Chapter 14 Daisy
“Hi, Daiz. How are you feeling?” Midwife’s voice matched his truck engine. Almost a deep purr.
“Wishing I didn’t have to go to this damn party,” I told him honestly, but still smiling at him.
For some reason, this just suddenly felt easier with him around.
He hadn’t even done anything except turn up.
He smiled back and nodded, then put his hand on the back of my seat to reverse out of the driveway.
I felt small and fragile sitting there watching his bicep flex next to my face as he braced himself.
“Family is important…but not always easy to deal with,” he agreed, competently handling the stick shift.
I was feeling a little nervous being in the truck with him.
The longer I sat here, the more intimate it felt and the more I was attracted to him.
Each moment was a second closer to the line of no return.
“Thank you for helping me,” I spoke to break the silence. He cast me a frowning glance.
“You keep saying that. Don’t people help you out much?”
“Not really. I’ve been let down a bit in my life. It’s hard to trust people sometimes.”
“You trust Bull and Janie,” he pointed out.
“They’ve never let me down,” I pointed out. “They also helped me massively four years ago, when I needed space. They gave me everything I needed to become independent. I won’t ever be able to repay them.”
He pressed his lips together in consideration then tilted his head with a wry smile and spoke. “You probably don’t have to. You may have noticed that their definition of family is pretty much everyone.”
“Yeah, they’re amazing people.” I smiled fondly. “So talking about family, how are we going to get my Dad into here with his wheelchair?”
He gave me a side glance and a half smile.
“I thought we’d strap him onto the back, wheelchair and all, and just drive there. He’ll enjoy the breeze in what’s left of his hair,” he casually explained. My mouth dropped open in horror, and he burst out laughing.
“No, it’s all good. I can carry Matchstick and oxygen tanks in and out of the cab if you’re able to connect and disconnect them. The wheelchair will go on the tray bed.” He assured me.
I sighed in relief.
“We did try and find one of those wheelchair accessible vans to rent, but couldn’t get one this quickly,” he apologized.
“It’s fine, I don’t think he would’ve been happy to arrive in one of those anyway,” I assured him
He snorted and smiled as we pulled up to the hospital.
I sorted out the paperwork for the day release, while Midwife helped the nurses get Dad ready. I came over and the nurse fixed me with a look.
“You should not be doing this. If anything happens, you may not forgive yourself. He’s not really well enough for this.”
“I know,” I told her. “But I know what I’m doing…he needs this more than living at this stage.”
Dad was sitting in the wheelchair already hooked up to the oxygen tank behind his seat. Midwife came over to me and put a hand on my shoulder.
“She can do this. We can trust her,” he whispered to the nurse, and then a bit louder he said, “We’ll look after him.”
She nodded her acceptance and stepped out of the way so we could move Dad.
Dad glared at Midwife as we approached him. He shook a finger at him when we got closer. “You shouldn’t be touching her. She’s Blaze’s ol’lady”
I walked around and flicked off the brakes.
“Am I really, Dad? He had a kid with someone else. That kinda says he doesn’t see me as his,” I pointed out to him as we started walking. Not that it would make a difference in his perception of the golden son-in-law.
“Now Daisy, that don’t mean a thing. Them townies is just a bit of fun. You’re the one he came home to.” Dad tried to soothe me. I looked over at Midwife. His face was the angriest I’d ever seen on a man.
“Jim?” I got his attention.
“A man shouldn’t need anyone else once he’s claimed his ol’lady,” he growled. “She’s either his everything, or he doesn’t claim her.”
He stomped ahead to meet me at the truck.
* * *
Mom met us at the clubhouse. She had the Tupperware stacked in her arms and rushed over to greet us.
We did an awkward one-armed hug around the containers as Midwife settled Dad into his chair and reconnected the air hose. Midwife took the food from Mom so she could kiss Dad, while I checked his air flow.
“Now isn’t this great? My family all together today,” Mom said.
I glanced at Jim and rolled my eyes. He hid his smile.
We walked inside and were immediately noticed.
Dad was greeted with cheers of “Matchstick, you made it!” Mom took back her containers and headed for the kitchen.
And I pushed the wheelchair while Jim walked beside me.
We were guided outside to a patio area where all the older boys were sitting, likely reminiscing about the days gone by.
I saw Bull supervising the kids on a huge playground, Manny in his arms. Everyone had their kuttes on, including the ol’ladies.
Dad had been shrugged into his at the hospital.
I was the only one without a kutte, and very glad about that today. I no longer belonged here.
“Daisy?” someone bellowed off to my right. I turned and saw my father-in-law.
“Hi, Tinker.” A lump rose in my throat as the man started barrelling towards me.
“Daisy!” He gripped me in a bear hug. “You’re back. Oh wow!”
“Only for the weekend,” I told him, hugging back. He turned and bellowed, “Maisey, Daisy’s back!”
I heard her squeal as she came running out.
“Daisy! Oh Honey, we missed you. How have you been?” She grabbed me as soon as Tinker released me.
“Blaze! Why didn’t you tell us Daisy was back?” he yelled to the world in general.
“He was a bit busy last night,” I told him. Maisey’s eyes twinkled with hope.
“No, not with me. I saw him screwing a townie. He hasn’t changed at all…” I turned around to take a blanket from a prospect and lay it over Dad’s knees. As much as I would have loved catching up with the two people I’d missed the most in my time away, I had a job to do.
Tinker growled behind my back, “That boy. I’m gonna kill him.”
Maisey gripped his arm. “Not now honey, it’s his birthday party. You can punch him afterwards,” she soothed. Tinker shook his head.
“I can’t be here,” he growled angrily. “I’m out.” He turned abruptly and stormed to the car park.
“I’d better go and stop him. I’ll catch up soon, Daisy. Just got to stop your father-in-law from punching your husband.”
I laughed as Maisey ran off. Some things never changed. Tinker was always threatening Blaze for something or another. He never followed through with it, or so I thought, until I turned back to the men.
They were staring down at the ground and looking sombre. I frowned.
“What?” I asked.
One of the men glanced up and told me, “She’s not joking, Daisy…the last time they fought, he put Blaze in the hospital. It’s taken a few years for him to even talk to Blaze again. Even though they lived in the same house.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Dylan was dropped off, and Blaze refused to take the girl on. So she shot herself. Bull got the DNA confirmed and forced him to take responsibility.”
Dad shook his head. “He should have wrapped it up. He wouldn’t be in this mess if he’d wrapped it up properly.”