by Piper Stone
It was way past time to put spoiled little Madison Delaney in the past and get on with his life. He wanted a future that included a wife and children of his own. He’d thought, since their senior year in high school, that Madison would be that wife, but he’d been wrong. The worst part was knowing that she’d had feelings for him. In fact, he’d really thought she’d loved him. But she’d decided she wanted a singing career with Tom instead of a life with him. Apparently her feelings hadn’t been as strong as his.
Drake slipped his hand into his pocket and fingered the small box with the ring inside that he had just purchased a few days ago. He intended to propose to Roxie on Christmas Eve and finally put Madison behind him forever. He’d hated himself for thinking of Madison the whole time he was buying the ring because it wasn’t fair to Roxie.
He had, though.
He cursed himself silently once again. Would Madison always haunt him?
His fingers froze on the steering wheel and his foot hit the brake when he suddenly saw Madison’s blue buick in the driveway of her parents’ home, just like it had never been gone. He blinked rapidly. Was it just an illusion or was she really home?
Then he saw her.
She got out of the car and came around to the passenger’s side and his heart skipped three beats at the sight of her slender figure in blue jeans and a sheepskin jacket. What was she doing here?
Angrily, he shot his truck over to the curb with a squeal of tires and jerked it into the parking gear. How dare she come home now? She should have stayed away from Bingham – stayed in Nashville with Tom. Why did she have to come back and ruin his life again?
Cold fury raged in his patched heart as he got out of his pickup and stalked around the front end and up the driveway, coming to a stop in front of her. “What in God’s name are you doing here?” He hissed the question at her while drinking in the striking beauty of her face. God, how he’d missed her! Seeing her again was like spreading anesthetic ointment on a sore cut, soothing to the touch, but still raw underneath. It wasn’t supposed to be soothing to see her, he wanted to hold onto his resentment.
She didn’t answer, but stared mutely up at him.
Hungrily, he perused her from head to toe, finally noticing how pale and drawn she was. Some of his initial anger drained away when she stepped back, her lips trembling as if holding in deep emotion. She’d lost weight, and she didn’t look happy. Those big brown eyes he had loved looked haunted and sad as she warily returned his stare.
“I might ask you the same question,” came the mocking reply. She lifted one trembling hand to wipe the honey colored strands of hair from her face and Drake yearned to do it for her.
“I live in this town,” he snapped harshly.
She flinched and backed down, completely unlike the sassy Madison of old that would have told him immediately to find his way back under whatever rock he’d crawled out from under. His eyes narrowed.
When a sudden cry sounded from the car, Madison started and then turned swiftly to lean into the back seat. When she emerged, she had a golden haired cherub in her arms. Her whole body was shaking when she looked up at him again, the cherub seeming to fuss because of her agitation.
“Leave me alone, Drake, just leave me alone,” she pleaded, tears in the corner of her eyes. When they spilled over and ran down her pale cheeks, she ducked her head and turned away from him.
Stunned, Drake hadn’t thought he could be hurt anymore, but seeing Madison with another man’s child and in such obvious pain was like a knife twisting in his stomach. “Here, let me help you,” he demanded gruffly, reaching for the little girl. No one had said anything about her having a child, but then no one dared to broach the subject of Madison to him anyway. She was off limits. Somehow his hot anger faded in the face of her obvious sorrow and he wondered what had happened to the little spitfire he’d known before.
“I can take care of myself.” Madison stiffened and resisted, clutching Christa close to her.
“Like hell you can,” he snarled, taking the baby from her. “You look half dead on your feet.”
Madison dug her hands into her jacket pockets, her chin trembling. “I don’t need your help, Drake.”
“For the moment, you’ve got it,” he answered shortly. He looked down into another pair of innocent brown eyes that were looking up at him from the sweet baby face. The child reached up and patted his cheek as if to comfort him and Drake was entranced. The baby’s blonde curls were in disarray all over her small head and she smiled, showing him her two front teeth.
