Touching the Heart of Ace novel Chapter 62

My heart broke as Lia merely dropped her head and did not even make a peep.

"How many times have I told you not to let her do anything that would embarrass me? Why is she even here?" Janice shouted at me looking at Lia.

I ran to my baby girl and picked her up.

"Look what she did! Jesus, I cannot even get a break in my own home."

Her own home? Janice's home? So what, this was not Lia's home?

Lia shook in my hands. Her forgotten ice pop dripping on my shirt. Lia did not see Janice coming out of her room and smacked her tiny hand on Janice's new gown. The ice pop left a wet patch behind her knee and all the hell broke loose.

"Do you even know how much this cost? BRAT!"

"I will order you a new gown." I hugged my baby to my chest and patted her back. It was just a piece of cloth, for the love of god and the ice pop would not even leave a noticeable stain. She was a baby; she would make some mess. It was not like she did it on purpose.

"NEW ONE!!! This is a limited edition Marchesa gown and when would it arrive? I have this... Forget it! Better control this brat, so it won't happen another time. Fuck! My gown!"

"Stop calling her a brat, she did not see you there. You will get your new gown in an hour." I stormed off to my bedroom with my baby girl still on my chest, her ice pop dripping on my shoulders. "Davey will get you a new popsicle, sweetheart." I dropped it in trash before calling Frankie for a Marchesa gown.

The sellers brought five of colours similar to the one she was wearing and one the exact replica. All in three different sizes, so one would fit her perfectly. They also brought their tailor with them, if she wanted some last minute tweaking.

I did not get what Janice's problem was. She got her gown, right? Why was she looking at me like she wanted to murder me? I did not care. She was not going to scold my baby ever again.

If anyone was a brat here, that was Janice.

Janice finally chose one which was different from the one she had and I did not even care. The gentlemen left after the gown was fit according to her needs. Frankie would settle the bill.

"Now, sweet baby, apologize for soiling her gown."

"Sowwy." Lia mumbled her apology, her tiny lips wobbling. I turned her face back to my shoulder when Janice turned her hateful glare to my kid.

"How convenient! To have expensive things delivered to..."

"Did you not get your gown?" Janice was seething and I left her to her own drama taking my child with me.

'In my own home.' Janice had said.

That hurt me more that I let on. I gently patted my child's back as she soundlessly sniffled and dropped tears on my shoulder. I wanted to cry too. Lia did not even want another pop.

I finally had enough when Lia let out a tiny whimper. I packed a bag stuffing it with my clothes and Lia's, took another one and piled it with other essentials before calling a cab. I was not staying if my baby was not welcome here. I stayed in this stupid home with stupid stairs only because my baby was here. If she was not allowed to run around and make a little mess, then I would take her away.

I called Windy to water my plant babies and relieved her out of domestic work. Husband and wife could play house all they wanted. Lia and I would find somewhere else to live.

I blinked back my tears.

Why was Robbie so nonchalant and ignorant towards our hurt? Did he not love us?

I changed my baby and called a cab. I informed Frankie about going to the Lake Cabin. It was my baby's. She could burn it to the ground and I would only glare at her.

It was hers.

No one had no say in what mess she would make in there. I would not let anyone else discipline her. Not even her daddy!

Her daddy was really bad at that. Disciplining; I meant.

Two weeks back I had to pull out big guns on Amelia. I took out my plastic stick from the kitchen drawer. She was terrified of it, so was I.

"Will you ever do it again, Amelia Angeline Brantley?" I shook the stick in front of her, and she sniffled, not answering me and looked away.

I did not like her attitude one bit.

"I am asking you one more time. Will you throw things again?" She crossed her arms on her chest. She was scared but too ashamed to accept her mistake.

"Show me your hand." Her eyes flicked to me in surprise. I had never asked her to do that. We had never reached such a positon before. "I am telling you one more time. Show me your hand right now or you will get it on your knee."

She cried then and tried to hug me. "No... Davey... no."

I had to push her away. I could not have her to be spoiled so rotten that she hurt someone in anger. The issue was seemingly innocent but it was not. Jason and Robbie thought it was funny but they were wrong.

She did not like something Robbie said and threw her toy at him. She cried and screamed at him before pushing on his chest before stomping on the toy in anger.

The throw was not serious but that was not the point. She did it to hurt him.

I was not letting her grow up like that. She could have cried and screamed. I would have listened to her but she had absolutely no right to take it out on her daddy or anyone.

"Show me your hand Amelia." I sternly said and she was so afraid.

"Sowwy. M sowwy..." She threw her head back, wailing and tried to hug me again.

"No. You always throw things and try to hurt others when angry. Davey does not like that. Now show me your hand. You are going to get it."

