Page 89 of Fake it With Me

“Come back to the house,” I said to Aaron and Brittany. “Bring the whole team. Let’s celebrate. And maybe you can tell me what legal grounds I have to go after Grant.”

That made Aaron grin. “Oh, trust me, we have plenty of ideas.”

“I’ll see you there,” I said. “I need to go find my daughter.”

Liza and I left them and stepped into the hall. Daisie and Melody were playing on Melody’s phone.

Daisie saw me. Her eyes filled with worry. She didn’t know exactly what was going on, but I knew she understood it was serious.

She ran to me. I scooped her up and hugged her close. “Everything is okay,” I said. “We’re going to be okay.”

“You’re not mad anymore?”

I laughed. “No. I’m very happy. Everything in there went great. We’ll talk later because right now, we need to get home. We’re going to have a celebration party!”

“A party?”

“Yep. Melody, I would love for you to come by.”

“I wouldn’t miss it,” Melody beamed.

As we walked out of the courthouse into the bright afternoon sun, I felt lighter than I had in months. The nightmare was over. Daisie was safe. She was mine. I knew there would be a lot of tough decisions ahead, but for now, it was going to be okay.

31

LIZA

Iwas thrilled. Genuinely, completely, stupidly thrilled as we drove back to the estate. Darek had one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding mine. Daisie was in the back seat singing some song she’d made up about water and whales and going home.

The custody battle was over. Daisie was staying with Darek where she belonged. I was so happy for him. He deserved to be happy. More importantly, Daisie deserved to be happy, and being with Derek was where she would be the happiest.

And I helped make that happen. Life was wild.

When we pulled into the driveway, Darek lifted Daisie out of the SUV and carried her on his hip as we walked toward the house. It was clear he was afraid to let her go. She was perfectly capable of walking, but he was holding on tight. I could only imagine the elation and relief he felt. He was going to be holding on to her pretty tight the next few days.

“I’m hungry!” Daisie announced.

“Way ahead of you, kiddo.” Darek pushed open the front door and the smell hit me first.

When he invited his lawyers and Melody back to the house to celebrate, I was expecting we would order some pizza and open bottles of champagne.

But that was not the plan. I could smell bacon and maybe onions. Whatever it was, it made my stomach growl.

“What is that smell?” I asked.

Darek grinned. “Our celebration.”

We walked through to the kitchen where several people were bustling about. Through the glass doors, I could see the patio had several platters of food set up on tables.

“Did you plan this?” I asked.

“Figured either way, we would need it. But I’m a lot happier eating victory food than defeat food.”

“There’s defeat food?”

“It’s the same food, just sadder.”

I laughed and shook my head. He put Daisie down. “Go wash your hands. Then you can eat whatever you want.”