Chapter 35

"Honey I'm home!" Veronica said walking into the house after school. She dropped her bags near the door, and walked towards the kitchen where she was surprised to see her mother.

"So am I,

so am I."

"Mom?"

"Happy to see me?" she said, opening her arms for her, as if she was really expecting her to run into her arms.

"No, what are you doing here? Where's dad?"

"I'm here." Keith said walking towards her, "I'm sorry I didn't know she would be here, I found her in the kitchen when I got home."

"What is she doing here?"

"I don't know, but I can't really kick her out since her name is on the lease contract."

"I don't want her to stay here, this is our house, she doesn't belong here."

"I know, you should go to Jake's until I find something."

"But I live here! Why am I the one who has to leave? What about the divorce papers? I thought you had taken care of it, I thought you had published the ..."

"I did which is why she's here. Honey, I'm really sorry, I didn't think she would show up, if I had known she would come I would have acted differently."

"I'm sure, but I don't want to let you alone with her, who knows what she might do."

"Don't worry about me, you're the daughter, I'm the father which means I'm the one doing all the worry. Go pack some clothes for the night." he said softly as he pushed her a little towards her bedroom.

"I don't want to leave you, we haven't spent more than 3 days together since you got back, I don't want to leave you."

"I know you don't want to leave, but I'm sure Logan is with Duncan's, so it won't make you miss me too much. Tell Jake to give me a call later, I've got something to tell him."

"What?"

"Something, just tell him to call me. Do you want me to drive you there?"

"Nope, I'll take my car. Don't worry about me, I'll see you tomorrow if you can get rid of her." she said sarcastically.

"Okay, at Charlie's after school?"

"Of course, and don't forget to order a coffee with a giant cookie." She said with a smile, she went to her room and threw some clothes in a bag, when she was done she joined Keith in the living room. "I'm ready, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes, have fun at Jake's."

"Don't worry about that, I will watch a movie with Duncan and Logan if he's still there and if by midnight I'm not asleep dad will stop by the living room and get me to talk about school and colleges."

"Okay, I hope he's trying to get you to go to an Evy League College."

"Of course, imagine the shock if Jake Kane's kid didn't go to Princeton, Harvard or even Yale." she said with a smirk, she hugged her father before leaving their apartment, completly ignoring her mother.

"Since when does she go to Jake Kane's house?"

"Since she's his daughter. You know as well as I do that Veronica isn't my daughter, she's Jake Kane's daughter."

"How..."

"I learned it years ago, but Veronica learned it about three years ago, and Jake learned it only a year ago. They're getting to know each other..."

"Why aren't you doing anything to prevent that! You're going to lose her to Jake! I don't want this man near my daughter, he's dangerous, he ruined our lives! He's going to ruin Veronica's life, just like he did with us."

"Lianne, you don't know what you're talking about, Veronica is not a child and I won't try to get between them, Jake is her father and Veronica his daughter. He may have done some things wrong in the past, but it's in the past and we're all moving on, if you can't move on it's your problem not mine."

"I'll ask for her custody! I won't let Jake in her life."

"Do you really think a judge would give you a shared or even full custody? You're crazy, no judge would give you Veronica's custody, remember who's her father, do you really think someone would go against a man like Jake Kane? What do you have to offer to Veronica that Kane can't offer her?"

"My love! I love her, she's my daughter, I carried her for nine months."

"What a great accomplishment! That must have been the only time you acted like a mother, because in the last few years, you were so much in the bottle that you didn't care much about her."

"So you're threatening me? I either do what you want or you make my life hell?"

"No, I'm just warning you. Veronica is happy and I don't want you to destroy everything again."

"What about us?"

"We're over, we've been over for a very long time, not only you cheated on my, but you also lied to me."

"But we could work things out." She said, almost begging him, grabbing his hand. Keith looked at her and then at their hands, before dropping his.

"No, it's too late. You can take my bed, I'll sleep in Veronica's bed." he told her, knowing Veronica would probably burn the matress if her mother ever slept on it and he did not trust her to let her alone in Veronica's room.