The Art of Discipline: Dani’s Discovery (The Mockingbird Chronicles) Read online

  Emma smiled. “Now that, I can do,” she said as she headed out of the bedroom to retrieve the book from its place in the study. Returning quickly, she handed Dani the book before kissing her on the forehead and leaving her to enjoy her punishment.

  Exiting the apartment, she locked the door and looked up at the ceiling. “You taught me well, Uncle Sean. I don’t think that one will ever play hooky again. I know I didn’t.” She smiled at the memory, however unpleasant it was originally, before slowly walking down the stairs and returning to the store.

  * * *

  The next morning, Dani found herself sitting in bed, more bored than she’d been in her life. Even her ninth grade biology class was exciting compared to this. She’d already eaten breakfast with Emma at the kitchen table before being banished back to bed.

  Throwing down her book, Dani moaned and looked at the clock. It was only 10:30 a.m., and she had no idea how she was going to survive the day. Emma had been clear on her directions though, and Dani knew if she stepped out of the bed, her life—not to mention her bottom—was in Emma’s hands. Sighing, she picked up her book and once again tried to read.

  It was an hour later when Dani jerked her head up at the loud pounding coming from her front door. Hearing yelling, she got out of bed and opened the door to discover a rather distraught Will. Frowning, Dani asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “You weren’t answering your phone, and I wasn’t sure if I should bother you, but I can’t reach Emma and wasn’t sure what else to do.”

  “Slow down, Will, tell me what’s going on.”

  Taking a deep breath, Will ran his fingers through his hair as he entered the apartment and sat down. “It’s Stevie. She sliced her hand up pretty badly opening a box of books. Anna had to take her to the hospital, and like I said, I can’t reach Emma. I’ll have to close up the store if you don’t come help me.”

  “Take a deep breath, Will. Why will you have to close the store?”

  “Sean’s main rule: you always have someone to watch your back when you work. We have to have at least two people in the store at all times, or we close. No questions asked.”

  Dani began to move toward her bedroom. “Give me ten minutes.”

  “Are you sure?” Will stood and considered Dani. “I mean, Emma told us you weren’t feeling well today…”

  He trailed off as Dani gave him a small smile. “I’ll be fine, Will, thanks for your concern. Now you go back to the store. I’ll get changed and be down right away.”

  The young man breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Dani.”

  Dani merely nodded, continuing to her bedroom.

  * * *

  It was almost two hours later when Dani grumbled before putting her cell phone back in her pocket. She still hadn’t been able to reach Emma and was becoming worried. She and Will had been swamped for the last hour, and she was anything but bored now. Now though, the crowd had quieted and the store was again empty, when the familiar bell rang above the door. Turning, she was relieved to see Emma. “Thank goodness you’re okay.”

  “What are you doing here, Danielle?” Emma asked coldly as she turned the store’s sign to closed.

  “I came down to help Will out…”

  “Great, now get back upstairs until I’m calm enough to speak with you.”

  “Emma, just listen would you?” Dani protested as Will came from the back of the store.

  “Later, Danielle,” Emma snapped, handing her a sack. “Here’s your lunch. I’ll be up shortly.”

  “But, Emma…”

  “Go, Danielle, now.” Emma’s voice was cold, and Dani turned to follow the order, trying to hold back the unexpected tears.

  “You were kinda harsh on Dani, weren’t you?” Will asked, as Dani rushed through the store and up the stairs.

  “She shouldn’t have been in the store today,” Emma answered.

  “If you would have listened to her, she could have explained it to you.”

  “There’s no reason to be down here today.”

  “Damn it, Emma, she was covering for Anna and Stevie!” Will’s brown eyes blazed. “Stevie got hurt. They’re still at the ER. What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “What happened? Is she okay?” Emma dropped her eyes and threw her purse on the counter.

  The redhead’s mood wasn’t lost on the teenager, but the indifference she was showing to Stevie’s injury was making him more upset by the moment. “She’ll be fine. Not that you seem to care. Just needs a few stiches. Cut herself opening a box.”

