Chapter Nineteen
NO ONE ADDRESSED IT FOR the rest of the night.
Only sad looks were exchanged and soft touches of sympathy were given after Jameson stormed out the back exit.
The party carried on like nothing had happened.
Her parents left with Amelia shortly after, and Daisy kept circulating, drowning out what had occurred by drinking copious amounts of champagne with Anna and Jean-Luc.
By the end of the night, she’d sold multiple pieces and earned praise from past clients and most importantly, the critics in attendance.
She stayed until the very end, locked the studio doors, and walked to the curb with the DJ to wait for their cars.
When her driver pulled up, she tossed her bag in the back seat and slid in. She held in her tears as the bright city kept pulsing despite the late hour. At her building, she thanked the driver and rushed upstairs.
Amelia was with her grandparents for the night, leaving their home empty.
Daisy had never felt more alone. She barely made it three steps into her apartment before the weight of the night collapsed on her.
She sank to the floor, arms wrapped around her waist, body shaking with unwanted sobs.
She shook her head, as if she could undo the last few hours, but reality had arrived.
The secret she’d kept for over nine years had been uncovered by the one person she’d tried hardest to shield it from.
How was she supposed to move forward after this?
Her perfectly curated life had been ripped apart in a matter of seconds.
She didn’t know how long she sat there, bent over on the cool hardwood floor, when keys jingled on the other side of the door. She had no energy to stand, no energy to care for who it was, not even if danger stood on the other side.
At least Amelia has a father now, if I wind up dead, she thought bleakly.
She didn’t think she had anything left until she looked up and saw the familiar face. She quickly lurched into his arms and burst into fresh tears.
“Daisy, what’s going on?” Matt warily asked, dropping his suitcase by the door and wrapping her up.
Daisy said nothing and wept into the collar of his shirt.
She rarely cried in front of him, maybe during a tragic movie, and even then she’d excuse herself to sob in private, so finding her collapsed on the floor rattled him.
“Honey, are you okay? You’re freaking me out.”
Daisy nodded, pulling back just enough to meet his eyes.
“I’ll be fine,” she murmured, trying to wave him off. “I’m just… happy to see you.”
“I’m happy to see you, too,” Matt said gently, “but there’s clearly something wrong.”
She blew out a jagged breath. “It wasn’t a great night. And I’d rather not talk about it right now.”
His brows furrowed, concern etched across his face. He didn’t push, but the silence between them pressed heavy, his eyes pleading for her to let him in. She knew she would, just not tonight. Not like this.
So she reached for another escape.
“Take me to bed,” Daisy whispered, her voice trembling.
Matt hesitated, but when she slipped the buttons of her white dress free and let the fabric fall away, leaving only lace, his hesitation broke. He followed her into the bedroom.
The sun was just expanding over the horizon and the cold air was as bitter as ever when Matt found Daisy on the small balcony off the living room, wrapped in a sheepskin blanket.
She drew on a cigarette and exhaled into the pale light.
He watched a beat before stepping outside and taking the chair beside her.
She didn’t look at him. She only stared at the rising sun and thought… about everything.
After a quiet minute, Matt took the cigarette from her fingers and tried it. He coughed immediately. Daisy bubbled out a laugh.
“First time?”
He shook his head and handed it back. “Unfortunately not, but it might be my last. I didn’t know you smoked.”
“This is my first time,” she said, eyes still focused in the distance.
“I find that hard to believe. No one just has a pack lying around if they don’t plan to use it.”
“It’s from a white elephant exchange last year. I was saving them for a rainy day and let’s just say that last night was a damn monsoon.”
He watched her take another puff, then crush the ember. She folded the blanket tighter and waited for the question.
“I’m sorry I missed your event. I tried to make it back on time, but my flight got delayed. What happened last night, Daisy?”
She wiped a lone tear and looked up, begging God to steady her. “Amelia’s father happened. He showed up.”
Matt didn’t gasp or instantly react. He only sat back in his chair and stroked the stubble on his chin. Daisy watched as he reflected, as he searched for the right words to say.
Just like most people in her life, he knew little of Amelia’s biological father. He was almost as clueless as her daughter.
“I’m going to need you to further explain. Was last night the first time you’ve seen him since he left?”
