Chain Reaction 3.1.4: Charmed Life

Emily

     Alex goes to dinner with his daughter with Selena, Diamond, tonight. Afterwards, Diamond decides to spend the weekend with us.

     I'm having leftover breakfast for dinner, and she comes over to sit with me. She looks so much like Selena.

     "Hi, Emily! You look weird without your glasses on. I have to wear contacts. I would never be caught dead wearing glasses any time other than right before bed or right after I wake up. Are you wearing contacts?"

     I swallow. "No, I just don't wear my glasses when I work out, and I thought I'd get some time on the treadmill." I'm still trying to process whether or not what she said was a compliment or an insult. So she has gotten SOMEthing from Alex: bad eyesight. Looks like only Drake dodged the bad eyesight gene.

     Very good eyesight. Very good aim... when he shot my father. Drake's trial is this week. Unfortunately, that means he's never far from my thoughts, hence time on the treadmill to 'work it out.'

     And there's another, well, several, Goth children out there. I wonder if they got bad eyesight as well. 

     Diamond brings me back to the here and now.

     "Want to know what I want to be when I grow up? Well, I wouldn't mind starting it now, and Daddy said he's going to help me. I'm going to be a writer!" She's acting bubbly, and I wonder if it's real. Her mother used to act like this to charm Alex.

     She still calls Alex 'Daddy'? I quickly ponder the paradox of her saying she can't wait to grow up in one breath and not call her father 'Dad.' I guess I always called my dad 'Daddy,' but I was always his little girl. Plum. That's exactly what Diamond wants. And she knows Alex is desperate to reconnect after escaping the aliens. Alex has been searching and searching documents, trying to find his lost son, the one he carried. And now, he has a daughter who wants him in her life. No wonder he's jumping at the chance.

     "I'm so excited! Daddy knows people, you know? I'll bet he can do anything. I'm going to be famous! I can't wait!"

     "That's... great." A famous Diamond? I can't help but worry she's using Alex to gain fame. Did Selena talk her into this? After all, she ages up pretty soon, and the massive child-support payments, that I kept up (the lawyers did anyway) while Alex was 'away,' will end.

     "I'd better go upstairs. Daddy bought me a new laptop!" She dashes up the stairs, bouncing.

     Alex is also writing a book, kind of a memoirs thing. He already has a publisher lined up, one who is very excited about the prospects for the sales for a book about Alexander Goth BY Alexander Goth.

      I ask Alex if he knows what kind of books Diamond wants to write. He smirks and says she admitted to wanting to write about what it was like growing up with him as a father.

     "Aren't you afraid she'll do a hatchet job?"

     He shrugs. "I wouldn't be surprised, and I say let her. As long as her book comes out after mine, it's okay." He gives me a knowing smile. "I'm not worried about my reputation, and she deserves something for the hell she's been through."

     I keep my mouth shut. I just can't see that Diamond has been through hell. Selena spoiled her, and now, Alex is doing the same. Other than her father being wrongfully accused and thrown in prison, she's led a charmed life.

     Drake's trial. The Maker does NOT want to do another trial again if She can help it.

     It's over. By the time Alex and I get home, we're exhausted. Alaric didn't want to come, and he had school anyway. He asked if he could have his friends over this weekend for a small party, just the guys, and of course I said he could. But that has nothing to do with now.

     Why don't I feel relieved? I'm drained. Drake looked... evil. He knew it was pointless to try and argue against the evidence brought forth by Mikey and everything we did to assist the DA. No, he admitted to it--with a malicious grin like he enjoyed reliving the scene for the courtroom, his audience. It was all about me. He killed my dad to get at... me, and he damn near won. I feel dirty, like I need to scald my skin clean in the shower.

     He hasn't been sentenced, but he was found guilty on all counts. The minimum is life in prison with maybe a chance at parole in twenty years. I doubt he gets the minimum. It's a wonder that courtroom didn't form a Lynch mob and have him drawn and quartered in the streets immediately afterward.

    So he's going to prison. Why don't I feel relief?

