Page 114 of A Doctor for Daisy

Theo wasn’t thinking that at the end of January though. That Jerry could put his mother in her place. Or steer her away from her controlling ways.

“You did what!?” he yelled into the phone. His mother had called him while he was in surgery and said it was important and he needed to call her back as soon as he could.

It was the end of the day and he was driving back from New Haven. He was lucky he didn’t drive off the road with the bomb his mother just dropped in his lap.

“I had Daisy looked into.”

“For what?” he said. “She’s not some criminal. She’s a great person that makes me happy. I love her and she loves me. Everyone loves her. You even said the week after Christmas that you liked her.”

“I do like her,” her mother said. “But she’s not the woman I want my son with. Her being a nice person doesn’t mean I want her as part of my family.”

He growled. They’d gotten through the holidays and in his mind things were going great with him and Daisy.

They spent a few nights together during the week and one to two on the weekends.

Her job had slowed down a lot right before the holidays and Rose was back full time too.

His two days in New Haven weren’t affecting things as he’d worried they might and life seemed to be going so well.

Until this call.

“It’s my life and not yours,” he said. “I’m not sure why you can’t figure that out.”

“Don’t you even want to know what I found out?” his mother asked.

“No,” he said. “I don’t. I know exactly what I need to know about her.”

“Too bad,” his mother said. “You need to know these things. Her mother had her as a teenager.”

“I know that,” he said. “Why would you think I wouldn’t know those things? Nothing is a secret in her life. She’s not hiding anything. I’m sorry if it’s not up to your standards, but too damn bad.”

His mother let out a big sigh. “Theo. You have a career and reputation to maintain. How will this look?”

“My coworkers have met her,” he said. “I brought her to my Christmas party in December. Everyone liked her.”

“To your face they liked her,” his mother said. “But I’ve heard through the grapevine that they think she is with you for your money. It just reaffirmed my thought and that is why I had a private investigator look into her life.”

“You had no right,” he growled. “She isn’t with me for anything other than me.”

Daisy had never asked him for anything once. They never talked about money.

He might pay for most things when they went out, but Daisy paid for plenty.

She bought all the decorations for his house and argued when he tried to give her money for them.

She was always bringing food when she stayed and cooked for him.

They split things equally, all things considered on their wealth.

His mother had no business doing any of this.

“You want to think that,” his mother said. “But did you know her father is in prison? Prison, Theo. For armed robbery and attempted murder of police officers.”

He hadn’t known those things. He didn’t think Daisy did either.

“Daisy has never met her father. How the hell did you find that out? It’s not as if she gave you her father’s name when you asked her a thousand questions at Christmas. I thought it was excessive, but now I know why. You were trying to find out everything you could to look into her. Right?”

“I’ll admit it was hard for me to keep coming up with all those questions and you and your sisters did a good job not letting her answer them.”

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