Snippet #9

As the sun rose over the cliffs, he stood watching the house. He could smell her on the air. Then there she was coming out of the house heading towards the beach for her morning swim. He watched her as she moved over the terrain like she was floating. He admired her beauty as she moved towards the water. Not realizing he was moving, he found himself on the edge of the beach before he was aware of what he was doing. He stopped as his paws hit the sand, he backed around the rock. Still watching her, he saw she had not noticed him. As she entered the water, he turned and headed back up the cliff and the tree line. He watched until she came back out and headed back into the house. He turned, set off at a run, and headed back to the family estate.

When he arrived back at the estate, Michael met him at the back patio. He demanded, "Where have you been?"

Changing back as he reached the steps as he responded, "Hunting, just like you remember."

Michael shook his head as he explained, "You split off from us; where did you go?"

Daniel grinned at him as he replied, "You already know so why are you asking me?"

Michael scowled at him as he scolded, "You are not helping yourself or her. You should be looking into who is trying to frame her. Lyric was over there last night while we were out, and if you had been here this morning you would have heard the news when I did, but now I have to repeat what my wife told me."

Daniel laughed as he reminded, "Really Michael? Do you think she hasn't already yelled at me for not being here and causing her to have to repeat herself? I have checks running as we speak. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to shower before she comes back today." He moved past his brother and headed inside.

Michael watched him as he passed and went into the house. Shaking his head, he turned and headed back inside behind him. He went to his office to wait for both Daniel and Christine to arrive to have a more informative meeting, and then they would head to the police department to allow them to question Christine again. He hoped Daniel's checks would find something before they had to sit in front of the detectives again.

He walked into his old room, he looked around then moved towards the bathroom. Thinking back to when he came home, he could remember everyone Lyric said he had met except her cousin, Christine, but yet he felt he knew her even before Lyric had introduced them yesterday. Her scent was so familiar to him as though he had smelled and tasted it before.

After his shower, he dressed and went down to find Michael. Entering the family room, he saw Lyric and Olivia. Before he could say anything, Esmeralda ran up to him hugged him. As she expressed, "Hey Daniel, I have missed you so very much." She pulled back from him. She saw the look of shock on his face. He tried to laugh it off, as Grandmother moved up to say hello as well.

Grandmother hugged Daniel as she spoke and expressed, "You must forgive Ezzie, she is very excitable. It is good to see you, grandson."

He looked at Lyric as he heard her voice, "You do remember Grandmother and Esmeralda, don't you Daniel?"

He nodded his head at her but looked at Grandmother as he explained, "It is good to see you too, Grandmother. I didn't realize you both were here for a visit."

Grandmother laughed as she advised, "Of course, you didn't. We hadn't told anyone we were coming.  We wanted to see the new additions to the family. Besides, we haven't been back since the wedding. It was time we came for a visit, don't you agree?"

Daniel smiled at her as he agreed, "I guess it was time for a visit." He looked to Lyric as he asked, "Where is Michael?"

Lyric replied, "He is in his office with Christine."

He nodded his head and looked at the other women in the room and requested, "Please excuse me, ladies." He stepped back, turned, and headed for Michael's office.

When he reached the door to the office, it was partly open: as he started to knock, he felt something brush against his hand. He looked down and saw Dani. As she looked up at him he could tell she had been crying. Kneeling down, he pulled her into a hug as he inquired, "What is wrong, Dani? You don't need to worry about your mother. We are going to protect her."

Dani pulled him tighter into the hug and sobbed into his shoulder. Between sobs, she spoke, "I am not worried about Momma. I am scared you won't remember us."

Daniel pulled back from her and faced her, not really understanding what she meant he responded, "Dani, I could never forget you. Why would you think I would forget you?"

Before Dani could answer Christine stood in the doorway, knelt down, reached for Dani, and pulled her into a hug as she assured, "Honey, we will figure this out. Don't you worry." Christine kissed her on the head as she instructed, "Go sit with Grandmother for now while I talk with Daniel and Michael. I promise we will talk as soon as I am done."

Dani looked up at her as she wiped the tears from her cheeks, then at Daniel who nodded at her. She agreed, "Okay, Momma." She turned and headed down the hallway. She looked back over her shoulder at the two of them as they stood back up. She turned back and continued walking down the hallway.

Once she was out of sight, they moved inside Michael's office. Michael moved back to the seat behind his desk as Christine sat in the seat across from him and Daniel stood behind her. Michael looked at Christine then up at Daniel as he instructed, "You might want to sit down for this."

Daniel looked at him questioningly as he moved cautiously towards the chair next to Christine. Looked sideways at her then back at Michael. He demanded, "What is going on? Why is Dani worried I will forget her and her mother?"

Michael cleared his throat as he advised, "I will have to leave it to Christine to answer, but we need to figure out what to do about the whole Cyrus thing first. It seems there is an unknown woman who paid a visit to Cyrus the morning he died. Dani saw her and gave a very detailed description of the woman."

Daniel looked at Michael as he demanded, "And?"

Michael shook his head as he explained, "The description matches Shannon."

Daniel stood abruptly knocked the chair backward as he argued, "What! It isn't possible! Shannon didn't even know Cyrus. Maybe she is mistaken on what the woman looked like."

Michael nodded as he suggested, "You can ask her yourself. We will bring Dani back in, and you can ask her to tell you herself what the woman looked like. Are you sure Shannon didn't know Cyrus? You were working the case to take him down, and you even said yourself she was overly curious at times about the progress and when you would be finished with it."

Daniel glared at Michael and shook his head as he declared, "I checked her out. I pulled all kinds of favors to check, and double check, especially after Lyric put her two cents in on the whole topic. You know she didn't like her to begin with, and I took her concern to heart. I found nothing tying her to anything. She had a completely clean background. I don't want to upset Dani any more than she already is, so no, I don't want to ask her to give me a description of the woman." Leaning onto Michael's desk he barked, "What else aren't you telling me?"

Michael looked up at him then over at Christine who nodded. Michael addressed his brother, "Daniel, you should really sit back down."

Growling low as he demanded, "Michael, stop telling me to sit down and just tell me, damn it!"

Before he could answer, Dani's projection was standing next to him and made him jump. Daniel drew back from the desk and looked at her. Not waiting for anyone else to say anything, Dani said, "You are my father, not Cyrus."

Christine was up and at the door calling to Grandmother and Lyric. Dani's projection disappeared at her mother's voice. Daniel stood there frozen to the floor like someone had just poured cement on his feet. He could hear everything going on around him but couldn't find his voice to speak and his muscles just would not respond to allow him to move.

Had he heard the child right? There was no way he could be her father. He had not met Christine until yesterday. What the hell was going on? This could not be happening. He had been with Shannon for six years and had been with no one else. There was no way he had a child and did not know about it. It just was not possible.

The noise around him started to drown out the thoughts in his own head and his limbs started to shake as his knees gave way he hit the floor. He looked up and there in front of him stood Christine. She looked like an angel. He reached for her hand. As his hand reached hers, she cried out, "Daniel!"

A loud screeching was ringing in his ears. His thoughts were all running together and the noise was giving him a headache. He shook his head trying to clear the fog from his mind. The thoughts started melting away as he began to wake up. He realized it was his alarm going off. He slapped the button to stop the noise. Rubbing his eyes, he lay there trying to make sense of what the dream meant. It was too much for it to have been a dream; it was way too real.