Page 26 of Choosing My Happiness
I smiled. That’s what I’d do going forward. I’d go visit her in the city once I found out which hospital, and where she lived. Me and Dylan. It’d be like those days of chasing her before she let me claim her. She was quite hard to get. All the other girls would fall over themselves to get closer to me, while she walked away. I missed the chase.
“Where’s she living now?” I asked Matchstick.
He frowned. “Not sure. Molly would definitely know. You know, that mother-daughter connection bullshit.”
Horse laughed. “You really lost your wife; you don’t even know where she lives or works, or anything about her life! I think she’s actually left you, and you haven’t realized it yet.”
I glared at him. “I’m going to call you Donkey if you keep that laughing up.”
He just laughed harder.
I stood up when I realized Daisy was looking at Junior’s plaque. Now was probably the best time to reconnect. All those memories of our love floating around her. I wandered over and went to put my arm around her waist. She swung her head around to look at me as I touched her.
“Get your hands off me,” she growled. I pulled her closer.
“I’ve waited too long to say this, Daisy. I’m sorry,” I told her.
She wiggled out of my arms and stepped back.
“For what exactly?” she hissed.
“For not being there that night when he was born.”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter,” she said sadly. “You were never going to be there for us anyway. You were going to be like Dad. A disappointment.”
I stared at her as the words infiltrated my brain. She thought of her father as a disappointment? He was a fucking hero to me.
A roar from the clubhouse broke my thoughts.
“He didwhat?! Did he know she was back?” My dad was yelling. Horse was nodding while laughing. Matchstick was bent over wheezing.
“Shit, Dad!” Daisy ran to the group. I went to follow, but a hand clamped me in place.
“Stay here. You don’t want to get a black eye from your father on your birthday.” Midwife held me in place without even trying. “Horse was telling people about Daisy walking in on you screwing the town girl the other night. You know how your father reacts to stories of you cheating on Daisy,” he explained.
I shuddered. Dad had a temper, but where Daisy was concerned, he would back it up with his fist, and this story wasallabout Daisy. I waited, watching Daisy adjust something with the oxygen machine and push her father up into an uprightposition. She held his arm and looked down at her watch, standing there looking like a nurse. It was sexy as hell.
“I don’t cheat on her. I always come back to her,” I told Midwife.
“You stuck your dick in another woman. To any woman, that’s called cheating.” Midwife corrected, pushing me behind him as he went to head off my father.
“Go home, Tinker. Go and cool off. I’ll get Maisey home for you.” He ordered my dad out of the clubhouse, Bull coming up fast behind him.
“Daddy, why is Grampy angry this time?” I felt Dylan stick his hand into mine. I crouched down and cuddled him.
“I don’t know, son…I have no idea.”
I don’t think they got it. I’d made some mistakes, sure…but I loved Daisy. She was my ol’lady. I waited for her, I’d kept space for her and not moved on despite her being away for 4 years. She was the one I went home to. No other woman has crossed the threshold of our house. No one else sat behind me on the bike. The house, that seat, the place beside me. They’re hers. I’m hers.
17
Chapter 17: Blaze
I didn’t get another moment alone with Daisy that day. She stuck by her Dad like glue, watching the readings from the machines. I sat beside her and tried to hold her hand, but she’d move to the other side of Matchstick when I did. Or she’d have at least one of the club’s kids on her lap or beside her at any moment. Eric seemed to be her favorite. She chatted to him freely, listening to his stories with a smile on her face. She also helped him manage his plate of food with his broken arm, and let him sit on her lap when the seats were full. I gritted my teeth at the attention he was getting.
I was pleased to see Dylan approach her as well, talking to her every now and then. She had smiled sweetly at him when he did. My hopes that she’d accept him were raised. I tried to encourage him to spend more time with her, but each time I said Daisy, he would rush off with the black girl. It was fuckingannoying, but I couldn’t say anything. I needed the babysitters, so I had to stay on the good side of everyone. Still, it would be worth checking in with him.
I got a chance to talk on the drive home. “Hey Dylan!” I yelled towards the back seat where he sat.
