. He had lost his mind.

“
Aiden?”

He glanced back to see Daisy holding Amy’s hand. He dropped his cell in his pocket.

“
Amy’s going to bed. She wanted to say goodnight.”

He smiled down at her. “G’night Amy.”

She walked over to him with her arms open. He knelt and accepted the small hug.

“
G’night, Daddy.”

He looked up at Daisy when she said it. Daisy shook her head no to him. He released her without another word.

“
Come on, sweetheart.” She took her hand and slipped back inside. Aiden stayed rooted to the spot, thinking. His gaze shifted to the wall where he kissed her and where he said he could be different, and not push. She couldn’t hold him to that. He made the deal after—after he sent for Nina.

“
Mr. Keane?”

Janette walked out.

“
It was a good dinner. Thank you.”

“
Mmhmm. So I guess you’ll be going soon?”

Aiden looked up to the windows above. “Yeah, soon. I’ll leave.”

Janette took another step toward him. “I’m going to ask you not to pressure my sister. If she wants this thing you two share to go further, then we’ll all have to live with it. But I don’t want you playing any games with her. We clear?”

“
Crystal.”

“
G’night.”

“
Night.”

Aiden sat down in a deck chair. He wiped his hand down his face. When Daisy returned, he'd ask her to go for a walk. He’d explain why he sent for Nina, get it all out and be straight with her. Then he’d show her that he could be that man, the one she thinks she needs.

He had the strongest sense of foreboding. Fate wasn’t for sale.

Chapter Fourteen

Aiden opened his eyes. He had drifted off in a chair on the patio deck. The sun sank into the Pacific Ocean and rendered it night. A sense of calm soon accompanied. His body slump down, legs stretched forward, crossed at the ankle and he rested the side of his face inside the palm of his hand, propped by his elbow on the arm of the deck chair. Above him, the same wisps of wind beat at the sun umbrella.

The first thing he saw was feet, ten toes rose pink, delicate and symmetrically beautiful. His eyes made the slow climb from her thin ankles over her shapely legs to her cut-off shorts. They stopped on her heart shaped hips and then continued. A lose fitted white shirt, thin, pressed to her skin by the force of the winds. The black lace of her bra could be seen thanks to the patio light glowing above her like her own spotlight. He squinted against the glare and let his eyes adjust to Daisy’s face. Her hair sparkled from a fresh shampoo and her face was scrubbed clean and free of the grime of her day with another man. She just stared at him as if he was something she forgot—most likely had forgotten.

Sitting upright, he held that stare, pushing the fog of sleep away.

“
You fell asleep,” she stated the obvious. “I took a shower. I thought you had left.”

He checked his watch, realizing she was right. He had indeed fallen asleep on the deck behind her house.

It had been the best sleep he had in quite awhile, because he was here, not there. And she was here, not somewhere he didn’t know.

That was madness, part of his sickness. Still, he could do nothing but acknowledge it. He wiped his face and leaned forward with his head dropped low. Aiden couldn’t leave until he had a chance to speak with her at least once more. “I… guess I did,” he mumbled. No other words to say. Fatigue had settled into his still wounded side and his battered heart. He was just plain tired. Done.

She touched his shoulder with a gentleness that he nearly missed, but he felt it. “Well, um, it’s late.”

“
Yes, you must be tired. I’ll leave.” He withdrew and forced him self to stand, his muscles giving to a stretch that eased some of his body aches. “Call tomorrow. I'll call you tomorrow. See what time the test… and all… whatever.”

“
Wait.” Her hand went to his.

Aiden stopped. She gave him a small smile, dropping her hand and shyly covering herself. “Wanna take a walk? I need to um, talk to you out there. Amy's sleep, and Janette… well Janette never misses anything.” They both looked up to the window with the light on.

“
A walk, yes. I’d like to talk,” he said, wishing he'd put a little more bass in his voice. She didn’t notice, didn’t stop to say another word and didn’t turn to get a pair of shoes or sandals. Daisy walked down the deck stairs into the sand and then out to the beach. Aiden’s eyes dropped to his own feet and his Italian loafers. He kicked them off, removed his socks, and followed. Catching up to her in the dark, feet sinking in the sand, he fell in stride at her side.

The night was cool. The pacific this night could be as chilly as a mountain breeze in Colorado during the summer. She hugged herself to ward off the chill. Unbuttoning his shirt, he slipped it down his arms and off, his chest now barely covered in a black undershirt. He then handed it to her. Daisy gave him a curious look at the gesture. For a moment, she seemed either touched or confused by the meaning, but that moment passed and she accepted his offering without comment. Her arms slipped through his sleeves, the shirt swallowing her. They continued to stroll with the sea to their left and beach homes quietly settling down for the night to their right. He didn’t mind the chill. In fact, he felt feverish when close to her like this, and he needed to relax. Be cool.

“
You said a lot earlier,” she started.

He stole a glance. A quick one before he quickly corrected himself. “Yeah, I have a habit of doing that. I didn’t mean to push.”