Doctored (41 page)

“I’ll move up there,” she clarified, the joy in her voice was obvious.

“You will?” she asked, incredulous, and then to be sure, pinching herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.  The pain told her this wasn’t a daydream.

Madison nodded as though Deanna could see her.  “Yes, I am going to put in my two weeks’ notice at the hospital tomorrow and I’m going to call a realtor too.”

Deanna blinked.  This couldn’t be true…It was too good to be true.

At the silence, Madison got a little nervous.  “Is that okay?”  Had she assumed too much?

“Absolutely!  Do we have to wait two weeks to see each other?  Have you said anything to the kids?”  She began to get excited as her mind began to race with ideas.

Madison smiled again at the enthusiasm she could hear in Deanna’s voice.  “We better not wait that long.  I might explode,” she told her.

“Explode?” she wondered at the phrasing.

Her voice lowered with longing.  “I want you,” she whispered.  She knew the kids were asleep, but still.

“I can’t wait to see you again,” she admitted happily as her mind raced with plans.

“Um, the kids brought up an interesting point or two,” she mentioned.

Feeling a bit of trepidation, she asked anyway, “Like what?”  She was sure they could work out any glitch, she was still excited.

“Fluffy and Spot need to meet,” she smiled as she said it, the names seeming incongruous to her at the moment.  How unoriginal they were.

Deanna rolled her eyes as she laid back on the couch.  She wished she had a phone cord to twirl through her fingers, instead she reached up and began to touch her fingertips to her eyebrows and then her eyelashes in a gesture of comfort.  “I’m sure they’ll be fine,” she began and then thought better of it, “or they’ll adjust.”

“Your cat is as big as my dog,” the redhead pointed out.

“But he’s just a big kitten,” she tried to defend him.

“Where was he today?” she wondered.

“Somehow he got locked in the rec room.  I didn’t find him until Roman got home.”  She was loving this, talking about simple things.  She was so happy she could burst…explode.

“That leads me to another problem that the kids mentioned.”

“Oh?” she hoped it was as simple as the last.

“Are the boys going to share a room or…?”

Deanna thought for only a second before answering, “There is room for everyone to have their own.”

“You don’t want to have a guest room or an office?”

“I have the den, and we can put a pullout bed in there or in the rec room for any guests.  The kids should have their own space.”

Madison was loving how easy this was sounding.  She felt a tiny curl of fear in her stomach, but pushed it down, blaming it on nerves.  She wouldn’t allow any doubts to ruin how happy she was.  She could hear the joy in Deanna’s voice too.

“You, of course, will share my room…I’ll make room in my dresser,” she teased and then got serious.  “Are your children ready for that?” she worried.

“Actually I was asked about that…” she teased, smiling as she did so.

“What’d they ask?” she worried…kids could be tricky.  They either were clueless or could put a real monkey wrench in the works.

Madison told her and they shared a laugh at how easy they accepted things. 

“Hurray for Sam Ryan and his two dads!” Deanna put in.

She then went on to tell her what her mother had said.

“Is that going to be hard?”

“Yes, but you know what?”

“What?” she asked quickly, looking to deal with any problems before they became insurmountable.

“It’s time I faced up to my fears—the gossip, whatever—and did things that make me happy.  I realized that today…you make me happy,” she told her shyly.

“Thank you,” she answered simply, humbled by the declaration.  Trying to lighten up the mood she asked, “When is your next two days off?”

“I actually have two half days and then two whole days off before I work two weeks solid.  Two of the nurses are pregnant and out on maternity leave at the same time.  It’s screwing up the schedule.  They won’t be happy when I give my two weeks’ notice.”

“Do you want to give them more?”  She didn’t want to hear a yes to that question, but she had to be fair.

Madison was already shaking her head.  “No, I want to be with you, Deanna.  I’ve cost us both with my indecision and worries.  I can’t wait to begin our life together.”

“Why don’t you pack your van with whatever you want to start moving and bring it up with you?  We’ll start putting things away piece by piece and then move you up here completely when you are ready.  Do you want to wait until you sell the house?”

