Rory swung his head and looked at her, his anger clear in his rigid jaw.
“Please Rory. He … he had due cause.”
“Do you even realize how badly he could have hurt you? He could have caused permanent damage, Amber!”
“You said could have, which means he didn’t. Please, my daughter is waiting outside and must be worried sick by now.”
“Your daughter?”
“Yes, our daughter.”
Rory looked at his friend who clarified it for him and suddenly he understood.
“It still … bloody hell, Damien. You never … it’s still not right!” Damien silently agreed, now that his immediate rage has simmered down. But what was done was done.
“Tell Amber what your diagnosis is, Rory and how we need to treat it. Zoey is worried enough as it is. I don’t want her to wait any longer. She has also been suffering with headaches apparently for a while.”
“The headaches are not a problem, for heaven sake and I know what the cause was!”
He carried her back into the office and stood behind her chair with his hands on her shoulders waiting for Rory, who glared at him first before he turned to Amber.
“Your cervix is very swollen and quite badly bruised, but there are no signs of any tears or any serious damage. It will take at least two weeks to recover. I am going to inject you for the pain and give you a strong antibiotic to build up your resistance and assist with cell recovery. Your inner walls are swollen so I am going to give you a cream you need to smooth on twice a day. Do you have strong pain medication or do you need some?”
“Give her some. She only has some aspirins she takes for her headaches.” Rory nodded and glanced at Damien.
“Why don’t you go and call your daughter and I will set her mind at ease.” Damien turned and went to call Zoey.
“Please no. She thinks I am here for the headaches."
“It’s fine, Amber. I’d like to meet her though. By default she is my goddaughter. We made that pact when we were in Varsity.”
Zoey walked in holding Damien’s hand and rushed to her mother’s side, hugging her tight.
“Are you okay, Mom? What took so long?”
“Hi Zoey. I am Rory. I am sorry, but I wanted to do a proper examination to make sure everything is fine. You can stop worrying. Your mom is just a bit stressed and her blood sugar level too low. With the medication I gave her, she’ll be fine in no time.”
He smiled broadly and felt his heart melt at the beautiful daughter of his best friend, when she smiled at him and looked at him as if through her father’s eyes.
“Zoey, this is Uncle Rory … he is your godfather.”
“Really? Like Aunt Mia is my godmother?”
Amber looked at Damien who smiled at her and said a quiet thank you.
“Yes, your father and he made a pact when they were at Varsity that they would be each other firstborn’s godparent.”
“Cool. Now I can take two hunks to Sitka and show off!”
Amber shook her head, coming to a realization that with her new father, his parents and Rory, Zoey would be spoilt rotten.
Her heart clamped remembering that Damien intended changing her name to Jordan. Her breathing sped up and she forced deep breaths into her lungs. She could not lose her daughter!
Damien met her eyes and recognized the sudden fear in them. His face however, remained impassive and he did not talk to her all the way back to the house.
The following three days were a nightmare. Rory gave instructions that she was to stay in bed for three days and Damien made sure everyone abided by that order.
When he was not there, he ensured either of her family was and they were sworn to keep her abed. They clucked around her every waking moment and she mumbled angrily walking back to bed on the third day. She gasped when an angry and very intimidating Damien stood glaring at her next to the bed.
“You are supposed to be in bed!”
“Why don’t you just bring me a bedpan then I would never have to set a foot on the floor!”
He grinned at her annoyed snap, relieved that she was so much better.
“It can be arranged.”
“Don’t you dare!”
“I see I don’t even have to ask how you’re feeling. Zoey says you are – and I quote – impossible to live with!”
Amber snorted and sat back against the headboard. Her hands on her lap.
“Damien, please I am much better. I can move around and walk without a wince. I have to get out of this bed … out of this room! I … need to go and see my Dad! It’s been four days since his operation and I know him. He’ll be more worried about me than himself! Please!”
He sighed and looked at her with a frown, but she kept her pleading eyes on him.
“Very well, I will take you to see him tonight. Only if you promise to tell me if you hurting.”
“Why? I thought that was the whole point!”
His body stiffened angrily and his eyes hardened visibly.
“I want you to recover quickly so your … punishment can start.”
She drew a slow breath and lowered her eyes to her hands. He held out documents to her and said gruffly.
“I need you to sign these.”
She read only the first sentence and froze. She shook her head and sat forward, tears drowning her eyes.
“You can’t! Please, I beg you, Damien! You can’t take my little girl away from me!”
His voice was harsh and emotionless.
“You had your turn, Amber. Now it’s mine! Sign them!”
Now she cried in earnest and grabbed his hands.
“No, no, no! I can’t lose her! Please Damien. I will do anything, just don’t take her from me!”
He snorted. “I guess you still don’t get it. When I said your life ceased to exist, I meant it. You will do anything I want from you anyway, Amber. Her name is changing to Jordan. That is not negotiable. She is MY daughter, she will carry MY name!”
“I know you hate me, but even you can’t be that cruel. Please don’t do this to me!”
