Daisy's Choice (A Tale of Three Hearts)
Page 25
Aiden didn’t respond to the word ‘disappearance’. He wasn’t sure what Janette knew of their history. It was best she tell him first before he acted on anything.
“Oh, yes, sir. I know it all, Mr. Keane,” she answered to his inner thoughts. “The million dollars, the games and now, Amy?” Janette sighed sadly at the mention of Amy. Aiden felt the coil of anger tighten within him. There was nothing wrong with Amy or her conception, and if she said otherwise he’d have to make it clear.
“I’m confused though,” Janette went on. “How old are you? We’re near the same age. What are you? Forty? Close, right? So at the very least, you were in your mid to late thirties when you met Daisy. Right? That's how old you were when you started this whole thing. Your game?”
“There’s more to it than you know. The game, as you call it, was just a small part of it.”
“Oh, I’m sure of that.” Janette waved him off. “Of course there’s more. A rich man like you, powerful, arrogant. You’ve had your share of women, right?” Janette cocked her head to the side. “Yeah you did.”
“I thought you had a question for me,” Aiden answered.
Janette laughed. “Wanna get to the point? Okay. Vegas. It’s definitely a city I never wanted to go to but that’s your town.”
“I live there, yes.”
“Our church went once.” Janette rolled her eyes, and Aiden frowned not sure where she was going. “Daddy was offered a chance to preach in Vegas at another church you know. I told Derek that we weren’t going… nope. That city and New York, something about them.”
“Janette—”
“My sisters went. There are four of us. Me, then Denise, then Sandra, then Daisy. They all went, but Daisy didn’t go.” Janette’s eyes returned to him. “We always knew."
"I don't follow," Aiden frowned.
"We always knew to keep her away from temptation. Daisy’s a lightening rod for those dreams of hers. I told Daddy to make her stay home and keep her close. Mama had extra rules for Daisy to tame her spirit. Mama had fears for Daisy I could never understand. But I agreed with her. I regret that now.”
“Daisy is a smart and talented woman,” Aiden said.
“Yep!” Janette snapped. “Look at her now, taking on the name Danielle Locke of all people.”
Aiden frowned, wondering what that meant. But Janette kept talking in circles. “Vegas, the whole thing, gambling, and drinking and all those little freaky shows yall have of sucks you in. Denise said she saw men in dresses in broad day light.” Janette shook her head in disgust.
Aiden tried to not laugh. Was she serious?
“It's true. It’s a black hole that kind of sucks you in? Daisy and Pete were easy prey.”
“Not sure what you mean.”
Janette smiled. “I got on the internet, Mr. Keane.” She pointed and Aiden followed her point to a room that could house an office desk and computer. “When Daisy left to meet Pete, I wanted to know more about who you are. Baby girl makes no sense when she talks about you.” Janette’s smile faded. “I wanted to know what you were. Here's my question. You're a rich man, a successful man and you own that town. I seen that hotel. My Lord, can you stuff it with more flash and dazzle? Two malls? It’s like a city of its own. Why did you want Daisy out of all the things you already have?” Janette shook her head. "Is Vegas hell? Is that why you buy souls?"
“Is that what Daisy told you? That I’m Satan?”
“No, forgive me,” she chuckled. “I came up with that one on my own.” The humor in her eyes faded and suspicion reigned. "Why Daisy?"
Again Aiden watched her, unsure. He hadn't explained to Daisy the reasons why, and he had no intention of saying a word on the matter until he did.
Jeanette sighed. "Didn't think you'd answer. Guess I needed to know it instead of assume it. Kind of like that. Daisy has always had stars in her eyes. That girl would watch the Travel Channel all day long. She’s talented too. Can sew, good in math, and fashion too. But she's her worst enemy. Always putting more faith in material stuff than her self. So that's what you saw? Mr. Prince of Vegas, you saw what we saw in her, didn't you?"
Aiden reclined in the sofa and smirked.
Janette glared. "I’m sure it didn’t take much to make her believe a measly million dollars is worth sacrificing all the pride and God’s word that my father spent years drilling in her.”
“It's a little more complicated than that.”
“It is what it is, Mr. Keane. I get it.” Janette slapped her hands to the top of her thighs. “Here’s the thing. I don’t need to hear the reasons why you did what you did. I think you and I are beyond any excuse you could offer. Possibly, you were bored; maybe you just get a kick out of hurting people. I don’t know. But there’s something in this whole mess I just can’t get my head around after reading up on who you are and all.”
“And that is?”
“Why are you here now? I know why you stayed and that fight you and Pete had… guess that’s about Amy and your egos. Got a bullheaded husband of my own, so, yeah, I know. But why did you come here in the first place? You had a contract for a million dollars, a night with my sister. Lord, I don’t even want to think about what you wanted in exchange for the money. You had your fun. You got whatever it is a man like you needs. Why five years running around here looking for her?”
