Chapter Thirty-Eight: His Girls

"What's this?" Cindy asked, picking up one of the pamphlets from the coffee table.

I looked up from the one I was reading myself and said, "I know, some of the prices they charge are just a bit expensive."

She just looked at me, "Ya think?"

I continued to face her, giving brief glances to the leaflet in my hand occasionally, as I continued, "But I figured it out, an we got more than enough money right now so we can pretty easily afford it, plus we've got the money Matthew left for her care an – "

Cindy shook her head briefly then, obviously clearing her previous thoughts from her mind, and cutting me off as she said, "What's going on here? What you doing?"

I was about to answer, when Zo suddenly spoke up – though her words were directed towards me rather than Cindy – and came sprinting into the living room, "Danny, Danny, look at this one. They wear a red uniform an everything, just like in my old school – "

And then she suddenly caught sight of Cindy standing over me and sped up, running straight over to the blonde and jumping up into her arms.

Cindy couldn't contain her smile as she laid eyes on the youngster, "Hey gorgeous."

Zoe grinned; she always loved it when Cindy called her this – that and 'Princess', 'Angel', 'Sweetie', 'Precious', 'Beautiful'; in fact, she pretty much loved anything that Cindy called her.

She giggled then too, and said, "I'm not gorgeous, I'm Zoe."

"You are?" Cindy played along with it perfectly, acting all shocked and surprised by this.

"Mhmm," the little girl nodded. "I'm Zoe."

"No," Cindy said then, prolonging it slightly for effect. "I think you're gorgeous."

And then she turned to me, "Don't you think so too Danny?"

This was the game they played. Cindy would call Zo a pet name, and the child would tell her that wasn't her name, then Cindy would insist it was, even asking whoever was around at the time to back her up – usually it was me or Flack – before it ended up with the little girl squirming around, laughing, as Cindy tickled her senseless. It was the game they played, and they loved it.

And because I cared for these two people in front of me, far too much for my own good, I smiled back at them and nodded.

"So, what's wrong with a state school?" Cindy asked me, taking a seat across from me on the sofa, having just left Zoe in the bathroom, no doubt posing in the mirror as she finished 'preening' herself – and to think, she was only five years old!

"I went to one, Donnie went to one – you went to one, Danny, for God's sake. What's wrong with sending Zee to one?" Cindy said, looking at me as if I'd lost my mind – which, I suppose, was a logical assumption given what I was proposing here.

"Cind, the school's here have changed just a bit since we all went to school. We both agreed we want her to go to a school near here, an let's be honest Cind, we may live in a decent part of the city, but the decent schools that go with it cost money," I told her seriously in response.

And then I took a breath in, pausing for a second, before carrying on, "I went there today. I picked her up from school, an Cind – I can't send her back there. I just can't. I mean, Hell, I deal with kids from those kinda schools all the time, where the kids run riot and the teachers don't seem to even give a crap, an I'm not having my daughter going to somewhere – "

I stopped there, seeing her sitting across from me grinning at me.

"What?" I asked, eyeing her slightly. "What did I say? What's wrong?"

"Nothings wrong," she told me, still smiling. "It's just – "

"It's just what?" I said, curious to know what I'd done – I hadn't even been aware of doing anything, so all I could think just then was; Oh Shit, what've I said now?

"You called Zee your daughter," she told me, her lips curving upwards a little more as she said it.

"Well…yeah," I replied. "I mean… she kinda like… is now… right?"

The uncertainty I felt then showed through so clearly with my stammering and stuttering I wanted to curse myself left, right an centre – but Cindy stopped me, doing one of the things I loved her to do the most.

She kissed me.

She pulled away then, and with the smile still present on her face, told me, "Of course she's your daughter you idiot."

And I let out a small sigh of relief – which I hadn't even been aware of before – and smiled back at her.

She threaded one of her hands through my hair, allowing it to trail downwards to rest softly against my cheek – and I smiled at her.

See what this woman had reduced me to! Thinking about friggin' comfort – An making me like it too!

"You know what she said to the kids an her teacher at school this morning when I dropped her off?" she asked me gently.

