Just Married...Again

by Charlotte Hughes

  He used to love to watch her fuss with herself, primp before a mirror, paint her toenails, pluck her eyebrows, and rub lotion all over. Everything about her fascinated him; she was so perfect in every way. Making love to her was a wonderfully sensuous experience. He knew he would never tire of her.

  But there were only so many hours in a day, and after years of spending most of them working, he’d gradually had less and less energy for his wife. He dragged in late each night, ate a few bites, and went to bed. Their lovemaking became infrequent, and they’d had little time for conversation. He remembered looking at her from across the breakfast table one morning and feeling very sad because they had drifted apart.

  The worst part was not knowing what to do about it, the hurt and disappointment he saw in her eyes every time he looked at her. When he was home, he worried about his cases at the office; at work he worried about his marriage. She began locking the bathroom door when she bathed, and he stopped reaching for her as often in the night. Sometimes, after they made love and he’d turned over to go to sleep, he thought he heard her crying.

  Then she’d become pregnant, and all communication had shut down. He’d accused her of doing it on purpose, of trying to punish him for the long hours he worked. Hadn’t he made it perfectly clear from the beginning that he didn’t want children? Didn’t they have enough stress in their lives, without adding to it?

  He knew how destructive children were, how they wreaked havoc on a marriage. He’d watched his own poor parents deal with five boys. If the carpet and furniture weren’t proof enough, all he had to do was look at his mother’s weary face and the perpetual scowl on his father’s. Michael could not remember a single time when he was growing up that his parents had gone to dinner or to a movie together.

  He had not wanted those hardships in his own marriage. The luxury condominium Maddy’s parents had purchased for them was strictly for adults and maybe a small pet here and there. He knew Maddy longed for a place in the country where she could have cats and dogs and horses, with enough land to plant a flower and vegetable garden. This brought him to the next thing they didn’t need: yard work. Neither of them had time for that sort of thing. They should be enjoying life in what little spare time they had.

  He’d been blind and selfish. He’d assumed Maddy would automatically want what he wanted, as if she didn’t have a mind of her own. Now he would agree to any of it, if that’s what it took to get her back, even the part about having children. He was just that desperate.

  “Michael, is something wrong?” Maddy asked, wondering why he was so quiet. “Does your head hurt?”

  He looked up and saw the concern in her eyes. Once again, he knew it was based on guilt, but he was thankful to have even that from her. “I’m okay,” he said. “I need to get back to work on that door, while the snow has slackened off.”

  Maddy looked out the kitchen window and saw that he was right. “I’ll help,” she said. “With the three of us working, it shouldn’t take long.”

  “Danny and I can handle it,” he said.

  “Yeah, us guys can handle it,” Danny told her.

  Maddy saw the proud look on her nephew’s face and decided to go along with it. “I’ll keep the home fires burning and the coffee and hot chocolate coming so you men can warm up in between runs. How’s that?”

  “Besides, Danny and I need to have one of those man-to-man talks, right?” He slapped the boy on his back.

  The grin seemed to slide right off Danny’s face. “She told you, didn’t she?”

  “She has a name, and I expect you to use it,” Michael replied. “And it doesn’t matter who told me. What you did was childish and irresponsible, not to mention inconsiderate as hell. What a perfect way to wish your folks Happy Thanksgiving.”

  Danny’s face blazed with color. “You’d better be glad I came along,” he said. “If it weren’t for me, you’d have frozen to death in that snow. I can’t believe you’re sucking up to somebody who’d just as soon kill you as look at you.” He turned for the hall.

  Michael grabbed Danny’s arm and held him in place. The boy’s eyes popped wide in surprise. “Let’s get something straight, pal,” he said, between clenched teeth. “I don’t know how you talk to your folks, but you will not use that tone here, unless you want to spend the day with your nose in a corner.”

  Maddy felt like cheering but decided to stay out of it.

  “You’re not my father, you can’t tell me what to do!” Danny shouted.

  Michael pulled him closer. “Wanna bet?” The boy didn’t answer. “And if you raise your voice to me again, I’ll put you over my knee.”

  “Stop treating me like a baby,” Danny said.

  “You want to be treated like a man, act like one.”

  “You don’t have any right to get on my case when you’ve screwed up your own life,” the boy sputtered. “Everybody knows how crummy you were to Aunt Maddy. It’s your fault she lost the baby. The only person you ever think about is yourself.”

  “That’s enough, Danny,” Maddy said.

  “Your own family thinks she’s better off without you.”

  Michael released him. He suddenly felt as if he’d been kicked in the gut. He wasn’t aware his family knew about the miscarriage, but if they did, he certainly couldn’t blame them for thinking the worst of him. He felt the same way. He stepped away from Danny. “You’re right, kid,” he said. “Who am I to give advice when I’ve done such a rotten job handling my own affairs?” He walked down the short hall to the bedroom and closed the door.

  Chapter Six

  Maddy felt sick at heart over the argument that had just taken place. She looked at her nephew. “What’s gotten into you?” she demanded. “Who do you think you are, talking to your uncle that way?”

