Daisy's Choice (A Tale of Three Hearts)

by Mynx, Sienna

  He dropped his arm over his eyes and tried to resist a stronger urge, to call and lay it all out for her. It wouldn’t be fair, especially now when he wanted to unload this on her. But who could make sense of nonsense but Nina? Who could make him feel like a man, but Nina? He missed her so much. He just wanted to hear her voice. “Fuck it!” he snapped, reaching for the phone and dialing an outside line.

  ****

  “Hello?” Nina sighed, phone pressed to her ear. She was bent forward, removing her thick-soled sneakers. Wiggling her sock covered feet and trying to bring life back through her toes, was a part of her daily routine when her shift ended. She blinked away the tears that formed the moment she saw his number on the caller ID.

  “Hey, babe. It’s me. You sound tired. You okay?”

  Nina bit down on her bottom-lip. She rolled her eyes heavenward as she slunk back into the dimpled cushion on the leather sofa. She hadn’t been in the door ten minutes before the phone rang. “Just got home,” she mumbled.

  “Still in your uniform, huh? You know the rules,” he chuckled.

  She smiled. First thing he would say when she came home and kissed him awake was for her to get out of her clothes and in bed with him. He would accept panties, maybe, but definitely no bra. Pete loved to rub up against her bare chest. She pushed those memories away. If it weren’t snuggling time, then he’d be up making her his special pancakes. They became her favorite from the way he heaped them on her plate and fed them to her. She looked over to the table with the plastic fruit in a bowl and nothing waiting for breakfast. Closing her eyes, she shut out the memories and spoke, “So you made it safely?”

  “Yeah, I did. I tried you earlier when I landed. You working a double?”

  “Mmmm.”

  “Nina, why? I told you to cut back some. We can afford it.”

  “We?”

  She chewed on her bottom lip, anger punching her chest where her heart beat. “If I have to cover the rent by myself and everything, I need to make sure I save up.”

  “Hey, what the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

  The tension between them on the line charged the air around her. For all she knew, he was with Daisy at that moment or leaving to return to her. She didn’t want to think about what he was doing. Her eyes kept going to what she’d bought home from the drug store sitting in the bottom of a paper Rite-Aid bag on the center of the coffee table.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap. But we aren’t done. Stop talking as if we are. I miss you, baby,” he said softly. “Really miss you. Been thinking hard about you… us.”

  “Mmmm.”

  There was a long pause. Nina was so sleepy and tired of it all that she started to slip away from the call. She just couldn’t deal with him right now. She didn’t know how long, but she closed her eyes and let fatigue in.

  “Nina?”

  “Yeah, I’m here, Pete,” she yawned.

  “You still pissed at me?”

  “What do you think?” she mumbled.

  “I think you know I love you. You knew it before I did.”

  “Don’t go there,” she flinched. She didn’t want to be reminded of how stupidly she played the wait-a-while-and-he’ll-figure-it-out game with him.

  “I need to be able to show you so bad right now.” His voice dropped to a low and mournful pitch. She stiffened at the sound of it warming her ear, giving her sparks of hope. “Today, it got deep, babe, and…well I... I just wish you had come with me. I need your support.”

  Nina closed her eyes. “So you saw her?”

  “Yea, I did.”

  “How is Daisy? She well? You two talk up old times?”

  “It ain’t like that. She wasn’t happy to see me.”

  “Yeah, well I could’ve saved you a trip on that one. What about you? Must have been strange finally seeing her again. How was that for you?”

  “You know I didn’t come here for that," he said.

  “No, Pete. All I know is that one night you told me that you loved me after making me ‘earn’ the words, and the next you were in the wind.”

  “I do love you. I have from the first day you made me cube-steak.”

  Nina frowned. “Cube steak? What are you talking about?”

  “Things are a mess. I didn’t expect to find what I did here. I think we need to… no… I know we need to talk. Really talk, Nina. I just can’t get into it over the phone. I need to tell you in person.”

  “What do you want from me Pete? You’re there with her.”

  “Listen to me for starters.”

  "To help you understand your feelings? Why? So I can help you break-up with me without any of the guilt?”

  “Listen for a minute, Nina.”

  “Can’t you just send an email like any other jerk!” She disconnected the call and tossed the phone. Putting her hands to her face, she released her tears. The day had been hard, working until she wanted to drop, Janette and her outrageous pleas, and now the fifth day and no sign of her period. She curled up, holding herself and ignoring the phone when it started to ring again. To hell with him. It stopped. Her eyes opened again. Nina stared ahead through tears. The paper bag, sitting on the center of the coffee table, became her only focus.

  ****

  “Mama, I want a turtle.”

  Daisy looked up into her rearview mirror. Amy sat up in her booster seat in the back of the car. She stared out of the window kicking her legs.

  “Why a turtle?”

  “Because.”

  Daisy sighed. She made the next turn at the light. A school crossing guard in a bright orange vest with a stop sign stepped out into the road. She slowed behind the other arriving parents.

