All for Maddie

by Jettie Woodruff

  “Come here,” he softly spoke.

  Taking his hand, he pulled me to his lap. “I’m afraid of you, Alex.”

  “Please don’t be, Whitley. I swear to God, you never have anything to worry about. I’m going to spend the rest of my life making you the center of my universe. I promise.”

  “I need to know what you did with her.”

  “I didn’t do anything with her. She kissed me and that was it. I promise.”

  “You kissed her back. I watched you.”

  “I did, Whitley. I’m not going to lie to you, but that was it. It was stupid and I can’t even begin to explain why. I guess it just comes from being a bachelor for so many years. That really hurt you, didn’t it?”

  I looked away from him. It did hurt. It hurt worse than anything he had ever done. The thought of another woman being in his arms made me sick. “If you ever do that again, I swear we’re finished.”

  “I won’t, baby. I swear. I don’t want anyone but you and Maddie.”

  “You let us leave. You never called Maddie once.” Okay, maybe that hurt worse than the kiss.

  “Whitley, I have made more fucked up choices with you than I have ever made in my life. I’m sorry. I thought it was best for you and Maddie. I thought it was what you wanted.”

  “You’re kind of an idiot. I love you. Maddie loves you. I was ready for you to come get us after a week. You should have never let us leave.”

  “You were so mad, Whit. You wouldn’t have stayed.”

  “You could have come after us,” I pouted, turning back to him.

  “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything.”

  And just like that we were a couple again. I felt weak in the knees when Alex separated my lips with his tongue. Moaning in his mouth, I slid my hand behind his neck, and through the back of his hair.

  “I love you, Whitley,” he whispered hot words to my lips.

  “Take me to bed, Alex,” I responded, standing and leading him by the hand toward my room.

  “Did you sleep with Jaron?” Alex asked, quietly closing the door. I smiled, wanting to tell him yes, show him how it felt.

  “No. I tried. I couldn’t do it,” I confessed as he grinned and pulled me close to him in a kiss. I’m not really sure what went on. You’d think that we would have had this explosive, emotional love thing going on. It was far from it. Alex practically ripped my shirt off, and I frantically tugged at his.

  Sliding out of my shorts, I watched him removes his jeans, instantly feeling aroused when I saw his erect shaft, ready for action. “Taste me, Alex,” I begged in some sort of whimper. Damn, I needed to be touched. I didn’t mean standing up. I kind of wanted to lay down first. Alex had other plans. He dropped to his knees, lifting my foot to the bed as his mouth circled my throbbing clitoris.

  Continuing to torture me with sucking, licking, swirling, and whatever else Alex seemed to be magically manifesting sent me spiraling out of control.

  “Alex,” I panted.

  “Hmmm?” he responded, sucking ridiculously hard on my pulsating nub. I was going to come. I needed to come.

  “I need to lie down. I can’t do this standing up.”

  He tossed me toward the bed and slammed forcefully into me, sending my eyes to the back of my head.

  “Look at me,” he demanded, taking me. All of me: my mind, my body, my soul, and now my eyes. We stared deep into the depths of each other’s spirit as we made love. Alex held himself up, holding my wrists to the sides of my head, giving me all of him as I returned the gesture, surrendering all of me.

  “Are you ready?” he rasped as I moaned again, feeling the build an overdue pleasuring orgasm.

  “Yes,” I replied, closing my eyes. I had to.

  “Open your eyes, Whitley.”

  I made some sort of whimpering noise as I stared at him, arching my back and trying to break my wrists free from his hold. He wouldn’t let me. He held me, stared at me with love and lust, frantically pumping in and out of me until he crashed one last time, sending us both out of control. That was the most emotional thing I’d ever felt, both of us coming to our breaking point while our eyes stayed locked, entranced with one another.

  “I love you,” Alex whispered, reducing his pace and moving slowing in and out of me.

  “I love you.”

