Fates' Destiny (12 page)

The throbbing pain in Destiny’s chest woke her. The bright sun that shown through the opened blinds invaded her eyes, blinding her temporarily. She blinked a few times to adjust and then turned her head to her nightstand.

She was relieved when she spotted the two white pills she hoped would be there waiting for her and a bottle of water.

The pain increased as she slowly lifted and edged her way closer to the nightstand. As she reached for her pain medication she noticed they were resting on a small piece of paper with writing on it…

             
Take your meds and call me when you wake.

             
                                                                                                  Adam

Her cell phone lay next to the water bottle.

She did as he commanded and popped the two pills in her mouth and flushed them down with a long drink. Then she grabbed her phone, dialed up his number, and put it to her ear.

“I’m on my way up with your breakfast.” He said and before she could tell him she would come to the kitchen he hung up.

“Control freak.” She called him as she eased to the edge of her bed an
d dropped her legs over the side.

She stood just as
her bedroom door opened and Anna walked in. She pushed the door open wide and stepped to the side allowing Adam to walk in, carrying a loaded down tray.

He smiled when he walked in but when he seen her on her feet it faded to a scowl.

“Destiny, get your ass back in that bed.” He demanded.

“No.” She snapped like a defiant child. “You’re not the boss of me.”

“The hell I’m not.” He retorted as he sat the tray on the foot of the bed. “Last time I checked I signed your paycheck every week.”

He had her there but…

“You pay me to take care of your children. That doesn’t give you the right to tell me when to sit, stand, and lay down.”

Her step toward the bathroom caused a sudden pain to shot through her and she hissed and wrapped her arm around her chest.

“See.” He rounded the bed. “You need to rest.” He grabbed her shoulders to help her but she shook out of his grasp.

“I need to pee.” She snapped.

At first he was shocked by the unexpected announcement and then he relaxed.

“Why didn’t you just say that?”
He scooped her in his arms carefully and started toward the bathroom.

“Oh you will NOT be going in the bathroom with me.” There was no way in hell.

“I’m not.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m going to take you to the bathroom and then I’m going to step back out. You can call me when you’re done.”

Ohmygod
! This man was insufferable! “I can walk.” 

“Destiny,” He said on a frustrated sigh. “
you’re really starting to irritate me. Please, just let me help you.”

“Fine.”
She gave in. After all, he was just trying to be nice.

“Thank you.” His features relaxed as he lowered her to her feet in the middle of the bathroom. “Just call me when you’re done.”

After she gave him a nod he walked out, closing the door behind him.

She did her business and brushed her teeth. Once she was done she called out to him and he
reappeared in a flash. He scooped her back up and took her back to her bed.

Anna had gotten a few more pillows and had
them all stacked against the headboard. Once Adam lowered her on the mound of softness Anna grabbed her blanket and pulled it to her waist.

“Thank you Anna.”

“You’re welcome.” The little girl crawled up the bed and sat next to Destiny with her legs folded under her.

Adam retrieved the tray and gently sat it atop Destiny’s covered legs. A plate of eggs, bacon, and toast sat in the middle of the tray. Next to it was a cup of coffee and a glass of orange juice. There was even a small white vase with a red rose sticking out of it. Destiny had to smile. This was very sweet of them. 

“Daddy,” Anna spoke. “made you eggs, bacon, and raisin toast. He also made you a cup of coffee but I thought you may want orange juice.”

“Thank you Anna. I really do like orange juice.”

Anna’s smile lit up the room. “See Daddy,” She looked up at him. “I told you she liked orange juice.”

“So you did
Squirt.” Adam laughed as he lowered to the edge of the bed just below her feet.

“So Destiny,” The little girl turned her bright blue eyes back to her. “
how are you feeling? Daddy said you were sick.”

“I’m feeling better now.” She assured her as she lowered her glass of orange juice back to the tray. The cool tanginess was a
n interesting flavor combination with her toothpaste.

“That’s great.” She sparked. “Maybe now you can come to the competition.”

Huh? She didn’t say anything about missing the competition.

“Anna,” Adam’s voice was soft but stern. “I told you. Destiny needs to rest today.”

Excuse me? Her eyes widened and then narrowed on him. “Are you saying that I’m not going today?”

He nodded, returning her glare. “You need to rest.”

Oh, no the hell he just did not. She took in a deep breath to keep her temper under control and turned back to Anna.

