Discovering Danielle

by L M Terry

  Anna and Addy left for Denver this morning. Anna had set up an appointment with an obstetrician there just to make sure everything was okay before they fly back to the estate. Addy went with her, so she didn’t have to go alone.

  I’ve spent my mornings on the phone with a lawyer trying to get Dani’s parent’s estate settled. That asshole Ted should get nothing. I still don’t know what he did to her, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t like him. It looks like Dani’s dad had everything laid out clearly in his will and Dani should get everything. Which may be the reason he wanted her to stay with him. I’m sure he would have tried to blackmail her into signing everything over to him. Not happening on my watch.

  My eyes trail back to Dani. She is sitting on the opposite bank of the stream, sketchbook in hand. Her muse today is Dylan and Sophia. They are sitting on a large rock fishing. Sophia is stinking cute with her little barbie fishing pole. I’m pretending to nap, but my eyes have mostly been on her. She is becoming my everything. Bumping into her in that bar was the best thing to ever have happened to me.

  Luis joins us by the stream. “Rosemary sent me down to tell you that supper will be ready soon.” He looks at Dylan. “Catch anything?”

  Dylan laughs. “Yeah, Sophia has caught several with this damn barbie pole. Me…nothing.” He shrugs and then yells across the stream, “hey, Dani, how bout you set me up with one of these little poles.” He shakes the barbie pole at her. “Do they have scooby doo ones?”

  She laughs and starts to pack up her things. “I don’t know but I will check and bring one next time.” She winks at him as she dusts herself off. She amazes me every day, I love her.

  As we walk back to the cabin she sidles up to Dylan. Luis and I follow them swinging Sophia by the arms between us. She hands Dylan a sketch out of her book. “You two were way too adorable to pass up,” she tells him. He stops dead in his tracks as he looks at the drawing, forcing us to stop as well.

  “Dani, this is…this is... I will treasure it forever,” he says as he presses it to his chest before bending down to show Sophia. “Look what Dani drew for us.”

  I peek over his shoulder to see. It is a sketch of them sitting on their rock fishing. She captured a beautiful moment between father and daughter.

  Sophia drops mine and Luis’s hands and takes Dani’s instead. “Can you draw me a picture, Aunt Dani?” she asks.

  I catch the expression on Dani’s face at being called Aunt Dani. She swallows hard and then gives Sophia a warm smile. “Of course, what do you want me to draw?” They start off towards the cabin together. I pat Dylan on the back as we follow them.

  He whispers to me, “you got a good one there, Anthony, don’t let her go.”

  “Oh, I have no intentions of ever letting her go,” I say laughing.

  When we get inside Sophia has decided she wants Dani to draw a picture of her in one of her new dresses. Dani sets her up near the backdoor for better lighting. Sophia sits demurely but giddy with excitement as Dani draws. The guys and I crack a few beers and settle in with some of the grub Rosemary made for us. “You two are missing dinner,” Dylan tells them.

  “Sophia you go ahead and eat, I’ll keep working on your sketch. I’m not hungry,” Dani says.

  Sophia twirls a few times in her dress and then plops in Liam’s lap to eat off of his plate. “Hey, you little turkey.” He tickles her but let’s her continue munching from his plate.

  As we are cleaning up Dani hands Sophia the sketch. “There you go, all yours.”

  “Ooooh, I look so pretty!” Sophia squeals.

  Dani kisses her on the top of her head and then comes over wrapping her arms around my neck. “I’m going to take a quick shower.”

  I pat her arm and turn to kiss her on the cheek. “Okay, I think we are going to take a swim are you sure you don’t want to join us and then shower?”

  “No thanks but, I’ll come sit by the pool after I shower.”

  “Okay, baby.”

  Rosemary announces she is going to bed and will see us all in the morning. She has put Noah down for the night and we are going to let Sophia stay up and swim with us. She has been making her way around the group showing everyone Dani’s sketch. When she gets to me she asks me if I’ll hang it on the refrigerator for her. In her mind, all good artwork adorns the fridge. She bounces down the hall to get her swimsuit.