  Danny tossed her an angry look. He didn’t resemble the kid who’d been laughing uncontrollably only minutes before. “I can’t believe you’re taking up for him after what he did to you.”

  “How do you know about my miscarriage? Your mother was the only one I told.” She had called Brenda from the hospital after she’d lost the baby because there was nobody else to talk to, and because she knew her sister-in-law would cut her tongue out before repeating it. Nobody else in the family had even known she was pregnant.

  “I heard my mom talking to you on the phone the day it happened,” Danny said.

  “You were eavesdropping?”

  “I was coming into the kitchen for a snack, and I heard her crying, so I backed out. The only reason I listened was ’cause I thought something had happened to Grandma or Grandpa.”

  “Your mother wouldn’t have told the rest of the family,” Maddy said knowingly. “That means you said something.” Danny averted his gaze. “Well?” she insisted.

  “Nobody else knows,” he confessed. “I just said that.”

  “To be cruel?”

  “He ticked me off.”

  “Remind me never to tick you off. You go straight for the jugular.” She grabbed the broom and started sweeping the kitchen, hoping to work off some of her own anger and frustration. She looked up a moment later and found Danny still standing there.

  “Do you need me to do something?” he asked.

  She paused and leaned on the broom. She’d heard teenagers had mood swings, thanks to hormonal changes, but this kid was something else. The fact that he looked ashamed of himself, though, was a good sign. “Yes, as a matter of fact, there is something you can do for me. You can change your poor attitude. There’s no way to know how long we’ll be up here, and I’ll not have you making trouble. As for my relationship with your uncle, that’s absolutely none of your business.”

  He opened his mouth to say something, then seemed to think better of it.

  Maddy went back to sweeping. “You know, Danny, you’re going to have to learn how to get along with other people in this world if you plan to go out on your own.” She heard the bedroom door open. Michael came down the hall and stepped into the utility roo
m. Without a word, he went to work on the door.

  The dogs kept their places behind the chair in the living room.

  Danny watched his uncle for a few minutes. “Do you need some help?” he finally asked.

  Michael didn’t look his way. “No, I got it.”

  The boy went into the living room and plopped down on the sofa. Maddy suspected he was bored. She decided to leave him be. He had chosen to run away, and he would have to deal with the consequences. She finished sweeping the floor, then wiped down the cabinets, all the appliances, and mopped the floor. The place wasn’t in bad shape. The realtor who had the listing lived in the foothills and checked the cabin from time to time. She had also found someone to clean it every other month so she herself wouldn’t have to make the long drive.

  Maddy had decided it was well worth paying someone to look after it so she didn’t have to deal with all the memories. She and Michael had been sitting on that very sofa when she’d broken the news of her pregnancy. She’d expected him to be shocked. Shock didn’t come close to describing his reaction. He’d even accused her of doing it on purpose.

  The fetus had died in its tenth week. Maddy had awakened that morning with a backache and- abdominal pain. She’d started bleeding soon after Michael left for work. Her doctor had confirmed her suspicions shortly afterward when he examined her, and she’d been sent on to the hospital. She was certain it was her fault and that all her exercising had caused the miscarriage, but a kind older nurse explained that just wasn’t the case.

  She had to look toward the future now. She’d been told she could get pregnant again, but that was not a risk she was willing to take. She supposed it had something to do with losing a baby and walking out on a husband, all in two days, but it had taught her she never wanted to open herself up to that kind of pain again. If she was acting like a coward, so be it.

  She only wished she wasn’t still so attracted to Michael. Before his career had taken over their lives, they had been as close as two people could be. Their love-making had been the stuff of poetry and love songs, painstakingly gentle one moment, then fierce and all-consuming the next.

  Maddy felt giddy and dreamy-eyed just thinking about it.

  Michael paused in his work and looked up. “Is something wrong?”

  “Huh?” Maddy blushed. Lord, he’d caught her staring. What was wrong with her? “I was just, uh, wondering if you should be doing all that work. What if it makes your condition worse?” Okay, so it was a feeble excuse, but it was the only thing that came to mind.

  “I’m okay,” he assured her, but something in her look convinced him there was more going on than just her concern for his safety. He planned to find out what it was. He smiled the smile that she’d once confided made her knees quake. It would never occur to her that he was doing it on purpose, what with him not remembering. “I could go for another cup of coffee.”

  “Coming right up.” Maddy grabbed clean cups from the cabinet. Her hands trembled so badly, one would have thought she’d been struck with palsy. “Danny, would you like some hot chocolate?” she asked. He muttered something that sounded like no. Maddy shrugged and filled two mugs and placed them on the table. She reached for her chair to pull it out, but Michael was quicker.

  “Thank you,” she said, remembering how impressed she’d been with his manners the first time they’d gone out. She learned later that Brenda was responsible for teaching all the Kelly brothers how to behave with a young lady. She sat down and waited for Michael to join her.

  He took the chair opposite her and sipped his coffee. “Well, I know we didn’t split up over your coffee,” he said. “This is the best I’ve ever tasted.”

  “I always put a pinch of salt in it.”

  “A trick your mother taught you, no doubt,” he said, although he knew that wasn’t the case.

