“No, I’d rather you don’t, purely because we both know you won’t mean a word of it.”
Stella shook her head slightly. “I do regret leaving the way I did and not being there for you boys over the years, but I had a life to live as well.”
She turned to Madison and looked her up and down, her expression one of disapproval.
“And who is this lovely lady, Logan.”
Shane piped up before Logan could answer. “This is Madison, our pilot. Madison as you would have guessed, this is Stella, our mother.”
“Please to meet you Mrs. Dalton.”
She held her hand out politely and Stella waited a long while before she gave Madison a limp hand, which the little red devil on her shoulder encouraged her, she grabbed in a tight grip and shook it up and down.
Stella pulled her hand back and snorted. “Well, I never! Don’t tell me you are coveting with the hired help, Logan? It is beneath your station and completely inappropriate that she is even present at our reunion!”
Shane jumped in between Stella and Logan when he recognized the look of fury in Logan’s eyes. Madison just chuckled and Jonathan closed his eyes in relief that he already signed the divorce papers he lodged with the courts a week ago.
“Ehh … Mother, what can we get you to drink?”
“Oh, some tea would be lovely, my dear. But why don’t we ask … what is her name again … Madeline? To go and make it for us?”
Madison allowed the insults to roll off her back, but she noticed Logan’s ire building higher with every word she uttered. She pulled her hand from his and turned towards the kitchen.
“Of course, it will be my pleasure. Tea for all of you?” At their collective nods she escaped gratefully to the kitchen, pulling her phone from her pocket. She could not allow this woman to destroy the life of the man she loved, even if it meant she must do the one thing she hated to do and what Grand Pops tried to prevent when he gave her his full estate.
She put the kettle on and set everything in place to brew the tea and quickly scrolled to a number on her phone. She bit her lip when the ringtone filled her ears and she closed her eyes when his deep voice made her quiver in longing.
“Hello Daddy … I need your help.”
There was dead silence and she nearly cried. He had to help her. She took a deep breath and shot a prayer up to her Grand Pops in apology for what she was about to do.
“What do you need?”
She gasped when he spoke, not having expected him to. She explained everything and he didn’t interrupt once. When she was done she waited breathlessly.
“Will you help me, Daddy?”
“Why should I, Madison? You chose to walk away, now all of a sudden you want my help.”
“I always tried to keep in contact, Daddy! Please!”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Daddy … I … If you help me, I will give my inheritance from Grand Pops. Most of it is still there and with interest over the years slightly more at this stage.”
She heard his gasp and a slow release of his breath.
“You would do this for a man?”
“Not just any man … Logan Dalton.”
“The Oil Magnate in Texas?’
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Very well, Madison. I will help you, on one condition.”
She bit her lip. She knew there would be, he always had conditions, but she had hoped with her offering her inheritance he would not demand more.
“I want you to come back to Phillips Financial Corporation.”
“Daddy please no! It will kill me! Banking is not the life for me and I can’t leave him now!”
“That is my condition, Madison.”
“I promised him Daddy! I can’t leave!”
“Let me know your decision. I won’t start on anything until you do.”
Madison was devastated when she slipped her cell phone back in her pocket. Her face was pale and drawn by the time she carried the tray with the tea out to the patio.
Logan stood up and took the tray from her and served everyone, keeping an eye on her all the time. He frowned. She looked very upset and hurt. He put the tray down and went to her where she hovered in the doorway.
“What is wrong, Wildcat?”
His soft, warm voice laced with concern nearly undid her and she swallowed the tears back. She gave him a quivering smile and shook her head.
“Nothing Babe. I guess I am just more tired than I thought. Would you mind if I went back to the cottage?”
“Why don’t you just take a nap in my room?”
She shook her head and nodded in the other’s direction, her voice thin, but she tried to sound chirpy.
“We don’t want your mother to have a heart attack right here and then the hired help might have to give her CPR!”
He shook his head at her, laughed and walked with her outside and handed her his car keys.
“No … I want to walk. I need some fresh air.”
He leaned down and kissed her lingeringly. “I’ll see you later, Wildcat.”
Logan turned back and stood looking at his mother and felt nothing. He had wondered how he would react when he saw her again, but there was nothing of the kind woman he remembered as a ten year old boy, left. She aged well. However, how much of that was assisted by face lifts and Botox he could not say. However much he tried he could not conjure any feelings for the woman in front of him other than resentment and dislike. He had no time for anyone that used others to benefit themselves. The fact that she had no compunction to hurt people in the process struck him square in the chest.
“Why did you leave us?”
The question was abrupt and cold. Stella started and carefully looked at her eldest son and anger started to bubble inside her. He lived the high rise life. He was a billionaire many times over whilst she had to scrape pennies to survive. Even though Jonathan claimed he rose to these heights through hard work, dedication and clever investments, she didn’t care. It was time she collected on their riches!
