Willow Smoke

by Adriana Kraft

  And that was where he wanted her—in a crowd, where she’d be less apt to do something crazy or catch pneumonia than if she’d gone underground in the back streets of Chicago. The weatherman had said the drizzle could turn to sleet or snow.

  Nick turned on the heater and pulled out of the parking lot. He expected either option was a likely choice for Daisy. He prayed that her fond childhood memories would win out and lead his woman to safety.

  - o -

  It was hard moving rapidly through the Christmas crowds, but Daisy weaved in and out of the package-laden shoppers. She ignored their shouts of protests and craned her neck around often to see if she could recognize Reggie coming up behind her.

  The way he’d been struggling to move on the sidewalk by the El platform, he shouldn’t be too close. Her mind couldn’t convince her heart. Reggie always bounced back.

  Her heart would pound right out of her chest if she didn’t stop soon. Once on State Street, Daisy slowed a little. All the stores were decorated, turning the street into a fairyland. She hugged Bear tighter and opened the door leading into Macy’s.

  Inside the entryway, she stepped out of the traffic and simply stared at the huge Christmas tree stretching above the first floor. She shook her hair and realized how she must look to passers-by. Like someone who had crawled out of the gutter. She brushed her clothes, and shook Bear gently. “Sorry,” she said, “but we’ll be dry in here. Do you remember? Bear. Let me show you around. It’s Christmastime; it’s time to dream.”

  Daisy chuckled at the little girl’s voice coming from her mouth. Was it really her?

  She peered around at the crowd. No one seemed to notice her talking to a stuffed animal. They were safe. She’d have to find a phone and call Nick. Certainly, there would be a phone in such a large store.

  “Come on, Bear. I want to show you something.”

  Daisy walked to the escalator and got off on the fifth floor. She walked down the aisle and smiled. Just as they had when she was young, toy animals lined both sides of the walkway. She’d always believed there were more toys in this one store than anywhere else in the world.

  And she had always known that Santa had a spare toyshop right behind that wall. There were just too many toys to ship them all from the North Pole. Daisy frowned. How she’d loved to come to this place to look and to dream. But never had any of those toys found their way to her house.

  Except Bear. This was where she’d first seen Bear. It was love at first sight. And she’d been so amazed when he’d shown up that next Christmas morning.

  “Here we are, Bear. This is what I wanted you to see. Look at all your friends. There must be over a hundred bears. And look. Look at the elephants and the giraffes.” She giggled. “And just imagine, there’s a turtle! I think we need to get you a friend, Bear. I’ll have to spend more of my time with Nick, and we wouldn’t want you getting lonely.” She looked down at herself and scowled. “But I ran off without any money. We’ll just have to dream about it, I guess.”

  Daisy knelt on the floor before the stuffed animals. She couldn’t explain why she felt so fuzzy. Her world was spinning. She gripped Bear tighter still.

  Exhausted, she let her eyes close. Who was that man coming toward her? Was he friend or foe? She couldn’t move a muscle. She tried, but neither her legs nor her arms would move.

  His arms enclosed her. Pulling back, Daisy tried to raise a hand to protect herself. Her hand didn’t respond. She tried to scream, but no sound came out. But she could hear.

  “It’s okay. It’s me, Nick. You’re in shock. I saw it in the army. It’ll subside, Daisy. We’ll get you to a hospital; they’ll start an IV and soon you’ll be as good as new.”

  Nick. Nick! Daisy closed her eyes and opened them. He was coming into focus. She was warming in his arms. “No. No hospital,” she whispered. “I’ll be fine, now that you’re here.”

  “We’ll wait a few minutes and see.” He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her. “Are you warm enough?”

  “Can I be of assistance?” a clerk asked. “Is she okay?”

  Nick nodded. “She just fainted. The excitement of the season. I think she’ll be okay soon.”

  “We have medical staff in the building if you need them,” the clerk said, giving them a skeptical look.

  “Thanks,” Nick replied.

  “I don’t want to talk to anyone else,” Daisy said, rubbing the numbness from her arms. Nick rubbed her legs. Soon they began to feel normal.

  “Nick, be careful. Reggie may be right behind you. He was chasing me and I ran. I didn’t want to endanger you. How did you know I’d be here?”

  “It was a hunch. Isn’t this where you always come at Christmastime?”

  “Yes, but—what about Reggie? He’ll kill you, if he can.”

  Nick took Daisy’s hands in both of his. “Reggie Lassiter isn’t going to kill anyone, Daisy. He’s not going threaten anyone anymore.”

  Daisy shook her head, trying to comprehend. “But...”

  “Listen to me, Daisy. I don’t want to shock you more, but you need to know you’re safe. Reggie is dead.”

