by Gerri Hill
“It’s not your decision. It’s mine.”
“There is no decision here, Madison. I forbid you to ruin your name—our name—or Stephen’s name. There will be no divorce.”
“Mother, I’m not happy. I’ve never been happy in my marriage. Not ever. And I won’t continue to pretend otherwise.”
“It’s a little late for that now. Your marriage is what you make it, but it is still your marriage. The election is two years away. There will be no further mention of this.”
Madison turned slowly to her father, who had yet to say a word. She summoned up the last of her courage as she met his gaze. “May I speak to you? Alone.”
Her mother laughed behind her. “I assure you, there is nothing you—”
“Candice,” her father said sternly. “Leave us. Now.”
Growing up, Madison had had little interaction with her father. Her mother ran the house and managed the staff…and managed Madison as well. She assumed her mother was in charge of all things Lansford. However, the look on her mother’s face at those few simple words belied all that. Her father demanded, and her mother immediately took a subordinate role, bowing slightly before slipping from the room, the door closing quietly behind her. Madison was shocked by the transformation.
“Sit,” her father said. He held up his glass. “Would you like one?”
“No thanks,” she said as she sat down opposite him.
He leaned back in Stephen’s chair with a heavy sigh. “Now, what’s this about divorce?”
“I’m not happy. I haven’t been happy.”
“Have you thought about counseling?”
“There is no amount of counseling that could save this marriage,” she said honestly. “I don’t love him. I was never in love with him.”
Her father watched her intently. “Then why did you get married?”
“Why? Did I have a choice?”
He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
She stared at him in disbelief. “Were you away from home that much that you couldn’t see what she was doing?”
“Madison, I know your mother is…controlling to some extent, but—”
“Controlling?” She laughed bitterly. “That’s an understatement.” She leaned forward. “Did you know that when I was ten, she told me Stephen and I would start dating when I started high school? Did you know that when we had our first date, she told me we would marry as soon as I finished college?”
She stood. “Did you know I had no choice as to what college I went to? No choice as to what I studied?” She was on a roll and years of pent-up frustration poured out. “No choice as to what lessons I took at the country club. Those were all for her. I hated dance. I hated golf. But she wouldn’t let me quit. She picked out my wedding date, my wedding dress, my honeymoon. She picked out this house. She decorated it. She picked out my son’s name.”
She took a deep breath, meeting his startled gaze. “Any time I attempted to convey to her my choices, my likes and dislikes, she brushed them away as if I was invisible. And over time, I gave up. I became invisible. It was easier to let her control things, as you say.” She sat down again. “But not anymore. I can’t waste another year by staying in a marriage I don’t want to be in. I won’t do it.”
He sat his drink down and stood, going to the window and parting the blinds. She doubted anything beyond the window registered to him. He was stalling for time, gathering his thoughts.
“I’m sorry,” he said before turning around. “I had no idea.” He walked around the desk and sat next to her, meeting her gaze. “I had no idea, Madison. You were involved in so many activities, I thought it was what you wanted.”
“No. I think part of it was that she wanted me away from the house, away from Shannon.”
“Shannon Fletcher? Alice’s daughter?”
“Yes. She was my best friend. My only true friend. But she wasn’t good enough for me. Mother wanted me away from her.”
He nodded. “Yes, I remember now. She tried to dismiss Alice once.” He leaned back in the chair, watching her. “I was away a lot. I didn’t see any of that. I guess I should have known on the day of your wedding. You looked so sad. I thought, at the time, that it was just nerves.”
“No. It felt like a death sentence.”
“And for Stephen?”
“His mother is as much to blame. We’re all to blame.” She looked away. “Stephen hasn’t been happy either. He’s too proud—or stubborn—to admit it. We haven’t had sex in years,” she said bluntly. “I assume he has a mistress.”
Her father looked away, embarrassed. “I don’t really need to know about your sex life, Madison.”
She smiled. “I’m sorry, but I wanted you to know how it was with us.”
He took a deep breath. “And Ashton? How will he take this?”
“I’ve already told him. In fact, he was the one who brought it up months ago. He knew we weren’t happy.”
He blew out a breath. “Well, obviously your mother is not thrilled by this turn of events. When Stephen called this morning, she was in near hysterics. She has embraced this run for the Senate,” he said with a wave of his hand. “I told him I’d support him, but not at your expense, Madison.”
“Thank you.”
He nodded. “I’ll deal with your mother. Now, what is it that you need? I’ll assign my best attorney, of course. Stephen will no doubt have someone from his firm handle things for him. What about the house?”
“I don’t want it. I want to move out, to a place that I pick out, that I want. I want to start over.”
“Okay, of course.” He reached inside his suit jacket and produced a card. “You’ve heard me mention my assistant Mary Ann before, but I know you’ve never met.”
“Yes. She’s been with you for years.”
He nodded. “Anything you need, you let her know. I’ll have my attorney get in touch with Stephen and his attorney. We’ll get things going.”
It almost seemed too easy, and she wasn’t certain she believed him. The look on her face must have told him as much.
