by Tiana Cole
“Is anything wrong?” The supervisor, Sarah Bishop, was on duty. “I heard voices. Nurse? Are you alright?”
“I'm not sure,” the nurse replied, looking from Sarah back to Christopher. “This guy just had a baby and was looking for Madison. I told him she's in tomorrow, but that isn't good enough.”
“I'm sorry,” Christopher said, raising both hands in submission. “Madison and I go back a long way. I didn't get a chance to speak to her. I know she's off duty, but what I have to say to her is of the utmost importance. I... look, is there any way you could let me have her address?”
“Absolutely not,” Sarah said. “It's against hospital policy. You can either come back tomorrow, or I can pass on a message.”
Christopher's shoulders dropped. He let out a deep sigh. It was not completely hopeless. He'd been without her for months. Another day wouldn't hurt. But who was the guy who'd driven Madison home? Did she already find someone new? His heart beat fast in his chest.
“If, if you could send her a message, please. Right now. That would be great. Just tell her that Christopher needs to speak to her urgently. She can call me any time. Otherwise, I'll be here tomorrow. I really, really need to speak to her. What I have to say is just that important.”
“I understand,” Sarah said. “I'll get a message to her right away.”
Christopher turned slowly to make his way back to Ailsa. When he got to her room, she was fast asleep. He looked into Daniel's crib. He was also sound asleep.
Very slowly, Christopher put on his jacket and coat. He caught a taxi home, but did not sleep all night. He was waiting for Madison to call.
Chapter 17
At the hospital the next day, Christopher dropped off a bag for Ailsa.
“Well?” she said, “How did it go with Madison?”
“I'd just missed her. I wanted to go after her, but they can't give me her address. But she'll be here this afternoon.”
“That's good. They say I can go home this afternoon.”
“Great.”
“I called my mom. I told her that you and I are divorcing. She was so happy.”
“Really? So isn't she afraid of your father's reaction and how he will treat you?”
“Well, he will most definitely write me out of his will. But I knew that would happen. I'm going to hire a private detective, and I've decided I'm going to look for Daniel's father.”
“That's amazing.”
“Well, let's pray they both take us back.”
Later that afternoon, Ailsa's mother had come to collect her and Daniel, but still there was no sign of Madison. Christopher asked at the nurses' station.
“I'm sorry, sir, but Madison is not at all well today. She won't be coming in,” a nurse with very pink cheeks told him.
“But did she say when she'd be back? Is it serious?” he asked.
“I'm sorry but...”
“You're not allowed to say,” he replied. “Right, I get it. Could I please speak to the lady in that office?” Christopher was loud again. Sarah Bishop came out of her office while the nurse with pink cheeks blushed even more and didn't know what to say to Christopher.
“I'll handle this, nurse,” Sarah said, and stood aside with her office door open. “Please come this way, Mr. Knight.”
Christopher entered the supervisor's office and sat down. “What can you tell me about Madison? Is she all right?”
“Madison is fine. She couldn't face seeing you today. And if you had any sense, you'd leave her be. She's been through a lot. She comes in here and she works hard. Never complains. She's sorting her life out, but you being here only complicates things. Your wife has gone home. Your baby is at home. So please, you take yourself home, Mr. Knight, and stop bothering Madison.”
“I understand. And I don't want to bother her. I know she may have a boyfriend already and she might not want me back. But I want you to please tell her I love her. I made the biggest mistake of my life when I let her go. I gave her up because I thought I needed to keep my career going if there was ever a chance that she and I would be together in the future.”
“I see,” Sarah crossed her arms on the table.
“But I was wrong,” Christopher said. “Completely, hugely, ridiculously wrong. How I thought that we could magically come together, that she would even wait for me in the remote chance that I'd be free of the promise I'd made, well... I'm a bigger fool than I thought I could be. Look, I don't want to take up any more of your time.
All I need for you to say to her is that she has every right to avoid me. But the truth is, Ailsa and I are divorcing. I don't know where I'll be, but she'll have my cell number and if she ever needs me, if I can help her in any way, shape, or form, all she has to do is pick up the phone.”
Christopher got up and went over to the door and opened it.
“I know I don't deserve her,” he said. “She was too good for me. Always was. I'm just so sorry. About everything.”
He turned and left. He walked out of the hospital and kept on walking.
Christopher couldn't go back home to Ailsa. He'd have to find somewhere else to stay. He caught a taxi to his office. He knew his days there were limited. The second Jack Baverstock knew of his daughter's plans to divorce Christopher, his career was as good as washed up. Christopher had wished that somehow, Jack Baverstock would have a heart; let him keep his business. But he knew better.
He got into his office and saw the grave look on his secretary's face, and he knew that Baverstock had put the wheels in motion to bring him down.
“I don't understand these calls we keep getting, Mr. Knight,” Christopher's secretary said, as he arrived. “People keep wanting to terminate their contracts and pull out of all their deals. If this keeps up, Knight Industries will be finished by the end of the day.”
