Chapter 2
The next morning Daisy was in the kitchen cooking breakfast when James walked in. They had moved into an apartment together close to Company three years ago and were looking forward to the day when they could move out of the apartment and into their own home. Sure James had the money, but it was his trust fund and he wasn't going to touch anytime soon if ever. Daisy respected his choice of wanting to be just a regular guy and once Spaulding Enterprises and Lewis Oil combined he was no longer the heir to the Spaulding fortune. He was much happier working in the trenches with Bill, Dylan, Josh and Billy. Sure he had a seat on the board of the company, but he still felt like he was contributing something to the newly formed company that he and his father had merged together with Josh and Billy with the support of his Uncle Alan-Michael and his Aunts Amanda and Alex.
"You let me wake up alone" James pouted playfully as he leaned over Daisy's shoulder as he kissed her on the neck while cooking eggs over the stove.
"Sorry babe" Daisy said giggling at how his kisses were tickling her. "Your sister wants to meet up at 10 today to start planning. Bridget and Vanessa are going to be there too."
"Yeah sorry about Lizzie" James said brushing her hair away from her neck as he continued to plant soft kisses against her sensitive neck. "She just gets so excited about weddings. Remember when Matt and Vanessa got remarried, she practically did the whole thing."
"Oh I think its nice of her" Daisy said turning around in his arms the eggs forgotten, "I never really had a big sister or sister of any kind. I mean I have Zach and Jude and Peter technically, but the only female figure I got to really look up to besides my mom and Bridget was Marina and she wasn't really into the girly stuff too much. I mean look what she does now, she's a cop."
"True but you have to admit that when she married Shayne and they began raising Henry like a real family she did soften up a lot." James said
"I guess your right. Anyway I love your sister and she feels just like that to me, a real sister" she said leaning her head against his chest, "I like that feeling."
"At least you get along with my family and yours seem to like me as far as I can tell" James said laughing, "I think your Uncle Frank is the only one who still doesn't really like me."
"He'll get over it, plus he likes you a whole lot more than he liked Rafe at first and especially Grady" Daisy said looking up at him, "But that's just how Frank is, very over protective."
"I guess so, at least my granddad isn't around to spoil everything" James said with a touch of coldness in his voice.
Daisy hugged him tightly, "Alan loved you, sure he may have had a really twisted way of showing you that, but he did. Besides would you have really listened to him anyway."
"Did I listen to him the first time he said to stay away from you" James asked seriously as Daisy shook her head no, "Then I wouldn't listen to him the next twenty times he would have said it. I love you Daisy Lemay and not even my granddad could have convinced me otherwise."
"I love you too" she said as she breathed in his scent.
"Umm Dais" James said after a minute.
"Ahh the eggs" Daisy said spinning around to the now burned eggs on the frying pan. "Ruined" she stated as she tossed them in the garbage.
"Guess that just means we have to go to Company for breakfast" James said cutting the stove off and pulling her from the kitchen gently. "Besides as much as I like your cooking, Buzz still makes the best waffles and bacon ever."
"Yeah good save with the whole as much as I like your cooking, a little sloppy on the landing though but I'll give it to you." Daisy said grabbing her shoes and purse out of their bedroom. "Lets go"
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"I see we burned breakfast again" Buzz teased as the pair walked into Company and sat at a table.
"Yeah, got distracted" Daisy began before Buzz interrupted
"Say no more, seriously" he said as he began writing down their order, "Two waffles with bacon and eggs and two coffees, one black one sugar, the other half cream half coffee and two sugars."
"You know us so well grandpa" Daisy said sweetly.
"Yeah you still aren't getting out of the dinner shift Dais" Buzz laughed, "no amount of sucking up is going to save you from that shift."
As Buzz walked back to the kitchen to prepare their order, James and Daisy just sat together talking about everything and anything. As they were finishing up their breakfast Bill and Lizzie came in.
"Hey guys" Bill said tiredly.
"Man you sound what's the word" Daisy said tapping her finger against her chin sarcastically, "tired."
"Well you would be too if someone kept you up all night" Bill said giving a knowing look to Lizzie.
"I don't want to know anymore" James said closing his eyes and shaking his head.
"Not that you perve" Lizzie said smacking her brother on the arm, "Gosh, I kept talking about wedding ideas. Unfortunately when it was time to take Riley to school I had only just fallen asleep as did mister grumpy over here."
"How is my fabulous niece this morning anyway" James asked as Lizzie and Bill took a seat down at the table with them.
"Great" Lizzie gushed. "We told her about her Uncle James and Aunt Daisy getting married and she is probably more excited than I am."
"Here I didn't think it was possible" Bill said sarcastically, "Just kidding baby. Yeah she officially wants to be the flower girl, she said that Emma was too old to do it so she should be next in line."
