The Madeleine Richards Box Set (The Madeleine Richards Series Book 4)

by Juliette Duncan

  "This is so much fun!" Hannah glanced at Maddy and smiled as they skated together, hand in hand. "I love skating."

  In fact, all the girls loved skating and were quite skilled. However, when they tried to do some spins and turns they hadn't done before, they ended up on the ice, arms and legs everywhere. It didn't matter. They just laughed and laughed.

  All too soon, the last song was playing, and it was time to leave.

  They squashed into Sarah's car, and made so much noise on the drive home that she had to tell them to be quiet so she could concentrate on driving. Maddy didn't think she minded, though. She was always telling her how much she liked her friends, and how lucky she was to have them. Maddy thought so too.

  They piled out of the car, and carried their bags into the living room where they were all going to sleep. She knew it would be a bit squishy, but Maddy knew they probably wouldn't sleep much anyway, so it didn't really matter.

  Sarah said they could go outside to look at Maddy's new bike while she got dinner ready, although, being good girls, they all asked if they could help. She thanked them, but said she was okay, and that she'd call them when it was ready.

  They took turns riding the bike around the yard in the semi-dark, and tried not to crash into anything. Maddy got her old bike out as well, and they had races down the lane. Beccy was the best rider and won most of the races, even when riding Maddy's old bike.

  It was almost dark when Maddy heard Sarah calling out from the top of the stairs that dinner was ready. As they headed back towards the house, they could smell Sarah's homemade pizza wafting down the stairs, and they raced each other to see who would get there first.

  "The pizzas smell great, Mom. We're all starving!" Maddy had skidded into the kitchen ahead of the others and was reaching out to take a piece.

  "Uh uh – wash your hands first," Sarah said as they all jostled with each other at the table. The girls thought they'd better do what they were told, and headed to the bathroom.

  Talitha flicked some water at Skye, and then it began. Water flew everywhere. Sarah had to rush in and break it up before it got out of hand. Giggling and a bit wet, they returned to the table, and Sarah gave thanks for Maddy and her special day, her friends, and the food. Finally they were able to eat!

  "The pizzas were great, Mrs Richards." Hannah leaned back on her chair and rubbed her stomach. "I think they were almost as good as my mom's!"

  Sarah wagged her finger at Hannah. "Don't be so cheeky, Hannah McDougall, or you might not get any ice-cream!"

  "I'm sorry Mrs Richards," Hannah retorted. "I think they might have been just a little better than my Mom's after all." Hannah loved ice-cream as much as Maddy, and she didn't want to miss out. She knew that Maddy's mom wasn't being serious, but she thought she should play along anyway.

  "That's better. Ice-cream all round, then?" Sarah looked at all the girls, and held up the ice-cream tub.

  "Yes please!" they replied simultaneously.

  Sarah proceeded to dish out the ice-cream as they all chatted together happily. By the time they'd finished, it was dark outside.

  "Can we go out and play spotlight for a while, Mom?" Maddy asked.

  "I guess so, but you'd better put your jackets on." Sarah glanced outside. "It's cold out there, and I don't want any of you getting sick."

  "Yes Mom." Maddy rolled her eyes. Sometimes she thought her mom could be so annoying. Didn't she realize that they were twelve years old and didn't want to be treated like little kids? Nevertheless, just to keep her happy, the girls grabbed their jackets, along with their torches, and headed back outside.

  The moon was just starting to poke its head over the roof of the bungalow, but apart from the small amount of light that it shed, it was almost completely dark. Sarah had been right – it was cold outside. The girls were glad they had their jackets on. They ran around to keep warm, and spent the next half hour or so playing spotlight, before Sarah called them back in for birthday cake.

  After gorging themselves once again, it was time for Maddy to open her birthday presents. The girls sat around on the floor as she opened one at a time.

  The first one she opened was from Skye and Beccy. She held the parcel up and shook it carefully, trying to guess what it was. She had to hide her disappointment when she discovered it was a thirty piece nail pedicure and polish set. What were they thinking! Didn't they know she wasn't into all that stuff?

