Pushing Up Daisies Read Online Free PDF Page B

years before.
    Daisy paced, cradling the phone, waiting for an answer. But when someone picked up, she hung up. Making the call was going to be harder than she thought. Daisy set the phone down on Jasper’s desk and wiped her damp palms on her jeans. She grabbed the phone and dialed again.
    “Hello,” a woman answered.
    “Hello, may I speak with Mr. or Mrs. Stevens, please?” Daisy managed.
    “This is Mrs. Stevens,” Jasper’s mother said sadly.
    “Hi, Mrs. Stevens, this is Daisy—”
    “Oh, Daisy. I remember Jasper mentioning your name,” Mrs. Stevens said, sniffling. “You’re the one that my baby…I mean, Jasper, worked with, right? I guess you’re calling about the funeral.”
    “Yes, but Jasper and I never—”
    “Well…” Mrs. Stevens cleared her throat and blew her nose. “I’m sorry. I just haven’t been able to stop crying since the hospital called and told me that my baby was gone. Lord, rest his soul…the service is going to be here, in Philadelphia, at Greater Baptist. Thursday, at two. You all are welcome and wanted. Please thank everyone in your office for the beautiful flowers that Jasper’s wife and I received.”
    “Excuse me, Mrs. Stevens. Did you say Jasper’s wife? ”
    “Yes. Jasper’s wife, Camille—”
    Daisy hung up.
    She slumped over as grief turned to anger. She’d been used and misled. She had loved a man who had obviously loved someone else. She’d spent so much time loving him that she hadn’t loved herself, had invested so much of herself in him that she’d neglected her own needs, beliefs, and wants. “I knew something was wrong, but I refused to see,” she mumbled.
    With a scream, she threw the phone at the wall and ran out of the room. She wanted to disappear, although she was already clearly invisible to those outside of her and Jasper’s immediate circle. His mother didn’t know her, and neither did his coworkers. I didn’t receive flowers, or even a sympathy card. People don’t send things to no one. I was Jasper’s no one.
    Daisy made her way to the guest room, which no one was allowed to enter. She flung the closet door open and dropped to her knees. She opened the small safe and removed the troubling papers. Her daughter’s birth certificate. She rocked back and forth, cradling the document as if it were a baby—the baby she’d given up eight years before.
    When she’d visited her parents in California, Daisy had spent so many afternoons watching her from a distance, hearing her call someone else Mom. Lalani would never know Daisy was her mother, but she’d always be her baby.
    Daisy collapsed onto her side and curled up in a fetal position. She held her stomach as if someone had kicked her. She’d lost a part of herself because she’d loved too hard. I hid my baby from you, you bastard. All these years I wanted to go back and get her, and I didn’t because I didn’t want to lose you.
    Ming Li ran into the room with Gigi and Marcus trailing right behind. “What’s wrong?”
    Gigi sat on the floor beside her. “What happened, Daisy?”
    Daisy stared into Gigi’s eyes for truth. “You didn’t know—tell me you didn’t.”
    “Know what?”
    Daisy shot Marcus an evil look. “You knew, Marcus. Didn’t you?”
    Marcus held up his hands.
    “What, Marcus? What’s Daisy talking about?” Gigi looked from Marcus to Daisy. “Daisy, tell me.”
    Marcus lowered his head. “I wanted to tell you. I just couldn’t…”
    Daisy jumped up. “Why? Why couldn’t you tell me? You were my friend too, Marcus. You mean to tell me that you sat in my home, ate my food, and had the nerve to act concerned about me—about Jay—when all along you were lying to me? You know damn well you should’ve told me that Jasper was married!”
    “Married?” Gigi and Ming Li echoed in unison.
    “Yes, married. Can you believe it?” Daisy said, never taking her eyes off Marcus. “Leave, Marcus. Just leave.”
    Marcus turned away, then paused in the