“Is she yours?” he barked hoarsely.
“Of course she’s mine, who else’s would she be?”
“So where’s her father?”
He saw her hesitate and then she responded, her voice breaking. “He’s not coming.”
Drake nodded slowly, his heart aching. She’d had a child without him. He’d never thought of her with any child except his, but he should have known. It just never occurred to him, with her and Tom’s choice of careers, that she would have a baby so soon.
Seeing the guarded look on her face and the pain in her eyes, he bit back the recriminations. Something was wrong. Apparently she and Tom weren’t the happy family they should have been. He wanted to rage at her, to hurt her the way she’d hurt him, but he found he couldn’t. “What’s her name?”he finally asked as the small arms stole around his neck.
“It’s Christa,” she replied, her voice hoarse.
“Christa,” he echoed as he studied the small child’s features. It was hard to tell which parent the child would eventually resemble, but he knew she had Madison’s big brown eyes. Children usually developed some features or characteristics of both parents somewhere along the line. At the moment he was fiercely glad that he saw nothing of Tom in the baby. However, it really brought home the fact that he needed to move on. Madison would never be his, just as Christa would never be his. They both belonged to Tom, the fool.
Madison’s heart ached as she watched Drake holding Christa in his arms, his big brown hand splayed across her tiny back as her small bottom rested on the muscled arm inside the tan Carhartt jacket. Tom had refused to even pick up his small daughter.
Their eyes met over Christa’s head and Madison saw the pain flash through his. She knew he’d wanted children. She knew it had to hurt, although he was incredibly gentle with the baby. He’d make a good father one day with some lucky wife.
But that would never be her.
Her own heart aching, she turned away from his accusing glare and went to open the trunk of the car. Inside were some boxes, and three large suitcases. She lifted one out and set it on the driveway. Her neighbor had helped her pack the car because most of the stuff was pretty heavy. Gerald, her friend and neighbor, had lifted it with ease, of course, but she grunted as she attempted to pick up the second one.
“Take her,” demanded Drake, in a low voice. He handed Madison the baby and took the other two suitcases out of the car, picked up the one from the drive, and headed towards the front door.
Madison reached onto the floorboard beneath Christa’s baby seat and took out the diaper bag. As she followed him up the driveway, for one blinding instant, she wished it was really Drake that was Christa’s father and they were coming home as a family to visit. Sorrow swamped her once again as she realized she’d blown the chance of that ever happening. Even if Drake were to eventually forgive her for the pain that she’d caused him, he still wouldn’t want her anymore.
When Sharon Delaney opened the door, she looked startled to see Drake standing there with Madison and Christa. Swiftly, her glance slid to Madison, a question in her eyes.
“Hello, Mom,” whispered Madison as she stepped forward and into her mother’s arms.
“Welcome home, darling,” replied her mother, tears in her eyes as she hugged her daughter and then reached for her granddaughter.
A throat cleared and Madison looked up and behind her mother to see her dad’s warm brown eyes welcoming her.<
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“Hello, Madison. I’m glad you finally came home, we’ve missed you.” He smiled gently as he took her in his arms and Madison knew that he had truly forgiven her for refusing to listen to him. He hadn’t wanted her to marry Tom, either, and he’d been angry when she’d refused to allow them to bring her and Christa home. But she’d needed that time to grow up, and to gather enough courage to face Drake again
“Hello, Dad,” she choked out, resting her head against his shoulder. “It’s good to be home.”
Jason Delaney held his hand out to Drake and they shook hands. “It’s good to see you too, Drake. What brings you here?”
“I was on my way to the feed store when I saw that Madison needed some help with her bags,” he explained stiffly, putting the suitcases just inside the door. “I’ll get the rest.”
With a curt nod to them all, he turned and strode down the driveway, his back ramrod stiff. It only took a minute before the boxes were stacked inside the doorway alongside the suitcases. “Do you need me to take them upstairs?”