From my place on the sofa, I glanced across at Cindy momentarily, and noticed that her position mirrored my own almost exactly: one leg was tucked underneath and the other was left dangling casually off the side. And I wondered if this was all we shared.

My head was bowed slightly – 'cos I'd gone into that sort of… 'embarrassed' mode, I had a habit of going into whenever Cindy said anything flattering or complimenting – but then she also had that annoying habit of bringing me out of them rather quickly too.

"We were standing in the middle of the classroom, surrounded by kids and she held my hand… "

Zoe was smiling at the young woman before her, holding tightly onto Cindy's hand, and rolling her shoulders, shifting the position of her Barbie backpack a little – it was the one Danny had bought her, and she thought it was "the best thing ever".

"This is my Mummy," Zoe 'formally' introduced Cindy to her teacher, Miss Gillespie – completely oblivious, or just simply ignoring, the fact that they'd already met earlier in the week when she'd first been admitted, not to mention nearly every day when Cindy took the little girl to her classroom."Mummy picks me up everyday," the youngster 'informed' her teacher. "But she's got to work late tonight, cos she works as a photographer, and gets to take loads of pictures of big famous people an nice exotic places all over the world."

Cindy couldn't help the smile that came across her face then, as Zoe tried to say the word 'exotic', making it come out sounding more like 'eggs-zotic' than anything else, and a small laugh emitted from her lips briefly.

To give the woman her due, she did make all the appropriate noises at the right times – but she could have been a little more involved and enthusiastic about it."So that means my Daddy's picking me up tonight," Zoe told her seriously.

She looked up at Cindy then, and said, "Isn't that right, Mummy?"

Cindy beamed down at her, unable to stop herself, and nodded, "That's right baby."

And Zoe sent her a tooth grin in response.

"She really said that?" I asked, after she'd finished.

"Would this face lie to you?" Cindy replied, with the hint of a smile touching her lips.

I just looked at her then, and said, "Do you really want me to answer that?"

She laughed, hitting me, "Oh shut up. But, in truth, she really said that."

And I nodded, bowing my head a little, as my lips curved upwards.

Damn, I was a sucker for girls in general – and now not one, but two had infiltrated me, there was gonna be no stopping them now!

I was fucked – really an truly.

Where was Don when I needed him?

See what I mean, I'd even started calling the man by his 'real' name – what's that all about?

Well, at least it wasn't 'Donnie' – then we'd really be in trouble.

"You're so cute when you do that," I heard Cindy's voice break up my thoughts.

My face fell slightly, and I asked, "Like what?"

She shook her head at me, still smiling, and said, "Nevermind."

And then she leaned forward and kissed me again.

And, of course, the little brown-haired wonder decided she had to join the group, and came running out of the bathroom and bounding into my lap – at full pace might I add! Not the best idea on her part – though she was completely unaware of any damage done on her account, while Cindy had to stifle her laughter to avoid any suspicion. It didn't work that well.

"What's so funny?" the five-year-old asked suddenly.

"Nothing," Cindy answered, a little too quickly.

Zoe looked sceptical – rightfully so – and eyed Cindy and me up suspiciously.

"Nothing, sweetie," Cindy told her again, and moved to lift her out of my lap. "But why don't you come and sit with me for just now, eh?"

"Ok," she answered happily – previous matters obviously more easily forgotten for some.

And she clambered over me and across to Cindy, who – when she set eyes on me again just then – had to look away as the laughter started once more.

"Now, angel," Cindy said, after a moment of containing herself. "Which school is it Daddy wants to spend all his hard-earned money on?"

And Zoe was instantly up, picking up the right booklets with great anticipation, and pointing animatedly at the pictures, and talking away about what it was like, while Cindy nodded every so often, and smiled at the child in her lap – occasionally sending me amused glances.

Clearly it was not my night.


TBC…

Thanks for all your replies, please continue to read and review - it means so much to me!
Last few chaps'll have to be posted tomorrow, but we're ahead of the US by like 8 or 9 hours or something, so hopefully it'll still all be up before the season actually starts!
Thanks again!
Steph
xxx
:D