  Chapter 19

  My dad held true to his word. He called about every day or so, but never spoke to me or Alex. He asked for Maddie and hung up once she was finished talking, which was usually two or three minutes. If he wanted to see her, he sent me a text and asked if they could come and get her for the weekend. I always said yes and let him come and get her, wishing to God he would talk to me. He wouldn’t. He was bitter and didn’t understand my decision.

  Other than the fact that my dad had gone almost three months without talking to me, I was happy. I was so happy except for the whole cat deal. I let Alex take Maddie to look at the kittens from an ad in the paper. They didn’t come home with a kitten they came home with a cat. Maddie wanted the big cat and not the little ones.

  Alex swore he didn’t know the cat was expecting. We didn’t have a cat. We had four cats. Maddie refused to let us give any of the kittens away. Alex refused too, right after the guilt trip of her asking us how we’d feel if somebody took her away. We both knew how that felt, and we’re now, not so proud, owners of four cats.

  We agreed to let my dad and Dana take Maddie the weekend before Christmas. They would bring her home Christmas Eve morning and we were celebrating with Alex’s family that night.

  Maddie looked out the window every time she heard a car door even though we both told her a million times that Papaw wasn’t picking her up until two. She was standing on the sofa, waiting and holding Mystic with Paws, Boots, and Fluffy, purring for her attention at her feet. Yes, Maddie was a cat lady. They kept the Gremlins away. I swore she was never going to forget about those things.

  “PAPAW!” she finally yelled, jumping from the couch.

  I went to the door and handed my dad her backpack as he picked her up into a full blown hug. He really missed her, and I missed him. I smiled a weak smile as he nodded and I kissed Maddie.

  “Wait, I have to tell my dad goodbye,” she remembered, squirming from my dad’s arms and into her own dad’s.

  Alex hugged her. “I love you. You call me before you go to bed, okay?”

  “I will,” she promised and was off to spend the weekend with her grandparents.

  I closed the door behind them, feeling sad. I was glad that my dad was there for Maddie, I just wished he’d be there for me too. I needed him in my life. I needed the resort and the river in my life. I hadn’t been back there since Alex had come for us. I missed it.

  Alex moved one of the cats from the sofa and pulled me to his lap, sensing my gloomy feelings.

  “It’s not always going to be this way. He’ll come around,” he promised.

  “No, he won’t. It’s been almost three months. He’s not going to crack. He’s too stubborn for that. He won’t give in.”

  “Yes, he will. Let’s go do something. We’ll get out of the house for a while. Do you want to go Christmas shopping?”

  “For what?” I laughed. “We have a whole garage full of toys.”

  “I know, but last night when we were watching television, there was this—”

  “NO!” I interrupted. I didn’t need to hear what Maddie saw, instantly saying she wanted it. She didn’t need anything else.

  “Rats,” he whined.

  “I have a final to study for,” I reminded him. I needed the quiet time at home. I really didn’t want to go out.

  That’s what I did. I studied on my laptop in front of the television with four cats cuddled up next to me. Alex worked in his office until around seven.

  I moved the cats to the floor one by one when the doorbell rang.

  “Oh,” I said, not expecting pizza. “Hang on,” Turning to see Alex, taking his wallet from his pants.

  “
Hungry?” he asked. I was hungry as soon as I smelled it.

  With my legs over Alex’s we sat on the sofa and consumed almost a large pizza, just the two of us while we laughed at the ridiculousness on television. I assured Alex that we would not be spending that kind of money on a sweet sixteen birthday party for Maddie.

  “We might,” he smiled. Knowing Alex, we would.

  “Let’s go sit in the hot tub,” he beckoned moving my feet from his legs.

  “It’s cold out there,” I protested, gaining a look, the same look that Maddie gave me when I said something absurd.

  “Take your clothes off and come with me,” Alex demanded.

  “You said we would discuss all major decisions,” I teased.

  “I didn’t mean that. We can discuss all decisions except for the one that,” he determined.

  I undressed and just as Alex rose to come to me, I darted around him and out to the hot tub. Holy hell, it was freezing out.

  I laughed as Alex tiptoed, running naked to the hot tub too. “Are you laughing at me?” he asked as I leaned into his chest, nestled there with a kiss to my head and a smile on my lips.

