All for Maddie

by Woodruff, Jettie

  Maddie didn’t understand it the next afternoon when her daddy came to pick her up. She wanted me to come home too. I promised that I would call her later and held her tight, quickly wiping away the tear, not wanting her to see it.

  “You go home with Daddy and I will talk to you in a little bit, okay?”

  “Okay,” she whined, walking to her dad’s car. I watched her walk to him, knowing he was staring at me. I didn’t return the look. I wasn’t giving him the pleasure.

  I left, headed back to the resort shortly after, needing to get home and drink away my sadness. No. No, I wasn’t doing that. I was finished with that. I was getting my child back if it was the last thing I did.

  I spent the next few days working the dining room, not my first choice, but it was prime season and I was making quite a bit on tips. Almost having enough to retain an attorney made me keep pushing and sucking up to every customer that walked through the doors. By Friday, I would have enough for the retainer fee, so I did what I had to do and worked as much as my dad would let me, which was every day.

  Thursday evening by six the dining room was packed. I was so busy I couldn’t keep up, but was happy that I had hit my magic number and the rest was for bank.

  “Hey Jaron, I need two number sevens, one well done, one medium,” I ordered, spinning the newest ticket around to him.

  “Come back here and answer this stupid phone. It’s driving me nuts,” he demanded.

  I looked out at the table that Dana had seated, needing to get their drinks. Walking back toward the kitchen I got to my phone just in time for it to ring again. Alex of course, who else would impudently call my phone over and over?

  “I’m working, Alex. Do you think maybe you can wait until I’m not busy?”

  “Whitley, I’m so sorry. I only turned my eyes away from her for a second.”

  My heart instantly sank. I couldn’t breathe, and my entire body began to shake.

  “What’s wrong, Alex? Is Maddie okay?”

  “The doctor’s in with her now.”

  I didn’t wait for anymore. I ran out the back door and to my truck. Thank God, I took it to get gas earlier and didn’t have to drive a golf cart back to get it. I tore out of the parking lot as fast as I could. I was so far away. God, I needed to be there. I would kill him if something happened to her because he wasn’t watching her.

  That was no doubt the longest hour of my life. I drove the almost two hour drive in a little more than an hour, not thinking about one thing but Maddie. I left her. What kind of mother does that?

  Chapter 17

  I knew it wasn’t the right place. I knew I should have been focused on my daughter, but it just consumed me. As soon as I saw him I went after him. “WHAT DID YOU DO?” I screamed, pushing him in the chest as hard as I could.

  “WHITLEY!” Regan yelled with a look, telling me to cool it.

  “Where is she?” I angrily spoke right in Alex’s face.

  “They have her in the burn center,” Alex replied, looking defeated as he sank to the chair, running his fingers through his hair.

  “What happened?”

  “I’m sorry, Whit. I was right there. I just stepped away for a second.”

  “What happened?”

  “She wanted macaroni and cheese. The water just came to a boil and she told me it was ready for the macaroni now, because you told her that was how you know. I told her to hang on one second while I ran out to get my ringing phone. Oh God, it was horrible, Whit. I never want to hear her scream like that again.”

  Chills went down my spine, thinking about boiling water being poured down her tiny little body and the scream that I could only imagine.

  “It wasn’t his fault, Whit. It was an accident,” Regan tried. I shot her a dirty look too. It was his fault. He knew how she was. I would never leave her alone in the kitchen with a boiling pan of water on the stove. Never.

  I ignored them both and walked to the nurse’s station.

  “Could you please tell me how Madelyn Brad…Wesson is doing?” I begged.

  “Are you a relative?”

  “Yes, I’m her mother. Can I see her?”

  “Not yet. They are cleaning her up. The doctor will be down as soon as he can. If I hear anything different, I’ll let you know,” she smiled.

  “How long as she been in there?” I asked Regan and not Alex.

  “Almost two hours.”