  Last night, her walk along the beach nearly caught the sun, and then she gave up and spent the rest of the night with one eye opened. She was a bundle of nerves and emotions.

  “Can I get a rabbit too?” Amy asked.

  Daisy’s phone rang. She looked to her purse and her heart leapt to her throat.

  “Huh, mama?”

  It vibrated in her hand. She felt as if her breath had been cut off. If she gave into her fears, this was Pete. She could handle it. She told herself that over and over.

  “Can I have one, mama? A rabbit and turtle so they can race like in school, the hare and turtle!” Amy laughed at something amusing to her. Daisy’s foot eased off the break and the car inched up in traffic.

  “Mama. Mama. Mama. Hey, mama! Can I? Mama. Mama!”

  She flipped it open to check the LCD. The call was from Jahi.

  A horn blew behind her, and she literally jumped in her seat.

  “Mama, I want a rabbit and a turtle,” she whined.

  “Amy! Be quiet! I can't think!” she snapped as she pressed the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

  “Ms. Locke, it’s Michelle. You called and said that Ms. Andrews wasn’t allowed on the property. Well um… she’s here, and she’s demanding to get in her office. She’s making a scene.”

  “Let her in. But make sure she waits until I get there.” Daisy wheeled her car in front of the school. An administrator came to the door to help Amy. Daisy unlocked the door. She looked up in the rearview mirror. Amy’s head was bowed and her bottom lip poked out. “I’m on my way,” Daisy said and closed the phone.

  She snatched the Hello Kitty book bag from the passenger seat and turned around to hand it to Amy. “You have your lunch inside. Mama put in an extra treat; cookies, Magdalena’s cookies.”

  “Thank you, mama,” Amy said, but didn’t look up.

  “I didn’t mean to yell. Mama was wrong to fuss. I just… hey kiddo, you know mommy loves you.” Daisy noticed the administrator’s impatient scowl and the tears brimming in Amy eyes when she finally looked up. Could she feel any worse? No. “Mama’s sorry.”

  Amy gave her a one shoulder shrug. The teacher released her from her seatbelt. “Then I can have it? The rabbit and the turtle?”

  “Give me a kiss, and I’ll think about it,” she said. Am
y kissed her on the lips and grinned. “Now I got lipstick!” she giggled, puckering her lips.

  “Be a good girl today, okay?”

  “Bye, mama.”

  “Bye.”

  “Goodbye, Ms. Locke,” the Administrator said, closing the door. Daisy drove off looking back in her rearview mirror at her daughter joining the line with the rest of her preschoolers. Maybe she should go and give her another hug and tell her she loved her so she could have a good day.

  She nearly ran into the car in front of her. Slamming on brakes, she put both her shaky hands on the steering wheel. There was a definite need to calm down. She had to get herself under control. Priority was to deal with Pete once and for all. But first, she wanted to deal with Clara.

  ****

  “You need to get someone to check that.” Donovan shifted in the back of the limo, his cane resting between his legs. The car idled in an empty parking lot with him and Aiden inside. It didn't take long for Aiden to understand Donovan's concern. The reddish-purple swell to his knuckles told the story of his anger.

  “Where is he?” Aiden asked in a dry clipped manner.

  “Soon my friend. He’ll be here soon,” Donovan answered.

  Aiden tapped his fingers on the inside door panel. The phantom feeling of his missing coin caused them to play at movement that wasn’t there. He stared out of the smoky tinted windows looking at nothing, seeing everything. He hadn’t said much to Donovan or anyone. The flight into LA was a quick one; he spent the remainder of the night tending to business. Sleep never came. He didn’t look for it. They drove to Mango Grove with Donovan shuffling contracts for his review; deals he’d put off for weeks while chasing his tail. Chasing Daisy.

  He set that to order. Now he’d set Daisy in order too. He arranged for Mathew Sterling to bring him the folder he so easily handed over to Daisy. It was the one of the little girl he knew nothing about.

  “Do you want me to stop the sale of Jahi back to Daisy Johnson’s attorneys until you decide on the matter?”

  “No. The company doesn’t mean anything to her. Now I know why.”

  Aiden watched a blue Ford pickup truck circle the parking lot, then park two spaces ahead. “Why do you think she’s my daughter?” Aiden asked, his tone far off, almost whimsical. Strange to hear the word slip from his lips: daughter. “Was there something else I should know? Something you saw that confirms it?” he asked, his gaze turning to his friend.

  “Confirmation? Is it really needed?” Donovan chuckled. “Think of the timing, Aiden, and her hiding from you, her family. She’s fighting mighty hard to keep this little girl from being discovered. It fits.”

  Aiden lowered his gaze and Donovan continued. “Never really made sense why Daisy Johnson dropped off the face of the earth. You find her and so what? She can easily walk away from you if she chooses. I do suggest you get the child tested, DNA, and all, then handle Daisy as you see fit.”