"Peeese. Baby sowwy. Lilil baby no do ageen. No ageen. Peeese... Davey... Peese."

Don't cry, Ace. Don't cry. This is needed. So my baby Lia will grow up beautifully. If I do not do it now, someone might stand on their moral pedestal and point their fingers at her. They will never try to help; they will only hurt her more. I can't have that. I love her so much.

"I am angry now. You, threw your toy even when I asked you not to, several times. So no toy for you." I picked the toy telephone from her basket and took it with me.

I glared and waved the plastic stick again when she yanked on my pants crying. "No ageen. DAVEY... MINE!!! DAVEY. Not YOUS. MINE."

That was how Robbie found us. Lia and I barely fought. She was a good kid. She really was. But sometimes, she had these episodes and it would normally take an angry glare from me to make her stop.

She was growing and she was pushing her limits, which was healthy for her to do. But if I did not set new boundaries, she would turn into a bully, only to hurt herself when she grew up as a girl and... a woman one day.

I ignored her cries, pleas and demands and dropped the toy in the upper drawer where she could not reach and locked it.

"Go with Daddy, Amelia."

She stopped crying and her eyes widened in surprise. "No..."

"Yes. I am angry now. You don't listen to me. So go with Daddy now."

"Sowwy. Baby no nee toy. Davey, baby sowwy."

I sighed because dammit, my heart was breaking and I was going to cry too. I just did not want her to see it. "I know you are. You are a good baby, Amelia. But Davey does not like it when you don't listen to me. So, go with Daddy."

I looked at Robbie and saw him trying very hard not to laugh out loud. The bastard knew I was going to cry too.

Asshole.

He came and picked her up making her scream and cry until I glared again. I was meaning business. We both needed a cool off time.

She popped her thumb in her mouth and cried but let her daddy take her away. Robbie would clean her up and maybe even sing her some songs to calm her down.

I glared at the plastic stick I had in my hand. I hated that thing, as much as Lia did. I hated it because Lia was afraid of it. It would not hurt her if I accidently put too much force behind my swing. Jason and I had tested.

I did not want to really hurt her if she went too much out of line. I wanted her to feel a bit of a pain so she would not do anything disastrous if I could not manage her with my glare or my words.

I really prayed to all Gods that the time would never come for me to smack her with stupid thing.

I dropped 'it' in its drawer and wrote down this incident in My Baby's Activities journal.

I rubbed my face trying to erase the image of Lia crying from my mind. I tried watching T.V but I did not even know what I watched. Robbie came in after a few minutes and whisked me to his office and pulled me to his lap.

When his warm hand touched my back, I started crying like Lia did. "I... I hate it Daddy."

"I know."

I wailed harder. "S... she ca.. can't do things like that."

"Mmm... You are right."

"I don't want to discipline her ever again, Daddy."

I dropped my head on his chest and he tried to calm me down. But my baby's crying face kept on popping in my mind and I couldn't.

"Maybe I try to discipline her next time."

"You are worse than me. She will blink and you will start throwing things with her." I was not kidding.

He laughed hard, making me chuckle. "I am not that bad, Angel. But... what you said is a good idea. How about next time she throws away things, I will throw it away in trash and if she stomps on it, I stomp on it too and destroy it in front of her. Maybe break it part by part."

I blinked.

"Seeing her destroyed stuff will make a greater impact on her. And you will never have to show her that stick ever."

He was serious.

Poor destroyed mangled toys in front of my baby girl. Her frightened poor soul.

"Robbie."

"Yes, baby?"

"You are never disciplining our kid. Hell, no. I don't mind crying but you stay away."

"But, it is a good idea."

"Nope. Nope. Uh huh. Nope."

Yeah, he did not get what the big deal was about. I shivered ever seeing something destroyed that brutally in front of me.

He was a real demon, wasn't he?

But I loved him. It was okay, I could always steer him to less demonic actions.

He held Lia's tiny hands when she came to me to properly apologize after her nap. We cuddled, kissed and played until we both forgave each other for our disagreement. After all it was our home, we were bound to drive each other crazy once in a while.

Now, sitting on this cab, we were leaving 'our' home, because someone else had claimed it as hers. Would Robbie even notice we had left?

I wanted to have my own pity party and tell he was not coming for us. But he would and I knew it.

The moment he finds about our absence he was going to turn the hell upside down for us. But that did not mean I did not want to make a scenario in my mind about him forgetting about us and cry.

I was crazy, okay?

I wiped away my tears and ignored the cab driver's worried glances.

I called Mr. Sullivan. "Uncle Sull." I sniffled.

"Baby Trus, boy? Are you okay, bud? Why are you crying?"

"Nothing, really. I am free now. Do you wanna do that paper signing today? I will be at our Lake Cabin in two hours."

"Sure, son. If that is what you want. Anything else?"