  The next one she opened was from Talitha. A make-up and hair accessories kit. Maddy couldn't believe it. She had to pretend she liked the presents, but she wasn't very happy. At least Hannah gave her a cool gift – a best friend's necklace. Not that she wore much jewelery, but she would definitely wear this.

  "Thanks for the presents, guys, and thanks for coming to my party," she said as she put the gifts on the coffee table in the corner of the room. She still couldn't believe what they'd given her! At least she had her bike. She put on a happy face, and said, "Okay – let's play a game of charades now before we watch some movies." You should have heard the reaction!

  "Maddy – you know we don't like charades!" Talitha shouted. "You and Hannah are good at them, but the rest of us are hopeless. Can't we do something else?"

  "How about just a few? It'll be fun, and we can dress up," Maddy pleaded.

  "Why don't we get out your nail and make-up sets, and we can do each other's nails and faces?" Beccy suggested.

  "Yes, that sounds great," Talitha joined in, and Skye and Beccy both agreed.

  She was outnumbered, at her own party!

  "You win," she said begrudgingly. "But it's my party, don't forget, so once we've done that, we'll play charades for a while, like it or not!"

  Having all agreed to this plan, they set about giving each other pedicures. Never having had a pedicure before, they didn't know how to go about it to begin with. Maddy had ticklish feet, and couldn’t help giggling every time Talitha touched one of them. She had to admit it was quite funny.

  They compared their multi-colored toe nails once they were all finished, and they all agreed that Hannah's toes were the most interesting. Somehow Beccy had managed to paint stars and flowers on top of the base color, and they all thought they looked great!

  Maddy was surprised at how much fun they were having, so when it came time to do their faces, she was actually quite keen to give it a go. Only Talitha had worn make-up before, so she guided the rest of the girls with her little bit of knowledge, but as it was all new to the rest of them, they laughed when they looked at each other's faces. Skye had way too much blusher on her cheeks - she looked like a clown, and Maddy's lip stick was all over the place. Let alone the mascara! It was everywhere it shouldn’t have been!

  Maddy grabbed some of her dress up clothes, and they had fun dressing up and taking photos of each other in all different outfits and poses.

  "Time for charades!" she finally said, expecting complaints from Talitha, Skye and Beccy. She was surprised when they agreed to give it a go.

  Maddy said she'd go first, and started by acting out "The Little Mermaid", which was her favorite movie when she was little. She thought it would be easy for the others to guess, but she had to give them some more clues, until finally Skye got it. It was then Skye's turn. She was hesitant to start with, but once she realized that it was actually quite fun, her acting improved and Hannah successfully guessed that she was acting out "High School Musical", the movie.

  They all had a turn, and were surprised by how much fun they were having. By the time Talitha had the last go it was starting to get late, so the girls decided to get into their sleeping bags and watch a movie.

  They snuggled up together and ate pop-corn and the chocolate chip cookies and brownies that Sarah and Maddy had made the day before. Half way through the movie, Beccy started a pillow fight and they all joined in. Sarah eventually came in and stopped it, as she was concerned that someone would get hurt or that something would get broken. Sometimes she can be so boring, Maddy thought, but I do love he
r.

  The girls fell asleep sometime during the second movie. The next thing Maddy knew, it was morning. The morning of the day after her birthday. The day her world would change forever.

  Chapter 3

  "That was the best birthday, Mom. Thank you so much." Maddy leaned over, kissed her Mom on the cheek, and laid her head on her shoulder. They were sitting together in the kitchen having a quiet moment now that the girls had all gone.

  "I'm so glad you enjoyed yourself, Maddy. You’re such a special girl. God couldn’t have given me a more perfect daughter." There it was again…this God business. Maddy really wasn't that comfortable with it. Before she could say anything else, she heard the rumble of Hank's car.

  Sarah pulled back the curtain so she could see out the window. Maddy wondered why he'd come back this morning so early, and was annoyed about him interrupting her time with her mom.

  Sarah got up to let him in.