Aiden’s expression shifted uncomfortably. He watched the repairman walking through with a tool belt sagging at his hips. With the muscles in his jaw twitching, he rubbed the area, trying to choose his words.
“Daisy says you showed up and showed out.”
“Showed out?” Aiden frowned. The woman not only spoke in riddles, but she rhymed now too?
“You bought her company, bought her friends… just throwing that big wallet around and buying everything around her.” Janette's glare grew more intense even behind the shield of her glasses. “She says for five years you’ve been searching for her. What do you want?”
“Like I said, there’s more to it. Daisy knows what I want.”
“My daddy knew about you,” Janette sighed rising. “I didn’t know it then, but when I think about all of this,” she said, gesturing about, “his silent moments make sense. He knew about you. Mama knows too, which is probably why—”
He watched her struggle with her words and he struggled with listening, but he realized then that he wanted to know about Daisy. And this woman standing before him was the only way.
Janette stopped herself. “Pete told him. Yeah, he did.” She looked at Aiden as if it just dawned on her. “Daddy never shared it with any of us. He rather us think of her as dead and gone than to tell us about this bargain. That’s not like him, and I’m sure it ate his insides until his last breath.”
“I looked for her. I never wanted her to run from her family. That was never a bargain between us.”
“Yeah, well I tried too… but we had nothing to go on. My sisters and me thought she was dead. Do you know how that made us feel?” When Aiden didn’t respond Janette put her hand to her hip, watching, waiting. Her line of questioning kept him impatiently planted where he was. There was no one in his life he answered to. He was growing weary of answering to her.
“He forgave Pete.”
Aiden flinched with surprise at the news. She nodded. “That’s the kind of man he was. He’d forgive Daisy if she had enough faith in us to be honest. And you know what, Mr. Keane? My father would have even forgiven you if he was given the chance.”
“And you? Would you forgive me knowing what I’ve done?”
Janette shook her head. “I’m no saint or minister, Mr. Keane. That’s for sure. I’m not above sin either. So, no, I won’t sit here and pretend yours is greater than Pete’s or Daisy’s. Not my place anyway. None of ya'll asked me what I thought when you decided to play these sick games. Don't think it needed that I share my feelings now.”
Aiden sat forward, the bend of his elbows on his thighs. “I suppose you expect to hear excuses?”
“On empty?” A flash of humor tickled his throat and a deep chuckle released. “I make no excuses, Janette. That’s why I’m on empty. She told you the truth and you guessed right. It was a game of my choosing. You were right again about Vegas, plenty of games where people lose it all.”
“I see,” Janette mumbled, crossing her arms.
“But what happened between me and your sister wasn’t in that contract she signed. It wasn’t what either of us agreed to. And that’s why I’ve been unable to stop looking for her. Now that I see my daughter, I know why I can’t leave her.”
“Have any family, Mr. Keane?”
“No,” he said.
“Whether you have 1 or a 100, you can never stop worrying about them; loving your children, your sister and brothers, your parents. Do you know what she’s been through for the past five years pretending to not exist, believing she had no one? Maybe you do. Maybe that's why you came. To make her suffer once more since you have nothing.”
“You don’t know me.”
“Oh, I know you, cause I got that eye too, Mr. Keane. I can see it all over you. It’s in the way you showed up at that door after smashing the one back there. You can’t stay away because you want the something from Daisy, the thing you thought you could buy.”
“I’m in love with your sister. And she knows that.”
“When did that happen? Before or after you made her so afraid of you and herself that all of us lost her?”
He stopped at her words. After a long pause between them, he scratched his brow, having reached his end. She was as exasperating as Daisy; picking away at him and talking but never truly saying what she meant. Aiden blew out another breath. “If I’m going to answer that question, it’ll be for Daisy. I will tell you this. I don’t want to hurt her or Amy. I can’t make up for the past. I’m just here trying—”
“Trying? I think you’re doing the same thing you did in Vegas. Taking what you want at any cost. Thing is, you didn’t count on me. You’re right that you won’t hurt her or that baby. I’ma make sure of that.”
“And exactly how are you going to do that?” Aiden smirked. "I'm the Prince of Hell, remember? Who's to say I won't make a bargain with you?"
****
Nina uncrossed her legs. She dropped the chair back another inch or so. Her nervous feeling was evident in the tremble of her hands. She wasn’t big on flying. The private jet was so compact that she felt like she was stuffed into a tube. Outside her little window, she saw nothing but blue sky. She thought her life over, a little, and she kept coming back to the same thing. She wanted to see Pete. She had to see Pete.
“Ms. Stevens, I trust you’re comfortable,” Donovan asked, taking a seat across from her. He eased into comfort with his cane between his legs. With his hat off and to the side, she got a good look at him. Funny, there was nothing remarkable about him meaning she could pass him on the street and never glean the kind of man she understood him now to be.