"Can we change the name of that place to Lia's Cabin?"

"We can do anything you want? Did you fight with Robert?" Why was the people in my life so perceptive?

"Maybe."

"I will make all arrangements. How many days are you planning to stay? We need to stock up."

I pouted. Robbie would take us back in a day max. Now I felt like a child throwing a tantrum. I should have waited for him at home and told him what had happened. But I was angry.

Whatever.

He knew I was a spoiled brat and yet he chose to be with me, so it was all his fault.

"A day." I grumbled and whined when Uncle Sull laughed mocking me.

"Priceless. I will see you there, kid."

Huff!

Mr. Sullivan and Frankie was waiting for us when we reached there and a new pink board was hanging in front of our cabins.

'Baby Lia's Little Cabin.'

Awww. That was so cute. I smiled down at my sleeping baby. Dried tears made her cheeks sticky. Yet I kissed her, because she was my sweet baby.

She was so precious and someone called her a brat! Not just someone... No someone. Janice was not her mom. She never was and I was done hoping for a healthy and happy relationship with her.

Lia was mine until my baby told me otherwise.

Frankie lovingly rubbed my head. "Does Robert know you are here, young master?"

I nodded a 'no' and Frankie smiled at me in understanding.

"At least Baby Trus is keeping our tradition going, isn't that right Frank? I still remember Claire coming to this cabin all angry and pouting holding Baby Trus."

"Which tradition are you taking about?"

"Nothing, son. You put the baby down the crib. We have arranged everything." Frankie shooed me away.

I kept on checking the clock calculating the time when Robbie would come for us. Frankie and Uncle Sull left after the signing of the papers, and all the properties were officially handed over to me.

I was not yet a billionaire but close. If I started my own company with Jason, I thought we could manage that in a couple of years. But, if it took my attention from Lia, we should wait for a few years too. It was not like she needed more money right at this moment; her daddy was a billionaire.

As expected, the calls kept on coming after 3.30 pm and I ignored them, because dammit I was still hurt.

It was all his fault.

But...

No, it was Robbie's fault. I crossed my arms and went to play with Lia. She was happy here. This was how she should be. Happy and running around.

That stupid beach house limited my baby's movements. She had to wait for one of us to be free because it was not safe for her to be near the sea without adult supervision.

The lake was quite far away from our cabin and she had to open the fence to leave, which she was too young to do.

"DAVEY..." My baby screamed for me and I smiled noticing her drawing on the soil.

"That is really beautiful, my Baby Angel. What did you draw?"

She tried to make me understand but I was too stupid to follow her amazingly creative head and I simply kept on nodding.

The firm knock came at 6 pm and it took everything in me not to jump around like a lost puppy. I smoothed down my shirt and opened the door with a glare.

"Baby..."

I would not fall for his charms. Why was he here? Should he not play house with this wife? After all it was her house, right?

'In my own home.'

Yuck!

Who wanted that house anyways! I did not. Lia did not either. I had enough money to buy her all the beach houses she ever wanted without even touching her daddy's account.

"Angel. Please." He had a flower in his hand. "Where is our baby?"

Oh, now he cared about her!

I did not reply to that either. "Love... Come on. Talk to me. What did I do?"

He did nothing! And that was the problem!

"Whatever I did, I am sorry. Come home now."

HOME!!! Whose home? Not Lia's. Definitely not mine. I pushed his hand away when he touched my butt making him sigh.

"Baby..."

I had to cook. Lia would be hungry soon. I noticed I might be making a little too much of notice with pots and pans. Uggghhhh!

Stop being so annoying Ace.

"You are angry."

It was not my fault I wanted to throw the sauce pan on his stupid head. If I did not have a baby who imitated everything I did and said, I would have screamed, NO SHIT, SHERLOCK!

"Okay... very angry." Robbie raised his hands in surrender when he saw my glare and I felt bad because he honestly had no idea what happened.

But wasn't he supposed to know? I knew he had no way of knowing without my telling him anything.

I was being a brat but I could not help it. I was hurt and this man who I loved with whole my heart was ignorant about my pain. About his child's pain.

He sat on the kitchen stool and watched me cooking. "Baby..."

I pushed past him when he looped his hand on my waist when I was near him. I went in search of my kid and saw her talking to her toys about something that made no sense to me. "My darling baby, what are you doing?"

"Sweeping babes." She giggled as she patted her baby monkey plushy on its back.

"Aww... Are you singing a lullaby?"

"Uh uh..."

"Are you not hungry now? Davey made nuggets."

Just like that she dropped her baby off her shoulder and jumped on mine to pick her up. I kissed her chubby cheek and we went to the dining room.

"DADDY..." She screamed just in my ear and I winced; my brain vibrating.

