Playing for Keeps

by Hill, Jamie

  "Yeah. They yelled at me for three days before they dragged me to the hospital and told the doctor to take it out. I was so beaten down by that time I signed whatever they told me to sign, and let them do it. They took me home, told the school I wouldn't be finishing out the semester due to illness, and kept me in my room for two months. It was horrible."

  "I can't believe your parents did that to you." Rob looked at her. "They seem so nice."

  "Now," she scoffed, "because they feel guilty for what they did back then. They were wrong. It should have been my decision." She looked at Nick. "And yours."

  "In a perfect world maybe so. But they were never going to let you and me be together. Your old man came right out and told me that."

  "What do you mean, 'told you'? I never gave them any information about you, even though they asked and asked. I wouldn't tell them anything. I never have, not to this day."

  He shrugged. "They found out, somehow. How else would they have known where to send your husband?"

  Maddie looked at Rob. "I never thought of that. What did they tell you?"

  He smiled. "Well, your dad has no idea where you are. Your mom was anxious for me to get over here and save you, because she just knew you were doing something crazy."

  Maddie rolled her eyes. "Offering an apology is crazy in her mind, I guess."

  "She gave me this address and sent me on my way, pronto. She was pretty worried."

  Maddie sighed. "Crazy old bat. You should go back and tell her you walked in on us doing it on the grease rack."

  Rob looked at her. "Yeah, I'm sure that's what I should tell her. Got a 'Plan B'?"

  She looked at Nick. "You talked to my father?"

  "Oh yeah." He chuckled nervously, and lit another cigarette. He walked over to the open door and stood there to smoke it. "He came here a couple of weeks after the accident. He let me know, in no uncertain terms, that I was never to try to contact you again."

  Maddie was shocked. "What did you tell him?"

  Nick shrugged. "I knew I was never going to see you again, but he pissed me off and I got in his face. I can't repeat most of what I told him."

  Maddie blinked. "Really? You told him off?"

  "Put some fear into him, is more like it. I told him you were nineteen and of legal age to make your own decisions. I said if you wanted to see me, it was up to you, and that I'd take you back in a New York minute." He looked down and shuffled his feet a couple of times. "He said something else that pissed me off, so I proceeded to tell him what I'd do to you once I got you back…and how much you'd enjoy it. He left right after that."

  "Oh my God!" Maddie flopped back into the sofa, laughing.

  Rob shook his head. "No wonder they spent so much time brainwashing you. They were scared shitless that you'd go back to him."

  Nick gave a little smile. "That might have backfired on me. But I was really pissed."

  "I never knew any of this." Maddie shook her head. "I was so naïve."

  Nick stomped out his smoke and returned to his seat. "Zoey said she saw you once or twice around campus that next semester. I thought maybe I'd hear from you then."

  Maddie shook her head. "My parents sent me to live with an aunt and uncle who kept very close tabs on me. I went to class and back, no phone calls or going out. I was repeating the same classes I'd taken in the fall, so it was incredibly boring."

  Nick looked at her. "It had been weeks. A phone call was too much to ask?"

  Maddie chuckled. "Oh shit, you still think you're funny, don't you? Well, I'm sorry, but I was totally beaten down when I got back here. I was mortified about everything that had happened. Frankly, I thought you'd be so angry when you found out about the abortion that I didn't know what you'd do."

  He smiled sadly. "I just would have taken care of you. That's all I ever wanted to do."

  They were silent for a minute, then Rob said, "Can an outsider make an observation here? It seems to me that Maddie went from one man taking care of her to another." He looked at her. "But when you finally got up the strength to take off and leave, you found out that you could take care of yourself. Now you're one of the strongest people I know."

  "I don't think so." She shook her head.

  "Hey." Rob put an arm around her shoulder and wiggled it. "Remember just a few days ago, your father said he was glad you had me to take care of you? Remember what I told him?"

  She sniffled and nodded. "That I didn't need anyone to take care of me."

  "And you don't," he repeated. "But we take care of each other because we want to, because we love each other, right?"

  "Of course." She nodded.

  Rob looked at Nick. "Maddie was in a car accident this past summer, did she tell you?"