“Anna, Honey, I wouldn’t miss your competition even if your father strapped me to this bed.”

The girl’s smile grew. “I didn’t think you would.”

“Anna,” Adam’s deep voice pulled both their attention to him. “Would you mind giving me and Destiny a mom
ent to talk? Go ask Ali for some more napkins.”

“Ok Daddy.” She gave Destiny a kiss on the cheek and headed out of the room.

The moment the door closed she started before he could.

“How dare you tell her I’m not going today?”
The audacity. She was livid.

“You’re not going today.” His voice held finality but she wasn’t giving up without a fight.

“You can’t stop me.” She dared him.

Her dare was met with a grin and a deviant glint in his dark eyes. “You
wanna bet?”

Yeah, sure.
“There’s no way you can stop me. The moment you leave I’ll be in my car following right behind you.”

“We’ll just see about that.”

She watched him curiously as he slid his phone out of his back pocket, tapped the screen a couple of times, and lifted his eyes to her.

“I think your mother should know you’re hurt.”

Her eyes widened and then narrowed. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Oh god.
The horror of her mother being here while she’s injured. She wouldn’t be able to move. Hell, the last time she was hurt her mother spoon fed her. And the only thing wrong was a broken thumb.

“Oh wouldn’t I.” His grin grew as he showed her Gracie Reece’s phon
e number on his screen. “I’m almost certain if she finds out you’re hurt and you won’t rest strapping you down would be a strong possibility.”

Unfortunately he wasn’t joking. Her mother was just that type of
overprotective, overbearing mother.

“Adam,” He won this round. “I’ll make a deal with you. If you let me go today I promise I will rest.”

One of his dark brows rose in question. “And stop arguing with me?”

Really?
“Uh, no.” She said sarcastically. “Arguing with you is entertaining. I will rest and that’s all you’re getting out of me.”

“Very well.”
He rose up off the bed. “Eat your breakfast. I’ll send Anna up to give you a hand getting dressed.”

She was going to tell him that wasn’t necessary but she’d just be wasting her breath.

Instead she said, “Will you please stop ordering me around?”

He stopped his path to the door and turned back to her with a genuine smile.

“Ordering you around is entertaining Destiny.”

She had to laugh at his response
as she watched him walk out the door, closing it behind him.

The competition went great. Both girls placed third in their age groups and Destiny had never seen a prouder father.

As for her, she was sore but it was tolerable thanks to the pain meds.  Adam was so attentive to her at the gym Destiny started to get a little agitated with him. Finally, she had to tell him that if he asked her if she was ok again she was going to smack him with something heavy. She’d like to say he listened but he didn’t.
Stubborn man.

Once they were
home Destiny kept her promise to rest. Only she didn’t want to be in her room away from everyone. To keep peace between them she suggested propping her up on the couch. He agreed without argument.

After she was settled Adam told her he needed to call Luke so he was going to be in his office for a little while. When she told him she’d be fine he made his way to the door and down the stairs. She noted that he didn’t close the door at the top of the stairs nor did she hear his office door close.

Ali went to her room. Jason surprised her by bringing her a cold soda and asking her if there was anything else he could get her. When she told him no he headed to his room to play on his computer.

Anna made herself comfortable at the coffee table with her crayons and drawing tablet. Destiny told her she didn’t have to stay with her but Anna refused to leave.

The world went quiet as Destiny lost herself in the book she’d been reading. Suddenly the doorbell rang.

She rolled to get up but then she heard, “Don’t get off that couch.”

Adam was already walking to the door.

She rolled her eyes but settled back on her pillows. When Adam opened the door she h
eard a voice that made a lump of panic form in her throat.

“Yes Mrs. Reece. She’s in here on the couch.”

Oh god. Her mother was there. She needed to get up. She couldn’t let her see her lying on the couch, injured. There’s no telling what she’d do.

“Oh god Destiny!”

Shit!
Too late. Gracie Reece had already spotted her and was at her side in a flash.

“What happened
, Baby?” She eased down on the edge of the sofa next to her daughter. “Are you hurt? Sick? What?”

Before Destiny could say anything her mother’s panicked green eyes shot over her shoulder.
“See Dave. I told you something was wrong with my baby.”

Destiny glanced over her mother’s shoulder to see her dad’s tall, lean form hovering by the door.

“Hi Daddy.” She smiled at him.