  Maddy smiled. “You have forgotten a lot. I doubt my mother has ever made a pot of coffee in her life. Actually, I learned it from our butler, Yates.”

  Michael had met Yates. He was a gentleman if ever there was one. The man adored Maddy and she him. “Ah, the butler. Every home should have at least one.”

  “He was like a father to me. I was close to all the staff, actually.”

  Michael nodded as though hearing it for the first time. He knew why Maddy was so devoted to the servants. Her parents had had little time for her, what with their busy social calendar. Fortunately, their employees had adored her and had seen to it that she was well cared for.

  “Yates died five months ago,” Maddy said sadly.

  Michael snapped to attention. Yates dead? He didn’t want to believe it, didn’t want to think of Maddy having to mourn his passing all alone. “I’m sorry,” he said, and meant it. “How did he die?”

  “Heart attack.” Maddy looked sad. “I didn’t even know he had a bad heart. Nobody knew. But that’s the way Yates was. He kept things like that to himself.” She took another sip of coffee, promising herself she wouldn’t get teary-eyed. “He was from Vermont. The service was beautiful. I was the only one in my family to show. My parents couldn’t change their plans to attend the funeral of a man who’d run their home for thirty years. However,” she continued, her lips twisted into a cynical smile, “they had hundreds of orchids flown in. That was Yates’s favorite flower.”

  Michael knew her parents had a flair for the theatrical; his and Maddy’s wedding on Martha’s Vineyard had resembled something out of a fairy tale. Her parents had ferried in coaches and white horses and a dozen white stretch limousines for attending dignitaries. They hired three catering services and a French chef from a four-star restaurant. They even rented an entire hotel and several houses on the Vineyard to accommodate the wedding guests, as well as a fleet of golf carts to get them around the island. The pre-wedding parties had lasted for three days, and he felt bad for his family, who looked out of place next to senators and congressmen and various celebrities. By the time he and Maddy left for a two-week honeymoon in Hawaii, she’d been near tears. She had asked for a simple wedding.

  They had returned to a mountain of wedding gifts— a dozen toaster ovens, two dozen coffeemakers, way too many mixers and blenders and cookware, and enough crystal and silver and fine china to fill the dining room of a fancy hotel. Maddy had donated much of it to women’s shelters and other nonprofit organizations. And even though they’d moved into a three hundred and fifty thousand dollar condominium with Italian marble columns and flooring, a gourmet kitchen, and a massive Jacuzzi in every bathroom, Maddy hadn’t liked it. That was why she’d had no qualms about moving out and leaving it for him to sell.

  Michael noted the deep sadness in Maddy’s eyes and wished he could say or do something to make her feel better, wished he’d been there to comfort her when she’d first learned about Yates’s death. He hated the thought of her suffering alone. But then, she’d always been alone, even more so while she was married to him. He probably wouldn’t have been able to attend the funeral with her either, nice guy that he was.

  “I’m sorry for your loss,” he finally said, “and I’m sorry you had to go through it by yourself.”

  “Thank you,” she said. “The one thing that gives me comfort is knowing I’ll see him again one day.” Michael drained the rest of his coffee. “Well, I’ve been putting it off as long as I can,” he said. “Better get back to work.”

  Maddy rinsed their cups. Danny was still sitting on the sofa, staring straight ahead. She wondered if he was beginning to regret leaving home, and she hoped that was the case. Maybe she could help out in that department.

  Grabbing her cleaning supplies from beneath the sink, she searched for a can of furniture polish and an old rag, and carried them into the living room. “Danny, I need you to help me out with a few chores,” she said, and thought his eyeballs would pop right out of his head. “Would you please dust and vacuum for me while I scrub the bathroom?”

  “But that’s women’s work.”

  “It is?” she said innocently. �
�Where does it say that?”

  “My dad doesn’t do that kind of stuff.”

  “Honey, your father sometimes works two jobs so that your mom can stay home with you kids. I think that pretty much excuses him from most domestic chores.” She handed him the polish and dust cloth and left the room. As she started down the hall with her cleaning supplies, she peeked inside the utility room and found Michael hard at work, sawing the tips off a pair of child’s skis. She cleaned the bathroom thoroughly, smiling to herself when she heard Danny running the vacuum cleaner. In the bedroom, she put fresh sheets on the bed and dusted. By the time she finished, she found Michael, in jacket, gloves, and wading boots, lugging the makeshift sled through the front door.

  “Wait,” she said. “I have to give you my keys.” She reached for her purse.

  “You locked your Jeep?” he ask, amused.

  She handed him her key ring. “I always lock it. Why?”

  “No reason.” He tucked them into his pocket and started off.

  “Michael?”

  He paused and looked over his shoulder. “Yeah?”

  “Please be careful.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re worried about me.”

  She blushed. “You have a serious head injury. Why wouldn’t I be worried?”

  It wasn’t the answer he’d been hoping for. “I’ll be fine,” he mumbled. “Close the door before you catch a cold.” He turned and gave his sled a hard tug.

  Maddy closed the door and hurried into the living room, so she could watch Michael from a window. Danny, having completed his chores, looked on miserably.