The Only One for Me

by Toni Jackson

  The doorbell pulled Sean from his reverie. He opened the door expecting to see McKennon, only to find Sabrina standing on his doorstep.

  “Hi Sean,” she said, strolling past him into the house before he could stop her.

  “What are you doing here? Did you not understand when I told you we were through?” He snapped. Someone on the security team was going to catch hell for letting her in.

  Shrugging, Sabrina strolled into the house. “I thought I’d come by and meet the new fiancé that everyone at your office is talking about. Rumor has it that she’s a little accident prone.” Sabrina tossed a copy of the morning’s newspaper at him. Opening it, he found an article on the front page about Dani’s accident, their upcoming marriage and her pregnancy.

  Tossing it aside, Sean’s expression darkened as he reached out and grabbed Sabrina by the arm. “If I find out you had anything to do with what happened to her, I will...” Sean gritted out.

  “You’ll what? You’ll tell her the only reason you’re with her in the first place?” She snatched her arm back. “I know how badly you want a family to carry on the Davenport name. I also know about the search you’ve had going on for the perfect person to carry your child. I have to admit that I’m surprised you’re going to marry her though. She’s not your usual type. Aren’t you afraid of what your stodgy old business associates are going to say about you marrying a black woman?”

  Sean wanted nothing more than to physically throw Sabrina out of the house. “My personal life and reasons for marrying her is no business of yours or anyone else’s. Get out of here now and don’t come back. Accept it once and for all that there is not, and will never been anything between us.”

  Sean dragged Sabrina to the door and pushed her out the front door. “Stay away from us.”

  Sabrina glared at him before walking to her car and climbing in. The minute she pulled off, Sean walked over to the telephone and called his security company. When they answered, he said, “Sabrina Terry is to be removed from all admittance lists for all of my buildings. The next time she is admitted, whoever is on duty will be fired. Also, I want someone over here within the immediately to change the code on the gate.” Not waiting for a response, he slammed down the receiver. Sean grabbed up the paper and threw in the trashcan.

  Dani staggered out of the room a few minutes later. Sean walked over and wrapped his arms around her. “You shouldn’t be up.”

  “I’m fine.” She glanced around him. “Was someone here? I thought I heard you arguing with someone.”

  Sean shook his head. “Just a call from the job. You hungry?”

  Nodding, Dani started towards the kitchen. “Starving. I’ll just grab some yogurt or something. There’s no need for you to go through any trouble.”

  Sean placed his hands on her sides and guided her towards the dining table. “Sit. I’m going to fix you something. I’ll have to order something in for dinner.”

  “Sean, you don’t need to go through all this trouble.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “Yes, I do. It’s the least I can do.”

  Walking into the kitchen, Sean’s mind was racing.

  Two weeks later, Dani was staring in the mirror at the slight curve that was forming on the underside of her stomach. She smiled at the proof of the child growing within her. Her miracle. For so long, she thought she would never have a family. Now she not only had a baby on the way, but an attentive fiancé.

  Dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, Dani slipped her feet into a pair of tennis shoes that Sean insisted on buying. It was taking her a while to get used to letting Sean take care of her. The more she tried to do things on her own, the more he did for her.

  The only thing that disturbed her is that it looked like the commission for the West Coast hotel was going to be pushed back. Sean had pulled some strings and gotten the deadline pushed back so that she could finish it after the baby was born.

  Sean had finally gone back to work, so she could sneak out and get some air. A trip to the store was in order and she needed to stretch her legs. The organic grocery store on the corner was as far as she dared to walk by herself. The air was warm enough that she did not need a coat and the sun shining overhead gave her energy.

  Dani walked into the store smiling, not paying attention to some of the people who seemed to be staring at her. Considering they had never seen her before, she could understand their curiosity. This seemed to be a rather selective community and Dani stuck out like a sore thumb. Oh well, they would get used to her.

  She was reaching for a box of cereal when she recognized the woman from the restaurant walking towards her. What was her name? Oh, yes. Sabrina.

  “Don’t we look…domestic.” Sabrina sneered as she walked closer to Dani.

  “Mad it’s not you?” Dani asked. Sabrina’s face flushed a dark red.

  “Don’t be too happy with your position. Sean has a notoriously short attention span when it comes to women.”

  Dani shrugged. “Maybe you just didn’t have what it took to keep him interested.”

  Sabrina threw back her head and laughed, causing several of the store’s patrons to turn and look at her. “Is that what you think?”

  Sabrina stepped closer to Dani and began to speak in hushed tones. “Sean would have never stooped to involve himself with you if you hadn’t been the only person he could find to have his child. You see, Sean has this little problem that will keep him from having children unless he finds that one person who is compatible with him. And trust me Sean has wanted a family for a long, long time.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “So you see, all of it was an act to get you to agree to have his child. I must say, I never thought Sean would be so tenacious about it. We would have been married now if it wasn’t for his obsession with a child. So don’t think for one minute that he truly cares about you, because he doesn’t. He only cares about the child.”

  It took Dani a minute to pull herself together. As much as a part of her told her that Sabrina was lying, a part of her believed it. That would explain why things moved so fast with them. Regardless of her doubts, she could not let Sabrina get to her.

