The Salvation of Daniel (The Blue Butterfly Book 2) (2 page)

“Uhh…”

Oh, Christ! What now?

“Baby?”

“Yeah, uhh…” Her voice grew nearer as she clambered down the stairs, her lack of grace holding my heart with horror of her tripping down the damn things… and not for the first time. Annie was anything but graceful. She was what I called a whirlwind; a gust of air that knocked you sideways if you didn’t see her coming. She was an explosion of energy and she stole my heart every time her cheeky smile and bright blue eyes caught my attention.

It hadn’t been easy. Fuck, raising her had been the most terrifying thing I had ever done, but damn, she filled the hole that had been inside me, and she continued to fill it up every second of every day.

She walked through the door – well I presumed it to be her. She had morphed into a huge ball of candyfloss, white foam covering her from head to toe, with just a peek of her eyes poking through where she had wiped at her face to see, and a few toes stuck through the bottom of the cotton ball. “Annie?”

“Right,” she started, pronouncing her R with a W. “Just listen.” I crushed my bottom lip with my teeth as I tried to hold onto both my sanity and amusement.

“I’m listening, Annie. I’m listening very well.”

“Uh-huh.” She looked up at me through the two holes and I watched as the foam shifted over her face.

“There’s no use giving me your ‘forgive me’ grin, Annie. I can’t see it.”

“Oh.” She nodded then exhaled heavily, the current of air through her nostrils generating little bubbles in the froth. “Well, see I was brushing my teeth, Daddy.”

“With shaving foam?”

She tutted loudly, “No, silly.” Her little head shook from side to side. “With toothpaste. But the mirror was dirty and I couldn’t see if they were sparkly clean.”

I sighed and stared at her. “So you cleaned the mirror with my shaving foam.”

She nodded frantically. “But… I dunno what I did, Daddy. The bottle… it…”

“Exploded?”

“Yeah,” she finished on a whisper.

I sighed and looked over her once more. “You do know that Daddy now needs to punish you, Annie?”

Her little gasp finally brought on my smile. She took a couple of steps backwards and shook her head rapidly. “No, Daddy.”

“Yes, I’m afraid so Annie.” She scrambled backwards when I took a step towards her, then screamed loudly and bombed it through the house. I skidded after her, my feet sliding in the trail of foam she left behind.

I let her gain a distance before I sped up and snatched her up. She squealed loudly as I tackled her gently to the ground. Her little chunky body flipped beneath me as my fingers dug into the plump flesh and I tickled her. Her gasps, giggles and piggy snorts fuelled my soul, each one enveloping it with love and affection.

“I’m gonna tell Uncle Frank,” she choked out as I continued to tickle her. “He’s gonna bust your ass.”

I stopped tickling her instantly and gawped at her. “What did you say, madam?”

She gave that grin again but this time, because the foam had rubbed off her face after my torture, it beamed brightly at me. “I meant to say bottom.”

“I should hope you did. Ass is a naughty word, baby. And ladies should never use naughty words.”

She nodded and then smiled as I tapped her nose and hauled her to her feet. “Right. Let’s start again or you’ll be late for nursery.” I smacked her bum lightly bringing forth another delightful giggle and shooed her up the stairs. “Shower, madam.”

“Yes, sir.” She poked herself in the eye as she saluted me. She snapped to a stop at the bottom of the stairs and turned to me. “Umm.”

I blew out a breath. “Yes?”

“Well.” She beamed at me again. My whole body sagged in despair. “We may have to clean first, Daddy.”

I pressed the plunger on the coffee pot when I heard the front door close and turned to face Frank as he walked in. His expression told me we needed to talk - again. I sighed and gestured to the table before placing the coffee and cups in the middle and grabbed a seat.

“You need to talk to her, Daniel. She’s getting worse.”

I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples when the first signs of a headache thumped across my forehead. “She’s just…” I shook my head and lifted the coffee to pour. “How was she at nursery today?”

He pulled a packet of cigarettes from his inside pocket then rolled his eyes and replaced them when I glared at him. Picking up his cup, he eyed me over the rim and pursed his lips. “Apparently
Mae
wants to know how you two met.”

The mouthful of coffee that had just managed to calm the tension in my stomach backfired and spluttered from my mouth with force, spraying the table and Frank’s white t-shirt with brown sludge. “What the fuck?”

He sighed and leaned towards me, resting his elbows on the table. “You need to listen to what I’m telling you, Daniel. This is serious. She’s adamant that her mother has been visiting her.”

I closed my eyes and swallowed the lump in my throat. My breathing became difficult as my heart rate veered into dangerous ground. Panic and anguish burnt a hole though my insides as I bit back the dread. “You think I should get her tested?”

He nodded slowly and looked down to his coffee. “I’ve never known her be this… stubborn, Daniel. Yeah, Annie’s a feisty little thing but hell, she talks with such animation that it’s becoming difficult for me to determine what’s real and what isn’t.” He leaned further towards me and placed his hand over mine. My eyes snapped up to his as the awkwardness of the situation grounded us both. “If…” He gulped back his own worry and squeezed my hand. “If Annie has… the same as Mae, then we’ll deal with it. I promise you that I will carry you every step of the way.”