  We sat in silence for another twenty minutes, waiting. My dad had already called three times, wanting to be there too, but unable to leave the busy resort. I promised to call as soon as I spoke to the doctor. I thought the drive there was the longest of my life. Boy was I wrong. Sitting there, bouncing my knees, nervously waiting and waiting, knowing she was somewhere in that hospital scared and alone were the longest seconds of my life.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Wesson,” a white coated doctor spoke. I didn’t correct the name inaccuracy. I didn’t care about that at the time. There was only one thing I cared about: Maddie. We both came to our feet and sat back down when he sat in front of us.

  I wrung my hands as he began to explain her condition. “Madelyn has suffered some pretty serious burns, mostly her chest area.”

  “Is she okay?” I asked, not giving him time to continue.

  “She’s in a lot of pain right now. We’re giving her some pretty serious pain medicine. She’s resting, but is asking for her mom.”

  My heart shattered into a million pieces. I could hear her cries, crying for her mommy. I wanted to shoot Alex right between the eyes.

  “We’ve got the burns cleaned and bandaged. She’ll make a full recovery, but is going to need constant care for a few weeks. The bandages will need to be changed several times throughout the day. The second degree burning will heal fine, she’s young, it’s the third degree burns that have my concern. Removing her shirt pulled a lot of skin off. I hope this never happens again, but if it ever does, never remove clothing from severe burns. We’ve got her pretty cleaned up, but there is a high chance of infection because of the severity of her burns. She’s being transported to her room and you can see her in a few minutes. I’m going to keep her overnight and see how she is doing in the morning. If everything looks okay, you should be able to take her home tomorrow.”

  “You fucking jerked her clothes off?” I angrily asked Alex as soon as he was out of earshot.

  “Whit, I didn’t know what to do.”

  “You’re a fucking idiot,” I said, getting up and walking to the window. I had to get away from him before I got thrown out of the hospital.

  “Mrs. Wesson?” a nurse called. Again I didn’t correct the name. I just wanted to see Maddie. Of course, Alex followed.

  Maddie was pretty sedated. She looked so lifeless with her arms out to her sides and her chest and belly wrapped in white gauze. I walked over and kissed her forehead, noticing her puffy eyes and dry lips.

  “Mommy?” she called, instantly crying when she saw me. That was it. That moment right there changed everything.

  “Shhh, baby, Mommy’s right here,” I promised, trying to calm her. She heaved in a breath and closed her eyes. I kissed away a tear, not hers, but the one that had rolled down my cheek onto hers. I glared across the bed at Alex. I didn’t want him, holding her hand. I didn’t want him anywhere near her.

  Maddie slept most of the night, waking a couple times in pain. The nurse would come in to shoot something in her IV and she would be right back out. I finally sat in the chair by the window exhausted. Alex sat beside me and sighed a deep breath.

  “I’m taking her home with me, Alex,” I assured him.

  “Okay,” he replied. My head snapped to look at him. No fight? I was in shock. “I was wrong, Whitley. I was wrong for doing what I did. I was wrong for taking her the way that I did. I shouldn’t have her. I let her get hurt.”

  I could have sworn that I saw him wipe a tear. I almost felt bad for him, I mean, I have cleaned up so many messes from that girl going to the kitchen before I got out
of bed it was pathetic, but I still would have never left her alone with a boiling pot of water on the stove. I didn’t feel bad for long, not after I looked back to my baby girl, bandaged in white with a wetness beginning to seep through.

  I didn’t reply to Alex’s remark. He wasn’t fighting me and I wasn’t pushing it. I was putting her in that truck and taking her home with me as soon as the doctor released her. I dozed off sitting in the chair sometime early morning. I woke to Alex standing over Maddie. He was crying. The bastard really did have a heart. He held her little hand, kissing her knuckles, apologizing over and over. I sat up when the light from the hall poured in from the nurse wheeling in a tray of clean utensils. Alex walked out, trying to hide that he wasn’t such a tough guy after all, I was sure.

  Maddie screamed when the nurse unwrapped her bandages. I wanted to scream with her. Her little chest looked like something from a Halloween store. I had to turn my head and again wanted to kill Alex.