  Narrowing her eyes at Sabrina, she smirked. “Whether he cares about me or not, he cares about this child. And I am the mother of this child. I will be the mother of not only this one, but any others he chooses to have. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to stop at one. And just think of how much fun we’ll have making them.” Dani ended on a whisper close to Sabrina’s ear.

  Dani had one minute to think that maybe she pushed Sabrina too far when she felt the hands around her throat. Clerks and security, two of which were pulling Sabrina away from Dani, surrounded them. Sabrina struggled against the men holding her while she screamed profanities at the top of voice.

  The store manager helped Dani into his office. One advantage to living in an upscale neighborhood was the police response time. Dani had just taken a seat in the office when the police arrived to take her statement. Afterwards, the manager asked if there was anyone she wanted to call, she hesitated. There was too much going through her mind to see Sean. She picked up the phone and dialed one of the only two people she trusted.

  CHAPTER 34

  Sean looked up, surprised when McKennon strode into his office unannounced. “We’ve got a problem.”

  He rose from his chair dreading the news. Lately, there was something happening every day.

  “What? What’s happening now?”

  “Dani’s friend Tina came looking for her at your place, but Dani wasn’t home. Dani told her she was going to the store and come right back. Tina went to the store but Dani was nowhere to be found. Tina became frantic because she knew Dani wouldn’t have gone anywhere to stay because they were supposed to be talking over wedding plans.”

  Sean’s heart began to pound. “Maybe she lost track of the time.”

  McKennon shook his head. “Evidently, Tina tried to call here to reach you, but you were in a meeting. When they hear
d it involved Dani, they transferred it to me. I went down to the store to check things out. Seems that a disturbance had been reported with two women in the store. One had tried to choke the other.” McKennon took a deep breath. “It was Sabrina. And the person she was trying to choke was Dani.”

  Sean slammed his hand on the desk. “Fuck! I should have known she’d try something else!” Placing his hands on the desk, he leaned forward and attempted to calm down. “Sabrina made a surprise visit to the house the other day. She threatened to tell Dani everything. I made sure that she was barred from the grounds of the house and changed the code to the gate.”

  Shaking his head, McKennon held up his hand. “That’s not the worst of it. We finally identified the prints that were on the window from the break-in and picked up the guy for questioning. He said he was paid by some ‘upscale’ brunette to break in and spike the food.”

  Sean sank down in his chair in amazement. “Sabrina? I never thought she’d go that far.” He looked back up at McKennon. “So she had someone set the fire, too? That crazy bitch! What did she hope to gain?”

  McKennon shook his head. “She wasn’t the one who set the fire.”

  CHAPTER 35

  “Thanks for coming to pick me up, Clayton.” Dani strapped herself into her seat and leaned back, closing her eyes. “I couldn’t drive myself after that episode.”

  “No problem. I’ve been meaning to pick you up anyway and show you the new space I found for your studio.”

  Dani grimaced. “With all the trouble going on lately, I haven’t been able to work on anything. I miss it. It soothes me.”

  He nodded. “I know. I remember you used to sculpt every day after your mother died. The things you created! You should at least let me place them on display, even if they’re not for sale. They’re some of your best work.”

  “It’s too painful to even look at them.” She shook her head. “Someday I’ll be able to look at them.”

  They’re still in the storage room on Harvard Street?”

  “Yeah. I’m glad they weren’t in the house. It is bad enough that I lost everything in the fire. And now with the commission being pushed back…”

  Clayton’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “That was…unfortunate. Don’t get me wrong. I know he’s concerned about your health, and the baby, but all of us don’t have multimillion dollar companies paying our way.”

  Dani placed a hand on his arm. “I know. I’m sorry. I could see if Sean could help you out with the bills…”

  “No. I’m afraid that won’t work,” Clayton muttered to himself as they pulled up to what looked like an abandoned warehouse. He turned to Dani and gave her a dazzling smile. “Come on. I’m sure you’re going to love the size of it.”

  Dani stepped out of the car and followed Clayton over to the building. It was huge. She stepped inside and followed him several steps into the room. Looking up, she noticed several catwalks crisscrossed high above their heads. Light streamed down through broken skylight windows so highlight sections of the floor. “What did this used to be?”

  Clayton shrugged. “Some factory. Not sure what they made.” He turned back to her. “Come on, let’s look around.”

  As she stepped forward, the floor seemed to buckle and Dani jumped back. “Um. Clayton, I don’t think these floors are going to be able to hold the weight of my statues.”

  He shrugged and took a step forward. “If they seem to be weak in spots, we can always have them shored up.”

  Clayton walked further into the warehouse, staying close to the edges. “We can have the skylight repaired. If you go stand under it, you can appreciate how much natural light there is for you to work by.”

  Taking two careful steps to the right, she tested each spot before placing her full weight on it. She was beginning to have a bad feeling.

  Clayton turned back and frowned at Dani. “Honestly, Dani, I’m surprised it’s held your weight this long.”

  Dani froze in place. “What are you talking about?”