  Dylan yells to her, “be quiet when you are in your room. If you wake Noah, you will be babysitting him.” She turns and sticks her tongue out at him. He laughs and winks at her. “That girl,” he says shaking his head.

  I glance at the sketch in my hands. What the…? I let go of the paper letting it flit to the ground as I stand abruptly.

  “Anthony? What’s wrong man?” Liam also stands and takes a step towards me. My eyes meet his and the look of concern on his face brings me back to the current moment. I just saw a ghost, a ghost of a girl I saved a long time ago. No, this cannot be.

  I lean over and pick up the sketch and gently place it on the table. “I’ll be right back,” I tell the guys. I jog down the hallway to retrieve my billfold. I pause outside the bathroom door listening to Dani hum a tune as she showers. If the ghost is real, if she is the girl I saved all of those years ago how am I going to broach the subject with her? Then another thought hits me so hard I tumble, sitting on the bed before my legs give out. “She knows,” I whisper to myself. After pulling myself together I grab a few more items and then make my way back to the guys.

  “What is going on, Anthony?” Dylan asks.

  I open my billfold and pull out the paper that I have had tucked away for the past eight years. It is worn on the edges from being folded for so long. I carefully open it and set it down beside the sketch of Sophia. Everyone’s eyes widen, everyone except for Luis’s. His eyes move from the paper up to mine slowly.

  “She told you?” I ask.

  “Anthony, you know I cannot discuss anything that Dani and I talked about,” he says calmly.

  I glance back down to the proof that is lying on the table. The sketch of Sophia has a cute little butterfly drawn beside the initials DJ. Danielle Jean. How did I not make this connection before? I’m positive that none of her other art had initials as her signature. Come to think of it, I don’t think she has signed anything until this very moment.

  “Is this the note that you found in your jacket after the rescue in Texas? If I remember right there were only five girls?” Dylan asks.

  I nod, numbly. How long has she known? Has she always known? My mind flits back to our first…well not our first meeting but what I had thought was our first meeting. Did she set it up?

  “Anthony. I see your mind running away from you. I can’t discuss what Dani and I talked about, but I can tell you that Dani harbors no ill intent, she was not stalking you.” Luis sits back in his chair studying my reactions carefully.

  “But, she has known. She recognized me, why didn’t she say something?” I grab my head trying put the puzzle together. Fuck, what the fuck?

  “You will have to ask her. But, keep in mind the state she was in when this all began,” he says quietly.

  I hear the shower shut off and I quickly put the note in my pocket.

  “I thought she looked familiar, but I couldn’t my finger on it,” Dylan says as he leans over and grasps the back of my head shaking me slightly. “You need to pull yourself together. This doesn’t change anything, Anthony. It is just another sign that you to two are meant to be together.”

  My eyes roam over my friends and they all nod in agreement. Is that what this is? Is it destiny? I’m okay with that, but that is not where my torment lies. This is what she meant by Ted making money off of her. He sold her. He peddled his stepdaughter to traffickers. But, the real stickler of this whole situation is that I saved her and then sent her back to the devil himself. I fucking sent her back and what did she do? She left me a sweet little note in my pocket. She thanked me for christ’s sake! Fuck!

  “I need you all to
give me some time alone with her. I’m taking her for a walk. Do not follow us,” I stand and pace back and forth waiting for her to come out of the bathroom.

  Sophia comes running down the hall. “I’m ready, Daddy!” Dylan scoops her up and takes her out to the pool giving me a glare of warning as he walks away.

  “Anthony, why don’t you stay here, and I will mediate between you? I don’t think it’s a good idea for you two to be alone while your emotions are running high,” Luis states.

  “I agree,” Liam walks over to me and stares me down. He is trying to figure out what my plan is.

  “Remember when I supported you with Addy? I’m asking for the same respect here Liam. I know what she needs.”

  He looks at me long and hard. “Anthony’s got this Dad. He only wants to help her?”