“What about the kids’ school?  If I come up on my days off, they are in school this week.”

“Well, they will have to miss some, won’t they?  Besides, we need to get them enrolled up here.”

“I don’t know if I can afford…” she began.

“Babe, I was serious about taking care of you.”

“I don’t want to be kept…”

“You won’t.  You make me happy.  You make me complete.  You’re bringing your family,
our
family, to make it complete.  Believe me when I say I want to do this.”

Madison still had some concerns, but thought she should enjoy what she had without ruining it before it began.  It was happening so fast, but she was excited about it.  They discussed things for a while before the long drive and the stress of the day caught up with her.  She was yawning so much she had to get off the phone.  They reluctantly hung up the phone, promising to text or call first thing in the morning.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Madison was riding high as she went into work.  The van had trouble starting that morning, but even with that annoyance she was in a great mood.  Bonnie commented on it, but she just told her she’d had a great day off.  Speculation began by ten in the morning that she had a new boyfriend.  Madison didn’t tell anyone and wouldn’t speak of it, but she’d made an appointment with her supervisor and gave her two weeks’ notice.

“We’ll miss you around here.  You’ve done excellent work,” she was told.  Madison could tell she wanted to know why she was quitting, but couldn’t ask and was hoping that she’d volunteer the information.  She held her tongue.

On her lunch break, she called a realtor whose signs she’d seen in the neighborhood.  She wanted to list her own small house and made arrangements to meet him after work for a tour of the house, and possibly to sign a contract to sell the place.  She also texted Deanna on her breaks, being careful to only do it when no one was around to see the smile on her face.  She felt radiant and, for the first time in a long time, she admitted to herself that she was happy.

That night, she met the kids at the house.  She got home from work before them due to the half day off.  She would only be working one week of the two solid weeks she was supposed to, and her supervisor wasn’t very happy about that.  Still, she understood Madison was moving on, even if she didn’t know where, what, or who to.  Out of guilt, loyalty, she didn’t know what, Madison agreed to the two solid weeks.

“Let’s pick up this place,” she sighed as she saw the mess the dog had made in the kitchen with the newspaper.  She wondered if the dog just did it out of boredom and reminded herself to pick up chew toys at the store.  Scott hadn’t brought any of the dog’s toys over and had only taken the kids a few times since he got out.  She explained to the kids about selling the house and they got to work with gusto.  It was fairly presentable before the realtor got there.

The man who showed up was a pleasant person and very personable.  Madison thought he must have to be, being in the real estate business.  She was surprised that property values had gone up and she might get a decent price for the place.  She’d no longer have a mortgage and she was grateful Scott hadn’t talked her into taking out that second mortgage as it would have worked against her now.  Still, she was sad to see the place go as she signed the papers to put it on the market.  The realtor agreed to have a sign up the next day and to put it onto the computer as soon as they took some pictures.  Since she had a half day off the next day too, he would come over right after she got off work; it would work out well for them both.  She’d just shown him out of the house and gone to tell the excited kids when the doorbell rang again.  She thought the realtor had forgotten something and answered the door with a smile.  That faded immediately when she saw Scott on the doorstep.

“That your new boyfriend leaving?” he pointed with his thumb at the new Cadillac that had just driven away.  “Got money, does he?” 

“No, that is not my boyfriend,” she explained and then resented that she had to explain at all.  Who she had over at her house was none of Scott’s business.  “What do you want?”

“I came to see my kids.  Isn’t that obvious?” he asked with a tone and tried to enter the house.

“I thought we agreed you were going to call before coming over?” she asked.

“Well, I forgot.  And here he is,” he said as the dog spotted him and came leaping through the living room, his tail going wildly, knocking things off low tables.  He quickly got down so he could roughhouse with the shaggy beast.

Madison saw the mess the dog was making again and sighed wearily.  She didn’t know what was worse: the kids, the dog, or Scott. 

“Daddy!” Chloe called when she spotted Scott crouching down to greet the dog.