  Emma frowned. “I’m sorry. I’ll call Anna later and make sure everything is okay.”

  “I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Will returned, but then more quietly added, “but something tells me you’re not.”

  Emma tensed for a moment. “Patrick showed up,” she managed in a whisper.

  Will’s anger deflated immediately, and he drew Emma into a bear hug. “God, Emma. Anything I can do? I’ll go beat him up for you, if you want me to.”

  “No, no, I told him to leave me alone, but I don’t know if he will,” Emma chuckled between sudden tears. “Damn it, right in the middle of my bank errand and running to the lawyer’s office. I turned around, and there he was.”

  “Well, I’m here for you. Now that Sean… well, I’ll take care of it for you now, Emma. I promise I won’t let him hurt you again.”

  Stepping out of the hug, Emma gave the young man a small smile and rubbed his cheek with her hand. “Thanks, Will. Let’s hope he takes the hint and leaves town.”

  “I hope so too, but what about Dani?”

  “Damn, I messed that up, didn’t I?” Emma ran her fingers through her hair and sighed heavily. “Guess I’d better go apologize to her. Close up the store and take an early night. I’m sure your girlfriend would be thrilled to see you.”

  “Yeah, she would. Thanks, Emma.”

  Nodding, Emma picked up her purse and slowly walked up the stairs to her apartment with the intention of changing into something more comfortable and checking on Atticus before heading to Dani’s. Slipping out of her business clothes, Emma donned a pair of sweats and an old t-shirt. Sitting on her bed, she allowed the tears to come once again. “Damn him,” she muttered. “Why couldn’t he just leave me alone?” Shivering, she pulled on a sweatshirt and managed to wipe her face. Sean wasn’t here to protect her now, so she’d have to do it herself. Standing, she called out a goodbye to Atticus before heading to Dani’s apartment.

  Getting no answer to her knock, Emma silently let herself in. Seeing the bag of unopened food on the kitchen table, she headed toward the bedroom. Knocking on the doorframe, she noticed the six-pack of soda, with two empty cans tossed on the ground and a third open on the nightstand. There was also an empty bag of chips on the floor as well.

  Dani was curled up on the bed, facing the window. If she heard Emma, she made no acknowledgment of her.

  Emma slowly made her way to the other side of the bed, before sitting next to the dark-haired woman. “Dani, can we talk?”

  “Why, wanna yell at me again for covering for an injured employee?”

  Emma gently put her hand on Dani’s hip, tapping it. “Please sit up. We need to talk.”

  “You made yourself perfectly clear, Emma.”

  Emma rolled her eyes and took a breath. “Mockingbird.”

  Dani’s head turned. She slowly sat up. “I thought that was for me,”

  “Well, I think I needed to use it today.” Tucking a piece of hair behind Dani’s ear, she gave a rueful smile as she noticed Dani’s tearstained face. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you that way, especially not in front of Will.”

  “Then tell me why you did.”

  “I had a really bad morning, Dani,” Emma explained, seeing the hurt reflected in her blue eyes. “That doesn’t excuse what I did, but something came up, and it put me on edge.”

  “And so you apologize, and I’m just supposed to let it go? Is that the way it works?”

  “P
lease, I’d rather not talk about it right now. I really would rather just forget it.”

  “Emma, I need to know why you bit my head off. I can’t do this if you’re not going to show me or my feelings any respect.”

  Emma turned and walked to the window. Pulling back the blind, she briefly looked out before turning back around. “Alright. You’re right, but you need to understand, I almost never talk about this. Sean was the first person that I told, and he and the gang in the bookstore are the only ones that know,” Emma began.

  Meeting Dani’s eye, her voice quieted. “I told you I grew up here, in Fort Strymon, right? We moved here when I was about nine. My mother got remarried, and she wanted to be here, close to my grandmother. Before that, we moved around a lot.”

  “Okay, but what does that have to do with today?”

  “I’m getting to that.” Emma ran her fingers through her hair once more as she returned to the bed and sat down next to Dani. “I didn’t find this out until I left for college. My mother had always told me that she and my dad got divorced and went their separate ways when I was a toddler.”

