Free Daisy's Back in Town by Rachel Gibson Page B

Daisy's mother and Lily sat across the table from her and didn't seem to mind that Pippen was making a disgusting mess.
    "He's a rat bastard!" Lily was telling her, referring, of course, to her soon to be ex-husband, The Rat Bastard Ronald Darlington. "A few months before he ran off with his jailbait girlfriend, he took all the money out of our accounts and put it somewhere."

    Louella nodded her head sadly. "Probably in Mexico." Growing up, if either had uttered the word "bastard" at the dinner table, they'd have been sent from the room.
    "What is your attorney doing about that?" Daisy asked
    "There isn't a lot he can do. We can prove the money was in the account, but not where it went. The judge can order him to give me half, but that doesn't mean he will. And for years, Ronnie was paid under the table in order to avoid paying the IRS, so it looks like he only makes twenty thousand a year instead of seventy-five." Lily sliced a piece of meat with a vengeance. Even though they were sisters and had grown up together, they weren't very close. Growing up, they'd mostly fought or ignored each other. Lily had been in middle school when Daisy had moved away, and they'd never really maintained a relationship after that. Losing Steven had made her realize how important her family was to her. She needed to work on her relationship with her sister.
    "He said that if I tell the IRS about it," Lily continued, "he'll fight for custody of Pippen. What can I do?"
    When both her mother and Lily stared at her, Daisy realized it wasn't a rhetorical question. There were dark circles under Lily's eyes as if she hadn't had a good night's sleep in a long time. Her blond hair was cut short and framed her pretty face with soft curls, but at the moment, she looked anything but soft. No, she looked scared as hell. "You're asking me? How should I know?"
    "Darien Monroe is a lawyer," her mother provided.
    "Steven's father is retired and living in Arizona. And besides, he was a criminal defense attorney; Steven designed computer software programs. I know nothing about the family courts." She recognized the fear in Lily's blue eyes. It was the fear of being suddenly alone with the responsibility of raising a child. But unlike Daisy, Lily wasn't financially secure, nor did she have a career to fall back on. Not that Daisy's career had ever provided a huge income, but she was a good photographer and had connections. If she had to support herself and Nathan on her income alone, she could. Lily had been a stay-home wife and a mom, which was admirable but weren't marketable skills. She was terrified. "HI by to think up something," Daisy said, although she had troubles of her own and was only here for a week now.
    Lily smiled, 'Thanks, Daisy."
    "I ran into Darma Joe Henderson, the other day," her mother said as she dug into her okra, Lily's worries apparently solved for the moment.. "You girls remember Darma Joe. She used to work at the Trusty Hardware across from the Wild Coyote. Her son Buck had that car accident a few years back, and they had to amputate his leg below the knee. Well, he has a daughter who sings with the church choir. You girls might have noticed her today." Louella paused to take a bite before launching into, "She kinda looks like Buck, bless her heart, but she has such a nice voice and a kind personality. She was dating the boy... oh, what was his name? I think it started with a G. George or Geoff or something like that. Anyway..."
    Daisy slid her gaze from her mother to her sister. Lily's eyes were starting to glaze over and her head was drifting back. Things really hadn't changed very much since she'd been gone. She knew it would be useless to ask her mother to get to the point, because she already knew there wasn't a point and there never was going to be one.
    Daisy started to laugh. Lily's eyes refocused and she looked at Daisy. She laughed too. Pippen threw his coonskin cap on the floor and broke in giggles as if he knew the joke. He