“Daddy!” Conor echoed as he heard his sister and came running.

Looking over the heads of the kids, Scott was surprised to see the anger in Madison’s eyes.  She pointed at the dog and raised a questioning eyebrow.  He quickly looked away, but not before she saw the guilty look on his face.  She knew then he had taken advantage of her.  He was going to leave the dog with her so he didn’t have the responsibility anymore.

“How about we go out for an ice cream?” he asked to a chorus of ‘yes’ from the children.

“I’m sorry, we haven’t eaten dinner yet and it’s not convenient,” Madison told him icily.  She also wanted to caution the children against telling him anything about their plans…not yet, not now.  She didn’t need the headache that would cause and she hadn’t thought about how to tell him yet.

“Well, missing dinner won’t hurt this one time,” he said jovially, always the good guy, always the cool dad.

“No, Scott.  They aren’t going.”  She hated having to be the bad guy, but he had done this throughout their marriage and she wasn’t going to be tricked or taken advantage of.  “You really should have called before coming over.  We already have plans.”

“What plans?” he asked, getting annoyed with her.

“That’s really none of your concern.  You should have called first,” she told him again.

“They’re my kids too and I’d like to take them out,” he told her ominously.

“Of course.  Please call first and we can discuss it when it’s convenient.”  If she was agreeable, he had nothing to argue about.

“What?  I can’t take them out now?”

She shook her head.  “No, I told you, we already have plans.”

“But I wanted…” he began, but she cut him off.  She could see the kids wanted to chime in and she didn’t want that.  They might say something she would regret.  She’d slightly shaken her head at Chloe and Scott saw that.  He was getting angrier, thinking there was some secret they might be keeping from him.

“I understand that,” she said kindly, not raising her voice, “but you didn’t call and we were just about to go out.”

“We were?” Conor put in.

“See?  He didn’t know about it.  You’re making this up.  Or are you going out with the boyfriend?” he pointed with his thumb again, to where the Cadillac had disappeared.

“That was not my boyfriend and it is none of your business what we are doing,” she was trying not to let the anger she was feeling come to the surface.  If she lost it, he would win.

“Well, I want…” he began again.

“Scott,” she said firmly, “it’s not convenient.  You’ll have them in a few days per our agreement, but I really have to go.  If you’ll excuse me?” she said, holding the door.

He wasn’t that obtuse and got the hint.  He wasn’t happy about it.  He’d wanted to try to talk to her about helping him with his fines once again.  He’d gotten another job, but it didn’t pay as much as his previous job.  Sighing deeply, he got up from his crouched position, slipped the dog off his lap, and ruffled Conor’s hair.  “Sorry, big guy.  Mommy won’t let you go this time, but we’ll make it up another time, okay?” he told him, firmly putting the blame on Madison.

Madison was ready to take him on, but not tonight, not now.  She buried her anger deep as she let him out of the house.  She leaned against the door with a sigh of relief.

“Where are we going?” Conor asked.

“What?” she turned her head to look down.

“You said we were going out to Daddy.”

Knowing she’d been caught in a lie, she thought quickly.  “We have to go out and get boxes if we are going to start packing to move.”

Both kids got excited and ran to get their jackets.  They were soon off to the store to see what boxes they could scavenge.  That evening they began sorting things.  By the time she was home from work after her second half day off, the sign was up in their yard offering the house for sale, and they had filled the minivan with as much as it would hold and still leave room for them all to ride.  Deanna was expecting them and despite the late evening traffic they were sure to encounter, Madison set out.  The van sputtered a few times and she worried about it making all the way up to Santa Barbara.  The start and stop traffic of the 405 didn’t help things and the 101 was just as bad.  When they got to Ventura it sputtered out.  She was hard put to pull it to the side of the highway with no power steering.  She tried to start it a couple of times, but it wouldn’t and she started to cry.  It was late, it was dark, and she was tired and stressed.  She called Deanna to explain and within an hour a flatbed truck was there to pick up the van.  Deanna arrived too, to gather her in her arms and comfort her.