He was looking at her father, but Madison was quick to answer. “I can get them from here.”
“No, you can’t,” he snapped back, his eyes blazing at her. “You’re lucky to lift the baby.”
At any other time Madison would have blazed right back him, her independent nature insisting on having her own way. But not this time. She just didn’t have the heart and she deserved his anger. She bowed her head and turned away, a silent tear slipping down her cheek.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like the help, Drake,” her father broke in. “My back isn’t what it used to be after that horse threw me a year ago.” He chuckled as if to fill the empty space that seemed suspended in silence.
Madison knew that her parents loved Drake, and like him, had expected her to eventually marry him. That just hadn’t been enough for Madison though, she’d wanted fame and stardom.
She watched as Drake led the way up the stairs and immediately turned left toward her bedroom. Of course he knew where her room was, he’d been there enough times.
Sadly, she turned away and followed her mother into the kitchen where she was putting Christa in a highchair. Apparently they were prepared for her return she thought wryly. Once again remorse that she had hurt them, as well as Drake, tore through her gut.
If only she’d listened three years ago.
How much regret did a person have to choke on before they could move on? The way her luck had run for the last three years, it was going to be a lot.
Drake realized two things from the encounter with Madison and her parents. First, neither parent had asked about Tom, and both parents were treating Christa as if she were very fragile. Had something gone wrong with the marriage?
Hope blossomed fiercely inside him, even as he tried desperately to squash it. He couldn’t let this small bundle of woman chew him up and spit him out again. She didn’t love him. She never had or she wouldn’t have married another man. Unfortunately for him, he still loved her. He also resented her. He resented her for leaving him and for marrying that fool, Tom. And most of all, for having Christa, who should be his baby.
“Thank you, Drake,” said Jason gratefully as they made their way back down the stairway. “This cold weather really makes my back ache sometimes.”
“It’s nothing,” replied Drake quietly. When Jason followed him out the front door and closed it behind them, his eyebrows shot up.
“Drake, I know you’re angry with my daughter, but you should know a few things because you’ll hear them around town. Gossip inevitably comes out and since you’re here anyway, I want to be the one to tell you.”
“I’m not into gossip,” he replied, watching the older man. He’d always liked Jason, and respected him.
“I know you’re not. You haven’t asked a single question, although you’d have more right to than most. The simple truth is, Madison is divorced. Tom left her high and dry before Christa was even born and she’s had a hard time of it. We’ve finally convinced her to come home and let us help her, but it’s been a major undertaking. I’d like her to stay here until she can get on her feet again,” he added bluntly.
“Are you warning me off, Jason?” asked Drake, not sure where he was going with this.
Jason ran his fingers through his graying hair and sighed. “I don’t want to interfere with you two, but I think the biggest reason she wouldn’t come home was because of you. All I’m saying is that I don’t want to see her hurting anymore than she already is. Or enough to run.”
“She’s the one who left me,” Drake replied savagely, his gut twisting at the thought that maybe he should have inquired about how she was doing now and then. Maybe he could have done something. He didn’t know what, but the thought of her alone and suffering made him feel like he’d let her down somehow.
“I know, son,” replied Jason softly, laying his hand on the younger man’s arm. “But when you love someone, you don’t count the wrongs you’ve been done. You find a way to make the other person happy.”
As Drake made his way back to his pickup, he pondered Jason’s words. It should have been him that Madison married, they all knew it.
Everyone except Madison, apparently.
He looked up instinctively for her face in her bedroom window as he climbed into the cab of his truck, but he didn’t see her. She used to always watch him go from her bedroom that faced the street. And he would count the hours until he could see her again. But that was a long time ago.
He fingered the ring box in his pocket as he continued to mull over Jason’s words and it didn’t take long for him to come to a few conclusions. Once Drake made up his mind on something, he went right after it. Dithering back and forth wasn’t in his nature. He already knew he wouldn’t be giving his ring to Roxie McClanahan, his heart wasn’t in it. His heart belonged to a wilful little sprite named Madison Delaney. It was time he stopped feeling angry and sorry for himself and did something about it.
