Page 25 of Fallen Ink

She elbowed him in the stomach, and he winced.

“You’re getting violent in your advanced years, Violent Violet.”

“You’re an idiot, and sometimes, it’s really hard to see why I love you. As for skipping? I value my ankles enough not to try it. Sienna is a braver soul than I am. Though, really, I think I would pay money to see you skip in heels like she just did.”

“I don’t think they make heels big enough for my feet.”

“Drag Queens can find them, I’m sure you can, too. Now, let’s get in there before we miss out on all the mushrooms and find Daisy hoarding them all. That little girl is a riot.”

He smiled widely. “Yeah, she is. Reminds me of you as a kid, actually.”

Violet smiled sweetly. “That’s the best thing you could have said. And that also means she will be a total terror when she’s a teenager. I cannot wait to see that.”

“You’re mean. And because you said that, your kid will end up being three-times as bad as you were.”

She shuddered. “Okay, that was just cruel.”

He kissed the top of her head then took a seat by Sienna since Daisy was kneeling in front of her, studying the mushrooms with a look of deep concentration on her face. She tapped her little lips like she’d been doing more often than not lately—a habit he had a feeling she’d picked up from Adrienne—before pointing to one.

“I think that one is for Aunt Sienna. And this one is for Aunt Violet. And this one, for Grandpa. Then this one…Grandma. And one for me, too.”

He leaned down, brushing her hair from her face. “And what about me? Don’t I get one?”

She looked over her shoulder and smiled. “Of course, Daddy.” She turned back and pointed to the largest mushroom in the dish. “This one’s for you. Aunt Adrienne said you were a growing boy and that’s why you always eat the rest of her food so she doesn’t have to finish it.”

Once again, he ignored the laughs and knowing looks from his family as each of them reached for the mushroom Daisy had assigned to them.

“Thank you, Daisy-cakes, this one’s perfect.” He took a bite of his and blessed the gods for his mother’s ability to cook. If he didn’t work out as much as he did, these monthly dinners would easily make him gain twenty pounds if he weren’t careful.

They finished their mushrooms before heading into the dining room for the rest of the meal, their topics of conversations going from work, to personal, to politics, to…everything. All of them did pretty well with being open about their lives—at least he thought so, but as he was hiding something pretty big, he really had no idea what the others hid. That thought made him pause and look at his sisters, who were very careful about what they told him about their personal lives. However, if he wanted to keep them out of his, he had to be the better man and keep his nose out of their business, as well—for now.

When Daisy nodded off for an afternoon nap on the couch in the den, he tucked her in with the soft throw his mother had knitted and kissed the top of her head before going back into the living room where he figured his family would start to grill him.

He hadn’t been wrong.

“What are you going to do, Mace?” his mom asked, wringing her hands. “We can’t give her back to that woman.”

He sighed, hating the way she called Jeaniene “that woman.”

“I don’t know, Mom. Right now, legally, I have custody since she’s out of the country. However, my lawyer is making sure we get papers filed on our end to set that in stone. We want to make sure we have grounds to get full custody or even complete shared custody where we each get fifty percent when she gets back.”

“You’d give her that much?” his mom asked with narrowed eyes.

“She’s Daisy’s mom,” Sienna put in. “Yeah, she’s made horrid decisions when it comes to how she treats Mace’s relationship with Daisy, but in the end, she’s that little girl’s mother, and the courts will not only have something to say about that, but so will Daisy.”

Mace nodded, his thoughts aligning with Sienna’s, but before he could say anything, Violet waded in.

“So, what? She left Daisy here with no notice. She doesn’t deserve a single moment with that child.”

Mace held up his hand because their voices were starting to rise and he didn’t want to wake his daughter. “First, we don’t know what will happen in the next few months or even years. We’ll get through it. But in the end, it’s not about what works perfectly for me, but what my daughter needs. And while the way everything happened was not in her best interests, Daisy still needs her mom. I’m not going to let her have full custody, though. No matter what happens, I’m going to fight to make sure I get more time in her life than I had before this.”

The others started talking over each other as they voiced their opinions, but Mace just leaned back and met his father’s gaze. His dad had been silent through it all, but that was because the two of them had already talked in private numerous times about what would need to be done legally. Because, no matter how much any of them wanted to ensure that Daisy was all Mace’s, the courts were the ones who ruled, and Jeaniene’s family had money and friends in high places. Mace would fight, but in the end, he’d have to wait and see if he even had a chance to continue being the father he wanted—needed—to be.

By the time they had finished dessert and Mace buckled a wide-awake Daisy into her car seat, he was emotionally and physically exhausted. He’d worked a half-shift that morning, and had brought Daisy into the shop where Shea had taken her for a girls’ morning. He knew he couldn’t do that often, though. Somehow, he was not only going to have to find a full-time babysitter or nanny, but he was also going to have to budget for one. He’d been paying child support up until now, and he was waiting for the final paperwork to come in to see what would happen on his ex’s end. Everything was so fucking backwards, it wasn’t even funny, but no matter what, he had to make sure that everything seemed normal to Daisy. That would always be the most important thing.

“Can we watch a movie?”

He looked down at Daisy and nodded. “Yeah, we have time before bed. Why don’t we both get in our jammies first though, and brush our teeth? That way, if we fall asleep, we don’t have to wake up to do it.”

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