“Why hash on what is past my son? Let us forget about the bad things and focus on the good that will come from us being back together.”
His eyebrows rose sardonically. “Back together? What makes you think you being here offers you the opportunity to be part of our lives?”
She blanched and looked at Shane who watched her unflinchingly. “I thought … is that not why you invited me here?”
“No. We decided it was time to bury the past and only wanted to close the door. Dad felt he had to forgive you and needed to face you. He has done that. I still want to know why you left.”
“We should never have gotten married. You know that, Jonathan! We married for all the wrong reasons, but I loved you boys! I loved you very much and wanted to take you with me. Your father wouldn’t let me!”
“So you just accepted it and left anyway? What about all the years in between? Why did you never make any effort to make any contact with us?”
“I … Logan, please let’s forget about this! What is the use?”
“Nothing it seems and you are right. It does not matter anymore. It hasn’t mattered for twenty three years.”
“Does that mean you accept me back in your lives?”
Jonathan stood up and looked down at her for a long while and then smiled. He shook his head.
“No, Stella. I don’t want you back in my life. You have become empty and cold. I swore I would never expose my children to that kind of behavior again – it is what I became for years, until Logan took over the Company and made me see what I became.”
“But … Jonathan …” She tried to beseech him, seeing the easy route to quick money diminishing rapidly.
“I already signed the divorce papers. Quite frankly I don’t know why you never did it. And before you even ask … there is no settlement in it for you. The fact that we have been separated for twenty five years with absolutely no contact voids any agreement that ever existed.”
“Y
ou … Shane!”
“I’m sorry, Mother. I have no control over what Dad and Logan does. I will still keep contact with you, as I have up till now.” They agreed in advance that it would be best to pretend he still wanted to retain a relationship with her for now, rather than alienate her totally.
“In other words, Stella, you are not welcome on Logan’s property.”
“Logan’s? This place belongs to … Logan?”
He nodded. “But, let us not go our separate ways as we have before. I booked a table for us in Dallas for dinner. We will say our goodbyes for the last time then.”
Stella was not happy but decided to go along with the dinner. If Shane was the only one that was prepared to build a relationship with her, then she would stay close to him. He has been a good source of information so far.
Logan was upset that Madison did not wish to join them for dinner, but understood her reason and he piloted the chopper himself into Dallas.
Chapter Fifteen
The moment Logan walked into the cottage he knew Madison was not there. She had a presence whenever she was in a room and that was missing. He stood for a moment gathering his strength before he reached out and switched on the lights. He walked to her bedroom and noticed the letter on the bed as soon as the light filled the room. He stood looking at the letter with his hands fisted by his sides. For the second time in his life he felt his heart shatter. He didn’t need to read the letter to know she was gone. He ripped the letter open and read it over and over again.
Logan
My life has so many similarities to yours, it is frightening. For years I have hidden away from reality. Meeting your mother today made me realize, we are what we make of ourselves.
Sometimes we are what someone else makes of us and before I can become me, I have to close the door on that part of my life. It is the only way I will ever be really happy and build a future.
And please, Babe, believe that future is with you. I knew that the first time I looked into your eyes at the Bistro.
I know leaving this way is the coward’s way out, but I would not have been able to do so if I had to face you. Please Babe, please, please, please believe that I will keep the commitment I made to you. I just need a little time to safeguard our future together. And be assured Logan Dalton, we have a future together!
I will be back soon.
Please keep my heart safe within you …
Madison
P.S. I managed to get hold of Drew Stratton, you previous pilot and he will be back on Monday.
Logan ripped the cupboards open and his heart started beating again. Very slowly and very hopefully. The cupboard was still full of her clothes. He opened the drawer on her bedside table and uttered ‘Thank God’ when he found her passport. She would not have left her passport behind if she didn’t intend to come back. A small voice still threw disbelief his way. It was easy enough to replace clothes and a passport.
He ran his hand over his eyes, desolation ran through his body. Listlessly he walked back the lounge and his eye caught the bright red motorbike helmet on the dining room table where it always was. He went outside and opened the garage door and relief washed over him when he found her Ducati parked in its usual place. She told him the night before that she bought the bike in memory of her Grand Pops. He loved bikes. Specifically Ducati’s and still rode one until the day he got sick. Even though she didn’t ride the bike that often, it was her link to him and she would never sell it.
Only then did he believe she would be back. He read between the lines that she did not want him to contact her, but he needed her to know what he felt about the way she left. He typed a text message and sent it with a rigid jaw.
He was angry and the longer she stayed away, the higher it would feed. She should know him well enough by now to realize that.
Shane noticed the look on his face the moment he walked into the kitchen where he was busy brewing some coffee.
“What is wrong?”
“She’s gone.”
“What! I thought you sorted everything out last night? Everything seemed fine this morning!”
Logan slumped on one of the breakfast chairs and rested his head in his hands.
“Big bro, are you okay?”