  It wasn’t a statement, but a question directed at me. “Yes, I just want to help her.” I hold my hands up. “She will run. This is a fact. I need to make sure she listens to me.” Liam nods in understanding.

  “Come on dad. Let’s go for that swim.”

  They are both getting ready to head out to the pool when Dani walks into the room drying her hair with a towel. “Wait, up I’ll join you,” she says to them eyeing me warily. She senses something is up. They both stop and look to me for direction. Her eyes drop to the coffee table. They hover over Sophie’s sketch for a fat minute as she realizes her mistake then she takes off like a streak of shit. She darts past me as she reaches for the door. She throws it wide and then vanishes into the dusk.

  “I told you,” I say to Luis and Liam before turning to chase her down.

  She runs into the darkening forest. I let her make her way deeper into the trees until I decide we have gone far enough. I yell out to her, “Dani, if you go any farther we risk getting lost.” This does the trick. She slows her pace down which allows me to move in closer. “I want you to get into position.”

  She comes to a stop but doesn’t turn to face me. “Red.” One word. Her head turns to the side to wait for my response. My heart breaks as she hugs her arms around herself. When I don’t say anything, she takes a seat on the ground leaning against a tree, I notice she sits facing away from me.

  I slide down the opposite side of the tree trunk and wait until she is ready to talk. We sit for a long time as the dark wraps around us. I’m beginning to wonder if she will ever talk to me again. “I was going to tell you,” she finally says.

  “How long have you known?”

  “From the moment you approached me at the bar.”

  “Why didn’t you say something then?”

  “Hi, remember me? You saved me once. I’m the girl that was naked with four other virgins waiting to be sold. Yeah, I wasn’t really wanting to have that conversation. It was hard enough just being out in public and add to that my surprise at seeing you there,” she says. I can hear the self-loathing in her tone.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t remember you sooner,” I say sincerely.

  “Why would you? I am one of many. It’s fine, Anthony. I really don’t want to talk about this. I feel stupid enough the way it is.”

  I scoot around the base of the tree until I am beside her. She starts to move the other direction, but I stop her. I pull her note out of my pocket and place it in her hand. She stares at it for a long moment. “You kept it?”

  “I did. I’ve carried it in my billfold every day since then.”

  “Why?”

  She is too far away from me, so I pull her into my lap facing me. She drops her head, so her hair falls in her face, another attempt to hide from me. I brush it back and hold her head between my palms and wait for her eyes to meet mine. When she braves to look at me I whisper over her face, “I kept it because I knew the girl who wrote it was special. I remember thinking what type of girl takes the time to write a note during one of the most terrifying moments of her life. The green-eyed girl that gave this to me was one of the bravest persons I had ever met.”

  “I’m not brave.” She leans back attempting to get me to release my hold on her. Not happening.

  “Shut. Up. You are brave.” I grab the back of her head and pull her close until our foreheads are touching. “We are destined to be together, Dani. This is proof.”

  She drops her head to my shoulder and whispers, “you made me feel safe then….and now. I thought of you every day. I’m sorry if that sounds weird.”

  “I don’t think it sounds weird. I think it’s the sweetest thing in the world. To know that I’ve been on your mind every day for the past eight years is indescribable. Your declaration makes me love you even more. My only regret is that I sent you back to that asshole. I’m sorry.”

  “You didn’t know, no one did,” she says into my shoulder, her voice cracking.

  The floodgates open and she is sobbing in my arms. My shirt absorbs years and years of pent up emotions. This, this has been what has been holding her back. What has made her afraid of everything. It ends right now. I’m going to keep her safe from here on out.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Danielle

  ◆◆◆

  The weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders. I haven’t told Anthony everything that Ted did to me or rather made me do but, he knows who I am. He remembers me. I know he feels bad that he didn’t remember me sooner but that doesn’t matter to me. My heart flutters with the thought of him holding on to my note all those years. It’s like a piece of me has always been with him and I know for a fact that a piece of him has always been with me.