  Placing her hands in her lap, she tried to calm their shaking. “That was only partially true. My mother left my father when I was little. He was not a nice man—had a mean streak a mile wide, and when he turned that anger on me, we left. I don’t remember any of it, thank goodness. Life was pretty good here. My grandmother was wonderful, and with my mother and step-father, we made a nice little family. One thing led to another, and before I knew it, I’d gone off to college. One night, I walked out to my car to find this strange man waiting for me. Turns out, it was my father, Patrick Sampson.”

  “Sampson?”

  “Yeah, we changed our last name after mom left him. She really didn’t want to be found. The thing is, he still wasn’t a nice man, but I didn’t find that out until after I tried to forge a relationship with him. He pulled me into some dealings he had with the mob. I didn’t know it at the time, of course, but when I found out, I left. Came back home and tried to forget Patrick Sampson ever existed.”

  “How did you do that without him following you?”

  “I phoned an anonymous tip into the FBI. He and some buddies were arrested. I never told him where we’d settled, so I thought I would be safe when he got out of jail. I was wrong. He showed up today, in town. Will couldn’t get ahold of me because I was too busy telling him to leave me alone. I guess he thinks that I’ll welcome him with open arms and pocketbook.”

  Dani pulled Emma’s hands into her own. “But you said Uncle Sean and the others knew about him?”

  “A few years ago, he sent a friend to visit me. Uncle Sean scared him off, told him if Patrick Sampson or any of his friends ever bothered me again, they’d answer to him.”

  Dani chuckled. “That was Uncle Sean, the world’s biggest softie, unless you crossed his family.”

  “Yeah, I guess he saw the obituary and figured that since I don’t have Uncle Sean to protect me anymore, then I’m fair game.”

  Dani’s blue eyes hardened. “Then he doesn’t know this family very well. I’m not going to let him hurt you any more than Uncle Sean did. I promise you, Emma, you’ll be fine.”

  “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Danielle.”

  “I’m not. You don’t know everything about me, Emma Gray. I have skills you aren’t even aware of yet,” Dani teased.

  Emma chuckled. “I look forward to learning about those many skills of yours. Now, tell me how you ended up in the store today?” she asked effectively changing the subject.

  “Will came up to my apartment in a panic. Seems that Stevie cut herself, and Anna had taken her to the ER. He couldn’t get ahold of you, and we didn’t want to close the store. He told me about Uncle Sean’s number one rule, so I went down to the store to help him out.”

  “Thank you for doing that.”

  “No need to thank me. It’s the least I could do after cutting out yesterday,” Dani conceded. “Hey, does this mean I don’t have to work Saturday?”

  Emma chuckled and pulled Dani to her feet. “Nice try, young lady, but you’re still working on Saturday. Now, get this mess cleaned up, and we’ll finish our discussion in the kitchen. I think you need more to eat than a bag of chips and a couple of diet sodas.”

  “Aww, Emma,” Dani whined with a twinkle in her eye. “Do I hafta?”

  “Yes, you have to,” Emma answered with mock sternness as she grabbed the remaining soda cans and headed to the kitchen.

  Chapter Five

  “Dani, would you like some company?”

  “I’m not speaking to you,” Dani answered, crossing her arms over her chest as she flung herself back on the bed.

  Emma followed her into the room, chuckling. “You mean you aren’t enjoying your time off work?”

  “Come on, Emma.” Dani sat up suddenly. “It’s only 1:30 p.m. Let me go back to the store, please?”

  “Nope, you’re right where you need to be.”

  “But the pajamas? Seriously, why did I have to put them back on?” Dani pouted.

  “Because when you’re sick, you stay in bed in your pajamas all day. Where did you get these anyway? They are falling apart,” Emma frowned at Dani’s red flannel choice.

  Dani looked down, shrugging. “They are comfortable. Besides, they are my favorite.” Seeing the look, Dani groaned before dropping onto her bed again. “So when do you head back down?”

  “I don’t. I closed up early and told Will to go home.”