  "Hello darling." Hank bent over and gave Sarah a hug and a kiss as he entered the warm kitchen. He then looked over at Maddy and asked her how her party went.

  "It was fun! Thanks again for the bike." She tried to keep how annoyed she was from him.

  "My pleasure, Maddy. Your mom and I knew how much you wanted one." He took Sarah's hand, looked at Maddy and said to her, "we have something we need to talk to you about, don’t we, Sarah?"

  "Yes, we do. Let’s sit back down at the table so we can talk." Maddy noticed her mom was twisting her hair.

  As they took their seats at the table, a short silence followed. Maddy guessed that her Mom and Hank might have decided to get married, which she was kind of okay with, although she didn’t really want Hank moving in. She was still getting used to sharing her Mom with him on the couple of days a week that he came to visit. But to have him here all the time!

  Sarah and Maddy looked at Hank as he cleared his throat and once again took Sarah's hand, which Maddy noticed was shaking a little. "Maddy. You know that your mother and I have been seeing a lot of each other lately, and how special I think she is?" Hank looked her directly in the eye, making her feel nervous and fidgety.

  She nodded.

  "Well, we’ve decided to get married, but we wanted to wait until after your birthday party to tell you, as there’s also something else that you need to know." Hank glanced briefly at Sarah.

  Maddy started to feel even more nervous. What could this other thing be?

  "Mom?" she whispered.

  "Oh Maddy. Hank and I love each other so much, and we’re so excited to be getting married." She turned and looked at Maddy, and took her hand. "But you know that Hank’s job is at the Smithtown Hospital?" Maddy nodded. "When we get married, we’re going to have to leave Riversleigh and move to Smithtown with him."

  Whoa! Maddy couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her Mom was telling her that they were going to leave Riversleigh? Leave her friends?

  Sarah took a breath before continuing. "We know how hard leaving all your friends will be, but we hope you’ll be okay with it. We so much want you to be happy as well. It will mean starting a new school and making new friends, but you’re such an outgoing girl, Maddy, we’re sure you’ll have no problem making new friends. And we can come back to visit as often as you want, and your friends can come and visit us in Smithtown. It’s not that far away."

  "No! I'm not going to leave!" Maddy pulled her hand away and stood up. "This isn't happening. I don't believe it. I don't believe that you're expecting me to be okay with it just like that! This is rubbish." Maddy ran her hands through her hair in despair.

  "I'll stay here with Gran and Grandpa, or I'll go to Hannah's. You and Hank can go and live in Smithtown if you like, but I'm not going, and you can't make me!" She ran out the door, slamming it behind her, and fled into the backyard.

  She ran down the lane-way and into the open fields. She kept running until she was out of breath, and eventually fell face first into some soft grass. She started to sob. She thumped the ground with her hands. How could this be happening? She’d had such a great birthday, and now her world had been turned upside down by that stupid man. How could her mom do this to her? It wasn’t fair. There was no way she was going to leave. They couldn't make her.

  She lay there sobbing, and didn't hear Hank sit down on the grass beside her. She didn't know he was there until she turned her head so she could breathe. She turned her head away so she couldn’t see him. "Go away. I don’t want to talk to you."

  "I know, but Maddy, your mom is in tears as well. She’s so upset that you’re angry. She'd really hoped that you’d be okay with everything. Won’t you come back and talk with her? She needs you."

  She sat up and looked at Hank angrily. "Why do we have to move to Smithtown? Why can’t you come and live here instead?"

  "My work won’t allow it at the moment, Maddy, otherwise I would, believe me." Neither of them said anything for a minute, although it seemed like hours. Finally Hank continued. "I know how much of a shock this must be for you, but I’m sure in time you’ll get used to it. We'll make sure that we come back often so you can see your friends. Won't you come inside and talk to your mom?"

  She finally agreed to go back with him, although she really didn't want to. She trudged all the way back, but when she saw how upset her mom was, she ran into her arms and sobbed even more. She hardly ever cried, but this was just way too much.

  "Oh Maddy. I’m sorry this is so hard on you. We just want it to work out and for you to be happy." She stroked Maddy's hair as she hugged her tightly.