  “Not necessarily you, just your shriveled up package.”

  “It’s not shriveled up anymore. That changed as soon as you backed your naked ass up to it.”

  “Hmm, I don’t believe you,” I stated, moving my hand behind me, gaining a moan as I stroked him in my hand.

  Alex and I made love in the hot tub and then snuggled in bed together, watching a Christmas movie.

  “Why does she always call your phone?” I whined siting up so that Alex could answer his phone.

  “She likes me more,” he replied, grunting after the elbow to the stomach.

  “Hey, baby. What are you doing?”

  I listened to the one sided conversation until he hung up. “What the hell? You didn’t let me talk to her,” I complained, and then smiled when my phone rang.

  “She had to call yours,” he smiled.

  I listen to her busily talk, telling me how much fun she had at the resort Christmas party and all the presents that she had gotten from her friends there. Jaron bought her a star gazer, whatever that was, something to do with it emitting stars all around her room and ceiling. She was bringing it home so she could show her dad, forgetting that she had a mother too.

  “I have to go now. Papaw is going to read a Christmas story in front of the fire place and Nana made us hot chocolate and popcorn.”

  “Okay, sweetie. I will talk to you tomorrow. I love you.”

  “I love you too, bye.”

  <><><>

  Christmas Eve was absolutely perfect. Had my dad been there it would have been the best Christmas ever. Of course, Maddie got more than enough for five girls, let alone one. She and Trenton both got enough Barbie paraphernalia to open a Barbie store. It was bittersweet. Maddie was growing into Barbies. I wanted her to still want the Dora dolls and preschool toys.

  Alex never let go of my hand. Had someone told me that this man could ever be this attentive, I would have deemed them foolish. Alex Wesson was crazy in love with me and even more in love with his family.

  “This one’s for you, Mom,” Maddie said with a sneaky grin and her hand behind her back.

  I looked around at the smiling faces and then at Regan when she took my drink from my hand. I was going to need that. Holy Christmas bells!

  Alex dropped to one knee in front of me pulling Maddie to his lap. She smiled the cutest smile ever as he counted to three.

  “Will you marry my daddy?” she asked when he got to three, opening a deep purple box with the shiniest diamond I’d ever seen in my life. Oh my God! It was huge.

  “Whitley, will you be my wife?” Alex asked, hesitating at the end of my finger with the ring.

  “Say yes, Mom,” Maddie called, breaking the silence with laughter.

  “Yes,” I replied sliding to my knees in front of him with our daughter sandwiched between us. “Yes, I will marry your daddy,” I said, kissing her cheeks.

  Connie wiped a tear and took Maddie’s hand, moving her away from us. Alex pulled me towards him and kissed me, really kissed me, more than I would like for him to be doing in front of our daughter. I finally had to push his face away with my hand.

  We drank spiked eggnog and played with the girls. Alex never took his eyes from me. I was sure that I had just given him the best present I could have given him. And I was pretty happy about it myself. I didn’t want to follow the Wesson tradition and spend the night there anymore. I wanted to take my man home and make love to him.

  “Do you like it?” Alex asked, joining me in bed as I gazed at the rock on my hand.

  “I love it. I couldn’t have picked out a prettier one had I tried,” I assured him, moving into his arms.

  “Maddie picked it out,” he confessed, moving me from his chest so that he could look at me.

  “Maddie knew about this and never told me?” That shocked me. Maddie didn’t keep secrets.

  “I enticed her with a day at the zoo. I let her dominate the controller,” he teased, kissing my ring finger and then my lips. I placed my hand on his cheek, holding him back.

  “We’re not doing this in your mother’s house,” I assured him.

  “Why? Because you can’t be quiet?”

  “I can be quiet.”

  He snickered. “No, you can’t.”

  “I can too, what do you mean by that?” I asked as his fingers slid through the elastic of my panties. I wasn’t stopping him. I didn’t want to stop him. I wanted the intimacy, the feel of his body on mine, and I wanted him inside me.