  "No!" He looked at her and tilted his head.

  Rob continued, "It was the scariest thing I've ever witnessed. She was returning a rental car and had our seven-year-old in the back seat. I was driving right behind her with the babies. Some drunk son-of-a-bitch ran a red light and smashed into her. I truly thought I was going to lose it, right then and there."

  Nick whistled. "Holy shit! What happened?"

  Maddie shrugged. "Nothing but a broken foot."

  Rob shook his head at her. "A lot more than that. I go running up to her. Maddie's wedged in there real tight, they have to get the fucking Jaws of Life to get her out. Sophie's fine, but they want to take her to the hospital to be checked out. So there I am with my little girl leaving in an ambulance by herself, Maddie stuck in the damn car and two babies in the truck behind us. I didn't know what the hell to do. Maddie's all calm-like, giving me instructions on who to call, and what to do. I swear, I wouldn't have been able to handle it without her strength."

  Nick smiled at her. "I knew you had it in ya. You were always a tough little cookie."

  She laughed. "You should have seen me the next day. I totally freaked out when it hit me that I had been in a car accident. I took it out on him, I'm afraid." She nodded toward Rob.

  Rob smiled and ran a hand over her cheek. He looked at Nick. "She had a reaction to the pain pills they gave her. She was delirious there for a while. She asked me to play the guitar for her. She said it always made her feel better."

  Nick looked at Rob.

  Rob added, "I've never played the guitar."

  Nick turned to Maddie and grinned. "Bruce Springsteen, right?"

  "Hell yeah." Maddie nodded.

  He shook his head and chuckled. "Well Maddie, I think everything worked out the way it was supposed to."

  "I know." She looked down, and a tear fell. "But it just wasn't right what they did. It wasn't like I was a fifteen-year-old kid in high school. I was nineteen, and going to college."

  "Well, you were enrolled in college, anyway." Nick grinned at her.

  She wiped her face and smiled at him. "Shut up. It was all your fault. If you hadn't been so damn personable that night at Lost Wages..."

  He held his hands up. "Hey, what can I say? I think it was Ty and Zoey's fault for taking you there. If you would have gone to that Sigma-whatever party like Junior wanted you to, your life would have been totally different."

  She looked from Nick to Rob and back again. "Thank God I didn't!"

  Both men grinned, and Nick said, "Whatever happened to Zoey? I never saw her after that spring."

  "She met some guy and they decided to backpack across Europe over the summer. I actually went with them to the airport, and then I took off. I never heard from her again. Of course, she had no way of knowing where I was."

  Rob said, "That was the day you got your tattoo."

  "Yeah." Maddie nodded.

  "Tattoo?" Nick's eyes bulged. "What the fuck?"

  She laughed. "I was trying to decide what to do. My bags were packed and I knew I couldn't go back to Hartford. I got a little tattoo, nothing like yours, and then I hopped a bus to Oklahoma City. Zoey was from there, and she made it sound nice and boring. I was ready for a change."

  Nick asked, "What happened
to your car? Why didn't you just get in it and drive?"

  She shook her head. "My parents kept my car. I had to ride busses that whole term."

  "Another nice touch," Rob added sarcastically.

  Nick stood up and put his hands on his hips. "Where is this tattoo? Any place I can see?"

  Maddie looked at Rob, and he nodded. She stood and unbuttoned the top of her dress. She pulled it back and showed Nick the little heart.

  "Holy smokes." He ran a finger over it. "It's pretty, but I would have never pictured you for it."

  Rob said, "Show him your other one."

  She looked at Rob. "It's a little harder to get to."

  "Nothing he hasn't seen before."

  Nick grinned. "You got another one?"

  She lowered that side of her dress, thankful she'd worn a bra. She turned and showed him the larger heart on the back of her shoulder.

  "Oh my lord." He touched that one, too. "That's nice work. I like the little drops of blood."

  Maddie raised her dress and buttoned it up. "Rob has a matching one on his shoulder, with my name, and the kid's names around it."

  Nick nodded. "Cool."