“I am cruel? Keeping her from me, not even telling me about her existence was not cruel? Weigh the two up against each other and tell me who the cruel one between the two of us is.”
“I was scared, Damien! I was no more than a child myself and I was scared! You hated me then already, I had no other choice but to leave!”
“But you were not a child for long, Amber. No, my beauty, you had more than ample time to tell me over the years. More than ample time!”
“I did not know if she was yours!”
He stiffened and his hands clutched hers so hard she cried out in pain. He forced her eyes to his. His voice was hoarse and so soft she could hardly hear him.
“Didn’t you? In all brutal honesty, Amber. Did you really not know deep in your heart she was ours? Like I did, the moment I looked into her eyes!”
She blanched and the answer was there in her eyes and his hands relaxed around her fingers. His eyes hard and glittering like molten silver.
“Will you please …” She hesitated.
“Please what?”
“Have a paternity test done?”
If she thought he was angry three days ago, he glowed with fury now. His voice turned her to ash.
“I don’t need to know Amber. She is mine!”
“But I do!”
His expression turned even more vicious.
“Why is it so important to you? Would you rather she be Paul’s?”
“On the contrary. Please just think about it.”
“I still want those papers signed!”
“Damien … she is my whole life … my whole existence! You can’t …”
“There is one way you can keep some modicum of control over her life.”
“Anything!”
“We get married.”
She stopped breathing and her eyes searched his. Whereas years ago his eyes showed his emotions, now as usual, his eye remained express
ionless.
“Yes.”
He snorted and his eyebrows rose.
“Just yes? No shouting, screaming and objecting?”
“I told you I would do anything to keep Zoey and I meant it.”
“Hm, you do know that marrying me is not going to change your way of life or my intentions towards you at all?”
“What do you mean?”
“I swore vengeance, Amber and I still intend to extract it. Being my wife is not going to change that. And before you ask. How long? I can’t rightly say. What brought you to this bed for three days did nothing to ease my rage, my desire to see you pay for everything you caused my family, but moreover, for what you caused me!”
She bit her lip and unconsciously stroked his palm with her fingers.
“So, knowing that, is it still yes?”
“Yes.”
She did not even hesitate and he nodded. He took her by her shoulders and pulled her slowly against him, forcing her to go on her knees.
“So, my beauty, let us seal that with a kiss.”
His head lowered and his lips captured hers. She did not expect sweet and tender and nor did she get it. He kissed her with vicious passion, swirling his tongue between her lips and took immediate possession of her mouth. His one hand folded around her back and he drew her tight against his chest. The other grasped her hair at the nape of her neck and he tilted her head back, deepening the kiss.
Her arms wrapped around his neck and she leaned deeper into the kiss. She opened her lips wider with each demand of his and moaned when the kiss became wildly savage. Heat exploded in her veins and her blood surged through her whole body. Waves of needy sensation pulsed through her and she gasped for breath.
“Mom … Dad?”
Zoey’s hesitant voice broke through Amber’s passion induced mind and she struggled to unwrap herself from Damien’s arms. He chuckled and kept his arms around her waist. He leaned forward and placed a quick hard kiss on her lips, before he turned and gestured his daughter closer with his head.
“Come in, darling.”
“Wha … what were you doing?”
“You are going to a school for the gifted and you’re asking such a question?”
“Tsk Dad! I know WHAT you were doing, I just don’t know why.”
“Hmm … I was wondering the same thing. I guess when it comes to your mother, the significance of the saying, once bitten twice shy, eludes me.”
“What … do you mean … are you and Mom … Daaad! Tell me!”
He smiled at her persistence. He hugged Amber tight and whispered in her ear.
“If you want Zoey to believe we have a normal, loving relationship, you better start playing along, my dear.”
He kissed her on her nose and smiled beguilingly at her. He sighed dramatically and turned to Zoey.
“I guess it is only appropriate that you are the first one to hear the news. Your mother and I are getting married.”
She stared at them for so long, Damien worried that she was against it. Then she let out such a piercing scream, their ears tingled. She leaped on the bed and wrapped her arms around both of them, laughing and crying at the same time.
“I guess that means it carries your approval?”
“Oh yes! Most definitely! When? Have you decided on a date yet?”
“This Friday.”
Zoey’s face fell and she stared at Damien with a sad look on her face.
“Friday?”
“Yes, we’re getting married at court.”
“No! Oh no, no, no, no! Absolutely not Dad!”
“No? And why not?”
She sighed and sat back on her legs she folded under her. Her face was serious and Damien had a hard time keeping his laughter at bay.
“You are a man so it probably passed you by, but one thing I know for sure is that every girl dreams about her wedding day … that one special day … her whole life long! Finding the right dress, flowers, writing out the invitations. Dad … Mom deserves her special day too!”
“Zoey …”
“No Mom, it’s true! Do you know that Mom makes the most beautiful wedding cakes, Dad? They have even featured in bridal magazines! I have seen the love and care she puts in every one of them. You must see the look on her face when she finishes them. I have always thought that she should have her own special wedding cake. Of all the people in the world and for all the hard times she’s had to carry me through … she deserves her own special wedding cake!”
