“You will never talk to me like that again. I’m your daughter’s aunt. I changed your daughter’s diapers instead of getting sleep for my exams. I filled your shoes and you will respect me for that.”
Once again, she’s put me nicely in my place. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Thank you, Jamie. It might not mean much now but I’ll make it up to you.”
“I want nothing from you,” she says, her face pulling with disgust. “Just be the father my niece needs.”
CHAPTER 13
CARTER
I got the results yesterday. There’s not a doubt that Daniele is mine.
Today will be the first day that I’ll be alone with Daniele. I walk into the dinner and go look for Della. I find her in a make shift office of some sort. Her shoulders are hunched forward as she looks through some papers.
“Hi,” I say so she’ll know I’m here.
“My heart!” She swings around and sends some papers flying from the desk.
I start to pick them up when my eye catches the red words stamped in bold over one of the letters. Final notice.
I see two more like the one I’m holding before Della manages to gather them all.
“Are you in financial trouble?” I ask as she takes the letter I’m holding.
She doesn’t even look at me. “I’ll manage.”
“We need to talk about all of this,” I snap and I take a step closer to her.
“Talk about what?” Her eyes snap up to finally meet mine.
“I’m leaving in three days, Della.”
“Oh.” She sits down again and shoves all the papers to the side. “We need to schedule some sort of visiting thing. “
I shake my head. “No. When I leave here Daniele goes with me.”
Della darts to her feet and all the blood drains from her face. Her breathing starts to speed up until it looks like she’s going to faint.
“Hey, take a breath.” I put my arm around her and her hands fist in my shirt.
She leans her forehead against my chest. “You said you wouldn’t take her from me.”
I frame her face with my hands and force her to look up at me.
“I’m not taking her from you. You have a choice, Della. Come with.”
Confusion washes over her face but she doesn’t look any calmer.
“I can’t just leave Saluda. Jamie is about to start her sophomore year. What about the diner?”
“What about your parents?” I ask, not understanding what Jamie has to do with all of this.
Della takes a breath and shakes her head. “We never talked about our families.”
She massages her temples tiredly and it makes me want to hold her. After all this time, I still care about this woman.
“Jamie is my responsibility. Our dad died when we were young and our mother died my sophomore year. The only reason I could go study was because of Sue, but she passed away last year. The diner used to be hers.”
Listening to her I once again realize that I know so little about her.