  “You need to watch,” the nurse smiled at me. I was going to have to do this. I was going to have to change the bandages while she screamed in pain.

  “It’s really not as bad as it looks,” the nurse explained. “See this right here?” she pointed to the middle of her chest. “That’s the worst of it, maybe five, six inches, the rest is second degree burns and should heal with no scaring at all. She’s young. She’ll be fine. I’ve seen this so many times, and Maddie is a very lucky little girl. I bet she would like a red pop-sickle. Right?” she asked, getting Maddie to settle.

  “I like orange,” she countered as her bottom lip sucked in from the crying.

  “Oh, me too. Orange is my favorite. Let’s get you bandaged back up and I will bring you an orange one, okay?”

  “Okay,” Maddie agreed. I kind of wanted her to have maybe scrambled eggs or oatmeal, but at that moment she could have had ten candy bars and I probably would have let her.

  “I need a house key,” I told Alex after Maddie was given more medicine and was going to be asleep for a while. “Please go sit with her while I go to the house and pack her things.”

  Alex reached into his pocket and took the house key from his keys, placed it in my hand and walked toward Maddie’s room. I couldn’t believe that he wasn’t going to fight me on this. He was going to let me take her. It’s what I wanted. It’s what I had wanted for the past year. Why didn’t it feel as good as I thought it would? Why did I have this aching in the pit of my stomach?

  Regan went with me and we packed boxes of toys, clothes, books and then moved to the upstairs to pack a few of my clothes. I wasn’t taking them all. I didn’t come there with them and I didn’t want them. I wouldn’t need fancy attire where I was going. My jeans and tees would be just fine.

  “You sure you want to do this, Whit? I’m never going to see you.”

  “You’ll see me. You don’t think Alex is just going to let me take Maddie and never see her do you?” That wouldn’t happen. I was sure of it.

  “He’s pretty upset. I don’t know what Alex will do. He feels like he hurt her and isn’t fit to be her father anymore.”

  I knew this was where I should have said something about it not being his fault. I didn’t. I couldn’t do that yet. I was still blaming him. He wouldn’t just forget her. He could never do that. Could he?

  I had quite a load by the time we were finished. I, of course, couldn’t take the zoo, but did pack a full box of the animals and cages for her to play with. I took most of her clothes except for the frilly little dresses. She wouldn’t need those either.

  Regan hugged me goodbye in the driveway, she wasn’t going back to the hospital. She informed me that she sucked at goodbyes and would call and check on Maddie later. I thanked her for being my friend and for everything that she had done for me, before heading back to wait for Maddie’s release. This was it. We were going home. We were finally going home. Why did I feel so sad about it?

  I crossed my arms and stood right outside the door, leaning against the wall. Maddie was awake and giggling. It was music to my ears.

  “You have to promise Daddy that you won’t try to cook anymore. You let Mommy do that, okay?” I heard Alex get serious with her.

  “Okay, but I was just gonna help you. Mommy say the macaroni goes in there when the water does this,” she explained. I smiled, visualizing her little hands and fingers imitating boiling water.

  “But you’re too little. You can’t reach the stove. You let Mommy cook. Tell me you promise to stay away from the stove. Promise me, Maddie.”

  “Next time, I get a chair.”

  “No, no chair. You can’t cook yet. You stay away from the stove. Daddy never wants you to get hurt again.”

  “Okay, I will cook when I five.”

  “You’re about as stubborn as your mother, you know that?”

  “I gonna go see Papaw.”

  “I know, baby. Daddy’s gonna miss you like crazy.”

  “You can come too.”

  “Daddy is going to stay here and work. You go home with mommy and be a good girl. I love you so much.”

  I wasn’t expecting him to walk out. He was emotional, and I was sure he just said goodbye to Maddie without saying goodbye. He stopped, looked at me briefly, and kept going. I wasn’t sure what to think. He never came back. The nurse directed me while I changed Maddie’s dressing, and we waited for the doctor to come around one more time and release her.