“I wasn’t there for you growing up, Madison. I want to be here for you now. I’ll talk to Stephen today. He won’t fight you—me—on this.”
“And Mother?”
He smiled briefly. “I can control what she physically does,” he said. “But verbally, I’m sure she’ll want to have her say. This might be a good opportunity for you to let her know that you’re all grown up.”
“How sad, considering I’m about to turn thirty-eight.”
He nodded. “She never let you grow up, it seems. I regret we didn’t have other children. Perhaps then, her focus would have been split and you wouldn’t have had to endure the brunt of it.”
“Why didn’t you have another child?”
He shrugged. “It just never happened.” He smiled sadly. “And I was away a lot.” He stood and beckoned her to do the same. Never one to show affection, he surprised her by his tight hug. “I’m sorry.” He pulled away quickly. “We’ll get all of this worked out.”
“Thank you.”
One last nod and he was out the door, closing it behind him. She stared at it, fully expecting her mother to burst into the room, demanding answers. Instead, all remained quiet until she heard her mother’s shrill voice, the words too garbled for her to understand. The slamming of a door, then all was quiet, signaling to her it was safe to leave Stephen’s office. If she’d known her father would have been this supportive, she’d have gone to him years ago. She wasn’t certain which surprised her the most. The fact that her father had accepted the situation so quickly and without protest or the fact that her mother’s perceived authority—and dominance—was nothing but a farce. So many wasted years of feeling powerless and helpless. So many times she’d felt weak and inept when her mother had effortlessly rebuffed her feeble attempts at rebellion. And it was all just a charade.
She felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders and she smiled, which turned i
nto a laugh.
And it felt so good.
Chapter Twenty-Six
By the time Shannon handed over the floor plans to Jarod the next day—after she’d tweaked it yet again—it was close to two in the afternoon. Lunch had been vegetables shoved into a pita, hardly enough to make a dent in her appetite. She wondered if Madison would be interested in an early dinner.
Madison had offered to pick her up, but Shannon didn’t really think they should go house hunting in a Mercedes. They were less likely to call attention to themselves in her very nondescript white pickup.
As soon as she pulled into Madison’s driveway, Madison was out the door and heading her way. Shannon couldn’t keep the smile from her face as their eyes met. This was the most casual she’d seen Madison dressed in fifteen years. Khaki pants and loafers and a silky blue blouse that nearly matched the color of her eyes—she was as beautiful as ever.
“Are you sure you don’t want to take my car?” Madison asked before getting in.
“Afraid to be seen in my truck, are you?”
“Of course not. I would rather you drive anyway. That way, I can do more looking,” she said with a grin.
Shannon arched an eyebrow and Madison rolled her eyes.
“At houses,” Madison clarified.
“Oh, I see,” she said, her voice teasing. “I’m your chauffeur today.”
“Yes. So where are you taking me?”
“Let’s do Lost Creek. There are lots of nice homes. Some are…well, a bit too uppity for me, but you may like them.”
Madison laughed. “Uppity?”
“Fancy.”
Madison’s smile faded a little. “I want something that feels like home. My parents’ place—the mansion—was more museum than home. Where I live now, the only time it felt like a home was when Ashton was there.” She looked away. “Even then, it was still so sterile. That never changed.”
“What are you looking for?”
Madison turned back to her. “Something normal. I just want…normal,” she said. “I don’t want to be waited on hand and foot. I don’t want meals hot and on the table, waiting for the appropriate dinner hour.” She paused. “I don’t know how to do laundry,” she said. “And you already know I can’t cook. Those are two things I want to learn how to do.”
“You know, I was telling my mother that you were born into the wrong family. That all the things your family name and wealth afforded you were all things you didn’t want.”
“I didn’t know any better, Shannon. Not until you came into my life. That’s when I learned that no matter what my name was or how much money I had, happiness can’t be bought. All those other things ceased to matter when I was with you.”
Shannon kept her eyes fixed on the road, afraid to look at Madison. She was surprised by her honesty. She only wished those words had been said sixteen years ago. At her continued silence, Madison cleared her throat.
“I’m sorry.”
Shannon finally looked at her. “Nothing to be sorry about, Madison. We were kids. And we didn’t know what the hell we were doing.” She looked back to the road. “So, have your parents cornered you yet?”
“Oh, yes. They were waiting for me after lunch yesterday.”
“Since you’re still going house hunting, I assume you won round one,” she said.
“Actually, my father won round one,” Madison said. “All these years, I always assumed my mother had the final say. Turns out that wasn’t the case at all. My father was mostly oblivious to how things were with me.”
“So you’re really going through with it then?”
Madison seemed surprised by her question. “The divorce? Yes, Shannon. Did you think I wasn’t serious?”
Shannon moved into the right lane and put her turn signal on. “I thought you were serious, I just wasn’t sure you’d go through with it.”
Instead of being offended by her statement, Madison nodded in understanding. “I know. Honestly, I didn’t know if I was brave enough either. But I feel…free.” She shrugged. “I don’t expect you to understand. For as close as we were, you were still on the outside looking in.”