"We wouldn't have anyone else do it" Daisy said smiling.
Bill looked at his watch and started to get up, "Well we gotta get to the office ladies." Giving his wife a quick peck he said "I'll pick Riley up from pre-school at noon after we get done with this meeting and take her back to the office"
"Okay, we'll see you later" Lizzie said as her husband and brother left for Lewis/Spaulding Corporation.
"Guess we're just waiting on Vanessa and Bridget" Daisy said taking a sip of her coffee.
"They said they would be here at 10 so they should be here soon but until they get here I wanted to tell you something" Lizzie said as a waitress set down a cup of coffee in front of her, "I just wanted to say, I think you are really good for James. When he came back from boarding school after dad came back, he was so angry and messed up. Getting Bill arrested for a scam that was all his own doing was pretty much the bottom of the barrel for him. I was none to thrilled with my kid brother at the time, nor was anyone else. Well except maybe our dad, not thrilled but cared enough to help as much as he could. You helped him climb out of the major hole he had dug himself into and helped him evolve into the good person he is today. Now its like I got my brother back and we're closer than ever thanks to you"
Daisy looked at Lizzie stunned. She knew that Lizzie approved of their relationship but she never knew that Lizzie felt that she had helped pull James out of his own demise. Daisy thought she had only pushed him further into the hole at one point. Guess she was wrong.
"Thanks Lizzie" Daisy said softly, "that means a lot to me"
They shared a little bit more small talk when Bridget and Vanessa showed up with Reva in tow.
"Grandma Reva" Daisy said greeting her, "I didn't know you were coming"
"Well they didn't need me at the board meeting so I was able to come" Reva said sitting down by Bridget.
"So where do we start at" Vanessa asked as Lizzie reached into her bag and pulled out about 10 bridal magazines and some paper.
"Lets start with some ideas and then progress on from there." Lizzie said opening her pen up to start writing.
"You know James is going to have to have some say in this right" Daisy said as she flipped through the magazine in her hands.
"I know" Lizzie replied, "We are making an decisions, we are just making a list of ideas and you guys can sit down together and decide for yourself."
"I wish mine and Dylan's wedding had been like this" Bridget said after a while of looking through magazines and writing ideas down, "We just got married at the justice of the peace with only Peter as our witness and a court secretary. Not the most romantic thing in the world."
"Do you regret it though" Daisy asked her stepmother.
"Not a single bit, I wouldn't have cared if we had had a royal wedding with all the trimmings or if we had gotten married in some cheesy Elvis chapel in Vegas. But its still nice to dream of doing a nice wedding where you can really celebrate it" Bridget said.
"Well your 20th anniversary is coming up soon" Vanessa said, "Just another two years and maybe we can throw you a real wedding."
"Lets just get through this one first" Reva said grinning as she nudged her granddaughter.
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"So you and James look over everything and give me a call later this week when you've decided on some things okay" Lizzie said as she and Daisy stepped out onto the porch of Company. Vanessa and Reva had gotten called to the office and Bridget had to get back to the boarding house so they just called it quits for the day and would re-group later this week.
"Alright, we won't be able to look at anything tonight because we're having Remy, Christina and Ashlee over for dinner to tell them the news, but we will look at this stuff tomorrow night." Daisy said walking to her car.
"Okay" Lizzie said getting into her SUV waving at her friend and future sister-in-law before taking off.
Daisy decided to run back into Company and pick up some lunch for James and take it to his office before going home to take a nap and head to work. Going back into the restaurant she didn't notice the tall male figure standing off to the side.
3 weeks later
Tonight was the night of the engagement party at Towers. Everyone James and Daisy loved would be there to help them celebrate properly. Of course with Phillip and Beth picking up the tab, the Cooper family was all for it. For Daisy though it was the first time she had ever gone to dinner with James at Towers 6 years earlier. His father had been released from jail thanks to him and the Spauldings celebrated with a dinner there. Knowing who she was James had invited Daisy, but she had no idea what she was getting herself into until she got there. Immediately once she found out she tried to leave but James was pretty persuasive saying that she knew his family better than he did and that since they both hated his family it would be okay. Reluctantly she had agreed but received a warm welcome from Beth, Phillip, Bill, Lizzie and Alexandra. Alan on the other hand protested until he turned blue but was out numbered, much to Daisy's delight. Unknowingly for the pair of them it was the start of the at first rocky relationship.
Daisy stood in front of the full length mirror at her attire. Her simple black dress was elegant and came down to just below her knee. The red heels gave the outfit a little bit of color and her silver chandelier earrings gave the entire look a bit of flare. She had straightened her hair and curled the ends ever so slightly and had applied just enough makeup to look as if she had some on.
"Wow" came a voice from behind her, "How about we just skip dinner tonight and just stay in"
Daisy turned around and rolled her eyes humorously. "I did not get all pretty just to sit at home."