  Dani once again popped up on the bed as Emma sat next to her. “So I’m not really missing work, am I? I mean, if you closed up early and all, maybe I could at least get to lie on the couch and watch some movies.”

  Emma laughed out loud this time. “No, you are staying right here.”

  Dani raised one eyebrow. “So, are you planning to stay here and babysit me all day?”

  “Yup, scoot over, and I’ll read to you.”

  “But I’m sick, you don’t want to catch what I have.”

  “Oh, I don’t think it’s contagious,” Emma responded as she leaned against the bed’s headboard.

  “You know, we could open the store back up. No reason to disappoint all those readers in town.”

  “Uh-huh.” Picking up the well-worn book on the nightstand, Emma opened it and smiled as Dani grumbled but leaned back into her, her head on her shoulder as she began to read.

  Dani was half asleep when she noticed that Emma’s voice had stopped. Opening up her eyes, she snickered and removed the book from Emma’s hand. Emma had fallen asleep before the end of the first chapter. Laying her down gently, Dani covered her up and smirked before slowly crawling from the bed and heading to the living room. Quickly grabbing her cell phone, she returned to the bedroom and slid back in. Turning off the volume, she pulled up her email, checking and responding to several of them. She was about to turn the phone off when her assistant messaged her. Sighing, Dani stole a quick glance at Emma and was glad to see she was still sleeping. She then answered and decided to deal with the crisis du jour before signing off.

  Dani turned her phone off and was getting ready to put it on the nightstand when she felt another hand close around it. “Have a nice chat?”

  “Damn,” Dani muttered. Turning, she was met with mutinous green eyes. “Now, Emma, it was my assistant. I can’t ignore my business, now can I?”

  “I suppose not,” Emma narrowed her eyes. “What exactly was the problem that you couldn’t ignore?”

  “Well, we had an emergency,” Dani began.

  “What type of emergency?” Emma asked quietly.

  “A business type.”

  “Danielle.” Emma’s voice was low, making Dani gulp. “Give me the phone.”

  Handing it over, Dani waited for the inevitable.

  “Oh, yeah, a crisis over the red or black dress for her dinner date…” Emma trailed off after skimming though the texts. She shook her head in disappointment. “And just how is it you started
messaging with her in the first place?”

  “I was just checking my email, I wanted to make sure I hadn’t missed anything important, and then she messaged me, and I…” Dani hesitated at the look she was receiving from Emma.

  “I see.” Emma slowly got out of bed, taking the phone with her. “We will discuss this later, Danielle.”

  Dani nodded as Emma moved to the bedroom door. “Where are you going?”

  Emma smirked. “Thought I’d go watch some TV and figure out what to make us for dinner. You stay in bed, young lady.”

  “But, I’m bored.”

  “Well, you can read your book then,” Emma answered, leaving the room with the cell phone still in her hand.

  * * *

  “But I’m not tired. I don’t wanna go to bed,” Dani whined as Emma entered the bedroom at 7:45 p.m. “Besides, I have fifteen more minutes.”

  “I know you do, but you and I also need to talk about you breaking the rules with your cell phone today.”

  “Oh.”

  Emma chuckled as she sat on the bed. Looking at Dani, she took her hands in her own. “First, I’m keeping the phone and your computer until tomorrow.”

  “But you said…”

  Emma raised an eyebrow, and Dani quieted. “Secondly, I think another reminder is in order.”

  Dani pulled her hands from Emma and tried to scoot back but was stopped by the headboard. “I don’t want a reminder. I’m good.”

  “Uh-huh, I’m sure you think that, but the fact is you used your phone when you weren’t supposed to.”

  “But I have to work. Come on Emma, I can’t just go AWOL.”

  Emma sighed. “I don’t want to keep you from your responsibilities, and if you were just checking email, I would have been okay with that, but chatting about a dress choice and—”

  “You’re not being fair,” Dani interrupted. “She’s my best friend and my right hand at Ryan’s Events. I can’t just ignore her.”

  Emma raised an eyebrow. “When you realized that she wanted to talk about something other than work, you couldn’t have told her you were busy, or that you had to go?”