Those words stung. Yes, she had always been on the outside, never quite good enough to be let all the way into Madison’s world.
“I know what you’re thinking, Shannon, but that’s not what I meant.”
“No?”
“No. I mean, you saw what was happening—you knew how manipulative my mother was—yet you were still removed from it. It wasn’t happening to you.”
“In a way, it was happening to me,” she said. “Because, ultimately, whatever she did affected me as well.”
Madison surprised her by reaching across the console and touching her arm. “I’m sorry, Shannon. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough back then.”
Shannon shook her head. “Like I said, we were kids. We need to let it go. It’s all in the past. Over with.”
She turned into the entrance of The Woods at Lost Creek knowing she didn’t really believe her words. It may have all been in the past, but she knew it wasn’t over. She still felt the pull, the attraction. That was still there. Sometimes it was there as only a subtle reminder, and sometimes—when their eyes met—it was anything but subtle. She wondered if it was as obvious to Madison as it was to her. She also wondered if Madison was trying to ignore it, as she was.
“The houses that are for sale in which people are still living, we can’t go in without an appointment,” she explained. “So I thought we could drive around and if you like one, we could call the Realtor and set up a time to view the house.”
“Okay.”
“But there are some which have just been built so the contractor owns them. No one lives there so we can snoop around a bit, at least on the outside.” She turned down another street, remembering a new house she’d seen the other week when she’d driven through here. “How’s this one?”
Madison leaned closer to her, peering out Shannon’s window.
“Looks big,” she said. “But I like the stone around the entryway. And the wooden beams.”
“Yeah, but it’s not the massive faux-marble beams you have now,” she said.
Madison laughed. “What makes you think they’re faux-marble? My mother picked it out, remember.”
Shannon shook her head. “I don’t want to know.” She opened her door. “Come on. Let’s take a look around.”
It was indeed big, but Shannon still wasn’t sure what size home Madison was looking for. Madison might think she wanted a smaller home but after the monstrosity she grew up in and now living in a three-story monster, she might be shocked at some of the so-called smaller homes.
“I think it’s too big,” Madison said as she followed Shannon around to the side.
The fence facing the road was wrought iron. Shannon stood on the crossbar and peered over the top.
“Swimming pool,” she announced. “Nice landscaping.”
“I didn’t really consider a pool,” Madison said. “Do you think I need one?”
Shannon hopped back down. “Are you still going to the country club? I guess you don’t need one then.” Shannon went back around to the front with Madison following. “But you know, maybe on a hot summer day, you might have a friend over. Wouldn’t it be nice to hop in and cool off?”
Madison smiled. “You?”
Shannon wiggled her eyebrows teasingly. “I’ll wear a bikini.”
Their eyes held for a long moment before Madison smiled. “I’m thinking a pool sounds really good. In fact, I think it’s a must.”
Shannon laughed and Madison joined in.
“You want to see the inside?”
“Are you going to break in?”
“Well, I thought we’d try the easy way and call the Realtor,” she said as she pulled out her phone.
And a mere fifteen minutes later they were following a very pleasant middle-aged woman inside as she recited all of the attributes of the house. As soon as they were inside though,
Shannon knew it wasn’t the one Madison would choose. It was dark and dreary and even when the Realtor pulled the drapes back to let in the afternoon sun it did little to brighten the interior. She watched Madison, noting the slight shake of her head at each feature the Realtor showed her. Madison finally turned, meeting her gaze with raised eyebrows.
“Excuse me, but this isn’t quite what we’re looking for,” Shannon said. “Do you have anything a little smaller, a little more…open? Airy? More windows in the back?”
“With a pool,” Madison added as she grinned mischievously at Shannon.
The woman nodded. “I think I have something you might be interested in. It’s only a three bedroom, but one of the extra bedrooms is a nice mini-master. Square footage though, it’s only twenty-five hundred. I’m not sure if you wanted something that small.”
Shannon could tell Madison had no clue as to what twenty-five hundred square feet looked like. “My mother’s house is twelve hundred,” she said. “Your current home, I’d guess was over five thousand, maybe closer to six.”
Madison nodded. “Twenty-five hundred sounds like that would be plenty of room. May we see that one?”
“Of course, ladies. It’s only three blocks from here.”
As they followed the Realtor’s car down the street, Madison turned in her seat facing Shannon. Shannon raised her eyebrows, wondering what was on her mind.
“You must think I’m so…I don’t know, what’s the word? Sheltered?”
“Sheltered? I suppose that could apply to you since you’ve always had things done for you,” she said.
“I feel inadequate,” Madison said. “Or maybe incompetent fits better.”
“Look, you’re not incompetent,” she said. “This is simply something you’ve never had to do before. You’ve never been exposed to this sort of thing. That’s the price you pay for being one of the privileged ones,” she said with a smile, hoping Madison didn’t take offense to that.
“I just…thank you for taking the time to do this with me. I’d be lost without you.”