  Sighing, Clayton began speaking. “You’ve been in your own little world for so long, you’ve never known what the rest of us have had to go through. The money to open the gallery didn’t come from a bank loan sweetie. None of them wanted to give a young but promising unknown the money to start their own business. So I had to find…other methods.”

  “I always knew that with your talent, we’d be rich. You had to hook up with that damned playboy. I didn’t mind you guys going out…hell, just look at the potential commission that came out of him buying the Madonna. I never intended for you two to get serious.”

  Clayton worked his way around until he was directly in front of from Dani. “And that’s where the problems began. Now you’re listening to him and not to me. And the people who helped me? They want their money, Dani. All of it. And there’s only one way I can think of getting it for them.” He stopped in front of Dani.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Since you don’t seem to want to move into the appropriate position, I’m going to have to help you.”

  Tears formed in her eyes. “Sean would have given you the money. You were my friend, like family to me.” Dani tried to slide to the right. “If you want me dead, why didn’t you just shoot me?”

  Clayton shrugged. “Too easy to trace bullets. If you had died in the fire, we wouldn’t be going through all this now. I could have collected the insurance money. Besides, with you dead, your sculptures will be worth more than your boyfriend would be willing to come up with. I’ll have enough to pay off the money and get myself back on my feet.”

  Dani froze. Clayton had set the fire. She pulled herself up partially and tried to swing one of her legs up for leverage.

  Clayton saw her trying to escape and smiled. “Nice move. But this place has had termites for years.” His voice was so unemotional and cold, he sounded like a complete stranger. “You’ll fall eventually.”

  CHAPTER 36

  Sean jumped out of the car before McKennon came to a complete stop. Several police cars screeched to a halt behind them as he ran for the door of the warehouse. Tearing open the door, his heart was in his throat. He could only watch as Dani tried to move to avoid Clayton as he lunged at her.

  He started forward and watched, helpless, as Dani fell through the wooden floor. “NOOOOOO!” Sean screamed, turning to run at Clayton. Arms closed around him from behind, keeping Sean from running across the floor to Dani.

  “You can’t! The whole damn floor will collapse! She’s not dead! Look Sean! She’s still holding on!” Sean tried to shake loose only to have McKennon grab his arm and pull him back again. He could just barely make out her hands trying to hold onto the wood. The police had spread out along the main part of doorway, guns trained on Clayton.

  Sean turned back to Clayton, furious. “Why?” he yelled. “You and Tina were the only family she had left. Why would you do this to her?”

  Clayton turned to him, his expression torn. “I needed money, Davenport. A lot of money.”

  McKennon began to speak in Sean’s ear. “They’ve found a basement entrance. They should be directly under her any minute. Keep him talking.”

  Breathing deeply, Sean asked, “Why didn’t you just come to me for the money?”

  “Ha! Really? I was just going to stroll up to you and ask for a couple hundred thousand? You were screwing her, not me.” Clayton looked around and the police surrounding him. “It’s too late now anyway.”

  Before anyone could move, Clayton stepped forward and kicked at Dani’s hands. The sound of gunfire echoed around him as bullets slammed into Clayton’s body. Sean’s heart dropped into his stomach as he watched Dani’s hands disappear over the edge.

  Sean heart felt like it was ripped from his chest. He could not breathe. Everything kept churning his head, until he heard someone yelling from below, “We’ve got her!”

  Gasping, he turned around, he ran outside. He saw a group of police officers walking from the back of the bu
ilding headed towards another group of officers. When the man holding Dani exited the building, Sean ran forward and took her from him. Tears filled Sean’s eyes as he felt Dani’s arms wrap around his neck and pull him close.

  Her body jerked in his arms as she began crying.

  CHAPTER 37

  Dani lay in the hospital bed and thought about all that happened in the past few weeks. Tina came up at the hospital every day to see her. Sean usually showed up in the evenings just in time for Tina to leave. The doctor had insisted that she remain in the hospital for at least a week to ensure that the stress did not affect the baby. To make sure, he sedated her for the first couple of days to make sure that she rested.

  Today, the hospital she was discharging her and she could to go home. Wherever that was. Her home, her real home, burned to the ground. The only place that felt like home was Sean’s house and she was undecided about whether or not she wanted to go back there.

  As she contemplated her future, Sean and Tina walked in at the same time. Tina for once, had dressed down, the pink coatdress making her look years younger. Sean had dressed casually as well. A wrinkled polo shirt and a pair of beat up jeans hugged all the curves of his body. Dressed like this, he could probably walk down the street without anyone identifying him. Her heart dropped at his haggard expression. He looked as though he had lost weight and there were dark circles under his eyes.

  Tina walked over and gave her a hug. “Hey Chica. How you doing?”

  “Ready to get out of here.” Dani’s eyes flipped from Sean back to Tina. “I’m going home with you, right?”

  Glancing over her shoulder at Sean, Tina cleared her throat. “Yeah, if that’s what you really want.”

  Sean stepped forward and sat on the edge of the bed. Gently, he lifted Dani’s hand and held it to his lips. Dani noticed that he liked to hold hands – to hold and touch her – whenever he was close. She thought that maybe it was because of his parents. She had always gotten the feeling that they were not very affectionate.