She flinched. When asked, she’d always told people that Amelia’s father had left her to chase music. The truth was she’d left, and she’d kept her daughter a secret.
“No.”
Matt let out a lungful of air, rested his elbows on his knees, and then waited for her to continue.
Daisy bit her lip and shivered. “He came into the gallery last week with a woman who wanted to buy a piece. Total accident. He had no idea I owned the place. I panicked and bolted, figuring that would be it.”
“But it wasn’t?”
She shook her head. “He came back the following Monday. Said he needed to talk and get things off his chest. I said no, but he pressed and promised never to bother me again if I gave him five minutes. So I met him for coffee the next day. He apologized for everything and I left thinking I’d never see him again. ”
“Then last night.”
She rolled her eyes at the memory. “He showed up with his cousin, which was actually… nice. And the night was surprisingly decent until—” She stopped, replaying the scene.
“Until?”
“Until Amelia showed up. She was sick, and Mom was watching her. I didn’t think there was any chance… but you know my mom. Her Achilles’ heel is that girl.”
He chuckled. “Isn’t she everyone’s?”
“Yes, but this time it was unfortunate because she came barreling toward me yelling ‘Mommy, Mommy’ while I was standing with her father—who, until that second, had no idea she existed.”
Daisy covered her cold cheeks, the blanket sliding to her waist. “At first, he was confused. When he talked to her, he looked… enchanted, like he knew her from somewhere but couldn’t place her.
Then he asked her age and—” Daisy swallowed.
“It clicked. This clear, awful understanding crossed his face, and it broke me. He looked at me like I was the scum of the earth. I couldn’t even explain.
I told him to leave, which he easily did. ”
Her tears came jagged and hot. Matt lifted her into his lap and cooed her like a child until her sniffling eased.
“Sounds like you had a rough night,” he said softly. “But if this guy is still some deadbeat musician from before, maybe he’s gone. Scared off.”
“I don’t think he’s that guy anymore. And he never knew he had a kid.”
“I get that, Daisy, but all I’m saying is he’s probably some pathetic loser who—”
“He’s not.”
Matt blinked, surprised at her defense of the man she’d only ever described as a screwup.
“There’s so much you don’t know.” She ashamedly looked away.
“Then explain it to me, Daisy. Please let me in.”
Daisy drew a steadying breath. She’d never laid out the years before motherhood and she’d never planned to. But last night had made secrets impossible. “He was never a deadbeat. He was talented. He made it big. He’s still… really famous.”
Matt went still. “Would I know him?”
Daisy nodded and waited a beat before she said, “Amelia’s father is Jameson Kingston.”
Matt swallowed and studied her face for any hint of a joke.
But when her austere expression never once faltered, he knew this was no laughing matter.
Daisy waited for him to speak but realized that he was processing her revelation.
She wanted to respect the time he needed to come to terms with the fact that the little girl he loved was the daughter of the most sought-after rock star of their time.
After three long minutes, he looked back.
“Start from the beginning. I need to hear everything. And I need you to be honest with me.”
While unraveling her past was the last thing she wanted to do, she owed him that. “Okay, the beginning. Well, I guess it began my freshman year of high school when I saw this boy with bright blue eyes…”
Daisy spent most of the morning giving Matt a very detailed version of her past, answering every question.
She began at fourteen, when she met Jameson and his cousins, then traced the years that followed: the music, the tours, the dizzying rise of fame that swept him up and carried them both along.
And she ended at eighteen, with the night she walked in and found him in bed with his manager.
She told it flatly, almost as if she were detached from it after all these years.
She needed to believe that, even if it wasn’t true.
When she finished, Matt closed his eyes and let the new sun warm his face. Then he did the strangest thing: he laughed.
She didn’t see what was funny, but waited it out.
When his chuckles settled, he placed his forehead on her shoulder and mumbled, “So you’re telling me, that Jameson Kingston, international rock star, was not only your first love but also fathered your child?”
She nodded, even though it was rhetorical.
“How is a man supposed to compete with that?”
“There’s no competition,” she said, brushing her lips against his.
He held her for a long moment, then whispered, “I don’t know how to process all of this, Daisy. But I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”