  Maddie talked to my dad, assuring him that she was going to come and feed the fish. I sat and listened to her talk on the clumsy hospital phone attached to the bed.

  I looked down at my phone at the new text message.

  Please take your car, I feel better with you driving it.

  No. I don’t want your car. We’ll be fine.

  I do love you Whitley. I love Maddie, and I’m sorry for letting her get hurt.

  She’s fine. She’ll be fine.

  Goodbye, Whitley.

  I didn’t reply. I wasn’t sure what to say. It kind of felt like he was going to leave us alone. Was he seriously just going to walk out of Maddie’s life after all this? No, there was no way he could do that. He loved her too much for that. I gave him a day at the most.

  Maddie was released twenty minutes later. She had to wheel the chair herself but wasn’t as excited as she should have been. The medicine that she was given to help her rest with her long ride was kicking in, and she would no doubt be asleep before we made it to the highway.

  I adjusted the straps away from her chest in her car seat as much as safely possible, kissed her on the head when she sleepily dropped it to the side of her seat, and set out for home. We were going home. I was going home with my daughter. It was so surreal and different. Alex wasn’t calling or texting. Alex always blew up my phone when she wasn’t with him. I didn’t understand.

  I drove the hour and a half home in two hours, taking my time and contemplating all that had happened over the last year while Maddie slept beside me. Alex wasn’t a bad guy, he was just… Yes, he was a bad guy. No, he wasn’t. He loved Maddie more than anything on earth. I was sure of that. He did it for her. It was all for Maddie, just like me living with a man that I hated. It was all for Maddie.

  My dad and Dana were waiting in the parking lot when we finally pulled in. Maddie woke when the engine of the truck stopped, pulling on the straps of her car seat, whining. I could tell she was in pain. I took out the medicine from my purse as my dad came to her, opening her door.

  “Papaw,” she whimpered, seeing him.

  “Careful, Dad,” I warned, wanting him to be careful with her injury.

  “Come here, baby girl. Papaw missed you.”

  “My belly hurt, Papaw.”

  “I know, sweetie. Let’s go up to the house and get you settled in. Papaw will get you a bowl of ice cream, okay?” he offered, lifting her out of the seat.

  “We’re going home, Dad,” I said overriding him, and trying to get Maddie to take the liquid from the dropper. She turned her head into my dad�
��s chest and wouldn’t take it.

  “I think she should stay up at the house with us for a couple nights, Whit. You can stay up there too,” he alleged, walking away with Maddie. Normally I would have done whatever he thought was best. Not now, not at that moment. I’d spent the last year of my life letting not only Alex but my dad as well tell me what was best for me and my daughter. Nobody was doing that anymore.

  “No, we’re staying home. Jaron is coming to help unload the truck. You can keep her until we’re finished with that, and then she’s staying home with me,” I demanded, sneaking the dropper into Maddie’s mouth and squirting it to the back of her throat. She gagged and choked but kept it down.

  “I stay wif Papaw,” Maddie whined. I kissed her on the head, brushing the hair from her forehead.

  “You can go with Papaw for a little bit,” I offered.

  “Whitley, stop being like this. Stay at the house tonight. It’s not up for debate.”

  I took a long deep breath. Maddie was hurt and I wasn’t going to lose it in front of her nor was I going to be controlled by anyone else, not even my dad.

  “Maddie is going home with me, Dad. I’ll see you in an hour,” I protested, holding my own as I got in my truck to pick up Jaron and unload the truck.

  I checked my cellphone again as I carried a box of toys to Maddie’s room. Alex still hadn’t called to check on her, not even a text.

  “You doing okay?” Jaron asked. Jaron asking me if I was okay was different than the way I’d been asked a million times by the rest of my family. He was sincere, he cared.

  “I don’t know, Jaron. Do you think I’m doing the right thing?” I asked. He raised both eyebrows at me.

  “I don’t know what you’re doing, Whit. I don’t know why you took Maddie and left here with that ass to begin with. I don’t know why you came back here without her for two weeks, and I don’t know what you’re doing here now. You don’t talk to me.”