  "So." Maddie leaned against the desk "Whatever happened to Ty? He was so nice to me."

  "He liked you a lot. He moved to New York and bought his own shop there. I still touch base with him now and then. He has an old lady and a couple kids."

  Maddie smiled. "Tell him hello for me, if you see him again. And what about Fritz?"

  "Still working for me. It's just the two of us now, and a part-time bookkeeper. We do okay. I got me that big TV, anyway." He grinned.

  She grinned back. "Good for you." She thought a minute and said, "The pool hall is gone. I drove by there."

  "Damn strip mall. Just what we needed, another bank and a place to buy cell phones."

  Rob shook his head. "Corporations are taking over, I tell ya…"

  Nick chuckled. "I need to get something from the back real quick. Do you mind?"

  "Go ahead." Maddie nodded, and watched him walk back there.

  Rob stood up next to her. "If we want to make that visitation, we should probably start back."

  Maddie looked at her watch. "You're right. I just need another minute to tell him goodbye."

  He pulled her close and kissed the side of her head. "You can give him a little hug if you want. Not too big of one, of course, just a nice friendly little one."

  "I love you," she whispered to him.

  "I love you too, Mrs. Cooper." He kissed her temple again.

  Nick returned from the back. "I want you to have these." He held out a black jeweler's box.

  She took it, opened it, and saw her diamond necklace and earrings. "Oh Nick! I couldn't."

  "They were your birthday present. You should have them."

  Maddie looked at him. "They'd make a nice payment toward Tommy's education. I really can't accept them. Or maybe Sarah would like—"

  "No," he said firmly. "I don't want anybody wearing them but you. Take them, and I'll never know what you chose to do with them. You can sell them, or give them away. At least I'll know I gave them back to you."

  Maddie snapped the box shut and put an arm around Nick's neck. She said softly, "I won't sell them, or give them away. They mean too much to me."

  "Thank you," he mumbled, and they separated. He looked at his desk, and scooped up the pictures of Maddie's family. "Here are your pictures."

  Maddie saw him tuck the picture of her alone under a stack of papers on his desk. She took the others. "Thanks." She stuck them in her purse.

  Rob said, "If you'll give me the keys, I'll let you say goodbye. I need to go figure out if I can drive a Lincoln."

  She pulled the keys out and handed them over. "Nothing different about it."

  Nick grinned. "Seats are probably a little softer on the butt than my old truck."

  Maddie laughed. "Yeah, they are. Rob has an old truck like you do. He drives it to work everyday."

  Nick looked at her. "So glad to know he and I are nothing alike."

  Rob chuckled. "Oh, Jesus, don't go there." He went and stood beside Nick's Harley. "This is another thing I've never driven." He ran his hand over the leather seat gently.

  Nick stood next to him. "Now, you're missing out on something. You should try one. You and Maddie would love going for rides on it."

  Rob looked the bike over and smiled at Nick. "Not much room for car seats on there. Maddie and I rarely go anywhere without at least two kids these days."

  Nick nodded. "Maybe someday."

  Rob nodded back. "Maybe."

  Maddie put her hands on her hips. "Speaking of which, where did you leave my children?"

  Rob looked in the air and rubbed his chin. "What town was that? I'm not sure…"

  She grabbed his jacket lapel and smiled. "Hartford or Oklahoma City? I need to know how much grandparent-deprogramming I'll have to do."

  "Oklahoma City. The lesser of two evils, I hope."

  "Good." She nodded, and dusted off his jacket.

  Rob turned to Nick and extended his hand. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Nick. Good to finally put a face to the name."

  Nick smiled and shook Rob's hand. "Glad to meet you, too. Very glad to see Maddie so happy. Good luck with…everything." He tossed a glance her way.

  She laughed. "Think he needs luck, do you?"

  "Couldn't hurt." Nick grinned.

  Rob smiled. He looked at Maddie. "Take your time. I'll just go reset all the radio stations in the Lincoln." He walked out the big door.

  Maddie laughed. "Thanks." She turned to Nick. "I need to use the bathroom, real quick."

  "You know where it is." He motioned toward the back. "Help yourself."