“Zoey darling it really is not neces …”
“Please Daddy! Give Mom her own special wedding cake!”
His arms tightened painfully around Amber’s waist listening to Zoey and he had to bite his lip to keep his resentment at bay. At the same time, he knew he could not deny his daughter’s plea. He sighed heavily and turned to Zoey, releasing Amber. He needed distance from her at that moment.
“Okay, Zoey. Your Mom can have her own special wedding cake and wedding day. How much time do you need?”
“Me? For what?”
“Well little lady, seeing as you appear to be the expert on these things, I suppose you will be in charge of all the arrangements.”
“For real? Mom?”
“Damien, this is really not necessary. Zoey, I appreciate everything you said, my darling, but we don’t need to have a big wedding.”
“Oh yes, you do! Dad said, yes. Hmm … I’m not sure. Suzie’s mother got married last year and she said they planned the wedding for six months.”
Damien laughed and she frowned at him. He shook his head and ruffled her hair. Amber took note that she did not slap his hand away like she always did her when she did the same thing.
“Sorry, my precious. I’ll give you two weeks.”
“TWO WEEKS! Dad, that’s way too little time! We have to have a dress made for Mom and that could take months!”
“Sorry Zoey, two weeks is all you get. My mother has a dressmaker that I am sure will make time to finish one in two weeks.”
Amber stiffened, having forgotten about his parents. Their eyes met and his drilled into hers. Zoey swung to him. Excitement in her eyes.
“More Grams and Gramps? When do I meet them, Dad?”
He chuckled at her excitement, recalling their reaction when he told them about Zoey. Even the fact that Amber was her mother did not diminish their eagerness to meet their granddaughter. It was then that he realized maybe they were over their hatred towards Amber. His father even saying, it was high time they buried the past.
“We are having lunch with them tomorrow. They can’t wait to meet you. I’ll ask Mom to arrange with the dressmaker to be there as well.”
Amber pushed off the bed and walked to the bathroom. She turned at the door and looked at Damien.
“I … eh … I’d rather not go with, if you don’t mind.”
“You have to go with, Mom!”
Damien rose and stroked Zoey’s hair, his eyes on Amber.
“Why don’t you go and tell Grams the news. We’ll be right along.”
Chapter Seven
They watched her skip down the passage, yelling for Ellie. Damien turned his scorching eyes to her.
“I do mind, Amber. The sooner you face them, the better. At some point you have to stop running.”
“Does it have to be now?”
His mouth tightened but he did not respond. He just looked at her with unwavering determination. She sighed and leaned against the doorjamb.
“Very well. I’ll go.”
He turned and picked up the documents from the bed he threw down there and stood looking down at them. He walked to her dressing table and left them there.
“I expect these signed in our bedroom on our wedding night.”
Zoey came charging into the room and skidded to a halt in front of Damien.
“I nearly forgot! The budget! What is the budget for the wedding?”
Damien threw his head back and barked with delighted laughter. He hugged her tight and look
ed down at her smiling face.
“You truly are my daughter! You want a special day for your Mom and we will give it to her. Now this will be the only time you hear and receive this from me, my darling. No limit. Spend as much as necessary.”
Zoey nearly swallowed her tongue when he took out his wallet and handed her a black credit card.
“Mooomm!”
“No Damien!”
He, of course ignored her and fixed a strict look on his daughter who listened attentively to every word he said.
“Now, young lady. I want a fully detailed budget by the end of day tomorrow, as well as a full accounting of the money spent from this point forward. If you experience any problems, you call me.”
Zoey held the credit card in front of her as if it was going to bite her and glanced at her father with big eyes.
“The pin code is fourteen, zero, two, two thousand and three.”
Amber gasped and his heated eyes confirmed her immediate realization. It was the date of their first night together. The date their daughter might have been conceived.
“Oh, there is just one stipulation I have for the wedding. It has to be at my house on Indian Creek on Miami Beach Island.”
“Island … your house … you have a house on an Island?”
He chuckled. “Actually my darling, it’s just off Miami Beach and linked to the mainland. I bought a large estate that stretches over four properties and built the house there. It is where our main home is, where we will live.”
“Seriously! On the Island?”
“Seriously.”
“Wow!”
She still held the card away from her and walked to Amber and held it out to her.
“You keep it please, Mom. I am scared I will lose it.”
“Oh … now you trust me. I thought I was a scatterbrained, old woman?”
“Tsk … don’t be silly! Whoever would dare tell you that?”
Zoey fell into her arms and they hugged each other tight.
“You better get dressed then, Amber. I have to go and ask for your hand. I am sure your Dad can’t wait to see you.”
For the first time since she came back he looked at her with a smile in his eyes.
“Are you sure about this, Amber?”
Ashton sat across the kitchen table watching Amber preparing breakfast.
His Vengeance, Marriage and a Baby: He hated her for cockolding him with his brother. Now he wanted vengeance. Page 6