14. Daphne
Daphne
Eli and my father walk in, and Eli makes a beeline for me and Cammie. “Are you okay?” he asks, concern thick on his face.
“I think so,” I murmur. Maybe I’m reading into things, but it clearly looks like Eli cares about me.
He’s definitely worried. That knowledge makes my heart speed up.
I drink him in, allowing myself that luxury.
Even with the chaos that today has turned into, I can’t help but be drawn to this man.
I’d love nothing more than to feel his arms around me.
When his hand slides over my cheek, I fight the urge to lean into him.
This is more tenderness than Dane ever showed me, but it’s more than that.
There’s a pull toward him that I can’t fight. I don’t really want to.
His attention turns to Cammie next. “Hey, Pixie. Will you let me look at your arm?” he asks, his voice soft and playful.
“Daddy was mad,” Cammie says and my heart breaks. I hold her even closer and kiss the top of her head.
“He was. He shouldn’t have scared you. It’s okay though.
We’re never going to let someone hurt you, no matter who they are, okay, Pixie?
” he murmurs gently. My daughter bites her lip, and I can see unshed tears in her little eyes, but she just nods her head bravely.
Eli slowly folds the sleeves up on her blue dress with white daisies printed all over it.
He doesn’t stop until he’s folded it all the way up to her shoulder.
I gasp when I can see red marks around her little arm where Dane grabbed her.
I can already tell it’s going to bruise.
Tears sting my eyes. I feel like a failure as a mother.
This is my fault. I picked out this monster to be my child’s father.
I didn’t see the evil that lurked underneath his easygoing smile. How did I miss it?
“It’s okay, baby. Mama is going to make sure that this never happens again,” I whisper against her precious head, kissing her hair.
“I’m going to take a picture of you, so I can keep you with me when I’m at my house.
Can I do that, Pixie?” Eli asks, making my heart squeeze in my chest. He’s so careful and gentle with Cammie.
I know he’s taking pictures of the marks on her arm, but he wants Cammie to think it’s just a normal photo.
It makes me smile. I could kiss him for the way he treats my daughter.
I watch as he snaps the first picture. I know it’s of her arm.
When he says his camera messed up and takes a second picture, notice that this time he’s aiming it at her beautiful face. When he shows it to her, she giggles.
“Thank you,” I tell him softly. He smiles at me.
Before I can stop myself, I reach out and place my hand over his chest, positive I can feel his heart beating underneath my palm.
“I’ve missed you, Eli. I go up on the tips of my toes and lean in so I can press my lips against his cheek. “Please don’t disappear again.”
He looks at me, his eyes searching mine. He gives me a quick nod. He opens his mouth to say something to me, and then, before he can, the door opens, and I hear my mother.
“Sorry, I’m late,” she announces.
My eyes close, thinking my parents just might kill me off. The next thought I have is that my father saw me kiss Eli.
“Shit,” I murmur.
I feel the heat rush through me and my face heat up.
My skin is fair, so I know I probably look like a freaking tomato.
Still, I force myself to look at my father.
I swear there’s a grin on his face as he looks at me.
Before I can even begin to return it, my mother speaks again and the small spark of happiness that I saw on his face disappears.
“Sabre. You’re the last person I expected to be here,” my mom exhales, displeasure dripping from every word.
“Mom,” I warn her, my voice stiff and unyielding.
“What?” she asks like she’s innocent. “I’m legitimately surprised. He’s all but ignored you for years.”
“You’re right, Annie. I have. That doesn’t mean I don’t love her, though,” he says. “Besides it’s still my name on her birth certificate as her father and if Daph wants me here, I’m here.”
“How convenient, now you’re going to act like a father. Years too late if you ask me.”
I frown. Dad has been cold to me, and I may only remember the best years when I was a child, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t tried to be there for Cammie and help me when I needed it.
He would send money and show up on weekends to play with Cammie.
That only stopped a couple of years ago after Mom finally married Nathan—a doctor she consulted for a knee replacement.
After that, he mostly avoided all of us and lost himself in a bottle.
He’d been drinking more than he should for years, but lately the amount was staggering.
I’m actually surprised he has a liver. Still, even if my father was an undiagnosed alcoholic, he’s sober today, and he’s making an effort, and I don’t want my mother to push him away.
I need to take control of this situation before it gets out of control and Dad leaves.
I walk over to Dad and hold his hand. “Mom, how about we retract the claws today and put your grandchild first?” I lean up on my tiptoes and kiss Dad’s cheek. “I’m glad you’re here,” I whisper into his ear.
Mom lets out a very annoyed breath. “Whatever you say,” she mutters grudgingly. Dad squeezes my hand as I go to hug my mother.
“Mom you’re looking beautiful as ever,” I murmured while hugging her. The words are said without thought, as I watch my dad walk over to where Cammie and Eli are talking and playing with blocks. Eli has somehow managed to calm Cammie down and has her laughing.
I’m not lying about my mother. She is gorgeous.