Chapter 2
It was much later when Madison finally had Christa bathed and ready for bed. The little girl was finding it hard to settle down in a new place and Madison was trying to be patient. Her father had brought down the old baby crib from the attic and her mother had decorated it with a beautiful crib set featuring baby animals. She’d even put up a mobile with dancing ponies, but Christa cried every time Madison laid her down. She was so heartsick and tired, that she finally just lay on the bed and nestled the baby into her shoulder, covering her to the chin with a warm quilt. It wasn’t long, then, before Christa fell asleep and she was able to lay her in the crib.
As tired as she was, sleep wasn’t so easy for Madison. She finally got up and made her way to the kitchen for some hot chocolate. Nostalgia swept over her as she spotted her old Scooby Doo mug still in the cabinet and a tin of Swiss mix in the pantry. It was nice to see that some things never changed. It gave her a feeling of security that had been missing for a long time now.
With her hands wrapped around the warm mug and the smell of chocolate wafting up her nose, Madison sipped her drink and stared out the frosty kitchen window panes. A light snow was falling, its soft white flakes slowly creating a new pristine landscape that sparkled in the moonlight. It covered the snow blackened by auto exhaust and filled in rain melted areas in the yards and footprints on the sidewalks. It was as if nature was covering up the blemishes in her work and beginning anew. It must be nice for mother nature, but Madison couldn’t cover the blemishes in her past so easily.
“Can’t sleep?”
Madison spun around to see her mother smiling gently, her hands stuck in the pockets of her dad’s old brown robe. It was thick and soft and Madison had worn it many times herself. Even though her father had bought a few new robes since that one, nobody seemed to be able to throw it out. “I finally got Christa settled down and thought I’d make some hot chocolate,” she replied. “Would you like some?”
“Sure, but I can get it. Why don’t you sit down, you look
tired, honey.”
“I was just watching the snow.” Madison waved her hand at the window but she tucked the long red robe under her legs as she took a seat at the kitchen table. The thought suddenly occurred to her that her mother had picked up a few gray hairs since she’d been gone. Was she to blame for that too?
“The weatherman is predicting three inches by morning, but he’s never right,” responded Sharon with a chuckle.
The furnace kicked on and Madison could feel the warm air circulating around her legs from the vent behind her. The warmth made her feel snug and safe. She hadn’t felt safe in a long time.
“Three inches in Bingham would be a real trick,” she responded dryly. “But at least we do get snow here.”
“Have you and Drake had a chance to talk?” her mother finally asked tentatively.
“Not really. He just happened to be driving by earlier. Besides, there’s nothing to talk about,” Madison added quietly. “I know he hates me and I don’t blame him.”
“Hate is a strong word.”
Madison sighed and looked into her mother’s troubled blue eyes. “Look, Mom, I’m sure Drake has a girlfriend by now and anything he felt for me is over. Other than an apology, I don’t owe Drake anything and I’m sure he wants nothing from me. All I want to do now is find a way to make a good life for Christa.”
Her mother reached over and patted her hand. “Your father and I are here to help, honey. If you want to go back to school, we can watch Christa for you. If you just want to work in your Dad’s mercantile, you can do that too. I’m guessing you’ve decided against a singing career?”
Madison hesitated. What she’d wanted so badly was so far out of reach right now that it didn’t seem possible. Yet somewhere in her heart of hearts, the desire to sing was still there. “I don’t know, Mom,” she finally answered dejectedly. “It’s what I’ve always wanted, but I don’t see how it’s possible anymore. And there’s Christa to consider. I love to sing, but I don’t think it would work.” She didn’t tell her mother about the notebook full of songs she’d penned, most of them after Tom was gone and most of them with Drake on her mind. Even if she couldn’t sing, she could still put her songs on paper.