"Fine have it your way" James said coming up to her, "but I do have to say you look so amazing that I think it will make all the guys stare and I don't know if I want to share you or not."
"Okay the only guys there that are even around my age are my brother Zach, Peter, Remy and Shayne and I do believe that two of them are happily married and the others are related." Daisy laughed placing her hands on his shoulders squeezing them slightly.
"I was just kidding, but really you look so beautiful" James said softly giving her what started out as an innocent peck but turned into a much deeper and sensual kiss.
James was the first to pull away after several minutes. "Okay we really need to get going now or I think Lizzie will have a coronary if we show up late."
"Aww darn" Daisy teased, "I was this close to saying to heck with it all and just staying in. But fine have it your way." James just grinned and walked out of the room his fiancé not too much further behind him.
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Towers
"Here's to the happy couple" Billy said raising his glass of champagne in toast of his granddaughter and her fiancé. Everyone else raised their glasses in toast and the party began.
Daisy and James mingled around the room talking to everyone. It seemed as if all of Springfield had been invited to the party. All of the Coopers including Harley and Zach, Spauldings and Lewis's were there. Vanessa and Matt were there with their daughter Maureen, Christina and Remy were there with Ashlee, Cyrus and Peter as were Emma and Olivia.
"Sorry Jude couldn't be here honey, but he just started summer semester at UCLA and just couldn't get out of the one class he needed to take." Harley said as she spoke to her daughter and James.
"Its okay, I talked to him yesterday and he said he was going to be here for the wedding" Daisy said setting her glass down on the bar, "Besides its just nice to have you and Zach here. We've all missed you the last couple of years."
"I know its just I couldn't stay here after Gus" Harley said her voice tinged with a bit of sadness of her lost love.
"Its understandable Harley" James said sympathetically, "All that matters is you're here now."
"For now that is" Harley said "I do have to get back to work next week so I have to leave tomorrow night, but I'm just glad to be here for my daughter's engagement party. Your getting married, I still can't believe it. My little Daisy is getting married."
"Oh believe it Harley" Dylan said coming up behind her, "Our little girl is all grown up, last thing I knew she was just a pre-teen who worshiped what was that band, Backstreet Boys."
James stifled a laugh as Daisy's face turned a bright pink, "God dad, I was 13 okay, sue me"
"Oh leave her alone you" Harley said slapping Dylan lightly, "We won't even get on the subject of you as a teenager."
"What about that time when you were 16 Harley" Dylan said jokingly.
"That one will stay to the grave with me mister" Harley said poking him slightly in the chest.
All of a sudden Daisy's phone began to vibrate next to her glass. Excusing herself from her parents and James quickly she hit the read message button and a puzzling expression overcame her face. The message had read 'meet me on the terrace' and it came from an unknown number so she knew it couldn't have been from James.
She made her way through the room and entered the terrace to Towers and looked around. She didn't see anyone and just as she was about to turn back inside a voice appeared from the shadows.
"Long time Daisy" an Australian accent said from the shadows.
Daisy turned around and came face to face with Grady Foley. Gasping as the sight of him, this was one person she thought was gone forever.
"Grady" Daisy said unsurely of whether she was dreaming or not.
"In the flesh" Grady replied grinning smugly. "Did you really think I would miss this elaborate engagement party. Marrying a Spaulding are we. I knew you had it in you Dais, but really come on. Your not meant for their stuffy life."
Daisy stood frozen in place unable to get her brain to function correctly. "I thought you were dead."
"Yeah so did I" Grady explained, "Phillip sure did a number on me when he pushed me over the cliff, but obviously it didn't work, cause look, I'm still here."
"What are you doing here" Daisy asked still in shock.
Grady gave her a knowing look, "Really, you have to ask me that. I'm here for you, were meant to be together, not you and rich boy Spaulding." He took a step towards her and she took a step back from him, "You've known that since the day you met me."
"No" Daisy said firmly, "You left me behind and I moved on." She moved away from him and headed towards the door, "I love James and you just showing up will not suddenly make me realize I want you instead."
"So you do want me" Grady said arrogantly, "Come on, lets leave Springfield behind and start a life together."
"Read my lips Foley" Daisy said defiantly, "Not a chance." She turned on her heel and walked right back inside.
She scanned the room for James and when she found him talking to Josh and Reva she made a beeline to him.
"Hey, where did you go" he asked as she made it up to them.
"Oh just had to get some air" Daisy said nervously as she putt her arms around his waist, "It just got a little too stuffy for me"
"You okay sweetie" Reva asked concerned, "You look a little pale."
Daisy shook her head quickly, "No really grandma Reva, I'm fine" Looking back towards the door she could see Grady looking in and smiling evilly. She shook him from her mind and began listening to the conversation going on in front of her.