     Alex walks around in front of me and comforts me the best way possible. "It'll be okay. He'll never hurt you again."

     "I'm worried, Alex. Why do I feel like this isn't the end?" Somehow I feel that even should he be put to death, he'll still come back and haunt me 'til my dying day... and then torment me for eternity.

     He sighs. "Because you're right. It probably isn't, but my promise still stands. I won't let him hurt you ever again."

     "He killed to get at me." He chose to kill my father and get his father thrown into prison. He could've killed Alex and made it look like Dad killed him. And Daddy wanted to kill Alex, the love of my life. I still haven't dealt with that. "It's all my fault."

     "No, it's mine. I stole my son's girlfriend, and he wound up in prison for murder."

     I hold his face. "Stop it. This is not your doing."

     He closes his eyes. "Maybe my missing boy is better off staying missing." He means his half-alien son. "Alaric is right. This family is messed up."

     "No. This family has issues, but we're just a family." I kiss him softly and quickly. When I pull back, he merely looks at me sadly. "Okay. It was his fault. That's what we need to focus on." I step back. "And if you'll excuse me, I'm desperate for a scalding shower to wash off the courtroom from my skin." He nods, and I go upstairs.

     After I exit the shower, I stand and stare at myself in the mirror next to the bed. Alex comes in the room and finds me. He looks to be in a better mood.

     He wraps his arms around me. "You are still so breathtaking. I'll never forget the day I first saw you in this outfit."

     My lips quirk up in a small smile. "The day I moved in with you."

     His arms more fully surround me. "Yes. I mostly remember our 'secret' rendezvous behind the backyard of your parents' house. Things were so simple then, even if they didn't feel it at the time."

     "Maybe one day, we'll look back on this and realize things are simple now."

     "Heaven help me should life get more complicated."

     I turn around and hold his face in my hands. "I can think of no one else I'd rather complicate things with."

     He lets out a very sexy chuckle and finally kisses me.

     How is it that he can still make me feel eighteen?

     Our ages are catching up to us, though. I can't bear the thought of him dying and leaving me a widow. He presses himself into me, sending a very clear message. But wa-ow is his body ever not showing any signs of slowing down. 

     I know what he's thinking: 'the best part about this outfit is peeling you out of it.' He pulls me to the bed, and I go happily. The perfect way to end a miserable day: in the arms of the man I love.

Alaric

     Drake is going to jail. Good. I hope he rots.

     My favorite de-stress lately, when I'm not out with my friends that is, is sitting and doodling at the piano, so as soon as my homework is finished, that's where I go.

    "Well, well, well. If it isn't young Mr. Goth himself, heir to the Goth name, especially since our brother got thrown in jail. Fancy meeting you here. I thought you lived at the skatepark."

    "What do you want, Diamond?" And I'm not heir to anything. Drake had a son, Valentino, who is sulking in his room. I checked on him earlier. He cried, and we talked. And then he asked to be left alone. If there is any kind of weird 'heir' thing, it goes to him, not me.

     "I'm just wondering if you feel it. The notoriety. The buzz about our family."

     You know, I haven't seen Diamond in over a year, except for occasionally in the hallway at school, and she acknowledges me even less than Lizette does. No wonder Kate didn't even know I had a sister. And now Diamond's all about 'our' family.

     "Nope. I have no idea what you're talking about. I do my best to stay out of 'the buzz.'"

     "You're pretty good at that, the piano I mean," she says, changing the subject on me.

     "Just messing around." What does she WANT?

     "So, you knew Drake better than I. What was he like?"

     My fingers slam down on the keys, making a horrid noise. "Plum off, Diamond! I'm not giving you more fodder for your damn book!"

     "You don't have to get nasty about it. And I have plenty for my book. I was just trying to catch up with my little brother." She walks away, the heels of her boots clicking on the wood floors.

     "Whatever." I ignore her otherwise.

     She stays over again this weekend, and I worry she's going to ruin my bonfire party with the guys. She doesn't. Instead, she stays in her room all day, writing.

click here to go to 3.1.5