“Hey Sweetheart.”
The lines at the corners of his mouth and eyes deepened as he returned the smile.

“Adam Fates.” Adam held out his hand to her father.

“Dave Reece.” Her father accepted his hand with his pleasant smile.

“You have a wonderful daughter Sir.”

Awe. That was sweet of him.

“Yes.” Her dad laughed. “And I’m sure she’s
been driving you crazy every since she walked in the door.”

She laughed but it
was quickly extinguished by the sharp pain it produced. Her dad knew her all too well.

“Well, she’s certainly kept me on my toes.” Adam shot her a grin and again she laughed but had to cut it short.

“That’s an understatement.” She told her dad.

Suddenly…

“What did you do to my daughter?” Her mother scowled at Adam. “Tell me now!”

Almost instantly Destiny snapped, “Mom!” At the same time her dad snapped, “Grace!”

“What?” She asked them both. “I want to know right now what they did to you.”

She glanced over at Adam expecting to see his face hard from the anger he held back but that’s not what she saw. He was completely blank as if he didn’t know what to say or do.

“Adam.” She pulled his attention to her. “How about you and my dad go hang out in the kitchen and let me talk to my mother for a moment?”

Adam nodded,
relief filling his dark eyes.

“This way Mr. Reece.”
He motioned for her dad to follow.

“Dave, please.” Her dad insisted as he crossed the floor. “Mr. Reece makes me sound old.”

“Come on Anna.” Adam laughed as they walked out of the room, followed by Anna.

The second they were gone Destiny snapped on her mother.

“I can’t believe you acted like that!”

“What?” Gracie retorted. “My daughter is in his care a
nd now she’s laid up, clearly in pain. I want to know right now what they’ve done to you.”

Destiny rolled her eyes at her mother’s demand. “
They
didn’t do anything. I did it to myself.”

“Ok.” Gracie folded her arms over her pale pink blouse. “What did you do?”

Once Destiny told her she gasped.

“I can’t believe you did that! What the hell is wrong with you?”

“It was just a baseball.” Destiny defended her stupid action once again. “I didn’t know it was going to do that much damage.”

At that mome
nt she heard, “You had to go to the hospital?”

She swiveled her head to see Jason standi
ng at the bottom of the stairs, his young face marred with horror. Before she could stop him and explain he turned and darted back up the stairs.

“Damn it Mom.” She snapped as she tried to maneuver off the sofa and then yelled, “Adam!
”

~
              ~              ~

“Nice place.”

Adam glanced at Dave who sat at the bar as he pulled open the fridge.

“Thanks. I worked hard for it.”

“That’s nice to know
.”

Adam retrieved two beers out of the fridge and headed to the bar. He handed Dave one and twisted the cap off his own.

“So,” Dave struck up conversation after taking a swig of his beer. “How much trouble has she given you?”

“None.”
Adam lied. “She’s the perfect employee.”

Dave erupted with
laughter. “Come on Boy. You can be honest. I know my daughter and she can be a bit of a handful.”

“Honestly?” Adam asked and he nodded.

“She’s got a mouth on her. And stubborn as hell.”

“I’m sorry Mr. Fates but she gets her stubbornness honest and from both me and her mother. Double stubborn.”

“Adam.” He insisted. No reason to be so formal.

Dave nodded. “Well, Adam. Would you like to tell me what she did to put her down on the couch?”

“The stupid girl.” Adam muttered as he shook his head. “She let my 13 year old son throw a baseball at her to prove to him that it wouldn’t hurt her.”

Dave damn near fell off the stool laughing.
“You’re shitting me?”

Adam shook his head.
“Sadly, no. I wanted to strangle her when I found out what she did.”

“Well,” Dave shrugged. “
is he still afraid of the ball?”

Adam shook his head as he lifted his bottle to his lips.

“Then she did exactly what he needed. Even though it was really, really stupid. How bad is she hurt?”

“I took her to the hospital last night because I thought she’d broken a rib but thankfully she’s just bruised up.”

“Well, that’s a relief. Just ignore her mother. She’s a little…”

“Overprotective?” Adam suggested when he paused as if searching for the right words.

“I was going to say crazy but sure, we’ll go with overprotective.”

Both men laughed
but it was cut short when Adam heard Destiny yell for him.

He bolted for the living room, Dave not far behind. When he entered he saw her mother on her feet, helping Destiny as she desperately tried to get up.

“What? What’s wrong?”

