Forgiveness and Second Chances (16 page)

He backed away, not believing what she was saying. “Fuck you, Malanie! Fuck you!” he yelled. Picking up a chair and throwing it to he ground, he turned and stormed out of the station.

Derrick was about to exit when Luis took the opportunity to speak. “Tell your boy she placed a restraining order against him. If he comes within ten feet of her, he’ll go to jail and lose his precious daughter.”

Luis passed her, entering into his office. “Good work.”

Malanie just stood there without emotion. She’d just broken his heart again—the love of her life.

What happened? he kept asking himself.
I thought she believed in me, in us. What did Luis do, or say to convince her? The things she said
. He wanted to confront her, but couldn’t chance losing his daughter.
Damn restraining order
. He sighed.
Stop thinking about her, it’s over. Fuck her.
He ran his hands into his hair. He hadn’t been able to sleep right since she’d spouted her lies.

“Daddy, I’m talking to you,” Alanie said, raising her voice, trying to get his attention.

“Yes, princess. What did you say?” he asked, holding a pot of coffee.

“Why hasn’t mom been around? Is it because of what I said?” She took a bite of her eggs. “I didn’t mean it. I miss her being around all the time.”

“I miss her too,” he whispered to himself. “She’s been busy with work, but Stefanie is going to take you over to her place for her birthday.”

“I almost forgot her birthday is Saturday. I want to get her something special. Maybe a picture of all of us together? What do you think, Daddy?”

“She’ll love whatever you give her. Maybe you should make it a picture of you two,” he answered, fixing a cup.

“What are you getting her?”

He hadn’t told Alanie about the breakup. He couldn’t find the words. “Nothing….”

“You got her a necklace for her birthday. I know she’ll love it,” she said, taking her plate to the sink and rinsing it off.

He sipped his coffee and watched her for a second. “We’re leaving in ten minutes.”

He left the kitchen and entered his room. He searched in his drawer and found a small box and opened it. It was a diamond heart pendent. There was an engraving on the back that said “My heart is where you are.”

“She broke my heart again.” Closing the box, he threw it in his trash and walked out.

Alanie watched her dad throw the necklace in the trash. After he left, she sneaked in to his room and picked the box up out of the trash, placing it in her book bag.

“Alanie, let’s go!” She ran to the door.

Days had passed and Malanie couldn’t eat or sleep. She was missing him so badly. Not hearing from Alanie made it worse.

She called him from a blocked number, just to hear his voice. When she heard his deep, sexy sound, she got goose bumps.

“Hello?”

She remained silent.

“I know there is someone on the line. I can hear you breathing,” Jeremy said.

She hit the disconnect button. “I love you.”

Her phone rang, making her jump. She answered, a bit shaky. “Hello?”

“Malanie, it’s Stefanie.”

She closed her eyes, a bit disappointed. “Yes?”

“I’ll be bringing Alanie over on Friday. Jeremy said you hadn’t seen her in a while, and she wants to see you.”

She jumped out of her chair. “What? He’s letting her see me?”

“I guess you really don’t know Jeremy.” That hurt. “Because if you did, you would know he would never keep you away from your daughter.”

“I just thought—”

“Well, you thought wrong. Look, Malanie you hurt him really bad, and he’s not the same man. He hardly smiles, unless Alanie is around.” Malanie could hear her baby giggling in the background. “Your words hurt him more than you’ll ever know.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt him.”

“But you did. You insinuated that he would hurt his daughter.”

Malanie gasped. “I never said that. I would never—”

“You said, I quote, ‘I’ll make sure Alanie is safe’.”

“Stefanie, I didn’t mean it like that. I was rattled that day.”

“Whatever, Malanie. I’ll drop her off at six. Please be waiting downstairs.” She disconnected.

Jeremy’s command had been informed of the allegations against him, but they kept it all under wraps until the outcome of the investigation and the DNA test.

He sat in his office, just staring at the computer screen. He was tired of all the calls he’d been receiving where no one answered.

Derrick walked in with a big smile on his face. “I have good news!”

He just observed his friend, and didn’t ask what.

“The DNA test results are in and you weren’t a match.”

“I knew that. I didn’t fucking touch her.” He slammed his fist on the desk.

“Calm down.”

“Briana almost fucking cost me my career and my daughter, Derrick. I’ve worked hard to be where I am, and you tell me to calm down.”

“I understand. If I were in your place and she cost me Stefanie and Eric, I don’t know what I would do.” He sat in front of Jeremy’s desk. “The Master at Arms interrogated her here on base, and she broke down and told them the truth. She was drunk and went home with some dude she didn’t know. She is being transferred out, and demoted for making false accusations.”

“Good.”

“Now you can go back to your lady, and tell her you have proof it wasn’t you, and you can go back to being yourself again.”

“Fuck Malanie.” he stood. “She didn’t even give me a chance. She didn’t believe me. I don’t need a woman like her. I need a woman who will stand by me no matter what. Not run at the first sign of trouble.”

“You need to see things from her perspective. We don’t know what Luis told her.”

“Don’t fucking defend her to me. She threw what happened in the past in my face, after telling me over and over it was forgiven.” He took a deep breath. “She looked me in the eyes and said I raped her, and then she had the nerve to imply that I would hurt my daughter. I will never forget those words.”

