Page 45 of Taking His Heart

“No.”

“Then why is it a touchy subject?”

“It’s not my thing to tell. Just drop it. We’re good. I finally have what I want and I’m not letting anyone or anything fuck it up again.”

“Good. Make sure you do everything you can to keep her. I like her.” Dad smiles at me. “Finally a kid who marries someone I actually like.”

At this, I laugh. My dad loves my sister’s husband. Jazzy married her long-time best friend. Our father makes it a habit to pretend he hates the guy, but as far as choices go for my sister, Jake isn’t bad. He loves her, treats her like the queen she is.

“What’d Jake do this week to piss you off?”

“His name wasn’t in the obituary section of this morning’s paper,” Dad grunts.

“You know if it was, Jazzy would be heartbroken. You want your little princess broken-hearted, Dad?”

“Fuck no, which is why the asshole is still breathing.”

“Okay, all done here,” the doc says. “Settle in, CJ. I’ll come back to check on you in a bit.”

“Thanks, Doc,” I tell him, then turn to my father. “Dad, find my wife and drag her ass back in here for me.”

“I’m not doing that.” Dad laughs and walks out of the bedroom.

She’s still here. She’s not leaving. I keep repeating those words in my head. It’s all I can do not to drag my own ass out of this bed and go to find her.

But then, the image of her leaving that fucking hotel room all those years ago hits me and I’m picking up the IV bag from the hook and seeking her out. I need to find her.

Chapter Twenty

“You know, for someone who just got married, you look fucking miserable. I thought CJ was the one thing in the world you wanted most, Daniella? Your words.” My dad sits down beside me on the sofa. I found a living room after running from CJ’s bedroom.

“His mother hates me,” I tell my dad.

“Anyone who hates you, baby girl, doesn’t have an ounce of intelligence in their brain.” Dad pulls me against him. I feel his lips press onto the top of my head.

“You have a biased opinion.”

“My opinion is the only one that matters,” he says.

“What if I made a mistake?” I whisper.

“What mistake would that be?”

“Getting married so soon.”

“As much as I want to be selfish and tell you that you made a mistake and should come home with me now and forget all this ever happened…” My dad pauses. “…you went for what makes you happy, Daniella. That is never a mistake.”

“But you weren’t there. Mum wasn’t there. Rosie and Aurelio. This isn’t how people are supposed to get married.”

“If you want a big wedding, I’ll throw you a big wedding. But a marriage isn’t about anyone else, Daniella. Your marriage is about you and CJ. No one else,” Dad says.

“Not even you?”

“Unfortunately, not even me. But if he ever hurts you, I will very much make it about me.”

“What if I’m not enough? And in five, ten years’ time, he decides he wants what I can’t give him?”

“Then I’ll kill him.” Dad shrugs.