  “But I saw him coming up the sidewalk by the El.”

  “Yes, I’m sure you did. Apparently, he had to wait for another train. One of Clint’s people climbed to the top of the stairs and saw it happen. Reggie fell in front of the oncoming express. Witnesses couldn’t tell if he was trying to flag down the train and slipped, or if he was shoved. There were a lot of people milling about.”

  “Oh my God.” The enormity of what had happened penetrated Daisy’s haze slowly. She looked down at Bear and back up at Nick. Her eyes were dry. “You didn’t have him killed?”

  “Of course not.”

  “And not Clint.”

  “Certainly not.”

  Daisy frowned. “Maybe it was the mob.”

  “Maybe. We’ll never know for sure. You know how wet things were this morning. And the story Maxine told the police would suggest that Reggie was out of touch with reality, whether he was on drugs or just flipped out naturally.”

  “Maxine.” Daisy laced her fingers together. “What happened to Maxine?”

  “She’s quite distraught and worried about you. The police checked her into a women’s shelter for now.”

  “She must think I got her man killed,” Daisy wailed. “She’ll never forgive me. Now I have no blood family at all.”

  Nick lifted Daisy’s chin and smiled at her. “Not true. Not at all true. It was Maxine who made the first nine-one-one call. She was doing what she could to stop Reggie from hurting you.”

  Daisy’s eyes grew even wider. “Maxine called the police on him? That’s huge! Did she tell them that Reggie planned on killing her as well as you?”

  “She did.”

  “What about the gunshots?”

  “The guy following Reggie and the woman following you tried to stop Reggie when he ran out of your apartment. He must have been expecting them. He winged the man who’d been following him. The woman shot Reggie in the leg and then tended to her partner. Once she had him settled and nine-one-one called, she hightailed it toward the El station arriving only in time to confirm that Reggie was indeed killed.”

  “So no one was chasing me all this time.”

  “Nope. Clint’s had a team of folks looking for you, but you gave everyone the slip.”

  “Except you.”

  “Except me.” Nick leaned over and kissed Daisy on the forehead. “And I kind of like it that way.”

  “Me too,” she murmured, draping her arms around his neck. “I think I’m ready to go home now. There’s so much to think through and work through, but I believe what I need is Mrs. B.’s chicken noodle soup. Somehow I think she and Cassie have the same recipe.”

  “Can you walk, or should I carry you?”

  Daisy stood and tilted her head. “I may have to lean on you some, but if you try to carry me out of here, we’ll be arrested for sure. Now, give me an arm.” She glanced down
at the floor. “Oh my, I nearly went off without Bear.”

  Nick bent to pick up Bear and hand him to Daisy. He hesitated, then frowned at the stuffed animal. “You don’t suppose Bear would like a friend, do you?”

  “That’s the first time you’ve call him by name.” Daisy’s lips turned up. “I think he’d like a friend to talk with now and then when I’m not around to listen in.”

  Folding his arms, Nick said, “I didn’t mean to take it that far. But what the hell.” She watched him scan the multitude of stuffed animals.

  “So which one? I didn’t know they made so many.”

  Daisy stuck her arm through his. “Why don’t you select one? I’m sure it’ll be just right.”

  “Okay. Let me see.” Nick plucked one up and eyed it carefully. He looked at it so long Daisy wondered if he wasn’t communicating with it.

  “Yes, how about this turtle?”

  “Bear and I like Turtle a lot. We’ve already met.” She cocked her head at Nick. “So why Turtle?”

  Nick tipped back his head and laughed. “I thought he might slow you down a bit. Bear doesn’t seem to do that at all.”

  Daisy blushed. “So is that what you want to do? Slow me down?”

  “Damn right.” His eyes gleamed brightly. “How else are we going to make a batch of little Underwoods?”

  Chuckling, Daisy allowed herself to be pulled into his arms. “It’s a batch of Underwoods now, huh. You may be right. If the process of making them doesn’t slow me down, tending them certainly will.”

  “You won’t be alone. I’ll be there in the making process and the tending as well.”

  “Oh, I’m counting on that, Mr. Underwood. If we’re going to create a family, then we’re going to be a family.”

  “Okay kid, I’ve got a deal for you. Maybe we should get you home to that chicken noodle soup, a hot bath, and some rest. And then we can think about beginning that making process.”

  “Sounds like my kind of deal, old man,” Daisy replied, grinning broadly and carrying Bear and Turtle toward the clerk. “As soon as I get my strength back, which may be any minute now, we’ll see what kind of stamina you really have.”

  “Let’s at least wait till we get home,” Nick cautioned.

  Daisy put her arm around Nick’s waist and pulled his hip to hers. “Maybe, maybe not.”