"At least someone is happy to see me." He whispered before picking his baby up and putting her on his lap. "Hey Baby Angel, happy to see Daddy?"

"LUB YOU!!!"

"Not what I asked, but okay. I take it as happy."

Father of the year!

He still refused to tell her that he loved him but Lia did not mind. She barely waited for his response before starting to chat like long lost friends.

I thought she missed him. Lia and I never went anywhere without Daddy, but she was so out of it to ask where he was when we left... no... not our home.

Lia was kissing her daddy's cheeks and rambling on and on about her toys; Robbie humming at all the accurate pauses. I turned around to plate our dinner and Lia revealed a secret.

I was so going to be disappointed when she learned that I could still hear her, when I turned my face away from her.

God!

That kind of innocence melted my heart.

"Davey angee."

"Really?"

"Uh uh..."

"At daddy?"

"Yes."

"What did I do?"

I peeked through my shoulder and noticed her adorable frown.

"Wha di you do?" She asked him back and they both looked at me. I kept on plating pretending not to notice.

"DAVEY, WHA DI DADDY DO?" Lia screamed so I could hear her properly because you know, I was facing away from her.

I smiled hard to my chest.

Dammit!

That was so adorable and I wanted to be angry for some more time. I put the plates in front of them. "He did not eat his veggies."

"Daddy no eaa veggie." Lia, oh so kindly passed the message.

"Yes, baby love. I heard him." Robbie kissed her tiny head before scooping up her dinner and fed her. She hummed some made up songs, bobbing her right and left, opening her mouth to help her daddy feed her.

So spoiled.

I leaned in and kissed her cheek. I finally pulled her to my own lap, so Daddy could eat. He might have skipped his lunch on his hurry to come here.

Not going to feel guilty. Not going to...

I sighed and served him some more. I did not acknowledge the pain in my heart seeing him scarf down the dinner. He was really hungry.

Ace, you have no heart.

I noticed the beautiful white tulip on our dining table and I put it in a vase. I had to remember to take it with me next day.

"I told the flower girl that my baby ran away and she told me this was more appropriate than a red rose." I merely glanced at him and adjusted Lia on my hip. She was getting a lot wiggly lately.

"Is it working?" Robbie asked in his romantic voice and I did not reply. But when he pulled me to his lap, I did not fight him. I let him feed me a bit of his dinner too. I missed him so much though it was all his fault. "Mm... the girl is right."

"You eat. You are hungry." I tried to get out of his lap but he begged me to stay. So I sat there, Lia still comfortable in mine.

Weren't we a family?

I jumped out of his lap when I saw 'her' call coming in. And I would be lying if I said it did not make me happy to see him dropping that call and switching it off.

But that made me a brat again.

I ignored him and he kept on coming to me, making me feel special and all.

When he tried put Lia in her crib, I plucked her off him and lied on the bed with her on my chest. "Baby, at least tell me what is wrong."

"Shhh..."

I slowly lowered her next to me and patted her chest. Lia was not asleep yet. She would close her eyes and lie down like that but she needed sometime before she truly falls asleep. But I did shift a little pulling her closer for her daddy to lie down too.

I swatted his naughty hand which came for my waist, pretending to be innocent and tried to pat Lia. I took his hand away from Lia too.

But even when she fell asleep and the time got too late, we both kept staring at each other under the golden hue of our nightlight. Robbie sat up and took Lia from my hands and placed her close to the wall next to me, before lying on top of my body.

"What is it?"

"Nothing." I whispered back.

"Come back home."

I pushed on his chest, but he was so heavy even with him not putting all of his weight on me by the elbows on either sides of my head.

"Love..." He gently thrusted his lower part onto mine to get his attention.

"Stop being a pervert with our kid next to us."

"I am not going anywhere without you two. What happened to make you leave abruptly?"

"Nothing."

"You would not leave like that without scratching my face."

I blushed because he was true. Every time we fought I would bite, scratch and pinch my man before making a scene and stomp out. Then he would run after me and throw me over his shoulder, may be even spank my butt for wiggling too much until our baby girl ask 'wha a we paying' and climb on top of us.

Then I would forget what I was angry about.

But those were different because it was mostly Robbie being insensitive or him being so hard headed or when he went overly jealous of someone who might have smiled at me when went shopping.

This was on another level. Someone who stayed at my heaven, asked my kid to behave.

I felt him kissing my cheek. "Baby..." I scowled and he kissed my eyebrows. I frowned and he kissed my forehead. I pouted and he kissed my lips. "We can fight at our home tomorrow."

He unbuttoned two top buttons of my night shirt and made himself comfortable on my chest. He fell asleep like that and I wanted him to fall asleep like that for rest of our lives. Did this stupid idiot know that? Well, he should. Why else would I lie under him like a soft plushy?