We probably look more like sisters than mother and daughter.
Part of that is because her doctor husband is rich and likes having a younger looking wife, so plastic surgery has kept her looking closer to my age.
Part of it is just that Mom has always been beautiful.
I’m not really sure she was ever meant to be a mother.
She loved us in her own way, but sometimes it felt more like she was going through the motions.
Dad once said her parents were kind of monsters.
Maybe she just never really had a mom herself.
I push those thoughts away. She’s adopted a more older sister vibe with me over the years and as weird as it sounds, it mostly works.
“Who’s the man with Cammie?”
“That’s Eli. He took over Dad’s position with the Devil’s Blaze,” I explain, taking the expensive gift bags from her hands and putting them beside the bags that Eli and Dad brought.
The difference is theirs aren’t expensive gift bags they’re just large store bags that have two crudely wrapped gifts a piece in them.
Looking at them makes me smile. I have no doubt that Eli wrapped them himself.
I’m sure he bought Dad’s gifts too, but that just makes me smile more.
He wanted Cammie happy, and in a way, he was protecting my father.
My gaze moves back over to them. They’re laughing with Cammie and my heart feels full.
I pray my father manages to pull himself out of the hole he’s been in and be there for my daughter, in ways he hasn’t been for me in a very long time.
“I was wondering when they would get around to kicking him out of the club,” Mom mutters under her breath.
“Mom, stop. They didn’t kick him out. Dad stepped down. He’s still a member.”
“He probably only agreed to step down cause he knew what was coming,” she says with a careless shrug. “He’s not half the man he used to be.”
I don’t bother trying to explain that she’s the same. I never met Latch, but I think they both loved him so much that losing him twisted something up in both of them. It’s a shame they couldn’t hold onto one another—instead of tearing each other apart.
“Mom, can we forget about everything and just make sure that Cammie has a good day? She’s already been put through too much having to deal with Dane and his new whore,” I hiss quietly.
“Dane was here?” she asks, surprised.
“Yeah. The court said he could come to Cammie’s birthday party since he wasn’t cleared to have visitation without being supervised.
I agreed because I wanted Cammie to be happy.
Of course, he showed and caused trouble.
He also didn’t bother to bring his own daughter a birthday present.
Meanwhile, Serena is dripping in designer clothes, bags and jewelry. ”
“All of that should have been yours, Daphne. Maybe you should think about changing.”
“Changing?” I parrot like a fool, not grasping what she’s talking about. “Why would I change?”
“Because, honey. Dane is a man with a lot of money and power. They want a certain kind of wife. I think that was a lot of the issues in your marriage. When Cammie was born you concentrated all your efforts on motherhood. Dane felt slighted and began to look elsewhere to have his needs met. It sucks, but it is up to the woman to keep the fire alive in a relationship. That’s the only reason someone like Serena had a chance of taking Dane from you. ”
I look at her for a moment completely dumbstruck. When had she changed so much? The mother I remember was cold at times, but she was never like this. I shake my head. “I really don’t want to talk about this right now, Mom,” I huff.
“Baby,” she says, clearly placating me, as she puts her hand on my shoulder.
“I’m not trying to hurt you. I’m just saying that I’ve learned a lot over the years.
You can still have Dane. All you have to do is remind him of the woman you are—not the mother.
Why do you think I make sure there’s no gray in my hair?
Or that I keep my figure so that I can still fit in the same size jeans I wore before you were born?
How about the fact that I keep my face and body looking youthful?
I’m not even going to tell you about how much I spend monthly on lingerie and clothes to keep the excitement going between me and Nathan.
I can help you get your husband back, Daphne. You can have your family back intact.”
“Do you know what all that sounds like to me, Mom? Exhausting. If you can’t be yourself around Nathan, what in the world do you get out of that relationship?”
“Nathan and I are very happy together, Daphne. I’m just trying to make you see that you have to work for things sometimes.”
“Are you still going to be happy when you are twenty years older and no matter what you do, those wrinkles stay? The skin sags? What then, Mom?”
“Daphne Ann!” she snaps, letting me know that I’ve broken through at least a little of her shell.
“I really don’t want to discuss this with you.
You live your life the way you want. That’s your choice.
This is mine. I need you to understand that.
I want a man who sees me the way I am and embraces that.
No matter what, Cammie will always come first. I don’t want a man who doesn’t respect that—especially if that man is her own father.
I love you, Mom. I just want you to be happy.
I’ll only say that you seemed much happier before Nathan, and I miss that woman. ”
“Now. Let’s see what Cammie is building with Dad and Eli. I think, with the day she’s had, she deserves a party where the complete focus is on her and making her happy,” I explain and then I walk away to join my daughter.
Mom follows a few minutes later. She seems subdued, but I also notice that she’s nicer, less bitchy and even manages to laugh at one of my dad’s jokes—along with the rest of us. It’s not much, but it feels like a good omen for the rest of the day and that’s all that matters.