  “You are so noisy in bed,” he accused as I lightly moaned, feeling his fingers do what they did oh so well.

  “I am not,” I whimpered as his tongue parted my lips.

  “Get out of these,” he whispered to my lips, tugging on my panties. I raised my hips and helped. “You have to be quiet,” he warned, thrusting two fingers deep into my core. Fuck. That was going to be easier said than done.

  “Go down on me,” I whispered.

  “No, I need to be able to cover your mouth.”

  “Please,” I begged, writhing my hips into his fingers. He was the one that started the whole female ejaculation thing. He should have known I wasn’t going to be happy with one time.

  He grumbled as he licked, sucked, and kissed his way down my body as I raised my knees, exposing myself for him.

  “Hmmm,” I instantly moaned as his tongue slipped through my wet slit.

  Alex was right. I couldn’t keep quiet, but in my defense it was mostly his fault. The way his tongue flicked back and forth on my clit and then the sucking caused me to lose control. He stopped. Damnit, he stopped.

  I moaned again as I tasted myself on his lips and then looked down as he penetrated my swollen nub with the head of his hardness.

  “Ahhh, fuck, fuck fuck, hmm, right there baby,” I begged, feeling a mind blowing orgasm from deep within. It wasn’t the one I was hoping for, but that one was quickly forgotten when I felt the mind blowing sensations going on deep in my body.

  “You ready?”

  “Mmm,” I mumbled with a nod.

  “Come to me, baby,” he coaxed, giving my aching clitoris one hell of a work out.

  “Ahhhhhhhhhhh,” I called out, briefly before his mouth took mine, covering my satisfaction and thrusting deep into me.

  Alex held himself up, staring down at me with the most emotional eyes I’d ever seen on him. Propelling in and out of me, I held my hand on his chest, needing to touch and feel him.

  “I love you, Whitley,” he whispered, bending to kiss my nose.

  “I love you too, Alex,” I replied, looking deep into his soul. That was once very hard for me to say. I loved saying it now. I loved hearing it, and I loved the way he made me feel, the way he made Maddie and I the center of his Universe.

  EPILOGUE

  Eight months of planning, eight very long months of Connie and Regan’s constant
wedding preparation. I was really doing this. I was going to be Mrs. Alex Wesson in less than twenty minutes.

  “Sit down, Whitley!” Regan ordered for the tenth time.

  “I can’t. Why did I let you talk me into this? I don’t even know these people. We should have just gone to the court house,” I ranted with all nerves.

  “Don’t look at me. Yell at your mother in-law over there. She made me do this too.”

  I smiled when I saw the text message.

  I love you. Are you happy?

  I am very happy. I will see you at the altar, and I love you too.

  I was happy. All but missing my dad. My dad was supposed to be here for this and, almost a year later, he still chose to keep me out of his life because of the choices that I made. He knew about this day. Connie sent them an invitation, I saw it. I sighed a deep sad breath.

  My sadness and animosity about my dad was quickly replaced when my daughter walked in with Trenton. She was the cutest little flower girl on earth. Her white dress was breathtaking. I could imagine what kind of price tag it came with.

  “Maddie! You look so pretty,” I exclaimed.

  “You look pretty too, Mom.”

  I hugged her, taking in her powder fresh scent and the soft little cheeks that were losing their baby-ness. Maddie was five. I couldn’t believe Maddie was five and my little girl would be going to kindergarten in a couple of weeks.

  “It’s time,” Regan warned. I groaned.

  I watched Maddie walk down the aisle first, then Trenton, and then Regan. My knees were going to buckle at any second. I turned around looking for Alex’s dad. The wedding march was going to start any second and he was AWOL. Yup, I was going to faint.

  I took a deep breath, relaxing when the wedding march began and I felt his arm loop through mine. And then, well then I cried, as I slipped my arms around my dad’s neck.

  “Shhh, stop it. You’re makeup is going to run all over your pretty dress,” he cautioned with a smile.

  “Daddy?” I said. I couldn’t believe it. He was there. My dad was walking me down the aisle. I couldn’t stop the tears.