“Honestly … I don’t know. I … opened myself to her yesterday and today … Lord, I don’t know! I do know I am angry as hell with her.”
He pulled the letter from his pocket and handed it to Shane. He took it hesitantly, but read it when Logan nodded at him. He frowned and read it a second time. He glanced at Logan.
“We don’t really know much of Madison. Do you have any idea what she is referring to?”
Logan shook his head. “She has only told me about her Grandfather. She was very close to him.”
“Do you believe that she will be back?”
“She left her bike here.”
“Then she’ll be back, big bro. I’m sure of it.”
“The worse of it is, even if I wanted to find her, I don’t even know where to start looking.”
Shane realized Logan has changed. He never would have been bothered before. The way he treated her this morning was so natural, so … loving and he looked happy.
“I know you Logan, you most probably already set a deadline for her to be back before you set Marcus White on to find her.”
“A week.”
I give you a week, Wildcat. If you’re not back, I am going to find you. I cannot guarantee how angry I will be by then. It seems you need another lesson in willfulness!
Madison read the text message through tears. Thank God, he believed she would be back. A week! It was not enough time!
“How could you allow him to force you back here, Mad?” Madison sighed and glanced at David who sat glaring at her from across his massive desk.
“I have to stop that woman, David. I cannot allow her to destroy his life and hurt him any further.”
“I understand that but do you really believe he is going to let you go now that he has you back here? Why didn’t you just ask me for help?”
Madison leaned back in the chair. She told David about Stella and what effect it had on their lives for twenty five years.
“When I met that woman and I spoke to Daddy … I realized how much I missed them in my life. No matter how he pushed me into the Banking industry, they always made me feel loved. While I still lived here I at least saw them, even from a distance. I can’t start my life with the man I love and not share it with them. I want them to be part of our children’s lives … I need them to be part of my life! I was just as hard headed when I left, and maybe if I explained my feelings better, Daddy would have understood.”
“I understood, Mad, my darling daughter.”
Madison gasped and jumped up. She turned around and saw her father standing just inside the door; her big, imposing and wonderful father. He opened his arms and she ran into them. He folded her in his arms and held her tight, stroking her back as she sobbed in his arms. He allowed the sobs for a while to give him chance to get his own emotions under control. He pushed her away and tenderly wiped her cheeks dry.
“There, that’s enough tears, my girl. Come, let me look at you. You are still the most beautiful young woman in New York.”
She laughed. “Daddy that only worked when I was ten years old!”
He smiled. “But it is still the truth! You look so much like your mother when she was young. Mad, can you forgive me?”
“Why Daddy? Why did you chase me away?”
“I love you, Madison, both your mother and I do. I pushed you for years and was so proud of what you achieved and I was sure it is what you wanted too. It was a shock to realize it was not your passion. You were absolutely brilliant … all of you are … brilliant, and I am so very proud of all of you.”
He swallowed and looked at David. He drew Madison to the chair and they both sat down.
“When you came to tell me you didn’t want to be part of the Business, I already knew it. Your Gra
nd Pops made sure of it before he died. I also knew that if I accepted that you wanted out … Mad, my girl, you wouldn’t have gone. You would have stayed in a career that you hated and you would have lived a lie, to keep on pleasing me. I couldn’t do that to you, so your mother and I … took the hardest decision of our lives … we set you free. I can’t tell you how many times your mother cried herself to sleep missing you over the years. We gave you eight years to find yourself.”
He hesitated and cleared his throat.
“I very nearly intervened when you got engaged to Andreas Watts two years ago. To him, you were nothing more than a permanent paycheck. Luckily it didn’t get to that. His actions are what led you to finding yourself … really finding yourself. And you did … with Logan Dalton, didn’t you?”
She sat crying again and she nodded.
“I love him Daddy … he makes me whole. With him I feel so free … but he is also the most annoying maddening man! You and he … in a way are very much alike. Only, he didn’t give me eight years … he gave me a week.”
Bill laughed. “Sounds like the Logan Dalton I know.”
She sobered. “You know him?”
“Yes. They approached us for corroboration on their environmental project and we spent quite a lot of time together. Very impressionable young man you found yourself, Mad. Very impressionable indeed. So, have you filled David in?”
“Not on everything, but a week is not much time. I can’t go back until we find a way to destroy that woman.”
Bill nodded and Madison quickly repeated everything she knew. He shook his head when she was done.
“I can’t believe that anyone, especially a woman can be so cruel and have no regard for human lives just for money and against her own children.”
“Mad, I need to explain why I wanted you here. I know your heart is not with the business and I don’t expect you to fall in again. What I do believe is that you should be the one to resolve the problem and deal with Stella Dalton. Does Logan know you were willing to give up Grand Pops inheritance to help him?”
“He doesn’t even know about the inheritance, Daddy. I am giving it to you as promised.”
The Wildcat that Tamed the Tycoon Page 15