“No thank you. I’m fine.”
“Good. Good. A question for you then.”
“I rather not.”
“Peter Doyle,” he cut in, “I can’t get a bead on him at the moment. I was wondering if you could clear something up for me.”
“Like what?” Nina asked.
“Daisy’s child. If by some chance he’s not the father, would he continue to pursue Daisy?”
Nina stared into the clear grey eyes locked on her. That was the question she asked herself from the moment she learned the truth. What Pete would or wouldn’t do. It was killing her slowly. “I don’t know,” she answered honestly.
Donovan nodded but said nothing else.
“And Mr. Keane? If he’s not the father, would he let this vendetta against Pete go and leave him and Daisy alone?”
Donovan sat forward. “I know you don’t like me. And I understand your reasons. My business is to be the man that most don’t like. I’ve worked for Aiden Keane for many years. I’m going to speak honestly with you for a moment.”
Nina swallowed, biting her lip. Donovan smirked. Every line in his face deepened when he showed her how black his soul was. “Go ahead and speak honestly.”
“Aiden Keane is quite taken with this drama and that’s not like him. He’s forgotten a lot of the things that make him who he is. I get paid to make sure that doesn’t happen. I was the one to reveal to him the truth about Daisy’s child. Not intentionally. I thought he already knew.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I will do whatever it takes to protect him from himself. Just as you will do whatever it takes to protect Pete.”
“That’s not why I came.”
“Come now, Ms. Stevens. You boarded this plane because you had a stake in this game. Don’t shy away from it now. I respect that. Contrary to what you know, I’ve spent five years trying to understand the three of them: Pete, Aiden, and of course Daisy. Now that I’ve seen how far it’s pushed my client, my friend, I’m thinking that he needs be free of this." Donovan sat back. Nina struggled with the message in his words and she tried to grasp what wasn’t said.
“You don’t want him to be the father?”
“What I want doesn’t matter. What’s best for Aiden does. In my opinion, the best thing for all is that Aiden Keane is not the father. But I can see you disagree,” Donovan smirked.
Nina looked away.
“Excuse me,” Donovan said, answering a call. She listened as he spoke softly to some woman named Clara about their dinner plans. Her eyes remained glued to the small window and the clouds beyond it. Aiden Keane had to be the father. If he wasn’t, then what would become of her child?
****
Pete fastened Amy in her booster seat and closed the door. Daisy stood there, arms loaded with the basket and blanket. “Today was nice. She had a great time,” she said.
Pete tapped the glass. Amy looked up, yawned, and flashed a grin. “Yeah, I think she wore me out too.” He pressed his hand to the window. Amy lifted her tiny hand and pressed it up against the glass. “Be good kid!” he said.
He looked back at Daisy and she handed him his things. “So where will you go this evening, tonight I mean? Have you um… have you seen Mango Grove?” she pressed. When he didn’t speak, she touched his hand. “Come home with us and have dinner. Amy would like it.”
“The test, Daisy?” Pete said, taking her hand in his and squeezing. Sighing, she nodded. She agreed. Dropping her eyes to the passenger window, she saw that her baby had fallen over asleep. The time had come.
“I’ll call her pediatrician and find out who he suggest to handle it. Let you know tomorrow, okay?”
Pete nodded. “Then it’s done. We’ll know if she’s mine.”
“Yeah, we’ll know.”
“I don’t want to confuse her. I think I’ll cool it for a day or so while I wait to hear from you, unless you two need me or anything."
“Janette’s here,” Daisy blurted.
She could tell she caught him off guard. He tried to cover, just as she did when her sister landed on her doorstep. “Here? In Mango Grove? You called her?”
Daisy responded, smiling. “Well no, I didn’t. She said Nina told her about me… long story. Do you remember Nina? Nina Stevens?”
“Ah, yeah. I know Nina.”
“I saw her when I came home before daddy died. She works at the hospital. She was the one who told me when he passed. Mama wouldn’t even call.”
“She did?”
“She called me that very day. I still don’t know how to thank her for that, and now apparently I got to thank her for Janette in a way too. I can’t tell you what it was like seeing her again. Oh, and she is all over Amy. My baby is in for it. That’s for sure.” Daisy laughed. Pete smiled. Janette ruled with an iron fist. They both knew what discipline she’d bring.
“I’m glad that she’s here for you.
That explains the smiles today. Did you two have a good talk?”
“We did. Mama wouldn’t tell her. Mama, well, she’s not ready. But Nina sent her… gave her my fake name and all.”
“That was nice of Nina.”
“Strange, we never got along in school… you remember? The girl was a nerd.”
“Look, I have to go,” he said stepping back.
“’Pete,” she said, reaching out to stop him. “Amy’s having a party Saturday. Please come. I’m having it on the beach behind the house.”
“Aiden? Will he be there?”
“Just come, Pete. We won’t have the test results back before then.”