  “She’s mine. I have a daughter,” Aiden sighed.

  Donovan frowned, “Then why ask me?”

  “I wanted to know why you thought she was. I already know why I do.”

  The door to the pick-up was thrown open. Sterling got out, folder in hand. Aiden remembered Daisy’s panic at the sight of that folder. He remembered how she laid on the conference table and gave him pussy just to keep him from reading it. The lengths she went to confirmed all he needed. Still, he had to see this child.

  He tried to push the memory of their tryst from his mind. The way she shuddered in his arms and clung to him when he was on her had him battling with his hatred toward what she’d done tenfold. He warred with destroying her or—he wasn’t sure of the ‘or’.

  A kid? He’d never even been around children. They weren’t allowed in his casinos. He had no friends with them. When Donovan had his little girl, he observed her from afar but barely said two words to the child.

  “Mr. Keane,” Mathew Sterling nodded as he entered the limo. “Good morning, sir.” He handed over the folder. Aiden accepted it. He stared down at it for a brief second, but didn’t open it.

  “Where is she now? Daisy?”

  “That’s why I was late. I was tailing her as you asked. She dropped the kid off at school and went to Jahi. She’s there now.”

  “What school?” Donovan asked.

  “Grove Academy.”

  “Get out,” Aiden said, glaring at the folder.

  Donovan handed over an envelope. Sterling accepted, opened it, and ran his finger over the stacked 100-dollar bills. “Mr. Keane, it’s been a pleasure. If you need anything I can—”

  Aiden lifted his eyes to the investigator. Whatever the man saw reflected in them silenced him immediately. He gave a curt nod and made a quick exit.

  “Aren’t you going to open it?” Donovan asked once the door slammed shut with a touch of impatience in his voice.

  Aiden ran his hand over the folder. Then he opened it. He looked down at the school picture of Amy Locke, her eyes shining up at him. “I want to see her. Now.”

  Donovan nodded. He pressed the pad of his finger into the button on the arm of the door and lowered the driver’s partition. “Mango Grove Elementary.”

  ****

  Daisy threw the door shut behind her. The glass pane rattled within its frame. Clara whirled, folders in her hand. “What do you think you’re doing?” Daisy asked. pointing to the folder that Clara immediately lowered to the desk.

  “I was just getting my things.”

  "Those aren’t yours. They are my client lists. I know you’re not stupid enough to try to steal from me on top of everything else.”

  “No, Daisy, God no! These are just my personal papers. See for yourself.”

  Daisy stared at her but said nothing.

  “Let me explain.”

  “Yes, Clara. Please. I really want to hear this,” she said, walking toward her. Clara fidgeted, her eyes going past Daisy to the door. She nervously tugged at the front of her suit jacket. “I didn’t know who Aiden Keane was to you. You never told me.”

  “Un huh?”

  “I… I… they cornered me. Told me that you were doing business under a false identity. That Jahi was illegal. That we could be fined, charged.”

  “How much?”

  “What?”

  “How much?”

  “Daisy, I had no choice.”

  “How much was our friendship worth?” Daisy asked.

  “Three million dollars and… the land in Arizona with an investment from Keane Corp to start my own spa,” Clara confessed.

  Daisy nodded. “I’m impressed.”

  “It wasn’t personal.”

  “Save it! Don't waste your breath. You came in here with nothing. But you were hungry. I did recognize that. This is my fault. I know greed. Hell, I’ve been you before. I should have seen your price tag hanging around your neck the moment I met you.” Daisy stepped in closer. Clara nervously pushed back into the desk. “You don’t know Aiden Keane. When he buys you, Clara, he thinks he owns you, and when you sell off your pride, he does. Good luck, because there will be a day when he wants to collect. And Aiden Keane always gets his due. Now get the hell out of my place and don’t you ever, ever look my way again!”

  Clara reached behind her with hands to both sides of the box. She lifted it and turned to leave. “I’m sorry, Daisy. I really am.”

  “Don’t even think about it!” Daisy snatched the box from her. “Get the hell out! I’ll mail you your things.” She fought back the urge to kick off her heels, snatch out her earrings and show Clara what a country girl did when a conniving bitch went after her. “Leave now!”

  Clara left, quickly, the door closing shut behind her. Daisy paced, her breathing shallow and her nostrils flared as her heart beat wildly. She could kill Aiden for what he did. She was still furious with him over it. The man just bulldozed over lives and people without thought. She looked at the door her once trusted friend was thrown out of.

  “Ten million dollars? Damn.” S
he rolled her eyes. Without reserve, she released a bitter angry laugh that ended hollowly as she hugged herself and shook her head in disgust. “Hope she’s worth it, Aiden.”

  ****

  Mango Grove Academy was a four-story campus with palm trees circling it. It looked to be more like a resort than a school. The circular drive to the front had several late arrivals. Preteen kids jumped out of the parent’s cars, in uniform, running for the doors. Smaller children were walked up steps holding tight to their parent’s hands.