55. Daisy
55
DAISY
“ T hey’re at that awkward stage right now,” Aaron was telling his aunt Natalie as his little cousins offered food to the chickens.
“I never would have guessed,” Reese said in my ear. “He’s actually good with kids.”
“I know,” I gushed. “I can’t wait until we have a baby.”
“Ooh, I knew you looked pregnant!” Brooklyn hopped up to me.
“When’s the baby due?” The twins crowded around me.
“I’m not pregnant. Mom!”
“Daisy’s not pregnant,” my mom told the twins. “She’s not married yet.” Mom gave me a pointed look.
Gran made a face. “She’s getting up there in years, Peggy. Might want to relax your rules for this one.”
My mom just blinked. “Daisy will be getting married.”
“Mom, you promised she couldn’t have two weddings before me,” Alex said.
“We’re just going to go to the courthouse,” I assured her.
My mother was aghast. “My daughter’s not getting married in a courthouse.”
“If she gets two weddings, I want to use the family jewelry.” Alex pouted.
“That’s jewelry my husband bought me.”
“You never wear it,” Alex complained.
“Yes, she did.” Brooklyn jumped to my defense. “Daisy lost one of the earrings in the sink while she was pretending to be Elizabeth Taylor in her bathroom.”
“Shh!” I hissed at my sisters. “That was supposed to be between us.”
I gave Aaron a smile and followed it with a big thumbs-up when he looked over, suspicious.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, coming over, the chicks trailing him.
“Nothing! Everything’s fine! Look at how much people are loving the garden.”
He wrapped an arm around me. “It’s beautiful. Thank you, Daisy. And thank you, Mrs. Coleman and Alex.”
Alex preened. “Like Daisy could do all this by herself.”
“I built the wall. Everyone likes my wall. It’s an Instagram moment.”
A chick sat on my foot, realized it was not, in fact, her beloved father’s shoe, and clucked reproachfully at me.
“Ow!” I complained when another bird pecked at my ankle. “Do you think they’re getting a little territorial?”
“They’re direct descendants of dinosaurs. I’m surprised they haven’t killed someone yet,” Aaron said mildly.
The blooming flowers perfumed the backyard. Charity patrons of the Angelique Foundation, which Graham was on the board of, ambled through the garden.
I’d braided flowers into the horses’ manes. Now the animals posed patiently for photos.
“See, bro?” Aaron’s brother Graham came over and flung an arm around his neck. “You can be social.”
One of the chickens pursued Finn when he came up with a drink in his hand.
He cursed as the chicken pecked at him for getting too close to Aaron.
My fiancé-slash-ex-husband-slash-life-ruining obsession just smirked.
“We should have brought the dogs,” Lexi said to Grayson.
“No. It’s already a goddamn zoo around here.”
“We really should have gotten you two a dog,” Finn said. “I’m not sure it’s mentally healthy to have this many pet chickens.”
“Like Aaron’s ever going to be mentally stable,” Wolf scoffed, handing Aaron a drink.
“Triple espresso,” I said automatically when I saw the CEO of Van de Berg insurance. “No sugar.”
“When are you going to quit your coffee-cart job?”
“Well,” I said, waving at Aurora and her mom. “as soon as I start my big-girl job doing legal research at the children’s advocacy charity with Aurora, I’ll have to quit. Until then, I’m riding that free-coffee-and-baked-goods train off into the sunset.”
“Pig in a blanket?” Harvey buzzed by with a platter.
“This is what we’re serving at a charity garden event?” Aaron asked Graham who shrugged.
“Who doesn’t like pigs in a blanket?” Harvey demanded. “You like pigs in a blanket, don’t you, Daisy? There’s even a selection of dipping sauces.”
“Delicious.” I popped one in my mouth.
Aurora ran up to us. “I swear, Daisy, I told him not to call them that. They’re locally made hors d’oeuvres with house-made bread,” she reminded Harvey.
Two of Aaron’s brothers jostled each other and the tray, sending one hors d’oeuvre down to the ground.
The chickens looked at it then immediately attacked it.
“Yikes!”
We all winced as the chickens fought over the meat.
“These are New York City chickens,” Aaron said proudly.
“No shit.”
“They can give Dorian a run for his money, I bet,” Spencer joked.
The Scottish fold cat sat in the sun on the garden wall, pointedly ignoring the clucking and accepting treats from his adoring fans.
Betty was feeding Dorian some rice-less sushi when Aaron and I walked up.
Aaron’s assistant patted his arm.
“He’s finally making good choices.” She toasted Granny Madge. “Keep this up, Aaron, and I might be able to retire in fifteen years instead of twenty.”
“Don’t get too cocky. Daisy’s not wearing her ring.” Gran poked me.
Aaron scowled.
“Shoot.” I looked down at my hand. “Crap, crap, crap.”
I crawled on the ground, my dress getting dirty as I frantically scrounged through the slate chips for my very expensive diamond ring.
“You have to get me a fake one, Aaron,” I told him as the chickens crowded around me, apparently wondering why I was on the ground with them.
Aaron didn’t look too upset when I sat back on my heels.
“I know exactly how to deal with you, Coleman.” He smirked. “I had several fakes made. The real one is in my safe.”
“I love you.” I threw myself in his arms.
“Not as much as I love you.” He kissed me. “But we still need to find that ring. I don’t want one of my little babies to eat it and get sick,” he crooned to the scraggly-looking chickens.
“When are they going to do something useful, like lay eggs?” I complained as he followed me to the shed, trailed by the retinue of birds, so I could grab a rake.
“The only thing I need them to do is be their best selves,” Aaron declared.
I glared at the birds. “You guys have six months, tops.”
I dragged the rake through the slate chips while the chickens scrounged at the fresh ground I’d exposed. “My first real charity event is not as glamorous as I thought it would be. I thought I’d be more adult-y.”
“Better late than never, fully grown, married, and divorced woman.” Aaron smiled against my neck.
“If your sister wouldn’t flip out, I’d say let’s get married right now. Betty is an officiant.” He kissed me softly. “You could offer her the use of the house for her engagement party in exchange for not putting up a fuss so I can marry you today.”
“You want to get married right now?”
“I wanted to marry you six weeks ago. I love you, Daisy. I want to be chained to you the rest of my life.”
“For better or worse.”
“I think we got the worse out of the way.” He showered me with kisses.
“I love you,” I whispered. “It had to be you. It was always you.”
“Always.”
We stood there for a moment in the garden.
In his arms, I turned.
“I don’t know. Now that I think about it, it would be nice to have a beach wedding.” I grabbed Aaron’s arm and rested my face against his sleeve. “Let’s go to the beach.”
“You want to ditch the party?”
“Nah. Tomorrow. I just have a sudden desire to creepily watch you in a swimsuit!”