I nodded, not knowing what to say. If Annie had… well, if she had, then I knew I couldn’t go through that again. I refused to watch her die like her mother had. I wouldn’t accept it and I wouldn’t allow it.

We were both silent for a while, contemplating what was to come. I caught the flash of Frank’s eyes in my direction every once in a while but I chose to ignore him until his next sentence made me choke on my tongue.

“Daniel. What if…. What if Annie isn’t… lying?”

My eyes widened, my tongue curling with shock as my tonsils started to swell. “What the fuck, Frank?”

He shrugged and sipped at his coffee casually. “I dunno, Dan. It’s just… She’s unwavering, resolute that the woman with long black hair and piercing blue eyes is visiting her. She talks of their conversations. She smiles as she relays it all, Daniel. Her eyes tell me that your little girl believes in what she is telling me.”

“It’s just…”

“She’s four,” he continued, ignoring me. “They say that sometimes they can… see things we can’t.”

Jesus Christ. “I really hope you are joking.”

He shrugged again. “Who knows.”

I stood up quickly, my chair scraping across the floor tiles with a loud squeak. “MAE IS DEAD!”

He looked up at me, pain and regret on his face. “I know. I know she is but…”

“I fucking killed her, Frank. There are no buts… I watched as she died in my arms, wondering if she heard what I said to her before she went.”

He nodded and gave me a remorseful smile. “I know.”

I turned, palming the sink as I stared out of the back window into the garden. The wind had picked up, scattering the many dead leaves to one side of the lawn, providing an area for Annie to destroy when she came home. My heart ached. I had desperately tried to remove Mae from my heart over the past two years, forget what I had done to her, forget how I had destroyed her soul but Annie, all the constant reminders that Annie produced made it more difficult. The pain was once again starting to suffocate my spirit.

“I’ll book her in with the doctor.”

“Okay,” Frank whispered before I heard the door close behind him.

Next door’s bloody cat leapt onto the shed roof after a bird, knocking the wind chimes and creating a loud but pleasant tune. The large poplar trees that bordered one side of the garden suddenly seemed eerie as the sun crept halfway out from behind the clouds that hung heavy in the grey sky, creating long dark shadows across the deep green grass.

A shiver trickled up my spine when my imagination created a vivid image of Mae running along the sand, a red and yellow kite whipping in the air behind her. Her loud happy laughter echoed around me, the vibrant pitch bringing a small smile to my lips.

It was ridiculous, but I missed her. I had only had the pleasure of her company for a few weeks but in that short amount of time, that woman had given me more than anyone ever had. She had given me Annabelle, my beautiful daughter, but more than that she had given me an area in my heart that was clean and untouched; a fraction of pureness. She had scraped away the blackness and found the part that still beat and craved to be touched.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention when I felt eyes on me. My senses shot to life as my eyes scanned the garden looking for evidence to back up the sensation. Nothing seemed off, but everything seemed
wrong
. It wasn’t a crazy one-off feeling, it was a strong deep knowing. Someone had been watching me.

I knew they had gone when my body relaxed, all previous tension draining from me. However, I grabbed the gun I had illegally stashed in a box at the top of the wardrobe and went to scope the area around the house. I knew I wouldn’t find anything, they had already disappeared but I needed to tell my brain that.

The wind picked up even further, blowing the last remaining leaves off the tree and propelling them down towards the gates at the rear of the garden. I followed them, and stopped dead when I saw the pile that had already collected there.

The mound assembled ready for Annie to trample through had been pushed aside, a tell-tale sign that the gate had been opened. The rear gate was never used, it led to a dark alley I refused to let Annie go through.

Yet, for the first time in eighteen months, someone had used it.

“ARE YOU FUCKING crazy?”

I sighed and rolled my eyes as I peeled off my jacket and slung it over the back of the kitchen chair. Katey watched me, her furious eyes following me as I pulled open the fridge and took the milk out, opening it eagerly and gulping the contents straight from the bottle. “It would seem that way,” I finally replied, wiping the milk from around my mouth with the back of my hand.

She opened her hands and gawped at me. “It’s bad enough that you’re now talking to Annabelle, never mind watching the husband. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Nothing is wrong with me,” I snapped as I massaged the back of my neck. I was so tired, exhausted with it all. “Katey, please.”

She rubbed her face with her hands then flopped into the chair and shook her head sadly. “It’s not your family to haunt, Con. Let them be.”

“I can’t,” I whispered.

She stared at me then sighed, rising from the chair and walking over to me with a soft smile. Her hand slid over my cheek. The softness of her touch ached my heart.

“What is it about him?” Her question was gentle, but I could hear the worry, the slight hint of jealousy in her tone.

“There is nothing about him.” I tried to keep my voice calm and controlled.

She flinched slightly, the small bob in her throat alerting me to the fact she knew I was lying to her. I didn’t want to lie to her. I wanted to soothe her worry, appease her anguish, but I couldn’t, and she knew it.