  Epilogue

  Daisy Matthews Underwood stretched carefully to reach the overhead light, not wanting to disturb her sleeping husband. She settled back into the comfort of her first class seat. They were flying to Melbourne. The next three weeks would be spent playing in Australia and New Zealand. While there, they’d check out Australian racing, which was emerging as a force in the thoroughbred world.

  Otherwise, little attention would be devoted to Underwood business interests. Nick had been quite insistent that a honeymoon should be devoid of business matters, other than horses.

  Crossing her legs at the ankles and rotating her neck, Daisy tried to work out the excess tension that had been building for weeks. She chuckled to herself.

  Tension. Good tension. Not the kind that built because of fear for safety, or fear of secrets revealed.

  Good tension, resulting from planning such frivolous things as a wedding, reception and honeymoon. Each had been perfect. At least the wedding and reception had been, and she had no doubts about the honeymoon. At last she and Nick were alone together.

  She closed her eyes and a smile spread across her lips. Everyone that mattered had been at the wedding: Cassie and Clint, Mrs. B., Tom and Thelma, Sam, all the Underwoods, and there were lots of them. Even Claire Donaldson had come, not that she mattered. But her presence had given Daisy a perverse kind of pleasure she’d seldom experienced. Rarely had she possessed something anyone else wanted.

  She placed a hand on Nick’s thigh. Now she did.

  And it still didn’t seem quite real. She glanced down at the simple but stunning wedding band resting next to the diamond. It was real, all right. She was Mrs. Daisy Underwood. The prince had found his princess, and neither was disappointed.

  The wedding had been much more thrilling than she’d imagined. Angie had convinced her to go with the wedding dress that had a miniskirt cut in front with a long sweep-away trail. Enough cleavage showed to be sexy without being gaudy. A hair stylist worked on her hair for three hours. She hardly recognized herself when she looked in the mirror.

  For one brief moment, she could have been a Victoria’s Secret model. Daisy’s eyes popped open. “In your dreams, girl,” she murmured.

  Apart from the exchange of vows and watching Nick’s eyes swell with pride when she came down the aisle, the highpoint of the day had been having Maxine stand up as her maid of honor. Daisy had never been more proud of anyone than of her sister. She’d made the choice to dry out and change the direction of her life. Daisy hoped that with Reggie gone, Maxine would be able to conquer her fears and remain sober and drug free. It would be the hardest challenge Maxine would likely ever face. And Daisy planned on providing whatever support she could.

  Her sister was back at the residential program now. Thankfully, she’d been able to come to the wedding. She still looked pale and shaky, but was able to flash a genuine smile and at her own request left the reception early. “No need for me to stand by all of this temptation, baby,” she’d said. “You go off and have a fantastic honeymoon. And when you’re back I’ll be three weeks further into this program. It may be two steps forward and one back. I may want to cry on your shoulder, but I’m gonna beat this thing. It started when I reached for the phone in your apartment to call nine-one-one.” Daisy remembered her sister’s shaky, but broad smile. “We’re family, Daisy. We’re gonna make it.”

  Daisy rested her chin on her chest. They’d make it, all right. So much had happened in such a short time. So many doubts, so many fears. It seemed odd now those fears had wielded so much power for so long. Nick had helped her see through some of them. Others had too: Cassie, Mrs. B., Angie, Thelma. Still, she’d been the one who had to stand up and battle her own demons. But not alone.

  Never again would she have to feel totally alone.

  Daisy rested her head on Nick’s shoulder and grinned. He had such big plans for them on this trip to continue working on making a little Underwood. Although not certain, she expected they might have already achieved that goal. But then—she kissed Nick’s shoulder—one shouldn’t take such matters for granted.

  A batch of Underwoods, he’d said. Maybe, maybe not. But she’d sure enjoy the process. Those videos had been helpful, but they’d never come close to capturing the magic of lovemaking.

  Romance. Nick had wanted to expose her to romance. Well, he’d certainly succeeded at that. And she wanted more. Much more.

  She’d learned at last to dream big.

  - o -

  The End

  About the Author

  Adriana Kraft ~ When it’s Time to Heat Things Up

  Adriana Kraft is the pen name for a husband/wife team writing sizzling romantic suspense and erotic romance. The award-winning pair has published over thirty erotic romance novels and novellas to outstanding reviews. Long and Short Reviews: “scorching hot…refreshing...something to read when you want straight up hotness.” Romance Junkies: “filled with warmth, blazing hot sex, well-developed characters…not for the faint of heart.” Romantic pairings include straight m/f, lesbian, bisexual, ménage and polyamory, in both contemporary and paranormal settings.

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