“It's all right, Betty,” he said. “The truth is, we probably will all be going home today. I'm finished.” He hovered at his office door as his secretary looked at him with her mouth wide open, the phones ringing off the hook. “But, don't worry. I'll try to make sure that a decent enough severance pay is awarded to all the staff. I want you to put me through to personnel and then I want you to contact finance and get them to start calling in all the debts they can. Got that?”
“Yes, Mr. Knight. Is that really it? We're done?”
“It looks that way, Betty.”
He went into his office and closed the door.
***
Just one month later, Christopher was all alone in the office. It had been stripped bare. All he had left was his desk and chair. The staff had all left their jobs and the phone lines were down. Christopher sat with his chair facing the window. His cell rang.
“Hey you,” he sighed into the mouthpiece. “How's my favorite little boy?”
“Daniel is just fine,” Ailsa said. “I wanted to know how you are.”
“Well, okay, I guess.” He gave a fake laugh. He wore jeans and a baggy t-shirt. He was only there to say a last goodbye to the place that had brought him wealth and a hopeful future. But all of that was gone now.
“My heart is heavy,” Ailsa said. “Daniel lights up my life, but I can't stop thinking about what I've done to you.”
“Ailsa, you have to stop saying that. I built up a business once and I can do it again. It's not about the money anymore.”
“I know. God knows mine is running out fast. We're both so different now.”
“True,” he said under his breath.
“So,” said Ailsa, “you haven't heard anything from Madison?”
“No. I even went back to the hospital at odd times during the day and night, hoping I'd find her, but they finally told me she'd left the hospital for good.”
“Maybe because her baby is due soon?”
“She's six months along,” Christopher said. “I would have thought she'd stay on as long as she could. Looks like I made her run away from her job when she could have done with the money. I can't get anything right where she's concerned.�
��
“You'll find her.”
“She doesn't want to be found. She doesn't want me. I just want to know where Madison is...”
“I'm right here,” said a voice behind him. Christopher spun around in his chair.
“Madison!” He dropped his cell and stood, his chair sliding back away from him. He picked up the cell, his eyes on Madison, making sure she would not disappear. “Ailsa, I have to go.” But he was so stunned to see Madison standing there, he hadn't said it into the mouthpiece and he'd hung up on Ailsa.
“You just hung up on her,” Madison said. “She's going to think you were being rude.”
“I don't care.” He walked around the desk and took fast steps across the floor. His eyes were alive, and he smiled with every muscle in his face and held both of Madison's hands. Raising them, he looked her up and down. “You look, well, you look beautiful. But then again, you always do.”
Madison put her head down. Her stomach was round and bulged through the coat she wore.
“I heard about all this,” she said, looking around the empty office. “I also read about the divorce in the paper.”
“Yes, the divorce,” he said. “It won't be long before it's all settled.”
“And you'll be a free man again.”
“Something like that.” The smile began to slip from his face. “My heart will never be free.”
“Oh?”
“You own my heart, Madison.”
She shook her head. “I struggle to believe you love me, Christopher. That you ever loved me. What you did...”
“Was shameful, and I know you'll probably never forgive me. I don't deserve to have you back, but it's all I'll ever want. There'll never be anyone else for me.”
She took her hands away from him and walked around the office. “It echoes in here,” she said.
“I know,” Christopher replied. “But you know, now that it's all gone, I realize what it all is to me. It's just files, names, telephone numbers, meetings, deadlines. None of those things really matter. All the things I did with my money, I took for granted. I took you for granted and made the biggest mistake of my life. But Madison...” He swung her around. “I'm nothing without you. I beg you. Come back to me. I'll work all the hours I can to give you a good life.” He put his hand on her stomach. “You and our baby.”
She pulled back and headed to the door.
“I don't ever want to be taken for granted again,” she said over her shoulder.
“Never,” he replied following her to the door.
“I don't want to be lied to or live a lie.” She turned to face him.
“I understand that completely,” he said.
“Then we better go. This place is depressing the life out of me.”
“Really? You mean it? You'll take me back?” Christopher was so happy he went to pick Madison up off the floor. She squealed and he let her down gently.
“There’s something I have to tell you.”
Madison looked up at him with a wary light in her dark chocolate eyes. “What, more secrets?”
“No, it’s not that.” He shook his head, not sure how to say it but finally deciding to just put it all out there. “This business is gone, Madison. John Baverstock did exactly what he threatened to do. He ruined my business, my livelihood.” He gave her a meager smile. “I’m broke.”
He looked at Madison in shock when she began laughing. Not a small chuckle, but a full belly laugh. “Oh, you silly man. I never cared about that. Not any of it. All that matters is that we have each other, and most importantly, that we love each other.” She swiped a hand through his too long dark hair. “And that we are going to be a family. All three of us.”
“That only leaves one thing,” he said.
Christopher got down on one knee. Madison raised her hands to cover her lips. Before Christopher could say the words, “Will you marry me?” her eyes were nodding yes and tears were spilling onto her cheeks.
Epilogue
It was Sunday morning.
Two year-old Lianna Knight slept soundly in her bed in the tiny room at the end of the hall. Her parents, Madison and Christopher, had woken up in the room next door to her and blinked as the sun shone into the bedroom window in their cramped apartment in Queens. Christopher kissed the back of Madison's neck and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him.