“Talk to her.”

“Remember, she has a restraining order against me. I’m done with her. The only thing that ties us together is Alanie. I will never keep them apart, not for her, but for my daughter. She’s suffered enough.

“Mom!” Alanie cried, running across the parking lot. “I’ve missed you!” She ran into her mother’s arms, hugging her.

“I’ve missed you, too.” She took her hand in hers, waved at Stefanie, and the two of them entered the building.

“Daddy said you went out of town on business. Where did you go?” she asked.

“Boring,” she said, trying to avoid answering. “How was your game?”

“I made a goal. Daddy was so proud, but he wasn’t yelling like he usually does.”

“I’ll be there next game, yelling my lungs out for you.” She chuckled.

They entered the elevator.

Alanie squeezed her hand. “Mom, Daddy still loves you. I miss us being together as a family.”

She didn’t answer as they walked out of the elevator and into her condo. She took her daughter to her new room.

She covered her mouth in excitement. Malanie had redesigned her guest bedroom into any girl’s fantasy. The walls were painted pink and baby blue, her favorite colors, and she had a computer, dolls, and a flat-screen TV.

“Mom, thank you.” She hugged her tight.

They stayed in her room, discovering all her new gadgets. “Can we watch a movie?”

Malanie turned on the TV while Alanie popped popcorn. In the middle of the movie, Malanie feel asleep on her daughter’s lap.

Alanie studied her mom, seeing the bags under her eyes. She caressed her face. “Don’t be sad, Mom. I’ll make it all better.”

She dug in the mother’s purse, found her cell phone, and dialed a number.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Mrs. Johnson, it’s Alanie.” She smiled, knowing that her grandmother must be surprised.

“Alanie?”

“My mom needs you. She’s sad.”

“Why do you think that?” her grandmother asked, concerned.

“They think I don’t know, but my parents broke up. She’s been crying, and I think she needs her mom, like I did.”

“Oh baby, you’re so sweet. I can’t make it right away, but I promise I will try to make it better. Alanie, thank you for thinking of me.”

“Bye, grandma.”

She hung up, kissing her mom’s cheek. “I want you around all the time.”

“Happy Birthday!” Alanie started singing, waking Malanie up bright and early.

Her eyes fluttered open. “You remembered.”

“Well, Daddy reminded me,” Alanie said, giving her a card she’d made by hand. It was a big, heart-shaped card, which she’d bedazzled.

Malanie took it and gave her a hug. “Thank you.” She opened it and read it.

For my lovely mom,

I wish you the best birthday ever.

Roses are red violets are blue

Thank God I found you.

You are the sunshine,

That lightens up my day.

I love you Mom

Alanie

A tear rolled down her cheek. “Thank you, this means so much to me….”

Alanie got off the bed and searched through her book bag, then handed her two gifts. “This one’s from me and this one’s from Daddy.”

He sent me a gift.

“He got it for you months ago.”

She opened Malanie’s gift first. She covered her mouth with her hands. “It’s beautiful. When did you take this?” she asked, looking at a framed picture of Jeremy, Alanie, and herself.

“We took it at my birthday party. Open Daddy’s gift,” she said, excited.

She placed the frame down and opened the other box. She gasped. It was a gold chain with a diamond heart pendant. “ I can’t accept this.”

“He wanted you to have it. Read the back.”

Malanie turned it and read the engraving.
My heart is where you are.

Alanie took it from her, and placed it around her neck. “It looks beautiful.”

“You fucking bastard!” Briana slammed his office door. “You told me nothing would happen to me. You were supposed to protect me.”

He laughed. “You got what you wanted. They’re no longer together.”

“He will never forgive me now. The deal was we both would get what we wanted, but it seems I got the bad end of this deal.”

“Not my fault.”

“I was sent to Captain’s Mast, busted down, and I’ve been reassigned to another command,” she yelled.

He stood. “Look, Briana, you approached me after the restaurant incident, or did you forget that? You wanted revenge and I helped you get it. It’s up to you to get him back. Go tell him you made a mistake. I don’t fucking care.”

“My career is over because of you!”

“No, sweetheart, it’s because of you. Your ass went to the hospital, did a rape kit, and what did they find?” he asked sarcastically. “Sperm in your funky pussy, and guess what? It wasn’t his. You were supposed to get
him
to sleep with you, not somebody else. So, sweetheart, no matter what I tried to do, it wouldn’t have worked.”

“Don’t patronize me, Luis. My pussy wasn’t funky when you were all up in it, huh?

I’m going to make you pay for what you made me do. I could’ve destroyed that man’s career and reputation.”

“I don’t give a fuck about him. All care about is having Malanie back.”

“What? No, if I can’t be happy, neither will you.”

He took long steps toward her and wrapped his hands around her throat. “If you open your big mouth, I’ll kill you.” He squeezed his hands around her neck.

Carmen was about to knock when she overheard her cousin threatening a woman.

“No one will know we set him up. Not Jeremy and especially Malanie. She’ll finally be mine.”

Carmen backed away, but not soon enough. Briana had opened the door, and they both looked at her.

“Carmen, come in,” he said, escorting Briana out. “Think of what I said.”

She passed the woman, remembering her from her lunch with Malanie.

He closed the door. “What are you doing here?”