When she looked at him he could see nothing but pain and worry marring her pretty face.

“Jason heard me telling my mom what happened. He ran back to his room. I need to go talk to him and tell him that I’m fine.” 

“Lay back down.” He
took her forearms and helped her lower back to the couch. “I’ll go talk to Jason.”

“No.” She tried to fight his grip. “I need to go and show him that I’m fine.”

“Damn it Destiny.” He snapped. “Lay down. I’ll bring him to you.”

“Ok.” She backed down with a sigh and lowered to the couch. Once he was certain she wasn’t going to try to chase after him he made his way to his son’s bedroom.

~
              ~              ~

“Hey. You ok?”

He’d knocked on his son’s door and when he didn’t get an answer he pushed it open and stuck his head in. Jason sat at his computer, clicking away on his keyboard, playing a game.

He didn’t answer and so Adam walked in and closed the door behind him.

“Jason, look,” He started even though he wasn’t sure he had his son’s attention. “It’s ok to be afraid of things. It’s ok to worry about getting hurt.”

Jason surprised him when he said, “I’m not afraid anymore.” Without missing a beat on his game.

Ok, Adam was lost
. “Then what’s wrong? Why did you storm back up stairs when you heard Destiny say she went to the hospital?”

“I didn’t mean to hurt her Dad.” He
paused his game and swiveled around in his chair to face him. “I didn’t and when I heard her say that she went to the hospital I…” His eyes lowered to the light blue carpet under his feet.

“You were mad.” Adam guessed as he lowered onto the edge of his son’s bed.

Jason nodded and lifted his head. “But not at her. I was mad at myself. I knew it was a stupid idea. I knew it but I didn’t stop it. I don’t hate her Dad.” He defended. “I don’t. I did at first but now… She’s not like the others. She listens to us. She wants to help us and not order us around. She even appreciates a good prank. None of the others has ever been like that. She’s fun.”

“Yeah,” Adam smiled. “I like her too.”

One of Jason’s dark brows rose. “Is she hurt badly?”

Adam shook his head with a chuckle.
“Just bruised. Doctor said she’ll be fine in a couple of days.”

“Will you tell her I’m sorry?”

Adam shook his head as he pushed up off the bed. “You’re going to tell her.”

~              ~              ~

“I don’t like this Destiny.” Her mother paced the floor in front of the TV. “You’ve only been here four days and look at you.” She accented with a wave of a hand to her.

Destiny rolled her eyes. “I like it here Mom.”

Her mom stopped pacing and turned to her, her green eyes pleading. “Baby, why don’t you go back to psychiatry? This is getting a little ridiculous.”

Oh god. Not this again. “Mom, I’ve already told you I don’t want to continue practicing psychiatry. I’m very happy where I’m at.”

“Happy?” Her mom snorted incredulous and started pacing again.

Destiny looked at her father who sat at the end of the couch, the picture of relaxation with hi
s ankle resting on his knee, for assistance with her mother.

“Don’t look at me.” He held up his hands. “I don’t know how to help you.”

Fine. She was on her own. “Mom, listen. I am happy. This family is wonderful. I’m completely in love with the children and Adam has been great to me.” Other than the few times he hasn’t been. “I’m learning a lot about not only them but myself as well. This experience is great and I don’t want to give it up.”

Her mom froze again and turned to her. “But look at you!” She shrieked.

“And it’s my own fault.” Destiny told her. “I did this to myself and I don’t regret it one bit. I helped Jason and that’s all that matters to me.”

The sound of someone clearing their throat pulled everyone’s attention to the stairs. Both Adam and Jason stood at the bottom of the staircase, smiling at her.

They heard what she said. Instantly she felt her cheeks heat up.

“Jason, you ok now?”

He nodded and crossed to her. “Thank you so much Destiny.” He wrapped his arms around her neck and squeezed. “We love having you here too.” He whispered as he hugged her and she instantly felt the tears form in her eyes.

She hugged him a little tighter than she should have. The pain that shot through her made her wince.

“Ok Jason.” Adam told him and Jason released her.

Then he turned to her mother.

“Jason Fates.” He held his hand out to her.

Her brow drew together but she accepted his hand. “Gracie Reece.” She said with uncertainty.

“Nice to meet you Mrs. Reece.” Destiny was stunned by his politeness but not as stunned as she was when he said, “Could you please stop trying to convince Destiny to leave us? We really do like having her around.”