Madison sighed and smiled as the sun streaked across her face. She could feel Christopher becoming hard against her back. He clasped his hands onto her breast and rubbed it gently before pulling her nightdress sleeve off her shoulder so that he could feel her skin. Madison rolled onto her back, both breasts exposed. Christopher bent to kiss her nipples as her arms circled his shoulders.
He began to bite at her erect nipples, licking and kissing them as she sighed aloud at the pleasure it gave her. He snuggled his face into her neck as he began to slide out of the pajama bottoms he wore to bed the night before. Madison looked down to see his hard cock moving towards her open legs. She held it, feeling the wide girth in her hands before guiding it inside her. She tipped her pelvis to receive it as deeply inside as she could.
“We have to be quiet,” she whispered into his ear.
“I know,” he breathed, and was already thrusting long and deep. The bed made its familiar creaking sound, the rhythm gentle and steady at first.
Madison wrapped her legs around Christopher's waist and struggled to keep from yelling out in extreme ecstasy. Her hips moved up and down as she gripped his shoulders and squeezed her eyes tightly, biting on her lip. Christopher moved faster and faster, and she opened her eyes briefly to see the look of abandon on his face, his cheeks slightly pink. His expression told her he was coming. She was too.
She let her head tip back and gave herself up to the sparks of electric pleasure weaving around her body from the inside out as if she could explode. Christopher jammed into her hard, as his orgasm let the waves of his climax fall away gradually until he was completely worn out.
They each rolled onto their backs, hot from the exertion.
They turned to look at each other.
“What time are we meeting them today?” Christopher asked.
“Eleven. Maybe we could bring a picnic. It's been a long time.”
After breakfast, Madison put Lianna into the baby stroller and Christopher picked up the picnic basked before heading out on that warm summer morning towards the subway. They had lived in Queens ever since their wedding a year ago. Madison was working part-time in the nearby hospital, and Christopher was looking after Lianna while trying to rebuild his business from the small living room of their apartment.
He was able to get contracts, but so far, no huge paying clients. They were just able to pay the rent and make ends meet on what they both earned.
“I can't remember the last time we went to Manhattan,” Madison said, as she picked up Lianna's toy bunny, which she'd dropped for the fifth time already. Lianna liked the subway and pointed at everything she saw.
At the park, Madison left Lianna free to play in the sandbox. She was joined very quickly by Daniel, who was a little bigger, but not quite as tough as she was.
Madison, Christopher, and Ailsa all sat on the bench, overlooking the sandbox.
“Lianna becomes more and more beautiful every day,” Ailsa smiled at the little girl, and then up at Madison and Christopher.
“I was going to say the same thing about Daniel,” Madison said. “And he looks more and more like his daddy every day, too.”
“That's true,” Ailsa nodded in agreement. “Speaking of whom, he actually proposed to me last night. We're going to get married.”
“That's wonderful news,” Madison squealed as she rose to give the other woman a warm hug and whisper congratulations. “I wondered when he was going to make a decent woman out of you. It's been two years since you been living together. It's about time.”
“Exactly,” said Ailsa, touching her soda can to both Madison's and Christopher's. They
didn't have champagne, but it would have to do.
“Christopher,” she turned to him, her expression serious now, yet hopeful. “I was hoping you could give me away. And Madison, how would you like to be my matron of honor?”
Both Christopher and Madison said yes and hugged Ailsa again for good measure.
“I'm so happy for you,” Christopher beamed back at their friend. “I'd be honored to give you away. And,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I've got some other good news of my own. I was saving it until now. It's not as big as your news, Ailsa, but it might be life-changing for Madison and me”
Madison looked at him, eyes wide. “Life-changing?” The words came out softer than she had meant but she stared at him, waiting for his answer.
“You know I've been going on about that company in Europe, you know the one I've been trying to do business with?” he said looking from Ailsa and then to Madison, a smile about to explode onto his face.
“Yes?” Madison replied, tentatively.
“Well, I finally signed a contract with them. It was approved by my lawyer just this week. This contract is worth millions of dollars, not to mention the reputation I will develop once the wheels are in motion.”
Madison put her hands to her cheeks. “Does that mean?”
“Yes,” he said standing up and taking her hands. He pulled her up too. “Madison, this contract will be the making of us. We'll be out of that little apartment, and we could have a garden for Lianna one day. Not to mention a proper office. Honestly, we'll be making some serious money out of this. I can't begin to tell you how much this is going to secure our future.”
There were tears in Madison's eyes as she hugged Christopher around his waist. She looked up at him.
“I knew you could do it. I had every faith in you.”
“I couldn't have done it without you to inspire me.” They both looked over at Lianna, who was dropping sprinkles of sand into Daniel's hair. “And her too. You have both been my inspiration.”
Christopher leaned close as he held her against him and whispered softly in her ear. “You know, Madison, I think I read a paper once that said the best age difference between siblings is about three years.” He cast a sideways glance at their little girl still playing happily in the sand. “What do you think, is about time we started working on another baby? For the sake of research, of course.”