  I’m sad that we are leaving the cabin, but we have a few more days with his family before we all go our separate ways. Luis and Rosemary are going to spend a few weeks with us. Luis thinks that between he and Anthony that we can work through my remaining issues. For the first time in so long I have hope. Anthony came back into my life at just the right moment. I don’t know how much longer I could have kept going.

  Sophia tugs on my hand as I watch the guys load up the two vehicles in the driveway. “I’m riding with mamma and pappa. Ride with me!” she begs.

  “Is that okay with you?” I ask Anthony.

  “That is fine with me but…” he crouches down in front of Sophia, “you have to share your snacks with Aunt Dani. She gets hangry if she doesn’t eat every two hours.”

  Sophia giggles. “I have gummy bears. Do you like those?” She squints up at me.

  “I love gummy bears, especially the red ones,” I tell her.

  I barely have time to give Anthony a quick kiss as she pulls me to the other car babbling the whole way about how she hates green gummy bears and that she makes her dad eat them. I laugh and squeeze in the back seat between her and Noah’s car seats.

  “Thank goodness you are riding with us,” Rosemary says as she checks her hair in the mirror on the back of the visor. “It will be nice to have an extra set of hands. These two have entirely too much energy.”

  The ride to Denver is pleasant. Noah sleeps and Sophia and I keep busy coloring in her new color books. “I think we should stop at a rest area before we get into heavier traffic. Do you have to potty Sophia?” Rosemary asks.

  “Nope,” Sophia says not even looking up from her coloring book.

  “Well I think you need to try,” Luis tells her.

  He pulls into the next rest area we come to. I send Anthony a quick text telling him we are stopping quick to use the restroom. Rosemary and Sophia head into the bathroom while Luis peruses the visitor area. I sit with Noah on a bench outside until the girls come back out. I hand Noah to Rosemary and then take my turn in the restroom. When I come out I see Luis engrossed in a brochure. Rosemary is watching Noah chase a toad in the grass.

  I take a deep breath of mountain air and stretch as my eyes roam the area for Sophia. I spot her on the sidewalk near the car talking to a man with a little dog on a leash. She is bent down patting the puppy on his head. She is a friendly child, maybe too friendly. I don’t like the idea of her talking to a stranger, so I make my way
towards them. As I approach I notice a van parked next to our car. My eyes lock onto the driver’s and time stands still. I watch in horror as he leans towards his window talking to the man with the dog all the while looking directly at me. My heart sinks as I tear my eyes away from him to lock onto the eyes of the man who is talking to Sophia.

  I can’t explain how I know what is about to happen but as the stranger and I stare each other down the world around me collapses. My ears start to ring as adrenaline courses through my veins. The minute I run he grabs Sophia around the waist and hoists the yipping dog up by the collar. I scream for help as I continue towards the van. As he pulls a screaming Sophia into the back of the van I lunge inside grabbing her around the waist.

  I can’t let go.

  I can’t let go.

  I can’t let go.

  “Let go, you stupid bitch,” the man growls as he pulls us both further inside.

  “No, you let her go! You fucking asshole. Let her go,” I scream trying to pull my leg up in front of me so that I can kick him.

  “Just take them both,” the driver says trying to reach around to grab at me. I know I have to do something or soon we will both be sucked into a dark, dark world. One that I cannot let Sophia see any part of. I risk letting go of her with one arm as I fish in my purse for the handgun that Anthony had given me. I find it, flick the safety off and pull it out in one fluid movement.

  I aim at the man holding Sophia and shoot. My eyes close as blood splatters over Sophia and me. He releases his hold on her and we fall out the open door. I hit my head on the pavement, landing flat on my back with Sophia braced in my arms on top of me. The man driving curses as he backs out almost running us over as they flee.

  I sit up and scoot back against the car turning Sophia into my arms. She buries her face into my chest crying as I hold the gun out, making sure no one gets near us. A man tries to come to our aid, but I yell at him to get away. I have to protect her, nothing else matters. They can’t take her. They can’t take her. I hear Luis’s muffled voice and Rosemary’s cries, but nothing matters.