  Maddie used the bathroom and pulled her pantyhose off. She was itchy already, and wasn't going to drive the two hours back feeling uncomfortable. She walked out with them in her hand. "Hey, Nick, you need to get Sarah down here to clean that bathroom. I don't think anyone's touched it since I cleaned it last."

  "Ha!" he snorted. "She has better things to do than wait on me hand and foot like you used to. You spoiled me, that's for sure."

  "I loved every minute of it."

  He glanced at the stockings in her hand. "A going-away present for me?"

  "Not quite." She laughed. "I've had these son-of-a-bitches on for hours, and I couldn't stand one more minute."

  He chuckled. "You always said what you thought with me. I liked that. I just wish you could have done that with your old man."

  "I'm so sorry, Nick. I hope you know how truly, truly sorry I am."

  "Hey, like the man said, 'It's better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all'. It went something like that, didn't it?"

  Maddie touched his cheek. "Hell, I don't know. I spent more time loving you during college than I did learning that shit."

  He pulled her into his arms and they hugged. He whispered, "I can see you're happy. I hope you'll always stay that way."

  She hugged him tightly. "Please tell me that you're happy. I want the truth, but I really, really want to hear you're happy."

  "I'm happy, Maddie. She's a good woman, and she lets me tune her piano pretty regularly."

  Maddie laughed and put her forehead on his shoulder. "Thank God for that, huh?"

  "I'm telling ya, you spoiled me in so many ways."

  She kissed his cheek. They stayed cheek to cheek for a long moment, and he finally said, "Thanks for coming, Maddie. I'm really glad we got to talk."

  "Me too. I think I can finally move forward without so much pain."

  "I'm glad." He held her at arm's length then let her go. He patted his chest over his heart. "A part of you—right here, always."

  She patted her chest and smiled at him. "Right back at ya, babe." She picked up her things and headed for the door, then turned to look at him. "You need to stop smoking. Your voice is raspy."

  "I only smoked because you liked the taste." He shrugged.

&
nbsp; "Yeah. Well, you can stop it now. Take care of yourself, Nick."

  "You too, Maddie." He pushed a button and the garage door lowered behind her as she walked out.

  Maddie knew he didn't want to see her leave. She felt slightly relieved, too. If she'd watched him as they drove away, she thought she might have cried. Instead, she looked toward the Lincoln and saw Rob get out and look at her. She smiled at his gorgeous face, and hurried toward him.

  He opened her door and she dropped all her things on the seat. She pulled him into her arms and he leaned her back against the hood of the car. "How you feeling?"

  "Really good. I hope you understand why I had to do this."

  "I do."

  "And I hope you're not mad at me."

  "I'm not. I love you, Maddie. I want you to be at peace."

  "I think I finally am. This was the last thing eating at me."

  He nuzzled her neck. "I thought I was the last thing eating you."

  She chuckled and bent her neck so he could reach more skin. "You definitely were," she murmured. "And you were the last man to get me pregnant, too."

  He continued kissing her neck as he said, "I may not have been the first, but I was definitely the last."

  "You're right. And I'm not talking about Stacie."

  He stopped kissing and pulled back. "Are you telling me…?"

  Maddie nodded and smiled. "My stomach is about to blow up like a balloon, again."

  "Oh my God!" He took her face in his hands and pulled her to him for a gentle kiss. "This is excellent news! I'm so happy!"

  "Me too. But I don't think we should tell anyone back in Hartford this weekend. It doesn't seem appropriate."

  He nodded, and then looked at the garage. "Did you tell Nick?"

  She touched his face. "Only because I'm so happy about it, and I didn't want him sitting there smoking the whole time we talked."

  "I thought it was pretty considerate of him to go smoke by the door."

  She chuckled. "Yeah, he's usually not that way. I just wanted to tell him."

  "All right. But this makes two times out of three that I wasn't the first person to find out you were pregnant. Every time from now on, I want to be first, okay?"

  Maddie laughed. "Every time from now on, I promise."

  He kissed her gently, and then moved her things aside so she could get in the car. He shut her door and went around to his side and got in. He adjusted the mirror and put on his sunglasses.