  "I just don't understand why he can't get a job here. Or why he can't drive to Smithtown every day."

  "At the moment, there isn’t any option." Her mom was still stroking her hair, but she wasn't feeling any better. "The hospital here isn't big enough," Sarah continued, "and there's no position for him. And it's too far for him to drive every day, especially when he's on call. He needs to be closer."

  Sarah pushed Maddy gently away from her and looked her in the eyes. "I love you very much, Maddy. I know how much of a shock this has been for you, and I'm so sorry you're upset. I don't like seeing you like this, but I'm sure you'll get used to it in time. Please be prepared to give it a go."

  "I'm sorry, Mom. I’m never going to get used to it, and I don’t want to move to Smithtown", she sobbed through her tears. She ran to her room and fell onto her bed.

  She cried herself to sleep, and it was almost mid-day when she woke up. She thought she'd had a bad dream, but all of a sudden she realized that what she'd thought was a bad dream was actually real… her Mom and Hank were getting married, and they wanted her to leave Riversleigh and all her friends, and move to Smithtown of all places!

  She could never be happy doing that. She'd lived her whole life in Riversleigh. She and Hannah had grown up here together. She loved her home, even though it was old and needed painting. She loved being able to ride out into the hills with Hannah whenever they wanted. How could they expect her to move to Smithtown… a big, horrible, boring city, with lots of buildings and traffic?

  No, she could never leave. What was her mom thinking? But what could she do about it?

  She got up quietly and peeked downstairs to see if Hank was still there. No, she couldn't hear him. It looked like he might have left. She didn’t want to face him again at the moment. She thought she might be able to talk her mom out of moving if he wasn’t there to back her up.

  "Hello sweetie," Sarah said quietly as Maddy entered the kitchen. Maddy saw that her mom's eyes were red and puffy, just like her own. "Come here and give me a hug". As she did, her eyes welled up again, and she began to sob uncontrollably into her chest.

  "Oh Maddy." She pulled her tight and cuddled and rocked her as if she was a baby.

  Maddy finally took control of herself, and her sobbing eased to a sniffle. "I guess I’m okay with you and Hank getting married, but I don’t want to leave all my friends," she managed to get out. "Can’t we just stay here?"

  "Hank's job is very impo
rtant to him, Maddy, and he's a very good doctor." Sarah was still cuddling her as she continued. "The hospital here is just too small, so there's really no option. I’m sure you’ll make new friends in Smithtown. It might not be as bad as you think."

  Maddy pulled away and sat at the table.

  "I’m not sure, Mom. I love it here. This is our home. How can we leave? And what about the animals? We can’t leave Henrietta and Dynamo behind."

  "I know." Sarah sat at the table beside her. "We’re going to look for a bigger house to live in, so we’ll be able to take them with us. It will be alright, Maddy, trust me."

  Sarah turned and gazed out the window. Her heart ached as precious memories from years gone by flitted through her mind like butterflies floating in the breeze. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She knew how Maddy felt. She wouldn't be leaving either if it wasn't for Hank. This was her home.

  She turned around and looked at Maddy.

  "Come and give me another cuddle." She pulled Maddy gently towards her. “Let’s not dwell on the negatives anymore," she said, resting her head on top of Maddy's. "We have a wedding to organize, and I want you to help me with it." She straightened up, and looked Maddy in the eye. "You’ll be my special bridesmaid, won’t you?"

  Maddy felt bad about the way she'd spoken to her mom. She knew that she should have been happy for her.

  "I guess so," she ended up replying. She knew she'd have to go along with it, at least until she could think of some way of stopping it. "When is it going to be?"

  "We’re thinking about early summer, so you can finish school here, so in about three months’ time." Sarah smiled, relieved to finally hear Maddy showing a little interest.

  "It's not very long to get everything sorted, but we don’t want a big wedding. Just our friends from Riversleigh, some of Hank’s friends from the hospital and his church, and of course, Gran and Grandpa, and Hank’s family. You can invite your friends too, of course."

  Tears began to trickle down Maddy's cheeks again.